Acknowledgments
We are grateful for the support of friends and family during the more than three years we were writing this book. We want to give special thanks to Dr. Jane Brown who has been our teacher, our mentor and our friend, and who was present when we first conceived of it and has been a steady presence during this journey. We especially want to thank her for review and critique of a very early version that helped us focus and organize our narrative into what it is now. We also would like to thank Kate Torrey for an early read and useful comments and to Linda Brinson our line editor for asking us insightful questions and polishing up the prose.
We would like to thank Andre Vann, historian and archivist at North Carolina Central University, for his assistance with our research, locating important documents about the history of Hillside and about the court-ordered desegregation that happened in Durham City Schools. He was very generous with his time and his enthusiasm for this project.
We are so delighted to be publishing under the Torchflame imprint of Light Messages. We are happy to be publishing with a Durham-based press and be working with such lovely people, Betty, Elizabeth and Wally Turnbull and their publicist, Rebecca Schriner.
We’d like to thank Lucy Siegel for opening up her home to us last summer for a weekend writing retreat. We would also like to thank local establishments (Guglhupf Bakery, The Refectory, Caribou Coffee and Otis and Parker) for comfortable space—fortified by coffee, food, and wifi—that allowed for us to work together freely for hours at a time.
And of special note, we want to thank Dr. John H. Lucas Sr. for his kind words that opened this book and for his leadership as the principal at Hillside while we were there, in creating the school environment that made our experiences there what they were. He has lived a lifetime of service to the cause of equity in education and we are honored to have his blessings for this book.
LaHoma
I am indebted to my family for encouraging me to pursue the completion of this project. There were many days when I was not mentally or physically present because of my preoccupations with writing.
I am especially thankful to my husband Tim, who has been a rock solid presence in my life for 30 years and has helped carry me over every mountain I ever sought to climb.
To the Hillside Class of 1975 and other HHS alumni—I am proud to be among your ranks as graduates of our beloved alma mater. Thank you to all my “girls” (Angela, Cassandra, Debra, Dewanda, & Varnell; Cindy, we miss you, and Joyce, my girl, you left me way too soon) who have cheered me on through our regular get togethers and to all those who attended our class reunion in 2015, especially Bishop Daryl, for encouraging me to share these reflections with the wider community.
Lastly, to my co-author, Cindy, who, despite her own personal and professional transitions during this period, believed in and committed to this project and never waivered. Frankly, this book would have never happened without her. Cindy was the glue that sealed all the pieces in place. I appreciate her vast skillset, wit, vision, and creativity, which allowed us to successfully complete the task we started years ago. She is a woman of faith and courage, and we have forever solidified our bond as friends as well as fellow alums. Thank you Cindy for sharing this process with me.
Cindy
I would like to acknowledge the Center for Documentary Studies whose classes in creative non-fiction kickstarted my non-academic writing. A writing assignment in one of those classes was the initial inspiration for this book.
Thank you to all my family and friends who supported and encouraged me while I was working on this book project. Special thanks to Leigh and Sieger for sharing their lovely home with me on my visits to North Carolina to work on this book during the past two years. I want to thank my husband Ron Geary especially for literally making time and space for me to write this book. Thanks to my daughter Emily for helping me think through some of my stuck places and to my son Max for his interest in a possible stage play. Being their mother is a never-ending inspiration for me.
And finally, I thank my co-author LaHoma. My deepening friendship with LaHoma was the best part of sharing these memories. I was lucky to find myself collaborating with such a kind and gracious person, someone with a great sense of humor and with whom I shared so many beliefs and concerns about family and community. Because of my trust in her and our shared mission for this book, I was able to keep peeling back layers of memory to find some hard truths. I look forward to our continuing friendship and work on whatever opportunities arise from the publication of this book.