Before she got the phone call Tiffany Lott Stevenson was at the end of her rope. Her son Oscar was having major behavioral problems in school. No one was willing to help. Instead the white teachers and administration were all ready to write Oscar off as a “troubled black youth.” Tiffany was sure that his newest teacher Anita Kelley D’Abbraccio would be exactly the same. When Anita finally called Tiffany was sure she too was giving up on Oscar. Instead Anita proposed a different solution. She wanted to work with Tiffany to come up with an action plan to address Oscar’s issues and change some of his troubled behavior. As the two women began meeting to discuss Oscar’s progress something amazing happened. They became friends. The two bonded based on their shared Christian faith and experiences as mothers. Tiffany wasn’t the only one who needed help with her family and the two promised to be there for each other through the troubled times ahead. In this heartwarming memoir both the “white teacher” and the “black mama” show what this friendship has meant to them and how their bond has helped them through times of extraordinary hardship.
