Part I: Trapped in a concrete box. My mother ; that little boy ; Going to school with Martin Luther King, Jr. ; My grandfather and the American South ; My cousin Anthony ; The ghetto ; Puerto Ricans ; Church ; My father ; My mother (part 2) ; The library ; Work ; Aunt Birdie ; John Travolta ; White people and my new White neighborhood ; Man-child ; High school. And the police -- Part II: Living on the other side of midnight. Rutgers University ; Kicked out of college ; Newark, New Jersey ; Aunt Cathy. And a new life ; Hip-hop, poetry, and New York City ; My girlfriend and the bathroom door ; MTV's The Real World ; Vibe and Tupac Shakur ; Suicide ; Running for Congress ; Love, a many splintered thing ; Africa ; Finding my father.
Summary:
"This powerful memoir by writer and activist Kevin Powell vividly recounts the horrific poverty of his youth, his struggles to overcome a legacy of anger, violence, and self-hatred, and his journey to be a man and a voice for others. Driven by his single mother's dreams for his survival and success, Kevin Powell became the first in his family to attend a university, where he became a student leader keenly aware of widespread social injustice. But the struggle to define himself and break out of poverty continued into adulthood, with traumatic periods of homelessness and despair. As a young star journalist with Vibe magazine, Powell interviewed luminaries such as Tupac Shakur, writing influential chronicles of the evolution of hip-hop from his eyewitness view. Now, with searing honesty, Powell examines his troubled relationships, his appearance on MTV's first season of The Real World, his battles with alcohol and depression, his two campaigns for Congress, and the uplifting trip to Africa that renewed his sense of personal mission. Finally, Powell embarks on a search for the father he never really knew in a redemptive passage from abandonment to self-discovery. A striking memoir by a child of post-Civil Rights America, The Education of Kevin Powell gives eloquent testimony to the power of the soul to heal"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.