All the Days Past, All the Days to Come

I've followed the stories of Cassie Logan and her family since Cassie and her brothers were children in the 1930s and 1940s. All the Days Past, All the Days to Come continues Cassie's story from the 1940s into the 1960s.

The Logans are a black family in Mississippi. Cassie's grandparents and her dad and mom worked hard to buy and farm land of their own. The family meets many obstacles, most of them caused by white people. In this volume of the series, Cassie's brother decides to move north to get away from the problems of the south and to find more opportunities for his family. Cassie and her other brothers eventually decide to go with him.

But just because the north has more opportunities than Mississippi, it doesn't mean that the Logans are free of problems; as Cassie says, “I had long ago come to the realization that being colored was a full-time job in America, and I knew now it was a full-time fight, one I couldn't win alone.”

I felt like I was Cassie while reading this book, and the pain inflicted on her in the form of demeaning remarks and cruel actions was almost unbearable to read about at times. I don't think anyone could read this series and not be changed.