Philadelphia Freedoms
Black American Trauma, Memory, and Culture After King
Published on 11. October 2013
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-1-4399-0708-5 (ISBN)
Description
Michael Awkward's Philadelphia Freedoms captures the energetic contestations over the meanings of racial politics and black identity during the post-King era in the City of Brotherly Love. Looking closely at four cultural moments, he shows how racial trauma and his native city's history have been entwined. He introduces each of these moments with poignant personal memories of the decade in focus and explores representation of African American freedom and oppression from the 1960s to the 1990s. Philadelphia Freedoms explores NBA players' psychic pain during a playoff game the day after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination; themes of fatherhood and black masculinity in the soul music produced by Philadelphia International Records; class conflict in Andrea Lee's novel Sarah Phillips; and the theme of racial healing in Oprah Winfrey's 1997 film, Beloved. Awkward closes his examination of racial trauma and black identity with a discussion of candidate Barack Obama's speech on race at Philadelphia's Constitution Center, pointing to the conflict between the nation's ideals and the racial animus that persists even into the second term of America's first black president.
Reviews / Votes
"[A] searing book that captures all of the turbulent civil rights struggles that took place in the City of Brotherly Love, from the '60s to the '90s... Awkward dives right in. He brilliantly juxtaposes Philadelphia's mythic image as the city where American democracy was born with the real life, bitter struggles of African-Americans and their quest to obtain those democratic rights guaranteed by the Constitution signed here two centuries ago - and still being sought today."--Philadelphia WeeklyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Philadelphia PA
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paper over boards
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
476 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4399-0708-5 (9781439907085)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Michael Awkward,Gayl A. Jones Professor of Afro-American Literature and Culture at the University of Michigan, is the author, most recently, of Burying Don Imus and Soul Covers.