Lay Bare the Heart
Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement is a 1985 non-fiction book by James Farmer, published by Arbor House in 1985. A subsequent edition is published by Texas Christian University Press. It documents his role in the Civil rights movement.
Background
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Circa 1966 he began organizing his notes that would be used to make an autobiography.[1]
Content
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The book has descriptions of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.[2]
"Intellectual Coming of Age," the fourth part, describes how the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil rights movement developed creative and intellectual life.[3]
"God and Goddamn," the twelfth chapter, describes how Farmer navigated social life in Washington, DC.[4]
Reception
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Reviewer Beth Brown wrote that the work is "highly emotional, yet coolly accurate and objective".[1]
David Levering Lewis of Rutgers University wrote that the book is "strikingly human", and that it has "an appearance of honesty" and "extraordinary eloquence and emotional power."[5]
It won the Lillian Smith Book Award in 1985.[6]
References
[edit]- Brown, Beth (1987). "Book Reviews : Do Lord Remember Me. By Julius Lester. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984, 210 pp., hardcover $13.95. Linden Hills. By Gloria Naylor. New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1985, 304 pp., hardcover $16.95. Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement. By James Farmer. New York: Arbor House, 1985, 370 pp., hardcover $16.95". Journal of Black Studies. 18 (1). Sage Publications, Inc.: 109–115. doi:10.1177/002193478701800109. JSTOR 2784615.
- Lewis, David Levering (1987). "Farmer, James. Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement (Book Review)". Labor History. 28: 112–114. doi:10.1080/00236568700890071.
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Brown, p. 115.
- ^ Lewis, p. 113.
- ^ Brown, p. 113.
- ^ Brown, p. 114.
- ^ Lewis, p. 112.
- ^ "Award Winners". University of Georgia. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
Further reading
[edit]- Edmonds, Anthony (1985). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". Library Journal. 110: 84.
- Garrow, David J (1985). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". The Nation. Vol. 240. p. 535.
- Grier, Peter (1985). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". Washington Monthly. Vol. 17. p. 60.
- McGehee, Charles White (1986). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". The Humanist. 46: 448.
- "Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement". Emerge. Vol. 10, no. 2. New York City. November 1998. p. 78.