There Comes a Time: The Struggle for Civil Rights (Landmark Books) [Paperback]

Milton Meltzer (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Landmark Books

Historian, scholar, and award-winning author Milton Meltzer outlines the struggle of African Americans for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, "starting with the landing of the first slave ships on colonial shores. How did over 300 years of slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow laws come to an end in the civil rights movement of the 1960s? What was achieved, and what are the problems still facing us today?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This impressive survey of the civil rights movement spans the Middle Passage and extends to the compromises of modern presidents. Meltzer (Langston Hughes; Lincoln in His Own Words) begins with college freshman Joseph McNeill, who in 1960 staged the first lunch-counter sit-in in Greensboro, N.C. Thus Meltzer places a human face on the commitment and determination necessary to shift centuries of discrimination. With concrete biographical examples such as these, Meltzer then makes larger points about the movement's momentum; for example he extrapolates from Rosa Parks's role in 1955 Montgomery, Ala.: "Out of the bus boycott came something newAnonviolent resistanceAthat people of any color, creed, or class would find enormously helpful in bringing about social change." Several chapters conclude with discussions of single topics, such as "Why Direct Action," which excerpts Martin Luther King Jr.'s powerful "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and the history behind the term "Black Power." Meltzer, unafraid to take a stand, argues that with King's death, "the civil rights movement, already torn by dissent within it, lost its unity of purpose," and further asserts that no president after Nixon "did much to improve conditions for the disinherited." He concludes with a look to the future and a call to action, stating, "Democracy is not what we have: IT IS WHAT WE DO." Ages 10-up. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5 Up-This concise, informational overview of the civil rights movement in America opens with four brave young men sitting at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, on January 31, 1960, and then goes back more than 300 years to the roots of slavery. Meltzer details centuries of African-American history with an immediacy that keeps readers turning the pages. The writing is clear and straightforward, making it accessible and appealing. For today's students who did not live through the '50s and '60s, some of the events that dramatically unfold will seem like fiction, but the lengthy bibliography attests to its accuracy. This is nonfiction at its best. Meltzer examines all facets of the civil rights struggle and the history of racism in this country. His perceptive account will cause readers to think critically about where we have been and where we are going as a nation. Well-captioned black-and-white photos appear throughout. A must for all collections, and a fine companion to Mary Turck's The Civil Rights Movement for Kids (Chicago Review, 2000).
Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, IL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (January 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375804145
• ISBN-13: 978-0375804144
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,661,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great, short history, January 24, 2001

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: There Comes a Time: The Struggle for Civil Rights (Landmark Books) (Hardcover)

This book is a great, short history of the battle for civil rights for African Americans. Beginning with the arrival of the first African slaves at Jamestown in 1619, and continuing through to today. The history ends with a chapter spelling out the author's plan for future civil rights action, and then follows a wonderful timeline of important dates and events in the fight for civil rights.

This book is intended for children, but makes a great read for anyone interested in the history of civil rights in the United States. The book is not written with dispassion, there is for example a reference to "Gestapo-like" policemen. But, considering the events that are being recounted, it is hard to imagine how dispassion could possibly be maintained. Overall, this is a very good book, one that I highly recommend.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book... for children and adults, May 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: There Comes a Time: The Struggle for Civil Rights (Landmark Books) (Paperback)

This book does a wonderful job of presenting facts in a style that is easy for its target audience (middle schoolers) to understand. The length of the book is appropriate for the target audience, and the within its few score pages it is able to give a concise but complete history of the struggle for human rights in America.

In addition to providing adequately to its target audience, however, the book provides a good overview to adults who are looking for the main facts and little more.

Some might be detracted from the book by what they perceive as its political slant. I found the slant (if you could call it that) appropriate, however. The book highlights the fact that the cause for black people in America did not end in the 1960's.

There is still an income disparity, and the statistical probability of a black man being incarcerated for committing a crime is (should be?) shameful for America. The link between poverty and crime is well established, it's about time that the link between skin colour and poverty was acknowledged. This book aims to make children aware of the fact that the battle for black people in America is not over and that complacency is folly.

1 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DULL BOOK ON A TIRED SUBJECT, October 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: There Comes a Time: The Struggle for Civil Rights (Landmark Books) (Hardcover)

Have we not indoctrinated the children of America enough on this irrelevent subject? More division is not what our nation needs, yet Meltzer drags out this collection of sorry cliches to keep alive the racial divide that separates our society. If there is racism in America today, it is directed at white Christian males--the only group still permitted to suffer discrimination. This book is representitive of the bilge that wins Newberry Awards--demonstrating that children's book are as brain dead as the "important" tomes reviewed in the New York Times Book Review Magazine.