{"product_id":"lifting-every-voice-my-journey-from-segregated-roanoke-to-the-corridors-of-power-9780813947174","title":"Lifting Every Voice: My Journey from Segregated Roanoke to the Corridors of Power","description":"\u003cp\u003eBill Robertson was one of our greatest pioneers and a tireless advocate for racial justice. One of his final acts was the completion of his memoirs. \u003ci\u003eLifting Every Voice\u003c\/i\u003e reveals how the advances made during his lifetime were no foregone conclusion; without the passionate efforts of real people, our present could have been very different.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe survivor of a traumatic childhood in the \u003ci\u003eGreen Book\u003c\/i\u003e South, and the witness to his father's rage over racial inequity, Robertson rose above an oppressive environment to find a place within the system and, against extreme odds, effect change. He was the first Black man to run for the Virginia General Assembly, and as a teacher, the first to help integrate a white school in Roanoke. He became the first Black decision-maker in any southern governor's office, appointed by Virginia governor Linwood Holton in 1970. In a state controlled by segregationist Democrats, Holton was the first Republican governor since Reconstruction, and his government was pivotal in its commitment to move the state away from nearly a century of segregationist policies. Bill Robertson was an inner-circle member of this historic administration. His account of its challenges and hard-won victories tells us much about that critical era.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRobertson went on to serve five presidents, heading the Peace Corps office in Kenya and later serving as deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs. As a public servant he worked on both sides of the aisle, in a way almost inconceivable in today's polarized society, collaborated with the Jaycees to build a camp for children with mental disabilities in Virginia, and eventually focused his support on Black Lives Matter in his eighties--because there is still so far to go.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilliam B. \"Bill\" Robertson was a trailblazing educator, activist, and gubernatorial advisor who was a central participant in Virginia's shift from its segregationist past and who went on to serve in five presidential administrations. Becky Hatcher Crabtree is an author living in West Virginia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Virginia Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50525777363218,"sku":"9780813947174","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9a340a4b-1915-42b1-853e-763a195a50f7.jpg?v=1731237669","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/lifting-every-voice-my-journey-from-segregated-roanoke-to-the-corridors-of-power-9780813947174","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}