Obliged to Help : Adolphine Fletcher Terry and the Progressive South

An important addition to Southern history, this book helps the reader understand Adolphine Fletcher Terry and the array of motives behind her progressivism. She was, in many ways, a stereotypical Southen aristocrat, but was also a strong and intelligent woman committed to creating a more just world for people from all walks of life. Prominent Arkansas newspaperman Harry Ashmore once remarked of Terry, "Her operating assumption is that most of us, black or white, are better than we usually have a chance to be. She may even believe, in the face of all the evidence, that love will ultimately triumph." But perhaps Terry said it best herself: "We are bound to accept this responsibility. ... We are obliged to help them." Book jacket.