Customer Reviews

Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North (Dear America)

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This is the diary of Nellie Lee Love a girl born in Bradford Corners, Tennessee. The town is segregated. The Blacks call it Corners and the Whites call it Bradford. Nellie has called this place home for all of her life. Her family is much into equality for Blacks and other races, and are terrified when more then fifty lynchings done by racists are reported to have been committed in their area. The family is even more terrified when they learn that their Uncle Pace has been claimed to have been drunk that February 4th, 1919 and had laid himself down on the train tracks and gotten hit, and then had died. Nellie's father can't stand another minute of it. He decides to move up North to Chicago, Illinois. The move takes a while to adjust to, especially since the family were witnesses the day the Chicago Riot occured in the year of the Red Summer. This year was the worst for Blacks because Whites were fighting all over, but in Chicago, Blacks were fighting back. Now the Love family is in danger. Will the city ever calm down? What losses will occur during the situation? What lies will be revealed? Read this wonderful book to find out.

The Dear America diary Color Me Dark by Nellie Lee Love is interesting story of a girls life with many sad, happy and serious times. The plot of the story is a black family trying to get their rights so that they can be equal with whites. Nellie's family owns a funeral home in Bradford Corners, Tennesse. In the book she moves to Chicago because her family thinks that Chicago will bring new hopes to blacks. When her father tries to get a license so that he can strat a funeral home in Chicago. Her father thinks that they want him to pay a bribe because he did all of the paperwork. Then Nellie finds out that she has to go to a new school where she finds different friends that are like her in a way. I would recommend this book for people of all ages who are willing to learn. People also read this book because it shows what some black families have to go through.

It is with great hesitatation that eleven-year-old Nellie Lee Love begins her new diary on New Year's Day, 1919. The diary was an unwanted Christmas present from her mother that she doubts she will use much. But Nellie grows to like writing in the diary. The entries early on describe her family's fairly idyllic life in the small town of Bradford Corners, Tennessee. Nellie's best friend is her older sister, Erma Jean, who's just ten months older than her. There's Mama and Daddy, Nellie's grandparents, Papa Till and Aunt Nessie (who live with the family), and various aunts, uncles, and cousin. Their life is much easier than that of most southern blacks because Nellie's father owns his own business, a funeral home. But soon tragedy befalls the family, when Nellie's Uncle Pace, who has just returned from the war in Europe, mysteriously dies, possibly at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan. Erma Jean is with him when he dies, and something he tells her has made her mute, too disturbed to speak. Daddy decides to move the family north to Chicago, where their is more freedom and oppurtunity for black people. Nellie describes many more things, both tragic and joyous, that happen to her and her family, friends, and neighbors throughout the entire years. Her diary, although fictional, is a window to the past and describes a time period in American history I knew little about. This was an excellant addition to the wonderful Dear America series.

After WW1,african soldiers coming back to the south when brutally hurt. Thus, the great migration started.In the book Nellie Lee is a light skined african. When her family moves up north, They racial descrimanation form there own race group. I love this book!

i love dear america books so i got this one right after it cameout. this book is about a african american girl named Nellie LeeLove. she lived in Bradford Corners, Tennesse, but after her uncle told Nellie's dad about Chicago and all the obertutities her family decited to move there. this is a very good book if you want to read about african americans in the early 1900's.

I read this book for a college level Children's Literature class at Youngstown State University. I have several pointed reactions that differ from most of the comments I see on this page, and I think these comments need to be made. First of all, I think that the book is educational in the sense that it generates a young reader's interest in an account of a young girl's life during the time of the Red Summer. The historical facts are accurate, as are the types of struggles that are portayed in the book. In this respect, McKissack comprehensively introduces the reader to very relevant aspects history. On the other hand, Nellie Lee Love's diary fluctuates between her own voice and the voice of the author. This contributes to a fragmented narrative style, and it makes the story seem rushed and lacking in genuine emotion. If this book is to be a believable diary, then the format should be less didactic and focus more on the thoughts and feelings of the little girl telling the story. I would recomend this book to students as an example of historical fiction writing, but there are better and more convincing works of literature available to young readers. For example, the work of Virginia Hamilton is more emotionally engaging, and it is equally grounded in the events and experienced of African Americans during that time. If students were reading The Diary of Nellie Lee Love in a classroom setting, it would be best used as an accompanyment to the actual writings of W.E.B. DuBois, or even a stepping stone for studying the poetry of Marcus Garvey.

Color Me Dark (North Migration) / 0-590-51159-9

The year is 1919, and African-American soldiers are finally returning home from the war. These brave, strong, patriotic young men are, however, increasingly not reaching their homes, but are rather turning up dead in suspicious circumstances - circumstances that the white authorities consistently rule as accidental, despite all evidence and eye-witness to the contrary. After her uncle is murdered for being a soldier, and her brother is too frightened to come home for the same reason, Nellie's family decides to move to Chicago, a land of freedom and opportunity, even for blacks. Nellie finds, however, that while she learns to love Chicago, she also must accept that the same problems exist here as they did back home.

"Color Me Dark" is a wonderful lesson in self-esteem and self-love for adults and children alike. Nellie scoffs at the pervasive idea that "lighter is prettier" and though she is repeatedly praised for being "light enough to pass" as white, she turns up her nose at the idea and tells her peers to "color me black" - to count her as black and dark as her family and her dear sister. Nellie loves dark skin, curly hair, and her own beautiful heritage and is never ashamed of herself or her family. She also recognizes that people are complicated creatures - some blacks are cruel to her, some whites are kind, and some people (regardless of color) can be both cruel AND kind. So, too, does each person have hidden talents - Nellie, for instance, is a whiz at math and fills her diary with fascinating math equations on the "three nineteen" dates - the 19th days within the year 1919.

For parents, a great deal of the history of this period is sad and disturbing. Nellie's uncle is beaten and left on a railroad track to die. Her friend accidentally drifts over to the "white side" of the swimming lake and is deliberately drowned. Race riots occur and lives are lost when the young boy's death is ruled 'accidental' ("drowning by fear"). However, through all this brutality, Nellie and her sister maintain a positive attitude, seeking the good in the people around them and looking forward to a time when they can live and work in peace and harmony, proud to be the color they were born with.

~ Ana Mardoll

In this book, Color Me Dark, the rising action is about how black and white people were separated back in the early 1900's. The main character of the story, Nellie, is trying to get used to the fact that her family will move from Tennessee all the way to Chicago because her father plans on opening a business. Because blacks and whites are together but segregated, she faces many trails.
First off, her Uncle and older brother are helping another country fight a war and sometimes, she gets threatened by bigger older white boys. But she has a caring family to take care of her. She and her sister are very good friends, and they make sure that each other are in good company. The only noticeable difference is that Nellie is light-skinned and her sister, is dark-skinned. Then a tragedy happens. During the middle of the night, they receive news that Nellie's Uncle, Uncle Pace, has been hit by a train and is in critical condition. So many other interesting things happen in the story, many unexpected things.
I like this book because of what takes place. Usually these things don't happen to teenagers nowadays. I liked the book also because of the way that the family always stayed together no matter what happened. Usually some families separate because they can't handle a certain situation. I hope that you take the time to read this interesting book.

Color Me dark was the best book i ever read. Patricia McKissack really give's readers anticipation to keep reading. there's so many things that Nellie Lee Love questions and writes about in her diary. You want to find out what happens, you want to know if she'a solving a problem the same way that you would. You'll pick it up, and never want to put it down. That's why I give this book a Two thumbs up!

Color Me Dark is a touching story of Nellie Lee Love andherfamily's struggle to overcome the prejudice they face in theAmerican South of the 1920's. This is a wonderful book. I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about this time period.