Roberts Vs. Texaco:: A True Story Of Race And Corporate America - Hardcover

This book is a chilling account of the successful $176 million class-action racial discrimination suit brought against the Texaco corporation by Bari-Ellen Roberts and her 1,400 fellow African American colleagues. Roberts served as a senior financial analyst at Texaco from 1990 to 1997. With help from Time correspondent Jack E. White, she takes us from her Cincinnati origins to the fateful day she went to work for Texaco where she endured Neanderthal-like discrimination from her white colleagues, such as a vice president of human resources labeling her diversity-building proposals as "militant," coworkers using racial slurs such as "little colored girl," and seeing her boss in a Sambo costume at a Halloween party. Roberts tells of the stress, anger, fear, and ultimately the will it took for her to become the lead plaintiff in the case. She ultimately secured in- and out-of-court settlements with the help of a justice-oriented white executive, Richard Lundvall, who went public with taped racist comments made by his white colleagues. Like Rosa Parks, Bari-Ellen Roberts shows a courage that has benefited all Americans. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Bari-Ellen Roberts was a senior financial analyst at Texaco from 1990 to 1997. She she is currently the chair of the African American Committee for Corporate Responsibility. She receives many requests as a keynote speaker and serves as a diversity strategist and consultant. She lives in Connecticut.