Welcome to Litsy!

Envisioned as a response to The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin‘s groundbreaking 1963 essay collection, these contemporary writers reflect on the past, present, and future of race in America. We‘ve made significant progress in the fifty-odd years since Baldwin‘s essays were published, but America is a long and painful distance away from a “post-racial society”—a truth we must confront if we are to continue to work towards change.

+POWERFUL

I can see why this essay collection has been getting attention since its publication. The essays are topically very different from each other, but most reflect in some way on James Baldwin, race in America today, and in a sense it's a record of collective grief, responding protest, and looking forward with hope. An excellent collection that may just leave you fired up.

My weekend is all booked! And apparenly I'm seeing red ♥️

Current audiobook: moving right along to this title. Seemed only logical.

I will never know how it truly feels to be black in America but books like this certainly help me to better understand the struggles and feelings that black folks have day in and day out. Every one of these essays packs a punch and covers an aspect of black existence, past present, or future. Jesmyn Ward put together an impressive lineup of experiences and her introduction, and later her essay, set the stage.⬇️

Although this collection was a bit dated, it was published in 2016 and doesn‘t include recent events, I still found it a solid collection of essays and the perfect follow-up after reading Wilkerson‘s Caste. This essay collection was started as an update, inspired by James Baldwin‘s classic essay The Fire Next Time 1963, and sadly in 2021 we could continue on with the fire for humanity, equality, and justice still long denied and still burning. ⤵️

🤯 She‘s right, but wow, I never thought of it that way.

This is from an essay by Claudia Rankine, it reminds me of The Gift of Fear that I read years ago, extreme fear and a sixth sense dangers can often come out as jokes and laughter. I‘ll tag both authors works in the comments if anyone is interested.

This essay by Carol Anderson is great too! Both of her books were excellent!

This contrast seems even more stark to me now as I watch politicians bend over backwards to compare Ferguson and the Capitol Insurrection. And somehow make BLM and anti-fi (anti-fascism) terrorist groups, but the Insurrectionists were good people protesting.🙄

OMG Isabel Wilkerson‘s contribution to this book of essays is powerful!

Just in case anyone else is interested in this tidbit as we finish Wilkerson‘s Caste! #SheSaid

Published 5 years ago, the poems and essays collected here could be written today with new names pasted in. Ward brings together many voices and subjects in this collection, but the harsh reality remains the same: systemic racism and its impact on Black Americans. If you wish to confront the truth, this timely and insightful collection is somewhere to begin. 4 ⭐️ #authoramonth

My next Jesmyn Ward, and this seems like just the right pick after reading Caste with #SheSaid

This is amazing. It's a collection of essays and it uses the work of James Baldwin as sort of a loose inspiration. Jesmyn Ward is a magic unicorn in my opinion. But some of the other contributors are also pretty fantastic in their own right.

#AuthorAMonth with @Soubhiville

#BookSpinBingo free space
@TheAromaofBooks

I really enjoyed this collection of essays by various authors about race and being Black in America. There were many instances in which I found myself nodding along in agreement with what was being said. An important read for sure. #AuthorAMonth #BookSpinBingo

My ambitious TBR pile for the remainder of the month! Hoping I have time for my #doublespin book (A Little Life) after finishing my #authorofthemonth and #bookspin selections! 🤞🏻

Just finished this one.
#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

I'm posting one book per day from the ever growing unread stacks in my personal library. No description or explanation, just books I own and plan to read. #tbr

Day 5

A look at baldwins legacy.

Day 6 of #12booksof2020 brings us to June when I think many of us ramped up our anti-racist reading. Tagged book was interesting and thought provoking. I‘m only sorry I didn‘t read the Baldwin first, as I think it would have given some good context. *shakes fist at the bad timing of Libby holds*

#day1 #12Booksof2020
A mesmerizing, thought provoking collection of essays, poems, short narratives. Her title alludes to James Baldwins‘ collection of essays, The Fire Next Time (1963).
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree... and Jesmyn.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A compilation of essays that are a modern continuation of James Baldwin‘s original, inspired following Ferguson and the prevalence of #BLM protests as America faced a Trump presidency.

This book is generally divided into stories of the past, present, and future of being Black in America. I just finished the “past” section and it was surprisingly uplifting. Nowhere to go but up.

An excellent meme from today‘s For Reading Addicts‘ Facebook page.

Do yourself a favour and search for Jesmyn Ward‘s article in yesterday‘s Vanity Fair. 💔

I want to be a witness.

(I‘m sorry I‘m a technological dotard or else I‘d know how to share the link)

Update - the lovely @Anna40 has shared the link in the comments below. I promise this is worth your time.

#BLM #integrateyourshelf

#campariandbooks #porchlife #sunset #integrateyourshelf

Relaxing on the porch sipping Campari & soda, reading this fabulous collection of poems and essays.

#integrateyourshelf #racism #equity #courageousconversations

Just starting this while my husband is driving us to Noank CT on the shoreline for our annual family lobster fest. 🦞

This was a really solid and compelling collection of personal essays on race in America. Written four years ago but unfortunately every bit as relevant today.

❤️Jesmyn Ward

I‘m a huge Jesmyn Ward fan and a new James Baldwin fan. I wanted to like this collection more. A few pieces are great, some are good, others just not. Was particularly disappointed in an essay in part on Rachael Dolezal (google her) since she is from my city. But the essayist didn‘t even get her basic info right. A bummer, because it is a story rich for commentary.

I normally re-read the original Harry Potter series each July, but I am really not feeling Jo Rowling and her transphobic BS right now. So instead I'm committing to reading/re-reading seven books on anti-racism in its place. #JulyTBR #FlyHighJuly
@Eggs

5🌟 Thought provoking and eye opening. Ward has curating a book about race in America today, bringing together several great Black writers to share their personal stories and poems with purpose and sentiment. It offers a glimpse through their eyes and thoes of their parents and grandparents experiences of race in America. I learned so much about Black identity and the urgency for anti-racism in the world today. #bookreview #bookstagram #amreading

1. Thoughtful and powerful collection of essays about the experience of being Black in America.
2. Crossover Scottish islands mystery where Fin Macleod and Jimmy Perez have to work together to solve a murder. Along the way they get into at least one fistfight.
3. I prefer one POV but multiple POVs work if done well. Example in the comments.
#wondrouswednesday

Happy solstice! So many books! So little time!

I have to do housework today but will be taking breaks to read and ponder essays from the tagged book.

#bookreport

I don‘t usually enjoy collections of essays, but this was very powerful; listening to it on an audio made it even more real. Several of the essays really hit me, and possibly because it was near the end, but possibly because it was just such a statement with what 2020 is, but the idea that our Black population could easily be eligible for refugee status WITHIN OUR OWN BORDERS really hit me. Highly recommend.

“Lonely in America” By Wendy S. Walters. Wow. #BlackLivesMatter

#nonfiction #readinglist #tbr #blm #education #janemount

James Baldwin speaking a reader‘s truth: “ You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.”

"We seem to be in a continuing feedback loop of repeating a past that our country has yet to address. Our history is one of spectacular achievement... followed by a violent backlash that threatens to erase the gains and then a long, slow climb to the next mountain, where the cycle begins again."

#blackhistorymonth

“Maybe I come from where the sidewalk / ends, or maybe I just read that in a book once. / It can be hard to tell the difference sometimes.”

I'm so very glad I read this. Coming from different backgrounds and delving into different literary genres, the authors in this compilation give eye-opening personal accounts of their experience regarding race and their thoughts on how to confront what a future America might look like. I especially enjoyed contributions by Carol Anderson, Jesmyn Ward, Garnette Cadogan, Claudia Rankine, Daniel José Older and Kevin Young. A superb collection.

This is a powerful collection featuring a diverse group of authors and perspectives that coalesce beautifully around the theme of race in America. I‘d already encountered many of these pieces elsewhere, but plenty were new to me and prompted additions to my must-read author list. And now I‘m even more eager to read the two Ward titles I haven‘t yet, and to finally read James Baldwin.

I have had this book on my TBR for a long time. I wanted to read The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin and This collection of essays together in one sitting but wasn't able to do so. However there is no doubt that both books ask the question What is America to Black Folks? This is an important excellent challenging read for white people who want to do the work of anti Racism.