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| Genre/Form: | Autobiography Biography Electronic books Autobiographies Biographies History |
|---|---|
| Additional Physical Format: | Print version: Nesbitt, George B., 1912-2002. Being somebody and black besides. Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, [2021] (DLC) 2021016881 (OCoLC)1241244259 |
| Named Person: | George B Nesbitt |
| Material Type: | Biography, Document, Internet resource |
| Document Type: | Internet Resource, Computer File |
| All Authors / Contributors: |
George B Nesbitt; Prexy Nesbitt; Robert Zebulun Larson; St Clair Drake; Imani Perry |
| ISBN: | 9780226716831 022671683X |
| OCLC Number: | 1286279379 |
| Description: | 1 online resource (xliv, 298 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations (black and white) |
| Contents: | Foreword / Imani Perry -- A note on St. Clair Drake's "Foreword" / Sandra Drake -- Foreword to the George Nesbitt Manuscript / St. Clair Drake -- A note on the manuscript / Prexy Nesbitt -- Preface -- Our family's great migration : growing up Black in the shadow of the university -- A family which stayed together -- Learning to be somebody -- The comfort of my Negroness -- Going to university : labor and learning -- Town and gown : the difficulty of navigating two worlds -- Lawyer by day, redcap at night : union organizing and rabble rousing -- The army and its apartheid : the racial system in the war years -- The ugly specter of race discrimination -- Poking at the good, white liberals : discrimination veiled and rationalized -- An exceptional family in the Lawndale ghetto -- The future of our people -- Postscript. |
| Responsibility: | George B. Nesbitt ; edited by Prexy Nesbit and Zeb Larson ; with an original foreword by St. Clair Drake and a contemporary foreword by Imani Perry. |
Abstract:
Reviews
Publisher Synopsis
"If his story comes off unremarkable, that's because he presented himself as unremarkable. Which is an odd thing to write. To say Nesbitt was ordinary is to suggest guts, humility and decency are ordinary." * Chicago Tribune * "A part of a remarkable and accomplished family of Black educators, organizers, and crusaders, Nesbitt led an amazing life as a World War II veteran, civil rights lawyer, Harvard graduate, and official in the Kennedy administration. The story of his life offers a powerful glimpse into the issues of race, politics, and public policy over the course of the twentieth century. A compelling and thought-provoking life story and a wonderful addition to the growing genre of Black biography." * Barbara Ransby, author of 'Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century' * "A fascinating memoir on par with Richard Wright's Black Boy/American Hunger. Through Nesbitt's engaging storytelling and revealing narrative, Being Somebody and Black Besides will remind people of the rich complexity of life in Black America during Nesbitt's formative years that is seldom told or imagined today." * Robert Stepto, Yale University * "This is a searing portrait of an ordinary, yet extraordinary, middle-class Black man forced to endure the indignity of having to fight for fair play from people far less 'civilized' than he. A keen observer of the 'ways of white folks,' Nesbitt was a brilliant, sarcastic, insightful analyst of the color line, even as he willed himself to believe in his country and its ideals. This memoir reminds us how much we owe the early fighters for civil rights, who endured so many insults and injuries as they fought to widen opportunities for Black people and dismantle northern style Jim Crow. Nesbitt's accounts of racism are unforgettable in their detail, anger, sheer absurdity, and casual cruelty." * Martha Biondi, Northwestern University * Read more...
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Related Subjects:(18)
- Nesbitt, George B., -- 1912-2002.
- African Americans -- Biography.
- African Americans -- Illinois -- Biography.
- African American lawyers -- Biography.
- Civil rights workers -- United States -- Biography.
- African Americans -- History -- 20th century.
- Race discrimination -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
- Noirs américains -- Biographies.
- Noirs américains -- Illinois -- Biographies.
- Avocats noirs américains -- Biographies.
- Défenseurs des droits de l'homme -- États-Unis -- Biographies.
- Noirs américains -- Histoire -- 20e siècle.
- African American lawyers.
- African Americans.
- Civil rights workers.
- Race discrimination.
- Illinois.
- United States.
