Cover image for Lighting the fires of freedom : African American women in the civil rights movement
Lighting the fires of freedom : African American women in the civil rights movement
Title:
Lighting the fires of freedom : African American women in the civil rights movement
Author:
Bell, Janet Dewart, author.
ISBN:
9781620973356
Personal Author:
Publication Information:
New York : The New Press, 2018.
Physical Description:
224 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
General Note:
Includes index.
Contents:
Leah Chase -- Dr. June Jackson Christmas -- Aileen Hernandez -- Diane Nash -- Judy Richardson -- Kathleen Cleaver -- Gay McDougall -- Gloria Richardson -- Myrlie Evers.
Abstract:
Through wide-ranging conversations with nine African American women-- several now in their nineties-- Bell has created an oral history that shines a light on their significant contributions in the twentieth-century fight for civil rights. An enduring testament to the vitality of women's all-too-often overlooked achievements while doing the work that needed to be done. -- adapted from jacket.

"During the Civil Rights Movement, African American women did not stand on ceremony; they simply did the work that needed to be done. Yet despite their significant contributions at all levels of the Movement, they remain mostly invisible to the larger public. Beyond Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, most Americans would be hard-pressed to name other leaders at the community, local, and national levels. In [this book] Janet Dewart Bell shines a light on women's all-too-often overlooked achievements in the Movement. Through wide-ranging conversations with nine women, several now in their nineties with decades of untold stories, we hear what ignited and fueled their activism, as Bell vividly captures their inspiring voices. [This book] offers these deeply personal and intimate accounts of extraordinary struggles for justice that resulted in profound social change, stories that are vital and relevant today. Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, [this book] is a crucial document for understanding the Civil Rights Movement and an enduring testament to the vitality of women's leadership during one of the most dramatic periods of American history."--Dust jacket.
Document ID:
SD_ILS:2317310
Holds: Copies: