The Agitator's Daughter: A Memoir of Four Generations of One Extraordinary African-American Family

This is a four-generation memoir of the Cashin family, a highly unusual, highly politicized, distinguished black family who were political agitators and pioneers of social justice in Alabama, and of the price paid for their achievements.At a time when more then half of African Americans lived in poverty, Sheryll Cashin's parents and grandparents were members of the black middle class elite - an unusual and very overlooked segment of society. The family could easily have dedicated their lives to living well. Instead, her highly politicized father John L Cashin Jr. (like his father before him) dedicated his life to winning political enfranchisement for blacks in his home state of Alabama. Black citizens had previously constituted almost half of the registered electorate, and held office in impressive numbers, but they were dis-enfranchised by white supremacists in the early twentieth century. Later, John's wife would join him in this challenge.As the founder and architect of a highly successful independent political party that elected blacks and progressive whites to office across the state of Alabama, Sheryll's dad had many enemies. In addition to death threats and actual attempts, including the sabotage of his four-seat airplane, there were lawsuits, civil and criminal, and eventually he landed in prison. At 77, Dad is still alive and kicking - bloodied but unbowed - fierce and arrogant in his opinions, hysterically funny and tireless in his causes. This book will convey with humour, passion, honesty and love Sheryll's life as she grew up and transcended being merely an agitator's daughter.

About the Author :
Sheryll Cashin is the author of The Failures of Integration. Educated at Vanderbilt University, the recipient of a Marshall Scholarship to study at Oxford University, she is now professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center and lives with her husband in Washington, DC.

Review :
"Washington Post," July, 23, 2008 "In the smoothly written "The Agitator's Daughter," Sheryll Cashin, a law professor at Georgetown University, adds her firsthand experiences as a participant and witness to civil rights history to enliven the text with a close and often heartbreaking point of view." "Denise Nichols," Washington Post, July 23, 2008 "Books of family lore -- part oral history, part anecdote with loads of juicy tidbits from diaries and journals, engaging old photographs, newspaper quotes and entries from the public record -- serve to put meat on the bones of history. In the smoothly written "The Agitator's Daughter," Sheryll Cashin...adds her firsthand experiences as a participant and witness to civil rights history to enliven the text with a close and often heartbreaking point of view." "Washingtonian," August issue "deeply personal." Margo Hammond, "Cleveland Plain Dealer," August 10, 2008 "A clear-eyed assessment of living in a family of civil rights leaders that stretched back four generations. [Cashin] recounts her father's fierce love for her and her own love but exasperation with him, the toll that crusading can take, and, most importantly, the powerful pull an oral history...can have on the destinies of its members." "Washington Post," July, 23, 2008 "In the smoothly written "The Agitator's Daughter," Sheryll Cashin, a law professor at Georgetown University, adds her firsthand experiences as a participant and witness to civil rights history to enliven the text with a close and often heartbreaking point of view." "Flavour Magazine," Summer 2008 "Cashin's clear-eyed assessment of what it's like to live in a family of civil rights activists that goes back four generations: her father's fierce love for her and her own love but exasperation with him, the toll that fighting for a cause can take on people and their families, and, most importantly, the powerful pull a family's oral history - its "lore," as Cashin puts it - can have on the destinies of its members."