Anna and Robert Burrell were “firsts”: she a Black professor in 1948 at what was State Teachers College and he a Black City Court judge. Anna and Bob were close friends of my dad, Victor Einach, a leader in civil rights work.

I grew up in the Burrells’ home among a magnificent group of adults engaged in countering oppression and creating opportunities. Bob’s brother Lloyd was a medical doctor. His wife, Helen Wheatland Burrell, was a professor of French at UB and a fine pianist. When Helen died, she left an autograph book handed down through her family to Anna. Anna left that book to me. The autographs were collected by Georgiana Downing, daughter of George Thomas Downing, one of the wealthiest and most influential Black leaders in America in the 1800s.

To understand the significance of

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