"It is
after reading Before Brown by Gary M. Lavergne, that I feel like a part
of my father I never quite knew has been revealed."
Hemella L. Sweatt, MD
“Heman
Sweatt is a hero whose name should be enshrined with Stephen F. Austin, Sam
Houston and William Barrett Travis. Like Texas' founding fathers, Sweatt
fearlessly faced evil, and made Texas a better place. His story is our story,
and Gary Lavergne tells it well."
Paul Begala, CNN News Analyst and former
President of the UT-Austin Student Body
"At last someone has told the story of Heman Sweatt, one of
the great sons of the struggle for freedom and justice, with all the drama and
passion it deserves."
Amilcar Shabazz,
Professor and Chair,
W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, U. Mass Amherst
"What a great idea to bring to life the ordeal of Heman
Marion Sweatt, his fight for justice, and the landmark victory that paved the
way to Brown vs. the Board of Education.
And who better than Gary Lavergne, a talented writer and admissions officer
at the center of other Texan breakthroughs in the quest for greater access to
higher education, to write this compelling narrative?"
Patrick
Weil, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS, Centre d'histoire sociale du XXe siècle,
Université de Paris 1, Sorbonne-Pantheon
From the News page...
Gary Lavergne does first reading
of BEFORE BROWN... On April 22, 2010 during
the opening session of the Heman Marion Sweatt Symposium on Civil
Rights, Gary M. Lavergne was called upon to do a reading from his
forthcoming book BEFORE BROWN. Gary used the occasion to pay
tribute to W. Astor Kirk. (The first 10 seconds of this 5-minute clip are
darkened.)
