Before the Byline: A Journalist's Roots

by Don Wycliff

174 pages, Hardcover

Published October 28, 2025

Reviews

[Nimbilasha Cushing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before the Byline, grabbed my attention in the Prologue and held it right through the last sentence of the Epilogue. I picked up the book primarily because the author and I are both Black and about the same age. If you you do nothing more than study the pictures of the author's family over three generations, you will gain an overall view as to the development of a sophisticated yet simple life of this masterful storyteller. I found the contrast between the life of Don Wycliffe and my own to be remarkably different. What a wonderful treat to meet a solid, strong Black family in the south and southwest of this country. As the family moved from one place to the next, it was enlightening to find that there were people who looked like me doing work that I had thought was relegated for whites during that era. The family was comprised of educators, blacksmiths, entrepreneurs and more. The natural kinship and love between parents and children spread to include grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Their Catholic faith played a huge role in everyday life from birth to old age to death. The author's discovery of self and the world around him is revealed in a fashion that is both complex but simple. The underlying theme of love is woven inextricably throughout the story, often in the face of racist and unjust treatment. This book was written for now. It is a retelling of much of our history, some of which is being closeted or stricken out altogether by those in power. Reading this memoir in the cold of winter was a comforting experience that I had not expected. It will stay with me to spring and beyond.

[Marion Franck · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a history of what it was like for black people in the South and Midwest during the period of my lifetime (I was born in 1947), I found Before the Byline instructional and fascinating. And since this is also a memoir, I enjoyed getting to know Don Wycliff and his unique story. I found myself celebrating his successes, even though he wrote very modestly about them. It's quite a thing to begin life in a family with 9 children and then to carve your own way. Don's story makes a great read.