Review Detail

In the early 1920s, Charlene Cuffey is living in Virginia with her parents and her Nana Kofi, whose traumatic journey to the US in 1860 is detailed in The Door of No Return. Nana frequently tells her stories of his life in Africa, and he has a suitcase packed so that he can join Marcus Garvey once he manages to put together passage back to Africa for his followers. Charley, as she prefers to be called, has two good friends; Willie Green, who is also Black and idolizes baseball legends like Cool Papa Bell, and Henry Jones, who is white, and whose father owns the local mercantile. Charley's father once tried out for the D.C. Manhattans, but now works hard in Baltimore to support the family. Encouraged by her father's near success, Charley is convinced that she can someday play for the Negro Leagues, and is very excited when she hears that there are women in Philadelphia who have a league. Her aunt even brings her a secondhand baseball mitt that she says belonged to one of the players. The trio would love to play at the new ballfield at Great Bridge, but Black people are not allowed. They are trying to put together a team to play against local bully Cecil Holley, but struggling to find players. There is plenty of racial tension in the town; Nana owns 35 acres of land and regularly pays on his loans and is current on his taxes, which irritate white people who would like the land for themselves. When Mary McLeod Bethune comes to speak at the local church, Charley asks if her school has teams for girls. They don't, but Bethune thinks that Charley's inquisitive mind would make her a great teacher, and offers to talk to her about attending the school. Charley is reluctant, because she would miss her family, especially Nana, who has been very ill. When Henry, Will, and Charley run afoul of white teens, Charley and Will's lives are upended as they must quickly leave town to avoid tragedy.