Bridging the Mississippi

A memoir of racial inequality and missed beads? Sandi and Denny Baron both were delighted they landed their first job with ease. Joy turns to surprise when they drive across the nation to find themselves the only White teachers in an all-Black school in New Orleans. Naïve to the strong cultural divisions in the South, Sandi teaches her students to read and write, and they school her about the realities of their life. Then, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is killed by a White man. How will the staff and students at school respond to Sandi in the wake of their shock and grieving? To process the event, Sandi assigns her students to write about their feelings. Forty-five years later, the retired teacher reconnects with her former students and returns their eighth and ninth-grade essays written the day after Dr. King's assassination. Bridging The Mississippi is the compelling story of ordinary people building extraordinary bridges across racial tensions. Told from both sides, their story shows the best of the human spirit. "Bridging the Mississippi is a rich and valuable unveiling of how brave Americans crossed the racial divide, despite tensions and tightropes to bridge their cultural differences. With great storytelling savvy, Sandra Baker Baron shows us how to strengthen such diverse relationships, in order to reach vital realms of reconciliation and resolve. How important this book is for our times!"-Dr. Yolanda Powell, President & CEO, W.A.I.L. Worldwide Inc.