Freedom Rides: Journey for justice is a chapter book by James Haskins. It depicts the events leading up to the Civil Rights movement as well as during and the effect the Freedom Rides had on the Country. I could use this to introduce the topic instead of doing a lecture. I think it would be better than hearing me talk every day.

‘Freedom Rides: Journey for Justice’ is a compelling true story of social change and justice. Written by James Haskins, the book is full of original photos of Civil Rights activists around the United States. The author is a former English professor who wrote over one hundred books regarding Civil Rights and African Americans. While Mr. Haskins did not use many primary sources or scholarly presses to research this book, he is an African American man who was born in 1941 and grew up in ‘Jim Crow’ Alabama and even joined the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) while attending Alabama State University in Montgomery Alabama. His first-hand knowledge and experiences of the events which he writes are invaluable to this work of nonfiction.
For those who do not know, the Freedom Riders were people from different walks of life, ethnicities, and ages who came together to protest the social injustices they saw and knew were immoral and in most cases, illegal. They tested the rights of African American interstate bus and train travelers to sit wherever they chose, next to whomever they chose, and to be served in segregated establishments along the interstate routes. These tests would prove to be more violent and disputed the farther south they ventured. Hundreds of Freedom Riders were beaten, jailed, and humiliated in the name of equal rights and dignity. Enforcing the rights of African Americans to sit where they chose on the bus, voting laws making it easier for African Americans to register to vote, or passing the Civil Rights Act in 1965 did not erase racism. That is one reason why books addressing subjects such as the Freedom Riders is so important for our young students.
The author does a fantastic job recreating the scene and providing enough backstory to draw the reader into the mindset of the Freedom Riders. My only criticism of the entire book is that the author filled approximately eight pages in a row giving names, dates, and incidents with such rapidity it is head-spinning. This would be too much information for younger children to absorb without stopping to unpack the data. But I believe this story should be heard by younger children so perhaps some of the information could have been broken up as he approached the chapters that dealt with those particular individuals or events.
This book is excellent for young readers who would benefit from learning about the historical injustices of the Jim Crow South. One Freedom Rider Diane Nash was quoted in chapter 10 saying “If people think that it was Martin Luther King’s movement . . . they are more likely to say ‘Gosh, I wish we had a Martin Luther King here today to lead us.’ If people knew how that movement [really] started, then the question they would ask themselves is, ‘What can I do?’ " (page 91) This is not a slight to Martin Luther King’s legacy but rather a call to arms for the average person who wants to fight social inequities or injustices but does not think they have the capacity or strength to fight. Indeed, this book is about hundreds of average African Americans who were fed up with the daily discrimination, humiliation, and marginalization they felt and did everything in their power to change not only their future but also generations to come. ( )

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