Beat of a Different Drum: The Untold Stories of African Americans Forging Their Own Paths in Work and Life

by Dax-Devlon Ross

In a series of insightful, probing interviews, Dax-Devlon Ross gives voice to the less-acknowledged realms of the black experience and gives us all new role models of courage, iconoclasm, and creativity. Ross, an inner-city schoolteacher who eschewed a career in law, became aware of the need for a book like this one when he came to his own career crossroads. To write it, he criss-crossed the country and even traveled to Europe, talking to black Americans who have stepped outside their comfort zones and found lives that no one had ever imagined they'd lead. In Beat of a Different Drum , you'll meet: . . . as well as many others, each of whose stories has something unique to teach us about the search for meaning in one's lifework, and the challenges that we must still face when we march to the beat of a different drum.

Genres: Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because I wanted the read the chapter on Kymone Freeman, a Washington, DC, activist I admire. It was interesting to read the other chapters too. In some ways, this 2006 book is dated; in some ways it’s not. For example, the chapter on Mike Ladd contains this quote: “Thanks to my mother, I had a real early understanding of America as an empire and all the crimes that this country commits to sustain its position in the world.”