South Holland resident publishes first novel: ‘Mothers of the Projects’

Melissa Winston reveals the overlooked sense of community in Chicago’s housing projects

SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill. (June 26, 2024) – “My parents moved to Chicago to save my life.” This is how Melissa Winston’s recently published biographical novel begins: “Mothers of the Projects.”

Winston is a South Holland resident who attends church in Lansing, and she grew up in an urban housing project in Chicago. Her novel, which is told in her mother Jamesetta’s first person perspective, details her mom’s personal experience growing up in the projects and building a community. The detailed novel tells a story of urban housing projects marked by a “beacon of hope.”

The background story

Winston wrote the novel to share her mother’s unique story. She began the novel after her mother passed away around 10 years ago. Her mother had always felt called to write a book but never got the chance. Beginning to write around two years ago, Winston’s goal in her book is to show readers the community built by mothers in the urban housing projects and dismantle the negative biases associated with the projects.

“A lot of people don’t know that before all the violence, there was a community,” Winston said. “This community was based solely on the mothers. The mothers had to take on the role of supporting the family — being the backbone of the family — and they built a great community. We had childhood friends among each other. No one ever saw each other hungry or in need. They built a great community, and a lot of people don’t know that.”

According to Winston, many people have a negative understanding of what life was like in the projects, and the mothers took the blame. Winston wants to convey to readers that, contrary to popular belief, people immigrated to Chicago and other urban housing projects to give their kids a better life.

Beginning to write

As Winston began to write, she re-thought a lot about the relationship she had with her mother. While Jamesetta had initially felt compelled by God to write a book, this feeling was one Winston felt only years later. Her mother had left her information about her life that she could choose to write about.

Yet it took Winston a couple of years before she actually began to write.

“I didn’t think I had what it took to write a book,” Winston said. “Sometimes you just feel like you’re not able to do something — that it’s for someone else, someone that may be smarter than you …. But then I had to tell myself, why not? I had to convince myself, and as I started to write, all these wonderful stories began to develop in my head. I was hearing my mother actually talking to me, and when I’m writing, I’m hearing her voice.”

Where to find “Mothers of the Projects”

Now that Winston has published her book, she has received several pieces of feedback from friends. Several of these friends, whom Winston had met growing up in a Chicago housing project, deeply related to the content written in her story.

“I want this story to be told,” Winston said. “The reason why I wrote the book is because a lot of the time, people — when you’re not as educated as they are, or you’re not living in the same community — make you feel worthless. And I want people to know that these were mothers. These were mothers, no matter where they live, no matter how much their income or education.”

“Mothers of the Projects” can be found on Amazon: amazon.com/Mothers-Projects-Melissa-Winston/dp/B0D3TV5ZBP.

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