  | My Selma : true stories of a Southern childhood at the height of the civil rights movement Author: Brown, Willie Mae | |
| Price: $21.88 | ||
Summary:
A stirring memoir of growing up Black in a town at the epicenter of the fight for freedom, equality, and human rights.
Reviews:
Booklist (03/01/23)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/03/23)
The Hornbook (00/01/23)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 02/01/2023 Visual artist Brown turns to the written word, recalling her childhood in the Black community of Selma, Alabama, in the early days of the civil rights movement. In this poignant, episodic, and dialogue-driven memoir, told in her Southern dialect, Brown describes heartfelt memories of her hometown, strong mother, sibling bonds, and the unexpected thrill of meeting Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (“KANG!”) when her mother drags her to church instead of letting her attend a local pep rally with her older sister. Never shying away from the painful realities of the time, she also shares heart-wrenching stories of hatred, violence, and the anger and fear of being a young Black girl with no rights. Brown reiterates how she witnesses Selma on the brink of change; in tandem, readers behold the author in the throes of change, trying to understand the constructs of racism and her family’s role in breaking the system. An afterword acknowledges that the latter remains an ongoing process. A thought-provoking, intimate perspective on America’s troubled history. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.
Booklist - 03/01/2023 Visual artist Brown turns to the written word, recalling her childhood in the Black community of Selma, Alabama, in the early days of the civil rights movement. In this poignant, episodic, and dialogue-driven memoir, told in her Southern dialect, Brown describes heartfelt memories of her hometown, strong mother, sibling bonds, and the unexpected thrill of meeting Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (“KANG!”) when her mother drags her to church instead of letting her attend a local pep rally with her older sister. Never shying away from the painful realities of the time, she also shares heart-wrenching stories of hatred, violence, and the anger and fear of being a young Black girl with no rights. Brown reiterates how she witnesses Selma on the brink of change; in tandem, readers behold the author in the throes of change, trying to understand the constructs of racism and her family’s role in breaking the system. An afterword acknowledges that the latter remains an ongoing process. A thought-provoking, intimate perspective on America’s troubled history. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.
