Poston's life as a journalist spanned decades of civil-rights tumult and triumph; often he was on the scene as history unfolded. Blending street smarts, provocative humor, and high moral purpose, his articles always had something fresh to say, even about such media-saturated events as the Scottsboro Boys trials, the Brown v. Board of Education case, and the Montgomery bus boycott. Alongside such work, A First Draft of History also showcases Poston's gift for making the black experience meaningful to white readers in stories that portrayed the humanity in a Depression-era Harlem shantytown or the terror of a white rampage through rural black Florida. The influential people Poston wrote about amount to a "who's who" list of African American achievement during his time; included here are profiles of such towering figures as Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Langston Hughes, and Adam Clayton Powell.
Ted Poston's writings are as insightful and engaging today as when they first hit the newsstands.
