One Hundred Years and Counting

On June 19, 1865 Union soldiers landed at Galveston,Texas with the news that the war had ended and the slaves were now free. This date became Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, or just Juneteenth: a day now recognized by 26 states, including Michigan, as a holiday. Almost one hundred years later people who would come to be called “freedom riders” risked their lives to protest segregation in public transportation in the south by riding buses. We recently acquired Raymond Arsenault’s book “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice“, considered to be the first full length history of this movement. Even newer is “Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders” in which Eric Etheridge remembers the riders. He uses their mug shots, current portaits and their own words to tell the stories of these brave citizens. The book has been called “breathtaking” by reviewers. What are you doing this summer?

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