As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Albama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can be heroes. Jailed nine times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans. In this memoir, she shows today's young readers what it means to fight nonviolently (even when the police are using violence, as in the Bloody Sunday protest) and how it felt to be part of changing American history.
Straightforward and inspiring, this beautifully illustrated memoir brings readers into the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, complementing Common Core classroom learning and bringing history alive for young readers.
My thoughts:
Like John Lewis' March graphic novels this is a first hand account of the civil rights movement. The author takes readers through a multi genre experience to paint an intimate picture of the fear and determination shared by these young protesters. Her use of photography, lyrics and illustrations help to set the tone for the reader friendly text. This truly is a coming of age memoir about Blackmon Lowery turning 15 in he midst of the march to Montgomery and how all of these young students put into action the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s call for "steady, loving confrontation."
Other historical non-fiction works around civil rights using photography as the medium: Controversy of hope: The civil rights photographs of James Karales and This is the day: The march on Washington.
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