It was my plan to present
these book highlights right at the end of February; however life happens and once
again I am able to knock down the scaffolding of procrastination and share this
blog post with you. It is never too late
to discuss a good book and encourage reading.
As an avid reader, I chose to focus on African American authors in
February. Two titles I completed in
February and highly recommend are, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
by James Weldon Johnson and Men We Reaped: a Memoir, by Jesmyn Ward.
In The Autobiography of
an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon Johnson poignantly narrates the story of a
young man born to a Black mother and White father; however, it was not until
the age of 9 during a spelling contest at school that he discovers the color
difference between himself and the other students in the class. Born in a little
town of Georgia a few years after the close of the Civil War, the narrator portrays a boy who traveled
with his mother from Georgia to New York then finally settled in
Connecticut.
Watching and listening to his
mother play the piano inspired him to start playing. It was during those nights
by the piano followed by rocking in his mother's lap by the fireplace coupled with the teaching she provided that built the foundation for him
becoming an accomplished pianist.
His father, though absent,
continued to provide for the young man and his mother affording them a
middle-class lifestyle, which was rare in the Black community. Returning to the south, he experienced
various aspects of Black culture, which led to his decision to live as an
“ex-colored man.” The underlying theme
of this book is the portrayal of this young man’s experiences of having a Black
mother and White father and to live his life able to “pass” for white.
This book, although
fiction, speaks very plainly regarding race and discrimination during the
Harlem Renaissance era. The reader will still
find many parallels to the 20th century.
In Men We Reaped: a Memoir, Jesmyn Ward shares her heart-rending story of living
life with the loss of five young men in her life including her brother. Jesmyn
says that she wrote this memoir to share with us the plight of the young Black
men in her life and community, and how they had been prey to drug addiction,
racism, broken family relationships, and much more.
Jesmyn writes about the
school administration neglecting the needs of the Black male, which in turn
leads to them being labeled as troublemakers, seemingly benign neglect that
turned malignant leading to a thick paper trail of imagined or real discipline
offenses. Once the paper trail grew thick enough, students who endangered the
blue-ribbon rating were summarily kicked out.
As Jesmyn repeatedly
endured tragedy after tragedy, her own perceptions and life experiences seemed
to spiral downward. As she drove
aimlessly one night attempting to drown her grief, she wonders if “they were
courting death, if not, why did he keep following us, insistently,
persistently, pulling us to him one by one?” (p. 130).
The history of Black
people…we've come a long way right...or have we? Through slavery our ancestors
fought hoping to pave a better life for their children and their children's
children. The migration north helped many realize a certain amount of progress
but the struggle for equality continued. Stop and reflect for a moment,
hundreds of years have passed yet the struggle remains. Is equality real for
all? Are the hungry fed? Regrettably the answer is a resounding no. We have
excelled yet we have fallen way short. We must raise our sense of urgency. Please
do not wait for tragedy to strike your house before you say or do something.
I hope this encourages you to read, read, read and grasp all the education you can and to share your
knowledge and experiences.
I further encourage you to
view the Women’s March
website where a list of books, films, and articles are listed to further our commitment
to learning our history and share our collective knowledge to effect change.
SharB~TTSD
