Reader recommendation: Freedom Rider Diary

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For 40 days in 1961, 22-year-old Carol Ruth Silver, a white student from New York, suffered the indignity of jail in Mississippi. Her crime: She was a Freedom Rider. Intent on desegregating travel facilities at bus stations in the South, Silver and other Freedom Riders descended on Mississippi where police arrested them for attempting to use opposite-race restrooms. Freedom Rider Diary: Smuggled Notes from Parchman Prison, her detailed account of a troubled time in our country's history, is an alarming indictment of segregation and a powerful testament to Silver and the Freedom Riders who helped end it. Silver's passion for justice comes across on every page.