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GROWING UP NIGGER RICH
A Novel
By Gwendoline Y. Fortune
"Nigger
rich" is a colloquialism encompassing class distinctions, a
term used mainly by African Americans in reference to other African
Americans, with an intent similar to that of other people's use
of the term "nigger" to refer to any person of color.
It was, and remains, an expression of fear, of anger, and. of envy.
Through the complex web of this narrative, Gwendoline Y. Fortune
juxtaposes "old South" and new, privilege and powerlessness,
and various visions of racial identity in this refreshing, heartbreaking
novel about growing up and coming home.
From the moment Gayla Tyner returns to her hometown of Carolton,
South Carolina after thirty years away "up North," she
is struck by the reminders of her segregated youth. As she seeks
to ease the pain of having grown up "nigger rich" with
relative privilege in some places, reviled and teased in others
she must also come to terms, with her philandering husband, domineering
father, and all of the relationships, secrets, and pleasures that
continue to call her home.
About the Author
Gwendoline Y. Fortune
Growing Up Nigger Rich
Gwendoline
Y. Fortune has always been an avid reader and describes herself
as a seeker. She describes her first novel as an adventure into
revelation, remembrance, and reconciliation, a story that will ring
true to readers across genders and racial backgrounds.
Born in Houston, Texas, her mother often shared stories of relatives
from both sides of her family: Native Americans, Scots-Irishmen,
a free-born black great-grandfather, a Confederate great-grandfather,
a cowboy grandfather, and relatives who were missionaries in pre-World
War 11 China. She was inspired to write Growing Up Nigger Rich,
a project she started as a fifteen-year-old college freshman at
Bennett College because "Every story I read about my people
they're barefoot, pregnant, and in the field. I know a different
life and I never read about the kind of people I know."
Dr. Fortune began writing professionally in 1981 and has since won
a number of prestigious grants and awards. Selections from Growing
Up Nigger Rich were finalists in the annual Pirate's Alley Faulkner
Society competition and the National Black Writers' Conference Awards.
Active in community organizations, Dr. Fortune enjoys singing with
the Chapel-Hill Carrboro Community Choir and is actively involved
in writer's organizations nationwide. She formerly sat on the Board
of Directors of the North Carolina Writers' Network and the Off-Campus
Writers Network. Education has always been a high priority, and
Dr. Fortune holds advanced degrees in education, social science,
and social science education. She is active in the alumni associations
of Bennett College, J. C. Smith, Roosevelt, and Nova Southeastern
Universities.
Dr. Fortune lives in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, where she offers
individual, relationship, and group courses and human growth counseling
in her home. She has three sons and one granddaughter.
GROWING UP
NIGGER RICH
By Gwendoline Y. Fortune
PUBLICATION DATE: March 2002
256 pp. 6 x 9
ISBN: 1-56554-963-5 $22.00
All rights held by Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.
Edited by Cynthia Williams
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