Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement

Social justice advocate Bell offers the stories of nine African American women involved in the civil rights movement. These women, many of whom are now in their nineties, discuss their upbringing, schooling, and influences. Leah Chase, proprietor of the restaurant Dooky Chase's in New Orleans, a popular meeting place for civil rights leaders, offers valuable insight into the importance of education. Myrlie Evers and Kathleen Cleaver, whose husbands were at the forefront of civil rights, took on active leadership roles in their own right. Bell also interviews Dr. June Jackson Christmas, who became a major figure in psychiatry, and Gay McDougall, who campaigned for human rights and antiapartheid activism. What these brave women all have in common is humility and a belief that through working together, African American life can be improved and changed for the better.