by Saeed Jones
During Pride Month, we celebrate great memoirs like this one by a highly regarded poet who was raised in the South by a single mother. In a home where sexuality was never discussed, Saeed Jones struggled to understand what it meant to be gay. With the 1998 murders of James Byrd Jr. and of Matthew Shepherd, he learned that being black could get you killed and being gay could get you killed, so what, he wondered, did it mean that he was black and gay. He describes the freedom and the loss that came from eventually separating from his family. “A coming-of-age memoir marks the emergence of a major literary voice.” ~ Kirkus Reviews
See the Jones Library Antiracism Book List for recommended titles for all ages.