Susan Rice: ‘We can’t take five and a half (more) years of this’

There is an aphorism attributed to African Americans: “As a black person in white America, you have to work twice as hard to get half as far.”

Ambassador Susan Rice knows about working hard and hitting hurdles.

Her new memoir is “Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For.” In it, she looks back to the story of her father Emmett, the son of a minister and a school teacher in South Carolina, and her mother Lois, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, a janitor and a maid, who settled in Portland, Maine.

Emmett served with the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. He chafed at racism in America on his return from the war. He went on to earn a PhD in economics, taught at Cornell University and became one of the first black governors of the Federal Reserve.

Lois was the valedictorian of her high school senior class. She got into Radcliffe College at Harvard, but was denied a scholarship for students from Maine because she was black.

Her high school teachers fought to have a scholarship given to Lois and she went on to attend Radcliffe and graduate with honors. She would later serve as a member of The College Board, and become known as the “mother of the Pell Grant” for her role in creating that program.

From these origins, Rice details her path forward and the struggles she faced. She studied international relations at Stanford University and Oxford.

Ambassador Susan Rice spoke with Sally Jewell on October 14 at Town Hall Seattle, as part of their Civics Series. Town Hall, The Northwest African American Museum and The Elliott Bay Book Company presented the event. KUOW’s Sonya Harris recorded the conversation.

Please note: This recording contains brief language of an adult nature.

Ambassador Susan Rice spoke with Sally Jewell on October 14 at Town Hall Seattle, as part of their Civics Series. Town Hall, The Northwest African American Museum and The Elliott Bay Book Company presented the event. KUOW’s Sonya Harris recorded the conversation.

Please note: This recording contains brief language of an adult nature.