Tom is a college senior - English major at Virginia Tech. He expects to continue on to graduate school and eventually pursue a career in education. By Tom Beckwidth
Max Smith's "African America's 3rd Rail: SGL" is a memoir which consists of political activism and historical events. The ultimate purpose of this book is inform readers is to tell Smith's journey of life, and how he engaged as a political activist for homosexual rights. His growth as a person and honesty with himself is displayed within this book. Historical information and events is significant in this book, and Smith gives readers who were born in the last few decades the opportunity to learn about the past. Even though, there still isn't equal rights for homosexuals; there has been a tremendous progress of how society views homosexuals.
In addition, the race factor is essential to this book, and different African Americans are relevant to his story. Smith along with many others has paved the way for me and many others to be honest and proud about myself as a person. His determination, honesty, and tenacity is embedded with in the pages of "African America's 3rd Rail: SGL." At first, my perspective of this book was that it was too historic and kind of boring. Then, I realized the significance of this book from both a political and historic perspective. These events that Smith was a part of, has life easier for me as a person in today's society.
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He informs his readers about Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He begin standing up for himself as young boy, and he definitely displays this when he is able to beat up the school bully Johnny Mac. Taking a stance as a youth enable him to do other things in his life. For instance, he was able to tell his parents and family members that he was gay, and he even joined the gay liberation council once he started attending Michigan State University. Fighting for human rights and being part of rallies was important to him, and this adamantly shown through his act of political and cultural activism. Smith even reflects on how some conservative religious people fail to acknowledge homosexual, and he delves into how some of them are even corrupted with dishonesty about themselves.
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By Tom Beckwidth
Max Smith's "African America's 3rd Rail: SGL" is a memoir which consists of political activism and historical events. The ultimate purpose of this book is inform readers is to tell Smith's journey of life, and how he engaged as a political activist for homosexual rights. His growth as a person and honesty with himself is displayed within this book. Historical information and events is significant in this book, and Smith gives readers who were born in the last few decades the opportunity to learn about the past. Even though, there still isn't equal rights for homosexuals; there has been a tremendous progress of how society views homosexuals.
In addition, the race factor is essential to this book, and different African Americans are relevant to his story. Smith along with many others has paved the way for me and many others to be honest and proud about myself as a person. His determination, honesty, and tenacity is embedded with in the pages of "African America's 3rd Rail: SGL." At first, my perspective of this book was that it was too historic and kind of boring. Then, I realized the significance of this book from both a political and historic perspective. These events that Smith was a part of, has life easier for me as a person in today's society.
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He informs his readers about Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He begin standing up for himself as young boy, and he definitely displays this when he is able to beat up the school bully Johnny Mac. Taking a stance as a youth enable him to do other things in his life. For instance, he was able to tell his parents and family members that he was gay, and he even joined the gay liberation council once he started attending Michigan State University. Fighting for human rights and being part of rallies was important to him, and this adamantly shown through his act of political and cultural activism. Smith even reflects on how some conservative religious people fail to acknowledge homosexual, and he delves into how some of them are even corrupted with dishonesty about themselves.
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