This is excellent. If I could add three children’s book authors to this great list, it would be Mildred Taylor (Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - it’s actually an entire series that begins with a book called “The Land”); Lisa Cline-Ransome, who has written a number of picture books about Freedom Schools and a picture book biography of Frederick Douglass called “Words Set Me Free,” and Sharon Langley, “A Ride to Remember,” which is a picture book about her experience as the first Black child to ride the carousel at Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Maryland.
You must also read, “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabell Wilkerson. It’s a narrative of the great migration of Black people from the South to the North and West in the early part of the 20th century.
I found Harriet Jacobs on my own but on your recommendation I have read:
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Black No More
Kindred
-and been very glad I did. Since I read them via borrowed e-copy I would like to find hard copies of them all, but they are not so easy to find, despite being classics.
Wow, Joel. I haven't been around for a while and had forgotten how good you are. n my own struggles to break free I'd been overexposed to blackness as victimhood. Thanks for reminding me how much I'd overlooked. I couldn't take all of this in for lack of time, there was too much but you planted a seed in me and I'm sure many others.
I have found all these stories profoundly inspiring. If you get the chance, look up the story of James Pennington—American to the Backbone by Christopher Webber. INCREDIBLE STORY. The guy escaped a plantation totally illiterate as an adult. A Quaker couple taught him to read. He moved north, attended school, self-taught gobs more, audited courses a Yale, became a minister and an abolitionist activist and fundraiser, wrote the first African American text book in America and a banger of a memoir (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15130), and married his friend Frederick Douglass to his bride. And that’s only part of it! The man was amazing. American hero! And all that potential was practically stolen from him until he could seize it back. I tell his story in The Idea Machine, but there’s plenty online about him. Total badass.
Sometimes i make lifelong friends through spiritual autobiographies and biographies ,Etty Hillesum an unforgettable example. I'll look at this one. Thank you Joel and congratulations on your book!
One of your very best posts. I'm reading Petry's The Street right now, and your list of articles and quotes is very helpful in understanding her point of view. And thanks for including Chester Himes; he's one of my favorites.
My reading of Black American literature, from the authors you name to others (Paul Laurence Dunbar, Rudolph Fisher, Ishmael Reed, Walter Mosley, Samuel Delany), has helped me understand both their static social status and their evolving culture.
This is excellent. If I could add three children’s book authors to this great list, it would be Mildred Taylor (Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - it’s actually an entire series that begins with a book called “The Land”); Lisa Cline-Ransome, who has written a number of picture books about Freedom Schools and a picture book biography of Frederick Douglass called “Words Set Me Free,” and Sharon Langley, “A Ride to Remember,” which is a picture book about her experience as the first Black child to ride the carousel at Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Maryland.
Those are great. Thanks for adding to the list!
You must also read, “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabell Wilkerson. It’s a narrative of the great migration of Black people from the South to the North and West in the early part of the 20th century.
I loved that book! Totally eyeopening.
One of my favorites
Under the Tulip Tree
by Michelle Shocklee
🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷
Read on audible.
Highly recommended; post slavery.
I found Harriet Jacobs on my own but on your recommendation I have read:
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Black No More
Kindred
-and been very glad I did. Since I read them via borrowed e-copy I would like to find hard copies of them all, but they are not so easy to find, despite being classics.
Those are all excellent. Penguin has Black No More, but I’ve only ever seen one edition. It’s pretty obscure.
Wow, Joel. I haven't been around for a while and had forgotten how good you are. n my own struggles to break free I'd been overexposed to blackness as victimhood. Thanks for reminding me how much I'd overlooked. I couldn't take all of this in for lack of time, there was too much but you planted a seed in me and I'm sure many others.
I have found all these stories profoundly inspiring. If you get the chance, look up the story of James Pennington—American to the Backbone by Christopher Webber. INCREDIBLE STORY. The guy escaped a plantation totally illiterate as an adult. A Quaker couple taught him to read. He moved north, attended school, self-taught gobs more, audited courses a Yale, became a minister and an abolitionist activist and fundraiser, wrote the first African American text book in America and a banger of a memoir (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15130), and married his friend Frederick Douglass to his bride. And that’s only part of it! The man was amazing. American hero! And all that potential was practically stolen from him until he could seize it back. I tell his story in The Idea Machine, but there’s plenty online about him. Total badass.
Just read his memoir. It should be required in classrooms across the country.
Sometimes i make lifelong friends through spiritual autobiographies and biographies ,Etty Hillesum an unforgettable example. I'll look at this one. Thank you Joel and congratulations on your book!
Thanks, man!
This is so powerful and well-written!
One of your very best posts. I'm reading Petry's The Street right now, and your list of articles and quotes is very helpful in understanding her point of view. And thanks for including Chester Himes; he's one of my favorites.
He was new to me last year. A great find!
My reading of Black American literature, from the authors you name to others (Paul Laurence Dunbar, Rudolph Fisher, Ishmael Reed, Walter Mosley, Samuel Delany), has helped me understand both their static social status and their evolving culture.