Hands on the Freedom Plow with Judy Richardson and Joy Keys

JUDY RICHARDSONwas on SNCC staff from 1963 to 1966: in Maryland; Mississippi, during 1964 Freedom Summer; and in Georgia and Alabama. She ran the office for Julian Bond’s successful first campaign for the Georgia legislature; co-founded Drum & Spear Bookstore in D.C., the country's largest African American bookstore; and was Director of Information for the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice.

Her experiences in the Movement influenced the rest of her life. She worked on Blackside’s fourteen-hour PBS series Eyes on the Prize and was its education director. She also co-produced Blackside’s Malcolm X: Make It Plain.  As a Senior Producer with Northern Light Productionsshe produced African American historical documentaries for broadcast and museum, including all the videos for the National Park Service’s “Little Rock Nine” historic site and, most recently, PBS’s Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre, 1968. She has worked for numerous social justice organizations and writes, lectures, and conducts teacher workshops on the Civil Rights Movement.

She co-edited Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women

in SNCC, with 5 other female SNCC staffers.  Published by University of Illinois Press, the anthology includes the memoirs of 52 courageous women on the front lines of the 1960’s Southern Civil Rights Movement.