We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March

CRITICS HAVE SAID

  • A moving record of young people rising at a pivotal historical moment, based on original interviews and archival research as well as published sources.
    Kirkus
  • Even with the many fine books out there about the role of young people in the Civil Rights era, this highly readable photo-essay will hold YA readers with its focus on four young people who participated in the Birmingham Children s March, set against the big picture of the fight against segregation and the roles of adults.
    Booklist
  • This chronicle of a pivotal chapter of the civil rights movement weaves together the stories of four black children in Birmingham, Ala., who were among some 4,000 who boycotted school to participate in a march to protest segregation. Before recounting that event, during which almost 2,500 young people were arrested and jailed, first-time author Levinson opens with intimate profiles of the four spotlighted children (drawn from interviews she conducted with each of them), along with descriptions of Birmingham s racist laws, corrupt politicians, antiblack sentiment and activists efforts to fight all of the above. Readers also get an upclose view of such leaders as Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who founded the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights; Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who advocated a nonviolent response; and James Bevel, a preacher who rallied the city s children and teens. Yet the most compelling component is Levinson s dramatic recreation of the courageous children s crusade and the change it helped bring about in the face of widespread prejudice and brutality. Powerful period photos and topical sidebars heighten the story s impact.
    Publisher

IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:

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Crowe, Chris. Just as Good: How Larry Doby Changed America’s Game. Candlewick Press, 2012. ISBN-13: 9780763650261.

Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Might Miss Malone. Wendy Lamb Books, 2012. ISBN-13: 978-0385734912

Levine, Ellen S. Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Story. Puffin, 2000. ISBN-13: 978-0698118706.

Levine, Kristin. The Lions of Little Rock. Putnam Juvenile, 2012. ISBN-13: 978-0399256448.

Levinson, Meira. No Citizen Left Behind. Harvard University Press, 2012. ISBN-13: 978-0674065789.

Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux. No Crystal Stair (Carolrhoda Ya). Carolrhoda Books, 2012. ISBN-13: 978-0761361695.

Rochelle, Belinda. Witnesses to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights. Puffin, 1997. ISBN-13: 978-0140384321.

Weatherford, Carole Boston. Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins. Puffin, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0142408940.