Be Not Afraid
Saint Andrew’s is pleased to share an article recently published in Episcopal News Service about parishioner Jack Drake's recently published memoir, Be Not Afraid: A Southern Journey Through Law, Liberty, and Civil Rights (University of Alabama Press, 2026). We encourage you to pick up a copy today!
It is available to purchase at the University of Alabama Press’s Bama Bookstore and all internet retail sellers of books.
Alabama attorney’s memoir chronicles decades of civil rights work
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
Be Not Afraid: A Southern Journey Through Law, Liberty, and Civil Rights is a timely and unflinching memoir from civil rights attorney Jack Drake – longtime Episcopalian in the Diocese of Alabama and senior warden at St. Andrews’ Church, Birmingham – who has spent decades on the front lines of his state’s legal battles for racial justice.
Drake describes growing up in segregated Gardendale, Alabama, in the 1950s in a family that believed in white supremacy. Drake says that he attended segregated schools, played on segregated sports teams, and was a member of an all-white Southern Baptist church. Drake says that in his Baptist church he never heard an adult say that segregation was wrong or that racism was contrary to the teachings of Jesus. But from this background he became one of Alabama’s best-known civil rights lawyers, litigating cases that reshaped the state’s legal and moral landscape. His first job after law school was with the Selma Project, launched as a ministry in memory of Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian and civil rights worker murdered in Lowndes County, Alabama, in 1965.
During his career in civil rights law, Drake helped reform Alabama’s grossly inadequate mental health system and supported voting rights efforts throughout the state. His work underscores the crucial role private attorneys and grassroots advocates played in enforcing civil rights laws long after their passage.
Through vivid recollections of courtroom battles, civil rights alliances, and personal transformation, Be Not Afraid offers an intimate view into the persistence and courage required to challenge systemic injustice. At a time when debates over equity and democracy remain pressing, Drake’s story is both a powerful reflection on the past and a call to action for the present. It speaks to the enduring importance of legal advocacy and community solidarity in the fight for a more just society, making it essential reading for those engaged in civil rights history, law, or social change.
Be Not Afraid: A Southern Journey Through Law, Liberty, and Civil Rights is available for sale at the University of Alabama Press’s Bama Bookstore and all internet retail sellers of books.