Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North, Chicago, Illinois, 1919 (Dear America)

It isn't often that a book successfully combines history (sometimes referred to as 'dry, dusty stuff') with a good story. Color Me Dark is a great blend of historical facts and figures told in the diary of a young girl. If it weren't for the warning at the end of the book, you would think that this fictional story was true. There is nothing within the story to suggest that it is fiction.

Nellie Lee Love is our heroine. She is a young black girl living in Bradford Corners, Tennessee in 1918. She is lucky enough to be the daughter of a successful business man rather than the child of a sharecropping family. Even so, her family feels the pressures of racism. An uncle returning from the war is killed, perhaps by Klu Klux Klan members, and the local law enforcement cannot or will not do anything about it.

With much tribulation, her father moves the entire family to Chicago, where another uncle lives. They, like many other African American families of the time, see the promise of a golden future in the northern cities. Thousands of families moved to Chicago, Boston and New York during the years after the war.

But even Chicago is not a cure for the problems Nellie's family must face. Corruption and one of the worst race riots in history greet them in the city. Racism is also alive, even between upper-class blacks and lower-class blacks. Having two names, like "Nellie Lee" is a sure sign to Chicago citizens that you are a "backwoods" girl.

Nellie and her family meet the challenges before them with grace and dignity. Their story is definitely worth reading and the historical facts are very detailed and accurate.

I strongly recommend this book for teachers to use in a class room setting. However, I don't recommend it solely for classroom use; the story is engaging enough (and the history is woven so well into the story) that anyone would enjoy this book.

Historical pictures at the end of the book and a brief historical outline are an added bonus. You might also want to explore other titles in this series, Dear America.