Dorothy Bracy Alston Enjoys Her Work as Freelance Writer and Journalist

As a freelance writer, photo journalist, and aurhor, it has afforded Dorothy Bracy Alston various opportunities to meet, interview and have photo opts with groundbreaking and history making African Ameircan leaders.

Dorothy was particularly honored to have a 90-minute exclusive interview with a National Freedom Awards recipient, Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr., who was the late civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s chief lieutenant and field administrator. Lafayette was the 2012 recipient of this prestigious award, given annually by the National Civil Rights Museum, in Memphis.

As a celebrated chief lieutenant of Dr. King during the civil rights movement, Lafayette is currently a Distinguished-Senior-Scholar-in-Residence at Emory University's Candor School of Theology, in Atlanta, GA.

"I'm still in the movement. I have not retired. I'm still working very hard every day," said Lafayette, jokingly adding that, "I live on Delta Airlines."

"At Emory, I teach a graduate level course on the life and work of Martin Luther King, and in the spring, I teach a course on lessons that we've learned in the movement. It analyzes the different campaigns, and we go into the organizational structure and the strategy of what we learned in the movement," said Lafayette.

In addition to interviewing Dr. Lafayette, whose wisdom was exhilirating, I was again excited when given the opportunity to interview the first African American, U. S, Secretary of Education, Dr. Rod Paige. As an educator and English instructor, I was beyond excited.

Exceprts from Dorothy's published New Tri-State Defender Newspaper article included:

"Noted African American leader, Dr. Rod Paige, who along with President Obama, is a man of many firsts, was in town Saturday, April 20, as keynote speaker for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Beta Epsilon Chapter’s Second Annual Educational Advancement Foundation Scholarship Breakfast, hosted by Middle Baptist Church, Dr. Lester Baskins.

"Dr. Paige was the seventh United States Secretary of Education, the first African American and the first superintendent of schools to serve in this capacity. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Paige served from 2001 – 2005.

Paige’s commitment to education began in rural Mississippi, where he was born and raised. The oldest of four siblings; one of which is Dr. Raygene Paige, current EAF chair of this annual event. Their father was a principal and their mother a librarian. Paige says he and his siblings had no choice in whether or not they were going to college.

“I recall being asked by an elementary school student; ‘Why did you decide to go to college?’ The reason I decided to go to college is because I enjoyed breathing,” stated Paige to this youngster.

Paige admits, “That question never crossed my mind on whether or not I was going to college, because if I made the decision, I would have been out swimming or playing ball or something. We need to get back to making decisions for our children and get back there fast.”

Paige believes, “There’s no other way to advance us quicker to a place, other than education. Our problem is we’ve let the children be the adult. In my generation, our parents made the decisions for us. We didn’t make the decisions for ourselves.”

Dorothy has had many other wonderful and notable journalistic opportunities. She loves writing and continues to freelance as a journalist, but is currently working on her personal writing career.

Dorothy is the author of "How to Whup the Devil™ - A Spiritual Weapons Guide, available both in print, and as an eBook on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/How-Whup-Devil-Spiritual-Weapons-ebook/dp/B01KNNZKKI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476906597&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+whup+the+devil.

Comming soon: "How to Whup the Devil™ Workbook. It will be available in both print and as an eBook.

For information, contact Dorothy at CisbaAssociates@gmail.com.