Everybody Says Freedom

Montgomery, Alabama, 1955: Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. A local pastor, Martin Luther King Jr, agrees to let people meet in his church to discuss what to do. The civil rights movement has begun. Pete Seeger and Robert Reiser tell the story of how the movement unfolded, building their narrative around the words of the people who were there, the photographs and the songs. It is a story of courage and resilience on the part of ordinary people, and the powerful force of an idea whose time had come. The authors record the sit-ins, freedom rides and marches of the movement, not forgetting the stones, the burning buses, or the jails. But their emphasis is on the triumphs large and small, the victory for black and white alike, and the need to remember and celebrate.