Friday, June 24, 2011

While the World Watched by Carolyn Maull McKinstry with Denise George


This book was on my list for the summer reading program at Tyndale house publishers.  You can sign up for that program here.  After reading this book, I found that I knew very little about the civil rights movement.  Of course, I had heard about Martin Luther King jr., who hadn't.  I mean, we do have a day named after him on our calendars, but I really didn't understand the whole struggle that the African-Americans went through in the south....particularly Birmingham, Alabama.  This story is written by a survivor of the Sixteenth Baptist Church  bombing that happened on September 15, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama.  She recalls her journey through that awful time in our nation's history and the lessons she learned as she tried to deal with the devastating depression she faced after the horrific incident.
I really enjoyed reading this book.  I love history and reading this book was helpful in helping me to understand what the civil rights movement was all about.  I was born in the 1970's and lived in the north.  I had no connection to the south and really didn't understand what the African-American struggle was all about.  After reading all of the atrocities they had to endure, it makes me sick to my stomach to think that so many were treated in such a horrific way.  What courage it took for the many who did stand up to the treatment and voice their right to freedom.  This book is a great read and I would encourage everyone to read it.  

**I checked this book out from my local library. 

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