THE ODVSSEV OF BLACK MEN IN AMERICA
EDITED BY HERB BOVD AND ROBERT L. ALLEN
ILLUSTRATIONS BY TOM FEELINGS
SUB Gdttlngen 206126 530
97A4330
ONE WORLD BALLANTINE BOOKS • NEW YORK CONTENTS
Introduction xxi
Prologue
STERLING BROWN Strong Men (Opening Stanzas)
PART 1: FOREFATHERS The Griot's Woke
GEORGE EDWARD TAIT / Am a Black Man 7
NOUK BASSOMB IKOP MBOG: An Account of an African Child's Initiation 9
HOWARD THURMAN On Viewing the Coast of Africa 11
FREDERICK DOUGLASS Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 12
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Up from Slavery 20
RANDALL KENAN Let the Dead Bury Their Dead 27 W. E. B. Du Bois The Souls of Black Folk 36 viii • Contents
MARCUS GARVEY Message of Marcus Garvey to Membership of Universal Negro Improvement Association from Atlanta Prison 41
RALPH ELLISON Juneteenth • 44
PART 2: A SON IN THE FAMILY Of Fathers and Sons
QUINCY TROUPE Poem for My Father 57
RICHARD WRIGHT Black Boy 59
LANGSTON HUGHES- Father 66
JAMES BALDWIN Notes of a Native Son 72
MALCOLM X Nightmare 11
HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. Colored People 85
WESLEY BROWN . Tragic Magic 91
Louis EDWARDS Ten Seconds 96
EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON A Talk with My Father 100
NICK CHILES A Private War 110
HAKI R. MADHUBUTI Father's Pledge 118
Boyz n the Hood
WILLIAM DEMBY Beetlecreek 120
CLAUDE BROWN Manchild in the Promised Land 122 Contents • ix
WILLIAM MELVIN KELLEY Dancers on the Shore 126
HENRY DUMAS Strike and Fade 132
AMIRI BARAKA The Screamers 135
JESS MOWRY . . Way Past Cool 140
JABARI ASIM Two Fools 148
KEVIN POWELL Ghetto Bastard 151
YUSEF BALAAM Brer Rabbit Escapes Again 154
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON Reflecting Black 158
ROLAND GILBERT/CHEO TYEHIMBA-TAYLOR The Ghetto Solution , 168
PART 3: RELATIONSHIPS VIhen a Man Loves a Woman
ROBERT FLEMING Black Women 181
CHARLES JOHNSON Middle Passage 182
CHARLES W. CHESNUTT The Wife of His Youth • 194
ARTHUR FLOWERS Another Good Loving Blues 203
JAMES ALAN MCPHERSON Elbow Room . 209
TREYELUS Home Repairs 214
CHESTER HIMES The Lonely Crusade 219 x • Contents
CALVIN C. HERNTON Sex and Racism in America 223
RICHARD PERRY No Other Tale to Tell 228
WALTER MOSLEY White Butterfly 231
CLARENCE MAJOR Ail-Night Visitors 235
What's Love Got to Do with It
GERALD EARLY First Poem for Linnet • 241
EDWARD JONES A New Man 244
RON STODGHILL II My Sparrow 251
ALEXS D. PATE Losing Absalom 256
KALAMU YA SALAAM What Is Life? 264
DAMU HAKIM A Father's Lament 269
NATHAN MCCALL Makes Me Wanna Holler 212
RALPH WILEY On the A-Train to Venus with Isis 278
My brother's Keeper
RUDOLPH FISHER The Walls of Jericho 286
SYLVESTER MONROE Brothers 290
PlAYTHELL BENJAMIN Lush Life 297 Contents • xl
KENNETH MEEKS Pledging Alpha
E. LYNN HARRIS Invisible Life
MELVIN DLXON Vanishing Rooms
ESSEX HEMPHILL In an Afternoon Light
W. J. BRANDY MOORE African-American Males and Survival Against AIDS
ERNEST J. GAINES A Lesson Before Dying
PART 4: TROUBLE MAN The Permanence of Racism
CLAUDE MCKAY If We Must Die
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR The Lynching ofjube Benson
JEAN TOOMER Blood-Burning Moon
ALBERT FRENCH Billy
GORDON PARKS Shannon
WILLIAM STRICKLAND ' The Future of Black Men
BRENT STAPLES Parallel Time
ERNEST ALLEN, JR. Race and Gender Stereotyping in the Thomas Confirmation Hearings
ARTHUR ASHE AND ARNOLD RAMPERSAD Days of Grace
DERRICK BELL Faces at the Bottom of the Well xll • Contents
Fighting on Two Fronts
DAVID LEVERING LEWIS When Harlem Was in Vogue 311
JOHN OLIVER KILLENS And Then We Heard the Thunder 379
ROBERT L. ALLEN The Port Chicago Mutiny 385
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. Beyond Vietnam 392
WALLACE TERRY Bloods 395
CLYDE TAYLOR Black Consciousness in the Vietnam Years 399
Locked In and Locked Out
ALBERT RACE SAMPLE Racehoss: Big Emma's Boy 404
LLOYD L. BROWN Iron City 410
ROBERT CHRISMAN Black Prisoners, White Law 414
JOHN EDGAR WIDEMAN Brothers and Keepers 418
NATHAN MCCALL Makes Me Wanna Holler 426
JARVIS MASTERS Scars 433
ARTHUR HAMILTON, JR., AND WILLIAM BANKS Father Behind Bars 438
DHORUBA BIN WAHAD Still Black, Still Strong: Survivors of the U.S. War Against Black Revolutionaries 441 Contents • xlii
Color and Class
WALTER WHITE A Man Called White 448
LANGSTON HUGHES Who's Passing for Who? 455
WILLARD MOTLEY The Almost White Boy 459
STANLEY CROUCH Man in the Mirror 461
RONALD E. HALL Blacks Who Pass 471
HOSEA HUDSON Black Worker in the Deep South 411
WILLIAM ATTAWAY Blood on the Forge 481
SAM GREENLEE The Spook Who Sat By the Door 484
BRENT WADE Company Man 489
SHELBY STEELE The Content of Our Character 496
ELLIS COSE The Rage of a Privileged Class 500
STEPHEN L. CARTER Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby 506
PART 5: BLACK MAGIC And Bid Him Sing
COUNTEE CULLEN Yet Do I Marvel 513
WALLACE THURMAN Infants of the Spring 514
JULIUS LESTER Falling Pieces of the Broken Sky 516 xiv • Contents
ISHMAEL REED Writin' Is Fightin' 520
We Wear the Mask
CECIL BROWN The Life and Loves of Mr. Jiveass Nigger 524
MEL WATKINS On the Real Side 527
PAUL ROBESON Here I Stand 534
SIDNEY POITIER This Life 537
SPIKE LEE WITH RALPH WILEY By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X 548
In the Game
JACKIE ROBINSON / Never Had It Made 561
CASSIUS CLAY (MUHAMMAD ALI) Playboy Interview (October 1964) 570
HARRY EDWARDS The Struggle That Must Be 579
JIM BROWN Out of Bounds 593
CHARLIE SIFFORD Just Let Me Play: The Story of Charlie Sifford— The First Black PGA Golfer 597
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR AND PETER KNOBLER Giant Steps 603
EARVIN "MAGIC" JOHNSON My Life 611
SATCHEL PAIGE Rules for Staying Young 619 Contents • xv
Be-Bop, Doo-Vfop, Hip-Hop
DUKE ELLINGTON Music Is My Mistress 621
SIDNEY BECHET Treat It Gentle 624
NELSON GEORGE The Death of Rhythm & Blues 630
ALSTON ANDERSQN Dance of the Infidels 636
MILES DAVIS WITH QUINCY TROUPE Miles: The Autobiography of Miles Davis 647
NATHANIEL MACKEY DJbot Baghostus's Run 658
GREG TATE Silence, Exile, and Cunning: Miles Davis in Memoriam 663
QUINCY JONES Playboy Interview (July 1990) 667
ICET The Ice Opinion 677
PART 6: SANKOFA: PAST AS PROLOGUE Deep Roots
DUDLEY RANDALL A Different Image 685
YOSEF BEN-JOCHANNAN The African Contribution to Technology and Science 685
JOHN HENRIK CLARKE The Africans in the New World: Their Contribution to Science, Invention, and Technology 691
J. A. ROGERS From "Superman" to Man 691
JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN A Life of Learning 705
ALEX HALEY There Are Days When I Wish It Hadn't Happened (March 1979) 111 xvi • Contents
NATHAN HARE The Challenge of a Black Scholar 722
No Justice, No Peace
CHARLES V HAMILTON Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. 730
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. Where Do We Go from Here? 136
MALCOLM X Speech to African Summit Conference—Cairo, Egypt 744
JAMES FORMAN The Making of Black Revolutionaries 148
BOBBY SEALE • Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton 755
SAMUEL F. YETTE The Choice: The Issue of Black Survival in America 762
JOHN A. WILLIAMS The Man Who Cried I Am 768
WILLIAM H. GRIER AND PRICE M. COBBS Black Rage 111
RICHARD MAJORS Cool Pose: The Proud Signature of Black Survival 785
JESSE JACKSON Keep Hope Alive . 789
MANNING MARABLE Toward Black American Empowerment . • 799
Louis FARRAKHAN A Torchlight for America 809
RANDALL ROBINSON Operation Island Storm? 815
KWEISI MFUME The State of Black America (September 1994) ' 818 Contents • xvll
Black Gold
EARL G. GRAVES The Men of Black Enterprise 826
JOHN H. JOHNSON WITH LERONE BENNETT, JR. Succeeding Against the Odds 828
DENNIS KIMBRO AND NAPOLEON HILL Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice , 832
GEORGE C. FRASER Success Runs' in Our Race 837
Return to the Source
REGINALD MCKNIGHT / Get On the Bus 843
MAULANA KARENGA The African American Holiday of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture 846
MOLEFI KETE ASANTE Afrocentricity . 852
ERIC V COPAGE Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration of Culture and Cooking 859
JAMES E. JACKSON The Journey of Martin Lutber King, Jr. 865
CORNEL WEST Race Matters 870
HERB BOYD The Million Man March 875
Epilogue
STERLING BROWN Strong Men (Closing Stanzas) 882
Author Index 884