Walking To The Bus Rider Blues

Alfa knows that the only way to make any real change happen for him and his family is to follow the lead of Martin Luther King, Jr. and boycott the bus in an effort to non-violently protest the treatment he and his community face on a daily basis.

Harriette Gillem Robinet was born and raised in Washington, D.C., graduated from the College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York, and completed graduate studies in microbiology at Catholic University, Washington, D.C.

As part of her research, she visited Montgomery, Alabama, in the same week of June that this story occurs, but forty-one years later. The natural beauty of Montgomery -- the Alabama River, magnolia and crepe myrtle trees, holly bushes, rolling hills -- impressed her. The warm friendliness of people touched her heart. Montgomery was a grand setting for the first steps in the glorious civil rights struggle.

She and her husband, McLouis Robinet, live in Oak Park, Illinois, and have six adult children and four grandchildren.

She is the author of several books about young African-Americans in historical settings, including Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award.