From Oprah Winfrey to Angelina Jolie, George Clooney to Leonardo DiCaprio, Americans have come to expect that Hollywood celebrities will be outspoken advocates for social and political causes. However, that wasn’t always the case. As Emilie Raymond shows, during the civil rights movement the Stars for Freedom - a handful of celebrities both black and white - risked their careers by crusading for racial equality, and forged the role of celebrity in American political culture. Focusing on the “Leading Six” trailblazers - Harry Belafonte, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dick Gregory, and Sidney Poitier - Raymond reveals how they not only advanced the civil rights movement in front of the cameras, but also worked tirelessly behind the scenes, raising money for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legal defense, leading membership drives for the NAACP, and personally engaging with workaday activists to boost morale. Through meticulous research, engaging writing, and new interviews with key players, Raymond traces the careers of the Leading Six against the backdrop of the movement. Perhaps most revealing is the new light she sheds on Sammy Davis, Jr., exploring how his controversial public image allowed him to raise more money for the movement than any other celebrity. The result is an entertaining and informative book that will appeal to film buffs and civil rights historians alike, as well as to anyone interested in the rise of celebrity power in American society. A Capell Family Book A V Ethel Willis White Book

"In 1963, more than 30 African American girls, ages 11-14, were arrested for taking part in Civil Rights protests in Americus, Georgia. Then came a greater ordeal: confinement in a Civil-War-era stockade."--Provided by publisher.

McWhorter offers an incisive and personal look at the American civil rights movement, honoring its heroes as well as the ordinary individuals behind it.

COMPELLING HISTORICAL FICTION - The Freedom Star is a riveting, character-driven saga of two families, one owned by the other, at the outbreak of America's Civil War. One reader calls it, "Powerful and evocative." Another describes it as, "Just one of those special books." The year is 1860. A young slave named Isaac toils in the tobacco fields while longing for the freedom that Henry, his boyhood friend and owner's son, takes for granted. Awaiting his chance to escape, he steals away under cover of darkness to shepherd others on their journey north along the Underground Railroad. When war comes, Henry enlists to fight for Virginia. In his absence, Patrick, his older brother, seizes control of the family farm. Fear grips the slave quarters as Patrick's harsh new ways become law. Suddenly, slaves feel the sting of the whip, Patrick sells Isaac's father, and Isaac's mother must now shield her children, as well as Henry's invalid father, from Patrick's greed-driven brutality. Following false promises and failed escapes, Isaac's only hope of reuniting with the woman he loves lies in joining Henry and the Rebels on their march north. When Henry is wounded and taken prisoner, Isaac is finally behind Union lines and free, but facing a choice: should he follow his dreams north or return to slavery to save his friend? The Freedom Star unfolds against the backdrop of the Civil War, bringing added tension to this gripping family drama. One reader said, "Jeff Andrews paints a vivid picture of the civil war slave life. His character development is superb. By the end of the story, you feel like you know each of the characters intimately." WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: "Riveting and real - Just two words to describe this wonderful book." "A Wonderful Story - Transporting me back in time, I was pulled into the lives of the slaves and the slave owners. Mr. Andrews created characters that soon either won my heart or made my blood boil." "Fantastic - ...impossible to put down, which resulted in me staying up way too late for too many nights. It has been quite sometime since I have become this involved in a book. A MUST read " "Fascinating Novel - The author did a wonderful job creating believable, three-dimensional characters and portraying realistic scenarios and interactions between them." "Great story with characters that will be hard to forget -A very well-written story that will stay with you well after the last pages are read." "Strongly recommended - The characters are so real I miss them now that I have finished reading the book."

Deep in Our Hearts is an eloquent and powerful book that takes us into the lives of nine young women who came of age in the 1960s while committing themselves actively and passionately to the struggle for racial equality and justice. These compelling first-person accounts take us back to one of the most tumultuous periods in our nation’s history--to the early days of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Albany Freedom Ride, voter registration drives and lunch counter sit-ins, Freedom Summer, the 1964 Democratic Convention, and the rise of Black Power and the women’s movement. The book delves into the hearts of the women to ask searching questions. Why did they, of all the white women growing up in their hometowns, cross the color line in the days of segregation and join the Southern Freedom Movement? What did they see, do, think, and feel in those uncertain but hopeful days? And how did their experiences shape the rest of their lives?

Minds Stayed on Freedom is a vivid portrait of the civil rights struggle in one Mississippi county. While the national Movement has been painted in broad strokes by journalists and scholars, here the experiences of ordinary people bring definition to the lived texture of the Civil Rights Movement. Interviewed by local youths, Movement veterans recount how they overcame their fear in the face of terrorist resistance and collectively transformed the political and social fabric of their community. Their stories were repeated across the rural South, although seldom with the force and vigor experienced in Holmes County, located in the Mississippi plantation country. The teenagers who conducted this oral history project strike a rare balance between poignant prose and pathbreaking research. The detailed picture that emerges from the interviews brings into sharp relief issues that remain hazy in studies of national scope: the crucial resource of black land ownership, the limited extent of church involvement, the commitment to armed self-defense, the role of women, divisions of social class within the Movement, the range of white response and retaliation, and the interplay between direct action and legal tactics. Minds Stayed on Freedom provides plenty of fodder for academic analysis, but the interviews retain a raw, dramatic power. As project advisor Jay MacLeod of the Rural Organizing and Cultural Center writes in his introduction, "The drama in Holmes County began when a group of black farmers attempted to register to vote. Whites retaliated, pitting themselves directly against a small group of courageous black activists. The two sides battled each other. But they also battled for the hearts and minds of the black population. The tiny local Movement, armed with a vision of the future, tried to draw its people off the sidelines and into active involvement. Whites ntried to keep Holmes County blacks in their 'place' with a campaign of terror and intimidation. Minds Stayed

Lindy and her doll Sally are best friends - wherever Lindy goes, Sally stays right by her side. They eat together, sleep together, and even pick cotton together. So, on the night Lindy and her mama run away in search of freedom, Sally goes too. This young girl's rag doll vividly narrates her enslaved family's courageous escape through the Underground Railroad. At once heart-wrenching and uplifting, this story about friendship and the strength of the human spirit will touch the lives of all readers long after the journey has ended.