African American Literature Discussion Group

Dis-Integration

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:37:00 +0000

My parents, born in the early 1920s, were die hard, unapologetic integrationists. Dad survived the Jim Crow south, where he was bussed away from the closest school to an all black one, served in colored units in WWII, graduated from HBC Xavier University, and managed a graduate degree from Northwestern while being shunned from the all-white dormitories...right here in liberal Evanston. Mom grew up in Chicago's Hyde Park, where she was routinely the designated "first Negro"...in the Glee Club, the debate club, on the tennis team. Neither had any patience with "separatism": they firmly believed that fully integrating into mainstream white society was the lone path to African American success.

Yet despite this belief, I lived in African American neighborhoods my entire childhood, attended a black church, and had mostly black friends until high school. My parents socialized exclusively with other middle class African Americans: they attended Links cotillions, Delta Sigma Thetas "Founders' Days, and Christmas parties hosted by The Assembly, a black Chicago social club. So...what happened to that much vaunted integration?

Reading Tanner Colby's Some of My Best Friends Are Black reminds me that my family's situation was hardly unusual. We'll be discussing this provocative social history of persistent segregation in schools, housing, advertising and churches this coming Tuesday evening. You can get an overview of Colby's main points from awonderful discussion he had with June Thomas of Slate magazine, and find reviews and articles by Colby at his website.

Of course Colby isn't the first to write about integration, (or the lack thereof) in the U.S. Below are 3 major works on teh topic, all of which Colby cites in his notes...

The Strange Career of Jim Crow, by Vann C. Woodward. The classic social history of legalized segregation in America.

Sundown Towns, but James Loewen. "Don't let the sun go down on you in this town." We equate these words with the Jim Crow South but, in a sweeping analysis of American residential patterns, James W. Loewen demonstrates that strict racial exclusion was the norm in American towns and villages for much of the twentieth century.

Hidden Cost of Being African American, by Thomas M. Shapiro.
Looks at the role even modest family wealth contributes to upward mobility in many white families, while a racially tinged real estate market devalues black home ownership, making it harder for black families to accumulate and pass down wealth. Shapiro offers some modest, extremely workable solutions.

See you Tuesday night, 7:00 pm. in the Small Meeting Room of Evanston Public Library!

Take the AAL Survey!

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:22:00 +0000

As we plan ahead for the coming year, we'd like to know what you think of AAL, what you like, and what we could be doing better. Please help us out by completing this quick survey!

Thanks!!!

African American Short Story Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:56:00 +0000

Next week AAL will be discussing Amina Gautier's short story collection, At-Risk. Gautier follows in a long tradition of African American short story artists. Short stories are a great way to get to know some of our greatest writers: Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, Zora Neale Huston, and also a place to discover new talents. Below are 17 terrific African and African American short story collections at EPl...

Stories by Individual Authors

A Taste of Honey: Stories by Jabari Asim (Fiction Asim.J)

In 16 related short stories, Asim (author of The N Word, which we'll be reading in October)) illustrates the connections between African-American characters living in a Midwestern town in the tumultuous late '60s. In the opening narrative, "I'd Rather Go Blind," Abari describes his community: grown men with colorful nicknames, his adolescent brothers changing before his eyes, and an emerging Black Nationalist fervor rising in his neighborhood. Asim successfully delves into politics, domestic violence, racial identity, young love, and more in this humorous and poignant collection.

Echo Tree: The Collected Short Fiction of Henry Dumas (Fiction Dumas.H)
Henry Dumas's fiction is a masterful synthesis of myth and religion, culture and nature, mask and identity. From the Deep South to the simmering streets of Harlem, his characters embark on surreal and mythic quests armed only with wit, words, and wisdom. Championed by Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, and Quincy Troupe, -Dumas's books have long been out of print. All of his short fiction is collected here, for the first time, and includes several previously unpublished stories.

Before You Suffocate your Own Fool Self, by Danielle Evans (Fiction Evans.D)
Fearless, funny, and ultimately tender, Evans's stories offer a bold new perspective on the experience of being young and African-American or mixed-race in modern-day America.

Short Stories, by Langston Hughes (Fiction Hughe.L 2001)
This collection of forty-seven stories written between 1919 and 1963 - the most comprehensive available - showcases Langston Hughes's literary blossoming and the development of his personal and artistic concerns. These poignant, witty, angry, and deeply poetic stories demonstrate Hughes's uncanny gift for elucidating the most vexing questions of American race relations and human nature in general.

All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward Jones (Fiction Jones.E)
In fourteen sweeping and sublime stories the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Known World, (our February book!) shows that his grasp of the human condition is firmer than ever Returning to the city that inspired his first prizewinning book, Lost in the City, Jones has filled this new collection with people who call Washington, D.C., home. Yet it is not the city's power brokers that most concern him but rather its ordinary citizens, some caught between the old ways of the South and the temptations that await them further north.With the legacy of slavery just a stone's throw away and the future uncertain, Jones's cornucopia of characters will haunt readers for years to come.

Pieces of the Hole by Tony Lindsay,       (Fiction Linds.T)
The hip-hop culture on the south side of Chicago links stories that are otherwise very different from each other in subject and approach. Stark scenes of gang violence, drug use, and prison life are contrasted with light and humorous stories, and the grittiness of urban life is softened by the preoccupations of adolescence, the chance for romance, or the ordinary moments of family life.

The Monkey Suit and Other Short Fiction on African Americans and Justice by David Dante Troutt (Fiction Trout.D)
Troutt has transformed the history of ten classic legal cases involving African Americans into a collection of short fiction. He explores how fairly ordinary and simple lives are dramatically changed and complicated by the law, and how the law labels and minimizes the lives of the characters. The cases include the principal Scottsboro Boys case; the first challenge to the constitutionality of segregation; and the case, in which warrantless searches were deemed unconstitutional.

In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women, by Alice Walker (Fiction Walke.A)
Readers of Alice Walker's The Color Purple will find in these stories further evidence of her power to depict black women -- women who vary greatly in background but are bound together by their vulnerability to life: Roselily, on her wedding day, surrounded by her four children, prays that a loveless marriage will bring her respectability; a young writer, exploited by both her lover and her husband, wreaks an ironic vengeance; a jealous wife, looking for her husband's mistress, finds a competitor she cannot fight; an old woman, thrown out of a white church, meets God on a highway. These are just a few of the seekers of dignity and love whom Alice Walker portrays in this astonishing collection.

God's Gym, by John Edgar Wideman, (Fiction Widem.J)

In Wideman's challenging collection, he pushes the form's envelope, to increased heights of effectiveness. Weight, one of the best in the collection, assumes the shape of a segment of autobiography as the first-person narrator pays piquant tribute to the quiet strength of his mother. "Sharing" is told from the perspective of a white woman as she relates her encounter with a black neighbor--a brilliant demonstration of Wideman's versatility in adopting voices. Any reader who believes that short stories are too formulaic and constrictive for authors to truly exert their individuality should be required to experience these.

Anthologies and Themes

The African American West: A Century of Short Stories Fiction Short Stories Glasr.B

The distinguished body of short stories depicting African Americans in the western United States has long been overlooked. Rather than reproducing the racial stereotypes and condescending dialogue found in past fiction of the eastern United States, these authors portrayed black Americans seeking new lives. Ranging from early twentieth-century writers such as Charles Chesnutt to contemporary authors such as Walter Mosley, the works in The African American West demonstrate how the West, as seen through the eyes of African Americans, has evolved over the last century.

The Unforgetting Heart, An Anthology of Short Stories by African American Women, 1859-1993
edited by Asha Kanwar,   (Fiction Short Stories Kanwa.A)
This collection of brings together an unprecedented range of beautifully crafted short stories by women that span a century and a half of African American literary tradition. The writers included here, both the famous and the less well-known, together represent the remarkable diversity of African American women's writing across class, culture and time.

Children of the Night" The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to the Present, edited by Gloria Naylor      (Fiction Short Stories Naylo.G)
Gathering together the most gifted black writers of our time - from 1967 to 1995- Naylor has assembled a rich and varied collection of stories. The portrait that emerges of the African-American experience in the post-Civil Rights era is stirring, compelling, sometimes disturbing, and certainly provocative. Naylor has arranged the stories thematically so the reader focuses on a particular subject - slavery, for example, or the family. From a young woman's struggles with her barren faith in Alice Walker's lyrical "The Diary of an African Nun" to an innocent man's involvement in a horrifying act of violence in Ann Petry's "The Witness", they are, as Naylor states in her introduction, "examples of affirmation: of memory, of history, of family, of being".

An African Quilt: 24 Modern African Stories                  (Paperbk Fiction Stories)
Celebrates the incredibly rich and diverse literary tradition of Africa with 24 stories
spanning the continent, from Nigeria to South Africa. Reflecting a continent with a tragic history, An African Quilt depicts a place where everyday life is extraordinary, and the continent’s history changes what it means to be a woman, an employee, a couple, a passerby, and, of course, a citizen. Revealed through the backdrop of postcolonial Africa, the struggles within these stories resonate beyond their context and appeal to every reader’s sense of what it means to be human.

Gumbo. A Celebration of African American Writing      (Fiction Short Stories Golde.M)
A literary rent party to benefit the Hurston/Wright Foundation of African-American fiction, with selections to savor from bestselling authors as well as talented rising stars.A stellar collection of works from more than fifty hot names in fiction, Gumbo represents remarkable synergy. Edited by bestselling luminaries Marita Golden and E. Lynn Harris, this collection spans new and previously published tales of love and luck, inspiration and violation, hip new worlds and hallowed heritage from voices such as: Edwidge Danticat Eric Jerome Dickey Kenji Jasper John Edgar Wideman Terry McMillan David Anthony Durham Bertice Berry and many more

Ebony Rising: Short Fiction of the Greater Harlem Renaissance Era      (Fiction Short Stories Gable.C)
The first comprehensive, gender-balanced collection of short fiction from the greater Harlem Renaissance era (1912--1940), a time marked by writing of extraordinary breadth and depth by some of the most famous authors in African American literary history. Among them were Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, Dorothy West, and Claude McKay. There are stories set in Harlem, but they are just as likely to take place elsewhere in the United States. Alongside traditional stories, there are examples of detective fiction, political satire, even science fiction, with a few experiments in narrative structure and form for good measure.

Mending the World: Stories of Family by Contemporary Black Writers         (810.80896 Mending)

The many facets of black family life have not always been fully visible in American literature. Black families have often been portrayed as chaotic, fractured, and emotionally devastated, and historians and sociologists are just beginning to acknowledge the resilience and strength of African American families through centuries of hardship. In Mending the World, a host of beloved writers celebrate the richness of black family life, revealing how deep, complicated, and joyous modern kinship can be.

The Sleeper Wakes: Harlem Renaissance Stories by Women           (Fiction Short Stories Knopf.M)
In recent years there has been an explosion of interest in the art and culture of the Harlem Renaissance. Yet this significant collection is the first definitive edition of Harlem Renaissance stories by women. The writers include Gwendolyn Bennett, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Angelina Weld Grimké, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and Dorothy West. Published originally in periodicals such as The Crisis , Fire!! , and Opportunity , these twenty-seven stories have until now been virtually unavailable to readers. These stories are as compelling today as they were in the 1920s and 1930s. In them, we find the themes of black and white racial tension and misunderstanding, economic deprivation, passing, love across and within racial lines, and the attempt to maintain community and uplift the race.

Streetlights: Illuminating Tales of the Urban Black Experience   (Fiction Short Stories Austi.)
Editors Austin and Simmons have chosen 49 recent stories by 49 black writers that evoke 49 distinctive interpretations of city life as lived today by African Americans. These are stories about people in complicated relationships, relationships made even more difficult by the pressure, danger, and bleak
indifference of the city. The plots involve painful or significant interactions between strangers; the fears of parents raising children in cities; conflicts between grown children and parents and between divorcing spouses; racism; money troubles; the disappointments and determination of immigrants; the pipe dreams of pregnant teenagers , by proven writers, such as Bebe Moore Campbell, Terry McMillan, and Louis Edwards, as well as by lesser-known talents, particularly Steven Corbin, Carolyn Ferrell, and Jacqueline Joan Johnson.

Meet Amina Gautier...for real!

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 19:00:00 +0000

It is no accident that slaves were forbidden to read and write, or that women were long kept out of universities. Knowing this so early on made me believe that being a writer was the best thing one could be and that writing literature was the most revolutionary, dangerous, powerful, empowering and important thing a human being could do.

Zora Neale Hurston, folklorist

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

A couple of years ago, Chicago's Court Theater presented Spunk, a theater piece based on 3 of Zora Neale Hurston's short stories, accompanied by bluesy guitar and song. The stories and music beautifully evoke the early '20s Eatonville so powerfully described in Hurston's stories.

Seeing the stories on stage, Hurston's ease and fluency with African American folkore is evident. So it should come as no surprise that her writing developed from a serious commitment to anthropology. Professor D. Soyini Madison describes Hurston's unique field research this way:

"She became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. "

Hurston's life was her greatest performance, embodying both her research and her fiction. In reading Wrapped in Rainbows, we see a life spent witnessing, performing and immortalizing the cultures she knew best.

Join us for our discussion of Wrapped in Rainbows, The Life of Zora Neale Hurston on Tuesday March 12th, 7:00 pm, in the Small Meeting Room of Evanston Public Library.

D. Soyini Madison

he became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report. - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpu

She became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report. - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

he became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report. - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

Conversations with Edward P. Jones

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:46:00 +0000

Here's an irony for you: our next AAL discussion, in which we'll be covering slavery, takes place on February 12th, birthday of "The Great Emancipator" Abraham Lincoln. Weird.

Author Edward Jones has been interviewed many times since writing The Known World: Here are three of the most interesting ones...

An interview with his publisher Harper Collins...

One you can listen to on National Public Radio ...

And finally, this conversation with poet E. Ethelbert Miller, for the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society...

Some ideas to consider for our discussion Tuesday...

At some point in his undergraduate studies at Holy Cross College, Edward P. Jones learned that a small number of free blacks in the antebellum South had owned slaves. That odd fact, he told an interviewer, connected with a story he had read in high school about a Jewish man who joined the American Nazi party, and coalesced into an interest in people who act in a way opposite to the collective memory and values of the group to which they ostensibly belong . The thought stayed with him for thirty years, becoming the nucleus of his first novel, The Known World.

What is the "known world" in this book? What known worlds do the characters in The Known World inhabit?

The Known World is ostensibly about the life of Henry Townsend. How well do we know Henry Townsend at the end of the novel? Does the novel encourage any judgments about him?

What does this book seem to see as the price of slavery? Who pays it and in what currency?

Why is historical data about Manchester County incorporated into the novel?

How does Moses's story frame the events of the novel?

How do Augustus Townsend and William Robbins function as fathers to Henry? Where do they help Henry, and where and how do they fail him?

How are the women's experiences of slavery different from the men's in this book?

Why is the character of Moses significant to the novel? How would you characterize his relationship with Henry and Caldonia Townsend? What about with his wife and child?

What is the significance of the Augustus Townsend character? In what ways is Augustus a victim of attitudes about slavery in the South? In what ways is he a victor?

Were relationships between parents and children notably different during the era of slavery than in the present day? Consider Caldonia, Calvin, and Maude; William Robbins, Patience, and Dora; and Augustus, Mildred, and Henry.

AAL Summer - Fall List is ready!

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 23:40:00 +0000

Greetings! Here's the schedule for our May - September discussions. NOTE: Starting in June we will switch to the 3rd Tuesday of the month, instead of the 2nd. All titles will be held at the RA desk on the 2nd floor of the library for 6 weeks prior to the discussion.

May 14th Some of My Best Friends Are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America by Tanner Colby

In this charming and surprisingly funny book, Colby takes a fresh, honest look at race relations, showing us both how far we've come in bridging the racial divide and how far we've yet to go.

June 18th Small Island by Andrea Levy

Told in the alternating voices of its central characters, Levy examines the inner lives and struggles of Jamaican immigrants Hortense and Gilbert, and their English landlady Queenie, both before and after World War II.

July 16th Unafraid of the Dark A Memoir by Rosemary Bray McNatt

Rosemary Bray traces her quest for identity as a writer, a feminist, a wife, a mother and an African American. Along the way, she imparts a visceral sense of what it meant to be poor and black in Chicago's South Side in the 1960s. A quietly affecting memoir, and a call to action.

September 17th Sag Harbor: A Novel by Colson Whitehead

In this deeply affectionate and fiercely funny coming-of-age novel, Colson Whitehead uses the perpetual mortification of teenage existence and the desperate quest for reinvention to describe the summer identity quest of a black prep school student in 1985.

From Slavery to Fiction: Intriguing Looks at The Peculiar Institution

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:39:00 +0000

It's time to start picking books for our summer and fall discussions! I am always happy to get suggestions from readers, so please, if you have an idea, post it here, on our Facebook or GoodReads page, or simply email me! The only criteria is that it be related to the African American experience, either fiction or nonfiction; and that it be widely available in standard bookstores and public libraries.

Our February book, The Known World, deals with slavery from an unusual angle, looking at free blacks who themselves became slave owners. There are of course, hundreds of novels about the African American slave experience, but here are a few that take it in a radically different direction than the norm...

Wench, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez [AAL selection May 2011] - The uneasy friendship between four slave women who meet every year when their owner/lovers take them to a summer resort.

Lion's Blood: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America, by Steven Barnes - What if the racial dynamics of slavery were reversed; if Blacks were the masters and Whites the slaves? Barnes imagines a world where European Americans are enslaved by African landowners.

Someone Knows My Name, by Lawrence Hill - The saga of Aminata, who comes to South Carolina as a slave during the American Revolution and eventually assists in the founding of the slave colony Sierra Leone.

Soulcatcher, and Other Stories by Charles Johnson - Although Middle Passage is his most famous work related to slavery, this story collection examines the many different ways slavery has corroded American humanity through the centuries.

Kindred, by Octavia Butler - The most terrifying science fiction story I've ever read: what if you were a confident, independent black woman of the 20th century who is abruptly catapulted back to the slave-owning 19th century South?

Aannnddd...this Saturday January 19th, stop by EPL to watch a remarkable film telling a unique tale aout slavery, Prince Among Slaves

African Heritage Film: Prince Among Slaves

Saturday, January 19, 2 pm, Community Meeting Room, Main Library
In 1788, a slave ship sailed from the Gambia River with hundreds of men, women and children bound in chains. Eight months later, a handful of survivors were sold in Natchez, Mississippi. One of them made an astonishing claim: he was a prince of an African kingdom larger and more developed than the newly formed United States. The true story of an African prince who endured the humiliation of slavery without losing his dignity or hope of freedom. Narrated by Mos Def. Prince Among Slaves won the Best Documentary prize at the 2007 American Black Film Festival.

"Fierce and Nerdy": Pretty in Pink meets The Color Purple

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:13:00 +0000

32 Candles was an absolute treat for me, and I can't wait to read more by Ernessa T. Carter. Founder and editor of the Fierce and Nerdy blog, Ms Carter delivers a much needed kick in the pants to "chick lit" and African American romance, with a central character who is dark skinned, Southern, nerdy and considers herself ugly. Influenced by Celie in the Alice Walker classic The Color Purple, Carter takes the ugly duckling theme of popular movie romances like 16 Candles and reinterprets them for a black audience. Whereas a gorgeous bridesmaid dress and hipster music gets the guy for Molly Ringwald, learning to love her natural hair, dark skin, and superior smarts is what does it for Davie.
In a recent interview, talking about the Molly Ringwald movies that are such a touchstone for her character Davie, Carter says:

"I found that really interesting that people said they were universal after John Hughes died just because it is so outside of so many people’s experience, but at the same time I think what they really mean when they say [those films] are universal is that the fantasy of it is universal. Everybody wants to have the guy fall head-over-heels for them. They want to get the richest guy in school. That fantasy may be universal, but I don’t necessarily think the experience is universal. "

For some discussion ideas, see the Harper-Collins reading group guide to 32 Candles. See you Tuesday at 7, in our usual spot: the Small Meeting room of EPL!

Getting to Know Malcolm and Manning

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 18:31:00 +0000

Interview with Manning Marable

It's always exciting to learn more about a topic you thought you knew well, as I am doing now with Malcolm X. I can't wait to discuss Manning Marable's perspective on Malcolm with all of you at our next meeting.

A couple of resources to help you out, or for those who want additional background on the book, or on Malcolm or on Dr. Marable's work.

Dr Marable researched and worked on the book through the Malcolm X Project at Columbia University in New York. The website is a treasure trove of primary sources, video interviews, photos, and government documents. Most of the sources cited in Marable's book are here.

For a completely different approach to Malcolm's life and work, try Malcolm X: A Research Site, edited by Abdul Alkalimat. Alkalimat is highly critical of Marable, (see his review) and writes from a decided Black Liberation perspective, but the site does a wonderful job of pulling together essays and documents from a wide variety of historians,and political and religious figures across the spectrum, as well as recordings of Malcolm's speeches. You can even join in on the ongoing debate over the legitimacy of Marable's book.

I've pulled together a list of books either in the EPL collection or else readily obtainable through local libraries, as well as some additional websites. Hope this is helpful, and I'll see all of you on Tuesday December 11th at 7 pm for our discussion!

Call or stop by the Library's 2nd floor desk if you still need a copy: 847-448-8620.

Civil Rights Era Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:39:00 +0000

Greetings AAL fans! Tomorrow night we will be talking about Betsey Brown, Ntozake's Shange's evocative portrayal of a middle class family in St Louis during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. If you'd like to know more about the author, check out this great article: 10 Things to Know About Ntozake Shange.

Betsey Brown is somewhat different from Shange's other work; it has a simpler more straightforward style and vocabulary (it's often taught as a young adult novel) and a more traditional narrative than say her famous choreopoem For Colored Girls. For a comprehensive overview, take a look at the Betsey Brown reading guide.

The civil rights movement has produced its share of famous novels, but from To Kill a Mockingbird all the way through The Help, many of the best known have been by white authors and written from a white perspective. If you're looking for the African American fiction set in this time period, try our list of civil rights fiction for black folks.

And don't forget to pick up your copy of Malcom X: A Reinvention! copies are already on hold; call the Reader's Services desk at 847-448-8620 to snag yours.

The War on Drugs...a War on African Americans

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 00:02:00 +0000

It's almost time...our next meeting is this coming Tuesday October 9th at 7:00 p.m. , and it promises to be a hot one! As we read Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, it's helpful to look at U.S. drug policy, which results in so many arrests of young African Americans. National Public Radio aired this program in January, in which All Things Considered host Guy Raz speaks with director Eugene Jarecki about his film The House I Live In. Michelle Alexander can be heard in the interview.

You can also hear Ms. Alexander given an impassioned address to Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, in which she outlines the major themes of her book.

One of the sources Alexander quotes is Douglas Blackmon's Slavery By Another Name: The Re-enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. Although most of us know about "chain gangs" and the sharecropping system, Blackmon also highlights a prison system designed to net as many black men as possible to provide free labor for companies and local governments across the South. As in Alexander's work, it's the intentionality that shocks, and provides the most disturbing and controversial moments in the book.

I look forward to exploring and debating Alexander and Blackmon's arguments with all of you this Tuesday!

Finding Humor in Racism: Discussing Erasure

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 15:17:00 +0000

Welcome back to AAL! Next Tuesday September 11th we'll be discussing Erasure, Percival Everett's wryly humorous take on racism in the book business. But is racism ever funny? Or should it be?

Generations of writers and comics have found inspiration in the absurdity of human nature, and few things are more absurd than racism. Making fun of racism has been a staple of African American theater, literature and folklore since slavery days, as attested in several recent histories of the genre.

Laughing at racism from a black perspective has served as a defense mechanism, a safety valve, and corrective to demeaning portrayals of African Americans in the larger culture. Godfrey Cambridge, Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, David Alan Grier and Chris Rock: all use humor to deflate stereotypes about African Americans, while Grier and Rock also challenge fellow African Americans not to fall into the same patterns of sloppy stereotypical thought and behavior.

One of the most innovative current practitioners of comedic racism bashing is stand-up comedian W. Kamau Bell, whose routine, The W. Kamau Bell Curve Show: Ending Racism In About An Hour, takes on closet racism in a fresh, TED talk style.

Click the above video, "2 Questions That You Never Ask Black People about Their Hair" for a taste. (WARNING: the language gets a bit raw.)

Poking fun at racism can defuse tension and open dialogue around an uncomfortable topic, according to anti-racism educator Damali Ayo. In her book How to Rent a Negro , Ayo claims that "all blacks have been "rented" at some time, placed in the role of token at work or in a social setting, or drafted to represent the entire race with an opinion on a current race-related topic". Her "renter's guide" satirizes this phenomenon, allowing "renters" to see themselves, laugh at themselves, and perhaps experience a little consciousness raising.

I hope our discussion of Erasure will be fun, funny and (thought) provocative. To get a copy, please call us at 847-448-8620, (mention that you plan to attend AAL!)

A Summer's Worth of Black Literature

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:05:00 +0000

The African American Literature discussion group will be taking a break this summer, with our next meeting scheduled for Tuesday September 11th. We'll be discussing Percival Everett's Erasure, a fascinating novel about a black intellectual confronting what that terms mean to his colleagues, his readers and his family. Easily one of the best books I've read this year!

In the meantime, there are plenty of fascinating African American titles you might want to check out for your summer reading. A good place to start is EPL's list of notable recent African American fiction and nonfiction. If you're interested in biographies and memoirs, we have a list for that as well. But if you're in true "beach read" mode, perhaps this list of African American mysteries might be more to your taste!

Wherever your literary travels take you, I wish you a healthy and happy summer, and I look forward to seeing everyone in September for Erasure!

Lesley

Religion, Race and Family in American Politics

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Just a week left until our discussion of Keli Goff's The GQ Candidate! Ms Goff is a lively, articulate presence on CNN, MSNBC, and the Huffington Post. Much of her commentary focuses on the destructive role she sees religion playing in political discourse. Although The GQ Candidate deals primarily with race, and with how politics affects families and friends, religion is also a key issue. The central character, Luke Cooper, is African American but was adopted and raised by a Jewish couple and now considers himself an agnostic. Is it possible to be a successful African American politician without being a Christian?

In Keli's video above, she mostly talks about the pressures political campaigns put on the families and friends of candidates. But check out this interview on Washington Watch where she explores the religious issue more fully.

Join us next Tuesday July 10th at 7:00 pm for the discussion! We still have a couple of copies left at the 2nd floor desk, so stop by or call 847-448-8620.

Trivia question: who did Goff name the lead character and his wife in The GQ Candidate after? Email lawilliams@cityofevanston.org with the correct answer for a chance at a free pair of Ravinia tickets! Hint: politics is such a soap opera, isn't it?

African American Family Histories

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 17:07:00 +0000

On July 11th, EPL is proud to welcome Rachel Swarns, author of American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama. Tracing the First Lady's ancestry from the Revolutionary War to the White House, this inspiring history unearths the hidden story of her family tree while telling the collective tale of our changing nation.The book is already a publishing sensation, with a front page review in last week's New York Times Book Review, and a thoughtful interview from Chicago's own Dawn Turner Trice .

Of course, Michelle's is not the only black family history to make the bestseller list. Ever since Roots, the field of African American family memoirs has been a rich one. Celebrities like Lena Horne and Gail Lumet Buckley in The Hornes, an American Family, Condoleeza Rice in Extraordinary Ordinary People and Michele Norris in The Grace of Silence have all explored their family histories, often with startling results. As in the Swarn book, uncomfortable truths about racial mixing play a large role. Family memoirs from non-celebrities, like Bertice Berry's The Ties That Bind , Edward Ball's Slaves in the Family, or Afi Scrubb's Claiming Kin Confronting the History of An African-American Family have also explored this fraught history of slavery, consensual and non-consensual relationships between white men and black women, and the contradictory definitions of "race" which resulted.

Now through July 11th, EPL is featuring a display of these and other African American family memoirs. Stopby, and also grab a copy of our July 10th discussion book The GQ Candidate!

How African Americans are like Thanksgiving turkeys...

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Thu, 31 May 2012 03:35:00 +0000

I apologize for the scant number of copies of this month's book discussion, Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? Fortunately it's a quick read, and additional copies are on the way! In the meantime, enjoy this hilarious clip of Toure reading from the book on CSPAN...

Hope to see a good crowd to discuss this timely book on the state of Black America, Tuesday June 12th at 7:00 pm!

Fall/Spring list now finalized!

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:26:00 +0000

Thanks to everyone who came out last night for our discussion of Tavis Smiley's autobiography. As usual it was a rollicking, fun filled evening!

I've finalized the list of titles we'll be doing in the coming year. In assembling the list, I tried to balance fiction and nonfiction, contemporary works with classics, male with female authors. Most are between 200 and 300 pages long, but please note that the two biographies, Malcolm X: a Life of Reinvention for December, and Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston for March are both over 500 pages. Most months I will have copies available at the 2nd floor desk about 30 days in advance, but for these 2 we'll get copies 60 days in advance.

We have 2 more sessions before we our annual August break: on June 12th we'll tackle journalist Toure's Who's Afraid of Post Blackness? (see my September 24th post) and then on July 10th it's time for a hilarious look at race and presidential politics in Keli Goff's The GQ Candidate. Call 847-448-8646 or stop by the 2nd floor desk to get your copies!

Meanwhile here's the fall/spring list...

September 11th

Erasure by Everett, Percival L. (265 pages)

Thelonius "Monk" Ellison, author of experimental novels, is somewhat estranged from his family because he was favored by an emotionally distant, recently deceased father. At the same time that he deals with family crises, Monk is also in the midst of a professional crisis after the seventh rejection of his most recent novel. In a fury over the success of We's Lives in Da Ghetto, a debut novel by a black woman exploiting racial stereotypes, Monk writes his own ultra ghetto novel. It is a parody, reminiscent of Native Son but with none of the pathos and perspective. Monk's main character is an Ebonics-spouting brute with no regard for his four children or their respective mothers. To his chagrin, the novel is a success, and Monk is left to struggle with artistic ethics versus the comforts of wealth. A scathingly funny look at racism and the book business: editors, publishers, readers, and writers alike.

October 9th

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Alexander, Michelle (290 pages)

Contrary to the rosy picture of race embodied in Barack Obama's political success and Oprah Winfrey's financial success, legal scholar Alexander argues vigorously and persuasively that "[w]e have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." Jim Crow and legal racial segregation has been replaced by mass incarceration as "a system of social control" ("More African Americans are under correctional control today... than were enslaved in 1850"). Alexander reviews American racial history from the colonies to the Clinton administration, delineating its transformation into the "war on drugs." She offers an acute analysis of the effect of this mass incarceration upon former inmates "who will be discriminated against, legally, for the rest of their lives, denied employment, housing, education, and public benefits." Most provocatively, she reveals how both the move toward colorblindness and affirmative action may blur our vision of injustice: "most Americans know and don't know the truth about mass incarceration"—but her carefully researched, deeply engaging, and thoroughly readable book should change that.

November 13th

Betsey Brown, by Shange Notzake (227 pages)

This novel about a black family living in St. Louis in 1957 centers on Betsey, 13, who is restless, wants to ``be somebody'' and is being bused to a white school. Her mother and grandmother oppose and her father supports integration. When the father plans to take Betsey and her siblings to demonstrate against a racist hotel, the mother leaves home. PW stated that ``by depicting and personalizing the racial tensions of the 1950s through the lives of appealing characters, Shange has produced a memorable, quietly powerful book.''

December 11th

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Marable, Manning (594 pages)

Columbia University professor Marable died shortly before the publication of his marvelous biography of Malcolm X. Since Malcolm's assassination in 1965 by followers of Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, Malcolm has been best known through his autobiography (written with Alex Haley), published shortly after his death. Nearly a half-century later, Marable has written a compelling reinterpretation of Malcolm's life, answering questions raised by the autobiography. Insisting "Malcolm's strength was his ability to reinvent himself," Marable concludes that Malcolm was an eloquent advocate for black self-respect, a representative of the black underclass, and "the most important bridge between the American people and the more than one billion Muslims throughout the world." The biography exposes inaccuracies in earlier accounts of Malcolm's life (including the autobiography), details the split between Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad, and scrutinizes the assassination plot, raising questions such as the likelihood of an informer within Malcolm's inner circle. Malcolm was one of a handful of the most important African Americans in the 20th century, and perhaps the least understood. This book is unrivaled among interpretations of a complicated man and his monumental impact.

January 8th

32 Candles: A Novel by Carter, Ernessa T. (338 pages)

Carter's captivating debut follows Davie Jones, an African American girl growing up in the 1980s in the small town of Glass , Mississippi . Scorned by her mother and classmates, Davie eventually stops speaking and takes refuge in the movies of Molly Ringwald, which promise happy endings for even the most downtrodden social outcast. Davie finds her dream guy in hunky James Farrell, a high-school football star who moves to Glass with his wealthy family. But her dreams are dashed when she incurs the ire of James' cruel sister, Veronica, after Veronica catches her father visiting Davie 's promiscuous mother. Veronica then plays a mean prank that sends Davie running away from Glass for good, all the way to Los Angeles . There she finds her voice, both literally and figuratively, earning a living as a lounge singer. Davie is content with her life until James crashes back into it, causing demons from her past to bubble to the surface. With all the charm of a clever romantic comedy and peopled by appealing, memorable characters, Carter's first novel is a winner on all fronts.-

February12th

The Known World by Jones, Edward P. (388 pages)

Henry Townsend, born a slave, is purchased and freed by his father, yet he remains attached to his former owner, even taking lessons in slave owning when he eventually buys his own slaves. Townsend is part of a small enclave of free blacks who own slaves, thus offering another angle on the complexities of slavery and social relations in a Virginia town just before the Civil War. His widow, Caldonia, grief-stricken and more conflicted about slavery than Henry was, fails to maintain the social order. Also caught in the miasma of slavery is Sheriff John Skiffington, an honorable man who, when presented with a slave as a marriage gift, spends the remainder of his marriage, along with his wife, dithering about how to deal with the girl and ends up treating her like a daughter. These are only a few of the deftly portrayed characters in this elegantly written novel that explores the interweaving of sex, race, and class. Jones moves back and forth in time, making the reader omniscient, knowing what will eventually befall the characters despite their best and worst efforts, their aspirations and their moral failings. This is a profoundly beautiful and insightful look at American slavery and human nature.

March 12th

Wrapped in Rainbows: the Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Boyd, Valerie . (527 pages)

A key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston, dashing and creative, struggled against poverty, sexism, and racism with grace and wisdom. As Boyd adeptly and passionately analyzes Hurston's revolutionary books, intense spirituality, and myriad adventures, Hurston emerges in all her splendor--not only smarter, tougher, and more dazzlingly alive than most people but also free, gloriously and resoundingly free.

April 9th

Losing My Cool How A Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-hop Culture by Williams, Thomas Chatterton. (225 pages)

Growing up in Westfield , New Jersey , with a father who loved wisdom and ran an SAT prep business in a home crammed with books, Williams blithely ignored all that in favor of the hip-hop culture he heard and saw on BET. He spent his youth meticulously studying and imitating images of cool and thuggishness and listening to music that glorified misogyny, violence, and bling. The objective was to be authentically black, despite his white mother and erudite father. He modeled the thug life with a hair-trigger temper that led to fights and a ghetto-fabulous girlfriend, living on the margins of drug dealing. At Georgetown , he continued the cool persona until he began to gradually face up to evidence that it would lead to failure and that a more interesting life might be available to him. Only then does he acknowledge the gift of his father's efforts to get him to appreciate the value of being able to truly and deeply think for himself. This is more than a coming-of-age story; it is an awakening, as Williams blends Dostoyevsky and Jay-Z in a compelling memoir and analysis of urban youth culture.

Dealing with Tavis

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Next Tuesday May 8th we'll be meeting to discuss Tavis Smiley's autobiography, What I Know for Sure. You might enjoy hearing Tavis give his own perspective on the book in this video. If you haven't picked up a copy yet, we still have several copies at the 2nd floor; it's a quick read!

Some questions to ponder as we get ready for our discussion: how does physical or emotional abuse continue to affect a family, even years afterwards? Do you think Tavis is being completely honest in the way he presents the relationship with his parents? How do you think his life might have turned out differently if the abuse had not happened? What about the role of his religion in his life?

Thanks to everyone who has sent me their suggestions for future discussions. I plan to have the final list by our next meeting, but it is not too late to send in your requests! If your favorite does NOT get picked for this go-round, please don't feel discouraged. Some titles are simply to hard to get hold of for a large group, or too long to fit in a monthly reading cycle. But I'll try to get to as many of your suggestions as possible.

See you next Tuesday, May 8th at 7:00!

Countdown to Silver Sparrow and Tavis Smiley

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:26:00 +0000

Greetings AAL fans! This coming Tuesday we'll be meeting to discuss Tayari Jones' Silver Sparrow. We have a few copies left at the Reader's Services desk, so it's not too late! As a special treat, Ms Jones has donated 10 Silver Sparrow bookplates for AAL members.

So much has been written about this wonderful novel, but I won't overwhelm you. If you have a chance before Tuesday, check out the Silver Sparrow Reading guide from Tayari's website, and give a listen to her interview on All Things Considered from last May.

Coming attractions...stay tuned for our next discussion, Tavis Smiley's What I Know For Sure. The NPR talk show host who catapulted The Covenant with Black America to number one on the New York Times bestseller list authored a searing memoir of poverty, ambition, pain, and atonement. Join us Tuesday May 8th as we discuss this honest, deeply moving self-portrait of one of America's most popular media figures.As usual copies will be held for AAL members at our Reader's Services desk, so stop by or call 847-448-8620.

Why You Need to Read The Hunger Games

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 01:23:00 +0000

Katniss and Rue

Yes, you...mature adult fan of contemporary African American themed literature...you need to read The Hunger Games. Not because it's all your 13 year old talks about. Not because it's the latest multi-generational blockbuster.

You need to read The Hunger Games for its transgressive vision of "race" in America.

A quick refresher for those who have ignored the hype: The Hunger Games tells the story of a courageous, compassionate 16 year old named Katniss, living in a dystopian future North America. As punishment for a failed rebellion, teenagers are randomly selected to compete in the ultimate "Survivor" style reality show: a fight to the death among the 24 young "tributes". When her little sister is selected, Katniss volunteers to take her place, eventually launching a revolution against the cruelty of The Capitol.

Now here's where it gets interesting. For all the horrors of this future world, it seems that racism is not one of them. There are hints that warfare has wiped out much of the world's population, perhaps leading to widespread racial mixing out of necessity. The description of the heroine is racially ambiguous: she has "olive skin", and "straight, black hair", yet Prim, her beloved little sister, is pale and blond.There are likable characters of all apparent ethnicities, and never a suggestion that the callous Capitol residents belong to a specific ethnic group.

Katniss's initial ally in the Games is 12 year old Rue, who has "thick dark hair and dark satiny brown skin". Katniss is drawn to Rue, whose intelligence, charm, and vulnerability powerfully remind her of her own sister, despite the obvious physical differences, and Katniss feels impelled to protect Rue in the same way she protected Prim by volunteering for the Games.

The bond of sisterhood between Rue and Katniss goes far beyond the "sassy black friend" cliche. Rue plays a pivotal role in the trilogy, and Katniss's devotion to her marks the heroine's moral transition from caring only about her own family to caring about all the vulnerable people in her society.

Cinna encourages Katniss

This notion of a racially-blind universe has not gone over well with all readers. Some were shocked and even offended that Rue was played by a black actress in the film, despite author Suzanne Collins' explicit statement that the character is African American. Others criticized the filmmakers for casting bi-racial Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Katniss's brilliant and empathetic stylist who gives her some desperately needed self-confidence at a crucial moment. Cinna's race is never described in the books, (he is said to have dark hair) but there is no indication that he is white rather than say Indian, Asian, Latino...or African American.

It is unfortunate that pre-conceptions of white as "normal" have prevented some readers from appreciating the book's message. Yet for African American children, The Hunger Games is the rare mainstream children's book that allows them to see themselves as heroes, rather than ghettoized stereotypes, and that presents a world where race is truly irrelevant.

Getting ready for...Silver Sparrow

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:29:00 +0000

Henrietta Lacks was clearly a popular choice; thanks to the 18 participants who came out for a rousing discussion of medical research, race, ethics and class last Tuesday! I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

We're shifting gears next month with Silver Sparrow, a stunning, painful story of betrayal and disillusionment, from Atlanta author Tayari Jones, (see my post from last October ). Dana and Chaurisse are sisters, but only Dana knows it. She and her mother Gwen are the "secret" family, the illegitimate wife and daughter James Witherspoon hides from his "real" family and the rest of the world. Although James persuades himself that he's doing right by them, Dana's resentment at always being second best eventually leads to devastating revelations for everyone involved. Jones creates a cast of fascinating and memorable characters, and a fully realized setting in Atlanta's black community of the late 70s and 80.

Silver Sparrow has struck a chord with many readers; it's won numerous awards, and has been profiled on NPR's All Things Considered, blacklitchat, The Root, and the African American Book Club.

As usual, I've reserved copies for AAL group members, so call 847-448-8620 or stop by the Evanston Public Library Reader's Services desk to get one. I'll see all of you next month, April 10th, 7:00 pm at Evanston Public Library!

In praise of Deborah Lacks

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:13:00 +0000

Deborah Lacks with an image of her mother's cells

Henrietta Lacks continues to fascinate scientists, sociologists, and ordinary people of all backgrounds. Yet it was her daughter Deborah who held my attention as I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. This young woman, who lost her mother as a baby, managed to survive an abusive stepmother, lecherous cousins, teen pregnancy, and two failed marriages. Her formal education was limited, her health and family problems numerous. Yet through it all she persevered, and managed to channel her anger and terror over losing her mother and sister into determination to do better for herself and her family. Her slowly growing friendship with author Rebecca Skloot was for me the emotional heart of the book.

To learn more about Deborah, the Lacks family, and Skloot's foundation to provide financial assistance to needy individuals who have made important contributions to scientific research without personally benefiting from those contributions, visit The Immortal Life website. There are interviews with Skloot, discussion questions, and updates on HeLa cell research. You can even submit your own video to share your thoughts about the book!

And of course, don't forget to join us at EPL on Tuesday March 13th for our discussion! 7:00 pm, Small Meeting Room, 1703 Orrington Avenue, Evanston. We have copies available for book group participants: just call us at 847-448-8620 to get one.

25 Novels to Honor During Black History Month

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:09:00 +0000

Like a lot of us, I'm ambivalent about Black History Month. On the one hand, it's great to see so many performances, tv programs and cultural events highlighting African American achievement every February. On the other hand, why are we invisible on the cultural stage during the other 11 months? That's why I'm delighted to be able to read and promote African American writers and issues year round on this blog and in our discussion group.

That said, kudos to Accredited Colleges Online for providing a list of 25 Novels to Honor During Black History Month.This is a terrific list, including classics like Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Native Son alongside newer works like The Known World and The Intuitionist and novels for younger readers, like Monster and Roll of Thunder. This is more accurately an African diaspora list, since it features several African and Caribbean works: Things Fall Apart, The Farming of Bones, and Segu, as well as the Afro British White Teeth.

The literature of the African diaspora is incredibly diverse: on this list you will find love stories, humor, time travel, and politics; stories set in England, Haiti, Nigeria, and Harlem; and novels addressing gay issues, crime, ethnic cleansing, slavery, religion and interracial romance. Enjoy, and who knows...perhaps there are some future AAL Discussion books lurking in these pages!

An African American Themed Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Lesley Williams) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:17:00 +0000

Hello again, AAL fans! Remember next Tuesday, Valentine's Day, is our discussion of Condoleeza Rice's memoir Extraordinary Ordinary People. (Remember, you can also download the ebook version if you don't feel like dragging around the book.)
I know not everyone on this list is a big fan of Condi, but it should be interesting to compare her account of growing up in Jim Crow Birmingham to the recollections in Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns. Very interesting!

Valentine's Day is coming up, and the Evanston Public Library is proud to welcome Northwestern's Dr. Harvey Young Jr, an award-winning author and an internationally recognized authority on African American culture and performing arts. Dr Young will be giving a public lecture: "A Racist Love Note: Stereotypes and Caricatures on Early 20th Century Valentine’s Day Cards". here at EPL on Thursday February 16th, 7 pm. He'll discuss the imagery of African Americans in early greeting cards and what this says about the larger society's fears and prejudices. A great way to celebrate Valentine's Day in the context of African American history.

So, hope to see everyone twice next week: Tuesday night for Condoleeza and Thursday to hear Dr Young!