Research Catalog
Born bright : a young girl's journey from nothing to something in America
- Title
- Born bright : a young girl's journey from nothing to something in America / C. Nicole Mason.
- Author
- Mason, C. Nicole, 1976-
- Publication
- New York : St. Martin's Press, [2016]
Items in the Library & Off-site
Filter by
1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person. | Book/Text | Use in library | Sc E 16-1649 | Schomburg Center - Research & Reference |
Details
- Description
- 242 pages; 25 cm
- Summary
- "'Standing on the stage, I felt exposed and like an intruder. In these professional settings, my personal experiences with hunger, poverty and episodic homelessness often go undetected. I had worked hard to learn the rules and disguise my beginning in life...' So begins C. Nicole Mason's powerful memoir, a story of reconciliation, constrained choices and life on the other side of the tracks. Born in the 1970s in Los Angeles, California, Mason was raised by a beautiful but volatile 16-year-old single mother. Early on, she learned to navigate between an unpredictable home life and school, where she excelled. By high school, Mason was straddling two worlds. The first, a cocoon of familiarity where street smarts, toughness and the ability to survive won the day. The other, foreign and unfamiliar, with its own set of rules not designed for her success. In her Advanced Placement classes and outside of her neighborhood, she felt unwelcomed and judged because of the way she talked, dressed and wore her hair. After moving to Las Vegas to live with her paternal grandmother, she worked nights at a food court in one of the mega-casinos while finishing school. Having figured out the college application process by eavesdropping on the few white kids in her predominantly Black and Latino school, along with the help of a high school counselor, Mason eventually boarded a plane for Howard University, alone, with $200 in her pocket. While reflecting on her own path out of poverty, Mason examines the conditions that make it nearly impossible to escape and exposes the presumption harbored by many--that the poor don't help themselves enough"--
- Subjects
- Black author
- Mason, C. Nicole, 1976- > Childhood and youth
- Poor children > United States > Biography
- Gifted women > United States > Biography
- African Americans > Biography
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
- African American women educators > Biography
- Homeless persons > United States > Biography
- Successful people > United States > Biography
- African American women > Biography
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references.
- Contents
- What do you want to be? -- Day of reckoning -- A crack in the foundation -- Origins -- The end of things -- Starved -- Putting out the fire -- Free today -- A home of our own -- Only one rule -- 54 out of 54 -- Death is here -- Wedding day -- Home street -- Seeing with only these eyes -- Away -- Not poor, poor -- Sonnie's got a baby -- Cell block high -- A place called home -- A light -- Food for all -- New mission -- Gone -- In the desert -- Brighter -- Little brother -- Accepted -- Graduation -- I'll fly away -- What should be done?.
- Call Number
- Sc E 16-1649
- ISBN
- 9781250069924 (hardback)
- 1250069920 (hardback)
- LCCN
- 2016003704
- OCLC
- 951465239
- Author
- Mason, C. Nicole, 1976- author.
- Title
- Born bright : a young girl's journey from nothing to something in America / C. Nicole Mason.
- Publisher
- New York : St. Martin's Press, [2016]
- Edition
- First edition.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references.
- Local Note
- Schomburg copy with dust jacket.
- Local Subject
- Black author
- Research Call Number
- Sc E 16-1649