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Barbara Jean: If I Perish, I Perish

by Barbara J. Culbreath

133 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0946; ISBN 1-4120-0577-9; US$20.50, C$24.00, EUR17.00, £12.00

Memoirs of a pioneering African-American women. From early childhood in the South, to the lawsuit she filed against her employer the Massachusetts Department of Welfare in the 1970s.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book If I Perish, I Perish: A Story of Race and Civil Rights is the book I've written about my experiences not only growing up as an African-American woman in the South and in Boston, from the 1930s through the 50s but also the lawsuit I filed against the Massachusetts Department of Welfare in the 1970s after I was denied multiple promotions to positions for which I was qualified. I eventually won the case (resulting in the Barbara Jean Culbreath Consent Decree), serving as an acknowledgement of my perseverance and a touchstone for other African-Americans both in Boston and around the country who found themselves facing the ugly specter of racism in the workplace.

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About the Author Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Barbara J. Culbreath moved to Boston in the late forties and completed her education in the Boston School system. She is the divorced mother of three children whose struggle to raise them alone has been worthwhile for the joy they have brought to her, her parents and her family members.

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Sample Excerpts

Preface

Frustration, sorrow, stress--that, in a nutshell, tells my story as an African-American woman trying to make a place for herself and those who came alongside and after me. Through all those times of heartache I held steadfast in my belief that blacks in this country would ultimately receive the respect and place at the table that they so rightly deserved and it is now, in my early sixties and retired, that I can look back upon my life and write not only of the difficulties of the past but of the victories that can be savored. My story tells of my memories, ideas, frustrations, sorrows, and stresses. It tells also the tale of my perseverance in striving to create a path for minorities in the workplace in opening doors to jobs that otherwise would have remained closed. While the road to success was littered with many difficulties, I can look back in pride on a life well lived so far.

In recounting my story (which is told through age 58) I have changed the names of some of the people, places, and agencies I've encountered along the way some of the three which I've encountered for the better, some of the three for the worse. The memories, though? They're as unfettered and as fresh as they'll ever be.

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Catalogue Information

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