Odyssey of a Seattle Native Son

The autobiography of a local and national leader in education and civil rights

Carver Clark Gayton's story bears witness to Seattle's experience of race and the importance of family, teachers, teamwork, and building bridges in the context of the civil rights movement. It is a timely story, written by a Seattle native with deep perspective on the last century. From his family roots in slavery and abolition, his young life in the Seattle public school system, his sports career as a Husky football player and assistant coach, to his long career at Boeing and his civic activities, Gayton draws on his experiences to highlight the tension of being Black in America. His odyssey is shaped by the necessity of taking a stand, or as Mississippi voting rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer put it, being "in the mess," and by the inspiration and hope drawn from leaders like his great-grandfather Lewis Clarke, who wrote, "You and your generation and those who are coming after you can never know or feel what we who have been slaves endured. You are surrounded by golden opportunities such as I never dreamed would come."