Burning All Illusions: Writings from the Nation on Race 1866-2002

by Giddings, Paula J.

• ISBN13: 9781560253846
• ISBN10: 1560253843
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-26
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

Burning All Illusions is a collection from The Nation archives of the best writing on race and civil rights from the magazine's founding in 1865 to the present. It features selections by such insurgent American writers as Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ishmael Reed, and Patricia J. Williams, representing a diverse range of political and personal points of view that illuminate The Nation's steadfast commitment to racial justice, each infused with the moral passion and urgency that the subject demands. The writers in this anthology have addressed these questions not to embitter but to provoke, educate, arouse, and inspire. James Baldwin once wrote that "the story of the Negro in America is the story of America.... It is not a very pretty story." Baldwin and others in this collection shed light on the ugliness of American racism to certify that it is intolerable, that America canmustdo better. "The Nation's editors ... have provided space for those persistent and ... often lonely voices inveighing against the evils of racial injustice."Derrick Bell

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(4)
Paula J. Giddings
PART ONE BEHOLDERS	5	(200)
The South As It Is, March 15, 1866	7	(4)
The Washington Riots, August 9, 1919	11	(2)
A Question to Democracy, November 10, 1920	13	(9)
Faith Adams
The Lynching Bee, December 29, 1920	22	(12)
William Ellery Leonard
Jim Crow in Texas, August 15, 1923	34	(5)
William Pickens
``White,'' October 17, 1923	39	(5)
Gustavus Adolphus Steward
The Race Problem in the Caribbean, June 18, 1924	44	(6)
Robert Herrick
The Primitive Black Man, December 17, 1924	50	(4)
W. E. Burghardt Du Bois
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, June 23, 1926	54	(6)
Langston Hughes
Look Out, Brown Man!, November 26, 1930	60	(5)
Sherwood Anderson
Harlem Runs Wild, April 3, 1935	65	(4)
Claude McKay
The Scottsboro Puppet Show, February 5, 1936	69	(6)
Carleton Beals
Laughter in Madrid, January 29, 1938	75	(3)
Langston Hughes
I Met the Grand Dragon, July 2, 1949	78	(5)
Roi Ottley
Brotherly Love, August 18, 1956	83	(1)
Langston Hughes
I Won't Vote, October 20, 1956	84	(4)
W. E. B. Du Bois
Courage in Action: On a Florida Newspaper, December 1, 1956	88	(5)
Dora Byron
Montgomery Morning, January 5, 1957	93	(7)
Wilma Dykeman
James Stokely
In the Birmingham Jail, May 25, 1963	100	(3)
Barbara Deming
Incident in Hattiesburg, May 18, 1964	103	(7)
Howard Zinn
In the Ring, June 29, 1964	110	(4)
LeRoi Jones
Moments in a Southern Town, December 21, 1964	114	(10)
Peter de Lissovoy
The Doctor, December 28, 1964	124	(4)
Aaron O. Wells
``Tell It Like It Is, Baby'' September 20, 1965	128	(17)
Ralph Ellison
Black Cops in the South, July 31, 1976	145	(10)
Paul Delaney
Open Letter to the Born Again, September 29, 1979	155	(4)
James Baldwin
Notes on the House of Bondage, November 1, 1980	159	(9)
James Baldwin
From Rags to Rage to Art, Review; Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens, December 17, 1983	168	(6)
Patricia Vigderman
Among Moses' Bridge-Builders, May 23, 1994	174	(9)
Patricia J. Williams
Doing Time, Marking Race, October 30, 1995	183	(4)
John Edgar Wideman
Different Drummer Please, Marchers!, October 30, 1995	187	(3)
Patricia J. Williams
A Different Sense of Time, Review; The Future of Race, H.L. Gates & C. West, May 6, 1996	190	(6)
Nell Irvin Painter
Shooting Women, Review; Toni Morrison's Paradise, January 26, 1998	196	(9)
John Leonard
PART TWO REPORTERS	205	(288)
News of the Day: The Freedmen, February 14, 1867	207	(2)
Editorial: Land for the Landless, May 16, 1867	209	(4)
Open Letter to Gen. Grant, May 28, 1874	213	(1)
Letter to the Editor: The Situation in South Carolina, April 19, 1894	214	(3)
Letter to the Editor: The Race Riots in North Carolina, November 17, 1898	217	(2)
Editorial: France and Morocco, August 29, 1907	219	(2)
Book Review: The Souls of Black Folk by W E. B. Du Bois, June 11, 1903	221	(4)
The Higher Education of the Negro, February 18, 1915	225	(2)
Oswald Garrison Villard
Editorial: Injustice Accorded to Black Soldiers, May 18, 1916	227	(1)
Letter to the Editor: Lynching Defended, June 22, 1916	228	(3)
Editorial: Mutiny Condemned, August 30, 1917	231	(1)
Garvey: A Mass Leader, August 18, 1926	232	(5)
E. Franklin Frazier
Issues and Men: Walking Through Race Prejudice, January 30, 1935	237	(3)
Oswald Garrison Villard
Fighting for White Folks?, September 26, 1942	240	(6)
Horace R. Cayton
Racial Dialectic: Missouri Style, February 24, 1945	246	(5)
Carey McWilliams
Death for Association, May 5, 1951	251	(2)
Mary Mostert
The New Negro, July 7, 1956	253	(5)
F. Franklin Frazier
Which Way Harlem? Unity on a Key Issue, October 27, 1956	258	(6)
John O'Kearney
Finishing School for Pickets, August 6, 1960	264	(6)
Howard Zinn
Report on Civil Rights, Fumbling on the New Frontier, March 3, 1962	270	(8)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rise of the Negro Militant, September 14, 1963	278	(5)
Hoyt W. Fuller
Wallace in Indiana, May 4, 1964	283	(6)
Gordon Englehart
The Black Hessians, January 29, 1968	289	(5)
Charles R. Eisendrath
Eulogy for Martin Luther King, Jr., April 15, 1968	294	(1)
Cops & Blacks: Warning Minorities, April 21, 1969	295	(7)
Hans Toch
Escape from the Dark Cave, October 27, 1969	302	(14)
John U. Monro
Jim Brown Comes to Mississippi, September 21, 1970	316	(9)
Charles Gillespie
A Fair Trial for Angela Davis?, July 19, 1971	325	(10)
Jerome H. Skolnick
Steven A. Brick
Where Did Their Revolution Go?, October 2, 1972	335	(6)
J. K. Obatala
Florence Rice vs. the Utilities, December 25, 1972	341	(2)
Steve Murdock
Black Power After Ten Years, August 14, 1976	343	(11)
Clayborne Carson
Was Fred Hampton Executed?, December 25, 1976	354	(13)
Jeff Gottlieb
Jeff Cohen
Blacks Only Need Apply, September 20, 1980	367	(6)
Richard Severo
On Cussing Out White Liberals, September 4, 1982	373	(5)
Randall Kennedy
Flo Don't Know, April 9, 1988	378	(3)
Andrew Kopkind
Racial Hatred on Campus, February 27, 1989	381	(8)
Jon Wiener
The Rise of Louis Farrakhan, January 21, 1991, Part 1	389	(12)
Adolph Reed Jr.
All for One and None for All, January 28, 1991, Part 2	401	(13)
Adolph Reed Jr.
Where's the Revolution?, July 5, 1993	414	(4)
Barbara Smith
The Freedom of Employment Act, May 23, 1994	418	(9)
Derrick Bell
Racism Has Its Privileges, March 27, 1995	427	(12)
Roger Wilkins
Performance and Reality, August 17, 1998	439	(21)
Gerald Early
Rhyme and Resist, July 26, 1999	460	(22)
Angela Ards
Unforgiven, January 21, 2002	482	(11)
Amy Bach
Contributors	493