Call Me Miss Hamilton: One Woman’s Case for Equality and Respect

Award-winning children’s book author Carole Boston Weatherford tells the story of Mary Hamilton, whose 1964 Supreme Court case led to the ruling that all people in court should be referred to with honorifics. Hamilton was a teacher and the first woman to head the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)’s southern region.

Arrested many times during the Freedom Rides, one day she refused to respond to an Alabama prosecutor who did not accord her the same respect as the white defendants. Sentenced to jail and fined for contempt, she appealed to the state and then to the Supreme Court with the help of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Hamilton’s insistence that she be referred to as Miss, instead of “girl,” “auntie,” or other demeaning terms, challenged the racism in the use of these names.

Illustrator Jeffrey Boston Weatherford weaves archival photographs in with his illustrations, providing historical context to Hamilton’s story.

The Weatherfords introduce themes of colorism, sexism, and nonviolence with accessible language and visuals for elementary school students. Call Me Miss Hamilton: One Woman’s Case for Equality and Respect invites students to examine the power of language and naming. [Description from Rethinking Schools.]

ISBN: 9781541560406 | Millbrook Press