Title: At the elbows of my elders
First published: 2008
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.
Subjects: Race relations, Family, Civil rights, African American families, Civil rights movements, African Americans, Biography, History, African americans, missouri, African americans, biography, African american families, African americans, civil rights, Civil rights movements, united states, Montana, biography, United states, race relations
Places: Saint Louis, Missouri, United States, Saint Louis (Mo.)
People: Gail Milissa Grant (1949-)
Time periods: 20th century
LC classification: F474.S29 N435 2008