Mighty Justice

“Dovey Johnson Roundtree set a new path for women and proved that the vision and perseverance of a single individual can turn the tides of history.” —Michelle Obama

In Mighty Justice, trailblazing African American civil rights attorney Dovey Johnson Roundtree recounts her inspiring life story that speaks movingly and urgently to our racially troubled times. From the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina, to the segregated courtrooms of the nation’s capital; from the male stronghold of the army where she broke gender and color barriers to the pulpits of churches where women had waited for years for the right to minister—in all these places, Roundtree sought justice.

At a time when African American attorneys had to leave the courthouses to use the bathroom, Roundtree took on Washington’s white legal establishment and prevailed, winning a 1955 landmark bus desegregation case that would help to dismantle the practice of “separate but equal” and shatter Jim Crow laws. Later, she led the vanguard of women ordained to the ministry in the AME Church in 1961, merging her law practice with her ministry to fight for families and children being destroyed by urban violence.

Dovey Roundtree passed away in 2018 at the age of 104. Though her achievements were significant and influential, she remains largely unknown to the American public. Mighty Justice corrects the historical record.

This discussion guide was posted in partnership with Algonquin Books.

Book club questions for Mighty Justice by Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Mighty Justice begins with two stories of injustice, one suffered by Dovey’s grandmother as a girl, the other by the young Dovey herself. It ends with a transcendent vision of justice. What are the turning points in Dovey’s journey from experiencing an unjust world to envisioning a just one?

How was Dovey affected both as a child and over the course of her lifetime by the story of her grandma Rachel’s broken feet and by participating in Grandma’s nightly foot-washing ritual? What larger significance do you find in this story? How was Grandma Rachel a lifelong model of courage for Dovey?

During Dovey’s Spelman College years she had crucial experiences with two white women who were polar opposites in terms of their racial attitudes—one sabotaged Dovey’s educational aspirations by having her arrested for stealing; the other mentored her and loaned her the money to finish college. In what ways was Dovey changed by these contrasting interactions? How do you think Mae Neptune moved Dovey toward a wider vision of interracial harmony?

How were the seeds of Dovey’s activism planted by her exposure to black intellectuals like W. E. B. Du Bois, Ira De Augustine Reid, and Rayford Logan? Why was she ambivalent about Du Bois’s notion of the “talented tenth?”

In what ways was black Washington a “secret city” in the 1940s? Do you think that secret cities still exist, and if so, how are they different from the secret cities of the past?

How did Dovey evolve during her army career from what she calls “a girl . . . living out the dream of a great leader” to “a woman grown”? How did Dovey find her voice as an activist in the military?

Dovey was extremely proud of her military service. How did she eventually reconcile her anger at Jim Crow in the military and in the country with her patriotism and her desire to serve the United States? Would you consider yourself patriotic, and what do you think it means to be patriotic?

In what ways were Dovey’s struggles in her marriage reflective of the challenges faced by many ambitious women, particularly those in her generation? Do you think things have changed? How much?

How did sexism manifest itself in Dovey’s law school environment? What communities and individuals sustained her as she navigated this form of prejudice? How was her classmate and eventual law partner, Julius Robertson, different from the other men she met in law school?

Dovey referred to the 1896 Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson as a lie. What did she mean by that? How would you describe the larger consequences of Dovey’s limited win in her Jim Crow lawsuit on behalf of her mother and grandmother against the Southern Railroad?

What elements of Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company give it a historical significance comparable to that of the Rosa Parks case? How was it groundbreaking?

How did Dovey change, as a lawyer and a person, during the six-year period between the Interstate Commerce Commission issuance of the Keys ruling in 1955 and its eventual implementation of it in 1961?

What part did her Grandma Rachel and other individuals play in Dovey’s decision to study for the ministry in a church that did not at that time permit the ordination of women? What other factors propelled her in that direction? What were the origins of Dovey’s religious faith, and how do you think it gave her the ability to survive, to break barriers, to overcome anger, and to minister to others? How is the Benediction an expression of her faith?

How did gender prejudice rise up to confront Dovey in the wake of Julius Robertson’s death, and how did she manage it?

How did the case of John Pledger challenge Dovey spiritually? How did it change her? How did her relationship with Peggy Pledger help Dovey heal in the wake of the loss of so many loved ones?

Over the course of her life, Dovey had many mentors, mostly black but some white. What role did each of these people play in Dovey’s formation? What do you think makes for a good mentor?

In what ways is Dovey a role model for the next generation in the fight for social justice?

Mighty Justice Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the Mighty Justice discussion questions

“Part moving memoir, part inspiration to resist, Mighty Justice is a must-read.” —Ms. Magazine

“The picaresque arc of her life pulses through this exquisite and essential memoir as she battles her way out of the segregated South and into some of the highest courts in the land, carving ‘a way out of no way.’” —O: The Oprah Magazine

“Trailblazing attorney Dovey Johnson Roundtree died last year at 104, but her legacy shines bright in her memoir . . . It not only covers Johnson’s triumphant journey, but it also enriches our collective memory.” —Essence

“Some life stories are too important to be relegated to dusty history books. They must be remembered, honored, shared. Dovey Johnson Roundtree lived that large and remarkable a life.” —The Associated Press

About co-author Katie McCabe
Co-author Katie McCabe is a freelance writer whose National Magazine Award–winning article on African American medical legend Vivien Thomas was the basis for the HBO film Something the Lord Made, winner of three Emmys and a Peabody Award. McCabe lives in Washington, DC. Mighty Justice is the product of her ten-year collaboration with Dovey Johnson Roundtree.