White boy - Read Jim Fulner

Paperback, 253 pages

English language

Published Oct. 3, 2011 by Apprentice House.

ISBN:: 978-1-934074-67-1

In the summer of 1961, black and white Freedom Riders from all over the U.S. converged on Jackson, Mississippi in a campaign to force the desegregation of public transportation and public facilities. Buses were burned. Some Riders were beaten almost to death. They were jailed by the hundreds, and they rocked the conscience of the nation. In this compelling coming-of-age novel, when the first Freedom Ride rolls into Jackson, one Mississippi white boy, Tommy Jackson, is watching and waiting. His young life was already turned upside down by the arrival of rock and roll and by his first-hand exposure to the racial violence that ruled his hometown. When he sees the Freedom Riders, he stops being a silent witness and takes action, hoping to redeem his guilty conscience and join a community of like-minded souls. Instead he finds there is no escaping the past.White Boy depicts the world seen in …

In the summer of 1961, black and white Freedom Riders from all over the U.S. converged on Jackson, Mississippi in a campaign to force the desegregation of public transportation and public facilities. Buses were burned. Some Riders were beaten almost to death. They were jailed by the hundreds, and they rocked the conscience of the nation. In this compelling coming-of-age novel, when the first Freedom Ride rolls into Jackson, one Mississippi white boy, Tommy Jackson, is watching and waiting. His young life was already turned upside down by the arrival of rock and roll and by his first-hand exposure to the racial violence that ruled his hometown. When he sees the Freedom Riders, he stops being a silent witness and takes action, hoping to redeem his guilty conscience and join a community of like-minded souls. Instead he finds there is no escaping the past.White Boy depicts the world seen in the 2009 best-seller, The Help, but from a grittier working-class perspective.

1 edition

JIm FUlner reviewed White boy by Danny Duncan Collum

5 stars

This book was fantastic, just like everything I have read by Danny Duncan Collum. returnreturnThis book was the first fiction of his that I have read. returnreturnTommy Jackson is just a normal working class white boy from rural Mississippi. Like any 1950s teenager he likes driving around with his friends and getting drunk when mom isn't looking. One day a black boy in town is disrespectful to a white girl, and later that night Tommy inadvertently witnesses his murder. returnreturnFor the rest of his life he tries to pretend he didn't. returnreturnWhen in college in Jackson, Mississippi in the 60s the freedom riders come to town, and he thinks he has found a way to make up for what he didn't do in high school. returnreturnBeing the only white southern boy involved in the movement ends up making him a target for all the locals, and the sit ins don't …

This book was fantastic, just like everything I have read by Danny Duncan Collum. returnreturnThis book was the first fiction of his that I have read. returnreturnTommy Jackson is just a normal working class white boy from rural Mississippi. Like any 1950s teenager he likes driving around with his friends and getting drunk when mom isn't looking. One day a black boy in town is disrespectful to a white girl, and later that night Tommy inadvertently witnesses his murder. returnreturnFor the rest of his life he tries to pretend he didn't. returnreturnWhen in college in Jackson, Mississippi in the 60s the freedom riders come to town, and he thinks he has found a way to make up for what he didn't do in high school. returnreturnBeing the only white southern boy involved in the movement ends up making him a target for all the locals, and the sit ins don't go as expected. returnreturnIt's really a fantastic tale of race, love, family, friendship, religion, God and the long arm of the law. returnreturnThe end was a bit rushed but that was the only downside I had.

Subjects

Race relations
Freedom Rides, 1961
Fiction

Places

Jackson (Miss.)