JUSTICE RISING

A celebration of 12 Black women who helped shape a movement.

This illuminating picture book begins with a pointed description of the civil rights movement that highlights Black women’s crucial roles in the fight for equality. Next, Russell-Brown includes a list of the book’s 13 sections (one devoted to each woman and a final one on the freedom marchers); though a few names will be readily recognizable, many may be unfamiliar. Readers learn how Ella Baker helped start the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Other highlights—Ruby Bridges and her fight to integrate schools, Claudette Colvin’s refusal to move to the back of a Montgomery bus, and Dorothy Cotton’s ability to organize people—will also inspire young readers to make a difference in their own lives. Other notable figures include Fannie Lou Hamer, Coretta Scott King, Diane Nash, Rosa Parks, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Gloria Richardson, Jo Ann Robinson, and Sheyann Webb. The subjects are organized alphabetically by last name, and each entry lists their place of birth and life span, indicating that some of these heroes are still among us and that the fight for racial equality was not so long ago. Entries offer brief but energizing summaries of these women’s contributions along with realistically vibrant illustrations that depict these larger-than-life figures in action. Backmatter includes quotes from each subject and a list of resources to learn more about these influential women. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A book worth uplifting.