A Place to Be Someone

by Jackson, Shirley Gordon

• ISBN13: 9780896726352
• ISBN10: 0896726355
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-10-30
• Publisher: Texas Tech Univ Pr

Summary

"Before playwright Charles Gordone (1925-1995) became a Texan, he became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, for No Place to Be Somebody, in 1970. His search for a home in the West led him in 1987 to Texas A&M University, where he taught playwriting for the last nine years of his life, and to an influential role in the Cowboy Renaissance of the 1990s. Much as Mary Austin saw the West as a place without gender, Gordone regarded Texas as a place without race, where the need for neighborly connections outweighed discriminatory urges." "A Place to Be Someone covers the years prior to this geographical and psychological journey, the childhood and youth that deeply informed Gordone's pilgrimage. Growing up in Elkhart, Indiana, a "free" northern town, Charles Gordon and his family never fit completely into commonly understood racial categories. Elkhart and the world labeled them "black," ignoring the rest of their multiracial and multiethnic heritage. Their familial experiences shaped not only their identities but also their perceptions."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Poems
Prologue: ... A Place ...	p. 3
Mother	p. 11
Daddy	p. 29
Daddy Versus Mother Versus Me	p. 43
Our Grandparents	p. 51
Hudson Street	p. 73
Pearl Street	p. 79
"Nigger"	p. 81
The Clubhouse	p. 83
Railroad Crossing	p. 86
Parade	p. 89
Lafayette Street	p. 93
Radio Days and a Fire	p. 93
Religion	p. 97
Trees	p. 103
"Me Jane, You Tarzan"	p. 105
Family Ties	p. 108
Good "Sports"	p. 118
Images	p. 120
Pets	p. 126
The Bicycle	p. 129
The Budding Writer	p. 133
Chicago and Cousin Ora	p. 137
The Nightmare	p. 143
Sisters	p. 145
Black Belt	p. 149
Paper Dolls	p. 154
Tender Years	p. 158
Teenage Years	p. 166
Girl Reserves	p. 170
Sports Star	p. 175
First Love	p. 179
"Beethoven"	p. 184
The Jam Jar	p. 196
Murder in a Small Town	p. 200
Graduation Ceremonies for Dark Young People	p. 205
Epilogue: The Pathway Leading to a New Life in the West	p. 215
Notes	p. 235
Index	p. 237
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.