Farah Jasmine Griffin's Books

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by The Millions Lively, insightful writings on Black music, feminism, literature, and events from a “masterful critic and master teacher” (Walton Muyumba, Boston Globe). In Search of a Beautiful Freedom brings together the best work from Farah Jasmine Griffin’s rich forays on music, Black feminism, literature, the crises of Hurricane Katrina and COVID-19, and the Black artists she esteems. She moves from evoking the haunting strength of Odetta and the rise of soprano popular singers in the 1970s to the forging of a Black women’s literary renaissance and the politics of Malcolm X through the lens of Black feminism. She reflects on pivotal moments in recent American history—including the banning of Toni Morrison’s Beloved—and celebrates the intellectuals, artists, and personal relationships that have shaped her identity and her work. Featuring new and unpublished essays along with ones first appearing in outlets such as the New York Times and NPR, In Search of a Beautiful Freedom is a captivating collection that celebrates the work of “one of the few great intellectuals in our time” (Cornel West).

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

354

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

0393355780

ISBN 13

9780393355789

Harlem Nocturne

Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Harlem Nocturne

Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

As World War II raged overseas, Harlem witnessed a battle of its own. Brimming with creative and political energy, the neighborhood's diverse array of artists and activists took advantage of a brief period of progressivism during the war years to launch a bold cultural offensive aimed at winning democracy for all Americans, regardless of race or gender. Ardent believers in America's promise, these men and women helped to lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement before Cold War politics and anti-Communist fervor temporarily froze their dreams at the dawn of the postwar era. In Harlem Nocturne, esteemed scholar Farah Jasmine Griffin tells the stories of three black female artists whose creative and political efforts fueled this historic movement for change: choreographer and dancer Pearl Primus, composer and pianist Mary Lou Williams, and novelist Ann Petry. Like many African Americans in the city at the time, these women weren't't native New Yorkers, but the metropolis and its vibrant cultural scene gave them the space to flourish and the freedom to express their political concerns. Pearl Primus performed nightly at the legendary Cafe Society, the first racially integrated club in New York, where she debuted dances of social protest that drew on long-buried African traditions and the dances of former slaves in the South. Williams, meanwhile, was a major figure in the emergence of bebop, collaborating with Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Bud Powell and premiering her groundbreaking Zodiac Suite at the legendary performance space Town Hall. And Ann Petry conveyed the struggles of working-class black women to a national audience with her acclaimed novel The Street, which sold over a million copies -- a first for a female African American author. A rich biography of three artists and the city that inspired them, Harlem Nocturne captures a period of unprecedented vitality and progress for African Americans and women, revealing a cultural movement and a historical moment whose influence endures today.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

266

Publisher

Civitas Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0465069975

ISBN 13

9780465069972

"Who Set You Flowin'?"

The African-American Migration Narrative

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

"Who Set You Flowin'?"

The African-American Migration Narrative

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Twentieth-century America has witnessed the most widespread and sustained movement of African-Americans from the South to urban centers in the North. Who Set You Flowin'? examines the impact of this dislocation and urbanization, identifying the resulting Migration Narratives as a major genre in African-American cultural production. Griffin takes an interdisciplinary approach with readings of several literary texts, migrant correspondence, painting, photography, rap music, blues, and rhythm and blues. From these various sources Griffin isolates the tropes of Ancestor, Stranger, and Safe Space, which, though common to all Migration Narratives, vary in their portrayal. She argues that the emergence of a dominant portrayal of these tropes is the product of the historical and political moment, often challenged by alternative portrayals in other texts or artistic forms, as well as intra-textually. Richard Wright's bleak, yet cosmopolitan portraits were countered by Dorothy West's longing for Black Southern communities. Ralph Ellison, while continuing Wright's vision, reexamined the significance of Black Southern culture. Griffin concludes with Toni Morrison embracing the South "as a site of African-American history and culture," "a place to be redeemed.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

245

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195358449

ISBN 13

9780195358445

"Who Set You Flowin'?"

The African-American Migration Narrative

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

"Who Set You Flowin'?"

The African-American Migration Narrative

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Discusses the role in African American literature of leaving the South and adjusting to city life

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

232

Publisher

Oxford University Press on Demand

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195088972

ISBN 13

9780195088977

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery

In Search of Billie Holiday

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery

In Search of Billie Holiday

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

More than four decades after her death, Billie Holiday remains one of the most gifted artists of our time–and also one of the most elusive. Because of who she was and how she chose to live her life, Lady Day has been the subject of both intense adoration and wildly distorted legends. Now at last, Farah Jasmine Griffin, a writer of intellectual authority and superb literary gifts, liberates Billie Holiday from the mythology that has obscured both her life and her art. An intimate meditation on Holiday’s place in American culture and history, If You Can’t Be Free, Be A Mystery reveals Lady Day in all her complexity, humor and pain–a true jazz virtuoso whose passion and originality made every song she sang hers forever. Celebrated by poets, revered by recording artists from Frank Sinatra to Macy Gray, Billie Holiday is more popular and influential today than ever before. Now, thanks to this marvelous book, Holiday’s many fans can finally understand the singer and the woman they love.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

260

Publisher

One World

Published Date

ISBN 10

0345449738

ISBN 13

9780345449733

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

A PBS NewsHour Best Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year in Nonfiction A brilliant scholar imparts the lessons bequeathed by the Black community and its remarkable artists and thinkers. Farah Jasmine Griffin has taken to her heart the phrase "read until you understand," a line her father, who died when she was nine, wrote in a note to her. She has made it central to this book about love of the majestic power of words and love of the magnificence of Black life. Griffin has spent years rooted in the culture of Black genius and the legacy of books that her father left her. A beloved professor, she has devoted herself to passing these works and their wisdom on to generations of students. Here, she shares a lifetime of discoveries: the ideas that inspired the stunning oratory of Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X, the soulful music of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, the daring literature of Phillis Wheatley and Toni Morrison, the inventive artistry of Romare Bearden, and many more. Exploring these works through such themes as justice, rage, self-determination, beauty, joy, and mercy allows her to move from her aunt’s love of yellow roses to Gil Scott-Heron’s "Winter in America." Griffin entwines memoir, history, and art while she keeps her finger on the pulse of the present, asking us to grapple with the continuing struggle for Black freedom and the ongoing project that is American democracy. She challenges us to reckon with our commitment to all the nation’s inhabitants and our responsibilities to all humanity.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

218

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

0393651916

ISBN 13

9780393651911

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

354

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

0393355780

ISBN 13

9780393355789

Harlem Nocturne

Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Harlem Nocturne

Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

266

Publisher

Civitas Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0465069975

ISBN 13

9780465069972

Clawing at the Limits of Cool

Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin,Salim Washington

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Clawing at the Limits of Cool

Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin,Salim Washington

When the renowned trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis chose the members of his quintet in 1955, he passed over well-known, respected saxophonists such as Sonny Rollins to pick out the young, still untested John Coltrane. What might have seemed like a minor decision at the time would instead set the course not just for each of their careers but for jazz itself. Clawing at the Limits of Cool is the first book to focus on Davis and Coltrane's musical interaction and its historical context, on the ways they influenced each other and the tremendous impact they've had on culture since then. It chronicles the drama of their collaboration, from their initial historic partnership to the interlude of their breakup, during which each man made tremendous progress toward his personal artistic goals. And it continues with the last leg of their journey together, a time when the Miles Davis group, featuring John Coltrane, forever changed the landscape of jazz. Authors Farah Jasmine Griffin and Salim Washington examine the profound implications that the Davis/Coltrane collaboration would have for jazz and African American culture, drawing parallels to the changing standards of African American identity with their public personas and private difficulties. With vastly different personal and musical styles, the two men could not have been more different. One exemplified the tough, closemouthed cool of the fifties while the other made the transition during this time from unfocused junkie to a religious pilgrim who would inspire others to pursue spiritual enlightenment in the coming decade. Their years together mark a watershed moment, and Clawing at the Limits of Cool draws on both cultural history and precise musical detail to illuminate the importance that their collaboration would have for jazz and American history as a whole.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

268

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

1466855290

ISBN 13

9781466855298

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery

In Search of Billie Holiday

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery

In Search of Billie Holiday

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

260

Publisher

One World

Published Date

ISBN 10

0345449738

ISBN 13

9780345449733

Clawing at the Limits of Cool

Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin,Salim Washington

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Clawing at the Limits of Cool

Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever

By: Farah Jasmine Griffin,Salim Washington

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

268

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

1466855290

ISBN 13

9781466855298

Book's by Farah Jasmine Griffin

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

Harlem Nocturne

Harlem Nocturne

"Who Set You Flowin'?"

"Who Set You Flowin'?"

"Who Set You Flowin'?"

"Who Set You Flowin'?"

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

In Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays

Harlem Nocturne

Harlem Nocturne

Clawing at the Limits of Cool

Clawing at the Limits of Cool

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery

If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery

Clawing at the Limits of Cool

Clawing at the Limits of Cool

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email