Synopses & Reviews
Winner, 2006 Illinois State Historical Society Book Award Certificate of Excellence
Recipient, 2007 Hyde Park Historical Society Paul Cornell Award
Sixty years ago, when Truman Gibson reported for duty at the War Department, Washington, D.C. was a southern city in its unbending segregation as well as in its steamy summers. Gibson had no illusions, but as someone who'd enjoyed the best of the vibrant black culture of prewar America, he was shocked to find the worst of the Jim Crow South in the nation's capital. What Gibson accomplished as an advocate for African American soldiers-first as a lawyer working for the Secretary of War, then as a member of President Truman's "Black Cabinet"--is a large part of the history of the struggle for civil rights in the American military; and it is a compelling part of the story that Gibson tells in this book, a memoir of a life spent making a difference in the world one step at a time.
A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Gibson took his fight for racial justice to the corridors of powers, arguing against restrictive real estate covenants before the U.S. Supreme Court, opposing such iconic figures as Generals Dwight Eisenhower and George C. Marshall in campaigning for the integration of the armed forces, and challenging white control of professional sports by creating a boxing promotion empire that made television history. A firsthand account of the nitty-gritty of twentieth-century race relations in the worlds of law, the military, sports, and entertainment, Gibson's memoir is also an engaging recollection of encounters with the likes of Thurgood Marshall, W. E. B. DuBois, Eleanor Roosevelt, George Patton, Jackie Robinson, and Joe Louis, among others. As a historical record and as an intimate look at a bygone era with all its charms and hardships, the book is an essential chapter in our nation's story.
Review
"This informative book is a time capsule covering many rich experiences of one man over nine decades. In addition to recounting his participation in the successful struggle to desegregate the armed forces, Mr. Gibson takes the reader along on a grand tour of his interactions with many key figures in the political, military, business, sports, and entertainment worlds of the 20th century." --andlt;bandgt;Jimmy Carterandlt;/bandgt;
About the Author
Truman K. Gibson Jr. has been a civilian aide to the Secretary of War, a member of two president advisory committees, and the president of the International Boxing Club. He is an attorney in Hyde Park, Illinois. Gibson is 92 years old.
Steve Huntley is editor of the editorial page of the Chicago Sun-Times and a former senior editor at U.S. News & World Report.