Overview

This is the biography of William Ronald (Bill) Brooks, a Black kid who grew up impoverished in the racially hostile town of Little Rock, Arkansas. He made his way from Central High School into the bigger world and eventually lived a prosperous life. It is an ordinary American story in that Bill became neither the president of the nation nor a drug dealer in the ghetto. It is an extraordinary story in that he overcame poverty and prejudice to go further than many contemporaries did, regardless of color, while also never losing his sense of self, his heart, or his optimism for his family and his country. Though he has taken advantage of America's opportunities, he has also struggled, and sometimes struggles still, as a Black man in a predominantly white culture. His life demonstrates a plain, hard truth: that a Black person seeking to enjoy a regular life in America still requires unusual courage, patience, faith-and luck-to achieve social justice. This is also one of the untold stories of Black history: the first generation of African Americans to make significant headway in civil rights as they attempted to integrate American society after 250 years of slavery, another hundred years of legalized oppression, and ongoing, widespread bigotry. When this generation is gone, the stories of their lifelong struggle to gain ground will be gone.

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Reviews

One of the things that compelled me to keep reading is the way Collins compares their two lives. He does not do it in any condescending or overly glorified or romanticized way. He just states the facts. Here are two guys, black and white, both poor, with the same aspirations and the same values. ... They went out into the world in much the same way. The response of the world to the two of them was very different. - Lottie Shackelford, former Little Rock mayor Now, more than ever, we need people like Collins Hemingway and Bill Brooks to tell us a story that resonates with a passion for equality and justice in America. Their journey together across the common ground of humanity is a singular achievement that needs to be heard by all. - Rod Lorenzen, journalist and former director at Butler Center Books Running is compelling, a candid account about a Black man from Arkansas who dealt with the adversity and dangers that millions of Black families experience every day. It is a frank factual admission by his white former schoolmate that white privilege is real. This book contains testimony that we should never ignore, and lessons we must never forget. - Wendell Griffen, author, theologian, retired jurist

Author Information

Collins Hemingway is a native of Arkansas and a product of its public schools. Born and raised in Little Rock, he is a graduate of Central High School. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), Phi Beta Kappa, and a master's degree in literature from the University of Oregon. Collins has written five books of nonfiction spanning business, technology, ethics, and cognitive psychology, three novels of historical fiction based on the life of author Jane Austen, and a book of literary criticism on Austen's work. He lives in Oregon with his wife, Wendy.

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