Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970

So much was happening and so many strong women (and girls!) were working so hard for humane treatment while I was a youngster thousands of miles away. The least I can do in their honor is to tell others to read this book and learn!

It seems the anatomy of revolutions is that they metamorphose and become tarnished, and the civil rights movement of the 60s (the Revolution, Baby! as we called it then) was no exception. With history, they become glamorized and give rise to fantasized, self-appointed heroes and revisionism. This book is TRUTH without TARNISH, and sets straight the record devised by many during the past three decades of revisionism. From one who was really there, in Philadelphia Mississippi in early 60's, in again in 64-66, and during FBI investigations, I want to say: FINALLY, someone is telling it like it really was, without revisionism, without glorification of the johnnies who came lately, and without interest in creating a politically correct and marketable commodity. I knew many of the players Ms. Olsen seeks out and interviews, and I take great pride in hearing their story in the unadultuated truth. I also feel such gratification in learning how many of them went on, led lives, continued their educations, raised families and managed to put their disillusionments behind them. It's a source of healing for me, and now I too can perhaps say, at least I thought I was "doing something really important" -- a paraphrase from Diane Nash. I have tried so hard to forget the good times, because the years since have seen the initial dream tarnished and all but destroyed. Now, perhaps, I too can find some pride in what I helped to start, even though now it's clear, the civil rights movement didn't exactly end up the way those who started it intended it. My only regret is some of the truly brave, white women who stood up for their sisters, did not get more time from Ms. Olsen. One of the great heroes was Ms. Florence Mars -- probably the only woman in Neshoba County with a college education at the time -- and but a slight reference in Olsen's book. Her courage was most notable because she was of the white, wealthy elite who had everything to loose and nothing to gain by helping the Freedom Riders and using her own voice to influence. She could have spent her entire life living in her glorious Southern Revivalist house on Poplar Avenue, run her family's lumber business and never taken a chance, or lifted a finger to help. It is not risktaking, it is easy to participate, when one has nothing to loose, risk and can only gain. Ms. Mars didn't have to get involved at all. And, yet, she did -- for as she told Time Magazine when Missippi Burning (alas, revisionism at it's worst!) was filmed and released "it was the right thing to do." I want to go back to Philadelphia and see is Ms. Mars is still alive. She must be 80 now! Did she ever recover from her stroke -- I want to thank her for the greatest of kindness she showed me once in 66. And I want to tell her that I've come to realize that while there were many evil white people in the Southern heirarchy, there were many, many other good white people like her, good white women, and even good white men.

This text offers a somewhat rare look at Black women that have valiantly struggled for African American Civil and Human Rights throughout our history in America. I was, however, taken aback when I read the editorial review by Wendy Smith who erroneously cited anti-lynching activist and journalist IDA B. WELLS as "Ida Mae Wells"; when such an error is made by a reviewer, you realize just how underexamined the women in this book are. This nearly comprehensive offering is long overdue. This is history that reads like a novel.

"Freedom's Daughters, The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement From 1830 to 1970" brings to light the names, known and unknown of the countless women who carried the civil rights struggle on their shoulders. From the early Underground Railroad conductors, such as Harriet Tubman (who would brandish a gun at hesitant or frightened slaves who stating "You'll be free or die") to First Lady Eleanore Roosevelt, to the firebrand radicals of the 70's...all aspects are opened to view. The practice of slave owners using their black slaves sexually, and the dehumanization of blacks. The split in the early suffergette movement, when some women couldn't support voting rights for black men. The rise of brutal lynchings, excused by the fear that black men would rape white women. The constant battle of "are we pushing enough, or not enough?". The real threat of jail and beatings and death. The delicate balance that had to be maintained between women and men in the civil rights movement. All these sensitive subjects are discussed. The true heroines of this book are the women who took the first steps, despite the certain retribution that awaited them. Women who spoke out on the horror of lynching. Women who sought equal education despite race and sex. Women who walked instead of riding the Montgomery buses. Women who walked into lunch counters and diners and asked to be waited on. Women who opened their homes and what little they had to Freedom Riders. Women who spent countless hours trying to encourage others to register to vote, to continue with education, to face the uncertain future with dignity. These names should be household names, Ida Wells, Jo Ann Robinson, Virginia Durr, Pauli Murray, Lillian Smith, Ella Baker, Diane Nash, Casey Haden, Anne Braden, the children of McComb, Missippi, Septima Clark, Fannie Lou Hamer, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Penny Patch, Laura McGhee, Annell Ponder, June Johnson, Joyce and Dori Ladner, Gloria Richardson, Mary Dora Jones, Annie Mae King, Hazel Brannon Smith, Viola Luzzio, Eleanore Holmes Norton, Martha Griffiths, Shirley Chisom, Ruby Doris Smith Robinson, Annie Devine, Unita Blackwell, Ida Wells, Sarah Johnson, Johnnie Carr, Ida Mae Holland, Joan Browning, Cornelia Smith, Fitzgerald, Mary Church Terrell, and others who worked at their side....women who saw a great wrong and did what they could to right that wrong. It is a revelation that so many people made a choice to act in whatever way they could. It is inspiring to temporarily share their history. This is a comprehensive and unflinching look at a shameful portion of our history and a story that still reverberates today.

Olson's book is wonderful -- a real eye-opener for someone like me, who thought Martin Luther King did it all (almost) single-handedly. Olson tells a harrowing, spellbinding story of the women behind the scenes, both black and white, who were the core of the civil rights movement. She also explains the very good reasons why these women were (sometimes) content to let the men take the credit and be the public face of the movement. As one of the women who organized the Freedom Riders later said, if the civil rights movement had happened after the women's movement, she never would have let the men get away with being so condescending to her. This is a real page-turner and a tribute to these powerful women. I almost said "fearless," but they sure had their fears, which were completely justified -- they just let the sentiment that "this has to stop -- now" overpower their fears.The sad part of this story is the vitriolic hatred of Americans (and not just Southerners) for people of color, and the tolerance of the shocking violence and denial of rights perpetrated upon them. To read about how parents held their children up so they could see Freedom Riders, some of them teenagers themselves, being beaten nearly to death in Alabama and Mississippi was horrifying. Sickening. Shameful.