The Melon Boys

Book excerpt: Compelling and Controversial....The Melon Boys is a story of the South in the summer of 1968, soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Its fictitious account brings to light real events that took place outside the view of TV cameras and the 6 Oclock evening news. This was the South of the migrant worker and sharecropper, where white social backlash exacted a terrible price on ordinary blacks. In turbulent times, everyday life can require great courage, and friendships can lead to ultimate tests of loyalty. For college student Matt Mayer, the job of migrant worker turns into the education of a lifetime in this context. After he befriends two black co-workers, he finds himself in the path of danger more than once. He is quickly driven to decide if he should follow the unwritten rules that dictate day-to-day race relations, or honor the bonds of friendships he has formed. How can a white college student from the Midwest, with little exposure to any race but his own, make sense of the complex social rules of a still segregated South? And, more importantly, how will his experience shape the man he will become?