Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement by Sandra Neil Wallace

Abstract

Reviewed by: Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement by Sandra Neil Wallace Adam McConville Wallace, Sandra Neil Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement; illus. by Bryan Collier. Wiseman/Simon, 2023 [48p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781534451032 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781534451049 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 3-5 Born into a loving Black family on Chicago’s South Side in 1938, Diane Nash moved south to Tennessee for college and saw first-hand the effects of segregation in her grandmother’s home state. There she was inspired to nonviolent protest, leading sit-ins and marches to successfully integrate Nashville’s lunch counters by age twenty-one, and she quickly took on larger causes, coordinating Freedom Rides to Mississippi and organizing student protests, despite bombings, attacks, and her own arrest. Though Wallace notes Nash’s absence on the literal national stage during the 1963 March on Washington, she clearly conveys Nash’s impact in both the civil rights movement and, later, in protests of the Vietnam War. Masterful second-person describes Nash’s life, with stirring internal rhyme that makes the prose read like poetry, as capitalized key words hone in on her emotional state: “CONFIDENT, COMPASSIONATE. Before class in a church each day, you and a group of students pray and learn about change in a peaceful way.” Collier’s collage and watercolor art unfortunately doesn’t match the highs of the text; compositions largely lack depth, with muted shadows and blurred shading that leave faces and backgrounds flat. The text, fortunately, supports readers throughout, evidenced by the shifting second-person on the final spread as a group of children greets Nash [End Page 204] on a speaking tour of the United States. This would pair well with Weatherford’s recent biography of Bayard Rustin (Song for the Unsung, BCCB 11/22) for a look at lesser-known heroes in the civil rights movement. Back matter includes author and illustrator’s notes, a thorough timeline of Nash’s life, selected resources for further research, and quote sources. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois