Candida Pugh

This was an excellent, wonderfully accessible introduction to literature about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of the 60s and 70s. The author is still very dedicated to civil rights issues. I have interviewed her for an article and will add a link when finished. Though ostensibly fiction, much of the story is a conflation of civil rights events in which Ms. Pugh took part. Ms. Pugh, 18 at the time, took part in the Freedom Rides in 1961 and was herself imprisoned in Parchman Prison for some months. The photo on the cover is an actual picture of Ms. Pugh – Lall at the time – from her arrest in 1961.

Oprah Winfrey invited all the surviving Freedom Riders to her studio in 2011 for a celebration of their bravery and activism. There is also an excellent full-length documentary film about the Freedom Riders. I'm sure both are available; go there when Ms. Pugh's book moves you to look for more information. And it will.

My full-length review in The Evanston RoundTable:
http://www.evanstonroundtable.com/m/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=6184… (meer)