LOST FOOT SOLDIERS

Book excerpt: The fight for justice has been long and hard. People of color have had to fight since they were brought over to the shores of America in the belly of the ships. There are well-known giants in the civil rights Movement, including Rosa Parks, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and the congressman John Lewis. There were many other valiant civil rights soldiers with recognizable names. But there was an army of nameless, unsung heroes who marched under the threat of jail, tear gas, and brutal beatings. Yet, they continued to fight. They were the foot soldiers. They understood they couldn't ignore the problems of inequality nor could they stop fighting if they hoped to make a mark against bigotry. This book is an account of one of those foot soldiers--FREDDIE JAMES MITCHELL--who started in the movement when he was only thirteen years old. This is his story.