With the Might of Angels
Title: With the Might of Angels Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney Year: 2011 A Review by Nate Feldman Dawnie Rae Johnson is a young African American girl growing up in Hadley, Virginia in the 1950s when the Supreme Court rules that segregation in American public schools is unconstitutional on her twelfth birthday. She dreams of attending Prettyman Coburn, the local white school, which she describes as having beautiful classrooms, and detests the all black school she must attend, which she portrays as dilapidated. However, in the beginning her parents make it clear that this can never happen. Following the United States' Supreme Court's decision that segregation was not equal in the Brown vs. Board of Education case in 1954, Dawnie is able to attend the school of her dreams (Prettyman Coburn) due to her outstanding academic achievements. Unfortunately, the white community is vehemently opposed and works hard to prevent this at all costs. At first, the school del...