"The Year the Colored Sisters Came to Town" Jacqueline Guidry

This is a story about the year two colored nuns came to a small town in Southern Louisiana to teach at the white Catholic school. One nun was to teach first and one fifth grade. But the real story is about change, and growth.

Vivian Leigh (named after the movie star) is 10 and in the fifth grade. The story follows her, her little sister, and their friends, family, and neighbors. All the people of Vivian Leigh’s little town begin to question their place in the world and how they think about others’ places.

It seems strange now, in 2004, to think about the mid-1950s and how people were worried about a “colored” nun teaching their white children. I cannot help but draw the conclusion that in 50 years, the worry now about gays teaching will have the same strangeness.