In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby [Paperback]

Mark Morrison-Reed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2008

Frank personal account of growing up black during the era of the civil rights movement. The author wrestles with racism, the death of Martin Luther King, black radicalism, his interracial family, and his experience as one of the first black Unitarian Universalist ministers.

In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby gives voice to the unspoken story of those Afro-Americans who were among the first to bring racial diversity to their neighborhood, school, church or workplace, to the increasing number of partners in interracial relationships and to those blessed with and yet struggling to raise multiracial children in a polarized world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This exquisitely written and psychologically penetrating book will teach you, bother you and bring you to tears. Mark Morrison-Reed has given us the gift of his heart in order to illumine the complexities of race that haunt us all and, in the process, illuminated how fear and brokenness may be redeemed by the healing, if painful, power of authenticity. --William F. Schulz, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, 1985-93

W. E. B. DuBois wrote of the impossibility of disentangling the reality of African-Americans being at once Africa's infants and America's children. This is what Mark Morrison-Reed's new book In Between is about. It is a difficult memoir, piercing in its honest suffering and barely suppressed rage, but tempered by Morrison-Reed's seemingly endless reservoir of warmth, tenderness and good humor. All of us have family stories to tell but Mark's family stories, in their complexity, history, accomplishment and influence are more fascinating than most. --Denny Davidoff, Moderator of the UUA, 1993-2001

“Morrison-Reed’s account is nothing less than a spiritual clearing in the forest of race and ethnicity. Every reader will rejoice that he has entrusted it to these pages.” --Lee Barker, President, Meadville Lombard Theological School’

From the Inside Flap

In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby gives voice to the unspoken story of those Afro-Americans who were among the first to bring racial diversity to their neighborhood, school, church or workplace, to the increasing number of partners in interracial relationships and those blessed with and yet struggling to raise multiracial children in a polarized world.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Skinner House Books (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558965416
• ISBN-13: 978-1558965416
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,161,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow - Should be Mandatory reading in high School during Black History Month, May 26, 2009

By 

Jesper Jurcenoks (Portland, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby (Paperback)

Mark Reed delivers an honest narrative of the struggle to find his identity while trying to bridge the worlds of White Americans and Afro-Americans. Surrounded by racism in both the white and the black community he managed to make a stand for himself, while confronting the ambitions of his black heritage and the ignorance of white friends. Easy too read, an engaging story, Mark has traveled the world, but unable to escape his demons, he has to face them, and grow in the process. The story is full of humor and the insight of maturity. Considering myself colorblind (being white) this book opened my eyes to just how ignorant I have been to life in other hues of skin. Thanks Mark for Opening my eyes. Highly Recommended, should be mandatory reading in Black History Month (middle-high school)

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A path to wisdom & wit, January 11, 2009

By 

Alan J. Taddiken (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby (Paperback)

Mark Morrison-Reed has committed a brave act of self-revelation in his autobiography--more so than most writers in that he details the anguish of youth and young-adulthood in an open, candid way that many would suppress rather than interrogate. Mark's narrative of growing-up black in Chicago and Euro-land is self-critical while also providing clear (often witty & ironical) insights into the insensitivities and narrowness of American and European cultural habits of the time (many of which alas persist)--never sparing of the failures and adversities posed. He tells an engaging story of a youth well-played--a story that I hope will be read by many for its charm and candor-- as well as the deepening of appreciation for his success, and the success of many in his generation in overcoming the tough obstacles of mindless racism delivered from every quarter. Bravo Mark!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serves as a fine addition to any collection focusing on race, October 10, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby (Paperback)

Fifty years ago, electing a mixed race President would have been unheard of. "In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby" is the memoir of a man growing up in a time where America wasn't so tolerant, but the movements against these intolerances began to pick up steam. Mark Morrison-Reed was a man who embraced both philosophies of free love and the Black power movement in a way to better understand the woes of both races. A charming story of a man making his own place in a world that didn't originally want him, "In Between" serves as a fine addition to any collection focusing on race.