by Thomas J. Durant, Jr.

The author provides a detailed account of his journey from a small racially segregated town in north Louisiana to a large predominately white university, where he became engaged in the racial desegregation movement, during his 36-year tenure as a professor. Based on personal observations, experiences, documents, and reports, the book reveals how desegregation policies, programs, and events, and the actions of African American students, faculty, and staff, shaped the course of desegregation, cultural diversity, race relations, and cultural transformation of the university. This book fills a gap in the history of desegregation of a historically white public university that has not, heretofore, been revealed. – Joyce Marie Jackson, Ph.D. Director, African & African American Studies | Professor, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University.