“I wanted to write about voodoo tradition that I feel has been very important to survival of black people here: people of the African diaspora, people of this region, and throughout the south.” PeopleWritingImportantBlackSurvivalTraditionBlack PeopleVoodoo Author:Jesmyn Ward
“Black people in the US are told all the time, from all aspects, that they're nothing, that they're less than. And of course that bears fruit, but no one wants to shoulder part of the blame. A lot of people here can't see around their own family's history. They don't want to see that where they come from and the people they surround themselves with might have played a role in all this. This is all part of our national myth about the individual. We think that a lack of success comes from the individual not working hard enough. A lot of people in this country really believe that.” PeopleThinkingBelieveCountryEnoughIndividualBlackBlameMythSurroundBlack People Author:Jesmyn Ward
“I felt like if I didn't write about what happened to the young men here in the South of America, the same things would keep occurring. Here in the South, young black men just keep dying - young black women, too. I couldn't live with myself if I hadn't been as honest as possible about that.” MenWritingBlackHonestDyingBlack Women Author:Jesmyn Ward
“Some people think that Southern hip-hop doesn't have any depth. They think it's just noise, all about people having a good time in the club. And some of it doesn't have a lot of depth, it's true, but some does. I wanted to work against that stereotype. These are verses by Southern artists who are really wrestling with what it means to be here, young black men who are trying to figure out how to live in the South. So I wanted the epigraphs in my novels to reflect that.” PeopleThinkingMenTryingMeanArtistBlackNovelGood TimesWrestlingSouthernVersesStereotypeHaving A Good Time Author:Jesmyn Ward
