A Darker Shade of Brown

The day after the Supreme Court renders its historic 1954 decision, Brown vs Board of Education, Reggie Morton, growing up in segregated Smoky Mountain, Tennessee, dreams of going to an integrated school. His teacher and friends treat his enthusiasm with pessimism and sarcasm. Yet Reggie holds on to his vision as the battle to enforce the decision rages throughout the South. And then, forced to integrate, the state’s premier university awards him a scholarship. In A Darker Shade of Brown, Ernest Jones offers a powerful message about integration-which he sees as an inevitable change from the racial division and hostility that characterized the first half of the century. The tear in the society could only rip the country apart eventually. But the black community in A Darker Shade of Brown doesn’t foresee the effects of integration on Reggie. He expects that he will obtain the same education that the white kids receive. And he expects to succeed beyond the limits that had restricted his parents. What he discovers, however, is that his path to equal education is a painful journey where the old standards still assert their power to prevail.