How long does it take to read Color Me Dark?
Color Me Dark by Patricia C. McKissack takes about 4 hours to read at 250 words a minute.
About 4 hours
A weekend read
First published 2000. 218 pages, about 59,950 words. Written for children.
8 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 6 hours 40 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 4 hours |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 30 minutes |
The page count is the median across 5 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
An ordinary girl living extraordinary events. Her family, Love, characterizes her comfortable, secure world in Bradford Corners, TN. Until Uncle Pace is murdered by the KKK. The Author gradually exposes the prejudice & segregation existing even though slavery has been abolished over 50 years. All discover, how whites live on one side of the only road, & Colored live on the other. We recognize the fear in the adults' faces when the sheriff warns against reading NAACP materials. & while Nellie's father & uncle attempt to find the only Colored doctor in 2 counties - who's far away delivering twins Nellie & her sister Erma Jean watch Uncle Pace's life slip away. With his death, Erma Jean's voice abandons her. In order to find better treatment for his daughter, Mr. Love & Erma Jean leave for Chicago. Soon, Nellie Lee & her mom join them. Life in Chicago even with less apparent segregation - isn't the promised land her family hoped. However, all that sustained the family in TN hold them together there. Home, once a large 2-story with trees, becomes a 2 room with a shared toilet. Religion, becomes Nellie & Erma's deliverance. Underneath the refined exterior, Chicago is a city of secrets. Mr. Love finds that bribery opens or shuts doors as he struggles with his business. Lake Michigan, a refuge for summer days, ignites racial rioting. The family watch in horror as a friend drowns while white's hurl rocks at Colored swimmers trying to rescue him. For over 2 weeks, all are held hostage & rioting consumes the streets: 38 dead, 100's injured, De facto segregation becomes more firmly rooted there. Mos later, Nellie reflects on her family's time there. The lynchings, rioting. James Weldon Johnson called 1919 the Red Summer - so much blood spilled. they survived battered & torn, but standing." Her diary ends New Year's Eve, 1919 with a summary
Subjects: Diaries, Juvenile fiction, Family life, Prejudices, Fiction, Sisters
