Conversations on Race - Interim Page

Conversations on Race

Next Meeting coming on October 5, 2020

Here are a few things to read and think about in the meantime...

We hope you will find this interim page of interest.

In a week or so, the materials for the October 5 meeting will be posted here.

The White Man's Guilt by James Baldwin, Ebony, August 1965

This essay, besides being powerful and persuasive, provides a perfect continuation of our September 1 conversation.

The-White-Mans-Guilt-James-Baldwin.pdf

Ta-Nehisi Coates was guest editor for the special September issue of Vanity Fair, titled The Great Fire. In addition to Coates writing about Breonna Taylor, contributors included Ava DuVernay interviewing Angela Davis and Jesmyn Ward sharing the heartbreaking story below.

Click on the graphic to read the essay by Jesmyn Ward. Her husband, Brandon Miller, died in January at the age of 33. She wrote this piece in the aftermath, expressing her grief and also processing the coronavirus pandemic and the killings of Black citizens by police across the country.

A MacArthur fellow in 2017, you can find more about Jesmyn Ward on the MacArthur Foundation website (here).

We read her National Book Award winning novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, in the BOLLI Book Group.

On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by PandemicThe acclaimed novelist lost her beloved husband—the father of her children—as COVID-19 swept across the country. She writes through their story, and her grief.

Regarding the upcoming October issue of The Atlantic, its editors state: "This spring laid bare America’s faults. In the latest issue of our magazine, we look at where the country can go from here."

Making America Again

The October issue of The Atlantic "features not just one cover story, but three. (We will explore them in subsequent conversations.) Together, they reflect on a nation’s failure to live up to its promises—and look to this moment as an opportunity to course-correct." The issue is titled "Making America Again" after Langston Hughes' 1935 poem that, while it speaks of an American dream that never existed for many, it also conveys a sense of hope.

Click on the graphic - The Atlantic's October cover - to be reminded of the eloquent and moving poem.

This interim page began with James Baldwin and will end with James Baldwin.

We are highly recommending Eddie Glaude's new book, Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own. Mentioned briefly in the July 21 conversation and highlighted on the Our Picks page (here), it is an engaging and rewarding read. Below is a clip of Glaude in conversation with Trevor Noah along with an excerpt from the book.

And check out the upcoming Library of America event with Glaude.

The Vow James Baldwin Made to Young Civil Rights ActivistsJames Baldwin and Stokely Carmichael first met during the heady days of the movement to desegregate the South. Carmichael was a young activist and a member of a student group at Howard University c…

The Library of America is sponsoring a free webinar on Wednesday, September 23, at 6:00 pm

"In 1965, at a critical juncture in the Civil Rights Movement, James Baldwin’s essay “The White Man’s Guilt" unmasked the myths and lies that sustain racial injustice in America. We’re at a parallel moment now, writes Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. in the New York Times bestseller Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons For Our Own, and "it would do us well to listen to James Baldwin tell the story of how we failed when faced with a similar choice, and how we can still muster the faith to begin again.” Join Glaude, Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton, as he explores the contemporary resonances of Baldwin’s powerful and prophetic piece."

If this is of interest, click here to register for the event.

Here is a recording of the Library of America event with Eddie Glaude.

September 23 (53:11)

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse