The Call to Serve: The Thomas Mann Jr Story

The mid-fifties were a challenging time for all African Americans. Especially in the Jim Crow South where author Thomas Mann, Jr. grew up. Even though slavery had been abolished with the 13th Amendment on December 6th, 1895, blacks were still enslaved in other ways-such as the unspoken rules his grandmother reminded him of before he was allowed to venture out into his segregated community.

The author writes, The tension created by the oppressor and the oppressed was so tight, at times, I felt it would snap. My family and I tried not to disobey these rules, because we knew that you could be beaten up, jailed, spat upon, or hanged with just one wrong move that defied the unspoken code of deference to the white man.

In The Call to Serve, the author reveals what it was like to grow up during this oppressive time in our nation’s history and how he chose to rise above this oppression by earning a law degree and serving as a state senator and civil rights attorney. In the pages of his book, he shares the struggles and successes of a decorated career that spanned more than four decades.