Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience

Jill Nelson is the modern day Harriet Tubman, leading the mentally enslaved from the chains of industrial oppression to the freedom of self-determined realization. If you read this missive and don't ask yourself if you've ever compromised your integrity to further someone else's capitalist agenda, you've missed the point of this brilliant body of work. Angst, inner turmoil, and introspection abound on the pages and tell the tale of a woman trapped in the web of office politics and backstabbing that eat at your joy, that erode your sense of self-worth. What is the price of voluntarily whitewashing your identity to please people with an agenda that does not validate or acknowledge the talents you bring to the table as a person of color? It's so much more than the reflections of a sista who got a position with the Washington Post who got a case of buyer's remorse and didn't like her job. This is the impetus to assess what it is that is important in life and to run towards freedom.

Volunteer Slavery is STILL the book! Family, friends and coworkers are probably sick and tired of hearing me raving about the revealing, blistering and gossipy tell-all memoir! It's been nearly 10 years since the book was published, but I still regularly reread certain passages when I need inspiration, a good laugh, or a clearer understanding of the journalistic imbroglio with which I frequently have to deal with--after more than 15 years in the business!! Celebrate the anniversary of the BEST book EVER written about what it's REALLY like being a black journalist on the plantation...the newsroom at a daily newspaper!!

As an African-American journalist, I found Jill Nelson's book to be very real. Those who criticize the book because Nelson strikes them as naive are missing the point, on at least two levels. In the first place, though she naturally gets into certain generalities, the book is primarily about HER experience. It's not intended to be a handbook for reporters who are climbing the corporate ladder. Given her past, and her particular personality, this is the story of how she happened to react to a specific set of circumstances. How one judges her actions should be different from the way someone judges the book itself.And secondly, to the extent that the book does have a larger intent, it calls for the dismantling of an outrageously unfair system. Should we all just accept the status quo, and find clever ways to navigate our way past pettiness and stupidity, or strive for a sane alternative? The fact is that Nelson has done just fine since she left the Post. Viewed in that context, the book is a testament to her courage, and her insistence on personal dignity.

My introduction to Jill Nelson was through a program on C-SPAN, Washington Journal. She sounded like a straight-shooting, intelligent, thoughtful person. When I finished Volunteer Slavery, after a marathon, can't put it down, day of reading, I knew her to be funny, down-to-earth, experienced and a wonderfully courageous, excellent author. Her ability to tell the story of her Washington Post experience in the context of family life, parenthood, love and loving, and professional activities demonstrates well-honed writing skills and her grasp of what's really going on under the thin veneer of our complex, multi-dimensional lives. She uses words magnificently, provocatively and with a sense of humor and style that had me laughing out loud.

Jill Nelson frontally attacks the denial, dishonesty and hypocrisy surrounding the issue of race in the corporate suites. She will clearly make some people uncomfortable, which is precisely the point of this memoir. Nelson is a seasoned, talented writer who has the guts to step out of racial orthodoxy (read: black accomodation of racism) in order to illuminate that which deafens white people and suffocates black people. A fascinating, evocative account, not to be missed