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True Story by Edward Baken

Harlem in the nineteen-forties. Mystical, intriguing, challenging. Hot. It was the place to be. Blacks had money and they spent it. They had the flashiest cars, the finest suits, the most beautiful women. Harlem had what everybody wanted: a good time. There was Sugar Hill, where the entertainers, the big pimps, the actors, the writers, and every black who had money lived. Then there was Harlem, where all the clubs were: Small’s Paradise, Sugar Ray’s, the Red Rooster, Frank’s, the Apollo. There were the after hours spots, too: Minton’s, Flo’s, Snookie’s. These were the places to be seen, and a pretty lady was a must and she had to be white or at least light, bright and damn near white. Edward Baken and his cousin Junior were the young sons of two such women -- pretty, single, light and very much in demand. Edward and Junior could pass for eighteen year olds. When they turned thirteen, they worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the summer and made good wages. With a healthy new swagger from a pocket full of cash, they decided not to return to school, and in search of more “big money,” they ran away to the South. And into their first taste of prejudice. In Virginia they were picked up by the police. In Florida they were called “white niggas” and sent away to a work farm. But in Alabama they ran into real trouble. The KKK. Light, Bright and Damn Near White is the fascinating account of a young boy, raised in the comfort of his own bright culture, who ventures out into life early on only to contend with a world where neither he nor his culture had value.