Maw Books

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Freedom Walkers, The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman has been on my radar forever.  I’ve checked it out from the library at least three times but this time I was finally able to sit down and read it.  And I cried.  I love books like this.  I don’t know if it’s because it’s written at a middle grade level or what but I’m able to focus on what’s important; I come away feeling like I am a little bit smarter.  And a bit more angry at the awful things we’ve done in this country to others.  In fact, I just finished a 15 minute conversation with my husband about all the stuff I learned from this book.

Freedom Walkers is a wonderful introduction of how the 381-day boycott of the Montgomery Bus system spearheaded the civil rights movement.  Did you know that Rosa Parks was not the first woman to refuse to give up her seat to a white on the bus?  It’s just that she was the first perfect person who would look really, really great in court.  Did you know that a black individual had to get on the bus, pay their ten cent fare and then get off and go around to the rear entrance?  Sometimes the bus driver would take off leaving them behind.  Did you know that during the boycott, donations poured in from across the globe, enough to purchase more than 30 cars to donate to the carpool, which blacks were using as an alternative to riding the bus?

I also learned that blacks weren’t even asking to desegregate buses.  They simply were asking that the line separating blacks from whites not be fluid, that once seated they could not be asked to move when the whites ran out of seats.  Of course, once the case was taken to the Supreme Court, they won a whole lot more than that, the entire bus was desegregated.   I also learned that prior to the Montgomery Bus boycott Martin Luther King hadn’t played much of a role in community affairs.  He proved himself as a natural born leader who would go on to make great strides during the civil rights movement.

Okay, so I feel as though I’m rambling.  I just wanted to share with you the small insights that I had while reading – so in that case, you should just go read it!   Freedom Walkers was a perfect blend of personal stories, historical fact, and photos to take me back to a time and place that I am in utter disbelief  existed in our country.  I walked away with a heartfelt appreciation  for the men, women and children who stood up for their rights and demanded that they be treated as equals.

Russell Freedom concludes:

Parks’s defiance on that December evening in 1955 set in motion a peaceful revolution that led to the death of Jim Crow segregation in the South and brought black Americans into the nation’s political life.  But the success and true impact of the Montgomery boycott depended on the sacrifices and determination of thousands whose names are lost to history – maids, laborers, teachers, students, cooks, and others – ordinary people who rose above the safe routines of their daily lives to become actors in an historical drama that changed a nation.

Highly recommended for younger readers and adults alike to be introduced to the beginnings of the civil rights movement.

Freedom Walkers is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month: Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and  Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

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