BEV

Beverly Luther-Sims was a social worker that put her words and skills into action to help African Americans attain equality during the civil rights era. As a white Northerner is the 1960's, she worked and marched side-by-side with African Americans, Latinos and Asians during the civil rights movement.

With acclaimed films like Selma and growing protests over racial tensions bringing civil rights to the forefront of national conversation, this transfixing book takes us back to the turbulent 1960s and the inspiring true story of a white social worker who tirelessly worked side-by-side with people of all colors to fight for racial equality.

After losing a friend and fellow activist to murder—a white person like herself whose steadfast dedication to the cause of civil rights drove him to Mississippi, the hotbed of the nation’s cruelest bigotry at the time—Bev Luther-Sims knew she could not remain in the safety of the north. Not if she wanted to make a difference. She had to do whatever it took to stem the racist tide—to help black citizens of the terror-filled south receive the basic benefits that local authorities refused to provide.

Seeing the civil rights struggle up close showed Bev that the battle wasn’t just about segregated restaurants and drinking fountains. Those wounds would be easy to heal compared to the poverty and limited access to education and health care that would leave deeper generational scars. This timely true narrative plants you firmly in the center of the tumultuous civil rights movement, as seen through the eyes of a passionate woman who would stop at nothing to help all of her neighbors achieve equal rights. It is the story of Bev Luther-Sims and the people she boldly walked alongside, those who tried to stand in her way, those whose lives she touched, and, most of all, those who touched hers.

Matty Rich is a video game executive and filmmaker, who broke into the film world with the 1991 film Straight Out of Brooklyn, which was financed by credit cards and family donations. The film was critically acclaimed and Rich won many awards, including Independent Spirit Award.

Andrea Williams is a critically acclaimed ghostwriter.