Micki McElya's Books

Clinging to Mammy

The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America

By: Micki McElya

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Clinging to Mammy

The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America

By: Micki McElya

When Aunt Jemima beamed at Americans from the pancake mix box on grocery shelves, many felt reassured by her broad smile that she and her product were dependable. She was everyone's mammy, the faithful slave who was content to cook and care for whites, no matter how grueling the labor, because she loved them. This far-reaching image of the nurturing black mother exercises a tenacious hold on the American imagination. Micki McElya examines why we cling to mammy. She argues that the figure of the loyal slave has played a powerful role in modern American politics and culture. Loving, hating, pitying, or pining for mammy became a way for Americans to make sense of shifting economic, social, and racial realities. Assertions of black people's contentment with servitude alleviated white fears while reinforcing racial hierarchy. African American resistance to this notion was varied but often placed new constraints on black women. McElya's stories of faithful slaves expose the power and reach of the myth, not only in popular advertising, films, and literature about the South, but also in national monument proposals, child custody cases, white women's minstrelsy, New Negro activism, anti-lynching campaigns, and the civil rights movement. The color line and the vision of interracial motherly affection that helped maintain it have persisted into the twenty-first century. If we are to reckon with the continuing legacy of slavery in the United States, McElya argues, we must confront the depths of our desire for mammy and recognize its full racial implications.

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Page Count

348

Publisher

Harvard University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0674024338

ISBN 13

9780674024335

The Politics of Mourning

Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery

By: Micki McElya

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The Politics of Mourning

Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery

By: Micki McElya

Pulitzer Prize Finalist Winner of the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize Winner of the Sharon Harris Book Award Finalist, Jefferson Davis Award of the American Civil War Museum Arlington National Cemetery is one of America’s most sacred shrines, a destination for millions who tour its grounds to honor the men and women of the armed forces who serve and sacrifice. It commemorates their heroism, yet it has always been a place of struggle over the meaning of honor and love of country. Once a showcase plantation, Arlington was transformed by the Civil War, first into a settlement for the once enslaved, and then into a memorial for Union dead. Later wars broadened its significance, as did the creation of its iconic monument to universal military sacrifice: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. As Arlington took its place at the center of the American story, inclusion within its gates became a prerequisite for claims to national belonging. This deeply moving book reminds us that many brave patriots who fought for America abroad struggled to be recognized at home, and that remembering the past and reckoning with it do not always go hand in hand. “Perhaps it is cliché to observe that in the cities of the dead we find meaning for the living. But, as McElya has so gracefully shown, such a cliché is certainly fitting of Arlington.” —American Historical Review “A wonderful history of Arlington National Cemetery, detailing the political and emotional background to this high-profile burial ground.” —Choice

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Page Count

282

Publisher

Harvard University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0674974069

ISBN 13

9780674974067

Clinging to Mammy

The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America

By: Micki McElya

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Clinging to Mammy

The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America

By: Micki McElya

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Page Count

348

Publisher

Harvard University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0674024338

ISBN 13

9780674024335

The Politics of Mourning

Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery

By: Micki McElya

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The Politics of Mourning

Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery

By: Micki McElya

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Page Count

282

Publisher

Harvard University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0674974069

ISBN 13

9780674974067

Liberation Summer

The Moment That Changed the Women's Movement and the Future of American Politics

By: Micki McElya

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Liberation Summer

The Moment That Changed the Women's Movement and the Future of American Politics

By: Micki McElya

From Pulitzer Prize finalist and historian Micki McElya, the first complete, in-depth look at a critical but overlooked moment in our history—the road to the September 1968 dual protests of the Miss America and Miss Black America pageants in Atlantic City—and its lasting impact on the women’s rights movements in America. Of the many pivotal years in United States history studied and recreated by historians, journalists, and filmmakers, 1968, in particular, is widely recognized as a major turning point in the country’s social and political trajectory. In just twelve months the US experienced the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the Tet Offensive and the rising intensity of the Vietnam War, the deadly riots at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, and the election of Richard Nixon, a president whose tenure would ultimately erode trust of government and authority to an uncomfortable degree. But these narratives usually omit another, equally important moment in the story of that unprecedented year: the summer that defined and determined the future of the women’s liberation movement, culminating in the dual protest of the Miss America and Miss Black America Pageants on the boardwalks of Atlantic City. Now, for the first time, Liberation Summer corrects this written historical record, offering a detailed account of the months of planning, debates, and decisions that led to the demonstrations, as well as the broader social and political landscape that gave rise to some of the most iconic women on both sides of the ideological spectrum, from Betty Friedan, Carol Hanisch, and Florynce Kennedy to Anita Bryant and Phyllis Schlafly. A sweeping saga of American history and culture, Liberation Summer presents a kaleidoscopic view of our nation on the brink of change, amidst the continuing quest for justice and gender equality.

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Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1982166789

ISBN 13

9781982166786

Book's by Micki McElya

Clinging to Mammy

Clinging to Mammy

The Politics of Mourning

The Politics of Mourning

Clinging to Mammy

Clinging to Mammy

The Politics of Mourning

The Politics of Mourning

Liberation Summer

Liberation Summer

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