Betty Anne Hennings Jackson Girl, Don't You Jump Rope!

Annotation

The life experiences revealed in GIRL, DONT YOU JUMP ROPE!make this memoir by Betty Anne Jackson, truly engrossing. There were no signs that read colored or white, yet everyoneknew where the boundaries were in 40s and 50s Chicago. And,being colored meant there was no way to escape the limits thatsegregation imposed on ones life. The author describes attending a ghetto school, as well asencountering a hostile experience at university level, and thena cross-burning on the lawn of the vacation home she and herhusband shared with friends. With humor, she paints a heartfeltportrait of the contrasts between the tree-lined neighborhood ofher very early years and the harsh realities of how ghetto living canengulf the human spirit. Betty Anne had no choice other than to grow up in one of theearliest housing projects on the south side of Chicago, but shealways struggled to be FROM the project...not OF the project! Thisis the story of that struggle.