"The Class of '65" returned home Thursday to Sumter County, Ga., where the story of race and reconciliation is set. Another overflow crowd came out to hear about the book, this time at the Lake Blackshear Regional Library in Americus. All four of the students who desegregated Americus High in 1964 came (shown here with Greg Wittkamper and Jim Auchmutey; they are, from left: David Bell, Robertiena Freeman Fletcher, Jewel Wise and Dobbs Wiggins). We were also pleased to see several of Greg's classmates, including David Morgan, who set the reconciliation in motion decades later when he planned their 40th reunion. David's copy of the 1965 yearbook provided most of the senior portraits used on the book cover. Our friends from Koinonia Farm came and handled book sales, and we saw many people from Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center for Housing, including Linda Fuller Degelmann, who helped found both organizations. It was heartwarming to see the strands of this story come together in one auditorium. Thanks to Anne Isbell and Jill Dalton Kloberdanz at the library -- and thank you, Americus.
An emotional evening
We had our first book event for "The Class of '65" last night at the Carter Library in Atlanta, and it couldn't have gone better. Some 250 people came, so many that they were sitting in the aisles and on the edge of the stage and in an overflow room with a remote video hookup. For a while, they were turning people away at the door (including a former editor of mine -- sorry about that!). After a generous introduction from Hank Klibanoff, I talked about the book and read a couple of excerpts, choking up at one point. But the best part was when the hero, Greg Wittkamper, came to the lectern and spoke about his experiences in high school. All these years later, he cried at some of the memories. We were pleased to see several people from the book in attendance: Lenny and Jan Jordan, children of Koinonia co-founder Clarence Jordan; Charles Browne, son of Koinonia stalwart Con Browne who drove all the way from West Virginia to be with us; Sam Mahone, one of the young activists who pushed for civil rights in Americus during the 1960s; Warren Fortson, a lawyer who worked for racial progress in Sumter County and was hounded for his efforts; and some of Greg's classmates, including Robertiena Freeman Fletcher, one of the first black students at Americus High and a bright, inspiring profile in courage herself. There was so much love and support in that room. What an evening. Thank you, Atlanta.
Unfinished business
The Associated Press has moved a review of "The Class of '65" that conveys the themes of the book with the clarity and concision the wire service is known for. The piece, by Don Schanche Jr. of the AP's South Bureau, has already been picked up by ABC News, The Washington Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Newsday and others. According to Schanche, the author "expertly tells the story" of Greg Wittkamper (seen here), a white student punished for supporting desegregation, and of a Georgia community in turmoil, the larger civil rights struggle and an unexpected reconciliation decades later. "The reconciliation that follows in Auchmutey's compelling narrative is at times tentative and halting, but also filled with emotional power," Schanche writes. "And it appears to be still in progress. At the time of the reunion, it included only Wittkamper and his white classmates. The closing section of Auchmutey's book suggests another chapter yet to be written, as blacks and whites together make peace with the past."
Color-blind heroism
The Washington Post reviewed "The Class of '65" this weekend in a thoughtful, in-depth piece that raises a question I wrestled with myself: What do we make of a narrative set in the civil rights era whose hero is white? Donna Britt (shown here), a former syndicated columnist for the Post and author of the memoir "Brothers (and Me)," admits that she approached "The Class of '65" with some skepticism, wondering whether it was another "white savior" narrative like "Mississippi Burning," where the heroes were white FBI agents instead of the black people fighting back against terrorism. Having said that, Britt soon found herself pulled into the story of Greg Wittkamper, the white teenager who was persecuted in high school because of his beliefs and his support of the black students desegregating their high school. "The more I learned about Wittkamper's grit, the more I admired him," she writes. "Courage deserves acknowledgement, no matter what color it's wrapped in. My predominant 'why' became 'Why can't the rest of us be as brave?'" There were other brave young people during those difficult times in Georgia -- black and white -- and they all deserve our acknowledgement and admiration.
Between a fruit and a gadfly
"The Class of '65" has started to show up in bookstores a few days ahead of its publication date. The author's wife and part-time publicist, the lovely Pamela, spied the book on the shelves at the Barnes & Noble in the Edgewood shopping district in Atlanta, keeping company with Glenn Beck and a volume about Italy and its legendary lemons. A diverse neighborhood indeed.