by Dolores Klein, Peoria, IL

As I waited for Public TV’s presentation of the documentary about the Civil Rights Bus Rides through the Deep South, Oprah Winfrey interviewed some of the heroic participants. Among them was Diane Nash, whose name stirred a memory. She had instigated a demonstration strategy: Jail, No Bail. Her friends warned her, her baby could be born in jail. To which she had replied that her baby would be born in jail anyway if born into segregation.

Memories of our own participation in those intense times were called up over a period of years when Jim Ralph, a young man from Vermont came to Peoria, with the help of our own Millie Hall, and sought out and interviewed many local Peorians. A book has been in the works, as he had gotten word while in Chicago, that history had been made here that was as important as the activities making headlines in that major city.

Jim returned here many times, on searches through our library files. We await the results of his work.