The Adirondack Park in New York State is not just home to the majestic Adirondack Mountains - but is home to approximately 130,000 full-time residents in 101 towns and villages. Witherbee is a hamlet in one of those small towns and the place where Author Alice Paden Green learned a harsh reality about race growing up Black in a predominantly white area. "Outsider: Stories of Growing of Growing Up Black in the Adirondacks" details many of Green's experiences as her family grappled with poverty, race and acceptance in the mid-20th century.
This memoir, prompted by a recent gathering of Blacks and whites in the Adirondacks for a discussion of race relations, explores perceptions of Black  in the 1950s and '60s and whether Blacks are still viewed as outsiders or welcomed with open arms in this four-season, recreational playground still dominated by white residents.