The Firebrand and the First Lady

A finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and longlisted for the National Book Award, The Firebrand and the First Lady is the riveting history, two decades in the making, of how a brilliant writer-turned-activist and the first lady of the United States forged an enduring friendship that helped to alter the course of race and racism in America. In 1938, the twenty-eight-year-old Pauli Murray wrote a letter to the President and First Lady, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, protesting racial segregation in the South. Eleanor wrote back. So began a friendship that would last for a quarter of a century, as Pauli became a lawyer, principal strategist in the fight to protect Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and a co-founder of the National Organization of Women, and Eleanor became a diplomat and first chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Lillian Smith Book Award Finalist Georgia Author of the Year Nominated Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award

A Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Award for Excellence in Nonfiction • Nominated for the National Book Award • A Washington Post Notable Book • A San Francisco Chronicle, Kirkus, and Booklist Best Book of the Year • Lillian Smith Book Award • Finalist Georgia Author of the Year  • Nominated Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award

“Masterful. . . . Powerful and important.” —*Boston Globe

• “Thorough and engaging . . . Our lives are richer for the accounting of their friendship in this important book.” —The Washington Post
   
  “Tremendous.” —The New York Times Book Review

“[Written] with the grace, compassion and diligent attention to detail that characterized both of its principal subjects. . . . ‘The Firebrand’ is someone whose inspiration is sorely needed.”  —USA Today

“A definitive biography of Murray, a trailblazing legal scholar and a tremendous influence on Mrs. Roosevelt.” —Essence

“Bold, fast-paced, and vividly written, Patricia Bell-Scott's dual portrait of Pauli Murray and Eleanor Roosevelt significantly enhances the story of two luminous activists who learned much from each other across the color line.” —Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of Eleanor Roosevelt: I, II, and III

“Extraordinary and inspiring.” —Shelf Awareness
 
“A fresh look at a fascinating friendship between two vivid individuals from very different worlds — as well as a chronicle of the age-old conflict between the highest ideals and the art of the possible.” —Geoffrey C. Ward, author of The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
 
“A groundbreaking portrait . . . essential and edifying.” —Booklist (starred review)
 
“Should inspire all readers.  Rarely has a friendship been dissected and analyzed with such verve and open-eyed compassion.”  —Wil Haygood, author of Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination that Changed America
 
“Deftly reveals two women’s crucial involvement in the struggle for civil rights . . . An absorbing historical page-turner.”   —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“The extraordinary life of Pauli Murray, activist, poet, teacher, priest and "firebrand" for all seasons, is beautifully detailed in Patricia Bell-Scott's book. . . . [Murray and Roosevelt’s] history together reverberates today as the fight for equality continues, making this book important reading for all of us." —Jane Alexander, award winning actress

“Bell-Scott shines a bright light on this significant relationship. A fresh look at Eleanor Roosevelt and a fascinating exploration of a cherished, mutually beneficial friendship.” —Kirkus Reviews, (starred review)
 
“What an exquisite book! Patricia Bell-Scott has done the painstaking research on two women who in many respects couldn’t have been more different, but in at least one respect – their unique friendship—shared a passion for truth. . . . Patricia Bell-Scott has given us a book that will inspire and give hope to all who read it.” —The Rt. Rev. Mary D. Glasspool, Bishop Suffragan, Diocese of Los Angeles. 
 
“Biography at its best: intimate while revealing of society in its time.  Patricia Bell-Scott sees all, and her view is both engrossing and encouraging.” —Nell Irvin Painter, author of Sojourner Truth, A Life, A Symbol

Autorentext

Patricia Bell-Scott

Zusammenfassung
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE • The riveting history of how Pauli Murray—a brilliant writer-turned-activist—and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt forged an enduring friendship that helped to alter the course of race and racism in America.

“A definitive biography of Murray, a trailblazing legal scholar and a tremendous influence on Mrs. Roosevelt.” —Essence

In 1938, the twenty-eight-year-old Pauli Murray wrote a letter to the President and First Lady, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, protesting racial segregation in the South. Eleanor wrote back. So began a friendship that would last for a quarter of a century, as Pauli became a lawyer, principal strategist in the fight to protect Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and a co-founder of the National Organization of Women, and Eleanor became a diplomat and first chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Leseprobe
1

“It Is the Problem of My People”

The clatter of Pauli Murray’s old typewriter bounced off the walls of her one-room Harlem apartment on December 6, 1938. Working at breakneck speed, she stopped only to look over a line in her letter or take a drag from her ever-present cigarette. Although she was only five-foot-two and weighed 105 pounds, she hammered the keys with the focus of a prizefighter. She had been forced to move three times because neighbors found the noise intolerable.

The catalyst for Murray’s current agitation was Franklin Roosevelt’s speech at the University of North Carolina the day before. It was his first address since the 1938 midterm elections and the fourth visit to the university by an incumbent president. The reports of his isolation at his vacation home in Warm Springs, Georgia, and the arrangements for radio broadcasts to Europe and Latin America had sparked international interest in his speech.

Thousands lined the motorcade path to UNC in the drenching rain, holding handmade signs and flags, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fifty-six-year-old president in his open car. When it became apparent that there would be no break in the downpour, organizers moved the festivities from Kenan Stadium to the brand-new Woollen Gymnasium. There, in an over-capacity crowd of ten thousand, a man fainted from the swelter. Many people went to other campus buildings to listen to the broadcast. Countless numbers stood outside the gym in the rain. Before FDR spoke, the university band played “Hail to the Chief,” school officials awarded him an honorary doctor of laws degree, and an African American choir sang spirituals.

Under the glare of klieg lights, the warmth of his academic regalia, and the weight of his steel leg braces, the president made his way to the flag-draped platform. He paused often during his twenty-five-minute address for roaring applause, wiping his face with the handkerchief he slipped in and out of his pocket, gripping the lectern to maintain his balance. He praised the university for its “liberal teaching” and commitment to…