George Henry White - An Even Chance in the Race of Life (Hardcover)

Although he was one of the most important African American political leaders during the last decade of the nineteenth century, George Henry White has been one of the least remembered. A North Carolina representative from 1897 to 1901, White was the last man of his race to serve in Congress during the post-Reconstruction period, and his departure left a void that would go unfilled for nearly thirty years. At once the most acclaimed and reviled symbol of the freed slaves whose cause he heralded, White remains today largely a footnote to history. In this exhaustively researched biography, Benjamin R. Justesen rescues from obscurity the fascinating story of this compelling figure's life and accomplishments.

The mixed-race son of a free turpentine worker, White became a teacher, lawyer, and prosecutor in rural North Carolina. From these modest beginnings he rose in 1897 to become the only black member of the House of Representatives and perhaps the most nationally visible African American politician. White was outspoken in his challenge to racial injustice, but as Justesen shows, he was no militant racial extremist as antagonistic white Democrats charged. His plea was always for simple justice in a nation whose democratic principles he passionately loved. A conservative by philosophy, he was a dedicated Republican to the end, but he reserved special disdain for those of his party who had seduced his race as political pawns only to abandon them when they became liabilities.

After White retired from Congress, he remained active in the fight against racial discrimination, but his later efforts were not widely publicized. Justesen explores White's postcongressional career, chronicling hisclose working relationship with other national leaders of both races, from Booker T. Washington to the founders of the NAACP; his development of an all-black colony in New Jersey; and his activities as a banker, lawyer, and politician in Philadelphia during the last decade of his life.

In the end, White was an enigma -- a proud and intensely private man whose principles cost him his public acclaim and consigned his memory to the political shadows. As a result of his privacy, much of what was written about White during his lifetime was misleading, one-sided, or incomplete, and the congressman left few personal papers. Through judicious use of public documents, White's speeches, newspapers, letters, and secondary sources, Justesen creates an authoritative and balanced portrait of this complex man and proves him to be a much more effective leader than previously believed.