Category Archives: Writing

James Alan McPherson: Junior and John Doe

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Richard Guzman

James Alan McPherson wrote “Junior and John Doe” for Gerald Early’s 1993 essay collection Lure and Loathing: Essays on Race, Identity, and the Ambivalence of Assimilation.  It’s a great essay in a great and important collection.  Twenty writers—on a spectrum … Continue reading →

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Toni Morrison: Playing in the Dark

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Richard Guzman

This title does say it all.  Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination focuses on the construction of whiteness in American literature, one of the central places America tries to establish itself as new, white, and … Continue reading →

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Robert S. Abbott: Champion of “The Race”

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Richard Guzman

In 1905 Robert Abbott began one of the biggest return-on-investment acts of his day: he invested 25 cents to issue 300 copies of his newspaper The Chicago Defender.  Eventually this two-cent weekly paper—which he heralded as “The World’s Greatest Weekly”—made … Continue reading →

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