New York: Simon & Schuster, (1997) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Autobiography of a woman born in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta in the 1940s, and who "came of age as the civil rights movement was changing the lives of black Mississippians. Dirt poor, she dropped out of high school and became a prostitute when she was barely into her teens. By the time she was 18 years old, Holland had served two terms in the county workhouse for theft and for assault. A chance encounter led her to become involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and she became an activist and organizer, taking a new path that eventually led her to the University of Minnesota, where she earned a doctorate and became a college professor. . . a gritty, inspiring memoir." An award winning playwright, Brown's play "From the Mississippi Delta" was nominated for the 1988 Pulitzer. An interesting association copy INSCRIBED on the title page to Hermione K. Brown, a pioneering woman attorney who worked in entertainment law for more than 50 years. Dated in the year of publication. Laid in is a sheet from the dean of the USC School of Theater announcing that this book was a gift in "celebration of the season and recognition of one of our faculty." Illustrated with photographs. 318 pp. ISBN: 0-684810115.

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Both a history and critique of the Civil Rights Movement by one of its younger members (the rear panel mentions that Louis's activist work began when she was only 14, and she was just 24 at time of publication), this presents a subjective, insider's view of the Civil Rights Movement, focusing on the experiences and dynamics of the activists themselves. It covers the summer of 1963 with its police repression and violence as a key turning point, gives an overview of organizations like organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and CORE, and attribute the decline in the movement to fights among the various factions, the Watts riots and the rise of the Black Power movement, and the anti-poverty programs. Illustrated with photographs. INSCRIBED on the front endpaper "for Sylvia without whom..." and dated in the year of publication (Sylvia Miller is cited in the acknowledgments as one of those who gave her advice and encouragement). Also includes several appendices - including one which is an in-depth analysis of the 1965 Civil Rights Act, another on CORE's rules, a bibliography and more. In addition to being an activist and an author, Louis was a collector of material about the Civil Rights movement and in 1971 she donated her extensive collection to UCLA. xi, 462 pp.