Reminiscences of an Active Life

Reminiscences of an Active Life PDF Author: John Roy Lynch
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1496800419
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 574

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Book Description
Born into slavery on a Louisiana plantation, John Roy Lynch (1847–1939) came to adulthood during the Reconstruction Era and lived a public-spirited life for over three decades. His political career began in 1869 with his appointment as justice of the peace. Within the year, he was elected to the Mississippi legislature and was later elected Speaker of the House. At age twenty-five, Lynch became the first African American from Mississippi to be elected to the United States Congress. He led the fight to secure passage of the Civil Rights Bill of 1875. In 1884, he was elected temporary chairman of the Eighth Republican National Convention and was the first black American to deliver the keynote address. His autobiography, Reminiscences of an Active Life, reflects Lynch's thoughtful and nuanced understanding of the past and of his own experience. The book, written when he was ninety, challenges a number of traditional arguments about Reconstruction. In his experience, African Americans in the South competed on an equal basis with whites; the state governments were responsive to the needs of the people; and race was not always a decisive factor in the politics of Reconstruction. The autobiography, which would not be published until 1970, provides rich material for the study of American politics and race relations during Reconstruction. It sheds light on presidential patronage, congressional deals, and personality conflicts among national political figures. Lynch's childhood reflections reveal new dimensions to our understanding of black experience during slavery and beyond. An introduction by John Hope Franklin puts Lynch's public and private lives in the context of his times and provides an overview of how Reminiscences of an Active Life came to be written.

Reminiscences of an Active Life

Reminiscences of an Active Life PDF Author: John Roy Lynch
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1496800419
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 574

Get Book Here

Book Description
Born into slavery on a Louisiana plantation, John Roy Lynch (1847–1939) came to adulthood during the Reconstruction Era and lived a public-spirited life for over three decades. His political career began in 1869 with his appointment as justice of the peace. Within the year, he was elected to the Mississippi legislature and was later elected Speaker of the House. At age twenty-five, Lynch became the first African American from Mississippi to be elected to the United States Congress. He led the fight to secure passage of the Civil Rights Bill of 1875. In 1884, he was elected temporary chairman of the Eighth Republican National Convention and was the first black American to deliver the keynote address. His autobiography, Reminiscences of an Active Life, reflects Lynch's thoughtful and nuanced understanding of the past and of his own experience. The book, written when he was ninety, challenges a number of traditional arguments about Reconstruction. In his experience, African Americans in the South competed on an equal basis with whites; the state governments were responsive to the needs of the people; and race was not always a decisive factor in the politics of Reconstruction. The autobiography, which would not be published until 1970, provides rich material for the study of American politics and race relations during Reconstruction. It sheds light on presidential patronage, congressional deals, and personality conflicts among national political figures. Lynch's childhood reflections reveal new dimensions to our understanding of black experience during slavery and beyond. An introduction by John Hope Franklin puts Lynch's public and private lives in the context of his times and provides an overview of how Reminiscences of an Active Life came to be written.

Random Reminiscences of Men and Events

Random Reminiscences of Men and Events PDF Author: John Davison Rockefeller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description


Reminiscences of School Life, and Hints on Teaching

Reminiscences of School Life, and Hints on Teaching PDF Author: Fanny Jackson Coppin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description


As We Recall

As We Recall PDF Author: James Sagerholm
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612518931
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
As We Recall is the first book of its kind. A collection of reminiscences written by members of the U.S. Naval Academy class of 1952, it is a testament to the value of a Naval Academy education. Some stories are of combat in Korea, exploits in space, aerial combat over Vietnam, or development of major weapons systems. Others are stories of life at sea or of the challenges faced by the families supporting their husbands and fathers. It is safe to say, this book is an edifying, intimate, and inspiring history.

Mathematical Reminiscences

Mathematical Reminiscences PDF Author: Howard Eves
Publisher: MAA Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Long known as a mathematical storyteller, Howard Eves writes his personal reminiscences, mostly mathematical, some not. The cast of characters includes Albert Einstein, Norbert Wiener, Julian Lowell Coolidge, Maurice Frechet, Nathan Altshiller-Court, G.H. Hardy, and many other figures whom he encountered in a long life in mathematics.

Reminiscences

Reminiscences PDF Author: Franz Leichter
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1663213275
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 373

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Book Description
Franz Leichter’s Reminiscences: An Autobiography begins when he is smuggled out of Nazi-occupied Austria as his caretaker's son. Escaping the Holocaust, he arrived in the United States as a refugee at age ten with his father and older brother. His mother was murdered by the Nazis. The family had no means of support and spoke no English. Embracing his new country, Franz worked his way through Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School. He became politically active and was elected to the New York State Legislature with the backing of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Governor Herbert Lehman. As a Senator, Franz exposed the reemergence of sweatshops and sought their closure. He disclosed real estate moguls’ large contributions to New York City’s elected officials who voted on their projects. He sponsored New York’s groundbreaking abortion rights law in 1969 and fought for its passage in 1970, which was followed three years later by the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade. Franz earned a reputation as a maverick and the conscience of the Legislature. During this time, he maintained an active law practice that took him to Europe, Asia, and South America. Later he was chosen by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to be a Director of the Federal Housing Finance Board. Franz has lived in New York City since 1940. He has two children and four grandchildren.

Time to Be in Earnest

Time to Be in Earnest PDF Author: P. D. James
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307417573
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
In 1997, P. D. James, the much loved and internationally acclaimed author of mysteries, turned seventy-seven. Taking to heart Dr. Johnson's advice that at seventy-seven it is "time to be in earnest," she decided to undertake a book unlike any she had written before: a personal memoir in the form of a diary. This enchanting and highly original volume is the result. Structured as the diary of a single year, it roams back and forth through time, illuminating James's extraordinary, sometimes painful and sometimes joyful life. Here, interwoven with reflections on her writing career and the craft of crime novels, are vivid accounts of episodes in her own past — of school days in 1920s and 1930s Cambridge . . . of the war and the tragedy of her husband's madness . . . of her determined struggle to support a family alone. She tells about the birth of her second daughter in the midst of a German buzz-bomb attack; about becoming a civil servant (and laying the groundwork for her writing career by working in the criminal justice system); about her years of public service on such bodies as the Arts Council and the BBC's Board of Governors, culminating in entry to the House of Lords. Along the way, with warmth and authority, she offers views on everything from author tours to the problems of television adaptations, from book reviewing to her obsession with Jane Austen. Written with exceptional grace, this "fragment of autobiography" has already been received with enthusiasm by British reviewers and readers. The thousands of Americans who have enjoyed P. D. James's novels will be equally charmed. Diary or memoir or both, Time to Be in Earnest is a delight.

Minority Rule

Minority Rule PDF Author: Ari Berman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374600228
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
A riveting account of the decades-long effort by reactionary white conservatives to undermine democracy and entrench their power—and the movement to stop them. The mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, represented an extreme form of the central danger facing American democracy today: a blatant disregard for the will of the majority. But this crisis didn’t begin or end with Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Through voter suppression, election subversion, gerrymandering, dark money, the takeover of the courts, and the whitewashing of history, reactionary white conservatives have strategically entrenched power in the face of a massive demographic and political shift. Ari Berman charts these efforts with sweeping historical research and incisive on-the-ground reporting, chronicling how a wide range of antidemocratic tactics interact with profound structural inequalities in institutions like the Electoral College, the Senate, and the Supreme Court to threaten the survival of representative government in America. “The will of the people,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1801, “is the only legitimate foundation of any government.” But that foundation is crumbling. Some counter-majoritarian measures were deliberately built into the Constitution, which was designed in part to benefit a small propertied upper class, but they have metastasized to a degree that the Founding Fathers could never have anticipated, undermining the very notion of “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Chilling and revelatory, Minority Rule exposes the long history of the conflict between white supremacy and multiracial democracy that has reached a fever pitch today—while also telling the inspiring story of resistance to these regressive efforts.

Black Americans in Congress, 1870-1989

Black Americans in Congress, 1870-1989 PDF Author: Bruce A. Ragsdale
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 0788127977
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Begins at a time when most blacks lived in slavery and were barred from the political process and ends with the influential era of the 1980's describing the effects of black members of the Congress. Includes: Ed Brooke, Shirley Chisholm, John Conyers, Ron Dellums, Mike Espy, William Gray, Augustus Hawkins, Barbara Jordan, Ralph Metcalfe, Kweisi Mfume, Robert Nix, Sr., Major Owens, Adam Clayton Powel, Jr., Charles Rangel, Gus Savage, Louis Stokes, Harold Washington, Andrew Young, Jr. and more. Photo or painting of each member.

Redemption

Redemption PDF Author: Nicholas Lemann
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 142992361X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
A century after Appomattox, the civil rights movement won full citizenship for black Americans in the South. It should not have been necessary: by 1870 those rights were set in the Constitution. This is the story of the terrorist campaign that took them away. Nicholas Lemann opens his extraordinary new book with a riveting account of the horrific events of Easter 1873 in Colfax, Louisiana, where a white militia of Confederate veterans-turned-vigilantes attacked the black community there and massacred hundreds of people in a gruesome killing spree. This was the start of an insurgency that changed the course of American history: for the next few years white Southern Democrats waged a campaign of political terrorism aiming to overturn the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and challenge President Grant'ssupport for the emergent structures of black political power. The remorseless strategy of well-financed "White Line" organizations was to create chaos and keep blacks from voting out of fear for their lives and livelihoods. Redemption is the first book to describe in uncompromising detail this organized racial violence, which reached its apogee in Mississippi in 1875. Lemann bases his devastating account on a wealth of military records, congressional investigations, memoirs, press reports, and the invaluable papers of Adelbert Ames, the war hero from Maine who was Mississippi's governor at the time. When Ames pleaded with Grant for federal troops who could thwart the white terrorists violently disrupting Republican political activities, Grant wavered, and the result was a bloody, corrupt election in which Mississippi was "redeemed"—that is, returned to white control. Redemption makes clear that this is what led to the death of Reconstruction—and of the rights encoded in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. We are still living with the consequences.