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A Child Shall Lead Them: Martin Luther Jr. Young People, and the Movement Author: rufus burrow Jr minneAPolis, mn: fortress Press, 2014 isbn 978-1-4514-8454-0 PriCe: $24.00
The book A Child Shall Lead Them chronicles the prominent role that children and youth played in various aspects of the Civil Rights Movement. In a single volume, the author revisits the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Freedom Rides, the Children's Crusades of Birmingham, the Selma March, and other related events with significant credit given to children and youth who refused to allow fear, detainment, police and civilian brutality, or the imminent threat of death to deter them from standing for justice and human rights on behalf of their elders and future generations alike. Likewise, many of the young played an instrumental role in instilling the value of intergroup toleration to the adults. However, images of Emmett Till did more than preserve the memory of the horrors that accompanied the African American experience under Jim Crow laws, but it provoked youth activism which frequently entailed minimal support from adults and in some cases disapproval.
The book provides a fresh synopsis of the broad challenges Martin Luther King Jr. faced in terms of forming coalitions among groups with...