In 1953 Essie Mae Washington-Williams moved to California to start a new life with her husband and son. She flew home regularly to receive cash gifts from her father that were delivered by a relative; she also kept close tabs on her father's political activity. In 1956 nineteen southern senators declared war on the Brown vs.… Continue reading Multi-Racial Read #16: Dear Senator Part VII
In this sixth part of this series of excerpts from Essie Mae Washington Williams' autobiography, Dear Senator: A Memoir of the Daughter of Strom Thurmond, I bring you some of her segregated world. During their first meeting after the birth of Essie Mae's son she recollected, "...he kept it cool and formal. The most he… Continue reading Multi-Racial Read #15: Dear Senator Part VI
Unaccustomed to attention, Rosa Parks (1913-2005) was an unlikely heroine of the Civil Rights movement. Yet on December 1, 1955 when she refused to relinquish her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, she set in motion events that she would not have dreamed possible. In her own words, this autobiography is a window into history and into… Continue reading Rosa Parks: My Story