Story of Lincoln Marches being told through children's book

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Last year Ohio Humanities released a documentary about the Lincoln School Marchers. The marchers were a group of mothers and children that after the Brown vs. the Board of Education decision spent two years trying to get the elementary schools in Hillsboro desegregated.

Each day the group would march two miles to the school only to be turned away. The mothers would then go home to teach their children, go to their jobs, take care of their families, and wake up the next morning to do it all again. For two years they marched, and it was a story almost lost to time.

Thanks to the partnership with the Highland County Historical Society and Ohio Humanities that history will live on. And now the story is being told to a new audience in a new children's book called "Step by Step: How the Lincoln School Marchers Blazed a Trail to Justice."

Author and publisher Dr. Carlotta Penn and author Debbie Rigaud teamed up to write the story, told through the eyes of one of the marchers named Joyce. The book is made to almost feel like a scrapbook from that portion of her life.

"I hope that the kids can see themselves and Joyce. That she was doing something that they do, going to school following their parents' instructions. Rain or shine doing something that they didn't always like to do." said Dr Carlotta Penn, "Step by Step" co-author. "It's not like it was a fun thing every day, or that they saw themselves as civil rights heroes. At the time they were just living their lives."

The women knew when writing the book how important the story was, not only for the history but for the future.

"There are local heroes walking around us. They're hidden, they're overlooked, sometimes humble, but they are here. They have a story to tell, and we're honored to tell their story." Debbie Rigaud, Penn's co-author. "That's so inspiring, especially in a grimmer time that we sometimes feel that we're in to see the hope and the perseverance and the strength that people have."

This Saturday the authors will be holding a reading and book signing from 3-5 pm at the Whitehall Library at 4445 E. Broad St. the first 25 families receive a free signed book. you can purchase a copy at Cover to Cover Children's Books in Upper Arlington or by clicking here.