My Selma

Ages 10 to 14

A stirring memoir of growing up Black in a town at the epicenter of the fight for freedom, equality, and human rights.

Combining family stories of the everyday and the extraordinary as seen through the eyes of her twelve-year-old self, Willie Mae Brown gives readers an unforgettable portrayal of her coming-of-age in a fractured town at the crossroads of history. Selma's pivotal role in the civil rights movement forms an inescapable backdrop in this collection of stories. In one, Willie Mae takes it upon herself to offer summer babysitting services to a glamorous single white mother—a secret she keeps from her father that unravels with shocking results. In another, Willie Mae reluctantly joins her mother at a church rally, and is forever changed after hearing Martin Luther King Jr. deliver a defiant speech. My Selma! captures the voice and vision of a perspicacious, impetuous, resourceful young person who gives us a loving portrayal of her hometown while also delivering a no-holds-barred indictment of the time and place.

About the Author

Willie Mae Brown left Alabama at the age of seventeen in 1970 to start a new life in Brooklyn, New York, where she worked for the New York Telephone Company until 2003. She began writing these stories about her childhood in 2012. williemaebrown.com