The life and times of Ron Brown

the long version

In The Life and Times of Ron Brown, his daughter, Tracey L. Brown, shares a touching account of the person and the politician, and a candid look at one of this century's most compelling figures. From his earliest days growing up in Harlem's Hotel Theresa, the legendary mecca for dignitaries and celebrities like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fidel Castro, and Joe Louis, Ron Brown displayed a precocious intellect and an ability to make friends readily. Educated at Vermont's Middlebury College, he became the first black member of the school's Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, one of the several "firsts" in his life. The Life and Times of Ron Brown reveals his accomplishments - as the first black officer to serve in his army unit, the first black leader of a national political party, and the first black commerce secretary - and sensitively examines what it meant for Ron Brown to be a minority achiever in a predominantly white world.