On March 7, 1965, voting rights demonstrators were brutally beaten as they crossed the Edmund Petis bridge in Selma, Alabama. One of the most-publicized incidents of the civil rights campaign, images from that day have been seared into the nation's consciousness. Yet little has been written about the civil rights events in the surrounding counties, the vast sections of the rural south. Cynthia Griggs Fleming addresses this gap by bringing to light the struggle for equality of the citizens of Wilcox County, Alabama. Although right next door to Selma, their story has been largely ignored. Through the eyes of the residents of the county, Fleming relates a struggle punctuated by cowardice and courage, audacity and timidity, fear and foolishness. And, in the end, the entrenched power structure refused to yield and the county remains segregated to this day. Personal and compelling, In the Shadow of Selma is essential reading for everyone interested in the continuing struggle for civil rights in the United States.

By Cynthia Griggs Fleming

Preface: The Forgotten Rural Black Poor
Introduction: You'll Git Dar after While
Chapter 1: Disfranchisement, Despair, and Disillusionment
Chapter 2: Onward Christian Soldiers: The Coming of the Missionaries during the Early Years, 1883-1930
Chapter 3: New Negroes in the Cotton Field: The Great Depression and Gee's Bend
Chapter 4: Making the World Safe for Democracy? What About Wilcox County?
Chapter 5: Vote
Chapter 6: Ain't Gonna Study War No More: The Struggle to Desegregate Wilcox County's Schools
Chapter 7: After the Movement
Chapter 8: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same