About the Book:Drawn from the rich archives of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, this collection brings together twenty-nine oral histories from people of varying ages and occupations who participated in civil rights activism at the grassroots level. These highly personal narratives convey the real sense of fear and the risk of bodily danger people had to overcome in order to become the movement’s foot soldiers. The stories offer testimony as to how policing was carried out when there were no cameras, how economic terrorism was used against activists, how experiences of the movement differed depending on gender, and how youth participation was fundamental to the cause. Participants in the struggle ranged from teachers, students of all ages, and domestic workers to elderly women and men, war veterans, and a Black Panther leader. This volume demonstrates the complexity and diversity of the spirit of resistance at a formative moment in American history.Table of Contents: Preface . . . vii Acknowledgments . . . xii Introduction Foot Soldiers for Democracy, by Robin D. G. Kelley . . . xiii Look for Them in the Whirlwind, by Rose Freeman Massey . . . xviii List of Abbreviations . . . xxv Chronology of Events from April and May 1963 . . . xxvi Illustrations . . . xxxiii Emma Smith Young . . . 1 Eva Lou Billingsley Russell . . . 10 Jimmie Lucille Spencer Hooks . . . 17 Nims E. Gay . . . 26 James Armstrong . . . 35 Joe Hendricks . . . 46 James Summerville . . . 53 Henry M. Goodgame Sr. . . . 57 Joe N. Dickson . . . 63 Johnnie McKinstry Summerville . . . 78 Jonathan McPherson . . . 82 LaVerne Revis Martin . . . 88 Paul Littlejohn . . . 93 Carlton Reese . . . 97 Elizabeth Fitts . . . 106 James Roberson . . . 111 Annetta Streeter Gary . . . 115 James Ware and Melvin Ware . . . 122 Willie A. Casey . . . 126 James W, Stewart . . . 132 Gwendolyn Sanders Gamble . . . 142 Carolyn Maull McKinstry . . . 150 Carl Grace . . . 161 Malcolm Hooks . . . 169 Miriam Taylor McClendon . . . 174 Shirley Smith Miller . . . 182 Washington Booker III . . . 187 Carrie Delores Hamilton Lock . . . 200 Audrey Faye Hendricks . . . 208 Epilogue . . . 213 Index . . . 217