Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961 by Larry Dane Brimner (review)

Equal accommodation law may have changed by 1961, but in many parts of the country its enforcement had not kept pace. James Farmer and members of the Congress of Racial Equality decided to organize thirteen carefully selected volunteers—seven black and six white—to board Greyhound and Trailways buses in Washington, D.C. and ride to New Orleans, claiming the right to ride in seats and use facilities of their own choosing, as guaranteed by federal law. Brimner opens with a review of the laws the riders would test and a recap of the thirteen riders, identified by age, race, and occupation. Then the buses pull out and coverage switches to day-by-day summaries of the actions at each stop, which build in intensity and menace as they journey through Virginia (with relatively little incident) and deeper into the South, where violence erupts in Birmingham, Alabama as local authorities such as police commissioner "Bull" Connor infamously abet Klan assaults on passengers. Although the 1961 freedom rides have been collectively recounted in other sources (see, for example, Bausum's Freedom Riders, BCCB 4/06), Brimner's presentation—with its oversized trim and photographs, and its dramatic black and white layout—is well suited for readalouds and use by readers of diverse ages, reading levels, and backgrounds. Like Lowery's Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom (BCCB 2/15), this title should spring off the nonfiction shelves and into the attention of middle-school readers. Bibliography, notes, and index are appended. EB