Readers are Leaders

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