Award-winning author wants to get America talking about race relations

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - An award-winning Lowcountry author focuses on using history to generate meaningful, insightful discussions that lead to introspection and change when it comes to race relations in America.

Cleo Scott Brown has written two books, “Witness to the Truth” and “Racelogy 101.”

Her first book is an autobiography of her father’s 25-year fight for the right to vote in their parish in Louisiana. It reveals how the entire family had to always be ready in case of trouble in the segregated South.

At 7, she was in the car with her father when he was shot for trying to get the right to vote. At 10, she was hiding while her older brothers and sisters did target practice in case of an attack at night. At 11, she was helping adults learn how to pass the multi-part citizenship test required to register to vote.

She became a little human guinea pig in a school integration experiment at age 12. She recalls the experience as more traumatic than the constant threat of being killed.

“I struggled with why that was such a horrible experience and just figured it out like five years ago,” she says. “It’s because I was made to feel that no matter how brilliant I was that I would never be enough, just because of the color of my skin.”

READ MORE: Click here to visit Brown’s website.

Now, she wants people to open up and talk about race in a real and productive manner.

She learned the important role of history from her father.

“He said history has two real reasons: One was to inspire you for the future and number two was to prevent the mistakes of the past,” she says.

Brown moved to the Lowcountry when she was just 24 years old. She raised her family here and retired after a long career with Santee Cooper.