I found Freedom Summer, so far that is, to be a intriguing read. It was nice to finally have some good news to read about regarding the fight against racism. I was happy to read that during this time of darkness, mankind stood together and was able to form a united front. This ability to unite in the face of hard times, made me proud to live in Illinois. I was happy to read that Illinois had the largest number of volunteers from the midwest region of the country. What I am curious about is the white womens involvement in the fight. It is well known that many white men stood with many AFrican-Americans in the fight for equality, but what about their counterparts? Were the women involved at all in bringing the movement into their homes? Was the issue of racism made more clear as the people getting to know those that they were helping?
I have to wonder where they got the courage to stand up against the "norm." It is not unusual for people to not want to become involved in anything, especially something as controversial as the Civil Rights movement, if they are not going to be directly affected. what i want to know is why, exactly, did they get involved?
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Many white women were also among the college student volunteers who participated in Freedom Summer projects, and McAdam will discuss some of them. The literature on the civil rights movement is enormous, and many of those women have written and published their memoirs to tell the story of their activism and how it changed their lives, so if you are interested in further research, there are a number of books I can recommend.
ReplyDeleteI would like that very much. Thank you for the offer. Being a feminist, I love to read about the women's involvement in issues as life changing as the Civil Rights Movement.
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