The older I get, the more I appreciate the behind-the-scenes work that allows the big moments in history to happen. Gilmore's work to feed protestors, fund the carpool, provide a safe place for civil rights leaders to meet, and tell her story in court all helped the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeed.

Recipe inside back cover. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King are, of course also included and pictured.

Georgia Gilmore a cook at the National Lunch Company in Montgomery, Alabama help support and sustain the bus boycotts. Together with a group of women, the Club from Nowhere, she cooked and baked to raise funds. They worked in secret while many were arrested for protesting. Georgia ended up testifying about her mistreatment on the buses. Although she was fired from her job she opened up her own business from her home and kept right on cooking for the cause.

Georgia Gilmore was a single mother who knew that segregation was unfair, but was unsure of how to change things or how to help. Then the Montgomery Bus Boycott began and she helped feed the protesters and she used the money she made to help fund the protest. However, after a while, the bus boycott was brought to a halt after many important figures were arrested, but she chose to speak up about the mistreatment even though it caused her to lose her job. She then began making food from her home and was able to bring the community together through her cooking. Soon the found out that segregation on buses was now illegal, Georgia had helped bake the way to freedom. ( )

This book, subtitled “How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott” tells the true story of Georgia Gilmore, whose sales of baked goods helped nourish the famous Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. The boycott began on December 1, 1955 after Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus. (Technically, Parks did not sit in the white section at all; she sat in the front row of the “colored” section and refused to give up her seat to a white when the bus got crowded.)

Georgia already had been avoiding buses for two months before Rosa was arrested on account of the way she had been treated by drivers. She wanted to help with the boycott, and the best way she knew was to take advantage of her skills as a cook. She gathered a group of like-minded women, and they began selling food at civil rights meetings. They donated the profits to the Montgomery Improvement Association that funded the boycott and which was headed by Martin Luther King, Jr, just 26 years old at the time. To make even more money, the women began to sell meals to local businesses. As John T. Edge recounts in his book The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South, they sold pound cakes and sweet potato pies, fried fish and stewed greens, pork chops and rice at beauty salons, cab stands and churches. Edge writes: "She offered these women, many of whose grandmothers were born into slavery, a way to contribute to the cause . . . "

The women had to keep their activities a secret though, or they would lose their jobs. Thus, Georgia said, when asked, that the food “came from nowhere.” The author writes:

“Because of this, her brave group of women bakers became known as the Club from Nowhere.”

Georgia’s employer did find out about her activities, however, after she joined more than 80 people testifying in Martin Luther King’s defense in a trial over the boycott. (According to the State of Alabama, King and 89 others violated a 1921 statute that outlawed boycotts against businesses.) Georgia was fired.

Somehow she had to support her six children, whom she was raising on her own. Dr. King advised her to improve the kitchen in her home and start her own business. Word got around, and even whites came to Georgia’s for the food. Dr. King often came there and brought other civil rights leaders for important meetings. Guests at her home included Lyndon B. Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy.

The resistance lasted 381 days and involved an improvised car pool system with 300 cars and dozens of pickup and drop-off locations for African Americans boycotting the buses. Much of the funding came from the Club from Nowhere, which raised so much money it purchased not only gas for the cars to use, but even some station wagons to add to the pool!

On November 13, 1956, U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws requiring segregated seating on public buses, and on Dec. 20, 1956, King called for the end of the boycott. Georgia was elated that the boycotters had won. “Still,” the author writes, “there would be more battles to fights . . . so Georgia Gilmore kept right on cooking.”

The book concludes with a list of sources, Author’s Note, and a recipe for Georgia Gilmore’s “Homemade Pound Cake.”

In the Author’s Note, Romito writes:

“On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery, Georgia cooked macaroni and cheese and fried chicken for those commemorating the occasion. But sadly, Georgia became ill and died soon after.”

Illustrator Laura Freeman uses bold colors to display the obviously well-researched sociocultural context of the time portrayed. Her artwork is simple, and yet remarkably expressive. Freeman includes many clever historical touches that will make it fun for adults to peruse as well as the recommended reading audience of ages 6-9.

Evaluation: This is such a great story, because so many people want to do something about the injustice they see around them, but don’t know how to help. This book shows that there are many ways to make a difference, and that anybody can find a way to help. The story highlights people baking, bagging, driving, carrying, cleaning, and doing chores that most people - and kids! - can manage. You might also want to refer to the post, "31 Children’s Books to Support Conversations on Race, Racism, and Resistance," online here. ( )