The Spirit of Freedom: Powerful Women of the Civil Rights Movement

An inspiring and eye-opening look at the unsung women of the Civil Rights Movement.

For decades, the women toiling both in the forefront and behind the scenes of the Civil Rights Movement have been overlooked. These women forced integration of schools, bus terminals, and restaurants. They organized protests attended by hundreds of thousands. They pressured lawmakers to give all Americans equal access to the ballot box. And they were doing their part in virtual anonymity and at great personal risk.

The Spirit of Freedom: Powerful Women of the Civil Rights Movement honors the incredible contributions that women made to the Civil Rights Movement. Featuring the stories of seventeen women, including Ella Baker, Dorothy Height, Ruby Hurley, Gloria Richardson, and Jo Ann Robinson, this book highlights their life stories, personal struggles, and influences on the movement. It reveals how these women overcame enormous odds, confronted sexism, racism, risk of bodily harm, and threats to their lives, to impact a movement that resulted in attaining legal equality for Black Americans.

The work of these women helped achieve the unequivocal right to vote, end segregation in public places, and open the doors for African Americans in all areas of society. Their contributions have been too-often ignored but are finally brought to life in The Spirit of Freedom.

Martin Gitlin is a former newspaper journalist who won more than 45 awards, including first place for general excellence from Associated Press. That organization selected him as one of the top four feature writers in Ohio. He has had more than 200 books published, most of them educational, including many in the realm of twentieth century American history.