Anyone who says nothing has changed must have forgotten or never have known the daily indignities, not to mention the powerless position, of African Americans in the South before the 1960s. A white California teacher named Clarice T. Campbell wrote detailed letters to family and friends about her “small adventures” while studying at the universities of Alabama and Mississippi and teaching at black Mississippi and South Carolina colleges. She was a keen eyewitness during troubled times. her letters reveal a time and a place as well as her observant, feeling nature.
Motivated to educate or remind, Campbell has collected and edited these amazing letters. They tell of racial injustice she encountered, whether shopping, having her car repaired, or dining in cafes and restaurants. Everywhere, she recognized matters that she deemed “wrong.” But only she and a few others dared to speak out. With her clear insight into a closed society being broken open, these collective letters to the world