Overturning Brown author Steve Suitts writes that ‘school freedom’ twists meaning of civil rights movement
The Nation just published an article reporting on how former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former education secretary Betsy DeVos were stumping in New Hampshire last week to promote one of the GOP’s favorite issues, “school choice.” This struck a nerve with Steve Suitts, author of the recent new book, Overturning Brown: The Segregationist Legacy of the Modern School Choice Movement. […]
On his 100th birthday, NewSouth celebrates the life of the Rev. J. Phillips Noble
One of the recent losses from the pandemic was the cancellation in Decatur, Georgia, on last Sunday of a celebration of one of our authors turning one hundred years old: the Reverend J. Phillips Noble. NewSouth Books published his memoir, Beyond the Burning Bus: The Civil Rights Revolution in a Southern Town, in 2003. Reverend Noble was […]
Rod Davis wins another award, for lifetime achievement serving veterans
NewSouth author Rod Davis does more than write — he has long been active in veterans’ affairs. Now he has won the Bill Pearson Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western Association of Veterans Education Specialists.
Jacqueline Trimble wins 2016 Balcones Poetry Prize for debut collection, American Happiness
In a bit of great news, American Happiness, recently published by NewSouth Books, wowed the judges of the Balcones Prize, winning the 2016 award for Jacqueline Allen Trimble in the poetry category. The judges at Austin Community College said of her work, “Hers is a refreshing voice. Her poetry is intimate and irony-filled.” They add, […]
Frye Gaillard adds Jefferson Cup Honor Book for Go South to Freedom, film documentary about Journey to the Wilderness to list of credits
Award-winning author Frye Gaillard is enjoying a banner year: his book Go South to Freedom has just been named a Jefferson Cup Honor Book for young adult readers by the Virginia Library Association. The Jefferson Cup honors a distinguished biography, work of historical fiction or American history book for young people. Presented since 1983, the […]
Steve Suitts sees irony in Southern response to immigration reform
As Confederate symbolism, hostility to immigration reform, voting rights, and Donald Trump mania roil the waters of Deep South politics in the run-up to the 2016 elections, Steve Suitts — author of Hugo Black of Alabama: How His Roots and Early Career Shaped the Great Champion of the Constitution — reveals the irony in a Southern Spaces blog post that white ex-Confederates were early beneficiaries of U.S. amnesty for illegal aliens …
Legendary civil rights attorney Solomon Seay Jr. leaves legacy in passing
Civil rights attorney Solomon S. Seay Jr. of Montgomery has died at age 84. Seay graduated from Howard University Law School and opened his law office in Montgomery in 1957, shortly after the end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, just in time to play a key role in the escalating battles against Jim Crow segregation in education, housing, public accommodations, and other areas. Over the next half-century, attorney Seay, often in collaboration with his longtime law partner Fred D. Gray and/or the NAACP, ACLU, and other civil rights groups, won landmark rulings in scores of legal cases …
Remembering Lynn Huntley, Southern Education Foundation president emerita
NewSouth Books joins the chorus of voices mourning the recent passing of Lynn Huntley, former president of the Southern Education Foundation. For two decades, Lynn brought effective, creative leadership to the SEF, which has long been a powerful force for improved education, better race relations, and greater understanding in our region …
Commemorating the End of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Today, November 13, in 1956 was Day 345 in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It was also the day that the boycotters won victory in their struggle that began after the arrest of Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955. The boycott began four days later, on December 5, 1955, on the morning of the day that she was to be tried in Montgomery city court on misdemeanor charges of violating the city law that said that blacks and whites had to sit in segregated sections on local buses …
On MLK’s Holiday, a Few Words About the Poor
Today is the MLK holiday, although in Alabama the adoption of the holiday passed the legislature only by designating it as also being in honor of the birth of Robert E. Lee, who coincidentally shares the same birth week as King, so that white state workers taking the day off didn’t have to do so in tribute to civil rights. Setting aside that head-in-the-sand Alabama political posturing, it is MLK Day, which means it’s a good day to remember that though MLK is rightly celebrated as a leader of the movement which broke the back of legalized segregation, toward the end of his life he was mostly campaigning to end economic injustice and war …