How Free Is Free? is the pessimistic history of racism in America since reconstruction and it is a stark contrast with the hope generated by the current president’s election. The author recalls horrific events of lynching and violence, and how the experience of African-Americans in the armed forces during the wars helped change the situation [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘racism’
March 31, 2009
Levittown by David Kushner
Levittown touches on the story of the famous suburbs, but only to tell the tale of the integration of the falsely perfect community, which not only rejected African-American buyers but also prohibited renting to African Americans. When the Myers family purchases a home from its departing white owners, ugly violence ensues, even though the Myers [...]
December 16, 2008
Orange County by Gustavo Arellano
Orange Countyis a memoir of Gustavo Arellano’s upbringing mixed with a history of the much-maligned Orange County, which, as Arellano points out, is much more than either orange groves (which have been replaced by houses anyway) or right-wing republicans (who are now replaced by democrats.) Other books (see here or here) have not been successful at [...]
November 5, 2008
Black in Selma by J.L Chestnut & Julia Cass
If you wondered about the allusion to the bridge in Selma during Obama’s acceptance speech last night, here’s the book for you: Black in Selma is the candid memoir of the first black lawyer in Selma who rose from modest beginnings (although I must point out that he had a formidable and educated mother) to fight [...]
November 3, 2008
How does it feel to be a problem? by Moustafa Bayoumi
How does it feel to be a problem? presents portraits of seven young Arab-Americans, both men and women, who illustrate the difficulty of existing as a Arab in the US since 2001. The author’s sample is far from random since he met all seven in New York City (although several used to live elsewhere or [...]
July 6, 2008
Not a Genuine Black Man by Brian Copeland
Not a Genuine Black Man is a memoir by an African-American comedian that poignantly recalls his family’s move to San Leandro, CA, at a time when the city was almost completely white. He gets picked up by the police on the first day (he was 8 years old), cannot find a barber, and his family [...]
