I'Ve Been Marching All the Time: An Autobiography

A respected civil rights activist relates her initial experiences in the civil rights movement, her relationship with Martin Luther King, jr., and other civic leaders, and her continued dedication to the struggle for civil rights

Clayton's varied career has included stints as civil rights worker with Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta, first black person to host a regular TV show in the South and "undercover agent" exposing job discrimination for the Urban League in Chicago. She was with King the day before he was killed, and helped Coretta Scott King through the difficult days immediately after his death. As an organizer for Atlanta's Model Cities program in the 1960s, she had sessions with Calvin Craig, then grand dragon of Georgia's Ku Klux Klan, which prompted his decision to leave the KKK and renounce his racist views. Daughter of a Baptist minister from Oklahoma, Clayton, now assistant corporate vice-president for urban affairs with the Turner Broadcasting System, writes with brio and dignity in this warm, spirited autobiography. She illuminates the overt and hidden barriers she has had to overcome. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Clayton has been a TV talk-show hostess (she hosted the first black television show in the South), and her book reads like a talk show with an urbane guest full of lively anecdotes of an eventful life that included working for Martin Luther King and exposing job discrimination for the Urban League. However, as pleasant a book as it is, it does not fulfill the expectations demanded of an autobiography. Essential information--such as the date of her birth, her parents' names, and when she married her first husband--are missing. Furthermore, the arrangement of the book is topical rather than chronological, which results in a disconcerting skipping around in time, making it hard to absorb the facts one is given. An interesting but nonessential purchase for public libraries, except to meet patron demand.
- Anita L. Cole, Miami-Dade P.L. System, Fla.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.