Heart of Atlanta, Ronnie Greene
Heart of Atlanta, Ronnie Greene
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Heart of Atlanta
Five Black Pastors and the Supreme Court Victory for Integration

Author: Ronnie Greene

Narrator: Kevin R. Free

Unabridged: 7 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 01/11/2022


Synopsis

The Heart of Atlanta Supreme Court decision stands among the court’s most significant civil rights rulings.

In Atlanta, Georgia, two arch segregationists vowed to flout the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the sweeping slate of civil rights reforms just signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Pickrick restaurant was run by Lester Maddox, soon to be
governor of Georgia, and the Heart of Atlanta motel was operated by lawyer Moreton Rolleston Jr. After the law was signed, a group of ministry students—George Willis, Albert Dunn, and Woodrow Lewis—showed up for a plate of skilletfried chicken at the Pickrick; Maddox greeted them with a pistol, axe handles, and
a mob of White supporters. At the Heart of Atlanta, ministers Albert Sampson and Charles Wells sought rooms, but Moreton Rolleston refused to accept the Black patrons.

These confrontations became the centerpiece of the nation’s first two legal challenges to the Civil Rights Act. In gripping detail built from exclusive interviews and original documents, Heart of Atlanta reveals the saga of the case’s rise to the
US Supreme Court, which unanimously rejected the segregationists. Heart of Atlanta restores the legal cases and their heroes to their proper place in history.

About Ronnie Greene

Ronnie Greene is an investigative journalist at the Associated Press. Before joining the AP, Greene was project editor for Breathless and Burdened, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. He is the author of Night Fire: Big Oil, Poison Air, and Margie Richard's Fight to Save Her Town.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Adam on April 14, 2022

Summary: A journalistic account of two Atlanta legal cases in response to the 1964 Civil Rights act, joined by the Supreme Court to uphold public accommodations (Title 2 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act). I do not think I would have picked up Heart of Atlanta if my book club had not decided to go to a bo......more

Goodreads review by rrrenkerrreads on January 17, 2023

MLK day/Emory King Week read. I found the audiobook when exploring the local history collection in our county library. The book provides a detailed account of the two scarcely-remembered legal cases in Atlanta right after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed.......more

Goodreads review by Eric on October 17, 2022

This is probably a civil rights story that ought to be told well - it's just not done all that well here. I never quite got a feel for the point at which Lester Maddox slipped from being a segregationist to a racist, even as the author started at the position giving Maddox his position of "protectin......more

Goodreads review by Jessa Michelle on February 16, 2022

A wonderful book of the history of the Civil Rights Laws, Integration & the men who helped changed history! This was so well written & properly researched. I'd reccomend this book to anyone who wants to better educate themselves, wants to learn law, etc. Beautifully done!......more

Goodreads review by Esther on March 19, 2024

Audiobook......more