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BLACK HISTORY
The African-American experience from Jamestown to Harlem REVIEWS BY RON WYNN The subject of black history is so vast and varied that some areas will inevitably be overlooked while others are saturated, depending on contemporary tastes, changes in societal attitudes and shifts in focus and interest among audiences toward particular periods or topics (the Black Arts Movement of the '60s, Pan-Africanism and Black Power vs. Civil Rights, etc.). Two subjects that haven't attracted much attention in the past are the earliest black settlers in America and the lesser-known figures who escaped the clutches of slavery. That oversight is remedied in two of the African-American history titles considered here. Pre-dating the Pilgrims
But the second, more compelling story of The Birth of Black America traces the journey of Africans, showing how they established communities and the foundation for black culture and society that followed. The book also documents how the nation eventually wrestled with the issue of slavery, and looks at some of the ugly racist practices and legislation aimed at these African Americans. Everything from questions of lexicon to determining the exact size of the black population (through the clumsy census practices of the day) is examined, as well as many sordid events that followed. The Birth of Black America closely scrutinizes and evaluates a time and series of happenings about which far too many contemporary citizens know absolutely nothing.
By Tim Hashaw Carroll & Graf, $26.95 336 pages ISBN 9780786717187
North to freedom
The Blackburns escaped from Kentucky to Michigan, then were recaptured and sentenced to be returned to slavery. But the bloody 1833 Blackburn Riots saw Detroit's black community spring into action, rescuing the couple and ushering them safely to Canada, an action that forever altered the political climate between America and Canada, turning the latter nation into a safe harbor for fugitive slaves. Frost's book not only details these events, but follows the Blackburns as they settle in Toronto and eventually create that city's first taxi service. They also become important figures in the abolitionist movement and participants in the Underground Railroad. Frost credits the work of other archaeologists who uncovered many of the details contained in this amazing story, finally brought to light in her outstanding book. Her own explorations included visits to many of the places the Blackburns lived and extensive genealogical research on births, family ties, relationships, interactions and the couple's contributions to antislavery efforts and black business growth.
By Karolyn Smardz Frost Farrar, Straus, $30 576 pages ISBN 9780374164812
In their own voices
An accompanying CD augments the written material, presenting more than 60 minutes of music, poetry, interviews and speeches. Whether it's the sparkling piano work of Eubie Blake featured in a previously unpublished performance, or extensive interviews by David Levering Lewis, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of acclaimed biographies on Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, Harlem Speaks combines fresh insights with informed analysis and vivid, striking performances to broaden readers' awareness and knowledge of the Harlem Renaissance.
By Dr. Gary D. Wintz Sourcebooks, $29.95 272 pages ISBN 9781402204364
Young, gifted and black
By Caille Millner Penguin Press, $22.95 256 pages ISBN 9781594201097
Ron Wynn writes for the Nashville City Paper and other publications.
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Tim Hashaw's The Birth of Black America: The First African Americans and the Pursuit of Freedom at Jamestown follows the inaugural voyage of almost 30 African men, women and children to these shores (specifically Jamestown, Virginia) in 1619. Very little has been written about the trip until now, and Hashaw's credentials and expertise as an award-winning reporter are particularly useful as he examines two distinct, related elements in this story. One involves the business/commerce angle, as he shows how England's attack on a Spanish slave ship and the pirating of its cargo of Africans violated a treaty, causing King James to dissolve the Virginia Company of London and end that firm's North American monopoly.
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While the record is spotty regarding the arrival of the first African Americans, there's even less in print about the remarkable exploits of Thornton Blackburn and his wife Lucie. Canadian author, historian and archaeologist Karolyn Smardz Frost's I've Got a Home in Glory Road is equal parts scientific study, cultural account and personal odyssey.
Harlem Speaks: A Living History of the Harlem Renaissance, a collection edited by Texas Southern University history professor Dr. Gary D. Wintz, demystifies several heralded individuals through precise, detailed essays from 21 experts on the era's finest writers, artists, poets, intellectuals and performers. The list of contributors includes literary biographers Arnold Rampersad, Tyrone Tillery and M. Genevieve West; jazz experts Dan Morgenstern and Chip Deffaa; and political analysts and historians like Williams H. Harris and Martha Jane Nadell.
Author and journalist Caille Millner has been dealing with unique situations most of her life, from being a black woman growing up in a mostly Latino neighborhood to moving into and through the worlds of Silicon Valley and the Ivy League. The Golden Road: Notes on My Gentrification takes readers inside these diverse universes, spotlighting Millner's ongoing personal and political evolution as she encounters white supremacists, techno geeks and embittered post-apartheid South Africans. Along the way, she discovers the difference between being truly educated and simply possessing knowledge, comes to grips with rifts and conflicts within the black community, and concludes that the sum of her unique parts really make a most attractive, if complicated, whole. Millner, co-author of The Promise: How One Woman Made Good on Her Extraordinary Pact to Send a Classroom of First Graders to College, is at 27, a member of the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board. Written in a witty, alternately self-deprecating, satirical and revealing manner, her memoir offers a fascinating portrait of a gifted and articulate writer.