Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
The award-winning correspondent for the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour gives a moment-by-moment account of her walk into history when, as a 19-year-old, she challenged Southern law--and Southern violence--to become the first black woman to attend the University of Georgia. A powrful act of witness to the brutal realities of segregation.In this direct, winning memoir, a MacNeil-Lehrer correspondent tells the story of her life, from her birth in a Deep South living out the legacy of the Civil War to her historic role in desegregating the University of Georgia, a high point in the civil-rights movement. It is a testament of triumph over obstacles, of family love and of self-reliance. (Farrar Straus Giroux)
Synopsis
The award-winning correspondent for the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour gives a moment-by-moment account of her walk into history when, as a 19-year-old, she challenged Southern law--and Southern violence--to become the first black woman to attend the University of Georgia. A powrful act of witness to the brutal realities of segregation.
Publishers Weekly
In this warmhearted, well-observed memoir, the national correspondent for the MacNeil-LehrerNewsHour reflects on her childhood and young adulthood, including her historic role as one of two black students who desegregated the University of Georgia in 196 1. Dwelling a bit too much on her family history and descriptions of the southern towns where she grew up, Hunter-Gault identifies many of the forces that shaped her: strong teachers, good friends and a dignified father struggling as a chaplain in a racist Army. After attending a largely white school in Alaska, she spent her high school years in the supportive black environment of L.A.-Lovely Atlanta. She downplays her heroism at the University of Georgia in order to highlight the heady but humbling feelings she derived from other blacks' pride in her. She tells of harassment and support in those dramatic years, as well as of her growth as a journalist, her public speaking tours and even her romance with a white Southerner. She concludes, a bit awkwardly, with the commencement address she delivered at her alma mater in 1988; this work hints, however, that Hunter-Gault could write a rich sequel. (Nov.)