Book Descriptions
for Freedom Walkers by Russell Freedman
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Russell Freeman’s absorbing narrative documents the Montgomery Bus Boycott in a volume further enriched with numerous archival photographs. From an opening chapter that provides an overview of conditions for blacks in the Jim Crow south, where both laws and attitudes were oppressive, Freedman goes on to tell the painful and compelling stories of several black woman who were humiliated, and in one case arrested (and later convicted for defying segregation laws and resisting arrest), on Montgomery buses prior to Rosa Parks. These stories set the stage for the rest of the narrative, which focuses on Parks’s arrest and the passionate, carefully executed response of the black community as it sought to challenge the status quo both in the courts and on the streets. The boycott is detailed as a tremendous act of organization, faith, courage, and cooperation, involving both well-known leaders and everyday citizens in the Montgomery black community. As seen here, the ingenuity and solidarity of that community and its supporters as Montgomery’s government leaders and others tried to stop them at every turn was remarkable, and remains inspiring. (Ages 10–14)
CCBC Choices 2007 . © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2007. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
As Freedman points out, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a triumphant historical event, and there are numerous memoirs, articles, and scholarly works, for adults and for young readers, about the leaders and the ordinary heroes. In his signature clear prose, Freedman draws on the best of those personal stories and historical accounts to provide a dramatic overview of how the 381-day resistance to segregated buses spearheaded the civil rights movement. He brings close the experience of what it was like to be there, on the bus and on the street. With the eloquent accounts of the legendary heroes--Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and
more--are the stories of other important activists, including Jo Ann Robinson (president of the Women's Political Council) and teenager Claudette Colvin, as well as the lawyers and politicians. The photo-essay design is attractive and spacious.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.