
In 1936, teenager MacNolia Cox became the first African American finalist in the National Spelling Bee Competition. Supposedly prevented from winning, the precocious child who dreamed of becoming a doctor was changed irrevocably. Her story, told in a poignant nonlinear narrative,...

A true story lies behind this haunting collection. In 1936, MacNolia Cox won the Akron District Spelling Bee, and at the age of thirteen she became the first African American to reach the final round of the national competition. The Southern judges, it is thought, kept her from...