On the beat of truth : a hearing daughter's stories of her black deaf parents / Maxine Childress Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Maxine Childress.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brown, Maxine Childress.

Brown, Maxine Childress--Family.

Deaf parents--United States--Biography.

Deaf parents.

Children of deaf parents--United States--Biography.

Children of deaf parents.

African Americans with disabilities--Biography.

African Americans with disabilities.

Families.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xxvi, 286 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Gallaudet University Press, [2013]

Summary:

As an African American woman born in 1943, Maxine Childress Brown possessed a unique vantage point to witness the transformative events in her parents' lives. Both came from the South-her father, Herbert Childress, from Nashville, TN, and her mother, Thomasina Brown, from Concord, NC. The oldest of three daughters, Maxine was fascinated by her parents' stories. She marveled at how they raised a well-respected, middle-class family in the midst of segregation with the added challenge of being deaf. Maxine's parents met in Washington, DC, where they married and settled down. Herbert worked as a shoe repairman for $65 per week for more than 15 years. A gifted seamstress. Thomasina gave up sewing to clean houses. Because of the family's modest means, Maxine and her sisters lived more than modest lives. When Maxine's tonsils became infected, her parents could not afford the operation to remove them. For her high school prom, her mother bought her a dress on credit because she had no time to sew. Herbert Childress showed great love for his young daughters, but events turned him to bitterness and to drink. Throughout all, Thomasina encouraged her girls, always urging them to excel. She demanded their honest best with her signature phrase, her flat hand raised from her mouth straight up in the air, "on the beat of truth." Book jacket.

Contents:

1 A Policeman Comes A-Knockin' 1

2 Herbert Andrew Childress 26

3 Annie Dublin Nero and Martha Nero Brown 38

4 Thomasina Brown 54

5 Maxine 70

6 Becoming Aware of Things, Part I 87

7 Silent Herbert 95

8 Becoming Aware of Things, Part II 113

9 Social Club and Church 126

10 Summer with Grandma 141

11 From Chocolates to Fresh Goat and Pig Meat 157

12 Crossword Pruzzles and Pearl Bailey 167

13 The Bench 180

14 Becoming Aware of Things, Part III 188

15 The Notebook 197

16 From Happiness to Misery 209

17 Asbury Park 222

18 When Tempers Flare 240

19 Theodore Beamon 253

20 Let It Go 271.

ISBN:

9781563685521

1563685523

OCLC:

818318178