In 1972 Lorene Cary, a bright, ambitious black teenager from Philadelphia, was transplanted into the formerly all-white, all-male environs of the elite St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, where she became a scholarship student in a "boot camp" for future American leaders. Like any good student, she was determined to succeed. But Cary was also determined to succeed without selling out. This wonderfully frank and perceptive memoir describes the perils and ambiguities of that double role, in which failing calculus and winning a student election could both be interpreted as betrayals of one's skin. Black Ice is also a universally recognizable document of a woman's adolescence; it is, as Houston Baker says, "a journey into selfhood that resonates with sober reflection, intelligent passion, and joyous love."
- 2 books
Lorene Cary
Lorene Cary is the author of If Sons, Then Heirs, Pride, and Black Ice, which was a 1992 American Library Association Notable Book. Cary currently lectures in creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania. She founded Art Sanctuary, a model non-profit lecture and performance series. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two daughters.
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