Freshwater Road is a historical novel from Denise Nicholas and appeared in 2008. To read my other recent book reviews, see:

A Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel Allende

This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger

The Impossible Girl, by Lydia Kang

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

I’m often surprised there are relatively few novels about the Civil Rights Movement in the US. Considering how dramatic it was, the heroism of some of its participants, and how important the movement became, this seems like it should be fertile ground for novelists. Peruse the bestseller lists of African American historical fiction, however, and you won’t find many. Most bestsellers in this genre focus on slavery. There are exceptions, for sure. But the standard trope of African American historical fiction involves slaves, often with a White person whose destiny or past intertwines with that of a slave, in a story so unforgettably heartbreaking you can’t put it down, and blah, blah, blah. Which isn’t to say the books are poor, or the writers of them overrated. But one could easily acquire a knee-high stack of books with exactly that plot in a couple minutes of browsing the best seller lists.

Setting of Freshwater Road

The main character of Freshwater Road is Celeste Tyree, an African-American college student from the University of Michigan. Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, she heads south to take part in Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1964. She lives on Freshwater Road in Pineyville, protected by a local woman and a minster. Celeste attempts to set up a Freedom School to teach children blighted by Mississippi’s segregated school system. By the standards of the Civil Rights Movement, that’s a pretty tame task. But in small-town Mississippi in the 1960s, nothing involving civil rights is ever tame. There’s also an effort to persuade local people to register to vote.

Registering to vote may not sound like much, either, but that’s only true from the relative safety of the year 2020. In the Deep South in 1964, an attempt to register to vote could become life or death. Certainly, any African American who applied would fail the literacy test given to applicants. Retaliation for even attempting to vote was likely. This was sometimes violent (church burnings, for instance) and sometimes more passive (the loss of a job or eviction from a home).

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This meant the entire act of trying to register to vote became enshrouded in fear and hopelessness. People who tried to register had nothing to gain because the circumstances guaranteed failure, had but everything to lose. Celeste and the other Mississippi Freedom Summer volunteers must overcome this obstacle.

Side Plots of Freshwater Road

There are other things going on in Freshwater Road as well. Celeste didn’t exactly clear everything with her father Shuck before leaving for the summer, for one thing. And not everyone in Pineyville wants her in town stirring up potential trouble. Although Celeste and the other members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee remain dedicated to nonviolence, not everyone on the local scene shares that commitment. And, of course, local law enforcement is as friendly as a hornet’s nest someone just kicked.

Add to that Celeste’s isolation in Pineyville. No peers, no one to help ease the tension of fearing what could happen at any time. Her hostess, Mrs. Owens, is a steady influence and one of the heroines of the book. But it’s clear that the constant stress wears on Celeste, as it would on anyone in her shoes.

Evaluation of Freshwater Road

Truth be told, I’m probably not the ideal person to review this book. I could predict most events because I’ve read plenty about Freedom Summer in 1964. If you’ve read, say, In Struggle, by Claiborne Carson (and I highly recommend you do, great book) the number of surprises in Freshwater Road will drop drastically. I would guess that Denise Nicholas used Carson’s book when researching her own.

But if you aren’t someone who teaches about the Civil Rights Movement, the book will keep you on your toes. It is also a powerful reminder of why segregation was so damaging to society. The year 1964 is almost 60 years in the past. It’s easy for people today to forget how horrible and dangerous things were for African Americans in rural Southern towns. Nicholas also does a nice job of making the Mississippi summer weather a factor in the book.

The book has a nice mix of characters. Some are heroic, others work against Celeste, some are passive, waiting to see what happens before getting involved. Which is realistic. One concern, though, was that some characters aren’t necessary. Shuck, Celeste’s father, is a well-designed character who is interesting. He’s there to show the contrast between youthful optimism and older practicality, among other things. But he’s in Detroit while Celeste is in Mississippi. The story really wouldn’t change much if he weren’t in it. A couple other plot events were a little shaky to me, as well, but I’ll not engage in spoilers at this point.

Final Score

Freshwater Road was a good book in most respects. For me, it scores 7 of 10 because I could see most plot events coming. But again, for most readers, this won’t happen, and they are likely to be surprised more than I was. So, call it 8 or 9 of 10 for most readers. I also hope reading this book will serve as a springboard for readers to learn more about Freedom Summer in 1964. It is, to me, a signature event in participatory democracy in the United States. Not to mention an amazingly courageous effort by young people who wanted to live in a better, more just country in 1964.

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As always, I welcome constructive and polite discussion in the comments section. Thank you for reading!