“Something much greater than the sum if its parts, a taut and vivid narrative on an epic scale—compelling—marvelously diverse.”— Los Angeles Times
“A vast choral pageant that recounts the momentous work of the civil rights struggle.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Utterly fascinating. Voices of Freedom tells the greatest American story ever told. These voices are extraordinary. So is the book.”— Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides
“Through the words of the victims, the villains, and the victorious, who together changed the course of America’s sadly racist history. Voices of Freedom gives us the opportunity to glimpse the shining spirits of our heroic people, black and white, female and male, often through chuckles and often through tears.”—Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple
Table of Contents
Preface: Toward a More Perfect Union
Acknowledgments
Project Notes
Prologue
1. Emmett Till, 1955: “I Wanted the Whole World to See”
2. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-6: “Like a Revival Starting”
3. The Little Rock Crisis, 1957-58: “I Had Cracked the Wall”
4. Student Sit-ins in Nashville, 1960: “A Badge of Honor”
5. Freedom Rides, 1961: “Sticks and Bricks”
6. Albany, Georgia, 1961-2: “The Mother Lode”
7. James Meredity Enters Ole Miss, 1962: “Things Would Never Be the Same”
8. Birmingham, 1963: “Something Has Got to Change”
9. Organizing in Mississippi, 1961-3: “The Reality of What We Were Doing Hit Me”
10. The March on Washington, 1963: “They Voted with Their Feet”
11. The Sixteenth Street Church Bombing, 1963: “You Realized How Intense the Opposition Was”
12. Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964: “Representation and the Right to Participate” 13. Selma, 1965: “Troopers, Advance”
14. Malcolm X (1925-1965): “Our Own Black Shining Prince!”
15. The Lowndes County Freedom Organization, 1965-6: “Vote for the Panther, Then Go Home”
16. The Meredith March, 1966: “Hit Them Now”
17. Chicago, 1966: “Chicago Was a Symbol”
18. Muhammad Ali, 1964-7 “His Philosophy Made It Impossible Not to Take a Stand”
20. Birth of the Black Panthers, 1966-7: “We Wanted Control!”
21. Detroit, 1967: “Inside of Most Black People There Was a Time Bomb”
22. The Election of Carl Stokes, 1967: “We Had to Be Organized”
23. Howard University, 1967-8: “You Saw the Silhouette of Her Afro”
24. King’s Last Crusade, 1967-8: “We’ve Got Some Difficult Days Ahead”
25. Resurrection City, 1968: “The End of a Major Battle”
26. Ocean Hill-Brownsville, 1967-8: “Everything Became More Political”
27. The Black Panthers, 1968-9: “How Serious and Deadly the Game”
28. Attica and Prisoners’ Rights, 1971: “There’s Always Time to Die”
29. The Gary Convention, 1972: “Unity Without Uniformity”
30. Busing in Boston, 1974-6: “As if Some Alien Was Coming into the School”
31. Atlanta and Affirmative Action, 1973-80: “The Politics of Inclusion”
Epilogue: From Miami to America’s Future
For Further Reading
“Eyes on the Prize”
Project Staff and Funders
Index
