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Lighting the fires of freedom : African American women in the civil rights movement / Janet Dewart Bell

Catalog Data

Author:
Bell, Janet Dewart  Search this
Physical description:
224 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
Type:
Biography
Biographies
History
Place:
United States
Date:
2018
20th century
Notes:
Includes index.
Contents:
Leah Chase -- Dr. June Jackson Christmas -- Aileen Hernandez -- Diane Nash -- Judy Richardson -- Kathleen Cleaver -- Gay McDougall -- Gloria Richardson -- Myrlie Evers
Summary:
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.
Topic:
African American women civil rights workers--History  Search this
African American women--Civil rights--History  Search this
Civil rights movements  Search this
Civil rights workers  Search this
African Americans  Search this
Women  Search this
History  Search this
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_1100065