In which I recount growing up in segregated Tennessee and recount the books that helped me cope.
Tag Archives: segregation
My Life in Lit – Segregation
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Harper Lee, Huckleberry Finn, integration, Mark Twain, May Justus, New Boy in School, racism, To Kill a Mockingbird Comments closed
Faulkner: Racist in Life, Not in Fiction
In life, Faulkner was a racist. In his fiction, he deconstructed racism brilliantly.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dry September, lynching, Michael Gorra, racism, Saddest Words, William Faulkner Comments closed
Books Banned Because They’re Powerful
Book banning is on the rise in the U.S., including recently in Virginia. Brecht’s “Burning of the Books” is always powerful.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Burning of the Books", banned books, Bertolt Brecht, censorship, Fascism Comments closed
The Lynching of Jesus
In “Christ in Alabama,” Hughes imagines a black Christ being lynched by a white mob.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Christ In Alabama", Langston Hughes, lynching, Martin Luther King, Scottsboro Boys Comments closed
Specter of Racial Violence Haunts Faulkner
Faulkner’s depiction of racial violence shows America’s dark side. Faulkner’s own racial views are less important than the truths that he shows.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Absolom Absolom, Light in August, racism, Sound and the Fury, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner Comments closed
How Literature Saved Richard Wright
In his memoir, Richard Wright describes how literature gave him a framework and spurred him to action in the segregated south.
My “Last Lecture”
I share here my “last lecture” from my retirement ceremony. (But rest assured: I will not be retiring from this blog.)
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aristotle, Bertolt Brecht, Chinua Achebe, Divine Comedy, Goethe, Heart of Darkness, Horace, Huckleberry Finn, integration, Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, Martha Nussbaum Wayne Booth, Matthew Arnold, Percy Shelley, Plato, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Samuel Johnson, Sir Philip Sydney, Terry Eagleton, W. E. B. Du Bois, Wayne Booth Comments closed
Robinson Ran Against Walls, Never Broke
A Ken Burns documentary on Jackie Robinson gives me an excuse to run this short, powerful Lucille Clifton poem honoring the player who broke baseball’s color line.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Baseball, Jackie Robinson, Lucille Clifton, racism, Sports Comments closed
