For decades, political discourse in Baltimore has included condemnation of the fact that there are “two Baltimores,” one in which opportunity abounds and the other in which systemic racism and inequity create insurmountable barriers.
Tom's guest today has lived in both Baltimores, and he has written a fascinating memoir that paints a vivid portrait of these two disparate worlds, and of himself. It is a portrait that is richly detailed, expertly researched, and beautifully enlarged by insight, candor and a fair dollop of iconoclasm.
Dr. Lawrence Jackson is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of English and History at Johns Hopkins University, and the founding director of the Billie Holiday Center for the Liberation Arts. He’s the author of several books on the history of African American writers and critics, the Black crime novelist Chester B. Himes, and the author Ralph Ellison. He also wrote a book about his family’s history in Virginia after the Civil War. His latest book is, in part, another work of family history. It's calledShelter: A Black Tale of Homeland, Baltimore.
Dr. Lawrence Jackson joins us on Zoom from Baltimore.
Dr. Jackson will discuss the book (again) with Tom Hall Wednesday night (May 11) with an audience at The Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, a place that figures prominently in the book. The event is co-sponsored by The Ivy Bookshop, and starts at 7:00. For more information, click here.