Author Mia McKenzie Thirteen of us met on Saturday, March 28 th to discuss Mia McKenzie’s These Heathens. This 2025 novel featur es a young girl from rural Georgia going to Atlanta to seek an abortion in 1960 . The point of view is the protagonist in 2020, looking back on the events of that weekend. Aside from the theme of abortion, the novel examines themes like classism among African Americans, non-violence vs. armed resistance, segregation vs. Integration, female caregivers, female leadership, the LGBTQ2+ community back in 1960 , and religion. The real-life characters in the book include Malcolm X, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Bayard Rustin, and others. Robin, who started off our discussion, was very surprised that there were armed Black men who were in the background guarding the non-violence leaning act ivist s. She had us turn to page 115 when a group of...
The Urban Life Experience Book Discussion Series meets approximately once every six weeks at the Courtland S. Wilson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library in New Haven, CT.