In which I recount growing up in segregated Tennessee and recount the books that helped me cope.
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Tag Archives: racism
My Life in Lit – Segregation
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Harper Lee, Huckleberry Finn, integration, Mark Twain, May Justus, New Boy in School, segregation, To Kill a Mockingbird Comments closed
Shaw’s Don Juan in MAGA America
Shaw’s play “Don Juan in Hell” came to mind when I visited the du Pont museum, featuring their gunpowder business.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dante, Don Juan in Hell, George Bernard Shaw, Inferno, Jesse Ball du Pont, MAGA, Man and Superman, white supremacy Comments closed
Emerson: Let Freedom Be Your King
Emerson’s “Boston Hymn,” written during the Civil War, imagines God telling America to make freedom its king and to free the slaves.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged “Boston Hymn", Civil War, Freedom, Isaiah, Jesu, MAGA Christians, Ralph Waldo Emerson Comments closed
Flannery O’Connor’s DEI Revelation
In Flannery O’Connor’s “Revelation,” we see the status anxiety that is driving many Americans towards reactionary politics.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Fascism, Flannery O'Connor, Revelation, status anxiety Comments closed
Fighting the Erasure of History
Black history month is more essential these days than it has been for a while given Trump’s desire to erase it. Black writers are important in keeping it alive.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "i am accused of tending to the past", "Life Every Voice and Sing", 1984, Black History Month, DEI, Donald Trump, George Orwell, James Weldon Johnson, Lucille Clifton Comments closed
Simone Biles Rises
Gymnast GOAT Biles has a tattoo of a line from Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” to inspire her.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Still I Rise", Election 2024, Kamala Harris, misogyny, Olympics, Simone Biles Comments closed
Blake on Racism and Child Abuse
Blake’s “Little Black Boy,” quoted by Lamott in her latest book, is a complex exploration of racism.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Holy Thursday", "Little Black Boy", Anne Lamott, child poverty, Children, GOP, Somehow, William Blake Comments closed