An American Childhood

Dillard introduces her memories of her childhood by grounding them in the topography of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh sits where three rivers merge, the Monongahela from the north and the Alleghany from the south joining to create the Ohio River at the point where the land begins. Thickly wooded hills and mountains surround the rivers. The city began as a fort, located on unoccupied land surveyed by a youthful George Washington in 1753. Ten more years would pass before English settlers arrived.

When Dillard is 10 years old, in 1955, her father (Frank Doak), obsessed with Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, conceives of a solo trip downriver to New Orleans aboard the 24-foot cabin cruiser he keeps secretly on the Alleghany riverfront. He wants to visit New Orleans to explore the true home of the Dixieland Jazz that he loves so much. He quits his job in the family business, American Standard—a company begun by his great-grandfather 100 years before—and sells his shares in it. As he prepares for this journey, Dillard explains her father’s love for jazz, particularly the Dixieland jazz exemplified by New Orleans musicians—creators of the best jazz in America. Dillard notes that her mother met her father when he was 27 years old, living in New York City, and spending his nights in the jazz clubs.