Bigmama Didn't Shop at Woolworth's

Wardlaw Books

by Sunny Nash

Bigmama didn't shop at Woolworth's. It wasn't because Woolworth's charged more for things than the hawker who drove through the neighborhood; it was because black shoppers were not welcome in stores on the Main Streets of towns like Bryan, Texas.

Bigmama was Sunny Nash's grandmother, and when Sunny was growing up in the 1950s, she learned from her elders what life was and should be. Through her own young eyes, she saw not only the indignities and economic hardships her family and friends suffered—unpaved roads, mosquito-infested ditches and outdoor toilets, back stairs to balcony seating in the movies—but also the love and warmth of everyday life in Candy Hill, a segregated neighborhood.

In the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird, but with the power of real-life perspective, Sunny Nash tells her pre–civil rights story with immediacy and poignancy. For those familiar with the restrictions of the segregated South, Nash also shares the secret of surviving with spirit the ordinary and special moments of her family, friends, and herself in Candy Hill; how they tolerated and overcame prejudices; how they dealt with daily obstacles in earning a living, receiving an education, voting, and purchasing property; and what they learned from one another.

In this valuable contribution to Texas and its racial history, Nash fills the book with powerful vignettes that provide insight into this time of segregation and change.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1996

About the author

Sunny Nash is a literary journalist and author of 'Bigmama Didn't Shop At Woolworth's,' chosen by the Association of American University Presses as essential for understanding U.S. race relations. Recommended for Native American collections by the Miami-Dade Public Library System in Florida, Nash's book is also listed in the Bibliographic Guide to Black Studies by the Schomburg Museum in New York. Nash's photography was published in Reflections in Black, History of Black Photographers 1840 - Present and tours with the International Smithsonian Exhibition, Reflections in Black. Nash is a contributor to the African American National Biography by Harvard and Oxford; Ancestry; The African American West: Century of Short Stories.Southwestern American Literature Journal; The Source: Guidebook to American Genealogy; Interdisciplinary Journal for Germanic Linguistics; and others.

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written rare look into life in the black community in small town Texas. Particularly insightful for me because it's my hometown and fairly similarly time period. Sunny Nash has a real talent for creating pictures, scenes, and thought. A must for anyone who wishes to improve their consciousness.