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The Newspaper Boy: Coming of Age in Birmingham, AL, During the Civil Rights Era, by Chervis Isom
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Named to�Kirkus Reviews�Best Books of 2015
The Newspaper Boy is a remarkable collection of memories and personal reflections of the deep emotional conflicts a young newspaper delivery boy, Chervis Isom, encountered while growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, in a time of racial strife and discord in the 1950s and early '60s. A quiet and shy boy, the young Isom was a reader, and it would be the written word he would turn to as he tried to make sense of his world.
Many of Isom's stories are tied to the "Southern Way of Life," a culture in which he grew up that assumed an inflexible white superiority represented by Jim Crow laws, laws that his father, a Greyhound Bus driver, was obligated to enforce in the face of a rising reaction by his African American riders that he neither understood nor tolerated. Isom's early adolescent views, shaped by his father's frustrations, are thrown into stark contrast as he is drawn to the positive influence of Helen and Vern Miller, a young couple from the Far North who moved onto his paper route, bringing with them alien ideas completely out of step with his own culture and teachings. Even though the Millers' views would clash with his own, they quickly became his favorite customers. Each Saturday they opened their door to him at collection time, inviting him in to politely discuss and debate the day's issues. Through the Millers' progressive approach to the growing racial unrest in Birmingham in the mid-to late-1950s, the young Isom gradually learned, in a series of fits and starts, advances and setbacks, to question the prevailing cultural attitudes and biases towards the African American community. In the end, he would come to understand the simple truth, as expressed by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., that people must be judged not "by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Isom's narrative tells the story of good, church-going Southern people bound up in the Jim Crow culture of their time, completely ignorant of the African American experience.
It tells of the value of hard work and education and the importance of the written word to change us for the better. His story is replete with his gratitude to the Millers, who took the time and effort to lead him to a better place, to Abe Berkowitz, who saw in Isom something he had not seen in himself and the man who would one day become his law partner, and finally to his father, as he belatedly came to recognize the importance of his father's role in making him into the man he turned out to be. This book shows how a single person (or a couple in the case of the Millers) might, in a quiet and unobtrusive manner, set a young person's life on a higher arc; how it falls to each of us to use our own talents to lead young people to embrace the "better angels of our nature." Isom's story is set in Birmingham, in an urban neighborhood known as Norwood, and stresses the vital role that "community" plays in our human development, and our need to continually rebuild and revitalize our communities.
And finally, while this is the story of a young man coming of age in a difficult time and place, the author is now seventy-four years of age. His story has been written from the perspective of a man who now appreciates the journey that brought him to this time and place, and who eagerly anticipates the life that yet lies before him and the mission he has carved out for his own future.
- Sales Rank: #1857634 in Books
- Published on: 2015-04-22
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.02" h x .84" w x 5.98" l, 1.22 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 378 pages
Review
"A white Southerner describes his teenage journey to racial tolerance in this debut coming-of-age autobiography. . . .A touching, heartfelt, and amusing book that provides a wonderful personal perspective on a period of historical and cultural change." -- Kirkus Reviews A Starred Review
About the Author
Chervis Isom is a member of the Alabama Bar and a shareholder in the Birmingham, Alabama, offices of the multi-state firm of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz. The former Chair of its Real Estate Practice Group, he has worked extensively throughout the South with developers and real estate professionals from all walks of life. As a working writer, Chervis has spent countless hours over the past five years visiting and recalling the Norwood community of his childhood and youth on the north side of Birmingham. During the course of writing his recollections, he has rekindled old friendships, has moved with his wife, Martha, from the suburbs to downtown Birmingham, and has become active in community affairs.
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
A Liberating Coming of Age Story
By Charles L. Kinnaird
The Newspaper Boy, by Chervis Isom, is a well-written and entertaining memoir, subtitled, “Coming of age in Birmingham, Alabama during the civil rights era.” The book is fascinating on several different levels. It is delightful and engaging as a story about a boy growing up in a working class family, going to school, discovering girls, and getting his first job delivering papers. It is also an important first-hand account of an historical time in the city of Birmingham. In reading Chervis Isom’s memoir, I gained a much clearer picture of what was happening in Birmingham during those days leading up to the civil rights movement. I learned important details about how local government was structured, and how speeches by a rabble-rousing Ace Carter of the White Citizens Council revved up the populace in an attempt to preserve segregation. I also learned about the important work of some open-minded civic leaders such as David Vann and Abraham Berkowitz.
It was inspiring for me to read about how an ordinary young fellow growing up in a society steeped in racism began to question a way of life that had once been accepted without question. It is a story about being able to listen to another point of view and thereby beginning a slow process of change. It is a story about how a liberal arts education can propel a young college student to approach life with a much broader view. It is a story about quietly finding liberation from the shackles of cultural ignorance.
The Newspaper Boy is a thoughtful reflection of a life lived during times of change. It is also a book that is important for our time as we face new hopes and challenges for building a city that works for the benefit of all.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
The Newspaper Boy is a wonderful memoir that accurately depicts one of the most horrific ...
By Anna Maria
The Newspaper Boy is a wonderful memoir that accurately depicts one of the most horrific eras in Southern history, written by an author who sat on the sidelines of that history, as a witness, while in his heart, he struggled to justify the Jim Crow culture from which he sprang against the teachings of a kind woman, his newspaper customer, who counseled him over two years to see a different way The author's emotional and humorous descriptions of his coming of age, his family and his newspaper customers add levity to a most tumultuous time. History without the boredom. An easy read yet very informative.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Insightful book about growth through the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama
By Sansom
Wonderful book! Great insight into how times were during the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham through the eyes of a young white boy. Lighthearted yet a deeply moving book showing growth, education, friendship and a softening heart as this boy becomes a man.
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