Red Dirt: Growing up Okie by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a cherished movement elder, historian and writer. We are pleased to have many of her books in our collection, including her most recent, Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment. In Red Dirt, the first book in her three-part autobiography, published over 20 years ago, she describes her childhood as the youngest, disabled girl in a poor white-identified mixed-race family of rural Okies. I read this book several years ago, and the thing that I remember the most is the evocative descriptions of how popularized conservatism infiltrates and takes root in all aspects of life and community. In our current context of the growing acceptability of far-right politics, these stories of the 40s and 50s feel relevant. In any case, it is a captivating read and a page turner. Check it out in the Work & Class section of our library!