Defiant
Growing Up in the Jim Crow South
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
As the fight for equal rights continues, Defiant takes a critical look at the strides and struggles of the past in this revelatory and moving memoir about a young Black man growing up in the South during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. For fans of It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime, Stamped, and Brown Girl Dreaming.
"With his compelling memoir, Hudson will inspire young readers to
emulate his ideals and accomplishments.” –Booklist, Starred Review
Born in 1946 in Mansfield, Louisiana, Wade Hudson came of age against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. From their home on Mary Street, his close-knit family watched as the country grappled with desegregation, as the Klan targeted the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and as systemic racism struck across the nation and in their hometown.
Amidst it all, Wade was growing up. Getting into scuffles, playing baseball, immersing himself in his church community, and starting to write. Most important, Wade learned how to find his voice and use it. From his family, his community, and his college classmates, Wade learned the importance of fighting for change by confronting the laws and customs that marginalized and demeaned people.
This powerful memoir reveals the struggles, joys, love, and ongoing resilience that it took to grow up Black in segregated America, and the lessons that carry over to our fight for a better future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this absorbing, conversational memoir, writer and cofounder of Just Us Books Hudson (b. 1946) begins in media res, starting with his jailing over fabricated evidence "a little more than five years" after moving from Mansfield, La., to attend Southern University in Baton Rouge, where he and fellow community activists attempt to "deal with conditions in the Black community caused principally by racism and discrimination." From there, Hudson jumps further back to his youth, detailing childhood "shenanigans" with his close-knit family as well as personal reflections on significant events, such as how the successes of Jackie Robinson and other Black athletes encouraged Black youth to consider sports stardom a viable dream. The colloquial narrative effectively offers a glimpse into a segregated civil rights–era Southern experience, while gently surveying figures in Hudson's community. On his father serving in WWII, Hudson writes gracefully, "My father had risked his life for democracy, but, for him, freedom remained just a stale hope, a wishful thought, an unfulfilled dream." Adroitly providing cultural references and historical context, Hudson traces his life through young adulthood, discussing his education and involvement in the civil rights movement within a powerful framework and conclusion. Front matter features a preface; back matter includes an afterword, notes, sources, and a timeline. Ages 10–up.
