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Arthur Shores Worked the System, September 3, 2012
By
Worth E Norman Jr (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill: The Untold Story of Arthur Shores and His Family's Fight for Civil Rights (Hardcover)
The daughters of Attorney Arthur Shores, along with Denise George, tell a compelling story about their father's behind-the-scenes legal work to help remove not only Jim Crow laws from Alabama, but Jim Crow attitudes. Attorney Shores worked the established system of segregation and changed it. Many books have been written about this era in Civil Rights history, but this book centers on the reality of one man and his family during those turbulent years. And that's what makes this book so readable."The Gentle Giant" is an easy read and fast-moving. One can hardly put the book down even knowing in advance the very public events that have already been well-documented. Arthur Shores was a steady, consistent, and seemingly low-key actor in the struggle for Civil Rights in his beloved Alabama. He stayed in Alabama, he did not leave. There were many reasons to leave during those years, but Shores' personal convictions, his religious faith, and his high sense of justice guided him in his life and career.
There are several political ironies mentioned in the book, but one must read it to enjoy them.
WORTH EARLWOOD NORMAN JR, author of http://www.amazon.com/James-Solomon-Russell-Pioneering-Evangelist/dp/0786467894/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346686131&sr=1-1&keywords=james+solomon+russell
Gentle, but he carried a gun, September 3, 2012
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This review is from: The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill: The Untold Story of Arthur Shores and His Family's Fight for Civil Rights (Hardcover)
Two women who have achieved success in their respective chosen fields of law and social service look back at their childhood in black Birmingham under Jim Crow law. They were loved and protected by their parents, who taught them that all men, and women, were created equal. This is an articulate, first-person account, told in simple language of their father, Arthur Shores, the "gentle giant" of the title, and his involvement in civil rights issues from the thirties, when at one time he was the only black lawyer practicing in the state of Alabama. His clients were a Who's Who of civil rights leaders, (Martin Luther King, etc.) Many of the cases he accepted became milestones in the long fight for equal rights. For example, he represented numerous children arrested in the Birmingham Children's March, as well as Autherine Lucy, who was the first black person to seek admittance to the University of Alabama. All this involvement did not come without a price. He was a target, literally, of the Klan. Windows and walls of his home were routinely riddled with bullets and his home was bombed twice; a third bombing was thwarted at the last moment. He was a devout Christian but he kept several firearms in the house and carried one wherever he went, to protect his family from those who wished them harm. The authors recount how national civil rights leaders visiting Birmingham would stay at their home and eat at their table, where they would be safe. It is fitting that this civil rights warrior, who spent so much time jousting with the power structure of the city of Birmingham, eventually became a member of the city councilman, himself. This book reflects the authors' love and respect for both their parents and their pride in the achievements of their father, who unheralded and largely unknown outside of Birmingham made such an important contribution to so many people's lives. It is a very good read!
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