Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970 [Paperback]

Lynne Olson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2002

THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF THE VITAL ROLE

WOMEN -- BOTH BLACK AND WHITE -- PLAYED

IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

In this groundbreaking and absorbing book, credit finally goes where credit is due -- to the bold women who were crucial to the success of the civil rights movement. From the Montgomery bus boycott to the lunch counter sit-ins to the Freedom Rides, Lynne Olson skillfully tells the long-overlooked story of the extraordinary women who were among the most fearless, resourceful, and tenacious leaders of the civil rights movement.

Freedom's Daughters includes portraits of more than sixty women -- many until now forgotten and some never before written about -- from the key figures (Ida B. Wells, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ella Baker, and Septima Clark, among others) to some of the smaller players who represent the hundreds of women who each came forth to do her own small part and who together ultimately formed the mass movements that made the difference. Freedom's Daughters puts a human face on the civil rights struggle -- and shows that that face was often female.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Although men like Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael grabbed the headlines, women provided not just the backbone but frequently the leadership of the civil rights movement, this punchy popular history reminds us. And not just during the 1950s and '60s: Ida Mae Wells spearheaded an international anti-lynching campaign in 1892, Mary White Ovington helped launch the NAACP in 1909, and Pauli Murray led the first sit-in in 1944. The civil rights and feminist movements have been intertwined since the 19th century, notes Lynne Olson, who doesn't flinch from describing the ways in which sex has been used as a weapon to define and divide black and white women. Olson, coauthor of The Murrow Boys, again displays a marvelous knack for knitting sharp individual portraits into a cohesive group biography within a lively, accessible narrative. She makes it clear that women like Rosa Parks, Diane Nash, and Ida Mae Holland were not mere foot soldiers for male generals. Parks's record of civil rights work dated to the 1940s, long before she sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. The 22-year-old Nash revitalized the Freedom Rides after male colleagues nearly abandoned them in the wake of white violence. Holland transformed herself from an 18-year-old prostitute into a determined activist inspired by the older women she called "mamas" who could be seen on the front lines of every march, singing and testifying. Ella Baker, Jo Ann Robinson, Septima Clark, and Fannie Lou Hamer are among the other neglected figures who finally get their due in Olson's moving tribute. --Wendy Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

As Olson recounts it, the day after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, the city's black leaders held a mass meeting to promote a boycott. It was December 1955, and the meeting was packed with ministers and others who wanted to speak, among them Parks. The crowd never heard from her. "You've said enough," one of the leaders told her. And with that, Olson says, Parks became a shining example of the role of women in the Civil Rights movement: they got things started and the men took the spotlight. With a large supply of such examples, Olson, a former Baltimore Sun reporter, showcases in this extensively researched history women like Ida Mae "Cat" Holland, a Mississippi prostitute whose failed attempt to proposition a leader in the voter registration drive of the early 1960s led her to a life of activism and, eventually, a Ph.D. and an academic career. We read about Fannie Lou Hamer, a poorly educated Mississippi native who movement leaders said could get people more worked up than Martin Luther King Jr. Ruby Doris Smith Robinson was the only woman to hold a top leadership job in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Robinson died of cancer at 25, but her female colleagues think what really killed her was her effort to keep the movement together. In simple but engaging prose, Olson offers a stunning portrait gallery of little-known heroines that will appeal to any reader interested in civil rights and women's history, and she explores the psychology behind the relationships between men and women, black and white, throughout a watershed period in American history. (Feb.) Forecast: With two distinct marketsDAf-Am and women's studiesDthis book presents a market opportunity as well as a challenge. Boosted by the inspiring cover image, vigorous targeting to both markets could result in admirable sales.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684850133
• ISBN-13: 978-0684850139
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Current Events > Civil Rights & Liberties

More About the Author

Before Lynne Olson began writing books full time, she worked more than ten years as a journalist, including stints as Moscow correspondent for the Associated Press and White House correspondent for the Baltimore Sun. Four of her five books -- all works of history -- have dealt in some way with London during World War II, a subject which has fascinated her since she co-wrote her first book, "The Murrow Boys," with her husband, Stan Cloud. Her latest book, "Citizens of London," follows in this tradition. Olson has won the Christopher Award and has been shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in history. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Way it Really Was, February 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970 (Paperback)

It seems the anatomy of revolutions is that they metamorphose and become tarnished, and the civil rights movement of the 60s (the Revolution, Baby! as we called it then) was no exception. With history, they become glamorized and give rise to fantasized, self-appointed heroes and revisionism. This book is TRUTH without TARNISH, and sets straight the record devised by many during the past three decades of revisionism. From one who was really there, in Philadelphia Mississippi in early 60's, in again in 64-66, and during FBI investigations, I want to say: FINALLY, someone is telling it like it really was, without revisionism, without glorification of the johnnies who came lately, and without interest in creating a politically correct and marketable commodity. I knew many of the players Ms. Olsen seeks out and interviews, and I take great pride in hearing their story in the unadultuated truth. I also feel such gratification in learning how many of them went on, led lives, continued their educations, raised families and managed to put their disillusionments behind them. It's a source of healing for me, and now I too can perhaps say, at least I thought I was "doing something really important" -- a paraphrase from Diane Nash. I have tried so hard to forget the good times, because the years since have seen the initial dream tarnished and all but destroyed. Now, perhaps, I too can find some pride in what I helped to start, even though now it's clear, the civil rights movement didn't exactly end up the way those who started it intended it. My only regret is some of the truly brave, white women who stood up for their sisters, did not get more time from Ms. Olsen. One of the great heroes was Ms. Florence Mars -- probably the only woman in Neshoba County with a college education at the time -- and but a slight reference in Olsen's book. Her courage was most notable because she was of the white, wealthy elite who had everything to loose and nothing to gain by helping the Freedom Riders and using her own voice to influence. She could have spent her entire life living in her glorious Southern Revivalist house on Poplar Avenue, run her family's lumber business and never taken a chance, or lifted a finger to help. It is not risktaking, it is easy to participate, when one has nothing to loose, risk and can only gain. Ms. Mars didn't have to get involved at all. And, yet, she did -- for as she told Time Magazine when Missippi Burning (alas, revisionism at it's worst!) was filmed and released "it was the right thing to do." I want to go back to Philadelphia and see is Ms. Mars is still alive. She must be 80 now! Did she ever recover from her stroke -- I want to thank her for the greatest of kindness she showed me once in 66. And I want to tell her that I've come to realize that while there were many evil white people in the Southern heirarchy, there were many, many other good white people like her, good white women, and even good white men. People like Judge and Mrs. (Helen Patton) J. Skelley Wright. Thanks to Ms. Olson, for opening up this pandora's box of provocative, truthful thought. Maybe it will start a dialog about the way it really was.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intense and honest, August 10, 2001

By 

henry - See all my reviews

This review is from: Freedom's Daughters: A Juneteenth Story (Hardcover)

This book fills a huge hole in civil rights history literature. Anyone involved in that struggle and other similiar type movements know the huge amount of grunt work that goes into a simple picket line. This work that the men scorned was the backbone of the movement and continues to this day. It shines a light on influential women in civil rights and goes into a their history and struggles. Many of these women have been mentioned in other books but that is all that is done - barely mentioned. In addition, Ms. Olson explores in an extremely honest way the relations between white women and black women and black men. These pages were some of the best writing I ever read on this topic.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Overdue Praise of Black Female Freedom Fighters, May 7, 2001

By 

L. J. Allen (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Freedom's Daughters: A Juneteenth Story (Hardcover)

This text offers a somewhat rare look at Black women that have valiantly struggled for African American Civil and Human Rights throughout our history in America. I was, however, taken aback when I read the editorial review by Wendy Smith who erroneously cited anti-lynching activist and journalist IDA B. WELLS as "Ida Mae Wells"; when such an error is made by a reviewer, you realize just how underexamined the women in this book are. This nearly comprehensive offering is long overdue. This is history that reads like a novel.