Seeds Of Freedom - hardcover

Seeds of Freedom --- The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama

Explore a little-known story of the civil rights movement, in which black and white citizens in one Alabama city worked together nonviolently to end segregation.

Mention the civil rights era in Alabama, and most people recall images of terrible violence. But something different was happening in Huntsville. For the citizens of that city, creativity, courage, and cooperation were the keys to working together to integrate their city and schools in peace. In an engaging celebration of this lesser-known chapter in American and African-American history, author Hester Bass and illustrator E. B. Lewis show children how racial discrimination, bullying, and unfairness can be faced successfully with perseverance and ingenuity.

This gentle, reflective book shares a story of the civil rights movement, one that is perhaps less known but no less powerful than many others. Huntsville, AL, was considered a space center, with NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and a few supporting satellite companies in the area, and the call for change that was sweeping through the South followed a slightly different path in this town. Bass shares how African Americans looking for change pursued many of the same avenues that were used throughout the country including boycotts and sit-ins. But unlike the violent clashes that occurred in other communities between white residents and protesters, the people of Huntsville were a bit more reluctant to use violence. Many white citizens relied on the space industry for their income, and to antagonize the federal government could mean the loss of jobs and a weakening of the local economy, and thus, a more peaceful transition to desegregation and more equal treatments happened in Huntsville than in many other places. Lewis's trademark watercolor paintings pair perfectly with this lyrical recounting of events, and he masterfully moves between detailed illustrations depicting faces of grim determination of lunch counter patrons to the more impressionistic scenes of protesters facing water hoses. The book covers quite a bit of ground, both in time and content and can be long for a read-aloud, but it's well worth the time to share such a moving, inspirational story.—Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA 

• Author: Hester Bass
• Illustrator: E. B. Lewis
• Published: Jan 2015
• hardcover
• size: 10 x 10
• pages: 32
• Age 5-8 years
• Grade: K-3