Riding to Washington (3 page)

In the history books, the March on Washington is best remembered for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, historic “I Have a Dream” speech. But those who arrived by bus had already made history before King stood before the crowd of over 200,000 at the Lincoln Memorial. The moment they boarded buses in Indianapolis, Memphis, Chicago, and other cities across the country, these people—black and white, Christian, Muslim, and Jew—had begun to realize a dream of coming together in peace. And on that morning in Washington, D.C., they and their dream arrived.

Though fiction,
Riding to Washington
is a very personal story for Gwenyth Swain as both her father and grandfather rode toWashington, D.C., to participate in the 1963 civil rights march on the nation's capital. Ms. Swain is the youngest of five sisters and the only one to live outside her native state of Indiana. She writes partly to let folks back home know that she's keeping busy through the long Minnesota winters and partly because writing is the best job she can imagine having. She enjoys weaving family stories and historical events together in fiction. Ms. Swain is the author of the middle-grade novel
Chig and the Second Spread
and the historical picture book
I Wonder As I Wander
. She lives in St. Paul with her husband and their two children.

Deeply committed to the principles of freedom and equality, historical artist David Geister welcomed the chance to paint the illustrations for
Riding to Washington
. He viewed his latest work as both an artistic challenge and an opportunity to help young readers imagine themselves on a bus heading to Washington, D.C., in August of 1963.

David's artwork has been used in articles for
The History Channel Magazine, The Military Collector and Historian and The Saturday Evening Post
, and can be found in many historic sites and private collections. The illustrator of
The Legend of Minnesota, The Legend of Wisconsin
, and
The Voyageur's Paddle
, David lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Patricia Bauer, and stepdaughters, Eva and Allie.

To review other titles and downloadable teachers' guides
go to:
www.sleepingbearpress.com
.