Freedom's Children Book Summary

Freedom's Children, a book taking place throughout the civil rights movement, shows the pain and stuggle that African Americans had to endure simply because of the color of their skin. In the text, thirty African-Americans who were either young children or growing teenagers give their first hand accounts of racial discrimination. Using information from the first hand accounts of participants in famous struggles that took place in Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi, Levine, the author, is able to put together a novel that is powerful and eye-opening. Levine seeks out African Americans who were children at the time of the Civil Right Movement, and asks about their experiences with segregation and racism and how they dealt with it. They
talk about how they tried to fight segregation and discrimination in the South. Their actions would vary from sitting in a white only restaurant, demanding they be served. Or sitting in the front of the bus and refuse to give up their seat to a white person, for example the Montgomery bus boycott which took place during 1955 to 1956. This specific protest was for African Americans simply to be able to sit in front of the bus. Claudette Colvin, a fifteen year old girl, refused to give up her seat nine months before Rosa Parks's similar action. They also attempted to be the first kids to be intergrated into public schools, despite the antagonism and the injustices of their classmates and teachers. Reading about their heroism is extremebly moving, their courage is extraordinary. The kids also go on to talk about how they faced violence, just because of the color of their skin. Some would get arrested for trying to stand up. Some would even make the ultimate sacrifice and die for their cause.

Introducing each section of the book with a bit of historical background, Levine makes sure to pick only accounts that portray the period well, as well as the circumstances, people, brutality, the sense of brotherhood, community, and self-worth that the movement brought out.
The first-hand accounts of these children and teenagers in this book and in the civil rights movement are so inspiring and courageous. It baffles me that all of the people who tell their stories here were children ages 8 to 17, all of them mature enough to stand up for their rights. These kids were not only arrested constantly, but also assaulted by racists and segregationists, even the children as young as 8 would be assaulted or arrested. It was really incredible how these kids managed to stay comepletely nonviolent with their protests, it would be such a hard thing to do. What really stood out to me the most was how committed they were to their cause. None of these children were forced into this movement, they all joined willingly. They all felt a strong need to join in the fight for their right and for their freedom. What makes these kids so special and so important is that they don't have children of their own to nuture and feed, where as an adult African American would have children that they need to care for and a job that they need to work. They could not take the risk of losing their job to fight for their rights, which is why these young people were so important. These young activists, as young as 8, have proven how strong they were, and while reading I couldn't help but think of my generation and think how little we've done. It's unfortunate but it's the truth we're faced
with.

If anything this book just shows exactly how much effort and thought was put into their fight for equal rights during the 50's and 60'sof a drawn out concerted effort the fight for equal rights was in the 50's and 60's. In the book, one person stood out to me the most. His name was Ben Chaney. He was just your average aferican american. He and his family lived across the street from another family, the problem was that the other family was white. Ben used to love playing with the kids across the street, that was until their mother came up to Ben an ordered him to stop payign with her kidsThe mother said that her kids were better than he was and he had to call her kids “mister”. Fred Shuttlesworth, Jr. from Alabama was another character featured in the book. His story was that when he was very young, on christmas day, his house was destroyed by a few racists. After that day, he had to live with his aunt and uncle while their house was being rebuilt. He also started stuttering every once in a while. Fred was too young to realize that people wanted to hurt him simply because of the color of his skin. There are 7 chapters in this book. In each chapter, it talks about real people’s experiences. With that said I think that this book was actually really well organized and laid out. It was easy to understand because the headings of the page were the names of the activist you were reading about. I think that Levine wrote this very cleverly. It was clear and descriptive and I could actually picture myself as one of those activists. I really found this interesting to read because I barely knew about the Civil Rights Movement, and it's really just amazing how African Americans were able to fight so hard for their rights. When you read this book you can definitely expect to learn a lot about the Civil Rights Movement, even if you've already learned some things about it before, you're bound to find out more you didn't know. I think that this book should be read by anyone and everyone, even young kids. This book has information that is so important to our history, it is a must read for anyone even vaguely interested in history.

The history of African Americans is such a complex and integral part of America's history as a whole What I really liked about the book is that it has multiple people telling their experience during segregation, and these are actual accounts. I enjoy that because everybody went though different things, so it's really helpful to hear a handful of stories rather than one so we get an idea of the bigger picture. This book was really good overall and I have no complaints, If I had to nitpick, I would say the author could have given more details on the setting of the current story and situation.

Overall I do recommend the book to all people who would like to learn about African American history.This book gives you all types of situations that took place down south during segregation. It paints such an emotional image of what the lives were for African American Activists back them. It was really a pleasure to read