Racism, Activism, and the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. Brown Girl Dreaming focuses on the experience of growing up as an African-American child during the 1960s and early 1970s, a period of intense energy and organization surrounding questions of race and racial justice. The most prevalent theme in Woodson's memoir Brown Girl Dreaming is the power of words. In "the beginning" Woodson shares her first memory of writing when she pens a letter J with Odella's help.
