I am grateful to:
the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall—our guiding light, our protector—a brave warrior whose tenacity and courage will be an inspirational banner to mankind for all eternity.
Federal Judge Robert Carter, like Justice Marshall an untiring architect of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision, also a warrior who has forged a path with his own life.
L. C. Bates, Daisy Bates, Wiley Branton, Sr., and the ministers who stood beside our parents to cheer us on.
Federal Judge Ronald Davies—a man with the courage of his convictions.
The brave men and women of the 101st Airborne who guarded us.
the memory of hte late Eugene Smith, and to all the Little Rock police officers who risked their own lives to shield us from the mob.
Grace Lorch and Benjamin Fine, who gave comfort to Elizabeth in the face of a mob.
Mrs. Pickwick, my shorthand teacher at Central High, who exhibited a sense of fair play.
Elizabeth Huckaby, girls’ vice-principal at Central High, who tried to give Personal Best.
the very few nameless Central High students who dared to smile or cast a pleasant glance or refused to torture us.
Link, who dared to be my friend.
George and Carol McCabe, the white surrogat parents who took me into their home, gave me unconditional love, and walked with me over the bridge to adulthood.
Judy, Joan, Dory, and Rick McCabe, who welcomed me as their sister.
my spiritual family, always at my side when I needed them: Aliaster and Consi Smith; Maria and Jean Picard; Sanford and Catherine Rosen and family; Dr. Mimi Silbert; Babette Wurtz, and Dr. David Geisinger.
my dear sisters and brothers, Dorothy Divack, Leslie Divack, Jim Harris, Dana Durst Lawrence, Richard Lawrence, Martha Jane McNally, Patricia O'Neil, Saemi Ladue, and Claudette Jeminez.
my colleagues who encouraged me to the finish line: Jim Frey, Mollie Giles, Jay Schaefer, Sandra Dijkstra, and “Danno.”
Julie Rubenstein and Molly Allen, kindred souls who understood and shared my vision of this book.