During the summer of 1963 civil rights movements were taking place all over the South. In northeastern North Carolina the struggle for freedom focused on the small town of Williamston, where a legacy of voting rights advocacy and a history of violence caught the attention of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The Massachusetts chapter of the SCLC sent fifteen white ministers to Williamston in November in an attempt to increase media coverage. Just as the movement was gaining traction, John F. Kennedy was assassinated and the nation lost interest in Williamston. So far the Williamston Freedom Movement has remained little known, though its impact was significant locally. This book details the events and those who participated, and includes 19 interviews with members of both the black and white community. By studying local movements, historians can better understand how ordinary people contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.

Amanda Hilliard Smith is a museum teaching specialist for Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. She previously worked as a social studies teacher in eastern North Carolina. She has received several teaching awards including the N.C. National History Day high school teacher of the year and the N.C. history teacher of the year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Amanda Hilliard Smith

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 220
Bibliographic Info: 41 photos, timeline, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7636-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1433-5
Imprint: McFarland