Lisa Francine
4.5/5 stars
WOW!
The power of sharing personal true stories rings through time and time again with Taylor's tribute to the Green Book and those Black individuals, couples, and families who traveled the “Overground Railroad” - powerful primary source documents and photographs are juxtaposed amid poignant prose.
Quotes of Note:
“History doesn't repeat itself. Humans do.” - Jelani Cobb
Langston Hughes poem, “Beaumont to Detroit: 1943”
“I don't care if you're the pope or the president...You have to eat. And I can cook for you...If I can get the people on both sides [of the political spectrum] to just sit down at my table, I think we can work this out.” Leah Chase, owner & chef, Dookey Chase's, New Orleans, Louisiana
My next read in relation to this book will be Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, which has been on my TBR list.
4.5/5 stars
Thomas Mullen's follow up to Darktown is the intricately plotted Lightning Men which again takes place in the segregated Atlanta, Georgia of 1950. Melding the genres of mystery and historical fiction we follow the day in and day out police beat of “Negro Officers,” Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith.
Multiple storylines/threads are interwoven in this police procedural:
How do Boggs and Smith effectively “police” when some white officers are members of the Ku Klux Klan?
How do Boggs and Smith support/protect black families as they start to move into predominantly white neighborhoods?
Additionally, Officer Denny Rakestraw, is back again as well, and dealing with brother-in-law Dale, who is a member of the KKK, whereas Denny has refused to be a member. Denny continues to struggle with how to help Boggs and Smith, without drawing too much negative attention to himself from his fellow white officers on the force.
Mullen's superior storytelling shows us the dignity of these first “Negro Officers” with the ongoing inequities they had to deal with in their jobs, and that moving towards “separate is not equal” took courage, persistence, and personal risk, and many would argue still does in 2019!
Wow, wow, wow! Laurie Halse Anderson's courage, through her personal story, will hopefully help many other people.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“Home was still hellish, afire
with the painful realization
that no matter how much I loved my parents
my love could not fix them” p. 89
“Walter (Dean Myers) was the first established author I'd met
he welcomed me into the world of books for kids
with joy, wisdom, and grace, he taught
me everything I know about my responsibility
to my readers, starting that day
cuz he didn't go to lunch at all, he waved us off
that young man was filled with questions
and Walter had some answers
and questions of his own
he made the time for a reader
because integrity required it
that's what we're called to do” p. 170-171