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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2015)
Books Book Review: Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom By Kam Williams Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. She vowed to make a difference— and she did.” — Excerpted from the Bookjack- et Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March By Lynda Blackmon Lowery As told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley Illustrated by PJ Loughran Dial Books Hardcover, $19.99 128 pages, Illustrated ISBN: 978-0-8037-4123-2 “Jailed nine times before her 15th birthday, Lynda Blackmon Lowery refused to give up the fight for equal rights. She was the youngest marcher on the historic 1965 voting rights march from The recent brouhaha over whether or not LBJ was dissed in the movie Selma has unfairly shifted the focus from the brave marchers who had their heads cracked open by racist police to a U.S. President sitting safely in the White House hundreds of miles away. If you’re interested in an eyewitness account of what actu- ally transpired at the Edmund Pettus Bridge back in March of 1965, I heartily recommend Turn- ing 15 on the Road to Freedom. As the title suggests, the author was a teenager when her grandmother first took her to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak at a church in their hometown of Selma. Lynda Blackmon Lowery was instant- ly inspired by the charismatic leader to get involved in the Civil Rights Movement, even though she was barely in her teens. She initially served as part of the support team for high school stu- dents staging sit-ins at segregated places like lunch counters and movie theaters. But when Dr. King returned in 1965, Lynda declared herself ready to participate in acts of non-violent civil disobedience, too. Consequently, by the time she would turn 15, she had already been arrest- ed nine times simply for seeking rights equal to whites. While in jail, she was sub- jected to torture prohibited by the Geneva Conven- tions, such as the occasion when she was left to roast in a windowless iron sweat- box until she literally passed out from the heat. Later, during the first Selma march nicknamed “Bloody Sun- day,” Lynda was not only tear gassed but knocked unconscious 29TH ANNUAL with a billy club by a cop calling her the “N-word.” It took 35 stitches to stop the blood gushing from her head, yet neither the beating nor the wound could dis- courage the determined young lady from joining the march from Selma to the Alabama state capital in Montgomery two weeks later. All of the above is recounted in vivid detail in this illustrated memoir aimed at young adult readers 12 and older. That target demographic makes sense, given Lynda’s age at the time of the demonstration and the fact that, as she says, “The Selma Movement was a kids’ movement.” Selma, as emotionally and absorbingly recalled by an unsung hero who persevered in the face of vicious intimidation on the part of the police. Tha n k Martin Luther King, Jr. You BREAKFAST PHOTO BY ANDREW DE VIGAL THANK YOU to all of our sponsors for making this event possible. The International Business Times put The Skanner News Martin Luther King Breakfast on its short list of ‘Best events to celebrate birthday and life of Martin Luther King Jr. around the US’. Page 12 The Portland and Seattle Skanner January 21, 2015
