The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement: Amazon.ca: Bob Zellner, Constance Curry, Julian Bond: Books

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4.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening account of the Civil Rights Movement, Mar 6 2010

By

Jennifer Crawford (Sault Ste Marie, ON CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement (Hardcover)

THis is a fascinating memoir about a southern white man's involvement in the black civil rights movemnet in the 1960s. He had relatives in the KKK but refused to join with. Instead he researched the civil rights movement and became highly involved in it although many people thought he was crazy for doing so. The book describes how he was harassed and threatened by the police yet he never gave up in his efforts. An excellent account for anyone who is interested in the history of the civil rights movement.

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Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars There are many great books on civil rights, and this is one of the greatest of them all, Dec 24 2008

By Mark D. Higbee "Mark Higbee" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement (Hardcover)

Bob Zellner has written a wonderful, moving account of his years of activism in the southern civil rights movement - notably, as the first white field organizer for SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or "snick," the most grassroots of the civil rights organizations). This memoir is as moving and as well written and as informative of any of the other memoirs of participants in the southern movement. Zellner's prose is lively - he's produced a page turner, with the help of fellow Movement veteran Constance Curry. Zellner grew up in lower Alabama, the son of a Methodist minister who, as a younger man, had been in the KKK, but had seen the light and converted to anti-racist point of view and ministry. Zellner vividly describes his college years at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala., where he ended up meeting Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abertany, and Virginia & Clifford Durr; his love of justice drew him from being a mere observer of civil rights struggles toward being a participant. His accounts of famous demonstrations at McComb, Miss., Montgomery, Danville, VA, and his many arrests by the segregationist police and the beatings and imprisionments he and fellow activists suffered, are moving.

The book has no jargon, and is a lively, vivid, often humorous and always honest account of these revolutionary years. His accounts of his confrontations with the segregationist Governor George Wallace alone are worth the price of the book. Especially valuable and insightful are his portraits of fellow activists, like James Forman and Charles McDew and Stokley Carmichael. This autobiography stirkes me as a book written with loving respect for his fellow activists, and one written with the perspective of time; once bitter conflicts within the movement, ca. 1965-67, over what role if any white people could play in SNCC, are recounted dispassionately and factually. While I am very well read on the civil rights movement, many of the details and incidents Zellner describes were unfamiliar to me. Plus, he captures the unthinking acceptance of racist distinctions that was so common in the South a half century ago.

I highly recommend this book. It's the best thing I've read all year. If you've not before read about the movement, this is the best place to start - and if you've read a lot about the Movement, you'll be delighted by Zellner's autobiography. He is one of the true living American heroes, and in this memoir he is unfailingly generous to his fellow Movement activists and to the cause they advanced so boldly and against all the institutional forces of American society: Liberty and justice and equality for all.

-Mark Higbee

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, Much Needed Perspective on CRM, Nov 25 2008

By G. Edwards "CRMStudent" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement (Hardcover)

After meeting Mr. Zellner at a lecture on the enduring legacy of the Civil Rights Movement [CRM] I was very intrigued by the story of this white son/grandson of former Klansmen, who became one of the biggest advocates of the movement. In this book Bob shows his transition from a very curious and slightly confused college senior, to a full fledged freedom fighter. He does not idealize himself or the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee [SNCC], showing the tensions, fears, and doubts over everything from gender and race relations, to the basic theory of non-violence, as well as the intense brutalization they underwent in their quest for freedom. The story does not end with his departure from SNCC, but continues through his grassroots organizing efforts with GROW, to being abused by the NY State Police, and beyond. This is an amazing story, one that sheds so much new light on one of the most important eras of US history. The book is well written, highly readable, while reflecting the interesting southern sense of humor that seems so characteristic of Zellner. I would recommend this book to anyone, and would call it a must read for anyone with heightened interest in the CRM.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The personal memoir of civil rights activist Bob Zellner, a white Alabama native who stood beside black students who marched, Mar 9 2009

By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement (Hardcover)

The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement is the personal memoir of civil rights activist Bob Zellner, a white Alabama native who stood beside black students who marched, undertook sit-ins, and sometimes died to challenge the racist reality of the South in the 1960s. Zellner's story of protest on behalf of positive social change and the promotion of equal rights does not end with America's desegregation; The Wrong Side of Murder Creek also explains how he continues to work for a more just America in the present day. The captivating and profound testimony of a patriot who did everything he could to help make his nation a better place, The Wrong Side of Murder Creek is highly recommended.

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