I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation - Softcover

Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140249702 ISBN 13: 9780140249705

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1995

Synopsis

Mixing biography and autobiography, casual talk with soul-bearing revelations, the author of Balm in Gilead uses a kind of "human archaeology" to reveal the complex, nuanced lives of six middle-class African-American achievers. Strikingly candid portraits explore the experiences and events that have shaped their identities and influenced the course of their lives.

About this title

About the Author

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot is Professor of Education at Harvard University.

From Kirkus Reviews

A refreshing and inspiring look into the lives of six successful African-Americans. Lawrence-Lightfoot (Sociology/Harvard; Balm in Gilead, 1988, etc.) is perturbed by some sociologists' portrayal of the black middle class as ``materialistic bourgeois assimilationists.'' To counter that perception, she richly portrays six African-Americans. In extended conversations with her, they detail their experiences: the often riveting events that have molded their feelings about race, their attempts to negotiate the crossing between black and white society; the lives they have created for themselves, both personally and professionally. Among these exemplary people are: Toni Schiesler, a female candidate for the Episcopal priesthood; Charles Ogletree, a criminal defense lawyer and professor at Harvard Law School; Felton Earls, an epidemiologist and psychiatrist at Harvard's School of Public Health; and Cheryle Wills, entrepreneur and owner of radio and television stations. While all have achieved great success in their fields, their backgrounds differ widely. Schiesler was the illegitimate daughter of a rape victim. Earls, on the other hand, was born into a solidly middle-class family that had deep roots in New Orleans. Yet a few themes do recur. One is the cultural obsession with skin color among middle-class blacks, and a caste system favoring lighter complexions. Another theme is their intense empathy for less fortunate African-Americans. All six claim to understand the rage that surfaced in L.A. in 1992--seeing the riots as symptomatic of racism in American society. ``It wasn't senseless...it was the decades of brutalization,'' says Wills. The book doesn't present a full picture of the black middle class, with its diverse approaches to politics and debates about assimilation--but it doesn't claim to. Lawrence-Lightfoot presents successful people determined to remember where they--individually and as a people--came from, and she brings her formidable storytelling gifts to their lives. (Book- of-the-Month Club main selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140249702
• ISBN 13: 9780140249705
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96