Booklist Review
Williams and Greenhaw reveal the depth of involvement of ordinary black folks in the Montgomery bus boycott and their brave resistance to Jim Crow, far beyond that which is commonly known. He recalls the many extraordinary blacks and whites of the South who rose above the required expectations and limitations of social conventions and played crucial roles in the formation of the modern civil rights movement. Although popular culture highlights the role of Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks, Williams (who inherited the bus made famous by Parks and later donated it to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan) and Greenhaw expose the reader to lesser-known figures: the Pullman porter and organizer E. D. Nixon, who provided the organization surrounding Parks' resistance; Fred D. Gray, a minister and lawyer who played critical roles in the boycott; and Virginia and Clifford Durr, a white couple who provided discreet support. This book brings to life the boycott that catapulted the nation into the civil rights era, portraying the personal sacrifices and heroism of ordinary people. --Vernon Ford Copyright 2005 Booklist
Choice Review
This work appears as the US celebrates the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks's arrest on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a public bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Williams and Greenhaw are to be congratulated for bringing this story to the attention of the reading public. Their collaboration is itself an interesting story. Williams's father-in-law purchased the bus on which the arrest occurred. Retained and protected by Williams for several decades, it has been restored and exhibited by the Henry Ford Museum. Greenhaw, a journalist and writer with personal connections to many of the central characters, provides an interesting chronicle of the boycott and the conditions and events that precipitated it. Indeed, the presentation of Edgar Daniel Nixon is the book's strongest feature. Written in an engaging style, this work is not an academic narrative. Ironically, that is simultaneously a strength and a weakness. Public libraries should purchase this book. Academic libraries with civil rights collections may find it worthy of consideration. Summing Up: Recommended. General and undergraduate collections. B. M. Banta Arkansas State University
Library Journal Review
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat on public bus #2857 in Montgomery, AL, prompting the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56. Williams's father purchased the bus in the 1970s to ensure its preservation. He and coauthor Greenhaw (Beyond the Night: A Remembrance) aim not simply to tell the story of the protest but also to cast light upon E.D. Nixon, an organizer in Montgomery for many years before the boycott. They contend that the boycott does not owe its beginnings simply to Rosa Parks or to Martin Luther King Jr. but to Nixon's tenacity, explaining that it was Nixon who picked King to lead the protest. King's Stride Toward Freedom doesn't deny Nixon's galvanizing force but doesn't quite say what Williams and Greenhaw are saying here. Through extensive interviews, the authors uncover significant personal histories of the boycott, including, quite unsettlingly, those of KKK members who terrorized Montgomery at the time. Vividly narrated, though at times slowing for biographical background on the main figures, this work is compelling and brilliantly accomplished, giving Nixon deserved recognition. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-Jim Hahn, Harper Coll. Lib., Palatine, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.