Jacqueline Woodson’s memoir Brown Girl Dreaming is set in the places where she grew up and where other family members continued to live after she left. Born in 1963, she spent her early years in Ohio, where the Woodsons were from, but after her parents separated, she and her siblings moved with their mother to Greenville, South Carolina, the hometown of the mother’s family, the Irbys. Amidst the upheavals of the Civil Rights era, the strong impact of segregation influenced her mother’s decision to return to the North. Their next move was to New York City, where their Aunt Caroline lived. Jackie finished school in Brooklyn, where a teacher’s mentoring set her on the path toward becoming a writer. Visits to the grandparents back in South Carolina reminded Jackie of the continued impact of racial discrimination.