Book
Spell freedom : the underground schools that built the civil rights movement / Elaine Weiss.
In the summer of 1954, educator Septima Clark and small businessman Esau Jenkins travelled to rural Tennessee's Highlander Folk School, an interracial training center for social change founded by Myles Horton, a white southerner with roots in the labor movement. There, the trio united behind a shared mission: preparing Black southerners to pass the daunting Jim Crow era voter registration literacy tests that were designed to disenfranchise them. Together with beautician-turned-teacher Bernice Robinson, they launched the underground Citizenship Schools project, which began with a single makeshift classroom hidden in the back of a rural grocery store. By the time the Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965, the secretive undertaking had established more than nine hundred citizenship schools across the South, preparing tens of thousands of Black citizens to read and write, demand their rights--and vote. Simultaneously, it nurtured a generation of activists--many of them women--trained in community organizing, political citizenship, and tactics of resistance and struggle who became the grassroots foundation of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King called Septima Clark, 'Mother of the Movement.'
Record details
- ISBN: 9781668002698
- ISBN: 1668002698
- Physical Description: vi, 377 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Edition: First One Signal Publishers/Atria Books hardcover edition.
- Publisher: New York : One Signal Publishers/Atria, 2025.
- Copyright: ©2025
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-367) and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Monteagle mountain -- Henrietta street -- Esau's bus -- The judge -- Red Roadshow and Black Monday -- Radical hillbilly -- Prepare -- Deliberate speed -- The women from Montgomery -- We shall -- Rosa's bus -- Been in the storm -- Champions of democracy -- The grocery store -- Pencils -- Anniversary -- Communist training school -- A dangerous place -- Our America -- We are not afraid -- Padlock -- Sit the welcome table -- Wade in the water -- Tent city -- Literacy to liberation -- Freedom rides -- Born again -- Ready from within -- Tremor in the iceberg -- Project C -- A living petition -- Practicing democracy -- Lay our bodies on the line -- Ain't nobody gonna turn us 'round -- Signatures -- Eyes on the prize, hold on -- Sister help to trim the sail -- Going home -- Good chaos. |
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| Genre: | Informational works. Biographies. |
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Circulation Modifier | Status | Due Date | Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook Memorial Library - La Grande | 324.62 W457 (Text) | 35178002082280 | New Adult Non-Fiction | Available | - |
| LDR | 03762cam a2200457 i 4500 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | 2619540 | ||
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| 005 | 20250310122640.0 | ||
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| 020 | . | ‡a9781668002698 ‡q(hardback) | |
| 020 | . | ‡a1668002698 ‡q(hardback) | |
| 035 | . | ‡a(OCoLC)1500641728 | |
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| 050 | 1 | 4. | ‡aJK1929.A2 ‡bW52 2025 |
| 082 | 0 | 4. | ‡a324.6/208996073075 ‡223/eng/20250220 |
| 100 | 1 | . | ‡aWeiss, Elaine, ‡d1952- ‡eauthor. |
| 245 | 1 | 0. | ‡aSpell freedom : ‡bthe underground schools that built the civil rights movement / ‡cElaine Weiss. |
| 250 | . | ‡aFirst One Signal Publishers/Atria Books hardcover edition. | |
| 264 | 1. | ‡aNew York : ‡bOne Signal Publishers/Atria, ‡c2025. | |
| 264 | 4. | ‡c©2025 | |
| 300 | . | ‡avi, 377 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : ‡billustrations ; ‡c24 cm | |
| 336 | . | ‡atext ‡btxt ‡2rdacontent | |
| 337 | . | ‡aunmediated ‡bn ‡2rdamedia | |
| 338 | . | ‡avolume ‡bnc ‡2rdacarrier | |
| 504 | . | ‡aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 321-367) and index. | |
| 505 | 0 | . | ‡aMonteagle mountain -- Henrietta street -- Esau's bus -- The judge -- Red Roadshow and Black Monday -- Radical hillbilly -- Prepare -- Deliberate speed -- The women from Montgomery -- We shall -- Rosa's bus -- Been in the storm -- Champions of democracy -- The grocery store -- Pencils -- Anniversary -- Communist training school -- A dangerous place -- Our America -- We are not afraid -- Padlock -- Sit the welcome table -- Wade in the water -- Tent city -- Literacy to liberation -- Freedom rides -- Born again -- Ready from within -- Tremor in the iceberg -- Project C -- A living petition -- Practicing democracy -- Lay our bodies on the line -- Ain't nobody gonna turn us 'round -- Signatures -- Eyes on the prize, hold on -- Sister help to trim the sail -- Going home -- Good chaos. |
| 520 | . | ‡aIn the summer of 1954, educator Septima Clark and small businessman Esau Jenkins travelled to rural Tennessee's Highlander Folk School, an interracial training center for social change founded by Myles Horton, a white southerner with roots in the labor movement. There, the trio united behind a shared mission: preparing Black southerners to pass the daunting Jim Crow era voter registration literacy tests that were designed to disenfranchise them. Together with beautician-turned-teacher Bernice Robinson, they launched the underground Citizenship Schools project, which began with a single makeshift classroom hidden in the back of a rural grocery store. By the time the Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965, the secretive undertaking had established more than nine hundred citizenship schools across the South, preparing tens of thousands of Black citizens to read and write, demand their rights--and vote. Simultaneously, it nurtured a generation of activists--many of them women--trained in community organizing, political citizenship, and tactics of resistance and struggle who became the grassroots foundation of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King called Septima Clark, 'Mother of the Movement.' | |
| 600 | 1 | 0. | ‡aClark, Septima Poinsette, ‡d1898-1987. ‡0(DLC)1794175 |
| 600 | 1 | 0. | ‡aJenkins, Esau, ‡d1910-1972. |
| 600 | 1 | 0. | ‡aHorton, Myles, ‡d1905-1990. ‡0(SAGE)1793677 |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aAfrican Americans ‡xEducation ‡zSouthern States ‡xHistory ‡y20th century. | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aAfrican Americans ‡xSuffrage ‡zSouthern States ‡xHistory ‡y20th century. | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aLiteracy tests (Election law) ‡zSouthern States ‡xHistory ‡y20th century. | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aCivil rights movements ‡zUnited States ‡xHistory ‡y20th century. ‡0(SAGE)1510213 | |
| 655 | 7. | ‡aInformational works. ‡2lcgft ‡0(DLC)1429837 | |
| 655 | 7. | ‡aBiographies. ‡2lcgft ‡0(DLC)1429775 | |
| 999 | . | ‡eBook | |
| 901 | . | ‡aon1500641728 ‡bOCoLC ‡c2619540 ‡tbiblio | |
