“My obsessions stay the same - historical memory and historical erasure. I am particularly interested in the Americas and how a history that is rooted in colonialism, the language and iconography of empire, disenfranchisement, the enslavement of peoples, and the way that people were sectioned off because of blood.” PeopleWayLanguageMemoriesBloodHistoricalObsessionEmpiresRootedColonialismEnslavementIconographyDisenfranchisement Author:Natasha Trethewey
“I used to come out here every Fourth of July as a child to picnic and to swim on the island, to tour the fort and wander through it. And all of that time, I never knew anything about the presence of black soldiers on the island. And so, for me, this was a way of trying to tell another history, a lost or a forgotten or a little-known history about these black soldiers who played an important part in American history.” Trethewey said. Coincidentally, she was born “exactly 100 years to the day that Mississippi celebrated the first Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, 1866.” WayTryingYearsFirstsChildrenLittlesSaidImportantUsedLostBlackBornKnownForgottenSoldierWanderIslandsSwimFourthAmerican HistoryMemorialAprilJulyMemorial DayMississippiPicnicsFortsConfederate Author:Natasha Trethewey
“Jesmyn Ward left her Gulf Coast home for education and experience, but it called her back. It called on her in most painful ways, to mourn. In Men We Reaped, Jesmyn unburies her dead, that they may live again. And through this emotional excavation, she forces us to see the problems of place and race that led these men to their early graves. Full of beauty, love, and dignity, Men We Reaped is a haunting and essential read.” MenWayMayProblemHomeLeftForceRaceEmotionalEssentialsDignityPainfulGravesCoastHauntingMournBeauty Love Author:Natasha Trethewey
