Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories

by Ellen S. Levine

Overview

In this inspiring collection of true stories, thirty African-Americans who were children or teenagers in the 1950s and 1960s talk about what it was like for them to fight segregation in the South-to sit in an all-white restaurant and demand to be served, to refuse to give up a seat at the front of the bus, to be among the first to integrate the public schools, and to face violence, arrest, and even death for the cause of freedom.

"Thrilling...Nothing short of wonderful."-The New York Times

Awards:

( A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
( A Booklist Editors' Choice

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780698118706
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	12/01/2000
Edition description:	Illustrate
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	172,544
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.49(d)
Lexile:	760L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Ellen S. Levine is a web producer, writer, editor, and consultant in marketing and publicity.

Editorial Reviews

The names of those whose voices are heard in these pages are not recorded in textbooks, yet their childhoods in Alabama, Mississippi or Arkansas were marked by acts of extraordinary courage that collectively altered the course of American history. They were among the participants, and in some cases the leaders, of numerous civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s, many of which had violent, tragic outcomes. These individuals, whom Levine doggedly tracked down, were some of the first black young people to attend formerly all-white schools; to participate in sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in stores; to become Freedom Riders, protesting illegal segregation on interstate buses; and to wage the arduous, bloody fight to secure voting rights for blacks. Chronicling all of these campaigns--as well as shocking incidents of senseless beatings, unjust jailings and murders--these first-person accounts are articulate and affecting. Representative are the words of Gladis Williams, repeatedly arrested for taking part in protests during her high school years in Montgomery: ``So far as having fear, we didn't even know what fear was. We just had our minds set on freedom, and that was it.'' Ages 11-up. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly