Fifty years ago the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed into law.
Most know the name, legacy, and speeches of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King.
And most have heard of his wife Coretta Scott King and activist Rosa Parks. But what about the countless other women involved with the Civil Rights Moveme ...more
So many great women in this book! I really appreciated that you felt like you were hearing directly from them. So much history. This book really provided a widespread look at the different parts of the movement. ...more
I love how this book sheds light on strong black women who fought for social justice and in their own way, contributed to the civil rights movement in America. These are women whose stories we've barely heard of, yet they exude such strength, wisdom and character. Thank you NetGalley for the advance ...more
"Bad ass women in history who deserved a million times more recognition than they got" is a genre I enjoy.
I was fairly familiar with a few of the women featured here, but only marginally so with the others, so it was great to learn more about them and their work and activism. Much of the historical ...more
I truly appreciate this author’s purpose and the very considered, deliberate decisions she made with this book. I loved getting to know these trailblazing women! After watching an interview with the author, I understand her choice to not edit the interviews and leave them in the voices of the subjec ...more
I enjoyed reading about some of the figures that aren’t known as well. It can be easy to just care about the well-known people, while forgetting that the movement required many people in order for there to be progress. This book encouraged me so much. It made me think of Newton’s quote “If I have se ...more
Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement by Janet Dewart Bell highlights how often women get written out of the collective history with this collection of mini-memoirs about women instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement. I've read many books over the past ...more
I purchased this book and began reading it for a research paper about the impact of African American Women during the Civil Rights Movement. It was a really insightful read. I enjoyed reading the interviews with each woman. I particularly enjoyed learning about Leah Chase and her restaurant in New O ...more
This was a fantastic, inspiring read! At first I saw it as a way to learn about black women whose stories and contributions to the Civil Rights Movement had been omitted from the historical record. And the book definitely helps to fill that void. But I quickly realized that even those women whose na ...more
Among all the "important" people books I've been reading in the past couple of years, most are mini-biographies. This book standards out not because of the subject but because of the format: 9 interviews with women who were active if not widely known as leaders in the Civil Rights Movement in the 19 ...more
This book showcases the strong African American Women that worked so hard during the Civil Rights Movement It is sad that until I read this book, I did not know anything about these fierce women. Kudos to the author for bringing this book to us for our knowledge. A wonderful tribute to these strong ...more
If you're looking for a primary source for a research paper, this is great. These women explain in their own words their feelings about the movement and their place in it. Alternatively, they explain it in their own words. Which can be slow or circular at times. While I admire an oral history as muc ...more
A wonderful book from the perspective of 9 women who deserve considerably more recognition for their work in the civil rights movement. Though at times a little hard to understand, as the book is mostly transcripts from interviews, it paints a picture of women hungry for freedoms and rights unfairly ...more
I teach high school history and was hoping to find inspiration and more information for the civil rights unit. This book met both requirements. These stories have been untold fir too long. Lighting the Fires of Freedom is proof that it is the ordinary person who can change the world. ...more