I was shocked that a book like this remains relatively unknown. Although I have read a number of books on the civil rights movement, none have touched me as this book did. I connected with the characters, related to their pain, in ways that caught me by surprise. I was both inspired to work toward a continued improvement in civil rights in our country, and at the same time, ashamed to be part of a race that battered and persecuted men, women and children to such a horrific extent, just because of the color of their skin. A brilliant work.