The Last Train North

In the sequel to his universally loved Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored, Clifton L. Taulbert takes the reader on a journey out of the segregated South of his childhood and into the explosive era of the 1960s.
This is the story of what happened when, at age 17, Taulbert boarded the Illinois Central train on one of its last runs out of Greenville, Mississippi, to St. Louis, the city of his dreams.
The reality he found was not what he expected, but it held its own warmth and promise. It was the world of the Lively Stone Church of God and the people who gathered there to sing, worship, and encourage each other as they had down south. It was the world of Brazier's Confectionery, the little black-owned corner grocery store, of the people who lived above the store and worked hard to make their northern dreams come true. Here Taulbert encountered the frustration of second- and third- generation northern blacks who were still barred by color from meaningful jobs and full participation in society.
The Last Train North is the story of one naive and hopeful "colored boy" struggling to become the strong, successful black man his southern community had sent him north to be.