Jo IvesterInspired by her mother and her influential impact in a segregated town in the 1960s, Jo Ivester tells her story in a new memoir, The Outskirts of Hope. Basing Ivester’s book from journals left by her mother, Aura Kruger, Ivester pieces together stories and perspectives of her mother living in the poorest region in the nation. At the time, Ivester was only a toddler, but her mother recalled every event, including being uprooted by her husband from Boston to an all-black town in Mississippi, so he could pursue medicine at a clinic in the poorest region in the U.S.
Kruger found her own way of making an impact in a society that didn’t want her. The small town was established by blacks shortly after the Civil War, and although Kruger was small and quiet, she knew how to effect the people around her. While working as a teacher, she taught her students and the townspeople how to deal with racism and equality through literature and school curriculum. This memoir of racial change was inspired by Ivester’s mother on events that occurred years ago, as well as circumstances we’re still living with in the 21st century.
Jo Ivester will be having a reading and book signing for The Outskirts of Hope at Books and Books, May 15 at 8 p.m. in Coral Gables.
