Freedom School, Yes!

In 1964’s Freedom Summer, one girl sees that nothing—not hatred, not fear, not anything else—can stand in the way of her learning about the world.

Jolie has a lot to be scared about since the new Freedom School teacher, Annie, came to town. Bricks thrown through windows in the dead of night, notes filled with hate, and now a fire has burned down the church where Annie was supposed to start teaching tomorrow! Without the church, how can she possibly teach Jolie and the other townspeople about black poets and artists, historians and inventors? Unless the people themselves fight back.

In this triumphant story based on the 1964 Mississippi Freedom School Summer Project, Amy Littlesugar and Floyd Cooper come together to celebrate the strength of a people and the bravery of one young girl who didn’t let being scared get in her way.