Grace Halsell (May 7, 1923 – August 16, 2000) was an American journalist and writer.[1]
Early life and education
The daughter of writer
Harry H. Halsell, she studied at Texas Tech University from 1939 to 1942.[2] During the 1940s, she was briefly married to Andy Fournier, the chief of detectives in the Fort Worth Police Department.[3]
Career
Halsell worked for several newspapers between 1942 and 1965, including the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and the Washington bureau of the Houston Post. She covered both the
Korean and
Vietnam Wars as a reporter, and was a
White House speech writer for President
Lyndon B. Johnson from 1965 to 1968. She wrote 10 books, including the critically acclaimed and controversial Soul Sister[4] for which she took pills used to alleviate pigmentation problems in order to darken skin and pass as black,[5] and Journey to Jerusalem about Christian, Jewish, and Muslim families in the Holy Land.[6]
Halsell, Grace (1999). Forcing God's Hand: Why Millions Pray for a Quick Rapture—and Destruction of Planet Earth. Beltsville, MD: International Graphics.
ISBN978-0-9674013-1-7.
Revised and enlarged edition 2003
ISBN978-1-59008-015-3 included transcript of CBS 60 Minutes episode broadcast October 6, 2002 "Zion's Christian soldiers; how conservative Christians see Israel's role in bringing on the Second Coming of Christ."
^Gilliam, Dorothy (November 4, 1969). "A White Woman in a 'Black' Skin". The Washington Post. p. B4. I am instantly repulsed by the audacity of Miss Halsell, after a few months of a half-masquerade ... to call herself 'soul sister.' This is not only an affront, it is foolish.
^"Grace Halsell, 77, Journalist Who Sought Truth in Disguise". The New York Times. September 2, 2000. p. A17.