Historical fiction writers get to imagine we are living in another time and maybe even another place. Although most of the story may be made up, the “history” part must be real.

You may be interested in learning more about Freedom Summer in the South. Some of the books I read while writing my novel are great resource books for kids.

A Dream of Freedom: the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968 by Diane McWhorter (Scholastic, 2004).

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, by Andrea Pinkney (Little Brown, 2010).

Spies of Mississippi: the True Story of the Network That Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement, by Rick Bowers (National Geographic, 2010).

The Civil Rights Movement for Kids: A History with 21 Activities, by Mary Turck (Chicago Review Press, 2000).

Through My Eyes, by Ruby Bridges (Scholastic, 1999).

Even though I lived in Mississippi during Freedom Summer, 1964, I wanted to understand what others have said, in their own voices, about that important time in our country’s history. Here are two websites where I learned a lot about the civil rights movement in the South.

American Memory’s Civil Rights section of the Library of Congress.

This is a bit of their mission statement:

American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.

I also used the University of North Carolina’s Documenting the South collection, which included oral histories of people who lived during the time Glory Be took place.

Here are two of the many books I used during my research. I read these more than once:

Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America, by Jeff Wiltse. (UNC Press: 2010)

Dixie: A Personal Odyssey Through Events That Shaped the Modern South, by Curtis Wilkie (Simon and Schuster, 2002)