Dressed in a tailored black and yellow suit, her blond hair streaked and coifed to perfection, Helen Pearson was the picture of poised elegance at the recent annual Black Writers on Tour. But as she fingered a written statement in her hands, Pearson’s shoulders began to shake. “I was a battered wife for 18 years,” Pearson revealed.

Pearson was one of four authors who revealed lives of pain and how they overcame abuse during the recent Black Writers on Tour at the Marriot Hotel in Los Angeles.

Benjamin T. Jealous, 35, has been elected the president and chief executive officer of the National Associations for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The 35-year-old human rights activist is a graduate of Columbia University and a Rhodes scholar. Jealous is the youngest leader in the 99-year history of the NAACP.