Brown Girl Dreaming

I had already read "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson for another class. It is not my favorite of all books, but I do appreciate that Woodson does have a story to tell. She grows up in a time where things are deeply segregated, and as a black individual she is thrown right into the middle of all of it. This book, therefore, is about her experiences growing up- and through her, the possible array of experiences of people who lived through similar situations.

It says a lot about how African Americans were treated back in the time of the civil rights movement. It says a lot about the unfairness that so many people had to experience during those times. Jacqueline Woodson is a very strong individual who has overcome a lot of obstacles, including her father leaving, having to assimilate into a more racist south as a young child-(with grandparents who live and see things just a bit differently than she is used to), and just the general struggles of being born in a time where she was discriminated against just for the color of her skin.

I think stories like the ones that Woodson is telling are important because they actually DID happen and did effect a lot of people. It is important that we understand what happened in order to understand why it needs to never ever happen again. Woodsons life was definitely difficult and especially as a child- it was all probably pretty difficult to understand. But understanding, or doing the best that we can to understand things like what Woodson went through, is important. People who went through things like Woodson went through and similar deserve a voice, and I am glad that maybe through books like these that voice grows just a bit louder.