The Dark Side of Hopkinsville: Stories

Knowing, gentle humor marks these tales based on Poston's childhood in the segregated Southern town of Hopkinsville, Ky. Poston (1906-1974) was a pioneering black journalist and member of Roosevelt's ``Negro Cabinet.'' Inspired by a western movie where the Indians won, young Ted and his friends decide to take over the swimming hole they share with a group of white boys--and encounter a young opponent who breaks their stereotypes of size and strength. In a world full of inter- and intraracial color prejudice, Ted gets an unexpected lesson in bigotry when the father of a white friend objects to his son playing not with Ted, but with two Jewish boys. Picaresque incidents abound. When the protests of Hopkinsville's black adults fail to keep Birth of a Nation out of the local movie theater, Ted's pal Rat Joiner comes to the rescue with an ingenious plan that plunges the film into everlasting local obscurity. And Ted wreaks hilarious revenge on the Booker T. Washington Colored Grammar School when his dark skin earns him the part of the Evil Fairy instead of the coveted role of Prince Charming in the school play. Included are interviews with longtime residents of Hopkinsville. Hauke is a freelance editor. (July)