Looking Beyond Race by Smith, Otis Milton; Stolberg, Mary M.; Jordan, Vernon E., Jr., 9780814329399
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  • ISBN: 9780814329399 | 081432939X
  • Cover: Hardcover
  • Copyright: 11/1/2000

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In Looking Beyond Race, Otis Milton Smith (1922-94) recounts his life as an African American who overcame poverty and prejudice to become a successful politician and the first black elected to a statewide office in the nineteenth century. He went on to become the first black vice president and general counsel of General Motors.

Born in the slums of Memphis, Smith was the illegitimate son of a black domestic worker and her prominent white employer. Although he identified with his mother's blackness, he inherited his father's white complexion. This left him open to racism from whites, who resented his African American heritage, and blacks, who resented his skin color.

Throughout his life, Smith worked with and met many prominent Americans. He knew boxer Joe Louis, future general Daniel "Chappie" James, future Detroit mayor Coleman Young, and the nation's first African American general, B. O. Davis Jr. Through politics he knew Michigan's prominent politicians and was appointed by Governor John Swainson to the Michigan Supreme Court, making him the first black

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