Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

In the novel Brown Girl dreaming, we are introduced to Jacqueline’s big family; both her mom’s and dad’s side of the family. In the beginning, her poems are about her being a baby and living in Columbus, Ohio. Throughout the poems in the novel you will read about some of her family members like her mom, father, siblings, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. The reader will also read about the different stories and what her family was going through living in the 1960s and 1970s as African Americans.

Jacqueline and her siblings move around a bit in the novel. She was born in Columbus, Ohio, but eventually moved to South Carolina and then to New York after her parents separated. Jacqueline will mention her father in some of the poems but she doesn’t know much about him because the last time she saw him she was just a baby. They moved in with her grandparents (her mom’s parents) in South Carolina but her mom later leaves to New York in hopes to find a home for her and the kids. While living in South Carolina it is apparent that African Americans were not being treated kindly. There was a lot of racism in the south during the 1960s and at this point of the book Jacqueline is starting to understand that. There were marches all over the south and her grandfather would tell her stories about the “War in South Carolina”.

When her mom comes back from New York she tells Jacqueline and her siblings that she found an apartment. She tells the kids how perfect New York is and how it is better there. When they got there Jacqueline didn’t really understand why her mom liked New York; Jacqueline missed the south. As she grows older there are more movements taking place, but this time they are taking place all over America, not just the south. Jacqueline sees a lady on the tv named Angela Dvais talking about the “Revolution” that is going on. She looks up to this person for standing up and Jacquline, along with her best friend Maria, marches in the streets with their fists in the air.