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Adeyemi, Tomi. Children of Blood and Bone. Henry Holt and Company, 2018.

Colyard, K.W. “What Toni Morrison Meant to Black Women Writers, in Their Own Words.” Bustle, Bustle, 14 Aug. 2019, https://www.bustle.com/p/what-toni-morrison-meant-to-black-women-writers-in-their-own-words-18551986.

Fitzsimmons, Emma G. “12-Year-Old Boy Dies after Police in Cleveland Shoot Him.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Nov. 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/us/boy-12-dies-after-being-shot-by-cleveland-police-officer.html.

Philyaw, Deesha. “Visible: Women Writers of Color: Angie Thomas.” The Rumpus.net, 2017, https://therumpus.net/2017/04/19/visible-women-writers-of-color-angie-thomas/.

Johnson, George M. All Boys Aren't Blue. Penguin Books, 2021.

Mayer, Petra. “'Give Them the Damn Information': Questions for George M. Johnson.” NPR, NPR, 2 May 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/05/02/848764750/give-them-the-damn-information-questions-for-george-m-johnson.

Mckinley, Jesse. “In California, Protests after Man Dies at Hands of Transit Police.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Jan. 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/us/09oakland.html.

Morrison, Toni, and Carolyn C. Denard. What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction. University Press of Mississippi, 2008.

Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. Vintage International, 2004.

Sonja, Cole. “Debut Author and Industry Darling Tomi Adeyemi on How Much Representation Matters, the Magical Powers of Fantasy, and Why Angie Thomas Is Everything.” Audible Blog, 2018, https://www.audible.com/blog/tomi-adeyemi-interview-children-of-blood-and-bone-representation-fantasy-angie-thomas.

Thomas, Angie. The Hate U Give. Edulit, 2022.

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Here is a series of quotes from Morrison's own essay "Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation."

“…new information has got to get out, and there are several ways to do it. One is the novel.” (58)

This quote works to establish Morrison's ideas about the novel and its power as a way to communicate information and lived experience.

“It should be beautiful, and powerful, but it should also work. It should have something in it that enlightens; something in it that opens the door and points the way. Something in it that suggests what the conflicts are, what the problems are.” (58-59)

"It seems to me that the best art is political and you ought to be able to make it unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time.” (64)

In these quotes, Morrison discusses what makes a powerful novel, well, powerful.
This serves to form a frame through which I selected the three novels for this exhibit. They work. They're beautiful. They're powerful. They point the way. They're political.

“…it seems to me interesting to evaluate Black literature on what the author does with the presence of the ancestor.” (61).

Morrison is thinking about the ancestor in her work, overtly. These authors engage with the ancestor as well, in unique ways that will be addressed in each section.

“It was the absence of the ancestor that was frightening, that was threatening, and it caused huge destruction and disarray in the work itself.” (62)

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Tomi Adeyemi is the author of break-out hit Children of Blood and Bone. Her novel was published while subsequently obtaining a movie deal with Disney, and that movie is currently in development. Before we begin looking at her novel, though, let's look at one of our first artifacts in this exhibit!

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George M. Johnson is an activist, journalist, and author of potent "memoir-manifesto" All Boys Aren't Blue.

While All Boys Aren't Blue isn't a novel like our other two books, it still does the important work of exploring Black identity and how it functions within ancestry and community.

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In this interview, George M. Johnson details their inspirations from Morrison, along with explicitly stating many of the themes of their book, like the idea of the mask and code-switching.

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Journalist and activist George M. Johnson's new memoir is an unvarnished look at growing up black and queer in New Jersey and later Virginia. Johnson draws readers into his own experiences with clear, confiding essays - from childhood encounters with bullies to sexual experiences good and bad, to finding unexpected brotherhood in a college fraternity, all of it grounded in the love and support of his family.

It's aimed at a young adult audience - but it's a book many readers may wish they'd had access to growing up. In an email interview, Johnson tells me he was inspired by Toni Morrison's famous saying, "If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it," which he has tattooed on his right arm.

"I look at it often to remind myself of why I am writing these stories and the importance of centering black stories from the black perspective," Johnson says. "I didn't have stories like these growing up and honestly I don't have many now so I knew I needed to do my part to make sure the next generation of black queer children had something they could relate to and connect with. There are days I look at TV and film and still don't see myself represented. So, my ultimate goal was providing the story I didn't have but always needed and to be the vessel so that so many can feel seen and heard.
You write very poignantly about the concept of the mask - can you talk about that?

Black folks have always had to wear the mask. Many call it "code switching" but it's the inability to be our truest selves when we are in certain environments that are dictated by society norms, whiteness and principles of respectability politics. When you are someone who lives with multiple identifiers such as black and queer and etc., you don't always have the luxury to show up as all of them in certain spaces. For me, I wore the mask. Faking my happiness publicly while crying privately. Faking my existence while always truly just wanting to live in my truth. The mask is for safety, emotional, physical, mental, etc. and as black folks the mask has often been our only way to survive an anti-black world.
What I found surprising was that this book read kind of like a textbook in places - a textbook for the human sexuality class I wish I'd had as a kid. Was that your intention?
Absolutely. If we aren't going to teach about heterosexual sex in the classrooms with some nuance, then queer people don't stand a chance at learning themselves. We have to take it upon ourselves to create that information elsewhere. So as important as it was for me to be very detailed about my sexual experiences from childhood to young adulthood, I knew some parts needed to be a road map. I can't let another generation continue to be shamed and placed at risk for potential harm simply because a society refuses to teach one of the most basic understandings that humans are sexual beings. The notion that keeping vital information from people who will then learn through trial and error is a disservice to young adults everywhere. If knowledge is power, then give them the damn information. And if folks won't do it, then I will.
Following on from that - in the chapters where you talk about sex, you're very up front. You don't spare yourself any blushes. Why was it important to you to write those sequences that way?

If knowledge is power, then give them the damn information. And if folks won't do it, then I will.

I wanted people reading to understand that we are conditioned really poorly around sex, consent, safety and what to do when put in those situations. So I didn't want to sugarcoat my experiences. I wanted people to understand how hard it was for me to go into sex so inexperienced while carrying the trauma of my past. I didn't want those parts to make folks cringe - but I also did, LOL. I wanted people to understand why they were cringing. Why they wouldn't cringe at a straight sexual experience being explained but cringe during mine. This book was as much part educational as it was pushing back on whatever norms forced you to think my sex wasn't valid or shouldn't be talked about in its full truth. And even more, I needed those who I represent to understand my story so that they wouldn't have to make those same risky mistakes and attempts that I did.
Your family is such an important and positive part of your story - have they read your book? What have they said to you?
Some of my family have read it. The great thing about my family is they have always told me that my story is my story and to tell it. Of course I had conversations with them about some of the graphic parts of the book and the parts that I know I had never told them to prepare them but those who have read it are very proud and happy about how I captured our family. We have a family group chat that has been so happy with the book and how it is resonating with so many people.
"Blue" means a lot of things in All Boys Aren't Blue -- can you lay them out for me?

For some readers, I want them to feel seen ... For other readers, I want them to reflect. Reflect on the times you were the enemy in someone else's truth.

So "blue" refers to four things. The first is the push back against the gendering of colors. Blue is boy and pink is girl are so outdated. Boys should be whatever color they want and girls should be too, as well as non-binary folks. I'm sure if my parents did a gender reveal in 1985, I would've been blue balloons or smoke or whatever. Clearly I'm not a boy that was blue, LOL. The second reference is to my dad being a cop, which is often referred to as "blue." So we grew up in a "blue" household, which shaped some of the way that we were raised. The third blue is a reference to the character Blue in Queen Sugar. He was a young boy that played with dolls and it was fine until he started getting older, and then the same women and men and figures in his life that protected his childhood innocence then started to question if he was going to possibly be gay because of his need to have this doll and it reminded me so much of me. The fourth and final reference is to the movie which changed the way I think about so many things and the beauty of black boys looking blue in moonlight.
What do you want readers to take away from this book?
For some readers, I want them to feel seen. I want them to feel like there is someone in this world fighting for them and fighting for their story and right to safety and be who they are. For other readers, I want them to reflect. Reflect on the times you were the enemy in someone else's truth. The times when you may have harmed LGBTQ people or black people or whatever group you had more power than. And then start to do the work to change your actions.

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'Give Them The Damn Information': Questions For George M. Johnson

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Journalist and activist George M. Johnson's new memoir All Boys Aren't Blue is an unflinching account of growing up black and queer - from kindergarten bullies to unexpected college brotherhood.

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Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give, also secured a movie deal shortly after publishing her novel. The Hate U Give took the world by storm as a powerful narrative inspired by the killing of Oscar Grant and the protests that followed in 2009. She had started this novel in college as a response to those protests, but then: Trayvon Martin. Mike Brown. Tamir Rice. Sandra Bland.
Angie Thomas knew she had to continue this novel and publish it.

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Within Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, we see the character Milkman embark on an ancestral journey that carries with it a narrative legacy, defining this quest as a frame (such as the hero's journey) for current Black fiction narratives who seek to provide their protagonists with challenges, growth, revelation, and most importantly, and understanding of and embracing of their ancestry.

However, this legacy extends beyond Morrison's novel and exudes from Morrison herself. As a Black ancestor within literature, Morrison has gifted her legacy to a new generation of Black Young Adult authors: Tomi Adeyemi and her novel Children of Blood and Bone; Angie Thomas and her novel The Hate U Give; and George M. Johnson's non-fiction "memoir-manifesto" All Boys Aren't Blue.

Within this exhibit we will first be examining Morrison's impact of those authors through a series of interviews and articles each author has participated in, in which they discuss their relationship with Toni Morrison and her work.

Then, in a separate essay, we will look at those author's most popular novels (and memoir) that embody Milkman's ancestral journey and adopt it into a new narrative style, bringing Morrison's legacy to a new generation of readers who have mostly begun reading after Morrison's death.

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"If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

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"If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

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George M. Johnson has this tweet tattooed on their arm. Unfortunately, we were unable to get the actual tattoo for display in this exhibit, as George M. Johnson is very busy doing George M. Johnson things, like writing We Are Not Broken.

https://iamgmjohnson.com/

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If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

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If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

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If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
— Toni Morrison (@ToniMorrrison) October 31, 2013

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If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

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If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

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If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

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In this interview, Angie Thomas details many aspects of her writing career. It is full of fantastic information about Thomas and her process of writing The Hate U Give.

When asked who her writing heroes are, Angie Thomas answers immediately. She is able to name a catalogue of wonderful Black authors, but first and chief among them, she says: "Toni Morrison, for sure."

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VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Angie Thomas

Writer Angie Thomas grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, in a neighborhood plagued by drug dealing and gun violence. While earning her BFA in creative writing at Belhaven University, a predominantly white institution in Jackson, she initially stuck to writing fantasy because she believed her white classmates wouldn't care about stories about her community. After a white professor suggested she give her community's stories visibility through her work, Thomas began writing short stories that reflected her life and her concerns.

Then in 2009, during Thomas's senior year, Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man, was killed by police in California. Thomas was angered by the killing as well as by the way her classmates essentially put Grant on trial for his own death-talking about his past, speculating about what he might've done wrong. It all reminded Thomas of young men she'd grown up with and how they were viewed as criminals by the mainstream. Inspired by the Grant case, she wrote a short story called, "The Hate U Give."

In the years after graduation, the story weighed on Thomas emotionally, so she set it aside. But then Trayvon Martin was killed. And then Mike Brown. Tamir Rice. And Sandra Bland. In the wake of these high-profile killings and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, Thomas revisited "The Hate U Give" and expanded it into a novel of the same name.

In 2016, Thomas's debut novel, The Hate U Give, was acquired by Balzer + Bray/Harper Collins after a thirteen-publishing house auction. Film rights were optioned by Fox 2000 with Amandla Stenberg ( Hunger Games) attached to star. Last month, The Hate U Give topped the New York Times 's YA bestseller list a week after its release.

In The Hate U Give, sixteen-year-old Starr struggles to navigate the differences between the poor neighborhood where she lives and the suburban prep school she attends. When Starr witnesses a cop shoot her unarmed childhood best friend, Khalil, this balancing act becomes even more difficult. Thomas was moved to place a black girl at the center of her novel after Trayvon Martin's friend Rachel Jeantel faced harsh criticism about how she presented herself on the witness stand during George Zimmerman's murder trial.

Thomas talked with us about landing an agent on Twitter, why she trusts teenagers more than the publishing industry, and why a diverse representation of authors, as well as characters, matters.

***

The Rumpus: So a lot has happened since the last time we spoke. Like The Hate U Give topping the New York Times bestseller list. Tell me how you found out.

Angie Thomas: We knew the list was coming out that day. And we knew there was a strong possibility that [ The Hate U Give] would be on there. But you just never know. My agent and I were calling each other, texting each other, "Hey, have you seen anything?" And then he texted me around four, and he tortured me, texting one word at a time! The-Hate-U-Give-is-number-one! And I just hit the floor. I cried. Because for me being the black girl from the 'hood in Mississippi, hitting number one on the New York Times bestseller list is-one of those things that seemed beyond my reach.

And knowing that I did it-it was one of the best moments of my entire life. And I thought about all those kids in my neighborhood who've been told that they can't do certain things because of their circumstances, knowing that I was just like them at one point. And now I'm on the New York Times bestseller list. It just goes to show that really anything is possible.

Rumpus: So The Hate U Give started as a short story you when you were in college. After that, you wrote a different novel and queried agents, then went back and wrote The Hate U Give as a novel. Had you published prior to that?

Thomas: In college, my short stories were published in the literary journal of the school. So The Hate U Give is really the first thing I've had that's been for sale.

Rumpus: Wow. You're giving new writers all kinds of hope! That's wonderful.

Thomas: Thank you. You know, a lot of writers, more established writers, can get into the mindset of, "What's going to be my breakout story?" Or, "What's going to win the awards?" Or, "What's hot right now?"

But with my earlier book, I got rejected so much-sixty times-that I had to say, "Let me put it aside and work on something else." And I knew that with The Hate U Give, I couldn't hold back and that was scary because in young adult literature at the time, the reading diversity movement was just starting up. As a black woman, when I'm hearing them say, "We need diverse books," and people are saying, "We want diverse books," in the back of my mind I'm thinking, "Well, how much diversity can you handle? Can I be unapologetically black? Is that going to be too much? Do you want the whitewashed version of diversity? Or do you want the real deal unapologetically black diversity?"

So, it was coming to the conclusion that I'm going to write it the way I want to write it. I'm not here to make anybody comfortable. I'm here to write the book I want to write and a book I felt like I needed to write. That was the best thing I could have done for myself as a writer, for sure."

Rumpus: But after you finished The Hate U Give, you were afraid to send it out to agents. Why?

Thomas: Because I knew when you say "Black Lives Matter" to three different people, you're going to get three different reactions. And as I mentioned, We Need Diverse Books had recently started, and they were doing amazing work ushering diversity into young adult and children's literature. But again, as a person of color, you always wonder, "How diverse is too diverse? "

So when my now-agent was participating in a Twitter Q&A for aspiring authors, I was hesitant to say anything. But then I just took a chance and asked him if the topic of Black Lives Matter was appropriate for a young adult book. And my agent, a thirty-something-year-old white Jewish guy from the suburbs of Massachusetts [laughs] responded and said that not only was it appropriate, but that no topic should be off limits for YA books. And he also asked to see part of the manuscript. After he read that, he asked to read the whole manuscript. Then about a month or so later, he offered to sign me as a client. He loved it. He told me that he'd been wanting something that touched on Black Lives Matter, but he didn't want an Afterschool Special or anything that was preachy. He wanted something authentic, and he saw that in my book.

Rumpus: In 2015, you were an inaugural winner of the Walter Dean Myers Grant, awarded by We Need Diverse Books. This interview column was inspired in part by the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign and the overwhelming whiteness of publishing. Since that campaign began, I've seen more YA books centering young people of color, but they're not always written by people of color. I looked up the stats. Of the approximately 3,400 books documented by the Cooperative Children's Book Center in 2016, only two percent contained "significant African or African American content" and were written "by Black authors and/or illustrators."

Thomas: And We Need Diverse Books released a study that found that seven and a half percent of all children's books published in 2015 featured black characters as the main character. And that number is even lower for Asians, lower for Latinos, and lower for Native Americans. But twenty-five percent of books published that year featured animals or trucks as the main character. You mean to tell me there are more book about trucks than there are about black kids? And as you said, the number of the books with black main characters by black authors is even lower. So I was going into a space that for the most part has said stories by people like me about people like me don't sell. That was terrifying. That was intimidating.

Our black kid books get pushed into the "adult urban" section for some reason.

Rumpus: Because our kids are not viewed as children.

Thomas: Exactly. They always view our children as older than they are, and they don't market to them enough.

But I've been pleasantly surprised because teenagers have more empathy than adults. And they're more open-minded than adults. I hear from black girls who thank me because they see themselves on my book cover. I hear from white girls in rural Texas saying, "Thank you so much for this book. It's opened my eyes. And I love [the character] DeVante!" [Laughs] I've had so many girls tell me they love this boy!

And it goes to show me that instead of putting so much faith in publishing and how the publishing industry was going to react to the book, I should've put a little more faith in teenagers. Because they're the consumers. They're the ones buying this book and sharing it with their friends and falling in love with the characters. They're the ones posting about the book on Tumblr and sending me fan art. I'm in awe. Although my publishing journey has been great so far, and I've had a great team behind me, I'm going to continue to put my faith in those kids.

I had an event in New York the other day, and there were over 150 people there, all ages, all races, and they all loved my book. It gives me hope, especially in this current political climate. And yesterday, I was in a small town, Maplewood, New Jersey. I was in conversation with a professor from Harvard. It was an older crowd, middle age and up, and the majority of them were white, and they loved my book! And what I'm learning-and I'm thankful to be in this position-is that words have power and that empathy still exists.

I'm also encouraged by #ownvoices in the YA community, started by author Corinne Duyvis to promote books by marginalized authors featuring marginalized characters. The authors share the same marginalization as their characters. And there's a big push now for #ownvoices. Matter of fact, there are rumors that some editors will not accept diverse books unless the characters are from the same marginalized group as the author. Because we see too many problematic representations, unfortunately, when people write outside of their marginalization.

And this is not to say that a white author could not write about a black girl, but I feel like I'm going to get a more authentic portrayal from a black woman [author]. So I think it's important, and not just because of authenticity. I'll give you a personal story. The other day at my book launch, a middle school teacher brought forty of her students, all black kids. And this was their first time seeing an author. And all of them want to write, and they told me, "I did not know that I could be a writer until I met you. Because you look just like me." That's why it's important.

Like I said, I'm in no way saying that people shouldn't write outside of their experience, but I feel like when we do get authors who look like the characters, or who share the marginalization of their characters, we get a more authentic experience, and we give kids a better mirror. And we give kids a better window [to the world].

It is definitely something that we're seeing a push towards now in publishing. So much so that there are white authors who do not like it. Oh yeah, we've had some drama. We've had some issues. But [we have to] remember who we're writing for and why we're writing for them, and realize that it goes beyond just the books. Sometimes it's just them seeing themselves in the person who wrote the book. The more we focus on that, the more we will read books by people of color featuring characters of color. I have hope. I really do. We really are pushing for it.

Rumpus: Have you always had a YA focus in your writing?

Thomas: I did middle grade, and I'm probably going to go back to middle grade at some point, but The Hate U Give was always YA for me. I don't see myself ever writing for adults, but that could change. That's not to throw shade on that category or anything like that. But I feel like with teenagers, I get a little more wriggle room. They're more open. I have a better chance of getting a white kid to read my book than I may have with a white adult who's already set in their ways. That age range especially-it's important to give them books where they see themselves and books where they see other people's lives because it helps promote empathy. Empathy is stronger than sympathy.

But also, I know that there are so many adults who read YA. I read YA myself. Especially with a subject like The Hate U Give, I felt like if it came from the perspective of a sixteen-year-old girl who still has her innocence, I may have more people who are willing to listen than they would to maybe a thirty-year-old woman.

Also, because so many of these cases [involve] young people losing their lives, young people are being affected by it when they see it on the news. So, I'm going to give them something. I wanted to make this for them and nobody else. And I'm glad that older people are picking it up, and it's getting reactions, and getting people thinking, but I really wrote it for those kids.

I'm from a neighborhood known for all the wrong reasons, unfortunately. And so often I was afraid that people would define me because of where I'm from. And I hope that young black women in 'hoods around this country realize that where you're from, your circumstances, or what's in your bank account, doesn't define you. Even beyond writing, it doesn't define you. Be your unapologetic self. Don't hold back, because you don't have to. If you're told, "Your book's not marketable," then that's not the opportunity for you. There's somebody out there who needs those words, who needs your book. But write it for yourself, first and foremost.

The best way that we can communicate is through stories. People don't want to be lectured. And we're all kind of entrenched in our positions, but a good story really can impact change. [People are saying to me,] "Okay, I understand a little bit more why people say 'Black Lives Matter.'" I didn't set out to do that, though.

Rumpus: Who are your writing heroes?

Thomas: Toni Morrison, for sure. Jacqueline Woodson is my hero. I met her a few months ago at the Mississippi Book Festival, and I forgot how to speak. [Laughs] My favorite book of all time is Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. And when I found out that not only was it about a black girl, but the author herself is a black woman, Mildred D. Taylor, I was in love!

Christopher Paul Curtis. Walter Dean Myers. Jason Reynolds. Dr. Maya Angelou. And I was a big Harry Potter fan growing up. J.K. Rowling gave me a window that I wanted to keep open for life, and I'm sad I never got a letter back. I also love Octavia Butler, Richard Wright, and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Rumpus: How did you start writing? What was it that made you say, 'This is what I want to do."

Thomas: I've been telling stories for as long as I can remember. I was telling stories when I was six years old. My mom would read me a book, and afterwards I would tell my own version of it, like fan fiction. And when I was in third grade, I had a teacher who noticed that between classwork, if I finished my stuff early, I would sit there and doodle, or write stuff in my little notebook. And one day she glanced at it and realized I was writing a story. She told me, "If you want to do this, I'll let you read to the class every Friday." So every week, I'd work on a story from Monday through Thursday, looking forward to be able to tell it to everybody. I thought I was the S-H-I-T! [Laughs]

I knew there were black authors out there, but the unfortunate thing was that I'd never met an author. And here I was, a black girl in the 'hood, in Mississippi. I didn't think it was possible for me to be an author. If I had been like those kids at my book launch the other day, and I met somebody who looked like me, who was doing what I wanted to do, I probably would have realized [that I wanted to be a writer] sooner than I did. Because it took me until college to realize that it was something I could actually do. I'd been telling stories, even writing fan fiction, for years. But until you actually see that somebody's doing it, and they show you how it's achievable, sometimes you don't think it is. Especially being in Mississippi with all those counter-messages, telling you to the contrary. So many of the authors who are upheld highly in Mississippi are white. You have William Faulkner, Eudora Welty. I don't look like either one of them. It took a while, but I'm glad that I eventually got there. And I'm hoping that I will inspire those little black kids who tell stories and who don't know what to do with them. I hope I inspire them to actually become writers.

I'm in Texas right now at the North Texas Teen Book Festival, and one teacher, an older white lady, came up to me, and said, "I teach mostly black students, and this week I put up, in the hallway, pictures of all the authors who are here at the festival this weekend, so they could see. And a bunch of my students saw your picture and they came to me and they were like, 'You know there's a black woman up here on the wall?'" She said, "Yeah, that's an author." And they were like, "No way!"

So, the more visible we can be, the better.

***

Want more VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color? Visit the archives here.

***
Author Photograph © Anissa Hidouk.
Deesha Philyaw's debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, is a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. The collection focuses on Black women, sex, and the Black church. Deesha is also the co-author of Co-Parenting 101: Helping Your Kids Thrive in Two Households After Divorce, written in collaboration with her ex-husband. Her work has been listed as Notable in the Best American Essays series, and her writing on race, parenting, gender, and culture has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, McSweeney's, The Rumpus, Brevity, dead housekeeping, Apogee Journal, Barrelhouse, Harvard Review, The Baltimore Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. Deesha is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow. More from this author →

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VISIBLE: Women Writers Of Color: Angie Thomas - The Rumpus.net

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VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Angie Thomas Writer Angie Thomas grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, in a neighborhood plagued by drug dealing and gun violence. While earning her BFA in creative writing at Belhaven University, a predominantly white institution in Jackson, she initially stuck to writing fantasy because she believed her white classmates wouldn't care about stories about her community.

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https://www.bustle.com/p/what-toni-morrison-meant-to-black-women-writers-in-their-own-words-18551986

Shortly after Morrison's death, Bustle interviewed female Black authors to discover what Toni Morrison meant to them and their careers. We not only see Tomi Adeyemi present in this piece, but a number of other incredibly important Black voices in contemporary literature: N.K. Jemisin (How Long 'Til Black Future Month?), Elizabeth Acevedo (The Poet X), Rena Barron (Kingdom of Souls), Yvonne Battle-Felton (Remembered), Trisha R. Thomas (Nappily Married), and many, many more.

With such a powerful chorus of voices detailing their inspirations from Morrison, her legacy as both icon, author, and ancestor is abundantly clear.

Let's look at Tomi Adeyemi's quote from this interview: “To me, Toni Morrison was the icon who carried our torch. She wrote our truths with elegance and grace at a time when the world still didn’t want to acknowledge black beauty and power. I will be eternally grateful for all she did, all she empowered, and all the walls she broke down so other black writers could follow in her footsteps.”

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The world lost a powerful literary voice earlier this month, when Nobel laureate Toni Morrison passed away at the age of 88. In honor of her memory, Bustle reached out to learn what Toni Morrison meant to Black women writers, including Elizabeth Acevedo, N.K. Jemisin, and others, in their own words.

Toni Morrison, who worked as an editor at Random House before becoming an author, published her first novel, The Bluest Eye, in 1970, and followed it up with 10 more adult novels, several works of nonfiction, and assorted works of prose. Morrison also published five children's books with her son, Slade Morrison, who died in 2010.

Toni Morrison's contributions to American letters did not go unnoticed in her lifetime. Her third novel, Song of Solomon, won the 1978 National Book Critics Circle Award, and her fifth novel, , took home the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. Morrison received the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, and was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. She most recently received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Award for lifetime achievement in May 2019.

Here is Toni Morrison's impact on women writers, in their own words.

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What Toni Morrison Meant To Black Women Writers, In Their Own Words

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The world lost a powerful literary voice earlier this month, when Nobel laureate Toni Morrison passed away at the age of 88. In honor of her memory, Bustle reached out to learn what Toni Morrison meant to Black women writers, including Elizabeth...

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This is the first NYT article detailing the tragic killing of Tamir Rice. This incident served as one of the many inspirations for Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone, which uses Morrison’s ideas of potent politics and irrevocable beauty within a novel and delivers those ideals to a Young Adult Audience.

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Officials in Cleveland were investigating the police shooting of a 12-year-old boy who died on Sunday, a day after an officer shot him outside a recreation center when he reached for a weapon that turned out to be a fake pistol.

The boy, Tamir E. Rice, died on Sunday at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, the Cuyahoga County medical examiner's office said. He was shot in the torso at a park on Saturday after witnesses reported that he was waving a gun around and pointing it at people, the police said.

Two police officers responded to the scene and ordered the boy to raise his hands, the police said, but he refused and reached for a gun in his waistband. An officer fired two shots, striking the boy once, the police said.

In a 911 call released by the police, a man said that "a guy" who appeared to be a juvenile was pointing a pistol at people and scaring them. The caller said twice that the gun was "probably fake."

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Tamir E. Rice

"There is a guy with a pistol," the caller said. "It's probably fake, but he's pointing it at everybody."

The police were investigating what information from the call was relayed to the officers, said Jennifer Ciaccia, a police spokeswoman. The Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office was also investigating the shooting.

The two officers were placed on administrative leave, and one of the officers was taken to a hospital for an injury to his ankle, the police said.

The boy lived near the park and went there on Saturday with friends and family, a lawyer for his family, Timothy Kucharski, said on Sunday. Mr. Kucharski said he would conduct his own investigation into the shooting and review the police's investigation to determine "how exactly an innocent young 12-year-old boy could be killed playing at the park."

"His mother is devastated," Mr. Kucharski said. "We'd love to have the prayers of the community right now."

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The airsoft replica gun that Tamir had with him at the playground. Credit Cory Schaffer/The Plain Dealer, via Associated Press

The shooting of the boy, who was African-American, came as a grand jury is expected to make a decision soon over whether to charge a white police officer who shot an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., setting off months of protests.

Mr. Kucharski said that he did not know the race of the officer who shot the boy, and that the shooting did not appear to have anything to do with race. The important question, he said, was why the officers did not act with more caution because they were dealing with a child.

"The police have to address these things in the proper context," he said. "This is a 12-year-old boy. This is not a grown man. I'd think you would handle situations with children differently than you would with an adult. They don't fully understand everything that is going on."

The shooting happened about 3:30 p.m. at the Cudell Recreation Center on the city's west side, the police said. Deputy Chief Ed Tomba of the Cleveland police said on Saturday that the boy had not threatened the officers or pointed the weapon at them.

The police learned that the gun was fake after the shooting, Ms. Ciaccia said. The weapon was an "airsoft" replica gun resembling a semiautomatic pistol, with the orange safety tip removed, the police said.

"It looks really, really real, and it's huge," Ms. Ciaccia said.

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12-Year-Old Boy Dies After Police in Cleveland Shoot Him

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Officials in Cleveland were investigating the police shooting of a 12-year-old boy who died on Sunday, a day after an officer shot him outside a recreation center when he reached for a weapon that turned out to be a fake pistol. The boy, Tamir E.

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In Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone, the character Zélie Adebola must go on a journey to restore the Magic of her ancestors to the world in order to combat and ruthless and oppressive regime. To do so, she must learn of her ancestors at a place of knowledge while becoming a part of the community that she reluctantly swears to protect.

Zélie's journey parallel's Milkman's in many ways. First, she leaves her home at the urging of an ancestor, travels to learn about her ancestors, and then journeys to retrieve an artifact left behind by her ancestors, and in doing so, embraces self-discovery and growth.

The role of the ancestor within this novel is integral to its politics, as it deals with the generational trauma that comes with oppression. Zélie also has a unique relationship with ancestry, as her magic involves invoking the spirits of the dead, including her mother at one point.

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YES, yes it is. I found this out when I flirted with it then asked it out on a date and got shot down in flames. I'm hoping for better luck with PushiYES, yes it is. I found this out when I flirted with it then asked it out on a date and got shot down in flames. I'm hoping for better luck with Pushing Ice by Alastair REYNOLDS, but Shogun has shown some interest. .. 🍀 ...more

(by the way. I am in no way making fun of you, Caitlyn or anyone LGBTQ or straight. I just found the comment by Elias to be ROTFFLMFAO HILARIOUS and could not resist adding a comment of my own .... I at least hope SOMEONE got a laugh 😂 out of it!) (less)

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Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell

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Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, #1)

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YES, yes it is. I found this out when I flirted with it then asked it out on a date and got shot down in flames. I'm hoping for better luck with PushiYES, yes it is. I found this out when I flirted with it then asked it out on a date and got shot down in flames.

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This is an article about the protests following the death of Oscar Grant, the death and wave of protests that inspired (along with the death of Trayvon Martin) Angie Thomas’ writing of The Hate U Give.

It's important to note, too, that these deaths have in part inspired all political Black authors; let there be no illusion that these articles are inspirational only to the novels mentioned here. There are a myriad of other articles detailing these events, but perhaps, for the most real, intimate, and immediate way to empathize with these events is to read. Read, and protest. The Hate U Give does both.

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In California, Protests After Man Dies at Hands of Transit Police (Published 2009)

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Oakland officials worked to quell the collective anger after violent demonstrations to protest the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a transit police officer.

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*Note* This exhibit will use the pronouns Johnson uses in All Boys Aren't Blue, he/him. Since it's publication, Johnson uses the pronouns they/them. The curator of this exhibit respects and adheres to their chosen pronouns, but because this exhibit is referencing the text directly, it will interacting with the work as if Johnson is a character within it, therefore the pronouns he/him will be maintained as they are pulled from the work.

George M. Johnson's novel/memoir/manifesto is a complicated addition to the exhibit because it is not a work of fiction. However, it does meet criteria that updates Morrison's importance of ancestry in a way that brings it to a hurting young generation struggling with their identity beyond Blackness. While Milkman's journey is less reflected here, let's look at some of what Johnson has communicated to us.

All Boys Aren't Blue's first section details Johnson's life up to high school. This section highlights the way aspirations of living up to our immediate and distant ancestors (play sports, be manly, repress your emotions) can be crushing or confusing. It takes the idea of ancestry and doesn't exactly glorify it, instead, it mourns it in a muted way. Johnson's ancestors weren't free to express themselves in ways Johnson yearns to do. That oppression now informs the identity of generations of young Black men.

The second sections deals directly with family, and details Johnson's surviving ancestry and his relationships with them. This is important when thinking about ancestry because it never hurts to have the reminder that ancestry is not limited to lineage, nor dead men.

The third and fourth section deal with ancestry once again through the lens of community, but not just with Johnson's finding his place as a Black man, but also as queer-identifying. Like The Hate U Give and Children of Blood and Bone, this section deals with the death of peers and how those peers inform our ancestry and legacy as we continue our lives.

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Read 4,939 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Joh...

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The Hate U Give deals with ancestry in a tragic way. Thomas explores her views on ancestry through the lens of community, an updated way of honoring legacy for a new generation of readers. What this involves is thinking about the killings of young Black men and women and honoring those dead as ancestors.
Furthermore, it invokes the ancestor through community and what it means to be authentic to your ancestors. Both Maverick and Uncle Carlos in The Hate U Give relate to that theme in different ways, with each working to impose their views of Blackness onto Starr. Maverick represents changing ones community from within, while Uncle Carlos represents "healing" through assimilation.
An important aspect to focus on within this novel is the death of Khalil and how so much of Starr's journey within this novel is dedicated to her understanding of identity and forgiveness. What this leads to at the novel's resolution is Starr understanding why Khalil made the decision to sell drugs, and realizes how generation and systemic poverty has affected her and her ancestors, and what that means for future generations.

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Read 74.1k reviews from the world's largest community for readers. An alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062498533 can be found here. Sixteen-year-old St...