David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

like the slaves who wove tales about
him, was forced to make do with what
he had. His small tail, his natural portion
of intellect—these would have to
suffice, and to make them do he resorted
to any means at his disposal—means
which may have made him morally
tainted but which allowed him to survive
and even to conquer.”
4 The historian Taylor Branch writes
of Walker: “Walker was a hotspur. As a
New Jersey high school student in the
1940s, he had heard Paul Robeson say
that if being for freedom and equality
meant being a Red, then he was a Red.
Walker promptly joined the Young
Communist League. One of his high