At the elbows of my elders
Subtitle: one family's journey toward civil rights
By: Gail Milissa Grant.
Publisher: Missouri History Museum; Distributed by University of Missouri Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: St. Louis
Language: eng
Number of pages: 251
ISBN-13: 9781883982669
Subjects: Grant, Gail Milissa, -- 1949- -- Family; African Americans -- Missouri -- Saint Louis -- Biography; African American families -- Missouri -- Saint Louis; African Americans -- Civil rights -- Missouri -- Saint Louis -- History -- 20th century; Civil rights movements -- Missouri -- Saint Louis -- History -- 20th century; African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 20th century; Civil rights movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century; Saint Louis (Mo.) -- Biography; Saint Louis (Mo.) -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century; United States -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century
Genres: Biography.
Description: "Decades before the beginning of the civil rights movement as most Americans recognize it, black families across the U.S. were fighting the battle against discrimination. Grant's father, a lawyer and civil rights activist in St. Louis in the 1950s, was among the less well known resisters of segregation, eventually working with more prominent figures, from Thurgood Marshall to Ralph Bunche and A. Phillip Randolph, to fight racial inequities in St. Louis. Grant recalls a long line of family resisters, middle-class business owners who were always on the forefront of the racial divide, challenging Jim Crow laws and practices while sustaining the social and economic underpinnings of the segregated black community. Grant describes growing up with the gut-wrenching "unknowing" of whether she would be welcomed in a store or business or turned away because of her race. As barriers were broken, Grant went on to a 20-year career in the foreign service with the U.S. Information Agency. This is a fascinating look at the struggles of one black family that mirrored the national struggle for civil rights." Copyright 2008 Booklist Reviews.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.