Lately, the label, ‘the most important civil rights leader you’ve never heard of,’ has been given to many lesser-known heroes and sheroes of the mid-20th century movement.
Arthur Allen Fletcher, the father of affirmative action, is chief among them. Fletcher, is the father of affirmative....
Now in Paperback from the University Press of Kansas:
A Terrible Thing to Waste: Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican
2020-21 Washburn University iRead (freshman common read) selection
Arthur Fletcher (1924-2005) was the most important civil rights leader you've (probably) never heard of. The first Black player for the Baltimore Colts, the father of affirmative action and adviser to four presidents, he coined the United Negro College Fund's motto: "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste." Modern readers might be surprised to learn that Fletcher was also a Republican. Fletcher's story, told in full for the first time in this book, embodies the conundrum of the post-World War II Black Republican—the civil rights leader who remained loyal to the party even as it abandoned the principles he espoused.
October 14, 2022: Charles Sawyer, author of B.B. King from Indianola to Icon: A Personal Odyssey with the King of the Blues (Focal, 2022) on the New Books Network
