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by Bob Zellner (Author), Constance Curry (With), Julian Bond (Foreword by)
Winner of the 2009 Lillian Smith Book Award
Even forty years after the civil rights movement, the transition from son and grandson of Klansmen to field secretary of SNCC seems quite a journey. In the early 1960s, when Bob Zellner's professors and classmates at a small church school in Alabama thought he was crazy for even wanting to do research on civil rights, it was nothing short of remarkable. Now, in his long-awaited memoir, Zellner tells how one white Alabamian joined ranks with the black students who were sitting-in, marching, fighting, and sometimes dying to challenge the Southern "way of life" he had been raised on but rejected. Decades later, he is still protesting on behalf of social change and equal rights. Fortunately, he took the time, with co-author Constance Curry, to write down his memories and reflections. He was in all the campaigns and was close to all the major figures. He was beaten, arrested, and reviled by some but admired and revered by others. The Wrong Side of Murder Creek, winner of the 2009 Lillian Smith Book Award, is Bob Zellner's larger-than-life story, and it was worth waiting for.Author Biography
Bob Zellner (Author)
BOB ZELLNER is a civil rights activist. He graduated from Huntingdon College in 1961 and that year became a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee as its first white field secretary. Zellner was involved in numerous civil rights efforts, including nonviolence workshops at Talladega College, protests for integration in Danville, Virginia, and organizing Freedom Schools in Greenwood, Mississippi in 1964. He also investigated the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner that summer. He left SNCC in 1966 but continued his civil rights activism. He later taught the history of the civil rights movement at Long Island University.
Atlanta-based Constance Curry (1933-2020) was a civil rights veteran and wrote several books and produced a documentary film.
