Oh, Freedom!: Kids Talk About the Civil Rights Movement with the People Who Made It Happen: (Foreword by Rosa Parks) - Hardcover

Casey King; Linda Barrett Osborne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679858563 ISBN 13: 9780679858560

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1997

Synopsis

A personal look at the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in a provocative and engrossing book that is filled with passionate stories and important information. Choosing from 500 interviews that fourth graders from Washington, D.C., conducted with their parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends, the authors compiled a historical account of how ordinary people made a difference during the civil rights movement. With a forward by Rosa Parks, Oh, Freedom! also includes interviews with a few legendary participants, including James Farmer (organizer of the Freedom Rides) and Walter Fauntroy (chairman of the March on Washington). Besides the dozens of archival photographs of important moments during the movement, readers will see photographic portraits of the kids and adults who took part in the interviews, In addition, three introductory essays detail each phase of the movement. Educators, librarians, and parents will be thrilled to have such an appealing and unique book to share with children.  

THE STORY:
In 1989, author Casey King was a 4th grade teacher in Washington, DC.  His class, comprised mostly of African-American students, knew little about the modern civil rights movement. Without a satisfactory text on the movement from which to teach, he decided that the kids should learn their history first hand. So, he sent them out to interview the people who were really there.  The kids came back with truly wonderful stories -- many of the parents, grandparents, and friends interviewed had never before had the opportunity to share their stories with their children.

THE BOOK:
There are 31 interviews that cover three main areas of the movement:  life under segregation, the nonviolent movement, and the black power movement. Everyone is here -- regular, ordinary people who dedicated themselves to the cause of freedom and the fight for equality, and even a few of the better known people whose names we hear and associate with Martin Luther King, or with the Freedom Rides, or with other familiar aspects of the movement. In her foreword, Rosa Parks writes, "I can't think of anything more important to teach young people today than this: that ordinary people working together can change history." Through warm, down-to-earth interviews with children, readers will meet people who lived in the segregated south, people who took part in sit-ins, people who were jailed for protesting, and people who found strength they never knew they had. They will meet a member of the Black Panthers, a woman who witnessed the assassination of Malcolm X, and a former Ku Klux Klansman. In addition, there are three introductory essays which provide background information to help kids to better understand the context of the interviews.  Also included are portraits of the people in each interview and over 40 archival photographs of important moments during the movement.

About this title

About the Author

Casey King is a writer and an award-winning documentary filmmaker who founded the Tanner Film Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting racial harmony through the media. He has taught in Washington, D.C. schools. This is his first children's book.

Linda Barrett Osborne is an award-winning short story writer, an editor, and a book reviewer for both The Washington Post and the New York Times.

From the Back Cover

ook at the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in a provocative and engrossing book that is filled with passionate stories and important information. Choosing from 500 interviews that fourth graders from Washington, D.C., conducted with their parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends, the authors compiled a historical account of how ordinary people made a difference during the civil rights movement. With a forward by Rosa Parks, Oh, Freedom! also includes interviews with a few legendary participants, including James Farmer (organizer of the Freedom Rides) and Walter Fauntroy (chairman of the March on Washington). Besides the dozens of archival photographs of important moments during the movement, readers will see photographic portraits of the kids and adults who took part in the interviews, In addition, three introductory essays detail each phase of the movement. Educators, librarians, and parents will be thrilled to have such an appealing and unique book to share with childr

Reviews

Grade 4-8. A unique collection of oral histories about the civil rights movement that grew out of a fourth-grade assignment. The 31 interviews, all conducted by children, are organized into three sections: "Life Under Segregation," "The Movement to End Legalized Segregation," and "The Struggle to End Poverty and Discrimination." Each part of the book is introduced by background information that provides a thorough historical context. The interviews are brief?usually two pages?and include a black-and-white photo of the student and the interviewee. In addition, well-chosen historical photos support the text. They are especially powerful when they depict the subject participating in the activities that he or she describes. Some civil rights notables appear, such as James Farmer, but most of the participants are parents or other relatives and friends. Each one has a unique perspective, such as the minister of an interracial church who is a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, and an Asian-American woman who worked for civil rights because of her experiences in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. This book is important for the stories it tells, the pictures it shows, and especially for its prevailing message?that we are all a part of history, and we can all share and appreciate one another's experiences.?Marilyn (Makowski) Heath, Greenwood High School, SC
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 5^-9. In 31 lively interviews, children ask family members, friends, and neighbors about the part they played in the civil rights movement. With each interview, there are informal photos of the child and adult talking and also dramatic documentary photos of the historic events they are talking about. The interviews are arranged in three sections, each introduced by a long historical photo-essay: life under segregation, the movement to end legalized segregation, and the continuing struggle to end poverty and discrimination. The essays are sophisticated, clearly for older readers and for teachers who want to fill in the historical background; but the interviews will grab elementary-grade readers. Both children and adults speak directly with strong individual voices ("Kids? They attacked kids?"). Some are colloquial ("Oh, my God, Mommy, that's terrible"); some, more formal. The book design is handsome and readable, with thick paper, lots of white space, and stirring photographs on nearly every page. The interviewing process is part of the appeal--several kids speak as if they were "live" on the radio or on TV. The respect given both the reporters and their subjects will stir interest in the civil rights movement and in local oral history projects. There is a bibliography of books, videos, and recordings as well as a chronology. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679858563
• ISBN 13: 9780679858560
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 137