Suitcase Full Of Dreams

Suitcase Full Of Dreams by Hoy Kersh was very interesting to me because I am interested in all things related to the Civil Rights Movement and that era of life. Kersh talks about her life as a young girl growing up in the South in the 40’s and 50’s as an African American. She talks about the hard times, and the good times, and her journey to her new life. I only wish the book were a bit longer. Excellent read.

About The Book: Author Hoy Kersh gives readers a unique picture of the sorrows and joys of growing up on a dirt road in the Jim Crow South in the 1940s and early 1950s, prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Ms. Kersh shares her memories, including those of the historical figures who inspired her Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and Martin Luther King, Jr. all from a child’s perspective. Kersh spent many of her days fending off the Ku Klux Klan, questioning authority, and avoiding her mother s heavy hand, but she still managed to remain compassionate and determined. Kersh’s father, born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, birthplace of the blues, was the son of a German sheriff who had a black mistress. The harsh reality of racism first hit Hoy when her grandfather was murdered because of their relationship. The Klan drove Kersh’s family out of town, forcing them into Mobile, Alabama, where Hoy spent the remainder of her childhood.

About The Author: Hoy Kersh devoured books and learning while growing up, and despite being an African American girl in 1950’s Alabama, she never feared to speak her mind. At age sixteen, Kersh left her family and struck out for Chicago to pursue her dream of equality, truth, and opportunity. Years after fleeing the turmoil of Civil Rights-era Alabama, Ms. Kersh became a songwriter and performer, eventually producing two albums and touring the country with her band, Massawa, and various reggae artists. She has emceed Reggae on the River, an annual festival in California, for more than twenty years. Inspired by Bob Marley nearly forty years ago, Kersh moved to Jamaica where she built an organic farm and taught reading and writing to adults at a local night school. Kersh has lived there part-time ever since. Now living in the woods of northern California, Hoy Kersh is working with students at a rural Pacific Northwest school on a video documentary about logging and the regional water crisis, issues close to her heart. Her writing has inspired the students to positive action in local environmental matters. A lifelong antiwar activist and environmentalist, Ms. Kersh is active in local and regional peace movements. She continues to write and promote music, and is at work on her second book. She is the mother of three grown children.

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I received a review copy of this book from PR By The Book.