Bowers, Rick. Spies of Mississippi: the True Story of the Spy network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement. 2010. National Geographic Society, 120 pages. $16.95 ISBN: 9781426305955
Plot Summary:
Bowers tells the story of the shocking history of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission which was established in 1956. The Commission’s aim was to ensure that segregation remained in place and to take down those in favor of integration. The Commission partnered with The White Citizens Council and the Ku Klux Klan. They also recruited African American citizens to spy on their own communities, especially anyone challenging segregation and state civil rights leaders. Through the actions of the villains Bowers also introduces the Freedom Rides in which student activists from Northern universities traveled to the South to register African Americans to vote.
Critical Review:
Bowers meticulously researched book reveals an important and terrible part of United States history. Segregation is not something we like to think about as Americans today because it is a disgusting and ugly part of our country, but it is important not to forget what it was really like when segregation was law. If we forget about segregation we may fall back into old ways and that is the lesson of Bowers book. I know in my history classes growing up, segregation was skimmed over; texts never revealed the true brutality and racism that formed the foundation of segregation.
Genre:
Non-fiction
Reading Level:
Grades 6th -10th
Similar Books:
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
Awards/Honors:
Booklist Top Ten Black History Books for Youth 2011
YALSA Award for Excellence in Non-fiction
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