Sacred Ground: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black

In this inspiring, affecting memoir, Black—an organizer, historian, and educator—chronicles his experiences in and beyond Chicago’s historic and predominantly black Bronzeville neighborhood. The newborn Black and his family moved there during the Great Migration, in 1919. He looks back fondly at his Depression-era childhood surrounded by role models, educational opportunities, and excellence in music, sports, business, and community organizing. Serving overseas during WWII, where he faced discrimination and mistreatment, he encountered his turning point: participating in the liberation of Buchenwald, which prompted his commitment to spend his life “working for peace and justice.” After graduate school, Black worked in Chicago high schools and city colleges, mentoring black students and leading the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers as it pushed against discrimination in schools, and became a community organizer, coordinating Chicago’s participants in the March on Washington and organizing to elect Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor. Black’s writing is straightforward and conversational, and he is a natural storyteller. Through his own memories, he aims to provide a multidimensional sense of black life in Chicago. He writes, “First-person story-telling seems to me the most accessible, plain-spoken, and true way to paint that picture” of what a place and its people have meant. “For me, and I hope for you, oral history is the real deal.” This memoir is. [em]Agent: J.D. Wilson, Wilson Literary Agency. (Jan.) [/em]