Barefootin': Life Lessons from the Road to Freedom

By Unita Blackwell

Book Overview

When you're starting out on the road barefootin', you don't know where you're going. But you've got to step out, or you'll never get anywhere. And you keep on going, one step at a time. You have to have faith to go barefooted-you don't know what you might step on, what pain might come-but you keep on walking. And it makes you tough. Sometimes you skip and jump and run. Sometimes you get a thorn in your toe or trip over a limb, but there's no turning back. Barefootin' means getting mud between your toes and dancing on the water! Your spirit is in your feet, and your spirit can run free. In 1933, Unita Blackwell was born in Lula, Mississippi, a tiny town in the Delta where living was as hard as it gets, the stuff of the blues music that originated there. Like the other black people in Lula, Unita grew up in a sharecropping family, riding on her mother's cotton sack before she was old enough to pick cotton herself. Having left school at age twelve in order to make a living, Unita was trapped in menial jobs, and a bright future seemed beyond her reach. But Unita was forever changed in the summer of 1964 when civil rights workers came to her town of Mayersville, Mississippi. Electrified by the movement, Unita transformed her life from one of despair to one of hope, and in Barefootin' she details her inspirational rise from poverty to power, from silence to outspokenness, from oppression to freedom. From her rebirth as a freedom fighter and social activist to her tenure as mayor of her home town, to her work as an international peacemaker and presidential advisor, here are all the unlikely turns of Unita's remarkable life. The lessons she shares affirm and motivate us all, whether it's to remember that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, that world-changing movements are the result of many small steps, or that freedom means taking responsibility for our own lives and helping to make the world a better place for all. Infused with the language and rhythms of the Delta,Barefootin'is at once the stirring memoir of an exceptional woman and a guide to living a full and meaningful life from someone who knows how.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0609610600
• ISBN13: 9780609610602
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Crown
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 1.2" x 6.2"

Customer Reviews

Barefootin'

I received the book in good time and the book is in good condition.

What a Life Story !

This is an extremely good book. The author not only graphically tells it like it was in MS in the 60's, but also relates her life story that can only encourage anybody. From a kid picking cotton in the Delta in the 50's to becoming a Harvard Fellow and a recipient of a McArthur Genius Fellowship later in life, MS Blackwell tells a Hell of a story. This book is a must read.

best of the year

I am reading this book now, but more importantly, I saw Ms. Blackwell last night , at a reading at 61 coffee in Vicksburg Ms. She is an amazing presence, and the co-author, Joanne Morris, who read, also. This is well, just read it . You will love it. I have not written a review before, I love lots of books, but this one is special. I moved to Mississippi from Minnesota, and this is what I needed to hear about this state.

A Feast of Human Drama

Barefootin' is as captivating and real as Mississippi Delta Blues.It is memorable, entertaining, and beautifully written.I learned a lot, felt a lot and cheered a lot while reading this wise, funny and brave recounting of the life and times of an American Renaissance woman, Unita Blackwell, who has lived long enough and remarkably enough to become an historical icon of the Civil Rights struggle. But, thankfully, her earthy humanity overcomess that pigeonhole and, as Barefootin' makes clear, Unita is a woman for the ages.