Lighting the Fires of Freedom

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.

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.)