Souls Looking Back: Life Stories of Growing Up Black [Paperback]

Andrew Garrod (Editor), Janie Victoria Ward (Editor), Tracy L. Robinson (Editor), Robert Kilkenny (Editor), James P. Comer (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415920620 | ISBN-13: 978-0415920629 | Publication Date: April 1999

Most of what is written these days about young black men and women emphasizes incarceration and mortality rates, teen pregnancy, drug use, and domestic strife. This collection of sixteen autobiographical essays by African-Americans, Africans in America, Afro-Caribbean and biracial college students who have tackled significant obstacles to achieve success and degrees of self-understanding offers a broader, more hopeful portrait of the adolescent experiences of minority youth. Here are emotionally honest and reflective stories of economic hardship, racial bias, loneliness, and anger--but also of positive role models, spiritual awakening, perseverance, and racial pride.
In these essays, students explore the process of self-discovery and the realization of cultural identity. The pieces are accompanied by commentary from prominent African-American scholars, such as Jewelle Taylor Gibbs and Peter C. Murrell, Jr. Together they create a vivid portrait of what it is like to grow up as a black person in America, and offer a springboard to current debates about self-discovery, cultural identity and assimilation.
Often raw and painful, always honest and affecting, this collection of personal stories written by young people stands as an eloquent tribute to the courage of today's youth and to the power of their own words.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In addressing the "formative influences of home, school, church and first awareness of racial difference," 16 black and biracial college students write with an unabashed honesty and directness that outshines the dense "explanatory" essays by the editors. No doubt, the students' candor was nurtured by the editors' judicious decision to allow them to write pseudonymously. "Maria," the only graduate student included, discusses the criteria her peers and community bring to the question, "What Is Black Enough?" The product of a mostly white, middle-class suburb, she notes the "iconic role of her white first boyfriend, whose attraction was fueled by their racial difference and the idea he was transgressing." Throughout the collection, students explore the contradictions and frustrations of the tensions associated with racial difference. "Christine," the daughter of an Austrian mother and an African-American father, was dismayed that her "allegiance" to blacks was questioned when she mentioned her Austrian heritage. As a gay black adolescent, "Claudio" faced the challenge of belonging to more than one minority, deciding finally to become a "vocal" gay rights activist because of homophobia in the black community. Though the editors' stiff essays interrupt the otherwise rhythmic flow of black and biracial students experiences across the class spectrum, the students clearly communicate the "transformative power in both the hearing and telling of [their] stories..
- stories."
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The editors recognized an absence of African American voices in adolescent psychology. So they set out to collect autobiographical essays on childhood memories of adolescents of African descent. They approached approximately 50 students (males and females in equal numbers) and invited them to write about the experience of growing up as a person of color in the United States, Canada, or the West Indies. This five-year project resulted in sixteen personal narratives from black and biracial (all of whom have black fathers) students who studied at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, Simmons in Boston, and McGill University in Montreal. Each chapter--on social class and race, identity, and resilience and resistance--begins with an overview of the issue written by an African American scholar, followed by four to six personal narratives. The accounts are both thought-provoking and extremely intimate. This book is well done and sure to create a platform for discussion and reflection. Maybe through these voices we can all learn some compassion and understanding. Lillian Lewis --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415920620
• ISBN-13: 978-0415920629
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Addition to the Scholarship on Adolescents, October 7, 1999

By 

William B. Levin (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Souls Looking Back: Life Stories of Growing Up Black (Paperback)

Continuing in the vain of his other great collection of autobiographical collections ("Adolescent Portraits", "First Person, First People", "Crossing Customs"), Andrew Garrod, as lead editor, has provided a collection of thought-provoking autobiographies that capture the joys and strains of the adolescent black. These autobiographical essays show tremendous insight, wisdom, reflection and brutal honesty of black adolescents in the 1990's. It is obvious that Garrod, et al. worked quite hard to encourage their contributors and to present such a compelling piece of scholarship and glimpse into the adolescent world. Not many authors have been able to capture the collegiate voice of Blacks, Native-Americans, Internationals and Caucasians quite like Andrew Garrod and his collaborators. The scholarship and rich analysis between chapters and essays pull out much that can and should lead to fruitful class discussions. This book, and the other Garrod-edited books, are MUST reads for researchers, teachers and scholars interested in the diverse adolescent mind. Whether you are from an education psychology, moral development, adolescent development, anthropology or psychology bent (or just interested in reading about reflective young adults who have overcome great barriers), Andrew Garrod, et al. has presented, once again, a text to more than satisfy every interests and needs. I can't rave enough about this book and the others published by Garrod and his collaborators. Adolescent scholarship in America, through the autobiographical data collection method, has grealy advanced through the publishing of these texts. The publishers, authors and editors should be very proud of their great addition to society!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and Critical Personal Narratives, December 3, 1999

By 

Theodorea Berry - See all my reviews

This review is from: Souls Looking Back: Life Stories of Growing Up Black (Paperback)

Souls Looking Back is a thought-provoking, engaging and critical work that solidifies the validity of personal narrative as form of interpretive research with a focus on critical race theory. Anyone who may posses any questions regarding the power of such representation should read, ingest and reflect upon the stories of the young people presented in this book. The editors splendedly synthesized these educational and personal memoirs within the context of personal identity, critical race, critical feminist and critical race feminist perspectives. I would strongly recommend this book for all those with sincere interests in anthropology, sociology, psychology, African-American/African-Carribean/Afro-British studies, and education. This book truly exemplifies the multiplicity of lives our young people of color experience.

5.0 out of 5 stars Life stories, September 6, 2001

By 

"July Lady" (MS United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Souls Looking Back: Life Stories of Growing Up Black (Paperback)

A collection of essays wrote by african american and biracal young adults. The essays are about struggles the writers have been through while growing up, and on college campues. I throught all the essays were good.