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Lighting the Fires of Freedom

African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize

Recommended by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Book Riot and Autostraddle

Nominated for a 2019 NAACP Image Award, a groundbreaking collection of profiles of African American women leaders in the twentieth-century fight for civil rights

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 Lighting the Fires of Freedom 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. Lighting the Fires of Freedom 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.

A vital document for understanding the Civil Rights Movement, Lighting the Fires of Freedom is an enduring testament to the vitality of women's leadership during one of the most dramatic periods of American history.

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    • Library Journal

      June 15, 2018

      Social justice advocate Bell offers the stories of nine African American women involved in the civil rights movement. These women, many of whom are now in their nineties, discuss their upbringing, schooling, and influences. Leah Chase, proprietor of the restaurant Dooky Chase's in New Orleans, a popular meeting place for civil rights leaders, offers valuable insight into the importance of education. Myrlie Evers and Kathleen Cleaver, whose husbands were at the forefront of civil rights, took on active leadership roles in their own right. Bell also interviews Dr. June Jackson Christmas, who became a major figure in psychiatry, and Gay McDougall, who campaigned for human rights and antiapartheid activism. What these brave women all have in common is humility and a belief that through working together, African American life can be improved and changed for the better. VERDICT Through the words of these women, Bell suggests that all of us can make a difference in our communities. An important book that should be read in all schools and wherever discussion of social issues takes place.--Amy Lewontin, Northeastern Univ. Lib., Boston

      Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      April 1, 2018
      Bell, an activist with a doctorate in leadership and social change, an award-winning producer, and the widow of the famed Harvard law professor, Derrick Bell (Silent Covenants, 2004), provides a fresh and revealing oral history of the civil rights movement as told by nine African American women. Each subject describes her personal experiences and what her participation meant to her, her family, and her community. The reader is drawn deeply into the lives of these courageous women, some of whom are well-known, such as Myrlie Evers, widow of Medgar Evers; former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver; and Diane Nash of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The others, less-familiar but no less compelling activists?Leah Chase, June Jackson Christmas, Aileen Hernandez, Judy Richardson, Gay McDougall, and Gloria Richardson?tell striking and fascinating stories that greatly enrich our appreciation of the crucial roles women of diverse backgrounds played in the pivotal fight for civil rights.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

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  • English

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