Ofield Dukes is considered one of the nation’s most successful African-American public relations practitioners and one of the most influential people of the Civil Rights period.
This book—written by Dukes himself—takes the reader from Depression-era Detroit through the Korean War and up to Washington, D.C., where he served not only the Johnson White House, but every Democratic presidential candidate in the Sixties.
Along the way he advised such notables as Coretta Scott King, author Alex Haley, Rep. Charles Rangel, as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. In fact, Dukes was instrumental in making King’s birthday a national holiday.
Duke’s career was not limited to politicians and Civil Rights leaders. As a public relations counselor he worked with Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and dozens of other Motown stars. And thanks in large part to Dukes, the “Motown Sound” spread feverishly from its Detroit-based operations to every corner of the U.S.
Today, there are hundreds of public relations practitioners around the world who credit Dukes for their success, including the editors of this book, two of Duke’s closest mentees.
This book is dedicated to future generations of students and professionals in the hope that they, too, can be inspired by Ofield Dukes.
