Mattie C.'s Boy: The Shelley Stewart Story

by Don Keith

Shelley Stewart was five years old when he and his brothers watched in horror as their father murdered their mother with an ax. Homeless at the age of six, Stewart found what shelter he could, suffering physical and sexual abuse and racism. Despite heartbreaking setbacks and the racial strife that gripped the South in the 1950s and 1960s, Stewart graduated high school and entered the broadcasting profession. There he became a hugely popular radio personality, rubbing shoulders with the top recording artists of the day and becoming one of the nation’s first black radio station owners. He helped Dr. Martin Luther King mount the historic Children’s March through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama. Later Stewart would use his powerful communication skills to help convict one of the men who bombed the city’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Then this often-honored man turned his business skills to the creation of a foundation named after his mother; the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation works to convince high school students to stay in school and graduate, a topic Stewart speaks on in his many engagements around the country. Stewart, with author Don Keith, tells his story in his memoir Mattie C.'s Boy .

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published July 15, 2013

About the author

Award-winning and best-selling author of more than 40 published works, Don Keith was born in 1947 and has lived in the South all his life. He attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he received his degree in broadcast and film communication with a minor in English and literature. While working as a broadcast journalist, he won awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for news writing and reporting. He was also the first winner of Troy State University's Hector Award for innovation in broadcast journalism. As an on-the-air broadcaster, Don won the Billboard Magazine "Radio Personality of the Year" in two formats, country and contemporary. Keith was a broadcast personality for over twenty years in Birmingham and Nashville, and also owned his own consultancy, co-owned a Mobile, Alabama, radio station (WZEW-FM), and hosted and produced several nationally syndicated radio shows.

His first novel, THE FOREVER SEASON, was published by St. Martin's Press in the fall of 1995 to commercial and critical success. It called heavily on Keith's own athletic and academic experiences. Reviewers praised its unique approach and powerful story. The novel won the Alabama Library Association's "Fiction of the Year" award in 1997, joining works likewise honored from Harper Lee and others, and was re-issued in the fall of 2002 by the University of Alabama Press as part of its prestigious Deep South Books series.

He has written both fiction and non-fiction, including several books on WWII history, biographies, and military thrillers. His co-written thriller, HUNTER KILLER, was the basis for the hit movie starring Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman.

Reviews

[FreeFormLady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Stewart's story is the epitome of the phrase "Started from the bottom. Now we here!" The struggles he faced at such a young age are just unimaginable.
I usually like memoirs written in first person, but the author did an excellent job telling this story.
I learned a lot about Mr. Stewart as well as the city of Birmingham and the Civil rights movement.
I highly recommend!

[Sassa · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
“Mattie C.’s Boy” is an inspirational, non-fiction book about the importance of encouraging people, a stable home and an education in every young person’s life. The story opens in the 1930s in Birmingham, Alabama, with the murder of a devoted mother of four small boys by their own father. The horror took place in the boys’ presence. How do the boys survive? How did their individual lives evolve? What was a factor that predicated success?
Shelley Stewart, the second son, is the primary focus of this biography. Much is written of his contribution to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and his work in minority business leadership. Read how Stewart overcame the odds and became an asset to his city and to his country. It is not all a pretty picture and there are parts that bring me pause but it is eye-opening into an era.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent story detailing the life of a successful businessman in Birmingham, AL. To say he had a rough start in life is a gross understatement of the horrors of his childhood. I spent a few years in Birmingham and I wish I had the opportunity to meet him.

[Margaret Weinberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting memoir from a Birmingham icon! Read in preparation for an oral history with Mr. Stewart.

[The Indie Bob Spot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book needs more national attention. Outstanding true story of growing up black in the 1930s and 1940s and experiencing and surviving the extreme segregation and racism in Birmingham, AL. It is unbelievable how Shelley Stewart survived his upbringing and beyond all odds grew into adulthood well educated and became a force for change in the civil rights movement. This is an incredible story and more people need to find out about it. Truly, a rose that was able to bloom in a sidewalk. Highly recommended.

[Sue Lusk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story about determination and survival from a very young age and how so few ever can overcome odds. Shelley certainly had it right when he said it is all about Human Rights not just Civil Rights.

[Shakieta Kennebrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read, emotional sometimes, but littered with history!

[Vicki Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why isn't this book topping lists?! A true story of triumph. And the setting is only a few miles from my home, and the epicenter of human rights changes.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

We had Shelley Stewart come to visit with our book group, but I was out of town and missed it. He had a tough life, but has persevered. His story is an interesting one.