About this item
On May 4, 1961, a group of thirteen black and white civil rights activists launched the Freedom Ride, aiming to challenge the practice of segregation on buses and at bus terminal facilities in the South. The Ride would last twelve days. Despite the fact that segregation on buses crossing state lines was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1946, and segregation in interstate transportation facilities was ruled unconstitutional in 1960, these rulings were routinely ignored in the South. The thirteen Freedom Riders intended to test the laws and draw attention to the lack of enforcement with their peaceful protest. As the Riders traveled deeper into the South, they encountered increasing violence and opposition. Noted civil rights author Larry Dane Brimner relies on archival documents and rarely seen images to tell the riveting story of the little-known first days of the Freedom Ride.
About the Author
Larry Dane Brimner is the author of 200 books for young readers. His books have received many awards, including the Carter G. Woodson Award, the Robert F. Sibert Honor Book Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honor, the NCTE Orbis Pictus Book Award Honor, and the Eureka! Gold and Silver state awards in California, among other accolades. He also had a one-year stint writing children's programming for PBS. Born in Florida, he taught at the high school and university levels in California for twenty years and now makes his home in both San Diego, California, and Tucson, Arizona. In addition to high school and university, he taught at the primary, elementary, and junior high school levels. When he is not writing, he enjoys mountain biking, cooking, working with mosaic tile, wogging (a combination of walking and jogging) , and playing hide-and-seek with his schnauzer, Kubric. Larry enjoys visiting between 30 and 60 schools every year, where he motivates young people to read and write. His school programs are a blend of stand-up comedy, storytelling, and pro-literacy, pro-writing--he believes that everyone has a story. After one visit to Sandy, Utah, a parent wrote him to say that her young son now kept a special notebook because he was an author and had some stories to write. That's exactly the outcome he hopes to achieve, as he strives to impress upon children that their own lives are rich material for story--whether something fanciful, something exaggerated, or something factual. You can learn more about him at www.brimner.com.
