Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin (Abridged)

John Hope Franklin lived through America's most defining twentieth-century transformation, the dismantling of legally-protected racial segregation. A renowned scholar, he has explored that transformation in its myriad aspects, notably in his 3.5 million-copy best seller, From Slavery to Freedom. And he was, and remains, an active participant.

Born in 1915, he, like every other African American, could not help but participate: he was evicted from whites-only train cars, confined …