Maggie's American Dream, The Life and Times of a Black Family

Ebony, Jan, 1989

Maggie's American Dream, The Life and Times of a Black Family (NAL Books, $18.95) is Dr. James P. Comer's loving portrait of his mother, whose grit and determination enabled her to overcome poverty and illiteracy and rear four high-achieving children.

Comer, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center and associate dean of the Yale School of Medicine, is perhaps the best known of Maggie Comer's children. His work in child psychiatry and his outpouring of books and articles have made him a respected authority in the field. Yet, he readily acknowledges that much of his success is due to the inspiration of his parents, particularly his mother who, though widowed at a relatively early age, still put four children through college. The book unfolds as both an oral history and an autobiography as Comer weaves both his mother's words and his own into a moving family memoir. But more than the chronicle of one family, Maggie's American Dream emerges as a shining example of the many Black families who have overcome the odds. It stands as a blueprint for other Black families who may be searching for a way out of the poverty that surrounds them.