Beyond FORTITUDE: Gregory Williams

Gregory Williams has received tremendous praise for Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black. Williams and his brother were young boys in the 1950s who had been “raised white” in the South until their mother left their family. They then moved with their father to Muncie, Indiana, learned their father (who had passed for a “dark-skinned Italian” for many years) was indeed biracial, and discovered that in their father’s home town, they were all considered black. The impact of their new classification was felt immediately and was not at all pleasant.

Widely used on campuses across the country to initiate discussions of prejudice, racial identity, and the persistent issue of troublesome assumptions based on appearances, Life on the Color Line offers an emotional look at the potentially devastating impact of discrimination. Williams fought to overcome the many obstacles he was forced to face so many years ago. He has multiple earned as well as honorary degrees, has served in various prestigious academic posts, and is currently president of the City College of New York. He’s also written a book that’s impacting the way many, many people think about race.