An American Story

Debra Dickerson’s An American Story is a success story: it’s about
her journey from a poor black St. Louis neighborhood into the ranks of
America’s public intellectuals, by way of the U.S. Air Force and Harvard
Law. But the moral of the story is not that race and class no longer matter;
the lessons she draws from experience are more complicated, and vitally
important for a society struggling to understand what race and class mean
in a new century.

In recent years, Debra Dickerson has emerged as one of the most original
and provocative writers on the dynamics of identity in a changing America.
This fascinating memoir details the experiences which have shaped her
iconoclastic and important perspective on race and class in the U.S.

Participants

• Debra Dickerson
  Senior Fellow, New America Foundation