Bigger than bravery : Black resilience and reclamation in a time of pandemic

Bigger than bravery Black resilience and reclamation in a time of pandemic

Book - 2022

"An anthology of Black resilience and reclamation. Born of a desire to bring together the voices of those most harshly affected by the intersecting pandemics of Covid-19 and systemic racism, Bigger Than Bravery explores comfort and compromise, challenge and resilience, throughout the Great Pause that became the Great Call. Award-winning author and scholar of the Black archive Valerie Boyd curates this anthology of original essays and poems, alongside some of the most influential nonfiction published on the subject, inviting readers into a conversation of restorative joy and enduring wisdom. Bigger Than Bravery captures what Boyd calls the "first draft of history," with poems serving as deep breaths between narrative essays to... form a loose chronology of this unprecedented time. Karen Good Marable cranks "Whip My Hair" from the car windows during quarantine joyrides with her daughter. Deesha Philyaw ponders loneliness as she sorts Zoom meetings into those that require a bra and those that don't. Writing in the moment though not of it, Pearl Cleage reflects on what has and hasn't changed since the AIDS epidemic. Jason Reynolds harnesses heat and flavor to carry on his father's legacy. Sorrow and outrage have their say, but the stories in these pages are bright with family, music, food, and home, teaching us how to nourish ourselves and our communities. Looking ahead as much as it looks back, Bigger Than Bravery offers a window into a hopeful, complex present, establishing an essential record of how Black people in America insist on joy as an act of resistance."

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Subjects
Since 2020
COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- > Literary collections.
COVID-19 (Disease) > Literary collections.
COVID-19 (Disease) > Social aspects.
COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- > Social aspects.
Black people > Economic conditions.
Black people > Social conditions.
COVID-19 (Disease)
Social aspects.
Essays.
Literary collections.
Poetry.
Literature.
Genres
Essays
Literary collections
Poetry
Literature
Published
Wilmington, NC. : Lookout Books 2022.
Language
English
Other Authors
Jason Reynolds (contributor), Deesha Philyaw, Kamilah Aisha Moon, Pearl Cleage, Tayari Jones, Sharan Strange, Destiny O. Birdsong, 1981-, Shay Youngblood, Opal Moore, Daniel B. Coleman, Ida Harris, E. Ethelbert Miller, Khadijah Queen, Karen Good Marable, L. Lamar Wilson, 1979-, Emily Bernard, 1967-, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, 1967-, Latria Graham, Imani Perry, 1972-, Kamille D. Whittaker, Aunjanue Ellis, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, 1982-, Alice Walker, Lolis Eric Elie, Rosalind Bentley, Jasmin Pittman Morrell, Samaa Abdurraqib, Kiese Laymon, Josina Guess, Imani e Wilson
Item Description
About the contributors, acknowledgements (pages 221-233).
Physical Description
xxii, 233 pages ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN
9781940596471
  • Introduction: Profit and Loss
  • Char
  • The Quarantine Album: Liner Notes
  • Haircut, May 2020 in Decatur, GA
  • Just Like Now
  • Not Allowed
  • Poem Beginning in the Market as a Meditation on Hope and Fear
  • Build Back a Body
  • Feasting on Bread and Dry Bones
  • Spring Mix Memorial Day 2021
  • Pandemics and Portals: Listening That Breaks Us Open
  • Who to Tell?
  • Haiku Evidence
  • False Dawn: A Zuihitsu
  • Joyride
  • How to Make a Tea Cake
  • Burden Hill Apothecary & Babalú-Ayé Prepare Stinging Nettle Tea
  • The Purpose of a House
  • Lockdown Prayer
  • Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream
  • Racism Is Terrible. Blackness Is Not.
  • Mine
  • There Is a Daughter
  • "I May Not Get There with You"
  • Hello, Goodnight
  • The Women Who Clean
  • Sky Study
  • A Survivor Looks Back
  • Iron and Brass
  • To Brim with Wholeness
  • November 7, 2020
  • What We Owe and Are Owed
  • Get Well Slow
  • Whosoever Will, Come On In
  • Another Quarantine Blues
  • About the Contributors
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Type
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Biographer Boyd (Wrapped in Rainbows), who died earlier this year, brings together in this must-read anthology the work of 31 Black writers to reflect on surviving the trials of 2020. Contributor Tayari Jones describes the year as "a horrific Venn diagram, where the plague of racism overlaps with a global pandemic." In "Iron and Brass," Rosalind Bentley recounts the life of her great-great-grandmother Maw, writing "I am the descendant of violence and horror. And yet, so, too, am I the product of love and hope." Destiny O. Birdsong finds in "Build Back a Body" that cooking during quarantine cultivated "deep quiet and quiet joy," and in "Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream," Latria Graham recalls driving through the Great Smoky Mountains and passing homes flying Confederate flags. She reflects on Black trailblazers in the outdoors, and reminds Black adventurers, "you belong here, too." Eloquent and riveting, Boyd's collection delivers not only, as she promises in her introduction, "a long exhalation, a silent prayer, a solace and a comfort" but also, in the words of Imani Perry, a celebration of Blackness as "an immense and defiant joy." This one's not to be missed. (Nov.)

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