i will sign your books of stairs this is a book for the whole family. not just one. two or three. [laughter] [inaudible conversations]

>> i cut into said to you this afternoon however frustrating via our it will not be long. they will rise again. how long? not long. they will live forever. how long? not long. estimate the book is called alabamas civil-rights the illustrated guide to the cradle of freedom and basically it looks at the history of the civil-rights movement in alabama to tell this jury geographically i wrote an earlier book history telling a chronologically but it is

the theme of both books alabama had a central role starting with a the montgomery bus boycott with the freedom ride and a the birmingham movements and the montgomery march. but there are live to of smaller stories so i tried to tell those the best way i can. people that i had never heard of. there were abuzz they do amazing things under stressful situation. so it was a movement says much says great leaders. wanted to attract down as many people as i could that

were still alive to talk to them about their stories while they still remembers the details of what happened. you can watch see old film footage to see the state troopers charging the demonstrators but to have somebody remember that as an 11 year-old girl as she thought they were monsters because they have masks on their faces. i love those details as a journalist but it just makes the story come alive to give it a face. in mobile there is said jesuit college town of western part called spring hill college and that was the first school of any kind in the state of alabama to desegregate. it began the process in the 1940's with the first african-american graduate

1956. that was very rarely in the deep south to do that. they went ahead and did it quietly. so his letter from the jail he mentioned it the college as one that offers hope and inspiration. i just want to call attention to the fact in attention to their dramatic headlines with police dogs and the bomb to church with so horrific scenes the flip side of courage that the protesters were displaying that they also had a number of different places. mobile had an african-american man and back in the 1920's decided he would take on a

segregation and started one of the earliest naacp chapters in the south and quietly went about the business to oppose the of lynching and pursuing a the rights the desegregation of public accommodations and mostly for our negotiation of lawsuits by demonstrations and confrontation there was the few moderates that would meet him partway but that became part of the story although there was a lot below that progress that there was some hard-core segregation. it took awhile for that to play out. and then to get things started.

it was the toughest county in terms of its resistance it was the county the montgomery march mostly to please in dallas county and then the next 50 miles before you get to montgomery county. but at the time the march started in 1965, there was no african-american voters at all. 80 percent of the population was black there was no african americans registered to vote he was one of the first zero. there was violence of the

detroit housewife that was murdered in the county. but a bit after that jonathan individuals a free stu's supports the movement was murdered. it was a rough place. he became the most visible dieter of the civil-rights movement and one of the founders of the black panther party that was the all black political party designed to support black candidates for office. and he eventually won the office of share of in 1970 to serve in that capacity intel he died.

it was the rough and dangerous place. very soft-spoken. about this tall physically as unimposing as a person can be better yet he has tabled this about him. one of the interesting thing this us tough does those things were at the time alabama probably does as good a job to claim that history with museums and markers and the alabama department of tourism with where these dramatic things happened. and it was hard during that

time. but he confronted violence with nonviolence so there is something incredibly courageous about that. with that legal segregation the voting rights act passed in 1965 as sure dan doesn't interracial democracy so many of these but then to participate in the life of the wrong place. end then became the greater the freedom.

the freedom because it became easier just to be decent to treat people may be like you wanted to all along. and if you are respectful to the african-american person new kid get yourself in trouble. it was that hard. . . first, steve vogel, the author of "though the perilous fight," he talks about his book live from the 2014 gaithersburg