Women of the Civil Rights Movement

Women were involved in every aspect of America's civil rights movement. Their stories are characterized by perseverance, tenacity, and great courage in the face of hostility and personal danger. Women Who Dare: Women of the Civil Rights Movement honors the contributions of many great women activists who may not have been in the most visible positions of the movement's leadership, but whose work was crucial to its survival, growth, and eventual success. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, inspiring mass action against segregation; Jo Ann Gibson Robinson started the boycott of Montgomery's buses by blanketing the city with flyers the morning after Parks' arrest; Ella Baker was the first person to run the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and to bring together the students who formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; Daisy Bates kept the Little Rock Nine in Central High School; Diane Nash rallied the Freedom Riders when racist violence threatened to stop them in their tracks. These and many more daring women are discussed in the context of the key events of this violent and tumultuous period. Their stories are accompanied by dozens of historical photographs.