One Book One Community

Find out what happens when all of Southwestern Indiana reads the same book!

The 2009 One Book One Community title is Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory H. Williams. Dr. Williams will be speaking at Bosse High School on October 1, 2009 at 7:00pm.

Check our catalog for Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black.

About the Book

In this extraordinary and powerful memoir, Gregory Howard Williams recounts his remarkable journey along the color line and illuminates the contrasts between the black and white worlds: one of privilege, opportunity, and comfort; the other of deprivation, repression, and struggle.

He tells the story of his father, a self-destructive man who often neglected his children, yet had faith in his eldest son's ability to succeed in the face of nearly insurmountable obstacles. Of "Miss Dora," a loving family friend who gave Gregory and his brother the food they ate, the clothes on their backs, and the roof over their heads - all on a salary of just twenty-five dollars per week. Of the hostility and prejudice he encountered all too often, from both blacks and whites, and the surprising moments of encouragement and acceptance he found from each.

Williams tells the story, too, of the divergent paths he and his brother eventually took, one defying the odds and the advice of teachers and counselors to become a lawyer.

About the Author

Williams graduated from Ball State University. He paid for school by working as a deputy sheriff often for more than forty hours a week. Williams then attended George Washington University, earning both his J.D. and Ph.D. degrees.

In 1993, Williams became the Dean of Law and Carter C. Kissell Professor of Law at The Ohio State University and managed to shift the school effectively, increasing both fundraising and national rankings.

In 1995, Williams published Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black, an autobiography. The Los Angeles Times selected it "Book of the Year," and Williams was soon featured on television and radio, including Dateline NBC, Larry King Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Nightline and National Public Radio. The following year, the Gustavus Myers Center for Human Rights in North America selected Life on the Color Line as an Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights. In 1998, Williams was invited by President Bill Clinton to join Clinton's "Call to Action" to promote law office diversity and pro bono work. The following year, Williams was chosen by the National Association of Public Interest Law as "Dean of the Year," and he was awarded the National Bar Association's A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. Award for Contributions to the Preservation of Human and Civil Rights.

In 2001, Williams became The City College of New York's eleventh president. Williams serves as Chair of the Commission on Access, Diversity and Excellence (CADE) of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.