Souls Looking Back: Life Stories of Growing Up Black

In addressing the ""formative influences of home, school, church and first awareness of racial difference,"" 16 black and biracial college students write with an unabashed honesty and directness that outshines the dense ""explanatory"" essays by the editors. No doubt, the students' candor was nurtured by the editors' judicious decision to allow them to write pseudonymously. ""Maria,"" the only graduate student included, discusses the criteria her peers and community bring to the question, ""What Is Black Enough?"" The product of a mostly white, middle-class suburb, she notes the ""iconic role of her white first boyfriend, whose attraction was fueled by their racial difference and the idea he was transgressing."" Throughout the collection, students explore the contradictions and frustrations of the tensions associated with racial difference. ""Christine,"" the daughter of an Austrian mother and an African-American father, was dismayed that her ""allegiance"" to blacks was questioned when she mentioned her Austrian heritage. As a gay black adolescent, ""Claudio"" faced the challenge of belonging to more than one minority, deciding finally to become a ""vocal"" gay rights activist because of homophobia in the black community. Though the editors' stiff essays interrupt the otherwise rhythmic flow of black and biracial students experiences across the class spectrum, the students clearly communicate the ""transformative power in both the hearing and telling of [their] stories."" (June)