moving and inspirational memoir

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We recently saw the movie entitled "Conrack" starring Jon Voight which is based on this book. The Water is Wide is a moving and inspirational memoir of Pat Conroy, a young and idealistic teacher, and his mission to rescue a classroom of children who were all but forgotten by the school system in South Carolina in the contentious environment of the late 1960's school desegregation. The setting is Daufuskie Island (called Yamacraw Island in the book), off the coast of Beaufort SC. The children were direct descendants of slaves, and had never been off the island, living frozen in the past. Mr. Conroy encounters resistance immediately and throughout the tale's approximate timeline of one year. As he fights to break through and reach the children, their families, the island community, and even the segregationist status quo county school administration, he encounters hurdles of all kinds, social, religious, cultural, historical, personal, etc. This is a great story, a true story, and i recommend it to all who care about education, equity, and humanity. Sadly, the struggles of this isolated island school, were not unique, especially in the US South, but are still going on today, 50 years later.

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