Mary: An Autobiography

Continuing the candid autobiography begun in Mary, this book is an uncompromising account of what it was like to be black, highly educated, and independent in the South during the 1950s and 1960s. Mary Mebane recounts her years as a high school teacher, college instructor, Ph.D. student, and finally, professor, her encounters with such important figures as Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Malcolm X, and her joy upon finally discovering what she calls "the gulf stream" of her life, writing.