By Jeff Burns
Here
are three books on race in America that I highly recommend.
When
I was a teenager in South Georgia, I remember the news coverage of the civil
rights marches in Forsyth County Georgia and Oprah Winfrey, at the time a
relatively new talk show host, dedicating an episode of her show to the “whites
only” county north of Atlanta. Stories referred to the 1912 purge of the
counties black residents. I couldn’t
believe such a thing was possible. Blood
at the Root by Patrick Phillips tells the full story of the “cleansing” of
the county and the events leading up the 1987 marches.
I
teach the story of Emmett Till every year.
Not only is it a story or unimaginable tragedy and brutality, it is also
considered a seminal moment in the civil rights movement. Till’s murder is considered by many to be the
catalyst of the modern civil rights movement. It was fresh in the minds of Rosa
Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, and the others involved in the Montgomery Bus
Boycott. Yet, too many Americans do not know the story. Timothy Tyson’s book is
an essential read on the topic. Perhaps the most important part of the book is
Tyson’s interview with Carolyn Bryant, the white woman who accused Till of
disrespecting her – the incident that led to his murder.
The
Potlikker Papers by John T. Edge is an original take on the 20th
century civil rights movement. Edge
tells the story of the movement through the lens of food, how southern food
simultaneously unites and divides black and white southerners. It is one of my favorite reads of the last
year, and I was privileged to hear Mr. Edge speak at the Savannah Book Festival
in February and to talk with him for a moment afterwards. Here are some quotes about the book:
“To read “Potlikker” is
to understand modern Southern history at a deeper level than you're used to.
Not just a history of Southern food; it
also stands as a singularly important history of the South itself.” —The
Bitter Southerner
“Edge, director of the Southern Foodways
Alliance at the University of Mississippi, uses food as a lens to explore
Southern identity, seeking to reconcile a legacy of slavery and Jim Crow with
who claims the Southern table today.” — NPR
“A panoramic mural of the South’s culinary heritage, illuminating the region’s troubled place at the American table and the unsung role of cooks in the quest for social justice.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
