Title: We had a dream
First published: 1998
Description: Back in the innocence of a time when many Americans were eager to bring the races together, a white boy and a black girl fall in love. The boy's father, professing to want the best for his son, breaks up their romance. The years roll forward. Long after the two teenage lovers last saw each other, they are reunited. They are still in love, but for them to marry would still cause great family discord. Will history repeat itself?

Thus begins We Had a Dream, Howard Kohn's intricate morality tale about America one generation after the modern era of civil rights activism. Kohn brings us a true story that unfolds against a backdrop of racial politics, suburban culture, and fired-up emotions. The principal characters are sympathetic souls, people who want to make good on the dream. And yet ...

The first love affair soon coincides with a second one. A black boy and a white girl are attracted to each other, but not long after they meet, the boy is found shot to death outside the girl's bedroom, killed by her father, a local police officer. However, the father is not arrested. Instead, his daughter is, charged in a murder conspiracy with her dead boyfriend. And this is still only the beginning of the story.
Subjects: Race relations, Civil rights, Interracial dating, Interracial marriage, Case studies, African Americans, Biography, History, Maryland
Places: Prince George's County, Maryland, Prince George's County (Md.), United States
Time periods: 20th century
LC classification: F187.P9 K64 1998