My Journey Through a Changing South

Charlie Grainger has lived through eight decades of positive change in his favorite place: the American South. Born on an unpaved Alabama country road during the Great Depression, he almost died twice before he was two, nearly drowned as a teenager, and was in a near plane crash as a young man. His family didn't have much money, but they didn't need much. Like almost everyone else in their remote part of the planet, theirs was a close-knit community and neighbors cared for neighbors - particular helping poverty-stricken share-croppers and tenant farmers. As a young man, he found the summer of 1955 filled with magic, working as a newspaperman and public relations professional. He wrote radio spots, promoted a walking horse show and rodeo, and publicized rock and roll and country music shows. Later on, as a newspaper reporter, he witnessed an angry mob at a Montgomery bus station waiting for the Freedom Riders. A white public safety director drew his pistol to save him from the mob, but others were not so lucky. View America through the eyes of a country boy who became a successful executive, legislator, and author, and gain a deeper appreciation for how far we've come as a nation.