Mighty Justice: My Life in Civil Rights

by Dovey Johnson Roundtree, Katie McCabe, Tayari Jones (Foreword by)

Overview

“Dovey Johnson Roundtree set a new path for women and proved that the vision and perseverance of a single individual can turn the tides of history.”
—Michelle Obama

In Mighty Justice, trailblazing African American civil rights attorney Dovey Johnson Roundtree recounts her inspiring life story that speaks movingly and urgently to our racially troubled times. From the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina, to the segregated courtrooms of the nation’s capital; from the male stronghold of the army where she broke gender and color barriers to the pulpits of churches where women had waited for years for the right to minister—in all these places, Roundtree sought justice. At a time when African American attorneys had to leave the courthouses to use the bathroom, Roundtree took on Washington’s white legal establishment and prevailed, winning a 1955 landmark bus desegregation case that would help to dismantle the practice of “separate but equal” and shatter Jim Crow laws. Later, she led the vanguard of women ordained to the ministry in the AME Church in 1961, merging her law practice with her ministry to fight for families and children being destroyed by urban violence.

Dovey Roundtree passed away in 2018 at the age of 104. Though her achievements were significant and influential, she remains largely unknown to the American public. Mighty Justice corrects the historical record.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616209551
Publisher:	Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	318,051
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Dovey Johnson Roundtree was an attorney and minister who was of the first women to be commissioned an Army officer and who helped win a landmark case banning segregation in interstate bus travel. She died in 2018 at the age of 104.

Katie McCabe is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Washingtonian Magazine, Baltimore Magazine, and Reader's Digest, among others. Her National Magazine Award–winning article on black medical legend Vivien Thomas was the basis for the HBO film Something the Lord Made, winner of three Emmys and a 2005 Peabody award.

Table of Contents

Foreword Tayari Jones ix

Chapter 1 Walking Unafraid 3

Chapter 2 Making Somethin' of Yourself 12

Chapter 3 "Pass It On": Spelman and the Legacy of Mae Neptune 21

Chapter 4 My America 39

Chapter 5 "Everybody's War" 55

Chapter 6 Uneasy Peace 73

Chapter 7 Making War on a Lie: The Assault on Plessy v. Ferguson 91

Chapter 8 Taking On "The Supreme Court of the Confederacy": The Case of Sarah Louise Keys 118

Chapter 9 At the Threshold of Justice 156

Chapter 10 Out of the Darkness 180

Chapter 11 "Peer of the Most Powerful" 189

Chapter 12 Healing the Brokenness 217

Benediction 229

Notes 233

Index 247

Afterword Katie McCabe 263

Discussion Questions 267

For Further Reading 271

Editorial Reviews

08/12/2019

The life of African-American civil rights lawyer Roundtree (1914–2018) is chronicled in this inspirational, history-rich memoir, a project coauthored by National Magazine Award–winning writer McCabe. Roundtree grew up in Charlotte, N.C., during the Jim Crow era: “Never for one moment of my life under Jim Crow did I grow accustomed to being excluded, banned, pushed aside, reduced,” she writes. She recounts her time at Spelman College in the 1930s, when Atlanta was a “racial hell,” and tells of joining the newly established Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps during WWII, when she fought for the rights of black soldiers and attained the rank of captain. She later pursued a law degree at Howard University, where she was one of five women in her class; was sworn into the Washington, D.C., bar in 1951; and started a law firm. In straightforward, somewhat dutiful prose, she covers her many transformative moments, including being in the courtroom as a spectator when Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned in 1954, and winning a critical travel-discrimination case in 1955 that helped end the segregation of bus passengers in America. This eye-opening, accessible book documents the life of a trailblazing human rights advocate. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

“Dovey Johnson Roundtree set a new path for women and proved that the vision and perseverance of a single individual can turn the tides of history.”
—Michelle Obama

“Part moving memoir, part inspiration to resist, Mighty Justice is a must-read.”
—Ms. Magazine

“The picaresque arc of her life pulses through this exquisite and essential memoir as she battles her way out of the segregated South and into some of the highest courts in the land, carving ‘a way out of no way.’”
—O: The Oprah Magazine

“Trailblazing attorney Dovey Johnson Roundtree died last year at 104, but her legacy shines bright in her memoir. Penned with Katie McCabe and featuring a foreword from An American Marriage author Tayari Jones, it not only covers Johnson’s triumphant journey, but it also enriches our collective memory.”
—Essence

“Some life stories are too important to be relegated to dusty history books. They must be remembered, honored, shared. Dovey Johnson Roundtree lived that large and remarkable a life.”
—The Associated Press

“In this apparent golden age of memoir, some stories shine brighter than others. Mighty Justice: My Life in Civil Rights is one lucent example of the brighter variety . . . This memoir by pathbreaking black attorney Dovey Johnson Roundtree deserves a spot alongside works by and about Pauli Murray and Barbara Jordan.”
—Shelf Awareness

 “Readers will find [Roundtree’s] dogged certainty in the inevitable triumph of justice in times of social upheaval both timely and inspiring. This superb work should ensure that Roundtree receives the recognition she richly deserves.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
 
“Thoughtful and highly inspiring, this book, co-authored by McCabe, is not only a moving memoir; it is also an important contribution to the history of civil rights in America . . . An eloquently told story that should make an impact.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“[An] inspirational, history-rich memoir . . . In straightforward . . . prose, she covers her many transformative moments, including being in the courtroom as a spectator when Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned in 1954, and winning a critical travel-discrimination case in 1955 that helped end the segregation of bus passengers in America . . . This eye-opening, accessible book documents the life of a trailblazing human rights advocate.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Powerful . . . Mighty Justice is an inspiring and intense memoir by an extraordinary woman and mentor who deserves a high profile in American history.”
—Foreword Reviews

"Roundtree never gave up on America. Her story is at the same time infuriating, heartbreaking, moving, joyous, and powerful. Read it and you will feel inspired." 
—Liza Mundy, New York Times bestselling author of Code Girls
 
"Dovey Roundtree is my hero. This is not only a great read, but a must read. I recommend it to anyone thinking about justice or trying to find ways to overcome challenges they face."
—Charles J. Ogletree, author of Without Parole: America New Death Penalty

"Dovey Roundtree's nobility, the courage and effectiveness of her work, are enough to restore one's hope for the human race. The book, though it describes an era that is past, is above all a study of something that doesn't change much—human character and its possibilities."
—Lance Morrow, Time magazine essayist and author of Evil

"You will learn so very much about determination, values, courage, manners, and the moral strength of this family. The experience will enhance your appreciation for the struggles and achievements against the odds, and the meanness of stereotypes. And you will see and learn American history and human history at its best."
—Dr. Walter J. Leonard, former president of Fisk University and founding committee chair of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University

"To read how Dovey Roundtree struggled to help others and to make a difference in our world is exalting. This book tells what one determined, unstoppable woman did with her life to change laws and traditions to make America a better, fairer, and more respectful country.”
—Brig. Gen. Wilma L. Vaught, USAF (Ret.), President, Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation

From the Publisher

2019-08-19
A distinguished African American attorney's account of how growing up in the Jim Crow South impacted her later struggle to overturn desegregation laws.

Segregation was a hard fact of life for African Americans when North Carolina native Roundtree (1914-2018) was a child. Undaunted, her mother pushed her and her sisters to become "women of destiny" by pursuing their educations. The author excelled in school and was accepted to Spelman College in Atlanta. After a short stint teaching, she traveled to Washington, D.C., where she went to work for Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, who recommended her for the newly formed Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Roundtree took her first stand against racism while in the military when she successfully spoke out against Army plans to segregate the WAAC. At the end of the war, she was offered a position with the Fair Employment Practices Committee in California. She had initially wanted to go to medical school, but she soon came to realize that a law degree would best serve her desire to "chang[e] the world in which I'd come of age." Roundtree attended Howard University School of Law and then began the legal work that would lead to the eventual "shattering of Jim Crow." In 1955, she won a major victory in the Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company case, which helped bring about the end of the separate-but-equal practices that had been at the heart of segregation laws. Her law practice thrived, but a period of ill health and "nagging restlessness" caused her to turn to her religion for solace. Later, she enrolled in the Howard University Divinity School and became one of the first ordained female ministers in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a leading light in "yet another war, a war for [abused] children." Thoughtful and highly inspiring, this book, co-authored by McCabe, is not only a moving memoir; it is also an important contribution to the history of civil rights in America. Tayari Jones provides the foreword.

An eloquently told story that should make an impact.

Kirkus Reviews

★ 09/01/2019

In this memoir, cowritten with McCabe (Justice Older Than the Law), Roundtree, who died in 2018, recounts the remarkable accomplishments and struggles of a life spent breaking new ground in the fight for racial equality. Roundtree began contributing to the civil rights movement when she entered the first class of Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) officers in 1942, rising to the rank of captain while standing firm against the army's policy of segregation. After earning a law degree from Howard University, Roundtree and her law partner took on the notoriously pro-segregation Interstate Commerce Commission, winning a landmark 1955 decision that prohibited bus lines from segregating passengers on journeys and inside bus station facilities. Throughout, Roundtree relates her triumphs and personal tragedies with an honesty and optimism borne of the religious faith that inspired her to add ordination as a minister to her long list of attainments. Readers will find her dogged certainty in the inevitable triumph of justice in times of social upheaval both timely and inspiring. VERDICT This superb work should ensure that Roundtree receives the recognition she richly deserves.—Sara Shreve, Newton, KS

Library Journal

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