Reviews for Freedom's children

The average rating for Freedom's children based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-06-30 00:00:00 Peter Barrows This book shows exactly how much of a drawn out concerted effort the fight for equal rights was in the 50's and 60's. These are stories of young people, college students who are just normal people who have had enough and had some direction on what to do to change an unfair, unjust society. The South truly is and was a backwards bastion of white hate, prejudice and apathy. The book proves how there were a small minority of whites who actively fought the civil rights movement-they were usually in positions of power. But more disturbing was the percentage of whites who continued to follow the example set by their ancestors of believing blacks inferior. These whites discouraged and ostracized whites in the south from also organizing to end Jim Crow. They believed blacks should "know their place". In light of the recent Supreme Court decision ending enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, this book is particularly relevant. It proves that in order for the South to change the Federal government must intercede to enforce equality and the constitution. If the federal government hadn't of federalized national guard troops or sent in the FBI to investigate the murders of activists, then the South never would've changed on its own regardless of the efforts of the movement. This pattern has shown itself since the Civil War. When the Federal government relaxes enforcement the South reverts back to its bigoted ways and squashes constitutional rights. The conclusion is: the South CANNOT govern itself. They are like children living in a "Lord of the Flies" style existence without federal intervention. Now Texas and other states have ALREADY moved to restrict voting rights.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-01-24 00:00:00 Donald Dietrich This was generally solid. I have a preference for first-person source history, and this one prioritized the voices of the young activists, and managed to do so in a way that made sense as an overall discussion of the civil rights movement.