Reading Revelry February

A landmark biography by two prizewinning Washington Post reporters that reveals how systemic racism shaped George Floyd’s life and legacy–from his family’s roots in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, to ongoing inequality in housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and policing–telling the story of how one man’s tragic experience brought about a global movement for change.

Out of print for almost thirty years–due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist–Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature. This book follows the recounting of the life of Janie Crawford. Janie recounts her life, her love, the lives of her family, and the world she navigates as a black women living in Florida in the early 20th century.

A reclamation of essential history and a hopeful gesture toward a better political future, this is what listening to Black women looks like–from a professor of political science and columnist for Teen Vogue. “Jenn M. Jackson is a beautiful writer and excellent scholar. In this book, they pay tribute to generations of Black women organizers and set forward a bold and courageous blueprint for our collective liberation.”–Imani Perry, author of South to America.