My First Thirty Years: A Memoir

In My First Thirty Years, Gertrude Beasley lays bare what others only dared to whisper. Raised in poverty and violence in early 20th—century Texas, Beasley refused silence. Her memoir—blunt, bold, and decades ahead of its time—was banned shortly after publication for its searing depictions of sexual abuse, class struggle, and a woman's fight for bodily autonomy.

With unflinching prose an...