The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation

This is the story of how America awakened to its race problem, of how a nation that longed for unity after World War II came instead to see, hear, and learn about the shocking indignities and injustices of racial segregation in the South—and the brutality used to enforce it.

It is the story of how the nation’s press, after decades of ignoring the problem, came to recognize the importance of the civil rights struggle and turn it into the most significant domestic news event of the twentieth century.

Drawing on private correspondence, notes from secret meetings, unpublished articles, and interviews, veteran journalists Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff go behind the headlines and datelines to show how a dedicated cadre of newsmen—first black reporters, then liberal southern editors, then reporters and photographers from the national press and the broadcast media—revealed to a nation its most shameful shortcomings and propelled its citizens to act.

We watch the black press move bravely into the front row of the confrontation, only to be attacked and kept away from the action. Following the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision striking down school segregation and the South’s mobilization against it, we see a growing number of white reporters venture South to cover the Emmett Till murder trial, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the integration of the University of Alabama.

We witness some southern editors joining the call for massive resistance and working with segregationist organizations to thwart compliance. But we also see a handful of other southern editors write forcefully and daringly for obedience to federal mandates, signaling to the nation that moderate forces were prepared to push the region into the mainstream.

The pace quickens in Little Rock, where reporters test the boundaries of journalistic integrity, then gain momentum as they cover shuttered schools in Virginia, sit-ins in North Carolina, mob-led riots in Mississippi, Freedom Ride buses being set afire, fire hoses and dogs in Birmingham, and long, tense marches through the rural South.

For many journalists, the conditions they found, the fear they felt, and the violence they saw were transforming. Their growing disgust matched the mounting countrywide outrage as The New York Times, Newsweek, NBC News, and other major news organizations, many of them headed by southerners, turned a regional story into a national drama.

Meticulously researched and vividly rendered, The Race Beat is an unprecedented account of one of the most volatile periods in our nation’s history, as told by those who covered it.

An autobiography that should be required reading in American schools.......2006-06-27

Amazon.com's Significant Seven
Nikki Giovanni graciously agreed to answer the questions we like to ask every author: the Amazon.com Significant Seven.

Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
A: No single book. The poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, and Gwendolyn Brooks was an impact, however.

Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they?
A: Sula by Toni Morrison, Great American Spirituals, and The Godfather.

Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: "You're the best."

Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: A cup of coffee, my rocking chair, the sun just rising through my left window.

Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: "I tried."

Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: Lorraine Hansberry

Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
A: I would fly.

Book Description

Fifty years after her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus, Mrs. Rosa Parks is still one of the most important figures in the American civil rights movement. This picture- book tribute to Mrs. Parks is a celebration of her courageous action and the events that followed. Award-winning poet, writer, and activist Nikki Giovannis evocative text combines with Bryan Colliers striking cut-paper images to retell the story of this historic event from a wholly unique and original perspective.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful prose and illustrations, but..........2007-06-11

if you're looking for an children's biography of Rose Parks or of the Civil Rights Movement, this books isn't it.

Buy it for Giovanni's magical and powerful words.

Buy it for Collier's amazing pictures.

Don't buy it if it's intended to teach children who are wholly uninformed about American history. I had six immigrant teenagers read this book, and all they could tell me after they were finished was that Rosa Parks was a lady who was thrown off a bus because of white people. They weren't sure why. And then a bunch of people walked to Washington D.C. afterwards, but they weren't sure how this connected to Rosa getting thrown off the bus. In the end the teens were really confused.

Mulitcultural Literature.......2007-03-09

Most students are familiar with Rosa Parks, but this story takes you beyond the bus. We get a glimps into Rosa's personal life, which allows students to develop more connections. The illustrations are amazing, as is all of Bryan Collier's work. Great book selection!

Rosa.......2007-02-12

Good book, beautiful artwork. Get the book if nothing else for the pictures. The book itself was ok, it was a little jumpy and didn't go into very much detail of the actual event. However, it is a nice book for young children who don't need or want much detail.

Rosa.......2006-11-09

Everyday Rosa Parks rode the bus to work. There was a black and white section. She sat down in the neutral section and a man didn't want her to, but she stayed and got arrested. She was arrested for the wrong reason. People made signs and walked to support Rosa. They stopped riding the bus too.

I liked the book. The pictures were good. I learned that white and black people were separated. That's wrong. Since I read the book, I now want to watch a movie and learn more about Rosa Parks.

Reviewed by: Jada Monet, 7 years old

Great Book.......2006-07-24

A must read for all youngsters. The feedback that we have gotten on this book from the kids who have read Tyler and His Solve-a-matic machine by Jennifer Bouani, is very positive. I highly recommend this book

If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks

Average customer rating:

Factual and nicely illustrated... but wordy.
Moving Story About Civil Rights Movement
A good informitive book!
A good informitive book!

If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks

Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0689856768

Book Description

If a bus could talk, it would tell the story of a young African-American girl named Rosa who had to walk miles to her one-room schoolhouse in Alabama while white children rode to their school in a bus. It would tell how the adult Rosa rode to and from work on a segregated city bus and couldn't sit in the same row as a white person. It would tell of the fateful day when Rosa refused to give up her seat to a white man and how that act of courage inspired others around the world to stand up for freedom.

In this book a bus does talk, and on her way to school a girl named Marcie learns why Rosa Parks is the mother of the Civil Rights movement. At the end of Marcie's magical ride, she meets Rosa Parks herself at a birthday party with several distinguished guests. Wait until she tells her class about this!

Customer Reviews:

Factual and nicely illustrated... but wordy........2006-09-23

The title is promising, but misleading. "If a Bus Could Talk" implies an entertaining story for the beginning reader; but, the concept is lost as the story drags from the first few sentences. The gimmick of the driverless bus is mishandled, and one soon wonders why the author thought it necessary add a gimmick to a true story that is inherently interesting when skillfully told. One might speculate that someone early on criticized the book as being a Civil Rights manual for young adults rather than a picture book for children; hence, the story was prefaced with the garbled mess that makes up its first few pages of text. Perhaps that part was hastily added. The suggested audience is the five-to-nine age group. Any healthy five-year old will be dozing from page one. Once it becomes obvious that the prose is better suited to an older child, though, the biography itself becomes quite informative.

By the third or fourth page, the talking bus is forgotten, except for the convention of including a quotation mark at the beginning of each paragraph. The story becomes a straightforward account of Rosa McCauley Parks' life story. As such, it is compelling. The KKK is mentioned early on, with dramatic descriptions of midnight raids that must have been terrifying to a black child growing up in the hostile environment of segregated Alabama. The book mentions torture, beatings and lynchings--quite graphic for a picture book. But it goes on to provide good, detailed biographical material on Rosa, from childhood into adulthood. It tells of her mother, Leona's, determination to have Rosa educated beyond the shamefully lacking, bare-minimum education provided for black children by the state of Alabama before 1960. At age eleven, Rosa went to a girl's school in Montgomery, and then "on to high school at Alabama State Teacher's College for Negroes," but was forced to drop out of school due to illness and death in the family. She did go on to get her diploma, but later on couldn't get a job that would utilize her skills. Meanwhile, she took a job at a department store, doing sewing and alterations. Here, the storyline gets a little disorganized. It gives an early account of discrimination by bus drivers and explains in detail some of the insults that black people were forced to endure under the segregation laws. This might be the perfect lead-in to Rosa's famous protest, but instead, the story jumps to Rosa's marriage to Raymond Parks and goes off on a tangent about Mr. Parks' association with the NAACP. It details Rosa's attempts to get registered to vote and how she managed to do it. Then it jumps to the "fateful day" when Rosa Parks took "this very bus" and refused to give up her seat. Her arrest follows. The book once again bogs down in a quicksand of factual details of the Civil Rights movement, describing the efforts of the NAACP, the Women's Political Council, and local black ministers to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It gets a little preachy. The young Dr. Martin Luther King and his speeches are mentioned, including his arrest and the bombing of his house as a result of his involvement in the boycott. This section barely maintains the book's pretext of being a picture book, once again sounding like a ninth-grade essay on Civil Rights. Finally, though, the storyline manages to straggle back to its simpler form and includes a few pages about freedom songs and birthday cakes. The illustrations are wonderfully rich in expressive color and soul. They beg for a simpler text.

The positive thing about this book is that it is a good, factual, biographical account of the life of Rosa McCauley Parks, probably of interest to an older child who wants to make a study of the 1960's Civil Rights movement. It is a good reference work. Its failure is that it was published in a picture-book format that is too young for its ideal audience. It should have been a chapter book.

Moving Story About Civil Rights Movement.......2003-11-06

What would you do if a bus with eyes, nose, red hair, and a yellow cap pulled up to your bus stop? When the door opens and a voice calls out, "Step on up, young lady," Marcie does just that. It will be the ride of her life, for she hears the courageous story of Rosa Parks straight from Rosa's bus itself. This story spans a spectrum of detail in 32 pages: from Rosa McCauley's childhood in Pine Level, Alabama, to her marriage to Raymond Parks, to that fateful bus ride on December 1, 1955, to her continued struggle for equality after the boycott. The artistic style of Faith Ringgold leaps from the page in dramatic acrylic color on canvas. The suggested reading age for this book is 5 - 9. Yet it is not a quick read. Text is detailed enough to make some younger listeners restless. Vocabulary is challenging enough to daunt some older beginner readers. But don't let that deter you from sharing If a Bus Could Talk with your children. No doubt they take their integrated schools, pools, movies, and restaurants for granted. If anything, this story will get THEM to talk!

A good informitive book!.......2000-05-23

If a bus could talk is about a little girl named Marcie who steps onto a bus that can talk. The bus tells her that she is ridng on the Rosa Parks bus. Then the bus tells her about Rosa Park's life and about Martin Luther King and the bus boycott. I learned alot about Rosa Park's life from reading this book, and I would recommend If a Bus Could Talk to any child who doesn't know much about the civil rights movement.

A good informitive book!.......2000-05-23

Average customer rating:

Rosa was better than this book..
Outstanding (and now with a sad epilogue)
I loved this inspiring book about freedom and courage.

Quiet Strength
Rosa Parks
Manufacturer: Zondervan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0310235871

Book Description

On June 15, 1999, Mrs. Rosa Parks was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor -- a tribute to the power of one solitary woman to influence the soul of a nation. But awards and influence were far from her mind when, on December 1, 1955, she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was not trying to start a movement. She was simply tired of social injustice and did not think a woman should be forced to stand so that a man could sit down. Yet her simple act of courage set in motion a chain of events that changed forever the landscape of American race relations. Quiet Strength celebrates the principles and convictions that have guided her through a remarkable life. It is a printed record of her legacy -- her lasting message to a world still struggling to live in harmony.

Customer Reviews:

Rosa was better than this book.........2006-03-22

A little too quiet. There were some nice insights into an amazing and wonderful woman, but they are scant.

Outstanding (and now with a sad epilogue).......2005-11-03

It's amazing: this one courageous woman who simply stood up for her beliefs on December 1, 1955 started one of the largest and most influential civil rights movements in history. This book truly reflects Ms. Parks' in her 'essence.' It is a small collection of her thoughts and experiences. Yet these thoughts convey a very personal and profound impact on anyone reading and meditating on them.
What is sad (as I have noted in my title) is the fact that Ms. Parks recently passed away at age 92, just 9 days before I worte this; her funeral was held today in Detroit. May she rest in peace.

I loved this inspiring book about freedom and courage........1998-11-27

Quiet Strength, by Rosa Parks is an amazing display of one woman's journey to understanding why. Why she and her people needed to justify themselves. Why she had to sit a certain place on a bus. Why she was so tired. Rosa Parks is grounded in her source of Quiet Strength through her relationship with her Creator - God. This relationship has been reinforced by her family and culture. "Love, not fear must be our guide," Rosa states - I would recommend this book to every human being who has a heart and soul.

Average customer rating:

Rosa Parks
a book that captures the history of the civil rights era
Rosa Parks
Next to Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks is remembered!
I AM ROSA PARKS

I Am Rosa Parks (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)
Rosa Parks , and Jim Haskins
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141307102

Customer Reviews:

Rosa Parks.......2007-02-01

This is a wonderful book for children. It teaches them about segregation, and about being brave and standing up for your ideas.
Great story...Too bad it was true.

a book that captures the history of the civil rights era.......2006-10-29

This book was well received by our 6 yr old granddaughter. It is a book that can be read with a youngster. It captures the spirit of Rosa Parks in easily understood language.

Rosa Parks.......2003-05-06

This book is a great read for a young child...maybe K-2nd grade. It was good at laying out for the reader the life of Rosa Parks.

Next to Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks is remembered!.......2002-08-03

Rosa Parks is best remembered as the Black woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a White person. However, she was much more that that. She was raised by grandparents because her mother taught school in another city. Her grandfather was the child of a slave owner and a slave. Rosa was determined to make a difference for her people. She and her husband took part in supporting the Scottsboro boys, Black youth who were accused of crimes they did not commit. Rosa became secretary of the NAACP and contributed greatly to her people, eventually receiving the Congressional Gold Metal award.

I AM ROSA PARKS.......2000-03-27

This book is about a girl that had to give her seat up in a bus for a white person. She did not get up so they called the police.The police arrested her for not getting up.Then when Rosa got out of jail she made a statement saying, " Why do black people have to give up for white people?" They compromised and the black people do not have to give up there seat anymore. I liked this story because if Rosa Parks did not say anything we will be still separated from black people.

Average customer rating:

Rosa Parks
Mariah Sanchious
Rosa Parks
Wanted: Equality!!
Excellent, inspirational telling of an American Icon's story

Rosa Parks
Douglas G. Brinkley
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143036009

Amazon.com

Most Americans know her only as the 42-year-old seamstress who refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. Her quiet act of defiance is often considered the beginning of the modern civil rights movement, but historian Douglas Brinkley reminds us that it was neither the beginning nor the end of Rosa Parks's quest for justice. On that fateful day in 1955 she was already a veteran civil rights activist, married to a charter member of the NAACP's Montgomery chapter, and a devout member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the many black churches whose congregants organized and fought to desegregate the South. Brinkley gives a thorough account of Parks's political life in the South and in Detroit (where she moved in 1957 to escape death threats), capturing her majestic personal dignity. Yet he also places her activism within a vivid historical context, anchored by extensive interviews with her peers and Parks herself as well as scholarly research. His subject is now a frail octogenarian, but Brinkley conveys the power of her legacy in a moving final scene when Nelson Mandela, just four months out of a South African jail in 1990, embraces Parks as a comrade and a beloved mentor. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

Fifty years after she made history by refusing to give up her seat on a bus, Rosa Parks at last gets the major biography she deserves. The eminent historian Douglas Brinkley follows this thoughtful and devout woman from her childhood in Jim Crow Alabama through her early involvement in the NAACP to her epochal moment of courage and her afterlife as a beloved (and resented) icon of the civil rights movement. Well researched and written with sympathy and keen insight, the result is a moving, revelatory portrait of an American heroine and her tumultuous times.

Customer Reviews:

Rosa Parks.......2006-07-29

An inspirational story about the life of Rosa Parks, a mulatto woman who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery AL on Dec 1, 1955. Her courageous act became known as the beginning of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Her quiet and non violent action sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycot, provided the NAACP with a model case to end Jim Crow laws in the South and gave opportunity for young minister, Martin Luther King, Jr. to display his enormous leadership potential. The story reveals little known facts about the quiet and demure seamstress. It tells of her personal struggles with racism, poverty and chauvinism. It is a heroic story of an ordinary person with incredible inner strength.

Mariah Sanchious.......2006-03-17

True Life: Rosa Parks
By: Mariah Sanchious

This book states all the facts about Mrs. Rosa Parks and how she basically struggled to be equal her whole life. Mrs. Parks didn't really understand in her young years, why they happened to be separated by color. As she grew older she began to learn why. Why did she make such a difference in the south? Come experience her growing up memories with me and how she had a huge impact on today's society.

I enjoy this book because it notified me that people struggled to get what I have. Even though Mrs. Parks isn't before Irene Morgan or Claudette Colvin she made her stand up for her rights famous. She went through things like getting kicked out of restaurants to getting threating phone calls. She also cost her husband Raymond Parks his corner barbershop job. She also had KKK mobs running up and down the street throwing fires. She worked all the way on the opposite side of town and she walked six miles everyday until justice was served. As this happened to her, her close friend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's house was burned down. His church also got burned down while two little girls were in the bathroom. She later lost her job and her husband was abused by policeman. She was also aware that her friends got raped and murdered by policeman and nothing would be done about it. A lot of pregnant women would walk a great distance just to protest with the bus boycott. People really believed separate but equal but a lot of African American leader strived to make that change.

I also enjoyed how the book gives specific details on her childhood years. Rosa McCauley was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She had a mom Leona that was a rural school teacher, and she had a dad James that was a carpenter. In her toddler years her mom and dad separated and Rosa, her younger brother Sylvester, and her mom moved into a farm. They moved in with their former slaved grandparents in Pine Level, Alabama. She was home schooled until she was old enough to realize how the law was. At age eleven she went to an all girl's school with her friend Jonnie Carr. She continued that all girls school until she went to college. She went to Alabama State College for Negroes but had to dropout because her mom and grandmother were diagnosed with a terminal illness. That's when she got a job and married a local barber named Raymond Parks.

I also enjoyed how they showed how much awards she received and how much honor she received when she died. after the Montgomery Bus Boycott,In 1979, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awarded Parks the Spingarn Medal, its highest honor, and she received the Martin Luther King Sr. Award the next year. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1983 for her achievements as a civil rights activist. She was aslo asked to welcome Nelson Mandela from is imprisoning in South Africa. She also received rthe Rosa Parks Piece Prize in 1994 in Swedan. She also received the highest award given by the U. S Executive Branch in 1996 called the Presedintal Medal of Freedom. She also received the highest award from the legislative branch in 1999 called the Conggressional Gold Medal. Sha also got the Windsor-Detroit International freedom award that was pesented to her at the Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival. She died in Detroit, Michigan at age 92.

In conclusion, I would like to say that Rosa Parks stood up for a lot of coloreds . Her and all the civil rights activist led us to vitory and achieved their goal. Those 382 days of that bus boycott proved that we are strong and can do and be anything that we want to be. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys learning about black history. I also would like to say that this book makes you apprciate everything you have. It also has makes you feel that your in the obsticles that happened to african americans. I think that people would enjoy this book a lot .

Rosa Parks.......2006-03-12

I do not think this is a very good book for a book report on Rosa Parks. Despite the fact the title is "Rosa Parks", I received more information on other things that were happening at the time and about other people than you did about Rosa Parks. However, this is a good book if you are doing a report or want to learn about African American History in the late 1800s and 1900s.

Wanted: Equality!!.......2004-05-21

Walking into restaurants and shopping malls, I see short and tall people, young and old people, and black and white people. You may be thinking, "Well, DUH!", but think about it for a minute...were black people always allowed to eat with and shop where white people did? I don't think so! I mean if it weren't for certain people such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, black and white people wouldn't even be able to drink out of the same water fountain, let alone shop and eat among each other.

After reading the book entitled Rosa Parks, written by Douglas Brinkley, I realized that life today isn't at all the same as life was 50 years ago.

Rosa Parks is mainly an autobiography of Rosa Parks. It does although mention other great people such as Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth. All these people helped create equality throughout all of the human races.

On December 1, 1955, a 42-year old black woman, named Rosa Louise Parks, refused to give up her seat to a white man. You see, back then, white people had the privilege of sitting in the front of the bus, due to their so-called "superiority" over blacks, and blacks were sent to the back. Rosa Parks' refusal set off a 381-day boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and is now considered to have been the beginning of the American civil rights movement.

Rosa Parks' case was different from many other people who disobeyed the laws. Rosa Parks had this biblical quality, which made her a saint, somewhat divine. Also, Rosa Parks only spent 2 hours in jail, while others were in for days, weeks, perhaps even months.

This book not only recognizes some of the most influential people of all time, but also tells exactly how black people were treated and how they reacted.

If you are interested in finding out more about Rosa Parks and other interesting people, I highly recommend this book.

Excellent, inspirational telling of an American Icon's story.......2004-04-04

Douglas Brinkley brings out the essence of Rosa Parks' humanity and her role in the Civil Rights movement. This short, highly-readable book provides useful background on Mrs. Parks' parents, early childhood, and introduction to the NAACP.

The impact of Rosa Parks' actions on her family and friends was among the most revealing aspects of the book. The web of support, before and after her refusal to give up her seat, is truly inspirational.

The author explores in detail the involvement of Mrs. Parks in the NAACP, church groups, and other activist organizations during the early-to-mid '50s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s first national exposure in the movement is interesting for those not having read "Parting the Water..." and other such works.

Book Description

In 1955, a young African-American woman named Rosa Parks took a big step for civil rights when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. The bus driver told her to move. Jim Crow laws told her to move. But Rosa Parks stayed where she was, and a chain of events was set into motion that would eventually change the course of American history. Fifty years later, The Bus Ride That Changed History retraces that chain of events by introducing the civil rights movement one idea at a time. Take a ride through history with this unique retelling of what happened when one brave woman refuses to stand up so that a white passenger could sit down.

Customer Reviews:

Lyn loved It!.......2006-02-11

I had the privilege of hearing this book at no other than my job's Holiday Office Party! Rosa Parks had just passed away a few months before and some members of my staff wanted to pay tribute and homage to her legacy, so they brought this book to share with everyone.

This book is a great read aloud book, because it repeats the passage, "Which was overtured because one woman was brave", which gives your audience a chance to interact and engage the reader. (Similar to a call and response activity). Everyone in my office loved the presentation of my colleagues. Honestly, that one presentation still stands out in my mind.

I highly encourgage parents to buy this book for their children and grandchildren; I enourage teachers to have this book in their class for their students; I encourage storytellers to have this book alongside some of their other favorites to read; and lastly, I encourage workers to share this book with their colleagues at their next party gathering. If it worked in a federal government office it will work anywhere:-)

Rosa Parks: Don't Give In! (Defining Moments)

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Rosa Parks: Don't Give In! (Defining Moments)
Cathy East Dubowski
Manufacturer: Bearport Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 1597160784

Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue With Today's Youth

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Rosa Parks answers questions from today's young people

Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue With Today's Youth
Rosa Parks , and Gregory J. Reed
Manufacturer: Lee & Low Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1880000458

Amazon.com

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus. This simple act of defiance spurred African American residents' 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system and arguably fueled the civil rights movement itself.

For the last 40 years, Rosa Parks has received thousands and thousands of letters, most of them from children. This elegantly designed book contains a diverse selection of these letters on topics ranging from hope to O.J. Simpson, and Parks's replies are simple, sometimes poignant, but always reassuring.

The first letter from a child in Oakland, California, begins, "I am sorry that you went to jail because you did not give in to the system. Mrs. Parks, please try and stop the violence and the killing, because where I live lots of people get taken out (killed). "With her thoughtful answers to this ("Life should not be taken for granted") and other letters, Rosa Parks continues her legacy of challenging us to become a force for positive change. Children will be inspired and soothed by the words of this remarkable woman. (Ages 8 and older)

Customer Reviews:

Rosa Parks answers questions from today's young people.......2004-10-09

In 1999 Rosa Parks was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor for being the "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement." I still remember being stunned by the news because I could not believe that it had taken forty-four years to honor the woman whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 5, 1955, triggered a black boycott of the city's bus system. The boycott lasted 381 days and eventually led to laws that ended legalized segregation. You have to go back to the Boston Tea Party to find an act of defiance that is as important in American history and if there is any one citizen who deserves the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor it would have to be Rosa Parks.

After receiving her medal Parks said it was "encouragement for all of us to continue until all have rights." "Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue with Today's Youth" is a collection of letters between Rosa Parks and children over the last forty years. A Preface on "Rosa Parks: Model of Courage, Symbol of Freedom" covers the highlights of her life story. The opening section presents "The Most Commonly Asked Questions From Letters to Mrs. Parks" such as "How old are you?" and "Do you have any children?" (Parks was 83 in 1996 when the book was published and while she never had any children she does "consider all children as mine.

The letters and Mrs. Parks' responses are divided into five categories: I. Courage and Hope ("Dear Mrs. Parks, What gave you the courage to say no and not move to the back of the bus and then get arrested?"), II. The Power of Knowledge and Education ("Dear Mrs. Parks, I heard you were having your 83rd birthday celebration. I told my dad you must know everything now. My dad disagrees with me, but I don't believe him."), III. Living With God ("Dear Mrs. Parks, Why does God let people do mean things, like when the police put you in jail? It seems like you kept going back to jail."), IV. Pathways to Freedom ("Dear Mrs. Parks, Sometimes people call me names because of my freckles. How do you feel good about yourself when other people try to make you feel bad?"), and V. Making a Difference ("Dear Mrs. Parks, It seems that my grandparents are always right, and they always want to help someone. Why do older people seem to be smarter than young people"). The questions are a nice mix of specific inquiries as to what Parks endured during the Civil Rights Movement and general concerns about the universal issues that have perplexed all children pretty much since the start of time. She also responds to questions about not only the Montgomery Bus Boycott but the Internet, the O.J. Simpson trial, and the Million Man March.

On the back cover of this book President Jimmy Carter writes "These letters provide heartening evidence that today's young people continue to be inspired, educated, and influenced by Rosa Parks' remarkable example." Parks answers these questions with simple wisdom, and sometimes simple humor as well, much as you would expect to hear from a grandmother. Her inspiration comes from her repeated insistence that young people embrace their role as agents for positive change in the society in which they live. Of course, there is no better person in the United States to make the point that in this country anybody really can make a difference than Rosa Parks. For students and teachers studying the Civil Rights Movement this certainly makes clear the relevance of the past for young people today.

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