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Leaving Aberdeen  By  cover art

Leaving Aberdeen

By: Estell Sims Halliburton
Narrated by: Estell Sims Halliburton
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Publisher's summary

Rural Mississippi in the 1950s was a world filled with racism where Black sharecropping families struggled just to break even. Yet the love of her close-knit family gave Estell Sims the foundation she needed to excel despite overt racism and being treated like a second-class citizen. When Estell's oldest brother lost his life fighting in Korea, his small life-insurance policy payout allowed the Sims family to buy their own house and move to nearby Aberdeen, but Estell had bigger dreams of going to college and someday moving to a big city like Chicago.

After completing her freshman year at Tuskegee University, Estell boarded a Trailways bus and headed to New York City for a summer job. She had no idea how much her life would change the day her cousin met her at the Port Authority bus station and took the 19-year-old back to meet her friends, including handsome and charming US Army soldier Joseph A. Halliburton.

Estell was amazed by the opportunities available in the city to people who looked like her, something she'd never experienced in the segregated South. Her worldview grew as she attended cultural events, learned to dress professionally, and embraced her heritage as a Black woman. Yet more compelling than anything else was Joseph, and after a whirlwind romance, the two were married just 10 days before his deployment to Vietnam.

Leaving Aberdeen is the story of a young Southern girl's awakening during a turbulent time of racial reckoning, from reading torn textbooks in a one-room schoolhouse to attending a premier HBCU, from professional modeling to motherhood, and from accepting her "place" to supporting her husband's membership as a Black Panther. Through it all, Estell's love - for and from her parents, siblings, relatives, husband, children, and friends - is a beacon of the hope that carried her through.

©2021 Estell Halliburton (P)2022 Estell Halliburton

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What listeners say about Leaving Aberdeen

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Window into the Past

This book provides poignant insight into life of a black family in small town rural Mississippi. Listening to the main character evolve as society's view on race changed provides an interesting glimpse into the past. Some of the chapters ended early and left me wanting to "hear" the rest of the story. Personal stories intermingled with history for reference makes this a great listen.

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A Very Good Story!!!!!

Knowing the author personally, gave me an insight to the person she is now. Hearing the story in her own voice made my enjoyment complete! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read human interest stories. I hope she writes another one.

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