A review by huncamuncamouse
Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North, Chicago, Illinois, 1919 by Patricia C. McKissack
5.0
Wow. After several kind of "ho hum" books in a row, I was really excited by this one and couldn't put it down. This is one of the most nuanced and best-written books for middle grade readers that I've ever read. And this is probably the best book in the Dear America series so far.
The book begins in Tennessee. Nellie Lee and her sister Erma Jean live with their extended family in a rural town. Her father is an undertaker. When a family member is lynched, the family relocates to Chicago. Erma Jean is mute and clearly suffering from PTSD because she was with her uncle when he died, and he confided the truth about his attack to her. I was really impressed by this portrayal of trauma, and how the family supports her. They try to get her treatment but just continue to love her and wait patiently until she is ready to speak. Their father is struggling to start a business because the corrupt system in Chicago expects him to pay bribes. Socializing comes with a new set of challenges even though the family can move much more freely than they did in the South. New arrivals are often seen as country bumpkins, and there are clear class divisions. Colorism also runs rampant, and Nellie is acutely aware of the preferential treatment she receives from others because she is lighter than Erma Jean. 1919 also saw some horrific race riots, which made it unsafe for black families to leave their homes. Many were injured or lost property.
There's a lot going on in this book! And while the violence, especially the discussions of lynching, are disturbing (to say the least), they are an important part of American history, and Patricia McKissack manages to convey the horror in an age-appropriate way. She also weaves the complicated social issues and currents into the narrative in a way that feels very natural. This is an incredible book. I'd never read this one before, but A Picture of Freedom had been one of my favorites as a kid, and it's still been one of the top during my recent reread. Somehow, this is even better, describing a complicated and precarious time for black Americans in an accessible way for children. There is a lasting message of empowerment, too, that blackness is a positive trait and something to be proud of.
In one incredibly poignant passage, Nellie Lee imagines what life will be like more than a century later, on January 20, 2020. She hopes there won't be any more prejudice. This moment really invites the reader to pause and reflect. What would Nellie Lee think of the progress we've made? I can't help but think she'd be disappointed to know that the issues explored in her diary are often still just as relevant and they were in 1919.
It feels crass to do my usual "dead parent count" because this book was so good. Some of the books in this series are brutal for the sake of being shocking, but there is nothing sensational about the very real history of lynchings in the South.
My only one small complaint is that it strains credibility that the narrator is truly 11 years old. She is much more sophisticated and observant. But by the same token, this is what makes the book so compelling.
The book begins in Tennessee. Nellie Lee and her sister Erma Jean live with their extended family in a rural town. Her father is an undertaker. When a family member is lynched, the family relocates to Chicago. Erma Jean is mute and clearly suffering from PTSD because she was with her uncle when he died, and he confided the truth about his attack to her. I was really impressed by this portrayal of trauma, and how the family supports her. They try to get her treatment but just continue to love her and wait patiently until she is ready to speak. Their father is struggling to start a business because the corrupt system in Chicago expects him to pay bribes. Socializing comes with a new set of challenges even though the family can move much more freely than they did in the South. New arrivals are often seen as country bumpkins, and there are clear class divisions. Colorism also runs rampant, and Nellie is acutely aware of the preferential treatment she receives from others because she is lighter than Erma Jean. 1919 also saw some horrific race riots, which made it unsafe for black families to leave their homes. Many were injured or lost property.
There's a lot going on in this book! And while the violence, especially the discussions of lynching, are disturbing (to say the least), they are an important part of American history, and Patricia McKissack manages to convey the horror in an age-appropriate way. She also weaves the complicated social issues and currents into the narrative in a way that feels very natural. This is an incredible book. I'd never read this one before, but A Picture of Freedom had been one of my favorites as a kid, and it's still been one of the top during my recent reread. Somehow, this is even better, describing a complicated and precarious time for black Americans in an accessible way for children. There is a lasting message of empowerment, too, that blackness is a positive trait and something to be proud of.
In one incredibly poignant passage, Nellie Lee imagines what life will be like more than a century later, on January 20, 2020. She hopes there won't be any more prejudice. This moment really invites the reader to pause and reflect. What would Nellie Lee think of the progress we've made? I can't help but think she'd be disappointed to know that the issues explored in her diary are often still just as relevant and they were in 1919.
It feels crass to do my usual "dead parent count" because this book was so good. Some of the books in this series are brutal for the sake of being shocking, but there is nothing sensational about the very real history of lynchings in the South.
My only one small complaint is that it strains credibility that the narrator is truly 11 years old. She is much more sophisticated and observant. But by the same token, this is what makes the book so compelling.