Research Catalog

The butler's child : an autobiography

Title
The butler's child : an autobiography / Lewis M. Steel with Beau Friedlander.
Author
Steel, Lewis M., 1937-
Publication
New York, NY : Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2016.
Supplementary Content
Cover image

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library Sc E 16-1464Schomburg Center - Research & Reference

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Details

Additional Authors
Friedlander, Beau
Description
viii, 312 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color); 24 cm
Summary
"The Butler's Child is the personal story of a Warner Brothers family grandson who spent more than fifty years as a fighting, no holds barred civil rights lawyer. Lewis explores why he, a privileged white man, devoted his life to seeking racial progress in often uncomprehending or hostile courts. In fact, after writing a feature for The New York Times Magazine entitled "Nine Men in Black Who Think White," Lewis was fired from the NAACP and the entire legal staff resigned in support of him. Lewis speaks about his family butler, an African American man named William Rutherford, who helped raise Lewis, and their deep but ultimately troubled relationship, as well as how Robert L. Carter, the NAACP's extraordinary general counsel, became Lewis' mentor, father figure and lifelong close friend. Lewis exposes the conflicts which arose from living and working in two very different worlds - that of the Warner Brothers family and that of a civil rights lawyer. He also explores his more than fifty year marriage and love of Kitty Muldoon, how they raised their three children, as well as their efforts to bridge two very different Jewish and Irish American families. Lewis' work with the NAACP set civil rights law and legal precedents still at work today; The Butler's Child is also an insider's look into some of the most important civil rights cases from the turbulent 1960s to the present day"--
Subjects
Genre/Form
Autobiographies.
Note
  • Includes index.
Contents
Attica -- Childhood -- Culver military academy and Harvard -- Bill Rutherford -- Kitty Muldoon -- Starting at the NAACP -- Getting my feet wet -- Dealing with fear -- Robert L. Carter's northern campaign -- The Cincinnati school case -- NAACP battles -- Two different worlds -- 1968 -- Bill Rutherford dies and a new beginning -- Tony Maynard -- Auburn prison and life in the Hamptons -- The Harlem four -- Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and John Artis -- A racist court -- The 1970s and 1980s -- Life among white liberals -- Navigating racial lines -- Black lives matter -- Going forward.
Call Number
Sc E 16-1464
ISBN
  • 9781250073006
  • 1250073006
LCCN
2015051267
OCLC
  • 933765684
  • 933765684
Author
Steel, Lewis M., 1937- author.
Title
The butler's child : an autobiography / Lewis M. Steel with Beau Friedlander.
Publisher
New York, NY : Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2016.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Local Note
Schomburg copy with dust jacket.
Connect to:
Cover image
Added Author
Friedlander, Beau, author.
Research Call Number
Sc E 16-1464
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