480 Codorus Street (PB) (2020)

480 Codorus Street is the first book of three. It is an autobiography of the trials and tribulations of a young Negro girl who grew up in York, Pennsylvania in the 1950s and 1960s. This book covers a period of time from Sandra's birth to becoming an adult. It is a story of Sandra Lee Kearse-Stockton's own life of encouragement and heroism. This is not a book of fiction but a book to challenge those who may be at their lowest point and in their darkest place, from domestic violence, sexual assault, and or death, to pull on their inner strength and survive whatever they are going through. Readers, this book tells the story about how America was during that time. Abuse of women and children was almost the norm in black neighborhoods. Men felt that they owned their wives and children; they were property to many men. The police did not intervene on behalf of women and children. They had no defense.

In this book Sandra shares her hidden scars with the reader. She looks back and reflects upon her life, the assumptions she made about her life and her family. How does one draw the line between punishment and abuse, forgiveness and mercy, justice ad fairness? Sandra's struggle to forgive her father is overwhelming to the point that when she hears his name, her anger comes to the forefront of her deepest mental and psychological memories, which forces her to relieve the past abuse that happened at 480 Codorus Street in the 1950s.