A Terrible Thing to Waste: Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Online
Registration
The first Black player for the Baltimore Colts, the father of affirmative action and adviser to four presidents, he coined the United Negro College Fund's motto: "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste."
The upward arc of Fletcher's political narrative begins with his first youthful protest—a boycott of his high school yearbook—and culminates with his appointment as Assistant Secretary of Labor under Richard Nixon. In telling Fletcher's story, A Terrible Thing to Waste brings to light a little-known chapter in the history of the civil rights movement—and with it, insights especially timely for a nation so dramatically divided over issues of race and party.
About the Author:
Dr. David Hamilton Golland is a professor of history, coordinator of humanities, and president of the faculty senate at Governors State University. He holds a Ph.D. from the City University of New York and an MA from the University of Virginia. His books, Constructing Affirmative Action: The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity (University Press of Kentucky, 2011) and A Terrible Thing to Waste: Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican (University Press of Kansas, 2019), have garnered positive reviews in the American Historical Review, The Journal of American History, and The Journal of Southern History.
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