Steve Huntley: Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America

In Knocking Down Barriers: My Fight for Black America Truman K. Gibson Jr. chronicles a life spent at the center of the struggle for racial justice. More than sixty years ago, Gibson reported for duty to a civilian post in the War Department created to represent the interests of African American soldiers. He had no illusions about the prospects of these servicemen, yet as a Chicagoan who'd immersed himself in the vibrant African American culture of prewar America , he was disheartened by Jim Crow's powerful grip on Washington and the military establishment.

Through two presidential administrations, Gibson played a major role in the campaign that eventually ended segregation in the armed forces.

While this wartime struggle for integration is at the heart of Gibson's story, it is far from the only chapter. Gibson began his career as a member of the legal team that won a significant U.S. Supreme Court victory against restrictive covenants, which forbade the sale of real estate to minorities.

Around the same time, the savvy young litigator was chosen to organize Chicago's black world's fair of 1940, for which he brought together Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Horace Cayton, and Paul Robeson. His friendship and business collaboration with Joe Louis led to an unexpected career as a boxing promoter in the 1950s, an enterprise that challenged white control of professional sports by creating an empire that made television history.