It’s never too late
Colonel Clifford Worthy knew he had a story to tell.
As one of the few African-American men accepted into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1949 – just a year after President Harry S. Truman integrated the Armed Forces – he served in the Army for over two decades while navigating racism and the challenges presented by raising his developmentally disabled son.
Thirty-five years after Worthy realized his life story would have broad appeal, he published his first book – The Black Knight: An African-American Family’s Journey from West Point – A Life of Duty, Honor and Country (Front Edge, 2019). Since then, he’s been interviewed by numerous journalists, and his book has appeared in major newspapers and on PBS. He’s had signing events at Detroit’s Museum of African American History and at West Point.
He advises his peers interested in writing their stories to guard against what he calls “old-age stubbornness” and be willing to listen to professional editorial feedback and revise accordingly. “And be savvy about the power of the computer,” he says. “Initially, I was not.”
These days, Worthy is open-minded about reader feedback on his
