Behind the headlines we remember from the Civil Rights Movement was an organized effort to teach African-Americans the literacy and civic skills they needed to register to vote--how to sign their names, how to read parts of the state constitution and how to hold their heads up as citizens. We ask author Elaine Weiss about her new book, 'Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement'

Hear Weiss talk about her book Mar. 8 at Politics and Prose, in Washington, DC and on Mar. 11 at Enoch Pratt Free Library, in Baltimore.