Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Ten top biographies of black Americans

Jeff Somers is the author of Lifers, the Avery Cates series from Orbit Books, Chum from Tyrus Books, and We Are Not Good People from Pocket/Gallery. He has published over thirty short stories as well. One title on Somers's list of ten of the best biographies of black Americans, as shared at B & N Reads:
Richard Wright

Wright’s 1946 memoir Black Boy remains one of the most visceral reading experiences in modern literature. Recounting his childhood in the south, dominated by strict, religious women and unreliable, violent men, as well as his adult years in Chicago, Black Boy is an urgent reminder that while race relations and racism are part of the black experience in this country, they are only one component of that experience. Many of the more shocking passages in Wright’s writing were excised when originally published, and only now is the full extent of his passion and genius becoming clear, making his memoir an incredible opportunity for anyone seeking to know what it was really like to be black in America in the era before the civil rights movement.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue