Black & White & Red All Over [Hardcover]

Martha McNeil Hamilton (Author), Warren Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 2002

Warren Brown grew up in segregated New Orleans-black, Catholic, middle class. Martha McNeil was from segregated white and blue-collar Houston. It was the 1960s and integration was becoming the law of the land, but it wasn't the reality for either of them. . Both Warren and Martha were "affirmative action hires" at The Washington Post in the early 1970s and worked together for more than twenty years, sharing the ups and downs of life, becoming friends. Then Warren became sick with kidney disease. A kidney donated to him by his wife failed. He was on the verge of death when Martha, informed she was also a blood type match, donated a kidney to her friend. Warren and Martha chronicled their experiences surrounding the surgery in a series of articles written for the Post. To them, it was a simple story of friendship, a successful operation, and a happy ending. But in the extraordinary outpouring of favorable reaction to their story, especially among blacks, they discovered that it was something more: it was a success story about integration. Now, in a new book, the friends tell the whole story: of their childhoods in the segregated South, of their meeting and deepening friendship, of Warren's brush with death and Martha's decision to help save his life. Intimate, poignant, and laced with humor, Black & White & Red All Over chronicles the miraculous intersection of two lives that, but for the changes in American society of the last half-century, would never have occurred.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This profound, earnest and heartfelt book by two Washington Post reporters chronicles two vastly different lives through several memorable decades of American history. Hamilton, a white woman born in blue-collar Houston, and Brown, a black man of segregated New Orleans, explain with well-chosen vignettes how their childhood and young adult experiences laid the groundwork for their unusual pairing as committed friends both in the newsroom and in their private lives. Their individual stories of how they came to be journalists and pioneering hires under the then new affirmative action program are instructive and inspiring, as are their tales of how they struggled against an old boys' network and a glass ceiling. When life's low points, such as the severe mental collapse of Hamilton's daughter and a subsequent divorce, suddenly derail Hamilton's life, Brown remains a steadfast friend and shepherds her from depression to activity. That loyalty is not forgotten when Brown battles an ongoing bout of hypertension and organ failure, which results in a failed attempt to use his wife's transplanted kidney. Told in alternating chapters, Hamilton and Brown map out the terrifying ordeal of transplant surgery, concentrating on their feelings, actions and fears, the concerns of their families and the dangers of the operation. This remarkable book could have descended into shallow theatrics, but its willingness to display both the flaws and strengths of both principals lifts it above the ordinary with its candid tribute to courage and friendship.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-From the beginning, Brown and Hamilton, business department reporters for the Washington Post, had at least two things in common. Both were hired under affirmative action-she, a white woman and he, a black man, and both had grown up during the '60s in Southern communities that actively resisted the new civil rights movement. Their relationship at the newspaper was tentative at first but evolved into mutual respect and friendship. Along with other Post colleagues, Hamilton watched with concern as Brown's kidney disease worsened and dialysis became more difficult. A successful transplant from his wife was the occasion for short-lived rejoicing. When the tragic rejection of the organ occurred, Hamilton didn't hesitate to offer to donate one of her healthy kidneys to her friend. The authors write with candor and affectionate humor about their lives and careers. Teens will learn about the changing social climate of the 1960s and '70s, future journalists will be intrigued to learn of the workings of a big-city newspaper, and most readers will find the account of the frustrations and dangers of kidney transplant compelling and suspenseful. While this is a story about discrimination and the changing roles of African Americans and women, it is, more importantly, about friendship.
Jackie Gropman, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1st edition (November 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586481568
• ISBN-13: 978-1586481568
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,498,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Book for the Holiday Season, November 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Black & White & Red All Over (Hardcover)

This is a terrific book....full of inspiration, love, hope....it describes a real, true and enduring friendship...between two unlikely people and how far one friend was willing to go to save the other. But, in the end, the book is about much more than friendship, its about how far we have come as a collective society--without some of the social progress of the last forty years or so, one man's life (and perhaps many more) might have been cut short; as a result of his friendship with a woman from a distinctly different background, he received an organ that has aided in extending his life a bit longer.

Both authors are dynamic, interesting people and the writing style is very accessible.

There is something for everyone in this book, whether you like biography, are interested in race relations, organ transplant, friendship, journalists, civil rights/affirmative action....whether you're a writer, a doctor, or just a friend....this is a book that I believe a lot of different people will treasure.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Intimate and Poignant Friendship Memoir, March 29, 2003

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black & White & Red All Over (Hardcover)

Martha McNeil Hamilton and Warren Brown built a friendship over more than twenty years of working together at The Washington Post. What is remarkable about their story is not that they are friends in spite of race (Hamilton is white, Brown is black), but that they have shared a life and death journey.

In November 2001, Hamilton gave Brown one of her kidneys and her generous act saved his life and made their friendship more than just a collegial bond. Brown's kidney transplant and how he and Hamilton came to their decisions is the central story of BLACK & WHITE & RED ALL OVER. Yet this memoir of their friendship accomplishes much more.

Both journalists are members of the baby boom generation born in the Jim Crow South. As they write, "We came to the Post in the middle of a revolution." In writing about their individual lives they provide a personal view of segregation, integration, women's integration into the workforce and even AIDS. Though the focus is clearly on their growing friendship and the transplant, these personal vignettes bring the book to life. And as the nation reconsiders policies such as affirmative action, Hamilton and Brown make it clear that they got in the door with such considerations and they stand behind the idea. They are also honest about why management can sometimes fail in carrying out the idea and therefore sour others on its promise: "The management [at the Post] had been so good at discriminating against blacks and women that at first it had a hard time discriminating amongst them."

Other tales, like that of Hamilton's post-divorce depression and Brown's concerns about his son, are more touching than historic. These moments ease the reading and provide buffers to the more complex information about kidney disease, renal failure and the dangerous miracle of organ transplants.

This friendship memoir also raises questions about how we view such bonds. When does the person you've worked with for years become a true friend? And as we spend more and more time at work, whether it's real time or time via email, cell phones and PDA devices, how do we successfully integrate work and family? For Hamilton and Brown, work and family have nearly become one, which created a broad network of support as the two readied for the transplant surgery.

It's unfortunate that a story about friends of different races sharing in this way is still extraordinary. Hopefully Hamilton and Brown are evidence of the existence of more cross-racial and cross-cultural friendships. Otherwise, what kind of revolution was it after all?

--- Reviewed by Bernadette Adams Davis