Coming of Age in the Era of Civil Rights and the Vietnam Draft
Bill Slawter, Author
Retired attorney Bill Slawter, a Greensboro native and Asheville resident, recalls a pre-digital time when young people had to get out into the world to discover what was going on. And in the 1960s a lot was going on. What began as a novel drawing from his own life, became, instead, a memoir. “My book is a serious exploration of the times as it relates to the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam,” says Slawter. “At the same time, it is a light treatment of those years in relation to my friends and me, coming of age in the era of drive-in theaters and drive-in restaurants.”
Baby Boomers will find parallels to their own lives in Sit-Ins, Drive-Ins and Uncle Sam, Slawter says, but he hopes younger readers will find it enlightening as well. “Although most of the events in the book took place in Greensboro, similar things were happening and young people were going through the same struggles all over the country, but especially in the South,” he says.
Writing about his own past did not obviate the need for extensive research. His exploration led to surprising discoveries that left him asking why some people resist learning the history of Blacks and others in this country. “Instead of being afraid of that history, we should embrace learning from it,” Slawter says.
Sit-Ins, Drive-Ins and Uncle Sam: Coming of Age in the Era of Civil Rights and the Vietnam Draft, January, 2022, memoir, trade paperback, $18.99, by Bill Slawter, and published by Atmosphere Press, Austin, TX. The book is available at regional bookstores and the Greensboro History Museum. Learn more at SitInsDriveInsAndUncleSam.com.
