Matt James, the first Black bachelor on ABC's beloved television show,
The Bachelor, shares his views on the controversial topics that
defined his season and confronts matters of race, opportunity, and his
biracial identity head on.
When The Bachelor franchise announced Matt James as the first Black
lead, it was celebrated as long-overdue progress on the primetime show.
America fell in love with Matt--the Christian, former NFL athlete, and
nonprofit CEO--who charmed millions of viewers each week. But the
off-screen conversations around the show revealed the realities and
inescapable challenges of being Black in America and the depth of racism
that still exists.
On the show, Matt could only go so far in sharing his own story with
America. In First Impressions, Matt shares his views on controversial
topics like race and opportunity that defined his season on The
Bachelor. Matt lives at the intersection of these important issues and
shares the wisdom his experience has granted him.
Matt describes the joys and difficulties of being the youngest of two
Black sons, raised by a single, working-class, white mother in Raleigh,
North Carolina. He elaborates on the spiritual closeness and sense of
duty he felt for his mother, but also the complex relationships he had
with the many male figures in his life: his prejudiced, Italian
grandfather, who had trouble accepting Matt as his own; his father,
whose womanizing and petty crime put strain on the family; and his older
brother, who was Matt's protector in youth, but who struggled with the
long shadow of their father's legacy.
Simultaneously inspirational and informative, First Impressions will
leave readers with a deeper understanding of the life experiences that
prepared Matt for such a divisive moment in television history.
