Daughter of the Boycott

March 15, 2020
A reporter recalls her family's part in the landmark 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, boycott that desegregated buses and brought fame to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Journalist Houston was born into a remarkable family at the center of an event that changed U.S. history. She was 4 years old when, to protest segregated seating, black passengers stopped riding city buses in Montgomery, galvanized by Parks' arrest and by a Gandhi-inspired call for nonviolent protest from King, the new pastor of Montgomery's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. The author's father, Thomas Gray, helped organize the 382-day boycott, arranging carpools and taxi rides for the thousands of black residents who normally took buses; before it ended, her uncle, Fred Gray, had become the lead counsel in Browder v. Gayle, the U.S. Supreme Court case that eventually forced Montgomery to desegregate its buses. In her debut memoir, the author warmly recalls her kin and deals matter-of-factly with the appalling Jim Crow-era injustices they faced: Houston was born in a hospital for black patients because "Negroes were either denied admission to white hospitals or accommodated in segregated, subpar units, sometimes in basements or attics." The author also chronicles her interviews with relevant figures such as the daughter-in-law of the targeted bus line's manager and a son of Browder plaintiff Aurelia Browder Coleman, who laments that Parks--though not a litigant in that watershed case--has eclipsed his mother and others ("a lie has become history"). Houston's real coup, however, is a rare at-home interview with Browder plaintiff Claudette Colvin, who refused to give her seat to a white rider months before Parks did and disputes popular accounts of her story: "I wasn't kicking and scratching like they say I was." Arriving at a time when racial injustices regularly lead to tragedy, this modest book is a welcome reminder that profound social changes can also result from the quiet heroism of people with unshakable commitment to nonviolence. A daughter's fond memoir of her father and the pioneering civil rights activists in his circle. (30 b/w photos)

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May 1, 2020

Broadcast journalist Houston's first book is a memoir of her family's personal involvement in the civil rights movement and a contemporary commentary on how that movement is remembered and understood today. The author's father, Thomas Gray, fought against racial injustice and police brutality in his native Alabama years before the celebrated 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. He was one of the original board members of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which coordinated the effort, and later went on to become an attorney specializing in civil rights, fair housing, and poverty law. Houston's uncle, Fred D. Gray, was an attorney who represented civil rights activists and the plaintiffs in the key case that forced desegregation of Alabama bus lines. Houston uses archival material, letters, and personal interviews to resurrect "missing voices," recounting the hardships and prejudices of those years. These family stories are interspersed with poignant discussions on recent issues of continuing injustice. VERDICT A beautiful celebration of one family's life of service and commitment to racial justice, this important book should be welcomed by both historians and general readers interested in American history, social change, and civil rights issues.--Marie M. Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2020
Distinguished broadcast journalist Houston was fours year old when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger as required by segregation laws, yet she firmly situates herself in the eye of the storm that was Montgomery, Alabama, where the 382-day bus boycott launched the modern civil rights movement. She explains why as she traces her family's civil rights legacy, particularly through her father, Thomas Gray, and her father's younger brother, Fred. In 1950, Thomas led a protest of police brutality; he went on to march for voter registration and against segregated busing in Montgomery. He then became a lawyer and a federal administrative judge. Fred went to law school up north and returned to Montgomery as the city's second black attorney. He began his legal career by representing Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks all the way to the Supreme Court. Houston draws on interviews with family, friends, and others to portray both known and unsung civil rights heroines and heroes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)