The Movement Made Us: A Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride

David Dennis Sr. has a unique story to tell. As an organizer of the Freedom Rides, lunch counter sit-ins, and voter registration drives in the American Deep South in the early 1960s, he saw firsthand the cruelty of white Southerners during the civil rights movement and lived to tell the tale. He experienced frustration and anger at higher-ups in the movement, who he perceived weren’t in the trenches and putting their lives on the line for Black rights. He grieved for friends who lost their lives fighting for their rights. He feared for his own life, and feared for who he was becoming. This oral history is recorded by his son, Dennis Jr., who also chronicles how his own work as a journalist at Andscape is influenced by that of his father. This memoir of survival is critical to understanding the movement from the perspective of the people on the ground.