This Bright Light of Ours: Stories from the Voting Rights Fight

Title Page, Copyright

This Bright Light of Ours Praise for This Bright Light of Ours “This Bright Light of Ours: Stories from the Voting Rights Fight is a first-­hand, from the front-­lines report of the sixties south­ern voting rights move­ment in one of the most resistant counties in one of the most resistant states. This is a must read account of a less publicized aspect of the south­ ern Civil Rights Movement, white volunteers risking life and limb to challenge white supremacy at its most brutal.” —Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus, NAACP “This is an important work about a neglected period of the Civil Rights Movement, the 1965 Voting Rights Movement. Gitin clearly communicates her commitment to civil rights and social justice by presenting us with the fresh voices of unheralded community leaders in Wilcox County, Ala­ bama. Gitin’s work adds wonderful new insight and texture to the story of how courageous Ameri­ cans transformed their community and the country.” — Robert Michael Franklin, author of Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in Af­ ri­ can Ameri­ can Communities “Gitin provides one of the most nuanced treatments of white involvement in the movement that I have read. She avoids many of the pitfalls that typically mar works treating the subject, most notably devaluing the role of outside organizers while simultaneously overstating the contributions they made.” — Hasan Kwame Jeffries, author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Ala­ bama’s Black Belt “This Bright Light of Ours, shares important details of the experience of giving oneself to the country-­ changing work of the Civil Rights Movement . The Freedom Struggle in Ala­bama was seen and heard about around the world. Much credit is given to a select few whose names are of­ ten called as leaders of this powerful movement. But there would have been no free­ dom movement—certainly not of the breadth and scope to which it evolved—had it not been for movement volunteers like Maria Gitin and others she writes about. Because of their giving spirit, their willingness to suffer even, a cruel and unjust sys­ tem that impacted the lives of all of us was changed.” — Dorothy Cotton, Director SCLC Citizenship Education Program and founder of the Dorothy Cotton Institute “Maria Gitin’s book is a unique blend of her own story and those of the local community members with whom she worked in Wilcox County in the exceptionally challenging ­ struggle of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement . Very, very few books offer this kind of retrospective and prospective. Gitin’s love for the people of Wilcox County shines through. The work reinforces an understanding of the courage of those times, the penalties exacted in real human lives and ways, the strength of the Black community , their openness and caring, and a brilliant documentation of how completely segregated the South—at least this corner of the South—­remains. These are powerful stories profoundly relevant for our own times.” — Bettina F. Aptheker, Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech, and Became a Feminist Rebel “Bernard LaFayette and I worked together in Wilcox. In fact, the first Blacks to attempt to register since the fall of Reconstruction were from Wilcox County. We were introduced early to the violence of Sheriff L Jenkins and a county with more dead folk on the voter rolls than living. I am very proud to see that a Sister is out there telling the story from which at last hopefully soon a legacy of SNCC will emerge, a legacy that our young can use as bread from which to draw sustenance. We desperately need it.” — Colia Liddell LaFayette Clark, SNCC field director, Freedom Flame Award recipient Selma Jubilee 2011 “Maria Gitin’s lively and candid memoir-history answers the call for a grassroots rather than leader-centered account of the southern struggle against the Jim Crow system. This Bright Light of Ours helps readers understand how millions of black Southerners finally became American citizens.” —Clayborne Carson, professor and director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute Frontispiece. Wilcox County, Alabama, 1965. (Copyright © 2012 by Samuel Torres Jr.) This Bright Light of Ours Stories from the 1965 Voting Rights Fight Maria Gitin The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa Copyright © 2014 The University of Ala­ bama Press Tuscaloosa, Ala­ bama 35487–0380...