A powerful account of the century of struggle by African-Americans for the right to vote in Mississippi uses well-selected quotations from the generations of people who suffered under the "planned social and economic conditions that white Mississippians forced upon black Mississippians" and from those who perpetuated those conditions. Chapters relate the economic, political and social circumstances facing the descendants of African captives following the Civil War. Each chapter is preceded by excerpts from spirituals, blues, freedom songs and spoken words and illustrated with carefully chosen and reprinted archival material. Complex events such as the Freedom Summer and the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party are explained with directness and clarity, revealing the organizational genius of the men and women involved. Walter shows the "disastrous consequences of closing one's eyes to oppression and refusing to actively insist that laws guaranteeing freedom, justice and peace are upheld." Winner, 1992 CCBC Coretta Scott King Award Discussion: Writing. (Age 11 and older)

Writing with passion and control, Mildred Pitts Walter presents the history of African Americans in Mississippi in a major work of nonfiction. Part One deals with slavery through the Civil War and the Reconstruction period. Part Two brings readers to the 1960s. Fully documented, this is history we must understand, brought to life by a rare talent. Photos. Coretta Scott King Honor Book.