Jon N. Hale's work hits the mark! It is accurate and timely in refocusing our attention on the profound power of African American youth and education. The activists and young learners who made the Freedom Schools possible have greatly gone unsung. In the midst of imminent danger, they learned and experienced democracy while illustrating the efficacy of community participation in ... Read moreeducation. Hale rightly places them at the forefront of the struggle for freedom. His book reminds us of those who saved the nation's soul.
Stefan M. Bradley, author of Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black Student Power in the Late 1960s Hale's groundbreaking examination of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's tireless efforts to provide free educational opportunities for Mississippi's African American children is an often overlooked yet instrumental component of the Mississippi Freedom Summer. The Freedom Schools offers a greater understanding of the schools' lasting legacy and the profound impact of the Freedom Schools on Mississippi's black students as they later engaged in boycotts and school walkouts, influencing public school desegregation efforts and the civil rights movement.
Sonya Ramsey, author of Reading, Writing, and Segregation: A Century of Black Women Teachers in Nashville Hale's impressive study will make a major contribution to civil rights historiography. It provides a very realistic view of Freedom Schools with great detail and precision and astutely illustrates the significant role of education in the civil rights movement.
Derrick Alridge, University of Virginia The narrative reads smoothly and leaves the reader with a greater sense of the hopes, desires, and goals of the [Mississippi Civil Rights] movement. CounterPunch Hale's well-documented chronicle sharply reminds readers that there are still miles to go in obliterating racism, and that there are still stories to be told. Highly recommended. Choice Show Less