The eerie silence was broken only by the sound of scuffling feet as marchers approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The mood was sober. Hundreds of men, women, and children had been protesting in Selma for weeks to win black Americans the right to vote. They’d been threatened. Been arrested. Jailed. This march was likely to end in violence, yet they went anyway. But when state troopers attacked with billy clubs and tear gas, the brute force was a shock. Many were injured, including children. But not even Bloody Sunday, as March 7 came to be known, was enough to deter the marchers. Led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., they were committed to the voting rights movement despite the risks. Not even the youngest protestors gave up, and their defiance and courage were inspiring. Without them the struggle in Selma — which culminated in a five-day march to Montgomery — might have failed. Marching for Freedom tells the story of how ordinary kids helped change history. Award-winning author Elizabeth Partridge explores the events at Selma from their point of view, drawing on vivid recollections of some of those who marched as children. Dramatic photographs capture the danger and spirit in Selma during the turbulent spring of 1965 and offer a stunning visual narrative to the audio.
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“A sharply focused historical narrative for ayounger audience.”
— Horn Book (starred review)
“A captivating, personal account.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“A dramatic and a memorable statement.”
— VOYA (starred review)“An excellent addition to any library.”
— School Library Journal“Gripping profiles of young people who made a difference.”
— Booklist (starred review)Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Elizabeth Partridge grew up in a large, eccentric family in the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated with a degree in women’s studies from UC Berkeley, and later studied traditional Chinese medicine in Oxford, England. She was an acupuncturist for more than twenty years before closing her medical practice to write full-time. She has since published more than a dozen books, including Marching to Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary, and biographies of Dorothea Lange, Woody Guthrie, and John Lennon. Elizabeth is on the core faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.
Alan Bomar Jones is an actor and audiobook narrator. He is an award-winning resident artist with the Human Race Theatre Company of Dayton, Ohio, and with the American Stage Theatre Company of St. Petersburg, Florida, and has lent his deep baritone voice to audiobooks such as Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary. Jones and his wife, Becky, live in Dayton, Ohio.