Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored - Tapa blanda

Críticas

A revealing memoir of boyhood days in the black section of a small Mississippi town when forced segregation still prevailed. Now a wealthy Tulsa businessman, Taulbert feels "that important values were conveyed to me in my colored childhood, values we're ill danger of losing in our integrated world." Taught by his extended family the empowerment potential of learning, he was one of the few neighborhood children to attend high school - and never thought about the unfairness of his daily 100-mile round-trip to Greenfield's "colored" school. He also learned the joys of a caring community: of huge fish fries, with folks coming from miles around to feast and sing along with the guitar and "deep soulful voice" of then-unknown blues singer Muddy Waters; of prom night, "which transformed. . .sharecroppers and hired hands into a society of gentlemen and debutantes." Religion was central to existence. Everyone showed up on the "Annual Day" hosted by church "sister workers" to feast on fried chicken and sweet potato pie and to ante up annual assessments to the burial fund. Taulbert developed a work ethic early, spending childhood summers weeding and picking in the cotton fields. He was also taught "survival skills" - to lower his eyes in the presence of whites, to avoid "peckerwoods" (sadistic rednecks), and to accept voting as "white folks' business." A heartfelt testament to a beleaguered people who maintained dignity and created a viable, caring community in what, today, would be untenable circumstances. (Kirkus Reviews)