1963

by Angela Shanté

Key events of the Civil Rights Movement will be brought to life in this exciting and informative new series. The year 1963 brought both violence and a speech that resonates today. In June, two Black students were blocked from registering for classes at the University of Alabama. Civil rights leaders responded with a historic protest. In August, 250,000 people gathered for the March on Washington as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. The following month, a bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan killed four girls at a church in Alabama. The extent of racism and discrimination was finally laid bare, as public sentiment for the movement swelled and change now seemed inevitable. The years from 1955 to 1965 are at the heart of the civil rights movement―from the Montgomery bus boycott to the Voting Rights Act. The contributions of key activists, including Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Barbara Nash, and Malcolm X, are part of the narrative. Demonstrations of passive resistance and legal challenges were often met with bloodshed and violence against Black Americans fighting to end segregation and discrimination. Yet the courage of those yearning for equal opportunities under the law ultimately produced legislation affirming that every American should have the same constitutional rights, regardless of color, race, or gender.

96 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2022

About the author

Angela Shanté is a former K-12 classroom teacher, and award-winning author of THE NOISY CLASSROOM, a picture book that she wrote about her third-grade classroom to help soothe childhood anxiety associated with school and change. The second book in the series, THE NOISY CLASSROOM GOES TO THE MUSEUM pubs MAY 2023.

With almost 20 years of experience in education and advocacy work, Angela is focused on using her voice and platform to support, highlight, and make space for marginalized creatives in the arts and in education. In addition to her creative work, Angela works as an educational/DEI consultant supporting creative, educational, and culturally relevant projects, training, and workshops for students, adults, and organizations.

Her debut YA title THE UNBOXING OF A BLACK GIRL comes out in 2024.

Reviews

[karlin0336 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a nice, simple overview of Civil Rights Movement events in the year 1963. I read it as part of my library's reading bingo/book-opoly for staff members. I remember learning much of this info back in my U.S. History class in High School, though there was some new stuff here that I hadn't heard before (or had completely forgotten about). This made a decent refresher and was a great read as we're coming up on MLK Day. Perfect for any and all ages (though it is definitely geared towards a younger audience-- maybe later Elementary school age?).
I read this book on the Libby library app, and it was a bit awkward at times since it only showed one page on-screen at a time (some of the pictures took up two pages). I also got a bit confused at one point when a couple of the main pages were separated by an in-depth look page (a sentence from the first page continued on the third page since the special page was in between). I think if I'd checked out the physical book from the library rather than a digital copy, I might not have had these issues.
Overall, this book hovers somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars for me (I'm not a big history reader, so my motivation to finish despite how short this book was wasn't particularly high. Also, as previously mentioned, my issues with the e-book format.)