Uncle Tom's Children: Devastating African-American Literature on Resistance to White Supremacy in the South (P.S.)

I bought this book for a course of the same name. Class was composed of white aging Baby Boomers. These stories hit hard, often leaving a lump in my throat and a pain in my heart. There was enough in each story to provide over 90 minutes of class conversation. None of us could say that we knew how the characters felt. But we all felt pain for them And further pain because today, this treatment still goes on.

The "Autobiography of Malcolm X" has more colorfully been characterized as the instant Negro book. This is because has galvanized its readers, black or white, into a more intensely realistic perspective on America's race issue, and what needs to be done about it.But if you are now in your fifties or sixties, this is the book that did it first and less attractively.In an almost casual manner, it consists of vignettes about growing up in the South that alternately chill your blood, rend your heart and stun your senses.Not given to any editorializing or solutions, it presents these horribly everyday situations in a manner that is paralyzingly matter-of-fact by one of America's greatest and otherwise most powerful writers, Richard Wright.As a young lighter-skinned negro growing up in the early sixties, this is the book that caused me to ask the dreaded questions that all black children in America have had to ask as they embark on at a certain too-early age growing up.My step-Grandma's dispassionate, but honest answers to the questions this book demanded, prepared me for the Civil Rights battles that reached a fevered and ultimately successful peak in the long and painful decades to come.

Cheaper than buying from bookstore

If white people today have any doubts of the harsh treatment of blacks in the 1900's, read this book. As a matter of fact, read the first 20 pages.I teach this book to my 10th grade English class and my kids love this book! It is an easy read because the stories are so gripping, and the dialogue is written in the southern vernacular of the time. The main reason why high school students need this book now is because not only are the black students losing sight of the past and appreciation for the efforts of black people, but the white students are unaware of the greatest crime in American History after slavery, Jim Crow Ethics. The Hispanic students, Asian students, African students, Indian students and countless other students from different parts of the world also need to read literature that enhances their knowledge of the brutal history of Americans.

This collection of short stories varies from extremely engaging to somewhat interesting. The collection is a good wide variety of different angles and issues during the period ranging from Wright's own personal experiences (my personal favorite) to the impact of the individual upon the collective and the relation of communism to the desire for civil rights. Overall, it is a worthwhile collection of good stories that exemplify the work of the period.

Having a mother born and reared in Selma, Alabama and a father from Mound Bayou, Mississippi, I have heard a plethora of horrid occurrences in the 1940’s and 50’s South. As ‘Virginia Slims’ says, “We’ve come a long way Baby,” but we still haven’t arrived at goal of social and economic equality in this nation. I do not believe that we ever will. But at least Mr. Wright leaves no ambiguity about the issue!

I first read this book in 1946 as a fourteen year old. I have purchased it many times over the last seven decades. I keep all of Wright's works as a part of my library, digital and hard copy. I bought my first copy for twenty five cents at a five and ten cents store in Detroit. I took it home and began reading it on a Friday night and kept reading until I had finished it before Saturday morning. That first story really grabbed me and I became a Wright fan for life. Still looking for a digital copy of The Long Dream. Glad that The Outsider recently became available on Amazon.

Richard Wright pulls you into the story to the point of feeling you're actually one of the main characters yourself. It's so compelling that as you're reading you pondering alternative decisions. The events feel so real and your only escape is when you complete the story and close the book.