Includes bibliographical references. About the contributors, acknowledgements (pages 221-233).
Contents:
Introduction: Profit and loss / Kamilah Aisha Moon. Another quarantine blues / Jason Reynolds -- The quarantine album: Liner notes / Deesha Philyaw -- Haircut, May 2020 in Decatur, GA / Kamilah Aisha Moon -- Just like now / Pearl Cleage -- Not allowed / Tayari Jones -- Poem beginning in the market as a meditation on hope and fear / Sharan Strange -- Build back a body / Destiny O. Birdsong -- Feasting on bread and dry bones / Shay Youngblood -- Spring mix ; Memorial Day 2021 / Opal Moore -- Pandemics and portals: Listening that breaks us open / Daniel B. Coleman -- Who to tell? / Ida Harris -- Haiku ; Evidence / E. Ethelbert Miller -- False dawn: A Zuihitsu / Khadijah Queen -- Joyride / Karen Good Marable -- How to make a tea cake ; Burden Hill Apothecary & Babalu-Aye prepare stinging nettle tea / L. Lamar Wilson -- The purpose of a house / Emily Bernard -- Lockdown prayer / Honoree Fanonne Jeffers -- Out there, nobody can hear you scream / Latria Graham -- Racism is terrible. Blackness is not / Imani Perry -- Mine / B. Brian Foster -- There is a daughter ; "I may not get there with you" / Alice Walker -- Hello, goodnight / Kamille D. Whittaker -- The women who clean / Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor -- Sky study / Alexis Pauline Gumbs -- A survivor looks back / Lolis Eric Elie -- Iron and brass / Rosalind Bentley -- To brim with wholeness / Jasmin Pittman Morrell -- November 7, 2020 / Samaa Abrurraqib -- What we owe and are owed / Kiese Laymon -- Get well slow / Josina Guess -- Whosoever will, come on in / Imani E. Wilson -- Another quarantine blues / Kamilah Aisha Moon.
Summary:
"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." From the publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.