Civil Rights and a Teenager's Camera

In Margaret McMullan’s Sources of Light, a young lady named Samantha (aka Sam) uses a camera that her mom’s boyfriend gives her to create a visual portrait of life in Mississippi in 1962-1963. Sam and her mother are white, but, because of their support of the civil rights movement, they are threatened and attacked by those who oppose equal rights for African-Americans. The author touches on other themes besides civil rights, including single-parenthood, war, and coming-of-age relationships, and she weaves them in beautifully. Her characters and their reactions to their circumstances ring true because she grew up in Mississippi during the time in which the story is set.

This isn’t an easy book to read, but those who are interested in the civil rights movement or life in the South during the 1960s may want to borrow it from the library. It can be found in the library by looking for the call number JF M. If you want more information about the book or to read other reviews of it, click here to be taken to the library’s catalog entry. Please don’t hesitate to ask one of the librarians for help in locating the book or the catalog record. We will be glad to assist you.