Witness to the Truth is Cleo Scott Brown’s first book, however, Cleo is no stranger to her subject. She has spoken on black history for many years. She has also lived her subject, and like her father, believes that her experiences have been for a greater purpose. At eight, she was in the car with her father when he was shot for trying to get the right to vote. At nine, she was watching her father pull up Klan crosses from the end of the road. At ten, she was hiding while her older brothers and sisters did target practice in order to defend the house if the family got into a tight squeeze. At 11, she was helping adults learn how to pass the multi-part citizenship test required to register to vote. She got to become a little human guinea pig in an integration experiment at age 12, an experience that proved to be more traumatic than the constant threat of being killed. And then at 17, she was off to experience the black power movement at the predominately black Grambling State University and at 21, affirmative action quotas and some racial healing at General Motors in Anderson, Indiana. Her and her father’s direct personal experiences, combined with a lack of bitterness and anger, provide the rare but necessary combination that can move people to introspection and action.

Since the release of Witness to the Truth, Cleo has had the opportunity to share this very unique story with audiences across the country, helping to bring enlightenment and understanding about the very complex and oftentimes emotional subject of racism. She received the HBO Beah Richards Spirit Award in 2005 for her work in this area. Cleo is a Goose Creek, South Carolina resident and a retiree of a South Carolina utility where she worked as a Risk Manager. At the time of her retirement, she was also Chairman of the Board of the Electric Public Power Insurance Consortium (EPPIC), a national organization of utility risk managers, and a member of the Risk Management Advisory Committee for FM Global, one of the world’s largest property insurance companies. Brown graduated from Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana with a B.S. degree in Business Administration. In her community, she serves as Director of Children’s Church and works as Mentor Coordinator for Berkeley County Schools. She has two sons.