Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice
Pivotal Moments in American History series
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The saga of the Freedom Rides is an improbable, almost unbelievable story. In the course of six months in 1961, four hundred and fifty Freedom Riders expanded the realm of the possible in American politics, redefining the limits of dissent and setting the stage for the civil rights movement. In this new version of his encyclopedic Freedom Riders, Raymond Arsenault offers a significantly condensed and tautly written account. With characters and plot lines rivaling those of the most imaginative fiction, this is a tale of heroic sacrifice and unexpected triumph. Arsenault recounts how a group of volunteers—blacks and whites—came together to travel from Washington DC through the Deep South, defying Jim Crow laws in buses and terminals and putting their lives on the line for racial justice. News photographers captured the violence in Montgomery, shocking the nation and sparking a crisis in the Kennedy administration. Here are the key players—their fears and courage, their determination and second thoughts, and the agonizing choices they faced as they took on Jim Crow—and triumphed.
Liked Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
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Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 Shares nonfiction, civil rights, history -
At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68 Shares history, civil rights, nonfiction -
Freedom Summer: The Savage Season of 1964 That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy Shares history, nonfiction, civil rights -
The Children Shares history, nonfiction, civil rights
“People who read Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice tend to reach for these next.”
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The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches, and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle
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Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi
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Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement
“If you want more of the same (history about civil rights), start with these.”
“If it was the civil rights that hooked you, try one of these.”
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The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement
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Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation
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The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act
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Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63
