In elegant, passionate prose, Rosemary L. Bray uses her personal history to persuasively defend America's much-maligned welfare system. A smart bla...
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reviews
Apr 13, 2011
Torimac
rated it: 
Though I'm white and the exact dysfunctions in my family varied a little from hers, I related to so many of the family dynamics of her childhood and often felt like she was telling my story. Poverty, the catholic church, the disappointing father, the outside view of how her mother coped, the epic changes of the 60s, the struggle to find her own voice and to protect it from the repression of growing up under all these layers.
It's been a few years since I read it but it's stayed close to m More...
It's been a few years since I read it but it's stayed close to m More...
Sep 14, 2011
Lorie
rated it: 
I read this after reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Smith) and Graced Land (Kalpakian). The three work as companion reads. Poor women raising families in different cities and eras, and facing their challenges in unique, yet similar ways. Courgeous, determined women all. Recommend all three.
Sep 05, 2011
Mary
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I've been trying to read more African-American authors, in part to get over my negative perception of what I see here. This book is a reminder of why I believe assistance to the needy is necessary and important.
Apr 24, 2011
Angel
rated it:
Rosemary L. Bray’s Unafraid of the Dark is the story of a young Black girl growing up in Chicago during the Civil Rights era. Despite dealing with abuse, poverty and racism, Bray’s mother relies on her resourcefulness, as well as the welfare system, to provide for her family. From Bray’s childhood growing up in public housing in Chicago during the 1960s to her education at Yale, where she became a strong feminist activist during the 1970s, the reader is immersed in worlds that evoke very specifi
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Nov 07, 2009
Sarah
rated it:
I'm rereading this memoir - the story of a young African American girl growing up in the welfare system of the 1960s.
May 07, 2010
Shakira
rated it:
This book is so good. i reccomend anyone to read it. It tells the story of a girl growing up on Chicago's Southside during the 1960's. Her mother is on welfare and it tears her family apart. it tells about all of her struggles and triumphs and the chronicles of life.
Jan 26, 2008
Kimberly
rated it:
The author of this book is the minister at my church, Fourth Universalist Society. Her memoir is beautiful and I felt much more connected to her after I read it.
May 12, 2010
Katherine
rated it:
Highly recommended--this would be a good one for the Chicago-centric Gapers Block Book Club!
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