Customer Reviews

The Black Girl Next Door: A Memoir (Touchstone Books)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the mid 1970s in affluent California, elementary school student, Jennifer Baszile and her sister were the only black kids in the building. In the first grade she obtained a deep lesson on de facto racism and ignorance after winning a running race. The loser, naturally white, as everyone else except her sister was, "intelligently" commented that blacks had something special in their feet. Her teacher confirmed that as a truism. Her dad took exception but was careful not to have the school think he was a ghetto thug as he understood they were the local Jackie Robinson and had to behave with more decorum than their neighbors. As integration was pushed as social and legal policy, Jennifer would see de jure racism when she visited her paternal relatives in Louisiana and de facto segregation in Detroit seeing her maternal blood. Still her parents pushed her and her sibling to live the American dream as black pioneers, which the author succeeded because she became the first black female professor at Yale's History Department.

THE BLACK GIRL NEXT DOOR is a superb memoir that looks deep into one black family making it in an all white wealthy neighborhood during a time when the Civil Rights movement was pushing integration against racial laws and society barriers. Professor Baszile provides powerful anecdotal incidents of so-called supporters of integration resenting the first black family on their block and how it felt to be the only exceptions to the all white rule in so many scenarios; not just school. Readers will appreciate this superb well written window to how society has come a long way due to brave settlers like the parents of the author who wanted more than the dream for their offspring; they courageously went after the opportunity fully aware they would be the token black family next door.

Harriet Klausner

Jennifer Baszile's mother and father didn't grow up having everything, but, like most parents do, they worked to make sure their children would. As soon as they could, they moved their family to the California suburb of Palos Verdes, even if it meant they had to make longer commutes to work. Jennifer and her sister Natalie attended the best schools in the area, and their parents expected them to work hard and eventually go to college.

That's nothing out of the ordinary, except that to the Basziles' mainly white neighbors, the family was strange, an aberration, and they did not belong in the neighborhood. Soon after moving, someone scrawled a racist note on their sidewalk. Another night, a vandal snuck into the family's courtyard and painted their fountain black. Mr. and Mrs. Baszile, no strangers to racism, refused to get emotional; they simply cleaned the sidewalk and made a stance not to leave the neighborhood.

The decades after the civil rights movement weren't easy. Baszile recalls a day in elementary school when she beat her white friend in a race before class. The friend was a good sport about it, though --- she simply told everyone that "black people have something in their feet to make them run faster." When the children asked their teacher if that was true, she said it was.

Baszile's memoir continues to tell both the story of an everygirl growing up in 1980s California and the story of an incredible struggle that still exists today to define oneself as an individual both like and unlike the dominant society. She vividly describes her first hair relaxer treatment, so that even as a reader, you can feel her pain and her pride. All of her stories, from first dates to fights with her parents to her rivalry with her sister, resonate as familiar scenes of adolescence no matter your background.

Though I grew up later than Baszile, I found familiarity in her stories, which made me both comfortable and sad that race relations in the United States have not changed all that much since the '60s. Her stories about dating and making friends are especially bittersweet. They are brutally honest and reflect the confusion that comes when you wonder if people like you because of your race, in spite of your race, or they do not see race at all. One of her most interesting memories regards a cruise trip in which Baszile and her sister had the time of their lives, hanging out on their own and making new friends, until their parents became angry and required them to befriend every single black child on the ship.

It would be easy to say that this memoir is important because of the recent election. That's certainly the case, but to say so means that race is only pertinent when an important political event occurs. THE BLACK GIRL NEXT DOOR is a relevant read for anyone living in the United States, an honest portrayal of a life and a person many don't fully understand. Race is a complicated issue, and this country is a race-based society. Baszile's memoir is one of those works that allows people to both find common ground and break down walls.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Hannah Gómez

I nearly didn't finish this book because it was too painful to read. You see, I had a very similar upbringing -- living as a black girl in the 70s and 80s in an affluent white suburb and feeling like a total failure every where I turned. I too wondered if I would ever have a date or ever feel desired or pretty. "Was a stuffed bear or a rose on Valentine's Day too much to ask? Was a dreamy slow dance an absurdity?" Yes, Jennifer, I wondered that too. I hadn't even thought about that high school time in years -- probably trying to repress bad memories. Thank you for having the courage to write this.

I appreciated this book. Jennifer Baszile writes of her elementary through high school days, mostly in an upperclass white neighborhood.

I have sensed a wall between me and my black friends and acquaintances that I could never bridge and wasn't sure how to tactfully break down. This book helped me understand the body of experiences that led to that wall and gave me greater comprehension of what battles people of some American subcultures may still be fighting for complete integration into the whole.

The one point in the book that gave me cause to wonder was when the author, as a child with her neighborhood friends, all ran away from another boy in the neighborhood, leaving him to play hide and seek with no one. Incredibly there seemed to be a dismissal of this cruelty because it wasn't racially motivated. Cruelty and rejection don't have to be race-related to be cruel. I wasn't sure if the author, herself got this or not.

Nevertheless, I am grateful to Ms. Baszile for opening her world to me and giving me the opportunity to glimpse the environment that shaped her life, including her extended family and history. This book has four-star writing, but the insights it gives bring it up to the five-star level for me.

This is a rather unique perspective into growing up Black in an America when you have atypical economic circumstances but still suffer some of the stereotypical abuses of African Americans while trying to establish an identity that will let you survive. Poignant, compelling, and insightful is the author's perspective on the subculture of her family surrounded by non-white neighbors and friends. She struggles to identify while assimilating the values of the dominant group and has feelings of alienation and isolation before she is able to unravel the complexities of her existence. Ambivalence toys with her mentally and emotionally in her formative years before the formulation of the questions that bother her until she becomes strong enough of integrity to accept the answer.

The voice is unique in the African American experience because it assumes that the leveling of the economic playing field and the exposure to upper middle class standards would impact the African American experience substantially. Instead, we are shown that there are some racial issues that must be confronted regardless of social class or strata. Unlike the experiences of an adult, the experience is seen through the eyes of the child that suffers the disappointments, angers, frustrations, misunderstandings, error, mistakes, fallibleness and innocence of the child/adolescent/ and finally adult. The story allows you to cry at the author's hurt yet rejoice in her triumphs.

I found "The Black Girl Next Door: A Memoir" surprisingly challenging as it forced me to confront some of my own values and demanded a review of personal prejudices. It is well written and evokes formulating and reformulated opinions on the role of racism in America. As the setting of the child changes, you get glimpses into her extended family and their feelings and ideas on race as well as school, church, neighborhood and personal evaluation when she realizes that there can be advantages to being African American, although it comes at the cost of taking advantage of the ignorance of non-black Americans. I look forward to reading her again as it is semi-documentary with a realistic story and a perspective that is limited in the literature.

Reviewed by: Gail

What was it like growing up in the only black family in an affluent white neighborhood in California in the 1970's and 80's? Ms. Baxzile provides a glimpse into the isolation she felt as she grew up. She didn't fit in at school and in the neighborhood because of her skin color, but she also discovered, during a trip to visit her father's family in Louisiana, that she didn't fit in there either, because of where she lived. The isolation continues and worsens as she grows through adolescence and nears adulthood.

This memoir places the reader vividly into the author's shoes and shows us in almost painful detail what it was like to grow up when, where and how she did. Through this story the reader comes to understand that perspective matters, that appearences can mask deeper pain and problems. A thoughtful reader will likely find more questions than answers, but they are questions worth asking. Clearly written, easily readable, this book serves to remind us that the struggles of minorities in America are not limited to those that make the evening news, and are more complex than most of us imagine.

Up and down this was one hellva rollercoaster ride! Your pinch on the cheek shouldn't hurt as much as my slap in the face was the first emotion I dealt with following Jennifer's journey caught between bigotry and prestige. Possibly a deep observation, and perhaps too, an innocent hindsight of Jennifer's, but I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as she explained how a white child being the brunt of pranks and teasing because he was `different', was not as bad as the racial bigotry she faced. I don't know... but pain is pain, regardless of why or who's administering it; a fact that illuminates from many perspectives as Jennifer moves through her story.

The next thing I know, I'm thinking WoW! Apparently slavery is a subject NO ONE wanted to talk about; black or white! ...thus comes the `your pinch/my slap' notion bearing the argument `this story is more worthy to tell/but this one isn't'; absolutely why I loved Jennifer's courage, and favor memoirs!

Sharing our stories projects loud and clear the `your pinch/my slap' point-of-views. I really applauded Jennifer when she laid down her shield (this is a VERY STRONG woman) to ask those three young men to dance. God, I cried for her. Quite a few times I found myself giggling, too. I mean, the Black Hormone Association... too funny, as well as the cousins in KFC--I liked that too. Now the fight with her father... whoa...but then Jennifer always had that fighting spirit in her, which by the time that LEADS letter came, I literally jumped out of my seat cheering for her!

There is just too much to comment on here... Jennifer even raises the bar teasing us with a little romance. Perhaps more appropriate for another venue, but it would be remiss if I didn't at least add that Jennifer's story shares what my children have expressed to me about growing up in the suburbs... which all I can hand down to them is the same sentiment that was handed down to me by my mother, from her mother to her, and so forth and so on, "I did my best with what I was handed down to work with." And this is exactly what puts The Black Girl Next Door over the top! Jennifer's raw honesty throughout is unshakable!!!

God, I'm luvin it! One Story At A Time!!!

I don't think this book was ever a page-turner for me. There were times when it dragged, especially in the first two chapters. It was more like a roller coaster. The later half was better though, and I think it was because she was a growing girl and had more adult thoughts on her mind, and maybe I started to see a little of myself in her. Eventually, I got to know and respect her, which was something that I didn't think was going to happen during the beginning.

What I enjoyed most were the stories she told of her parents. I thought they had interesting back stories and had something that they wanted to accomplish in their life that was similar to my parents. They also seemed very mysterious because nothing was every fully explained and I enjoyed putting the pieces together to find out who they were and what they were all about.

The writing seemed to keep on the safe side. I felt it could have been more imaginative.

For perspective: this review was done by a 25 year old, male.

The Black Girl Next Door: A Memoir, by Jennifer Baszelle is a touching story about a black girl growing up in the 70's and 80's.

At an early age, Jennifer, her parents and sister Natalie moved to a predominately white neighborhood in Palos Verdes, CA. Her parents had only wanted the best for their daughters, but growing up at that time with white classmates was not always easy. For example, at the age of six , after winning a foot race against a white classmate, the author was humiliated to hear her classmate explain that the reason she won the race was because black people "have something in their feet to make them run faster than white people". When Jennifer asked her teacher about this, the teacher said it was true! When she asked her parents the same question, they were stunned and the next morning, Jennifer's father accompanied her to school, careful to "assert himself as an informed and concerned parent and not simply a big, black, dangerous man in a first-grade classroom.". An apology was given by the teacher, however, comments like this pretty much set the tone for her grade school years, which left her often with feelings of isolation .

Having excelled in school, her parents pushed her and her sister to believe in and to live the American dream. Sometimes defying her parents, but through self-determination, success followed as the author became the first black female History professor at Yale.

An interesting memoir, candid, and inspirational, although a bit slow in places, gave me real insight as to how it might have felt to be Jennifer growing up in the post Civil Rights 70's and 80's.

This book was a well-written and very personal story about the challenges and difficulties of growing up in the environment of racial prejudice. But what also unfolded was an even more complex story of the challenges and difficulties of surviving overachieving and unyieldingly strict parents. The racial prejudice they themselves experienced growing up influenced the adults they became and influenced their behaviors and beliefs as parents. As a reader, I felt sad and discouraged by the negative experiences the author had been subjected to and had to overcome, but I also felt impressed and glad at her successes and her ability to persevere and become a stronger person out of many very difficult situations. Many times throughout the book, I thought I would not have been as strong and successful as she has been, had I lived her life. This was an enlightening and interesting memoir.