On Juneteenth, by Annette Gordon-Reed

Staff Pick

Gordon-Reed’s brief yet panoramic survey of Texas history succeeds not only as scholarship and personal essay, but as a demonstration of how exposing the racism at the heart of the American saga can open fresh discussions and begin to heal painful legacies. Inserting her family history into the larger narrative that has excluded them, Gordon-Reed shows that being a Black Texan isn’t the contradiction in terms it might seem. In concise accounts of her state’s complicated relationships with the U.S., Mexico, and Indigenous peoples; its quest for independence; and the outsize figures who people its past—from Sam Houston and Jim Bowie to Quanah Parker, Iron Eyes Cody, and Billy Jack of the 1971 Loughlin film—Gordon-Reed expresses both affection for her difficuilt home and a historian’s faith that “observing the process of change over time”—such as the evolution of Juneteenth from private to public celebrations to a nationally recognized event, if not yet a national holiday—can positively affect the lives of the people living in its present and future. 

 

 

On Juneteenth By Annette Gordon-Reed Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9781631498831
Availability: In Stock—Click for Locations
Published: Liveright - May 4th, 2021