In this collection of eighteen essays and poems, Jesmyn Ward curates voices that address the persistence of white supremacy in twenty-first-century America. Inspired by James Baldwin’s 1963 warnings, the contributors examine the historical roots of systemic exclusion, the physical toll of police brutality on Black bodies, and the personal realities of navigating public spaces. The text looks at specific events including the killing of Trayvon Martin and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, using these moments to analyze how national myths regarding progress clash with the lived experience of racial inequality.
Readers interested in sociology, American history, and civil rights movements use this volume to understand the evolution of racial discourse since the mid-twentieth century. The text provides a framework for connecting archival records of slavery and segregation to contemporary social justice mobilization. Those who study this material gain a clearer perspective on the cyclical nature of American political conflict and walk away with a vocabulary for discussing how ancestral memory shapes modern identity and survival strategies.
Inward-looking; a moderate read.
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- Published
- 2016
- Language
- EN
