Leo T. reviewed on 9/1/2018 + 1775 more book reviews

A quite depressing book, but it is to be expected in the State of Mississippi, and there are not very many autobiographical descriptions of this time and place, i.e. not filtered through a co-writer or an editor. My copy is the 48th printing and labels on the rear cover indicate its use a couple of times as collateral reading at UCLA.
The book is in four parts: Childhood, High School, College, and The Movement.
I read four chapters from High School (Chapters 10-12) on an hour long bus ride this morning. Note the White reaction of Emmet Till's murder in this town. Mrs. Burke paid 'the Moody girl' a dollar a day for housekeeping. On the other hand, there was a high school for Black kids, some decent teachers, and a girl's roundball team.
Chapter 1`1 includes beatings and the arson of a house with the Black family still inside. "I shall never forget the expressions on the faces of the Negroes. There was almost unanimous hopelessness in them (135)."
In Chapter 12 she gets to work in the city during the summer and adds to the money in her bank account that she is saving for college.
No index, so my rating is reduced one notch.
It reeked of gasoline and the FBI investigated a few weeks later but did not pursue the case.

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