Summary

In the book’s Introduction section, Bakari Sellers discusses his personal background, specifically the geographical area of his childhood. He is black; he is American; and he is from an area called the Low Country in South Carolina. Many of his ancestors were slaves. However, his family managed to become financially prosperous several generations after Emancipation. Bakari was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1984. In 1990, he and his family moved to Denmark, South Carolina, which is where his father was born and raised. Denmark is predominantly black, and poverty there became widespread after U.S. companies began moving their manufacturing centers to other countries. Bakari’s father had a graduate degree from Harvard University. However, he was once arrested for participating in a pro-equality civil rights protest, and thus he had a criminal record, which made it hard for him to find...