From Tribal War to Color War: A Message of Survival and Belonging in How Dare the Sun Rise

Abstract

Studying a memoir provides middle and secondary school English students the opportunity for reflection on reality and analysis of literary elements in the same way a novel does. The genre, then, should be accessible to students. Selected for the New York Public Library’s "Top Ten Books of 2017 for Teens" and the Junior Library Guild, How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child (2017) by Sandra Uwiringiyimana (with Abigail Pesta) is more than a memoir; it’s a story about race in America from the perspective of an African immigrant who fled the 2004 Gatumba massacre in Burundi. In just one night, over 150 Congolese refugees from the Banyamulenge tribe were killed by the National Forces of Liberation of Burundi, while another 106 were left wounded. These men, women, and children were killed solely based on their ethnicity and have yet to receive the justice that they and their surviving family members deserve.