Children of the Dream: Our Own Stories Growing Up Black in America

by Laurel Holliday

Overview

"I let somebody call me 'nigger.' It wasn't just any old body, either; it was my friend. That really hurt."
-- Amitiyah Elayne Hyman
Martin Luther King, Jr., dreamed of a day when black children were judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. His eloquent charge became the single greatest inspiration for the achievement of racial justice in America. In her powerful fourth book in the Children of Conflict series, Laurel Holliday explores how far we have come as she presents thirty-eight African-Americans who share their experiences as Children of the Dream.
"I was brought up with white Barbie dolls of impossible proportions and long silky blonde hair -- neither of which I possessed. As a child I believed what I was taught, and I wasn't taught to love myself for who I am -- an African-American."
-- Charisse Nesbit
The unforgettable people we hear from are young and old, rich and poor, from inner cities, suburbia, and rural America. In chronicles that are highly personal, funny, tragic, and triumphant, the contributors tell us what it is like coming of age stigmatized by the color of their skin, yet proud of their heritage and culture.
Their voices, their courage, their resilience -- and their understanding -- offer hope for us all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476775340
Publisher:	Atria Books
Publication date:	02/04/2014
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	448
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Laurel Holliday, formerly a college teacher, editor, and psychotherapist, now writes full time in Seattle. She is the award-winning author of the Children of Conflict series: Children in the Holocaust and World War II: Their Secret Diaries; Children of The Troubles: Our Lives in the Crossfire of Northern Ireland; and Children of Israel, Children of Palestine: Our Own True Stories. Those three volumes were collected and abridged in the Archway Paperback edition titled Why Do They Hate Me?: Young Lives Caught in War and Conflict. Dreaming in Color, Living in Black and White is an abridged edition of Holliday's fourth title in the Children of Conflict series, Children of the Dream: Our Own Stories of Growing Up Black in America. Laurel Holliday is also the author of Heartsongs, an international collection of young girls' diaries, which won a Best Book for Young Adults Award from the American Library Association.