HICKSTOWN FROM
THE HEART

Well, I started to read this book thinking I’ll finish it some time during the week. I couldn’t put it down. It’s captivating, exciting and it gave me a great insight in what it was like, growing up in a black family in North Carolina. Ma Booth was fearless and hard working lady, embracing her newly given civil rights and motivating others to vote and participate in democratic process. I’ve had a pleasure and honor to have met and befriended her son, with whom I’ve been friends since 1988. For me, being raised and growing up behind the iron curtain, her fight for voting rights was very understanding. Only deprived ones can value democracy in it’s full glory. Because, and I will use Ma Booths words, you don’t value the water, until your well runs dry. I felt like I was there, reliving the life I never lived, but knew so much about it. Took me one day to finish the read, that I know will be with me for a long time.

This book is generous in spirt with a wide range of human emotion and experiences honestly portrayed through childhood memory and observations. The book is a reflection of how community got along, self-governed and the importance building blocks and steppingstones. The stories would bring readers of similar rural childhoods down memory lane, and it allows the rest of us to voyage into a time of simplicity, wisdom and the slow-simmer of changing tides.

I enjoyed that some of the chapters were to-the-point, while others were filled with mystique or allowed an out-loud laugh to escape. What is also poignant is that the recollection of childhood and family memories has a layer of adult sensibility and new understanding of the people and events reflected upon.

In today’s world of automated everything, it isa treasure to have a captured another way of living and relating with the most human touch. “Hickstown from the Heart” is a family collection of essays, that allows the reader to reflect on our own, yet savor the wisdom and journey of this family memoir.

I really enjoyed reading Hickstown From The Heart! It is so interesting, I found it hard to put down… I smiled and chuckled throughout!

I have not enjoyed a book in a long time that kept me riveted to read the next chapter. The parents were exceptional people raising a family under difficult circumstances. The parents never had a victim mentally though many would have succumbed under different circumstances. The reward is a family of exceptional children, grandchildren with a heritage they can be so proud of. I think this would make a great movie about preserving under difficult situations and because of faith, hard work and reaching out to others with what they had. If everyone could glean from this book life lessons, all families would be blessed and better for it. I recommend it for anyone who wants to read a true life inspirational story that has lessons for all of us to emulate.

Such a wonderful book with great stories. It kept me captivated the whole time, I didn’t want to put the book down!

This book is so captivating. Once I started reading, I found it difficult for me to put it down. I was always looking forward to reading more. Each story created a visual in my mind as if I were actually living alongside the Booth family in Hickstown.

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir with it’s deep family and cultural history. This book takes you on a journey of Love, Pride and Family. While looking back at times in the south then and more importantly, looking forward so that future generations can learn from its vast lessons.

I found the stories in this book written by the siblings of a close knit family simply captivating. Among other things, the entries are brimming with love for each other and good, wholesome living. While the family bond is strong, there is a prominent theme of service to others throughout the book. This is modeled by two extraordinary parents who instilled it in each son and daughter. Definitely a must read and so very pertinent even in today’s world.

What an amazing tribute to the Booth family legacy! Over the years I’ve been told stories of the Matriarch of this family, Ma Booth and her prominence in the community by her oldest daughter. Her 6 children bring these stories and so much more to life in this book! Love of Family and Community permeates throughout each chapter! Definitely a re-read!

HicksTown From the Heart is aptly named! Each chapter is heartfelt so that you feel the love in the family. The reader is allowed to share the life and love of a truly close knit family. But the story of HicksTown goes even farther – it tells the story of a community who worked as if they were family!

Much in the book reminded me of my own growing up. Mom’s annual spring cleaning, having the responsibility to look out for and care for my siblings, sharing with neighbors.

The real joy of the book was being reminded of that time when we lived in community. You didn’t have to like your neighbors but you still made sure they had food and made sure their children were safe. Hickstown reminds us of that time gone by that we need to recapture!

Many thanks to the Family for the wonderful reminder of the joy of community and Family! I strongly urge everyone to READ THIS BOOK!

It was a great experience for me while reading the book. Each author’s presentation was authentic and moving such that I was drawn into the scenes they so beautifully described. I’m so glad that Hickstown community existed and impacted them in the rich way that it did. Very good and pleasurable reading!

This is a heart-felt funny book about a community in North Carolina. The authors of this book have always been emphatic and compassionate towards others. Having read the book, I understand their willingness to assist, make sacrifices, and love others. Communities that are perceived in a negative way often provide support and community for each other. This book is a must read for anyone.

Hickstown from the Heart is a warm memoir from a simpler, and yet more challenging time for people of color, as told by members of the admirable Booth family. Although they weren’t wealthy in material things, they had an abundance of riches in true values; love, commitment to their community, humor, and compassion. I see these values, a legacy of Ma Booth, in my friend and neighbor, Antoinette Joyner, as she goes about making the lives of others better each day. Thank you all for sharing your stories.

This work is so well done. It was an honor to read and be transported back in time, seeing the value of a family knit together through any and all circumstances. It feels as if this only scratches the surface, but is a great time capsule that can inform a new generation of so many treasured and timeless values communicated in a very honorable way. Pure Respect.

This is a heartfelt and inspiring memoir of life in a community that I can relate to, because I have known some of the people in this book.

This is a book to purchased and to be read by many.

This Book is a testament to what can be accomplish with family values and commitment. I lived in this community and have known the Booth Family for years. I have witness their dedication to our community. I worked at Duke Medical Center with their mother for many years, she was greatly respected, by doctor’s, nurses and patient’s. She was fondly called Ma Booth. Her devotion to her family, the community and anyone in need, will never be forgotten. Her exemplary life will live on in her children and others as well.

I could not put this book down, purchased and read cover to cover in the same night. It is an inspirational story of hard work, perseverance, love, community, faith, and family. This book captures the strength and love of family which significantly contributed to the strength of an entire community. It’s a must read for all displaying the both the tough and gentle love that is needed today.

The Booth siblings wrote an excellent and insightful book on their family life growing up in Hickstown. I encountered so many reflections while reading it. I loved the way the book started and ended (from the Introduction/Preface/Epilogue). Outstanding work from all of you. I felt the family love, pride and dedication to the community.

This is a wonderful compilation of Black family members describing life within their community. It represents the cumulative impact, power and resilience of one family to effect change; living in the South with its challenges, while facing imminent domain of property lines. Lines that set physical bounds of their community without decimating the social, emotional, or spiritual fiber that defined, defended and knit Hickstown. Though the Booths were not an economically wealthy family, they abounded in dreams, generous caring, sharing resources and values which resonated with other families and individuals on many issues.

This is a great book full of love, lessons, and inspiration. The authors/siblings take you on a journey, making it feel as if you’re right along in the story with them. This is a great read on family, faith, and perseverance. It’s a book that I’m definitely looking forward to enjoying again.

I have had the privilege of meeting all of the Booth siblings. Having read this wonderful book, I can see how the wonderful tapestry of love, commitment, forgiveness, and justice all were forged into this family there in Hickstown. Please read this book!

This is one of the best memoirs I have ever read! It is a series of essays written by six brothers and sisters. It will take you back to your own childhood. It is Ephesians 6:1 personified: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” This book is a legacy that families can be families and not all broken up.

This is a sweet and loving collection of heartwarming Booth family memories growing up in Hickstown. The siblings do a great job of making the reader feel like they are actually getting to visit Hickstown themselves. They introduce you to a colorful array of neighbors who range from the quiet and caring to the bold and eccentric! You learn of the important and historic racial challenges fought by this humble but strong community. An inspirational read!

This book involves a story about a family influence and experience in a neighborhood. In particular. A black family tradition that shows strong character of core values that were recognized and flowed across racial barriers during a time when the ugliness of prejudice and discrimination were at their highest. The impact of the matriarch of the Booth family and the impression shared by the siblings were shared and recognized by other communities, including the multi-racial audience at the book signing, many who were discussed in the book. Their presence is great testimony to the authenticity of the stories shared in the book. I was greatly moved by this book about regular people in a Durham neighborhood, from a different part of the city where I grew up but which showed there was true character and concern, and good routes that crossed racial barriers even during this time in our history from all walks of life. So glad they shared these experiences! More stories like this need to be shared!

This is an awesome book. The siblings did a fantastic job of capturing the memories. It makes you feel as if you are in the stories.

This book is about history, it’s about laughter and filled with values. This is a family legacy for generation to come.

Enjoyable

As I read this memoir. It drew me in with each account of the Booth family that embraced the Community with wisdom, love and discipline. Ma Booth never forgot from whence she came and ” fought the good fight” for all.

Each sibling took nuggets from their parents legacy and implemented them into their individual lives. It is to bad that communities do not exist in great numbers like this today.

A great book to read… much thanks for sharing the memories.

A wonderful, serious and sometimes humorous, first-hand look at a loving, close-knit Durham family from the perspective of the children. Not only do you get an inspiring look at the family, you also learn about their modest neighborhood and its residents, their mother’s community activism, and 1960’s segregated Durham. Definitely a must-read.

HicksTown from the Heart: A Family Memoir is a necessary read! The stories will remind you of the importance of family unity and social responsibility. I appreciate the individual essays from the siblings and their unique perspective on growing up in Hickstown. I enjoyed every chapter! “Here Comes Joe Bass” is my favorite chapter because he also lived in my neighborhood!

Thank you for writing this book!

This book is a close depiction of many events, both struggles and triumphs, my family faced in the rural South! We did not have wealth, but we had the love and protection of family and close neighborhood relationships. Truly brought back many memories of my own life! This book must be placed in a book club somewhere!

I have read halfway through intending on reading again. I can not put it down. Such a wonderful family and well written. Our libraries should have copies…. I grew up in the same area remembering it well. Touched my heart.

My mom who is a book reader couldn’t sleep got up in the middle of the night. She only was going to read a little from your book. She said she couldn’t put it down and read 50 pages!!! She loves it. We have to find a way to give in to

Oprah or Reese Witherspoon both have book clubs.

The book could be a reflection of many black families in the south. Not necessarily having a lot in material wealth was made up in the wealth of love and family.

This book speaks of the dignity, confidence and power of the Black community. Living in a time when the system was designed to destroy self-esteem, Hickstown created its own self pride and accomplishments. The book provides a great reading of strength to overcome any form of oppression or opposition.

Wonderful experience