This turned up as a reference in a story John did earlier, but I wanted to expand on it. The Atlanta Journal Constitution had a nice piece this week on Shirley Sherrod's background in the fight for justice. Patricia Harris-Lacewell alluded to it in her comments on Countdown this week — saying basically that the NAACP only needed to look at her last name to know who she and her family were.
The whole piece is important for the information it provides, and a great read. A taste:
Shirley Sherrod shaped by father's slayingThe expanded story of her father's death, told later in the article, is especially striking. She's been on quite a trajectory, partly intentional and partly due to forces outside herself. Looks like she's still on that mixed path.
Shirley Sherrod’s 17th year probably did more to mold her personality and set her on a path that traveled through the dangerous, volatile world of race.
That year, 1965, her father was shot and killed by a white man in a dispute over cows, the family says.
That year, she was one of the first black students to integrate the high school in Baker County in rural southwest Georgia.
That year, she decided to become involved in the civil rights movement in that area of the state.
And in later years, like some of the farmers she helped when she worked for a non-profit, Sherrod and her husband lost a group farm to bankruptcy.
She's another fighter, and a considered one. It will be interesting to see what her next move is.
GP
