by Wil Haygood
First published 2016
Wil Haygood chronicles his upbringing in Columbus, Ohio, where his family's story intertwined with Mount Vernon Avenue, the vibrant heart of the city's black community. His grandmother worked as a hotel cook. His mother waited tables and loved nightlife. His father stayed mostly absent. One brother became a legendary pimp while the other chased dreams that never materialized. His sisters struggled with little money to spare. Haygood loved Mount Vernon Avenue with its shops, juke joints, and speakeasies. As a gifted and ambitious young man, he found his first reporting work at The Call & Post, covering the very neighborhood that shaped him. Urban renewal began transforming his childhood city. He writes about his intense love for his restless mother, his passion for fishing the Olentangy River, and his teenage obsession with basketball that led him to sneak rides on city buses. This memoir celebrates the bonds that hold American families together while examining one community's evolution.
Genres: american, african-american, autobiography, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Setting: Columbus, Ohio, Mount Vernon Avenue
Period: 20th-century
368 pages · Paperback · Trillium