I'm going to see "Selma" the film soon. Eventually. I suppose.Many of us will take young people to see it, I'm sure. May I suggest we not rely solely upon this one source to teach our children about Selma and the civil rights movement? Looking at many sources will give children, and all of us, a more thorough understanding of the movement, and will allow us to examine the events, people, issues, and ideals from different perspectives.
I want to pitch this book for young adult readers. Published around 1980, it was written by two women who were girls in Selma during those consciousness-raising days. They closely watched, wide-eyed, at what was happening around them. They asked questions of the adults, they sensed the urgency and importance of what their parents and neighbors were doing, and they wanted in! This recollection of the Selma story will give young adults a sense that they, too, can provoke change. It will make apathy a shameful and wasteful experience.
Yes, there has been a Disney movie produced based on the book (with Jurnee Smollett). Yet ... there's nothing like getting inside of a story as you do when you read it. There are many stories on, many accounts of, the civil rights movement that we should read. Hollywood depictions, even when they are worthy, give us limited, very narrow, and misleading views of a subject. We surely don't want to rely on Disney to tell this people's history. That can be more dangerous than knowing nothing at all.
This was one of the first books I reviewed when I started my work in public libraries as a Young Adult Services Specialist. I have never forgotten the voices of Sheyann and Rachel. Read it, and share it.
