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Genre/Form: | Literature Biographies History Juvenile works Juvenile literature Biography Juvenile literature Biography |
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Additional Physical Format: | Online version: Freedman, Russell. Freedom walkers. New York : Holiday House, ©2006 (OCoLC)608097745 |
Material Type: | Biography, Juvenile audience |
Document Type: | Book |
All Authors / Contributors: |
Russell Freedman |
ISBN: | 0823420310 9780823420315 9780823421954 0823421953 |
OCLC Number: | 64065965 |
Awards: | A Junior Library Guild selection. Notable Book for a Global Society award winner, 2007 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, 2007. Jane Addams Childrenâs Book Award Honor, 2007 |
Description: | xi, 114 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm |
Contents: | Map -- Montgomery, Alabama, 1955-1956 -- Introduction: Why they walked -- Jo Ann Robinson -- Claudette Colvin -- Rosa Parks -- Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Boycott heroes -- Proud to be arrested -- Walking to victory -- Children are coming on -- Chapter notes -- Selected bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index. |
Responsibility: | Russell Freedman. |
Abstract:
Reviews
WorldCat User Reviews (1)
Desegregation, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks
To make a quick timeline, when I was almost 3 years old, desegration on public buses in Montgomery, Alabama ended. When I was in 3rd grade, President...
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To make a quick timeline, when I was almost 3 years old, desegration on public buses in Montgomery, Alabama ended. When I was in 3rd grade, President John F. Kennedy asked Congress to pass a federal law that would end legal segregation, and when I was in 4th grade, Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. 45 years later, we now have a black president. Wow.
I enjoy reading non-fiction because to read something true or based on facts feels worth my while and it also adds to my learning. I liked this book because it gave the chronology of events and included many people, but not so many you got lost. It was a quick read in that it kept flowing, but I stopped often and pored over the pictures and thought about what it said. Kids at the library often ask for books about Rosa Parks, but the reason she became instrumental in what later turned into the civil rights movement was that her case was perfect for changing the laws to make city buses a fair and pleasant experience for blacks as well as whites. She had courage to refuse to move from her rightful seat on a city bus. She was calm and above reproach, and thus her case became the one that would hopefully make riding buses fair to blacks. They only wanted to be treated courteously, not have to give up their seat for a white person or have to stand while there were still empty seats. They also wanted black drivers in black neighborhoods. For over a year, blacks walked, car-pooled, took taxis, anything to avoid riding city buses to their jobs, school, shopping. While that is a long time to boycott riding the buses, looking back in history, the end result, integration, came quickly and was much more than what blacks initially asked for. Blacks could now ride next to whites and sit anywhere they wanted and not have to give up their seat for a white person.
When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling that segregation was unconstitutional due to the 14th amendment (equal protection under the law), Martin Luther King Jr. wanted people to see it as a victory for justice and democracy, not blacks over whites. King and others wisely instructed blacks to desegregate non-violently and practice doing so with patience, love and forbearance. They even role-played to practice this. King had studied Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent resistance to British rule in India and followed in his foot-steps. Years ago, I saw a movie on Ghandi, and visualizing Ghandi in that movie, I visualized King leading his people to do the same.
I liked this book's attitude that both King and Parks were common people but they had the courage to become visible because of actions they took in response to trying circumstances. There were many, many people who contributed heavily to the start of, and forward movement of the civil rights movement. Many of these people were laborers, students, cooks, and maids, and many of them risked losing their jobs and risked physical harm by boycotting the buses. Due to their courage, steadfastness and belief in equality among all people, these regular people made a difference in their world... then, and today.
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- american history (by 1 person)
- desegregation (by 1 person)
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Similar Items
Related Subjects:(22)
- Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery, Ala., 1955-1956 -- Juvenile literature.
- African Americans -- Civil rights -- Alabama -- Montgomery -- History -- 20th century -- Juvenile literature.
- African Americans -- Alabama -- Montgomery -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.
- Civil rights workers -- Alabama -- Montgomery -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.
- Segregation in transportation -- Alabama -- Montgomery -- History -- 20th century -- Juvenile literature.
- Montgomery (Ala.) -- Race relations -- Juvenile literature.
- Montgomery (Ala.) -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.
- Civil rights movements -- Alabama -- Montgomery -- History -- 20th century -- Juvenile literature.
- Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery, Ala., 1955-1956.
- African Americans -- Civil rights.
- Civil rights workers.
- Montgomery (Ala.) -- Race relations.
- Civil rights movements.
- African Americans.
- Race relations.
- Segregation in transportation.
- Alabama -- Montgomery.
- Montgomery, Alabama -- Race relations.
- African Americans -- Civil rights -- History.
- African Americans -- Biography.
- Civil rights workers -- Biography.
- Segregation -- History.
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