"This African-American Life" with Hugh B. Price

Hugh B. Price, former president of the National Urban League, will be at Sankofa Video & Books on Monday, May 15 at 6 p.m. to read and sign copies of his book, "The African-American Life." 

In this acclaimed memoir, Price traces his historical lineage throughout the United States. Ancestors such as Nero Hawley, who fought in the American Revolution and served at Valley Forge under General George Washington; George and Rebecca Latimer, who escaped slavery in Virginia by stowing away on a boat and traveling to the North as master and slave; and Lewis Latimer, a famous inventor who worked with Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison and played a pivotal role in perfecting the light bulb.

Price discusses his varied and successful careers such as editorial writer for The New York Times; head of the production division at the nation’s largest public television station, which produced such acclaimed PBS series as Great Performances, Nature, and American Masters, and vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation, where he was instrumental in launching innovative youth initiatives. 

Along with discussions about his varied careers and inspiring ancestors, Price shares stories about his childhood and growing up in the segregated neighborhood near Howard University in Washington D.C.; his passion for baseball and his dream of becoming a major leaguer; his experience as one of the first students to integrate the previously segregated Washington, DC, schools in 1954; and his stirring memories of witnessing the birth of the new South Africa at a thrilling rally in Cape Town on February 2, 1990, the same day President F. W. deKlerk proclaimed the end of apartheid and announced the release of Nelson Mandela from prison.