After just one boosted Facebook post, Busting the Brass Ceiling, the book I co-authored that launches this fall, has already been busting records on the response front. So I figured it was time to unveil the cover, created by Incubation Press book designer Lieve Maas. Included among the newly-minted female police officers marching in this 1948 photo is my co-author, Fanchon Blake.
I love the movement in this cover. I love the fact that it shows how these tough policewomen, as they were known in those days, walked a beat in skirts and heels. I love that the cover literally shows the brass ceiling that prevented them from working up to their potential or advancing in their chosen career. It sets the stage perfectly for Fanchon’s story.
Fanchon’s seven-year fight against sex discrimination would set legal precedent and help to change the face of policing. Not only would women have the chance to join the force and rise through the ranks, so would minorities.
The challenges she faced weren’t confined to the courtroom. She had defied the sacred code of silence, and she would be made to pay. But years, even the LAPD would recognize that she had done what was needed.
Indeed, as you’ll read in the book, we could use even more female police officers on the streets when it comes to controlling the use of excessive force. Fanchon, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 93, was right about that, too.
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