Freedman, R. (2014). Because they marched: The people's campaign for voting rights that changed America. New York, NY: Holiday House Publishing.

Set in 1965 in Selma this wonderful piece of historical non-fiction begins with Dr. King taking the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to connect with the blacks in the south.  They started by meeting in defiance of a court order by Judge Hare. The public safety commissioner) planned to try to stop the meeting without using force.  He hoped that this would prevent media attention to the meetings and cause Dr. King and his group to move on.  Sheriff Clark wanted to continue meeting these movements with force and intimidation..  The day of the march 500 were arrested and jailed.  On March 6 a group of white citizens also marched on Selma.  Riots and murders occurred in opposition to the voting rights act.  Ultimately over 8000 people participated in the march.  On August 6, 1965 President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law.  By the end of that year 250,000 black voters had registered in the south.

With a lexile level of 1160 the target audience for this book is grades 5 – 9.  I found the book so interesting.  Even though I was alive during this time, I do not remember the marches on Selma.  I was 5 years old at the time and my first and second grade classes were integrated.  The vocabulary is well within reach of the 5^th grade audience. Freedman does a great job of providing insight into the times and events.  The photos were amazing.  I found myself totally captivated by them.  This text has so many educational applications it is difficult to narrow them down.  Black History Month, encouraging activism, the civil rights movement, the nonviolent ways of Dr. King and his ministry council and 1960’s America.  It has a wealth of information which could be easily applied.