Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement

by Janet Dewart Bell

Overview

Recommended by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Book Riot and Autostraddle

Nominated for a 2019 NAACP Image Award, a groundbreaking collection of profiles of African American women leaders in the twentieth-century fight for civil rights

During the Civil Rights Movement, African American women did not stand on ceremony; they simply did the work that needed to be done. Yet despite their significant contributions at all levels of the movement, they remain mostly invisible to the larger public. Beyond Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, most Americans would be hard-pressed to name other leaders at the community, local, and national levels.

In Lighting the Fires of Freedom Janet Dewart Bell shines a light on women's all-too-often overlooked achievements in the Movement. Through wide-ranging conversations with nine women, several now in their nineties with decades of untold stories, we hear what ignited and fueled their activism, as Bell vividly captures their inspiring voices. Lighting the Fires of Freedom offers these deeply personal and intimate accounts of extraordinary struggles for justice that resulted in profound social change, stories that are vital and relevant today.

A vital document for understanding the Civil Rights Movement, Lighting the Fires of Freedom is an enduring testament to the vitality of women's leadership during one of the most dramatic periods of American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620973356
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Janet Dewart Bell is a social justice activist with a doctorate in leadership and change from Antioch University. She founded the Derrick Bell Lecture on Race in American Society series at the New York University School of Law and is the author of Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement and Blackbirds Singing: Inspiring Black Women’s Speeches from the Civil War to the Twenty-First Century and the co-editor (with Vincent M. Southerland) of Carving Out a Humanity and Race, Rights, and Redemption (all published by The New Press). An award-winning television and radio producer, she lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Interviews include:

Leah Chase – New Orleans

June Jackson Christmas – New York City

Alleen Hernandez (deceased)

Diane Nash – Chicago

Judy Richardson

Kathleen Cleaver – Atlanta

Gay McDougall – New York City

Gloria Richardson – New York City

Myrlie Evers - Pomona, California

Editorial Reviews

04/02/2018
Social justice advocate and television and radio producer Bell deploys impressive interviewing skills in this valuable collection of oral histories of nine female civil rights activists. They played important roles in the movement, yet, as Bell observes, “too often they remain invisible to the larger public.” Her goal, which she mostly achieves, is to restore their visibility. The book does not, however, give sufficient historical context about the movement or their lives to make clear to an uninitiated reader the circumstances within which the women operated. Fortunately, the interviews are gems, full of passion and commitment (“I was shy. I felt that the people in the Second Ward... spoke through me, and that allowed me to take action”). Some names might spark recognition, including Aileen Hernandez, the first African-American woman appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Kathleen Cleaver, who sat on the Central Committee of the Black Panther Party. The lesser-known women are equally fascinating, and their experiences attest to the wide-ranging projects of the civil rights movement: Dr. June Christmas fought housing discrimination in New York City in the 1950s; Judy Richardson gave up a four-year scholarship at Swarthmore to work in a Freedom School in Mississippi in 1964. This is a valuable and enlightening companion to other accounts of the movement. Photos. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Lighting the Fires of Freedom:
A “New & Noteworthy” selection of The New York Times

One of Book Riot's “29 Amazing New Books Coming in 2018”

One of Autostraddle's “65 Queer and Feminist Books to Read in 2018”

“There is a memoir or autobiography in each of these women. But they are perhaps too modest to lift themselves up, which is why Bell’s book is so valuable.”
—The Washington Post

“Bell reminds readers that one story is never enough to truly explain a movement.”
—Shelf Awareness

“Social justice advocate and television and radio producer Bell deploys impressive interviewing skills in this valuable collection of oral histories of nine female civil rights activists. . . . This is a valuable and enlightening companion to other accounts of the movement.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A fresh and revealing oral history of the civil rights movement as told by nine African American women . . . striking and fascinating stories that greatly enrich our appreciation of the crucial roles women of diverse backgrounds played in the pivotal fight for civil rights.”
—Booklist

“Candid testimony from impressive and influential women.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Polls and election results confirm that black women lead in supporting racial and gender equality. Lighting the Fires of Freedom helps to complete history, explain the present, and guide us to the future—through the voices and wisdom of some of the black women who co-created the Civil Rights Movement.”
—Gloria Steinem

“Another important and critical contribution to the historical and present day story of #BlackGirlMagic.”
—Rashad Robinson, executive director, Color of Change

“All Americans need to know the stories of the brave women so beautifully profiled in Janet Dewart Bell's important new book, Lighting the Fires of Freedom. Today's generation of activists fighting for racial justice will be inspired and strengthened by reading her book and learning about the leadership and courage of these incredible women who were 'woke' before anyone ever used that word.”
—Roger Hickey, co-director, Campaign for America's Future

“Janet Dewart Bell's compelling oral history, Lighting the Fires of Freedom, captures the unique voices of nine intrepid women who, each in her own way, contributed grit, love, strength, strategy, spirit, and a formidable personal commitment to the struggle for racial rights and dignity that have yet to be fully realized (and are now regressing by the minute). Today's activists have much to learn from these amazing women. You’ll wish you'd marched side by side with every one of them.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin, co-founding editor of Ms. magazine and author of Growing Up Free and Deborah, Golda, and Me: Being Female and Jewish in America

“A primer and an inspiration for anyone looking to make their mark during these times of change and uncertainty.”
—Juhu Thukral, human rights lawyer and inaugural speaker, Anita Hill Lecture Series

“A must-read for anyone interested in race, gender, class, American political development, the Civil Rights Movement, and the power of social change.”
—Christina M. Greer, PhD, associate professor of political science at Fordham University

From the Publisher

2018-03-05
African-American women contributed significantly to the campaign for racial justice.An Emmy-winning TV and radio producer, social justice activist Bell makes her literary debut with a revealing collection of oral histories by nine African-American women prominent in the civil rights movement. Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the book follows the careers of New Orleans chef and restaurant owner Leah Chase; psychiatrist June Jackson Christmas; Aileen Hernandez, the first African-American president of the National Organization of Women; Diane Nash, who helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; Judy Richardson, co-founder of Drum and Spear bookstore and Drum and Spear Press, devoted to publishing and promoting African-American literature; Kathleen Cleaver, the first woman to serve on the Central Committee of the Black Panther Party; Gay McDougall, an international human rights activist who focused on ending apartheid in South Africa; Gloria Richardson, whom Ebony magazine called "the Lady General of Civil Rights"; and Myrlie Evers, widow of slain activist Medgar Evers, who later served as chair of the NAACP. Common to all were a spirit of determination and unflagging resilience as they struggled against racism and sexism. Christmas, for example, faced prejudice growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when she discovered that a Girl Scout camp and the YWCA both had racial prohibitions. At Vassar, as one of two African-American girls, she was advised that it would "be best for you if you don't have a roommate." Later, she was one of seven women in her medical school class and, again, one of two African-Americans. She was denied a residency at New York Hospital, told that "men would be very disturbed by you and stimulated by you." Most, like McDougall, were raised in a family "where caring and addressing a situation was important." They were expected to pursue an education, and many ended up at prestigious schools—Swarthmore, Barnard, Yale, Bennington, Howard—where classes and extracurricular activities fueled their motivation.Candid testimony from impressive and influential women.

Kirkus Reviews