Alien in the
Delta by Thankful Strother is a memoir of notable events and
observations from the author's life. It is a short, yet entertaining book which
gives readers a glimpse into a particular period of American history.
An Air Force veteran recounts
his unlikely rise from rural poverty to the upper-middle class.
Born in
the Arkansas Delta in 1943, living in the 60's segregated rural South, Strother
was the seventh child of poor parents. In his
hometown, prejudice and inequality were practice openly. "Even though I loved the people in my community, I disliked
intensely almost everything about where I grew up. I always felt out-of-place." As soon as he graduated from high
school, he rushed to join the Air Force like his older
brother Curtis. Experiencing racism from
whites in the South while he was wearing his Air Force uniform--proof that he
was willing to fight and die for the United States--brought home the
discrimination Strother would
face throughout his life. But the
Air Force provided him the opportunity to live abroad in West Germany,
where, removed from the American dynamics of black and white, he was able to experience something closer to
racial equality. Strother
did not let the expectations of others hold him back from pursuing the
American dream. In his
book, which features some family photographs, the author recounts attending
night school to become a computer programmer, getting a job with a
major corporation, working his way up
to salesman and then district manager, and investing in real estate. Strother skillfully summons his memories using simple, direct prose:
"When Papa went to the bank to withdraw his money, it was closed and out
of business. After that, he started
to keep his money in Prince Albert
tobacco containers, which he would bury around his house." There's a
soothing rhythm to the narration. Strother
does a remarkable job of bringing the reader into his world.
Strother's
memoir covers family, early childhood, a stint in the US Air Force, an
interracial, international marriage, the adventures of an apartment building
owner and corporate sales manager.
While
Strother led an accomplished life, the achievements were not
flashy ones. Readers will likely end
up feeling that his life worked out nicely.
