Looking Beyond the Mirror: The Untold Story of Growing Up African American in 20th Century Ventura County, California Kindle Edition

LeRoy (Buddy) Gibson, Jr. Lived, as a child, in an area of San Buenaventura, California known as "The Negro Quarter." This largely unknown area of the city's multicultural Tortilla Flats neighborhood is the setting for Buddy's unique childhood experiences. The memoir explores the lives of the pioneer members of his family who came before him and follows the extended family's growth from its origins in Tortilla Flats. This is the history of a region told, not from gathering local stories and collective memories, but, from the perspective of a child and then a man, who grew up within it. Although the family had little in material wealth, they were collectively dedicated to community involvement. Seen from Buddy's perspective, the reader gets an inside view of daily life as an African American growing up in 20th Century Southern California. Buddy's unique experiences in the music industry, as a county employee, and as a member of a pioneer African American family are intertwined with original research on many places and events. Included in the personal memoir are topics as diverse as: Ventura's State Hospital for Girls, the local Ku Klux Klan, dance clubs, African American churches, schools, river play, Navy life, and the County Fair. Buddy tells his story to ensure a forgotten part of his city will be remembered, and to show how the strength of a family: its values, can endure through multiple challenges and changes. Read more