Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story

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When he was but 10 years old, Tim Tyson heard one of his boyhood friends in Oxford, N.C. excitedly blurt the words that were to forever change his life: "Daddy and Roger and 'em shot 'em a nigger!" The cold-blooded street murder of young Henry Marrow by an ambitious, hot-tempered local businessman and his kin in the Spring of 1970 would quickly fan the long-flickering flames of racial discord in the proud, insular tobacco town into explosions of rage and street violence. It would also turn the white Tyson down a long, troubled reconciliation with his Southern roots that eventually led to a professorship in African-American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison--and this profoundly moving, if deeply troubling personal meditation on the true costs of America's historical racial divide. Taking its title from a traditional African-American spiritual, Tyson skillfully interweaves insightful autobiography (his father was the town's anti-segregationist Methodist minister, and a man whose conscience and human decency greatly informs the son) with a painstakingly nuanced historical analysis that underscores how little really changed in the years and decades after the Civil Rights Act of 1965 supposedly ended racial segregation. The details are often chilling: Oxford simply closed its public recreation facilities rather than integrate them; Marrow's accused murderers were publicly condemned, yet acquitted; the very town's newspaper records of the events--and indeed the author's later account for his graduate thesis--mysteriously removed from local public records. But Tyson's own impassioned personal history lessons here won't be denied; they're painful, yet necessary reminders of a poisonous American racial legacy that's so often been casually rewritten--and too easily carried forward into yet another century by politicians eagerly employing the cynical, so-called "Southern Strategy." --Jerry McCulley

Book Description

“Daddy and Roger and ’em shot ’em a nigger.” Those words, whispered to ten-year-old Tim Tyson by a playmate, heralded a ?restorm that would forever transform the tobacco market town of Oxford, North Carolina.

On May 11, 1970, Henry Marrow, a twenty-three-year-old black veteran, walked into a crossroads store owned by Robert Teel and came out running. Teel and two of his sons chased and beat Marrow, then killed him in public as he pleaded for his life.

Like many small Southern towns, Oxford had barely been touched by the civil rights movement. But in the wake of the killing, young African Americans took to the streets. While lawyers battled in the courthouse, the Klan raged in the shadows and black Vietnam veterans torched the town’s tobacco warehouses. Tyson’s father, the pastor of Oxford’s all-white Methodist church, urged the town to come to terms with its bloody racial history. In the end, however, the Tyson family was forced to move away.

Tim Tyson’s riveting narrative of that fiery summer brings gritty blues truth, soaring gospel vision, and down-home humor to a shocking episode of our history. Like To Kill a Mockingbird, Blood Done Sign My Name is a classic portrait of an unforgettable time and place.

Customer Reviews:

Grippingly Written, Moving, and Historically Powerful.......2007-08-16

I finally got around to reading this memoir this summer and was in awe of the author's narrative gifts. This story reads like a novel and is full of plain human wisdom, an emotional openness combining humility and pride, wry humor, sharp political analysis, and a can't-put-it-down story line that comes to terms with America's number one cultural problem: racism. This is a book of local history that gets at the human condition, and a work of history that reads like great literature. I'm telling everyone I can to read it, and that includes whoever reads this. Don't pay attention to any of the so-called "corrections" made by some other reviewers here. This is a must-read historical work that shows an astute and perceptive ability to understand its widely varying participants' points of view and experiences, while not shrinking from the moral and historical obligation to draw judgments. There is only one word to use: *brilliant.* (I'm not one to use that lightly when talking about either autobiography or
history.)

Disclaimer: The writer of this review is a professional historian with a Ph.D., but one who has never met Timothy Tyson.

Evangelical Pastor - 63 years old.......2007-07-29

Few books are as challenging for me as this one. I lived through the years of this story and consistently refused to believe that our racism was as extensive or deeply rooted as it was. Take away: the challenge to see it in our present day and to do something about it.

A mixture of polemic, interesting recollections, and accounts of questionable credibility.......2007-07-18

I was born and grew up in Oxford, North Carolina as a white boy, and graduated from the
University of North Carolina in 1949. I have lived in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland for many
years.

Tyson deserves credit for deploring the murder and acquittal of the murderer in the book.
However, he tends to be polemic: all black people in it are noble; all but a few white people are
some combination of racist, ignorant, or narrow-minded. (It is similar in that respect to Leon
Uris's novel "Exodus", in which all Jews are noble and bigger than life, while all others are hateful
or, at best, not very bright.)

He often uses a down-home style of writing, calling his parents "Daddy" and "Mama" and being
addressed as "Little Buck" by his father, which he apparently feels makes him and his family seem
to be folksy, good plain people.

However, the book is not without its shortcomings.

Accounts of questionable credibility:

¶¶He states that tear gas was used by Oxford police in 1944 to dispel a crowd of black people
who were protesting the arrest of two men. I witnessed the event and remember no tear gas--had
there been, I think I would never have forgotten it.

¶¶An account of the torching of buildings in Oxford on May 25, 1970 by angry black people
following the killing of Marrow describes two tobacco warehouses which were among
them:"Inside these warehouses were eight hundred thousand pounds of golden cured tobacco, a
known flammable substance, with a total value of more than a million dollars." I find it hard to
believe that any tobacco would have been in those warehouses in May.

Tobacco was brought by the farmers to Oxford warehouses from mid-September through
mid-November, where it was sold at auction and immediately taken by the buyers to their Oxford
processing plants, and then shipped off to the cigarette manufacturers. By some time in late
November, all of the warehouses became empty.

Although the whole procedure I describe above could have changed somewhat by 1970, I still
find it hard to believe that there would have been tobacco in the warehouses in May, by which
time it would have probably become dry and crumbly.

¶¶The following exchange supposedly took place during the 1930's between Major T.G. stem (a
prominent white man in Oxford) and a man described in the book as "a local white bootlegger."
Having occurred long before Tyson was born, it was recounted to him by Thad Stem, the Major's
son and a close friend of the Tyson family.

"Major Stem was leaving Hall's drugstore with his son (Thad) and they passed Mrs. G. C. Shaw,
the wife of the principal at Mary Potter High, the local Negro high school.

'Good afternoon, Mrs. Shaw,' the Major said, tipping his hat.

A local white bootlegger, idling under the store awning, accosted Major Stem. 'Why'd you call
that [...] woman Mrs. Shaw'?" he demanded.

'Well, Mrs. Shaw's older than I am,' he began softly. 'She's better educated than I am,and she has
more money.' Then, thrusting the bootlegger away from him, the major exploded: 'But more to
the point, what I call Mrs. Shaw is none of your goddamned business, you low-life taxidermist,
you two-for-a-nickel jackal, you knee-crawling [...], net.' These were the days when
people really knew how to cuss. Back then, the appendage 'net' meant a real [...]...on the
way home (Thad) asked his father why on earth he had called the bootlegger a 'taxidermist.' The
major said quietly that a taxidermist is a man who mounts animals."

If not a total fabrication, the story seems to me to have been mostly made up.

In those earlier times, I never heard any white person in Oxford address or refer to a black person
as Mr./Mrs./Ms. (However, by some strange logic, a black doctor was referred to as Dr. X by
white people. Dr. Ellis Toney was a black practitioner there for many years and was so referred
to. The same was the case for some black ministers, who were referred to as Pastor or Reverend
such-and-such.)

¶¶In writing about the slave trade, Tyson speaks of "the dark Atlantic, where the bones of
somewhere around ten million Africans settled into the sand, thrown overboard by the slave ships
that plied those waters in the early days of the republic (the USA)."

Where did this 10 million figure come from? Tyson provides no source. One reference, "Slavery:
A World History", by Milton Meltzer, says that about 2.2 million died that way.

Degrading most of Oxford's black people by stereotyping them as uncultured:

The most puzzling aspect of the book is: On the one hand, Tyson makes the legitimate point that
black residents of Oxford and Granville County, after long having been subjected to a segregated,
inferior status in society, deserved to be recognized as having equal rights with white citizens.
Yet, at the same time, he consistently shows these same black people as being crude and unable to
say anything without massacring English grammar.

"I knowed him right good, and I liked him all right. He didn't hurt nobody." "Yeah, we was
listening to TV, that's how we got involved in the first sit-ins in Oxford, because we saw on TV
they was doing it up in Greensboro." "Me and a guy named Ronald Jordan, me and him climbed
up on the Confederate soldier..." And there are many more.

I know from personal experience that many black people in Oxford, then and now, are much more
cultured than Tyson portrays them. I also know from my volunteer work at the Helping Up
Mission in Baltimore, where I tutor men who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction in
the 3R's (all of whom to date have been black), that most black people, like anyone anywhere, will
grasp an opportunity to become more cultured.

Heartbreaking and Revelatory.......2007-05-18

An essential history and memoir of a time whose facts are often forgotten and even actively repressed. The present doesn't make sense without honestly examining the past, and this book does that with humility and emotional power. Even if you think you know this history (as I did) you very well may not.

essential.......2007-03-15

For those of us who think we understand by reading about racial prejudice and thinking about what it must be like, should read this book. We still won't really understand, but we will be a much closer than we were before.

Drama Is Her Middle Name: The Ritz Harper Chronicles Vol. 1

Average customer rating:

Drama is her middle name
Pretty Good
I love the story Couldn't wait to read the next book
Surprising...
Shock Jock!

Drama Is Her Middle Name: The Ritz Harper Chronicles Vol. 1
Wendy Williams , and Karen Hunter
Manufacturer: Harlem Moon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 076792486X
Release Date: 2006-06-20

Book Description

Shock jock extraordinaire Wendy Williams lets loose with the first in a series of novels based on her alter ego, the divalicious radio DJ Ritz Harper. Ritz puts the s in shock and the g in gossip, and Drama is her middle name.

Ritz is a suburban girl on the outside, but inside she’s a hustler’s hustler who’s masterfully maneuvered her way into the spotlight after ruining the career of a well-respected newswoman (and former college friend). Ritz’s “exclusive” rockets her to the top of the ratings, and she’s rewarded with her very own show. Like a talking Venus flytrap, she verbally seduces her on-air guests, only to have them for lunch as she spews gossip about their lives.

Ritz becomes the darling of the station’s afternoon slot. But what happens when Ritz goes from drive-time diva to drive-by victim? Has Ritz bad-mouthed the wrong person? Has her signature cat-and-mouse “bomb drop” been dropped on her instead?

As Ritz lies crumpled on a city sidewalk, all she can think as she struggles to maintain consciousness is “Who did this to me? Who?”

Readers will salivate as they try to figure out where the fictional Ritz ends and the real-life Wendy begins. Wendy will involve her millions of listeners by asking them what should happen to Ritz, which will be revealed at the beginning of the next novel, scheduled to be published in fall of 2006 for Christmas.

Customer Reviews:

Drama is her middle name.......2007-10-03

I don't know if I have this book. I recieved one book and it was not what I requested and I sent it back. Because I requested a paperback. All the books I requested were paperbacks. I only have one the books.

Pretty Good.......2007-08-03

I read this book in one day. It was entertaining, although it was also predictable. I still enjoyed. I try to listen to Wendy Williams every day. There is no denying that Ritz is the part of Wendy. I was thinking about going to pick up part two and read it over thid weekend. Good quick read:)

I love the story Couldn't wait to read the next book.......2007-05-24

Great story well written. Coundln't wait to read the next book.

Surprising..........2007-04-18

I was so glad that I bought this and part two together. The book was good. It held my interest and was very New York.

Shock Jock!.......2007-04-01

I purchased this book months ago because I wanted to read Wendy William's contribution to the literary world especially as it's a work of fiction.
I've just now had a chance to read it....
I wasn't impressed with the first couple of chapter's but being the trooper that I am, I stuck with it.

Ritz Harper is a radio shock jock who, much like Wendy, dishes out the dirt on unsuspecting celebrities during her radio show "The Ritz Harper Excursion".
Delilah Summers and Pastor Edwin Lakes JR are just two "victims" who's lives are left in shambles after being "exposed" on the show. Of course she gains many, many enemies as she climbs the ladder to success, but which one of them wants her dead?

I'm glad I continued to read and I want to know who wants Ritz Harper dead! The intern Jamie; does she have something to do with it since she is dating Derek, brother of another of Ritz's "victims"? Or did Delilah put a hit out on Ritz?
Even better maybe Pastor Lakes "stately" mother got the devil in her and played shoot em up!

Well I just don't know but I am really curious, so much so that I ran out to Borders and copped six books and you guessed it The Ritz Harper Chronicles #2 "Is the Bitch DEAD or what? Is one of them!

I liked the story but we'll see how it all pans out....

Stay tuned...lol.

Locksie
ARC Book Club Inc.
[...]

Average customer rating:

More Notes of a Native Son
Nobody Knows My Name Is Timeless
Great esssays from one of America's best authors
Honest, Critical, Sincere, Moving, Black, Human!!!

Nobody Knows My Name
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679744738
Release Date: 1992-12-01

Book Description

Told with Baldwin's characteristically unflinching honesty, this collection of illuminating, deeply felt essays examines topics ranging from race relations in the United States to the role of the writer in society, and offers personal accounts of Richard Wright, Norman Mailer and other writers.

Customer Reviews:

More Notes of a Native Son.......2004-12-05

Bearing the subtitle "More Notes of a Native Son," "Nobody Knows My Name" is a follow-up to Baldwin's earlier, more famous book. Originally published in national magazines between 1954 and 1961, these essays are more mature, if less biting, than his first collection--and they are certainly just as witty. With one notable exception, they are timeless and trenchant commentaries on racial and cultural issues.

The first group of eight essays focuses on the political and social divides in the United States. The opening article reiterates the discovery he made in "Notes of a Native Son": that by living in Europe he paradoxically discovered what it means to be an American. Others examine the despicable inhumanity of a Harlem public housing project ("cheerless as a prison"), the success of the student movement and the rise of Muslim power in black politics ("a very small echo of the black discontent now abroad in the world"), and the first efforts to integrate Southern public schools ("the entire nation has spent a hundred years avoiding the question of the place of the black man in it"). The two most memorable essays detail the daily bravery, trauma, and humiliations of a schoolboy who is the first black in an all-white school and respond to Faulkner's despicable remarks on race (which were made when Faulkner was seemingly drunk and which were later repudiated when he was atypically sober).

The only disappointing essay is "Princes and Power," an account of Le Congres des Ecrivains et Artistes Noirs (Conference of Negro-African Writers and Artists). The internal disputes and lofty goals of this gathering--convened to consider "the history of Euro-African relations" and the postcolonial "cultural inventory"--did not lack for interest, and Baldwin ably relates the tensions between and cross-purposes of American blacks and Africans. But, overall, he seems to be just phoning it in, muffling the obvious passions of the conference participants and highlighting instead the abstract academic tone.

The second and final group of five essays highlight cultural subjects. He follows a speech detailing the outline for an imaginary novel with biographical appraisals of Andre Gide, Ingmar Bergman, Richard Wright, and Normal Mailer. His eulogy for Wright, initially composed and published in three disparate parts, simultaneously expresses regret for Baldwin's youthful criticism of the older author that resulted in the irreparable destruction of their friendship and recounts Wright's sad social decline: "he had managed to estrange himself from almost all of the younger American Negro writers in Paris ... [who] had discovered that Richard did not really know much about the present dimensions and complexity of the Negro problem here, and, profoundly, did not want to know."

But the gem of the collection is "The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy," Wright's tongue-in-cheek account of his friendship with Normal Mailer, written both as not-so-subtle payback for Mailer's criticism of Baldwin in the self-indulgent "Advertisements for Myself" and as a tribute to Mailer's talent and "responsibility" as an artist. After sending off a number of barbed (yet good-natured) repartees, Baldwin acknowledges not only Mailer's importance as a "very good friend" but also his worth as a writer. Baldwin's assessment of that career serves at as fitting coda to Baldwin's own essays: "His work, after all, is all that will be left when the newspapers are yellowed, all the gossip columnists silenced, and all the cocktail parties over, and when Norman and you and I are dead."

Nobody Knows My Name Is Timeless.......2004-10-08

For my humanities class I was instructed to read an autobiography of my choice. Through shuffling through the library for an autobiography that I can actually read and appreciate I stumbled across this great James Baldwin title. Nobody Knows My Name is a collection of his writing while he was self exiled in Europe. I opened the book with excitment and urgency. As the words regestired in my head I began to realize that the experiences he described articulated exactly how I feel as a black man in American society.
Each essay discussing another aspect of society or the life of a black man in the world I grasped with utter enthusasim. His observations and theories were articulate critical and insightful. James Baldwin's tales of another continent are intising and informative of where our society was and how it is still the same in many ways.
If you are interested in Baldwin's previous writings or African American authors and perspective I know you will enjoy this combiation of essays.

Great esssays from one of America's best authors.......2004-06-19

This collection of essays show James Baldwin as he strives to figure out who he is as a writer, as an American and as a black man. Beginning with his self-imposed exile to Paris in the 1950's, he calls his own identity as both a black man and an American into question. The Conference of Negro-African Writers and Artists which met in 1956 showed him just how different Europeans and Africans viewed cultural identity and hinted at ostracizing the American contingent. And he felt distinctly American in that crowd. Through his essays about returning to Harlem, his criticisms of William Faulkner ("Faulkner and Desegregation"), his review of a work by André Gide, his dealings with author Richard Wright, his friendship with author Norman Mailer ("The Black Boy Looks At the White Boy"), and his interview with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, Baldwin displays his own feelings at finding his own identity as both man and writer in a world that tries to both accet and to reject him at the same time.

Powerful essays from one of America's best authors.

Honest, Critical, Sincere, Moving, Black, Human!!!.......2004-04-02

what i love about baldwin is that he does not have delusions of grandeur about himself - unlike many blacks in the public sphere. this book of essays on society and his personal experiences in the US and abroad is majestic b/c baldwin has a way of writing about complexities of people and societal issues in an introspective yet practical way. although i was impressed with every essay, his essay on richard wright was mindblowing. BUT YOU HAVE TO READ IT FOR YOURSELF! i think it is a great book for black and latin men to read. in doing so many bruhs - if they are honest - will find that they are as similar baldwin as we like to believe are are to malcolm x. either way, you do not go wrong as both were great human beings. in short, i was totally edified by this text. It will easily make my top 10 list - which is very, very, very difficult.

James Baldwin : Collected Essays : Notes of a Native Son / Nobody Knows My Name / The Fire Next Time / No Name in the Street / The Devil Finds Work / Other Essays (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

A must for the Serious Scholar's library
Like Nothing Else You've Read
A great book -- A worthy part of a great series
review
A painful, powerful experience

James Baldwin : Collected Essays : Notes of a Native Son / Nobody Knows My Name / The Fire Next Time / No Name in the Street / The Devil Finds Work / Other Essays (Library of America)
James Baldwin
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1883011523

Amazon.com

Writer James Baldwin earnestly championed the civil rights movement in both his fiction and nonfiction, a fact which, coupled with his extraordinary writing talent, assured not only his historical importance, but also his place as one of the finest African American writers of his generation. Collected Essays is a comprehensive collection of his most memorable prose, including "Stranger in the Village," "The Harlem Ghetto," and "Many Thousands Gone." Clear in voice and vision, the essays communicate the emotions of an entire historical movement. Combining politics, prophecy, and passion, Baldwin's essays are truly as thought-provoking today as they were some 30 years ago.

Customer Reviews:

A must for the Serious Scholar's library.......2006-07-22

This collection of Baldwin's writings is priceless because not only is it a showcase of an agile and fertile mind, it also brings together in a single volume some of his most popular and more famous as well as some of his less formal writings and speeches.

Always well ahead of his times, Baldwin's essays remain fresh and as relevant in today's more quiescent racial times as they were during the more troubled times of his life. They remain fresh because they tell in Baldwin's own inimical and elegant way, the deeper truths about our troubled racial past and present. Most of all they reflect how Baldwin used his quick and restless mind to critique the social and artistic scenes of our troubled era: His strategy, reflected in this collection, was always to mine the substance from the subtext upwards. Those of us who try to mimic his techniques can learn a lot from this and the companion volume of his collected works.

At the same time, Baldwin's psychological analysis remains unerring and at least as sharp as, if not sharper than those of some of his French contemporaries, including his friends and compatriots in the struggle, Franz Fanon and Jean Paul Sartre, who also were both not only revolutionaries and revolutionary thinkers like Baldwin, but also a Psychiatrist and a Philosopher, respectively.

No library on the history of race in America or France is complete without this well designed and well-organized volume. Five stars.

Like Nothing Else You've Read.......2005-06-03

A lot of reviewers have talked about owning this book if you are distinctly interested in collecting works by black authors or in black studies. I think that this book is an essential element to anyone's library, in particular people interested in the craft of writing. Toni Morrison calls Baldwin the greatest essayist of the 20th century and I couldn't agree more.
In this collection of essays, it becomes clear that Baldwin has truly perfected the craft of the essay. Not only is Baldwin's content, his concepts of honesty and truth, of light and dark, right and wrong, of white and black, and much more straight up revolutionary, but he manages to have his content reflected in the craft and style of each essay, which should really be the goal of all writers.
More than anything, Baldwin has an exquisite ability to reveal a complex truth in a simple concise way. All of these essays, indeed all of Baldwin's works, have one common thread. And that is that TRUTH is found within contradiction, because contradiction is honest. I think anyone who browses this page should immediately try and at least check this out of their libary (though it's definitely worth owning, every time I reread it I discover new things) because it really will effect you in meaningful ways.

A great book -- A worthy part of a great series.......2004-02-23

I love James Baldwin--I think he's a tremendous writer, so Toni Morrison could hardly go wrong in selecting essays for this volume. All of the selections are excellent. Notes of a Native Son contains a touching eulogy for Richard Wright ("Alas, Poor Richard"), explaining the lonliness and problems Mr. Wright had at the end of his life. Baldwin displays his tremendous range as both a political commentator and a literary critic. The Devil Finds Work, in particular, is very insightful--and several parts humourous.

What I don't understand--and why I struck a star off this collection--is why Ms. Morrison did not include "Evidence of Things Unseen," Baldwin's analysis of the Atlanta child murders from the early eighties. Perhaps Library of America is planning later volumes of Baldwin's works--The companion volume to these essays is his "Early Novels," most notably "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and "Giovani's Room." I can't imagine that Library of America would not produce a volume including Mr. Baldwin's later works--especially "Just Above my Head."

This particular edition is well worth having--despite the price. First, this is a good collection of Baldwin's essays, many of which are difficult to find. Second, the Library of America really does a commendable job in paper quality and binding. This is not a leather bound edition on 50 pound paper, so stiff you can't open it and printed so the back binding looks impressive on your bookshelf--this is tightly bound, cardboard cover that lies flat, and is easy to read. The paper is not heavy--but acid free, and tear resistant. The Library of America series are good collections that are meant to be read many times, by many people--these books hold up very well.

I am afraid that Mr. Baldwin's works and opinions may fall by the wayside as time passes. The fact that Ms. Morrison--one of our best and most respected authors--put these collections together will certainly help keep Mr. Baldwin's works alive. But if you have any interest in what it means to be African American--in the twenties, to contemporary america--through even tomorrow--You need to read and appreciate Mr. Baldwin's insights. And you will also enjoy his clear, careful, and pointed writing.

review.......2002-05-10

This book was very interesting and i enjoyed the courage of a young black man to stand up for his rights.

A painful, powerful experience.......2001-10-11

In Egypt, I met an extraordinary American.
"I was born in New York, but have only lived in pockets of it. In Paris, I lived in all parts of the city - on the Right Bank and on the Left, among the bourgeoisie and among les miserables, and knew all kinds of people from pimps and prostitutes in Pigalle to Egyptian bankers in Nueilly. This may sound unprincipled or even obscurely immoral: I found it healthy. I love to talk to people, all kinds of people, and almost everyone, as I hope we still know, loves a man who loves to listen," he said.
"The perpetual dealing with people very different from myself caused a shattering in me of preconceptions I scarcely knew I held. This reassessment, which can be very painful, is also very valuable."
His name is Mr. Baldwin, and I cherish this new acquaintance because his ideas have had such profound impact on my views of Egypt. I wanted to know the people, but as I reach out for them, sometimes, I'm shocked by what I see. I see people sleeping on the concrete patios along the Nile - many of them have migrated from the farmlands because they can make more money for their families if they work in Cairo. But desert nights can be bitter cold in January, and it cuts my heart. Yet, Mr. Baldwin's message is well heeded. The same problems of inner city growth that come with development in Egypt also came with development in Britain one hundred years ago. American inner city schools and slums still reflect this challenge.
Would I have walked into the slums of Chicago if I were there? Would I have strolled through the southwest side of Kansas City or east St. Louis? Would I have walked into the anti-developing city blocks of L.A. if I were in America? Of course not. So why is it that traveling abroad opens my eyes to poverty in America? Why couldn't I see it when I was there? I don't know why this happens, but James Baldwin was right - absolutely right when he said that this reassessment, which can be very painful is also very valuable.
I have been told that the housing shortage in Egypt provided the impetus for many people to move into the spacious mausoleums in the old city graveyard. The international visitors call it, "The City of the Dead," and tourists go there and gawk at poverty creating a makeshift freak show out of human suffering. Then I learned that the housing shortage in Los Angeles provided the impetus for many people to move into mausoleums, but no one goes to gawk at them. In fact, there seems to be a kind of American denial that such things could ever happen in the land of milk and honey.
As I hear of people talking about human rights violations in Egypt, I think of the title of James Baldwin's book: Nobody Knows My Name. I think of James Byrd who was dragged to death behind a pickup truck. I think of the threats of millennium violence that frightened black American families so much that they bought guns and stayed home for the New Year. I think of the tiny city in Texas who voted Spanish as their city's official language and then received death threats from all over the nation. Of course, if you asked any American about human rights violations, they would tell you that this is something that happens in China or Africa. It's a painful realization that it might happen in MY country. Growing up in the American school system, I came to idolize Abraham Lincoln's courage and George Washington's integrity. The universal ideas of human value and dignity that we believe to be inalienable are not, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so wisely told us, being applied universally in our country. These facts go against the ideals and values of our nation - they don't support the concepts of the free and the brave.
"It is a complex fate to be an American," Henry James observed. James Baldwin awakened me to that complexity in a way so subtle, so gentle and yet, so powerfully painful.
He awakened me to the hard realities of the American people, most of whom will never read or digest his work. They would dismiss him. But his vision is not to be dismissed. His writing illustrates that the responsibility of this future lies in the hands of blind people. People who refuse to see American neighborhoods and American people for what they really are. We can't improve until we accept the starting point. This lofty ideal of what we should be and blind obstinacy to what we are is killing us.
"Europe has what we do not have yet," Baldwin said. "A sense of the mysterious and inexorable limits of life, a sense, in a word, of tragedy. And we have what they sorely need: a new sense of life's possibilities."
Egypt has what we do not yet have - a clear and present sense of unity - an admiration for sacrifice for the whole of the group - the nuclear family, the extended family, the community. And we have absolutely nothing that Egypt needs, except, if you ask the younger generation: Nike shoes. In fact, this is precisely what Egyptians do not need. They do not need the destructive, greed-inspiring and greed-glorifying economic development of the West.

"In this endeavor to wed the vision of the Old World with that of the New, it is the writer, not the statesman, who is our strongest arm. Though we do not wholly believe it yet, the interior life is a real life, and the intangible dreams of people have tangible effect on the world." - James Baldwin

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Best Yet?

A Great Book!

1000+(African) Òrìsà Yorùbá Names
Fama
Manufacturer: Ile Orunmila Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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AROMASODU: Archives of Yoruba Names and Their Meaning

Yoruba-English/English-Yoruba Modern Practical Dictionary

Inner Peace: The Yoruba Concept of Ori

Fama's Ede Awo (Orisa Yoruba Dictionary)

Ifa Theology volume2 Family Spirit:The Ifa Concept of Egun (Ifa Theology)

ASIN: 0964424754

Book Description

Never before has a book of this magnitude been written by a native Yoruba author in such a clear, concise and easy-to-read language. The book is well researched and documented. Chief FAMA succinctly describes both the history and cultural aspects of naming a baby with particular emphasis on Orisa names. She shares a candid view of the inner workings of the typical traditional Yoruba family and the various situations which dictates what name/s a child should bear.

Relief is here at last for parents, godparents, students...who in the past have struggled to come up with Yoruba names for their children or godchildren that will express the true meaning of the names given. Readers will learn the meaning of the various stages of a traditional Yoruba Naming Ceremony such as ikosedaye and isomoloruko. The book gives the true meanings of names given to children born abiku, or born to Ayan (drummers), Egungun priests, Babalawos, Iwin, Intra-Family-Marriage, just to name a few topics covered in the book. 1,000+ (African) Orisa Yoruba Names has 179 pages and is bound in a beautiful gold color paper back.

Customer Reviews:

Best Yet?.......2005-06-30

An excellent Orisa name book for those that require correct spellings, accurate meanings and quick reference. Listed by Orisa and by an alphabetic list, this book is invaluable. Everyone will find an Orisa name they have never heard or used.

Keep it close during Baby naming ceremony, Orisa initiations and presentation of first Orisa names to new devotees!

A Great Book!.......2004-09-04

This book is excellent. It contains so many different names from so many categories. With categories from Abiku (child-death syndrome) to Joy to Royalty to Warrior to Reincarnation to Ayan (drummer) to Child (Omo) to Beauty and love. It also contains all of the divinations, Ifa, Egungun, Esu, Iwin, Ogun, Ose, Obatala, Ode and Agbe, Osanyin, Osun, Oya, Sango and Yemoja. It also has Oluwa (God). It is printed in Yoruba, so it has all the accents and dots that is needed to accurately pronouce each name. It gives descriptive meanings of each name and even identifies if it is a male's, female's or unisexual name.

The only thing I wish it had was a break down of each name. Since Yoruba names are really sentences put together, I was hoping that it would break down each name to show you exactly what words were put together to make the name. (Ex: Olumayowa which means "God brings Joy." Made of Oluwa (God) Mu wa (Bring it) and Ayo (Joy).

Still, it is an excellent book and worth the cost. If you are looking for the perfect name for your new child, this book will be able to give you just about any option for any situation, expression or condition the child is born in.

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Honoring Legends...
MY poem!
We Speak Your Names: A Celebration
Fabulous!
"Thank You" is what we say to God!

We Speak Your Names: A Celebration
Pearl Cleage
Manufacturer: One World/Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0345490274
Release Date: 2006-05-09

Book Description

For centuries, African American women have been remaking the world, giving testament to the power of hope, courage, and resilience. But it took the inspired generosity of Oprah Winfrey to honor fully the many gifts of sisterhood. For three amazing days–from May 13 to 15, 2005–a distinguished group of women was invited to celebrate the enduring achievements of twenty-five of their mentors and role models–and in the process pay tribute to the long, glorious tradition of African American accomplishment.

The brilliant centerpiece of the weekend was the reading aloud of Pearl Cleage’s poem “We Speak Your Names,” written especially for the occasion and appearing here for the first time in this beautiful keepsake book. As deeply moving in print as it was during that weekend of love and praise, the poem names each of the women honored: Dr. Maya Angelou, Coretta Scott King, Diahann Carroll, Toni Morrison, Nikki Giovanni, Rosa Parks, Katherine Dunham, and other legends of the brightest magnitude. With heartfelt eloquence, Pearl Cleage (herself a luminary of the younger generation) celebrates her distinguished elders’ strength, their magic, their sensuality, their loving kindness, their faith in themselves, and the priceless example of their lives. In her introduction, the poet shares: “My sisters, here, there, and everywhere, this poem is for you. Use it, adapt it, pass it on. . . .”

Destined to become a classic, We Speak Your Names is a treasure to keep forever and a precious, inspiring gift for the ones you love.

Customer Reviews:

Honoring Legends..........2007-02-10

Through WE SPEAK YOUR NAMES: A Celebration by Pearl Cleage, African-American women have been honored in a way that will stand in history, just as their contributions have. This poem was written at the request of Oprah Winfrey to celebrate and commensurate the accomplishments of women honored at Winfrey's 2005 Living Legends event and ball. And the book concludes with a biographical sketch of each woman.

These women, consisting of civil rights leaders, actresses, writers, singers, etc., are all role-models to those who followed and are following after them. A few featured are Maya Angelou, Ruby Dee, Nikki Giovanni, Dr. Dorothy Height, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Nancy Wilson. Cleage's poem encompasses many of the known traits of these women, with themes of strength, sisterhood, honor, and courage, but also acknowledges their beauty and wisdom--showcasing them individually and also collectively. They are remarkable women who should be honored, cherished, thanked and most of all remembered. Kudos to Pearl Cleage and Zaron W. Burnett, Jr., for WE SPEAK YOUR NAMES and to Oprah Winfrey for the vision.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

MY poem!.......2006-11-24

It's probably one of the only poems I look to quote each day. It's about love, magic, determination, and above all else, the spirit of Black women, not only here in America, but around the world. I speak so many womens' names when I go about my day trying my best to follow the star God has allowed me to realize. And I hope I'm making them proud!

We Speak Your Names: A Celebration.......2006-08-18

As a fan of Pearl Cleage, I have never been dissapointed! Again, she shines.

Fabulous!.......2006-07-14

i first heard the poem read on the TV special with Oprah honouring the legends and the youngun's, in the African American world.
Regardless of me not being African American, the poem touched me deeply and reminded me of the many women that have touched my life. this little book is definitly a keeper!

Thank you for sharing it with all of us that really do walk in the footprints of so many that have paved the way for us in this world.

"Thank You" is what we say to God!.......2006-06-08

Dr. Maya Angelou said "Thank you is what we say to God", when she humbly accepted the honor of being praised at Oprah's Legends Ball. The centerpiece of the event was Pearl Cleage's poem, which is lovingly presented in this inspirational little book.

I had some problems with who Oprah honored and didn't honor, but I'll save that for when the DVD comes out. Anyway, it was her party and these were the people who inspired her.

The beauty of Pearl's poem is that it is all about respecting our elders and remembering that we are AFRICANS! And we must be proud.

I also like how Pearl asks the reader to adapt the poem to suit his or her own needs. We can use it as a template and praise the living (as Oprah has done) or the dead, women and men, African in America, or in Africa.

What disturbed me about Oprah's bash was that most of the so-called "Young'uns", while claiming inspiration from the Legends, really don't seem to me that they will achieve much when they are of age. Many of them were flavor-of-the-week Black celebrities. I can only hope the event will truly inspire them to achieve something notable.

In the early 90's, we had the group Arrested Development pushing the concept of honoring our elders and remembering our roots. THESE are the true Young'uns and they would be legends too, if they weren't so rudely thrown aside by the hip hop craze.

I was also troubled seeing Jesse Jackson having another photo op, while Dr. Bill Cosby was noticeably absent. Mrs. Huxtable was there, but it wasn't enough for me. Cosby is leading the new struggle- for Africans in America to be articulate and educated.

Bill Cosby, I SPEAK YOUR NAME!

And this is why I love the poem so much. You can follow the African griot tradition and invoke your ancestors and celebrate your tribal elders. When you speak their names, they live forever, and inspire the youth.

I also encourage young Africans in America to find legends IN Africa. Nelson Mandela is an obvious choice to start with. This way, we will reconnect with our mother country and be nourished by her sweet milk!

Kudos to Pearl Cleage and thanks to Oprah, whose heart is in the right place.

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a must read
Inspiring and unapologetic read!
A Difficult and Bitter Lesson
"Find your innocence..." And never lose it again!!!
Possibly the Best Biograhphy I've ever read

Gather Together in My Name
Maya Angelou
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0394486927
Release Date: 1974-04-12

Book Description

In this incredible second book in a series of autobiographies, the poet, still in her teens, gives birth to a son, tries to keep a job, falls in love, dances, falls out of love, chases after her kidnapped baby, and goes to work in a house of prostitution thinking she is helping the man she loves.

Customer Reviews:

a must read.......2007-04-12

What an inspiration that Maya Angelou is to the world. Her story shows there is hope for everyone in any circumstance to overcome and make a difference to this world. If you don't know her story, this is a must read!! You'll love it.

Inspiring and unapologetic read!.......2007-01-03

Maya Angelou continues her life story in Gather Together In My Name. She candidly describes her experiences being a young mother, experimenting with the temptations life presents, and her mistakes. Through it all the reader grows from her experience alongside her. Another page turning examination of the experience of life written with boldness, beauty, and simplicity.

A Difficult and Bitter Lesson.......2006-07-19

GATHER TOGETHER IN MY NAME is a difficult book to read. Oh, not because of Angelou's syntax, vocabulary or sentence structure. On the contrary, she writes in a clear, direct style that, if anything, may be a little too unembellished for some readers' pleasure. Now and then, to convey an effect more distinctly to the reader, her words suggest the patois of the speaker whom she is quoting. But no, the difficulty does not lie in the words, but rather in the message. It is painful to experience, even vicariously, the feelings of entrapment, abandonment, and repeated failure that Angelou presents to us. It is frustrating to see her heading from one failed endeavor to another, from one jilting to another, from one desperate attempt "to find her niche" to another.

How could anyone be so naive? How could anyone be so gullible? How could anyone be such a victim? The reader must remind himself, however, that, at the time of her life depicted in this book, Angelou is not the accomplished writer and poet of her later years. She is a confused, culturally lost teenager with a child and has experienced little besides rejection for her entire young life. She is very much an innocent girl with a growing resentment of the world around her but with a trusting optimism and an over-developed faith in her own worth, all of which combine to make her quite vulnerable to those who would prey upon her.

She is the product of a failed marriage and was sent by her father to be raised by his mother in Stamps, Arkansas in the 1940's, a location and era in which being Black was not a positive attribute. Though GATHER TOGETHER deals with her later teenage years, we do get a few glimpses of the segregated society into which she had been born. After having sampled the bitter workaday world of menial jobs in California, she returns to her Southern childhood home without the necessary subservience required of a Black and insults the supercilious clerks in a store in the white part of town, after which she must be hurriedly sent back to California to avoid the inevitable vengeance of the "white boys." The effect of growing up in this kind of hostile, demeaning environment must be kept in mind if the reader is to have any hope at understanding the formative influences that produced the attitudes that we witness in the Angelou of this book.

One quite understandable result of her upbringing is that the young Angelou (though not yet known by that name) has no social relationship whatsoever with Caucasian society. To say that she distrusts that society is not quite accurate, for the word "distrust" suggests that she has examined the society and found it deceitful. However, at this point in her life, she has not even examined it. Black and White society and culture are so different, so mutually exclusive, that they exist on different worlds or in different dimensions, and "never the twain shall meet." Because, perhaps, of her total alienation from Caucasian society and culture, the young Angelou seems to trust Blacks uncritically, even though other Blacks are the consistent source of her painful lessons in life--used by one while his girlfriend is elsewhere, maneuvered into prostitution by another, her baby stolen by a third--Angelou still clings to Black society. But, then, what other option had she?

I worry somewhat that younger readers who cannot relate to the legally segregated United States that endured into the 1960s will not find this personal history very believable. I worry also that those who have not lived in the South (even in the 21st century!) or near a ghetto will find the cultural stigma and limitations of being Black extreme and unrealistic. There are those readers who, not understanding the very real social, cultural, economic, and even legal shackles that bound Blacks long after the physical shackles of slavery were shed, will feel that Angelou is, at the very least, exaggerating the conditions which she had to endure and will place more blame upon her for bringing about her own tribulations than is warranted. However, those readers are the very ones who should take the book to heart, for it may help them comprehend just a little bit more of America's dark underbelly than white, middle-class America normally sees. They will find the message difficult and bitter to assimilate, yet it is a part of our country's history and needs to be learned.

"Find your innocence..." And never lose it again!!!.......2005-10-15

There were times as I was reading this book that I cringed and thought to myself "How could she be so stupid." But I had to remind myself of her tender age in this story. She did a lot of things at a young age that many of us may never do in our entire lifetime. Prostitution, Pimping and drugs. This book had so much purpose and that's why I call it "One of the best book that I read all year". It's written like a novel so it doesn't come off preachy or like a self help book. Maya Angelou tells a portion of her story. She uncovers layers of clothing and bares the naked truth of her young adulthood. To me this is not just a story of a black woman and a black womans struggles; this is a story about hard knocks and people of all races and nationalities experience them. "Rita" felt like she had to make her own way, she felt like she needed all of the answers at once. No one was going to take care of her and son. And at the same time, while she felt the burdens of independence, she also felt the emptieness and lonlieness that we all feel some time or another just because we are human. "Rita" made a lot of poor decisions, but that's not the reason that we know her today. We don't know her because she was once a madam on the West Coast, or a prostitute in Stockton, or a cook in Oakland. We know her because she found God's plan for her life and stuck with it.

Possibly the Best Biograhphy I've ever read.......2005-06-21

I always as a little girl looked up to Maya Angelou, I always thought she was wonderful. But I didn't know why she was such a wonderful person. Now I understand why. So what if she was a prositute , she had a good reason . She was in love and young. You only live once.I look at life differently now since I read the book. It showed me just because somebody does something it doesn't make them a bad person but they have a reason.

Proud Heritage: 11001 Names for Your African-American Baby

Average customer rating:

I am based in England, so black name books are hard to find
Deceiving!
A good, inspiring name book
Beautiful and proud!
Disappointed

Proud Heritage: 11001 Names for Your African-American Baby
Elza Dinwiddie-boyd
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Accessories:

ASIN: 0380773406
Release Date: 1994-03-01

Book Description

The first and only book of its kind--popular names, traditional names, African Names, names of famous African-Americans.

Collected here for the first time is the most complete and comprehensive assortment of names to choose from when it comes to picking the perfect name for your newborn. Whether you are interested in the familiar or the unique and unusual, reflecting the influence of the European and American cultures or celebrating the rich roots of African ancestors, here are over 11,000 selections, including origens and historical information. Names to instill pride and self-esteem in every beautiful, beloved new child.

Customer Reviews:

I am based in England, so black name books are hard to find.......2007-03-21

This book had many Afriacn America names, I was pleased that my own childrens unusual names were in there also, will be passing this book on to family member who become pregnant.

Deceiving!.......2005-08-26

When I purchased this book, I expected to read about thousands of African names for geared towards African-American. Instead, the book focused more on European names for African-Americans. The small section, in the back of the book, they had about African names did not insist you in how to pronounce the names. The majority of the names did not tell you the orgin in which the names were derive. If I had a chance to purchase this book all over again, I would NOT waste my time!

A good, inspiring name book.......2005-01-04

"It is through our names that we first place ourselves in the world" --Ralph Waldo Ellison

"If you are determined to give your baby son a name that is different and distinctive, consider this: Among his peers, six-month-old James Lewis Lipford may have the most uncommon first name of all." --no source given

I especially liked the quotes that are given at the beginning of each section! I think people of different ethnic groups having distinctive names makes things more interesting for everyone. Hearing African names throughout the day might get people to think about race, and examine their attitudes about those who are different rather than just assuming everyone is the same and comes from the same background. African personal names highlight that African Americans have a rich cultural history and legacy. This is important because cultural outlets like schools and the nightly news do not often discuss African culture. It is dissapointing that the newly created names don't include any explanation about their origin or information about others who have had them. A book that picked up where this one left off and did that is: The Complete Guide to African-American Baby Names by Linda Wolfe Keister. I also recommend that one. Overall this is a very good resource!

Beautiful and proud!.......2002-03-23

The names in this book were inspirational to me while my husband and I were looking for just the right name for our son. It was important to us to choose a name that would honor our son's ancestors and older brothers in the black community, but still be unique and true to him. This is a great resource for black parents and I will definitely use it again when our family grows!

Disappointed.......2000-02-24

I was very disappointed to find that out of 11,001 names for African-American children, there weren't many I found that were African-American based. Though just about every name in the book was a name of at least one African-American, many had European roots. The names I found most interesting (under the new name section) had no meanings and naming my child with a name that has known meaning to me is very important.

Book Description

Would you like to feel closer to Africa? African American slaves were alienated from the connection to their ancestors and the mysticism of Africa. Credo Mutwa, the acclaimed African mystic and scholar explains, "A name is not simply a sound made into the empty air. A name is a thing so precious among our people that we believe very strongly that it possesses magical properties which are bestowed upon you."

In "African Names" you will find a name for your child, or yourself, that you truly believe will reflect both heritage and personality. Inside you will discover names from all corners of Africa, complete with their meanings and origins.

The Idea of Latin America (Blackwell Manifestos)

Average customer rating:

Decolonizing Knowledge in/of "Latin" America

The Idea of Latin America (Blackwell Manifestos)
Walter D. Mignolo
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Human Geography | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1405100869

Book Description

The term Latin America supposes that there is an America that is Latin, which can be defined in opposition to one that is not. This geo-political manifesto revisits the idea of Latinity, charting the history of the concept from its emergence in Europe under France's leadership, through its appropriation by the Creole élite of South America and the Spanish Caribbean in the second half of the nineteenth century, up to the present day.Reinstating the indigenous peoples, the enormous population of African descent and the 40 million Latino/as in the US that are rendered invisible by the image of a homogenous Latin America, the author asks what is at stake in the survival of an idea which subdivides the Americas. He explains why an American Union similar to the European Union is at this point unthinkable and he insists on the pressing need to leave behind an idea of Latinity which belongs to the Creole/Mestizo mentality of the nineteenth century.

Customer Reviews:

Decolonizing Knowledge in/of "Latin" America.......2007-08-19

This is a self-consciously polemical critique of the idea of "Latin" America from an anti-neoliberal, pro-indigenous standpoint. Mignolo's "manifesto" is a welcome addition to the field of Latin American studies and a helpful condensation of his major scholarly work, including The Darker Side of the Renaissance (1995) and Local Histories/Global Designs (2000).

The book is divided into three chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 outline Mignolo's understanding of the world-system of modernity/coloniality, which, in the Americas since the sixteenth century, paved the way for colonial domination over indigenous and black communities. The third chapter surveys various forms of resistance to the continuing logic of modernity/coloniality, including indigenous social movements, the World Social Forum, and the Zapatistas in Mexico. In many ways this chapter is the heart of Mignolo's book, forcefully articulating as it does the need to decolonize not simply territories and resources but knowledge itself -- the core beliefs and ways of seeing the world that inform our ethical relation to other human beings.

Missing from Mignolo's account is any consideration of how indigenous intellectuals (whom he supports, over and against Eurocentric, modern/colonial intellectuals) might not exactly "represent" the will of the communities they come from. He too readily accepts that these intellectuals speak the voice of "the people." I appreciate Mignolo's desire to critique Western epistemology and colonial regimes of knowledge, but I don't think he questions the category of "intellectual work" enough, even in indigenous contexts. A more ethnographic approach to indigenous intellectual work might have helped his account here.

Still, this is an accessible and engaging summary of major problems in the professional study of "Latin" America. Recommended reading for Latin American scholars and transnational activists alike.

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