ROBERT A. PRATT is an associate professor of history at the University of Georgia. He is the author of The Color of Their Skin: Education and Race in Richmond, Virginia, 1954-1989.
"Anyone interested in the multifaceted history of the civil-rights
era, especially as it unfolded at a prominent southern institution
of higher education, will find this a fascinating book."--"History
of Education Quarterly"
"It is a gripping story, beautifully told. Pratt should be
congratulated for exploring all angles of the story with such
sensitivity and insight. . . . [A] fine book that makes important
contribution not just to the history of Georgia but to the wider
history of race, education, and voting."--"Georgia Historical
Quarterly"
"Long overshadowed by the events at Ole Miss and Alabama, the
desegregation of the University of Georgia in 1961 stands on its
own as a major landmark in the civil rights struggle. Robert Pratt
places the ordeal of students Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter
in a broad historical context, in which 'respected' politicians and
educators fought bitterly to preserve white supremacy at the close
of the Jim Crow era. This is a gem of a book, at once wise,
balanced, and compelling."--John Dittmer, author of "Local People:
The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi"
"The book will appeal to people who want to know more about legal
cases in the Civil Rights era, and will appeal to academics curious
as to how their colleagues in the South responded to
integration."--"H-Net"
Robert A. Pratt's study of desegregation at the University of
Georgia clarifies the school's genetic blueprint, calling attention
to the distance southern colleges have traveled in their quest to
enter the national mainstream. Building upon published accounts and
making skillful use of autobiography and oral interviews, Pratt
connects the personal stories of Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Earl
Holmes . . . with the saga of Horace Ward."--"Journal of Southern
History"
"[A] well-crafted examination of one university's painful sojourn
through an era when civil-rights activists vowed 'not to be moved'
from their quest for equal treatment under the law."--"Register of
the Kentucky Historical Society"
"By a wide margin, this is the best study we have of the
dismantling of white supremacy in a state system of higher
education. But this book will also be valued for its intimate
portraits of individuals on both sides of the struggle in Georgia,
helping us to think in a more nuanced way even about those
positions with which we disagree. A real achievement."--Charles
Payne, author of "I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing
Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle"
"In an era when most of the country appears to have given up on
school desegregation as an important marker of racial equality,
Robert Pratt provides a vivid account of how we have forgotten the
heroes of the 1950s and 1960s who put their lives on the line to
end racial segregation in higher education. He tells the dramatic
story of how black lawyers, Donald Hollowell, Horace Ward, and
Vernon Jordan, took on the racist political establishment to see
that Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes gained access to the
University of Georgia. It is a history worth reading before we have
retreated too far."--Steven Lawson, author of "Running for Freedom:
Civil Rights and Black Politics in America Since 1941"
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