John Oliver Killens (1916–1987)

What an incredibly expansive, volatile story! It follows the lives of two very different people growing up Wakefield County, Mississippi in the 1960s. Carrie Louise Wakefield (note the name) was born into white money privilege about the same time as Charles Othello Chaney was born into black poverty servitude. "Chuck" and his family worked as servants for Carrie Louise's extremely wealthy family and would forever be entertwined in each others lives. Over the ever growing turbulent years, events like the Vietnam war, the Civil Rights Movement and the death of Malcolm X stoked the fires of racial unrest. Despite Carrie and Chuck's vastly different upbringings they both manage to go to college, see a world larger than little Wakefield County. Black and white becomes more and more complicated.… (meer)