Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement

Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement. By Ann Bausum. National Geographic Society, 2006.  79 pages.  $18.95

"Captured in the pages of this book is a compelling moment in human history, the drama of the Freedom Rides, the most untold story of the civil rights movement.  This is a true account of courageous Americans who were prepared to dis for what they believed."  So says civil rights leader John Lewis in his forward to Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement, a Robert F. Sibert Honor book.  This fascinating book begins with an examination of the era preceding the civil rights movement from both the African American and white perspective by detailing the childhoods of the Lewis and Zwerg.  It goes on to show how these two men, one black and the other white, became leading figures in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's through their participation in the Freedom Rides, in which activists from different parts of the country rode buses into the Deep South to confront racial injustice.  Adhering firmly to their non-violent principles, they nevertheless faced great dangers as they attempted to bring the message of equality for all into the most segregated parts of the United States.

The passages about Lewis's childhood are especially moving.  Growing up in the heart of the Jim Crow era, Lewis was confronted daily with his "otherness": the sense that he was trapped in a society in which he could never be accepted.  He talks about his anger and his shame at having to attend segregated schools with no playgrounds, no indoor plumbing, and hand-me-down books.  These early experiences were the forge in which Lewis developed the strength to confront injustice; he became one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement as a very young man, and, as a congressman from the state of Georgia, he continues to fight for equal rights for all people to this very day.

Zwerg, by contrast, "might as well have been born into another world." He had very little interaction with other races growing up, but his parents taught him respect for all people, regardless of their differences.  In college, Zwerg was a natural leader, and when the Civil Rights Movement began to gain momentum his deep sense of right and wrong compelled him to act.

John Lewis and others confront police on Bloody Sunday

Retrieved from https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1697/23854979734_8f8582ed45_b.jpg

The two men would go on to face all manner of prejudice side-by-side.  They were confronted by angry mobs armed with baseball and hammers; they heard the most hateful of racial epithets; and they mourned when some of their fellow protesters we're killed by bigots.  But they also witnessed and participated in some of the pivotal moments in this nation's history, and in the end, heroes like Lewis and Zwerg persevered and helped to bring about lasting change and a greater degree of equality for all Americans.  This book is a reminder that a few a determined individuals can make a difference in the face of great injustice.  It is also a reminder that we have a responsibility to do so.