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Forced into adulthood at nine years old, a young boy in Jim Crow Alabama fights to hold onto his dignity, his dreams, and his sense of self in a world determined to crush him.
The Children of My Knee is the unforgettable true story of Len, a Black child raised amid the poverty, violence, and racial terror of the Deep South. In fields worked like prison yards, in a home shaken by his father’s rage, and in classrooms hostile to integration, Len learns early that survival requires vigilance, courage, and a refusal to disappear.
Yet even in the harshest places, small but vital sources of hope emerge: neighbors who protect him, teachers who see his brilliance, and the first stirrings of a writer’s voice that will one day carry him far beyond the cotton rows of Alabama.
As Len grows, he confronts the complex legacy of faith, identity, and generational trauma—discovering that resilience is not merely endured, but shaped, chosen, and earned.
Raw, deeply human, and ultimately redemptive, The Children of My Knee is a memoir about the power of endurance, the cost of silence, and the long journey toward self-worth and belonging.
Forced into adulthood at nine years old, a young boy in Jim Crow Alabama fights to hold onto his dignity, his dreams, and his sense of self in a world determined to crush him.
The Children of My Knee is the unforgettable true story of Len, a Black child raised amid the poverty, violence, and racial terror of the Deep South. In fields worked like prison yards, in a home shaken by his father’s rage, and in classrooms hostile to integration, Len learns early that survival requires vigilance, courage, and a refusal to disappear.
Yet even in the harshest places, small but vital sources of hope emerge: neighbors who protect him, teachers who see his brilliance, and the first stirrings of a writer’s voice that will one day carry him far beyond the cotton rows of Alabama.
As Len grows, he confronts the complex legacy of faith, identity, and generational trauma—discovering that resilience is not merely endured, but shaped, chosen, and earned.
Raw, deeply human, and ultimately redemptive, The Children of My Knee is a memoir about the power of endurance, the cost of silence, and the long journey toward self-worth and belonging.