Elizabeth and Hazel

The names Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery may not be well known, but the image of them from September 1957 surely is: a black high school girl, dressed in white, walking stoically in front of Little Rock Central High School, and a white girl standing directly behind her, face twisted in hate, screaming racial epithets. This famous photograph captures the full anguish of desegregation—in Little Rock and throughout the South—and an epic moment in the civil rights movement.

In this gripping book, David Margolick tells the remarkable story of two separate lives unexpectedly braided together. He explores how the haunting picture of Elizabeth and Hazel came to be taken, its significance in the wider world, and why, for the next half-century, neither woman has ever escaped from its long shadow. He recounts Elizabeth’s struggle to overcome the trauma of her hate-filled school experience, and Hazel’s long efforts to atone for a fateful, horrible mistake. The book follows the painful journey of the two as they progress from apology to forgiveness to reconciliation and, amazingly, to friendship. This friendship foundered, then collapsed—perhaps inevitably—over the same fissures and misunderstandings that continue to permeate American race relations more than half a century after the unforgettable photograph at Little Rock. And yet, as Margolick explains, a bond between Elizabeth and Hazel, silent but complex, endures.

Lee A. Daniels :

Jane Christmas :

Elizabeth Taylor :

Kevin Boyle :

President Bill Clinton :

Gene Seymour :
“A marvelous example of bringing history to life through individual stories, . . . [and] a fascinating story of race, relationships, and the struggle to forgive.”—Marjorie Kehe, Christian Science Monitor, “Fall Books: 20 Nonfiction Titles You Don’t Want to Miss”

Lynell George :

Karen R. Long :
"As surprising and unusual as its two protagonists, Elizabeth and Hazel—densely-researched, empathetic, measured, revelatory—not only lets us live, as completely as we would in a novel, the confrontation in Little Rock and the creation of an iconic photo, but lets us hear the central figures as they work, for the subsequent half-century, to come to terms with what has happened to them. David Margolick has written a beautiful and moving meditation on race, struggle, and the forgiving and unforgiving passage of time."—Rachel Cohen, author of A Chance Meeting

Louis P. Masur :

Randy Dotinga :

Glenn Altschuler :

Marjorie Kehe :

Rachel Cohen :

Charlayne Hunter-Gault :

Louis Begley :

Diane McWhorter :

Julian Bond :

David Levering Lewis :

President Bill Clinton :

Amy Finnerty :

Kate Tuttle :

Jesse Kornbluth :

President Bill Clinton :