Young Frankie Bates’ emergence from childhood in the small town of Hill City, Kansas in the 70’s is anything but normal… Because It just so happens that he’s the only black boy in the entire community.
Black When I Was a Boy is an autobiographical recollection, of the extraordinary inner life of Frankie Bates emerging from childhood as he grows into a teenager on the streets of Hill City, Kansas in the 70’s and 80’s (pop 1,500). While his friends explore and stretch their understanding of drugs, sex and rock and roll, Frankie is tasked with developing tools for survival until a life threatening encounter with a band of rednecks and a couple of heroic cowboys changes his life forever.