"A political biography of Nebraska state senator Ernest (Ernie) Chambers, investigating the tumultuous local and national political climate for African Americans from the late twentieth century to today"--Provided by publisher.

Amid the deadly racial violence of the 1960s, an unassuming student from a fundamentalist Christian home in Omaha emerged as a leader and nationally recognised black activist. Ernest Chambers, elected to the Nebraska State Legislature in 1970, eventually became one of the most influential legislators the state has ever known. In her revealing study of the man and those he represented, Ali Johnson portrays one intellectual's struggle alongside other African Americans to actualize their latent political power.