Synopses & Reviews
On September 4, 1957, the group of African American high school students who became known as the Little Rock Nine walked up to the front of Central High to enroll in school. They were turned away by the National Guard, who had been called out by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. "Blood will run in the streets," said Faubus, "if Negro pupils should attempt to enter Central High School." A mob seethed out front. The man who led the Nine up to the lines of the National Guard on that fateful morning was the author's father, a white Presbyterian pastor.
My Father Said Yes is the untold story of the Reverend Dunbar Ogden, who became the pro-integration leader in Little Rock's white community. He responded to a call for support from Daisy Bates, co-owner of the town's black newspaper. Both faced fierce opposition from within as well as from outside. Reverend Ogden lost his church and Daisy Bates lost her newspaper.
This memoir is also a moving father-son story. In this frank account, the author discusses the depression his father battled for most of his life, as well as the family tragedy of his brother's suicide.
Review
A remarkable book [which dramatizes] the power of black-white partnership.
--Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Review
My Father Said Yes is a good read, interesting throughout, and an important reminder of the shameful miseries and insults inflicted upon African-Americans prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
--Eric Anshutz, Rossmoor News
Synopsis
On September 4, 1957, the group of African American high school students who became known as the Little Rock Nine walked up to the front of Central High to enroll in school. They were turned away by the National Guard, who had been called out by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. "Blood will run in the streets," said Faubus, "if Negro pupils should attempt to enter Central High School." A mob seethed out front. The man who led the Nine up to the lines of the National Guard on that fateful morning was the author's father, a white Presbyterian pastor.
Synopsis
The story missing from Little Rock histories, the story of the remarkable collaboration between a white male pastor and a black female journalist, that led to a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement and in education.
About the Author
Dunbar H. Ogden is Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Art at the University of California, Berkeley where, since 2000, he has taught a freshman seminar based on the events in this book.