Zora Neale HurstonsBarracoon, released earlier this month, is a heartbreaking book from a renowned 20th-century author.
And the original copy has been tucked away, secured in university archives, for decades.
So why did it take 87 years to get published?
Credit: Amistad
His story of survival is a devastating but essential read.
Viking wanted conventionally respectable language instead.
The political significance of Lewis original voice wasnt lost on those involved in bringingBarracoonto the public either.
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Within his language is embedded his history, Plant says.
But this human being resisted that.
I cried, Sherrod remembers of readingBarracoonfor the first time.
Its turned into a whirlwind now, she says, before cracking, Its hard to concentrate!
you oughta go with the title Zora wanted.
(A barracoon is an enclosure in which black slaves were confined for a temporary period.)
Yet with Lewis testimony, we dont get another textbook version of this national scar.
Were let into the humanity of it.
He allows us to touch what people felt, Plant says.
