When I first read about this horrible event in the newspaper, I was so impressed by the brave lady named Jewell McMahan. (Jewel’s husband and Marcus’ mother were cousins.) I wanted to know the whole story. This is another Freedom Summer story that needed to be told and Pam Johnson has done that by writing Justice for Ella. The book is based on actual events from Mississippi’s Civil Rights Movement.
Justice for Ella is a story of two women—one black, one white—who fought and won against racial mean- ness. For Ella Gaston and Jewell McMahan, the fight was about justice, in a time and place when it was rarely bestowed on either black people or women. This book will be in our library in the near future.
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