Sources of Light

It's 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi and fourteen-year-old Sam is about to find herself in the middle of America's Civil Rights movement. Sam's father was killed in Vietnam and now it's just Sam and her mother, who is on the faculty of an all-white college. They've come back to Mississippi where Sam's father grew up and they are accepted as "good people." But this is a time of change and revolution. Sam's mother is not your average suburban mom with the matching bath towels and Little Debbie snack cakes in the kitchen cupboard. When people talk about her they use words like "arty" and "intellectual" and as the book says, "not in a good way." As the new school year begins, a man named Perry joins the faculty at Mom's college. Perry is a photographer and an activist. He's there to be a catalyst for change. Mom decides to go down the road to teach the African American students art history and wakes up to her picture in the newspaper and dead cats arriving on her doorstep. Perry gives Sam a camera and teaches her to use the camera lens to truly "see." There's a lot for Sam to take in. The southern establishment doesn't understand why the blacks are not happy with their lives and there are those who have even stronger feelings about the social order and resistance to change. Sam is adjusting to a whole lot of change. She's got her feelings for Stone, a good looking boy who gives her her first kiss and tells her "you're supposed to close your eyes." Sam's camera will lead her to bear witness to history on a first person basis at the same time she's watching her mother dancing to "Fever" with Perry and being willing to stand up for what she believes in the face of the intense social norms she's challenging and the fears she's firing up. The book takes us on a thoughtful journey through the courage, the hatred, the hope of the times with Sam as our camera sending us pictures of her experiences and finding her way. 234 pages