Cheryl Coward

Sugarhill Cheryl Coward

Sugarhill explores what it means to be poor, black and female in Central Florida during the late 1970s. It is narrated by a wizened young girl named Cassie who lives in a housing project on the very edge of the small city of Hinesville. Her world is full of adventure and non-stop action in the only place she knows and loves dearly, the Sugarhill projects. She is a perceptive and acute commentator on the goings-on of her neighborhood. Her inner world is just as active as she possesses quite a vivid imagination. However, Cassies seemingly happy-go-lucky existence is punctuated by several calamitous incidents as she approaches the end of her elementary school years. These incidents reveal widespread change in the neighborhood as the 1980s approach. Cassies mother, constantly alert to the changes in the neighborhood, works hard to try and move her family from Sugarhill.