An unplanned life : a memoir / Franklin A. Thomas ; foreword by Darren Walker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thomas, Franklin A., author.

Contributor:

Walker, Darren, writer of supplementary textual content.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thomas, Franklin A.

Ford Foundation--Biography.

Ford Foundation.

African American philanthropists.

Philanthropists--United States--Biography.

Philanthropists.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (202 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : The New Press, [2022]

Summary:

A major autobiography of a remarkable life that broke down racial barriers, transformed institutions, and energized the struggle for justice, by the former president of the Ford Foundation“Frank has that quality of honesty and authenticity and people trusted him... and because very disparate people trusted him, he could bring them together across their differences.” —Gloria Steinem Franklin Thomas was one of the most influential people of our time. As former president of the Ford Foundation (the first African American to hold this position), former president of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (the first community development organization of its kind), member of countless corporate boards, and a key player in facilitating the end of the apartheid era in South Africa, Thomas shaped public policy, philanthropy, and the movement for human rights for over half a century. An Unplanned Life offers an insider's account of some of the most crucial transformations of the contemporary era: efforts to rebuild America's cities, struggles to reform philanthropy, and the quest to establish a global order based on human rights and racial equity. As a story of firsts, Franklin's memoir also chronicles a formative era, when a generation of African Americans first broke through into the halls of power, navigating complicated and sometimes treacherous cultural and political currents. Much of Franklin Thomas's life was marked by his desire to stay out of the spotlight, and to let his accomplishments speak for themselves. Now, in An Unplanned Life, we have Thomas's full story, in all of its nuance, drama, and richly narrated detail.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Contents

Foreword by Darren Walker

1. Growing Up in Bedford-Stuyvesant

2. A Higher Education

3. Choosing Law

4. Policing in Mayor Lindsay's New York

5. A Call to Come Home

6. A Battle in Bed-Stuy

7. Restoration

8. A New Approach to Community Development

9. Giving the Community Control

10. 1968

11. The Loss of Robert Kennedy

12. Dueling Boards

13. The World of Corporate Boards

14. When Two Years Becomes Ten

15. An Unexpected Presidency

16. A South Africa Study Commission

17. Reimagining the Ford Foundation

18. A Changing Landscape in South Africa

19. Positive Results

20. Mandela's Freedom

21. President Mandela

22. An Inauguration

23. A Farewell to Ford

24. The Study Group

25. A Call to Action

26. Full Circle

Acknowledgments

Index

About the Author

Publishing in the Public Interest

Copyright.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781620977736

1620977737

OCLC:

1344538485