“The Revisioners” by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton tells the story of two Black women dealing with racial tension during different time periods. Josephine’s story jumps back and forth between her enslavement as a child and being a free woman with grown children in the post Civil War years. As an adult, Jospehine married a man with whom she was able to acquire some property and achieve financial independence though it later sparks jealousy in White neighbors who are less fortunate. Ava is a biracial woman raising her son as a single mother in present-day New Orleans. She’s experienced some setbacks and in hopes of improving her financial situation to offer her son a better life, Ava agrees to move in with her White grandmother. While loving at times, her grandmother is a study in microaggressions and has episodes that hint at the prejudiced views she held and could more openly express in her younger years.
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If you’re interested in learning about the first Black child to integrate an elementary school in the South, then my Ruby Bridges Black History Facts profile is for you.
“When the Levees Broke” is a 2006 Spike Lee documentary about the impact of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans. Residents of the city explain the events and their experiences leading up to, during, and after the hurricane made landfall. The film also explores the government’s preparation and response or lack thereof and its impact in the wake of this natural disaster.
A review of “A Kind of Freedom” by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, the story of three family members which provides a glimpse into issues such as Jim Crow, drug addiction, and mass incarceration that have plagued the Black community.
A profile of Louis Armstrong, a legendary jazz musician who toured the world playing the trumpet and singing with his signature raspy voice.