Children of the Movement.

by John Blake Lawrence Hill Books, June 2004 $24.95, ISBN 1-556-52537-0

It seems a cruel thing to seek out the children of Civil Rights Movement leaders and ask them about the twin roles of their parents and the Movement in their lives. One might even look to religion, fitting as it was a source of great inspiration for the Movement, to find reasons not to do pose such questions. For the parents, Matthew 6:24 begins, "No man can serve two masters"--could we hope Movement parents made time to both change the course of our lives and avoid making those devastating missteps in the life of a child, like missing the school play or T-ball game.

The admonition often spoken to the wayward children of righteous mothers, "there are no grandchildren in heaven," seems most fitting. We've witnessed no movement as powerful, so how could the children escape their parents' long shadow to make their mark, too--and is it fair to expect them to do so?

The reason reporter John Blake took this mission destined to disappoint? Atlanta made him do it--he lives and reports in a city where the Civil Rights Movement is like "a second industry. In his interviews, we find accounts of young men and women whose upbringings and current lives are as diverse as their mothers' and fathers' approaches to dealing with racial injustice.

Blake's subheadings are rather arbitrary, for instance, the sons of James Foreman St. appear in both the "Casualties of War," a section about kids who were emotionally and physically abandoned by their parents as well as "The Next Generation," a section on kids who have picked up the torch in their own ways. Still, Blake succeeds because what seems a gimmicky book offers important lessons on living with families and beloved causes. There are many parenting styles that encourage one's children to pick up the struggle as well. Seems the kids who care are content to make their own place in heaven.

Shatema Threadcraft is a P.h.D. candidate in political theory at Yale University.