Haunted By Africa

In 1960, armed with an MBA from New York University, Robert M. Waite went job hunting. Employer after employer told him: “We don’t hire Negroes.” Such was the reality of pre-civil rights America. Determined to succeed, Bob took his new graduate degree and his young family to Africa, the place of his birth. There he started as General Manager of the first radio factory in West Africa, and went on to become Adviser to the Nigerian Government on economic development. Returning to America several years later he found the country in the throes of the civil rights struggle. Businesses now actively sought experienced black executives. Recruited by ITT Corporation, he became the first African-American corporate Vice President of a Fortune 10 company. Bob Waite was a success. Or was he? His marriage was floundering, his sons were estranged from him. He had everything he’d ever dreamed of, yet he was Haunted by Africa. This is the dramatic tale of how one African-American man came to terms with a brutal childhood, a racist society, and his own inner turmoil. It is a journey through hate to forgiveness and love, the greatest success of all.