3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Bama Boy by Bobby Morrison
When you have to fight for everything that you have in life it makes you appreciate what you have that much more. In Bama Boy, Bobby Morrison shares with the world his story of hardship from an early age when he and his family were picking cotton in the fields of North Carolina, to later years when as an adult living and working in Washington D.C.,when things are better and more stable.
Bobby's earliest memories were of being in the fields in a red flyer wagon alongside his parents and older brothers. As he got older and could pick the cotton himself, he worked everyday for a ridiculously low wage and neglected to go to school except on days that it rained and no picking could be done. On these days, he would walk or catch the bus if he could. Once there he was embarrassed because he never had any textbooks or school supplies of his own and had to share. He remembers that it was more than embarrassment, it was a feeling more like shame because no one wanted to share with him unless told to, and everyone knew that he worked in the fields and had no money for lunch so he received free food from the teacher. As time went on and he began to attend school more regularly, he made friends and was even more than friendly with a few girls. After his brother taught him how to drive, Bobby took over driving the school bus when his brother left to join the Army. This afforded him a kind of prestige among the girls, because he knew how to drive and they wanted to be friends with him. He never fooled himself though, he knew the real reason, it was the transportation not the driver that they were impressed with. In 1971, Bobby had his own turn to join the Army when he was drafted and sent to Vietnam. The experiences he had there are quickly glossed over and the reader never really knows if his service there had any negative effect on him. Upon returning to the US, Bobby relocates to Washington D.C. where after several dead end jobs he finds a fulfilling job driving a city bus for the Metropolitan Transportation Company. During this time Bobby seems to drift around but he does it in style, trading in several cars each time getting a "sweet deal" and thus providing him with a more expensive and impressive ride.
The love of cars, nice cars, resonates throughout the novel. He seems to connect expensive cars with success, almost like a measuring tape if you will, of how far he had come from the fields. What bothered me though was each time he traded cars he returned home to visit his parents with a new (well new to him) fancier car. He showed it off as he drove around town, now there is nothing wrong with that, except the impression was given that he almost shoved it in the faces of those that still lived in the country with limited incomes. On one occasion he tries to talk to an old friend whom he hadn't seen in a few years. He doesn't seem to recognise the fact that the person didn't want to talk to him, instead giving him the cold shoulder. On another visit as he was driving down the highway, he is pulled over by the state police and arrested on suspician of car theft. He seems to intimate that the reason he was pulled over in the first place was because he was a black man driving an expensive car. After proof is offered that the car was sold to him through a dealership and there is nothing to substantiate that he knew the car was stolen he is released. The Civil Rights era may have been over but in the South, as with many of the old customs, things are very slow to change, the idea that a black man could actually afford an expensive car and have it legally being one of them. The prevailing thought being a black man having a expensive car meant one thing, he stole it. Bobby enjoys his job with the Washington Metro Transit, however he suffers a back injury when the bus is in an accident and begins to collect Worker's Compensation. During this time he begins to sell sundries from the trunk of his car, he is doing so well that a friend talks him into renting a storefront. Although he tries hard the business is a failure. Without the necessary business sense or education Bobby had started from behind the eight ball, what Bobby didn't know at the time was that most assuredly he would fail, there was not a lot of foot traffic past the storefront as promised and the location itself was a bust. The landlord had been hustling money from the well intentioned but uninformed for months, Bobby's business was only one of many that had failed in the same location.
Bobby not only has his cars but also an impressive electronic collection, however it was tennis that was truly a favorite hobby. Not known to be a popular sport in the backwoods of Carolina, it however became more popular after the legendary match between Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Conner. Bobby didn't know much about the sport other than he used to watch the kids play on the city courts on the rare occasion he went to school. He starts taking lessons and becomes a minor champion in his own right. After hearing of a special tennis clinic being offered at a nearby posh country club with a former professional, Bobby and then girlfriend Pat, sign up to participate one weekend. When pulling up to the entrance they notice they are the only African Americans not employed by the club, that in itself makes them become self conscious, " two flies caught in buttermilk ". But all is not lost, the staff doesn't miss a beat, and takes care of them as if they do it everyday. I again got the impression that the story was not so much about race, as it was about measuring how far he had come from the cotton fields and that now he was able to afford to go to 5 star restaurants and a posh country club affair. It is all in the trappings of success. Bobby and Pat eventually marry and have a son Gerald. Things don't work out as planned and Pat and Gerald end up living with her parents while he is growing up and Bobby becomes a weekend Dad. He feels he must fit being a fulltime Dad into just 2 days, so that in doing so Bobby sometimes goes overboard trying to impress his son, just as he once tried to do with his expensive cars. We learn nothing more of his relationship with his son other than a recollection of driving him down to check in for his freshman year at a school in Norfolk, Virginia. When they arrive the school fails to live up to its promises in freshmen housing and Pat exclaims that she will not leave her son " in a shanty town that even the poorest Mexican peasants wouldn't be caught dead in".
I guess African Americans that had been discriminated againist for the better part of the 20 century, can push aside their feelings of ill treatment when they discriminate againist another minority culture. Once again the trappings of success come ahead of all else, even to the point of not able to stop them from discriminating against others. Through all his changes, going to school, then on to Vietnam and building a life in Washington, Bobby puts an importance on proving how far he has come from the substandard housing and cotton fields to the elegant trappings and his idea of success in the Nation's capital. After returning home from dropping Gerald, Bobby attends a family reunion. He looks around and takes pictures and listens to stories of his heritage, he then realizes he wouldn't change a thing about his life, not the way he was brought up or the experiences that he had, he finds that a person can always go home to the very things they know and love. I give this book a rating of 3 stars out of 4. There were some minor spelling and spacing errors that were present but none so numerous that they would be considered detrimental to the rating. I enjoyed Bobby's stories and strolling down memory lane with him, although upset with his issues and flamboyant desire to show off, I none the less would recommend this autobiography.
******
Bama Boy
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like goldengal1315's review? Post a comment saying so!
