This inspiring memoir begins in 1983, on the day John Charles Thomas was sworn in as the first Black-and, at thirty-two years of age, the youngest-justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia in the commonwealth's history. This high point was preceded, however, by a life that began in a home broken by poverty, alcoholism, and violence, and the segregated schools and neighborhoods of postwar Norfolk.

    Thomas takes us from his difficult beginnings to a professional life as a Virginia lawyer, recounts his international travels, and shares his encounters with world leaders such as Chuck Robb and Mikhail Gorbachev. Thomas's memoir highlights these lofty meetings but also relates with candor the challenges he encountered as he battled the systemic racism that suffuses U.S. society to this day. An accomplished poet who has read his poetry to a Carnegie Hall audience, and for whom both language and the law are a passion, Thomas has crafted an eloquent memoir on an indelible life.