Bookworms unite
The purpose of this blog is to identify African American novels, authors and the stories that speak to the experience of people of African descent
Reading List Reason for Blog
Reading List Reason for Blog
August 12, 2012
August 12, 2012
What book do you think, I should add to the African American Guide: Becoming Well-Read reading list?
I am compiling a list of books…
Written by or about the African/African American experience, books from any genre. What is a book that must be included?
August 12, 2012
A Brave and Startling Truth~Maya Angelo
We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
If we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.
Love costs all we are and will ever be.
Yet it is only love which sets us free.
A Brave and Startling Truth.
It is possible and imperative that we discover
A brave and startling truth.
When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
And without crippling fear
When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonders of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.
August 8, 2012
July 29, 2012
Youtube: Poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron talks about what he meant by “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” By Skip Blumberg.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
By Gil Scott-Heron
You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag
and Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.
There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.
Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no highlights on the eleven o’clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be right back
after a message about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, the tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver’s seat.
The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.
July 29, 2012
July 29, 2012
A Memoir: Gil-Scott Heron
Okay so I wish I had some deep poetic reason for this being my first book post, but it is as simple as this is the book I am presently reading. So with that said…
Gil-Scott Heron’s memoir, The Last Holiday is a great read. If you know anything about this man, you know he is powerful with his words. I can’t put the book down. It reads like you are having a conversation with an old friend, sharing experiences you never knew they had. To most people, Heron is a poet; who is know for The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.
But he was so much more…
Born in Chicago, in 1949 and later sent to live with his grandmother in Tennessee, Heron developed a boldness that would carry him in life. Referring to himself as a “Bluesologist,” “a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues.” His work and drive has impacted many artist and musicians alike. Work up to his death, he release his first studio album in 16 years entitled I’m New Here, in 2010. He had been working on his memoir’s for many years, The Last Holiday was publish in 2012, about seven months after his death in May of 2011.
I could go on, but I couldn’t try to tell his story better then he has in his memoir.
July 29, 2012
Reason for the Guide
I was online today and came across a list of books on someone’s blog. They professed that to be well read, you would need to read from the list of books that followed. I looked over the list and did not see one book by a Black author or a book with a Black character. Oh wait, Othello was on the list, but that was all. I consider myself well read, and educated. I have read many of the book list, however I am troubled by the idea that Black literature would not make the list. For a moment I was upset that I never see books that reflect my experience on these list (having been faced with this issue in form classes as a student at all levels of education). So I have created my own.
I invite you to submit any books that you think are important to the African American reader, writer or experience.
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Regarding the conversation of western privilege among black Americans, I wanted to add a thought to it. Be mindful, it’s not an academic piece and...
