Black in the Middle: An Anthology of the Black Midwest

by Terrion L Williamson (Editor)

Overview

Black Americans have been among the hardest hit by the rapid deindustrialization and accompanying economic decline that have become so synonymous with the Midwest. Since the 2016 election, many traditional media outlets have renewed attention on the conditions of "Middle America," but the national discourse continues to focus on the while working class and marginalize the Black people who live there. Black in the Middle brings the voices of Black Midwesterners front and center. Filled with compelling personal narratives, thought-provoking art, and searing commentaries, this anthology explores the various meanings and experiences of blackness. Bringing together people from major metropolitan centers like Detroit and Chicago as well as smaller cities and rural areas where the lives of Black residents have too often gone unacknowledged, this collection is a much-needed corrective to the narrative of the region.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781948742696
Publisher:	Belt Publishing
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	1,054,972
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Terrion L. Williamson is an associate professor of African American & African Studies at the University of Minnesota and the director of the Black Midwest Initiative. A native of Peoria, she is author of Scandalize My Name: Black Feminist Practice and the Making of Black Social Life. She lives in Minneapolis.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Rise of the Fresh Coast Jamala Rogers 11

This Place We Know: An Introduction Terrion L. Williamson 14

Ode to the Midwest Kevin Young 18

I Home

Rust: A Black Woman's Story of Growing Up in Northeast Ohio Tara L. Conley 22

There Are Birds Here Jamaal May 27

Hood Orchids Devon Ginn 28

Gentrification and the South Side of Ypsilanti, Michigan Aaron K. Foley 29

Traveling While Black Tanisha C. Ford 35

The Market on Maryland Avenue Terrence Shambley, Jr. 40

Cleveland and Chicago: A Tale of Four Cities Mark V. Reynolds 42

Peoria, Pryor, and Me Terrion L. Williamson 47

Detroit: Love of My Life Courtney Wise Randolph 50

On Spades, Queerness, and the Things We Learn from Our Grandmothers Kidiocus King-Carroll 53

Tracing Water, Memory, and Change Njaimeh Njie 56

II Past

Slavery, Freedom, and African American Voices in the Midwest Melissa N. Stuckey 68

Ella Mae: The Personal and the Political Jeffrey C. Wray 73

"Orphan District": Segregation in Rural Ohio Joe Boyle 76

2672 South Deacon Street, Detroit Yvonne 83

"Tell 'Em What We Did!": Choosing and Building Black Space in the Midwest Michelle S. Johnson 85

The Great Migration of African-American Southerners to Cleveland Edward M. Miggins, ed. 92

The negro in minneapolis (for prince & philando castile) Brian G. Gilmore 99

Realizing Freedom Phyllis May-Machunda 101

III Love

No One Loves me, Like I love Me Katherine Simóne Reynolds 104

Stay Debaucherous David Weathersby 105

Aug 14th, 2017-"Baptism" Zuggie Tate 109

Burn Janice N. Harrington 111

Paintings Leslie Barlow 113

Joe's Ode DeMar Walker 116

…for, about, and with Laurie Beverly Cottman 117

From "Call & Response: Experiments in Joy" Gabrielle Civil 118

IV Now

Photographs Rachel Elise Thomas 128

A Minute, A Pond, A North-Facing Window Kim-Marie Walker 133

I am a landlocked body Alexandra Nicome 135

Columbus: Different Latitude, Same Platitudes Deva Rashed-Boone 137

The Reality of Being Black in Iowa Wylliam Smith 139

Ode to unwanted life Zenzele Isoke 142

Trying to Make a Dollar Out of Fifteen Cents in Black Milwaukee Gladys Mitchell-Walthour 145

It's Just Ok Nia Easley 151

Ghetto Bird Wars Curtis L. Crisler 154

On Audre Lorde and Minnesota Nice Vanessa Taylor 156

Hair Lyndsey Ellis 161

V Onward

Stop Pretending Black Midwestemers Don't Exist Tamara Winfrey-Harris 168

A Reflection on the Changing Route Work of Sampler's South End Ezekiel Joubert III 171

4 Malcolm X Greenhouse Jordan Weber 179

The only moving thing Kisha Nicole Foster 181

Toward a Black Chicago Revival Mary Pattillo 184

Infinite Essence: James, 2018 Mikael Chukwuma Owunna 189

Coda: A Final Note on Black Life and Loss Terrion L. Williamson 191

End Notes

The Black Midwest: A Bibliography 193

Acknowledgements 211

Contributors 213

Editorial Reviews

07/27/2020

Williamson (Scandalized My Name), director of the Black Midwest Initiative, presents a timely and evocative anthology of essays, poetry, photographs, and interviews in order “to make visible the struggle and the agony, yes, but also the diversity and richness of black Midwestern life.” Common themes include the impact of the Great Migration on the Midwest, and the burdens and achievements of Black women. Jeffrey Wray, a film studies professor at Michigan State, writes movingly of his mother’s pursuit of higher education after her husband’s murder in 1968. Vanessa Taylor, editor-in-chief of The Drinking Gourd, describes how she embraced the power of “Black women’s rage” during protests against the 2015 killing of Jamal Clark by Minneapolis police. Essayist Lyndsey Ellis offers an intensely personal account of embracing natural hair in college; filmmaker David Weathersby details the “mass of Afro-eroticism and liberation” he saw at a clandestine house music party in Chicago; and law professor Brian G. Gilmore links Philando Castile, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dred Scott, and Lester Young in his poem “the negro in minneapolis (for prince & philando castile).” By calling forth the full range of the Black Midwestern experience, this bracing anthology offers crucial insights into why the region is the epicenter of current protests against police brutality and racial injustice. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"[A] timely, compelling collection that allows predominantly Black Midwesterners to reclaim their home, histories, and future."—Jen Cox, Chicago Review of Books

"Williamson’s affectionate tour of Flyover Country is ambitious and eclectic, with African American humanity on display....Though esoteric, 'Black in the Middle' has a consistent through-line: Where there are African Americans, there is creativity, joy, sorrow and a sense of place; nowhere becomes somewhere. There are Black roots in the Midwest, sometimes hard to see, watered with blood, sweat and bitter tears."—Joseph P. Williams, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"The honesty in the essays, the emergency in the poetry, and the intensity of the photographs and paintings help to sharpen the edge of what it means to be Black in the middle of anything, which is the sum of our fears and the hope that manifests itself in our dreams. Black in the Middle reminded me of a home imagined and of a home realized as someone who grew up in the Midwest." —Jason Vasser-Elong, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"A rare anthology in that its subject is Black and lives in the Midwest. Through well-crafted essays, poems, photography and other musings on everyday life, the collection shares the inner workings of some families who make due with what little they are given or who build a future on their own terms."—Jane Henderson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch's "Best Books of 2020"

"Timely and evocative.... By calling forth the full range of the Black Midwestern experience, this bracing anthology offers crucial insights into why the region is the epicenter of current protests against police brutality and racial injustice." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher