Question: How did you come up with the concept for Open the Unusual Door?

I got tired of seeing the headlines but I also felt that if the sad statistics were true, maybe there was something I could do about it. What if our young people weren’t reading because the reading materials weren’t interesting or relevant? What if the stories in school books just didn’t grab kids? What if parents wanted to change the headlines but didn’t know what other books to get?

I decided to put together an anthology – a sampler – of real life stories taken from the memoirs and autobiographies of real life people, Black folks, men and women, who were once boys and girls, and who went on to become noteworthy individuals. The key words are real life. Nothing – no Xbox, no Game Boy, no rap record, no movie – can tell an exciting story the way a real life can. This collection of 16 lives tells a whole lot of stories!

Q: What do you want young people to take from the book?
A: I want young people to understand that life is big and there are opportunities all over the place. But life is not easy. Growing up is not easy. It’s challenging. And part of growing up is handling challenges in the most creative and positive ways possible. Challenges can be doors to opportunity – unusual, unexpected chances to change your life. And there’s nothing like using the real experiences of real people to show how this can happen.

Q: In your introduction, you talk about the meeting you had with Dr. Benjamin Carson. What was it like talking with him about his experiences?
A: Amazing. After reading about the extremely intricate surgeries he’s performed separating Siamese twins, removing brain tumors, and saving children’s lives, I guess I thought he’d speak some complex, scientific language I’d never be able to understand. But Dr. Carson was so dynamic and straightforward, so engaging, and I have to say, handsome, that the meeting with him became one of the high points in the making of the book.

His publisher had refused permission to publish an excerpt from his memoir, so that door was closed to me. But Dr. Carson himself invited me to meet with him. And when I drove to Johns Hopkins Medical Center and entered Pediatric Surgery, I literally opened and walked through the door to his office.

It was amazing to feel that I was a part of the story I was writing for others. I was learning the same lesson.

Q: You read hundreds of memoirs while gathering the selections for Open the Unusual Door. How did you decide which ones to choose?
A: I wanted a well-rounded mix of successful Black Americans represented in the book. I also wanted to include people who were still alive and kicking, still able to contribute to the world. Clearly identifiable challenges were important. Good, diverse writing styles were important. Looking inward to the self was just as important as looking outward to the world. Some memoirs are unfortunately not very introspective.

At the outset I wanted a 50-50 mix of male and female contributors, but I soon found out that there were many more memoirs published by men than by women! I don’t know whether that has to do with who’s doing the writing or who’s doing the publishing. At any rate, I would like to see more memoirs by women.

For seventeen years, she was a model at the prestigious Ford Agency and was able to draw upon this experience for her groundbreaking book, Black and Beautiful: How Women of Color Changed the Fashion Industry. She also edited the bestselling, I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America and penned the short story collection, Nouvelle Soul.

Summers has taught French, English and journalism and currently teaches English Composition at a CUNY institution. She lives in New York City and is at work on a novel about the Harlem Renaissance.

Send a note to Barbara at bsummers @ opentheunusualdoor.com