The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from The New Yorker

by Jelani Cobb (Editor), David Remnick (Editor)

Overview

A collection of The New Yorker‘s groundbreaking writing on race in America—including work by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Hilton Als, Zadie Smith, and more—with a foreword by Jelani Cobb

This anthology from the pages of the New Yorker provides a bold and complex portrait of Black life in America, told through stories of private triumphs and national tragedies, political vision and artistic inspiration. It reaches back across a century, with Rebecca West’s classic account of a 1947 lynching trial and James Baldwin’s “Letter from a Region in My Mind” (which later formed the basis of The Fire Next Time), and yet it also explores our current moment, from the classroom to the prison cell and the upheavals of what Jelani Cobb calls “the American Spring.” Bringing together reporting, profiles, memoir, and criticism from writers such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Elizabeth Alexander, Hilton Als, Vinson Cunningham, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Malcolm Gladwell, Jamaica Kincaid, Kelefa Sanneh, Doreen St. Félix, and others, the collection offers startling insights about this country’s relationship with race. The Matter of Black Lives reveals the weight of a singular history, and challenges us to envision the future anew. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063017610
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	864
Sales rank:	317,786
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jelani Cobb is a historian and dean of Columbia Journalism School. A staff writer at The New Yorker since 2015, he is a recipient of the Sidney Hillman Award for Opinion and Analysis, as well as fellowships from the Ford Foundation and the Fulbright Foundation. He lives in New York City. 

David Remnick has been the editor of The New Yorker since 1998 and a staff writer since 1992. His books include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire, King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, and two collections of his magazine pieces.

Table of Contents

Foreword Jelani Cobb xi

Part I Reflections

Letter from a Region in My Mind James Baldwin 3

On race, religion, and the future of America.

The Color Fetish Toni Morrison 61

On skin color in literature.

Black Like Them Malcolm Gladwell 69

Why are West Indian immigrants perceived to be different from other African-Americans?

Barack X Jelani Cobb 85

A Presidents racial balancing act.

Now is the Time to Talk about What We are Actually Talking About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 99

America's moral duty after the election of Donald Trump.

The Color of Injustice Kelefa Sanneh 105

Fighting racism by redefining it.

Part II Personal Histories

Quilts Andrea Lee 121

A writer's search for the genuine article.

Putting Myself Together Jamaica Kincaid 145

On surviving the heady days and nights of youth.

American Inferno Danielle Allen 153

How a teen-ager becomes a crime statistic.

The Yellow House Sarah Broom 179

Home, before and after the flood.

Test Case Vinson Cunningham 193

The faultlines in New York's schools.

Part III The Political Scene

Reaching for the Moon Jervis Anderson 225

A. Philip Randolph and The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

Saint Pauli Kathryn Schulz 247

Pauli Murray's separate but equal struggles.

Letter from Jackson Calvin Trillin 265

Martin Luther King, Jr., debates a racist.

Letter from Selma Renata Adler 271

The epic trek across Alabama.

The Charmer Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 289

Coming to terms with the many faces of Louis Farrakhan.

Mourning for Whiteness Toni Morrison 323

A response to the election of Donald J. Trump.

The Southern Strategist Jelani Cobb 327

The Rev. William Barber leads a movement against poverty.

Part IV Life and Letters

Phillis Wheatley on Trial Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 349

A poet in constant question.

A Society of One Claudia Roth Pierpont 363

Zora Neale Hurston, American contrarian.

Hughes at Columbia Charlayne Hunter-Gault 385

Columbia's Overdue Apology to Langston Hughes.

King of Cats Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 393

How Albert Murray inspired a generation.

Ghosts in the House Hilton Als 419

The singular storytelling of Toni Morrison.

Secret Histories Alexis Okeowo 447

Saidiya Hartman reimagines Black America.

Part V Onward and Upward with the Arts

Voice of the Century Alex Ross 471

Marian Anderson's complex legacy.

The Colossus Stanley Crouch 481

Sonny Rollins on the bandstand.

American Untouchable Emily Nussbaum 499

P. Jay Sidney's fight to integrate early TV.

Brother from Another Mother Zadie Smith 507

Key and Peele, chameleon comedians.

Radical Alienation Calvin Tompkins 533

Arthur Jafa brings Black life to the screen.

The Shadow Act Hilton Als 557

Kara Walker's vision.

Gettin' Paid Kelefa Sanneh 581

Jay-Z and the rise of corporate rap.

The Mask of Metal-Face Doom Ta-Nehisi Coates 599

A nonconformist rapper's second act.

The Autofictions of Kendrick Lamar Doreen St. Félix 613

On Kendrick Lamar's album "DAMN."

Part VI Annals of the Law

Opera in Greenville Rebecca West 619

A 1947 lynching trial in South Carolina.

Black Bodies in Motion and in Pain Edwidge Danticat 627

On Jacob Lawrence's paintings and Dylann Roof

A Darker Presence Vinson Cunningham 633

A museum of African-American history comes to the capital.

Before the Law Jennifer Gonnerman 647

A sixteen-year-old boy's ordeal in Rikers.

The Forgotten Ones Rachel Aviv 667

A child's journey through Georgia's special-education system.

The Color of Blood Calvin Trillin 693

Race, memory, and a killing in the suburbs.

Part VII The Uprising and After

The Matter of Black Lives Jelani Cobb 713

How a movement found its moment.

The Uprising Luke Mogelson 731

On the streets of Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd.

The Riot Report Jill Lepore 761

A long history of government inaction.

How Do We Change America? Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor 777

The quest to transform this country cannot be limited to challenging its brutal police.

The Trayvon Generation Elizabeth Alexander 793

On motherhood in the face of police brutality.

Homecoming Hilton Als 803

A son's reckoning with his mother's hope.

Acknowledgments 821

List of Contributors 823

Editorial Reviews

07/05/2021

New Yorker staff writer Cobb (The Substance of Hope) and editor Remnick (The Bridge) present an expansive anthology of pieces from the magazine’s archives on the “political, cultural, and economic questions surrounding race and Black achievement.” James Baldwin’s “Letter from a Region in My Mind,” later published as The Fire Next Time, opens the proceedings, setting a high bar that the collection, for the most part, maintains. Other highlights include Hilton Als’s “Homecoming,” which interweaves reflections on the 1967 Brownsville uprising and the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd by police in 2020 with insights into the cultural burdens placed on Black artists; Renata Adler’s report on the 1964 Selma to Montgomery civil rights march, which captures the homespun feel of the movement before it was mythologized; and Sarah Broom’s “The Yellow House,” a poignant meditation on the loss of her family home in Hurricane Katrina that became a National Book Award–winning memoir. Beyond the stellar prose, what unites these pieces, which range widely in length, tone, and point of view, is Baldwin’s insight, paraphrased by Cobb, that “the American future is precisely as bright or as dark as our capacity to grapple with .” This standout anthology illuminates a matter of perennial concern. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

A standout among recent books about race, notable for its historical perspective and breadth as well as for the excellent writing of its many renowned contributors. . . . The Matter of Black Lives is a treasure chest of essays guaranteed to provoke, dismay, delight and inspire.”  — Bookpage, starred review

“More than an antiracist reading list, this collection of mindfully curated historic and contemporary New Yorker texts surveys a wide range of voices and narratives. . . . Cobb and Remnick have assembled a dialogue across generations of New Yorker contributors that encourages readers to engage with the nation’s history of racism and potential for change.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Exemplary gathering of writings on Black history, arts, politics, and culture in America. . . . An essential volume for readers interested in the Black past and present.”  — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Beyond the stellar prose, what unites these pieces, which range widely in length, tone, and point of view, is James Baldwin’s insight, paraphrased by Jelani Cobb, that 'the American future is precisely as bright or as dark as our capacity to grapple with [the legacy of racism].' This standout anthology illuminates a matter of perennial concern." — Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Fragile Earth — ///

"A must-read." — Daily Beast

  “Immersive and engaging . . . Reading three decades of essays on this important and urgent topic, one is appalled that we know so much and have repeatedly done so little with that knowledge, as well as simultaneously hopeful and skeptical that technological solutions can save us now.” — Library Journal

“Illuminating and powerful . . . a memorable book with a resounding message.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher

A standout among recent books about race, notable for its historical perspective and breadth as well as for the excellent writing of its many renowned contributors. . . . The Matter of Black Lives is a treasure chest of essays guaranteed to provoke, dismay, delight and inspire.” 

starred review Bookpage

Praise for The Fragile Earth

///

"A must-read."

Daily Beast

★ 10/01/2021

In his introduction, Cobb (The Substance of Hope) grounds this essential anthology in the American experience: "Race has exerted a profound, distorting effect on American life—all of it, not simply the portion labeled with the racial modifier 'Black.'" More than an antiracist reading list, this collection of mindfully curated historic and contemporary New Yorker texts surveys a wide range of voices and narratives, from Rebecca West's 1947 account of a lynching trial in South Carolina to Kelefa Sanneh's recent analysis of corporate hip-hop. It includes canonical authors (James Baldwin, Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison) alongside recent works by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Jill Lepore, and Elizabeth Alexander. Cobb and Remnick have assembled a dialogue across generations of New Yorker contributors that encourages readers to engage with the nation's history of racism and potential for change. VERDICT Recommended for all libraries, this anthology offers an engaging and highly relevant selection for American audiences.—Asa Drake, Marion Cty. P.L., FL

Library Journal

★ 2021-06-29
Exemplary gathering of writings on Black history, arts, politics, and culture in America.

Not all the writers in this New Yorker compilation are Black—e.g., Renata Adler, Calvin Trillin, Malcolm Gladwell—but the most compelling of the pieces are drawn from lived experience. As Cobb writes, “in its early decades, [the magazine] largely kept the subject of race at a distinct remove from its readers.” However, in 1962, as the civil rights movement grew in strength and intensity, the New Yorker published an essay that resounds throughout this book. Called “Letter From a Region in My Mind,” James Baldwin’s piece angrily denounced a system in which “the social treatment accorded even the most successful Negroes proved that one needed, in order to be free, something more than a bank account,” one in which Black people “are taught really to despise themselves from the moment their eyes open on the world.” In the following essay, Toni Morrison recounts an attempt to write about race in such a way as “to defang cheap racism, annihilate and discredit the routine, easy, available color fetish, which is reminiscent of slavery itself.” Politicians come in for close scrutiny, with Barack Obama called into question for avoiding overt questions of race while addressing Black audiences with “veiled dispatches and surreptitious winks,” while forgotten heroes get their due. For example, Kathryn Schulz praises Pauli Murray, whose “law-school peers were accustomed to being startled by her,” both for her brilliance and foresight: In 1944, she prophesied that within 25 years, Plessy v. Fergusonwould be overturned (it took a decade). Rappers, artists, curators, and scholars all get their say. Most urgently, the final section of the book addresses the emergence of an ever more organized Black resistance following the murder of George Floyd. Other contributors include Jamaica Kincaid, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Hilton Als, Stanley Crouch, Zadie Smith, and Edwidge Danticat.

An essential volume for readers interested in the Black past and present, as all readers should be.

Kirkus Reviews