Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement Book

A powerful trilogy concludes with a look at both famous and lesser-known forces in the ongoing struggle for civil rights.

In the summer of 1955, Moses Wright braved mortal danger to testify against three white men accused of murdering Emmett Till — a brutal event that helped to spur the American civil rights movement. Nine black teenagers in Little Rock, Arkansas, headed out to a formerly white high school, despite warnings that "blood will run in the streets." James Lawson trained activists not to fight back with fists or words, no matter how many billy clubs rained down on them. Through ten turbulent years, black southerners filled jails and public places with the songs and strength passed down from their ancestors. This final book in a trilogy about the African-American experience is a tribute to the crusaders for equality and peace in America, a crusade that continues to this day.

Children's Literature

Kwanzaa brings a chance to reflect on the Seven Principles or, in Swahili, Nguzo Saba, of African culture that can help contribute to the building of family, community and culture. This title exemplifies the principles of unity and self-determination. In the face of loss and fear, African Americans fought steadfastly in the late 1950s and 60s for the rights accorded all Americans under the Constitution. By including lesser known figures with heroes such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, the author emphasizes the importance of everyone who participated. Powerful, indeed, were 8-year-old Sheyann Webb, marching in Selma, Alabama, and Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper who lost home and job trying to register to vote and went on to work for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Rappaport, who taught in a Mississippi freedom school in 1965, punctuates her text with the freedom songs that served as a rallying force, whether sung in jails, in churches or during protest marches. Illustrator Evans bears eloquent testimony to the struggle with images that range in mood from the grief of mourners at the open casket of murder victim Emmett Till to the determination of women organizing boycotts of segregated buses to the vibrant courage of marchers with upraised fists on the front cover. A compelling rendering of a turning point in American history.