Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Random House Studio
(pub.1.11.2022) 40 pages
Author: Mara Rockliff
Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie
Character: Georgia Gilmore
Overview:
"Georgia Gilmore was cooking when she heard the news. Mrs. Rosa Parks had been arrested--pulled off a city bus and thrown in jail all because she wouldn't let a white man take her seat. To protest, the radio urged everyone to stay off city buses for one day: December 5, 1955. Throughout the boycott--at Holt Street Baptist Church meetings led by a young minister named Martin Luther King, Jr.--and throughout the struggle for justice, Georgia served up her mouth-watering fried chicken, her spicy collard greens, and her sweet potato pie, eventually selling them to raise money to help the cause.
Tantalizing taste:
" The empty buses made city officials hotter than Georgia's collard greens with pepper sauce. They didn't like to lose those bus fares, but they didn't want to change.
They sent out the police to ticket anyone who gave the boycotters a lift. People were arrested just for standing on the corner, waiting for a ride. Georgia made more pound cakes and banana puddings to help pay their fares."
And something more: The After the Boycott section explains that "Today, everyone has heard of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. But the fight for justice and equality has never been the work of a few famous people. It was - and is - the work of thousands of courageous and persistent individuals like Georgia Gilmore. Although they might be in the 'Club from Nowhere,' they are heroes too."
"You cannot be afraid if you want to accomplish anything. You got to have the willing, the spirit, and above, all, you got to have the get-up."
- Georgia Gilmore