Book excerpt: Years n the making, here is the unforgettable life story of an African American Woman who brought joy to the whole world and changed the way people thought of themselves. She fought prejudice, suspicion, hatred, sadness, and all the things that drive people apart. Sister Thea Bowman, a pioneering leader of interracial relations, brought the experience of growing up a black girl in civil-rights-era Mississippi to a convent of white Catholic sisters in Wisconsin, and then to the world beyond. Her groundbraking work across the United States and overseas helping people to build interracial bridges during the 1980s has been the subject of numerous articles, books, and TV shows. 1980-1988. Thea is among the founders of the Institue for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans, where she teaches untill 1988. She is also an annual speaker at the University of Mississippi's Faulkner Conference/