When I give lectures based on the research that produced Living with Lynching, someone always asks what inspired me to study this material. Some of the most honest answers to that question are now published in a volume that honors Toni Morrison. Released this month, Toni Morrison: Forty Years in the Clearing is a lovely volume that includes contributions from Barack Obama, playwright Lydia Diamond (who adapted Morrison's The Bluest Eye for the stage), black feminist theorist Farah Jasmine Griffin, and artists Mendi + Keith Obadike.
My contribution to this collection is titled "Belief and Performance, Morrison and Me." It details experiences I had in high school and college that led me to want to pursue a PhD. Morrison's work was key to how I understood those experiences. Her work continued to guide me years later when I had painful encounters as a young professor at a Research I institution. Not only did the lessons I learned from Morrison help me understand those experiences; they also helped me navigate the interactions successfully enough to avoid being derailed as I wrote Living with Lynching.
My essay can be downloaded from my Selected Works site, and the pdf includes the table of contents for this wonderful essay collection. Free access here.
ASCENT magazine, published by the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio State University, interviewed me about my book. I had a lovely conversation with communications professional Victoria Ellwood, and we talked about all kinds of things. I had no idea what she would write, but I could not be more pleased with the outcome! She really captured the link between my scholarly work and my
community efforts to encourage women to become and remain physically
active. I will always cherish this story! I'm sure you'll enjoy "Making Strides" too!
The picture above, which you'll also see in "Making Strides," is from the 2012 Capital City Half Marathon. It is an absolutely wonderful event, and participants can choose to walk or run 13.1 miles (half marathon), 6.55 miles (quarter marathon), or 3.1 miles (5K). I'm so excited in this picture because the founders of Black Girls RUN! made this race a national meet-up in 2012, so we had more than 160 women registered with our team. Wherever you are, consider coming to Columbus the first weekend of May for this fabulous event!
Besides running the Capital City Half Marathon again in 2013, I'm running a half marathon on January 27th and devoting the effort to charity. Please visit my site, consider donating, and SHARE the link! http://bit.ly/YnCE8f
Again, thank you for being on this journey with me!
Tomorrow, Monday 11/26/2012, KAZI Book Review with Hopeton Hay will air the Black LIT Radio interview with Tayari Jones. The discussion focuses on her novel Silver Sparrow, which is now available in paperback and audio book. The segment will begin after the news at 8 AM Central, 9 AM Eastern on Austin's
KAZI-FM 88.7. Those outside of Austin can listen live online
at kazifm.org (click the microphone on left side of page) or through
the TuneIn Radio app on iPhone or Droid phones. An iTunes podcast will
be available shortly thereafter, which I'll share.
If you listen at some point, let me know what you think!
I could write Living with Lynching in a way that made me proud because I had amazing support from countless people and several organizations. Those factors were not enough, however. I combined that support with a particular approach to my work and my health. Because I think that adopting a similar approach might help others, I shared my perspective on healthy choices in a forum initiated by the extraordinary online journal The Feminist Wire. This publication has become known for providing clusters of essays on key issues, ranging from the politics of Palestine to voting rights in the United States. This time, women's health took center stage, with a special focus on women of color in the academy. I am honored to have my ideas about this topic included in this remarkable and remarkably important forum.
Emphasizing the need to draw boundaries and say "no," my piece is titled "Should-ing All Over Ourselves"
For an overview of the entire forum, see "Take Care: Notes on the Black (Academic) Women’s Health Forum"
To stay connected to this extraordinary publication, visit http://thefeministwire.com/ often!
Living with Lynching is praised in the October 2012 issue of American Historical Review, the official publication of the American Historical Association (AHA), which was founded in 1884 and chartered by Congress in 1889 to
serve the interests of the entire discipline of history. It means a lot to me that my book is commanding attention from traditional historians.
Scholar Julie Buckner Armstrong says of the study, "Mitchell points out that the plays direct the audience's focus away from the lynched black body toward the homes and communities left behind. In doing so, they enact what the white power performance tried to erase: stable, loving black families. Mitchell's thoughtful and thought-provoking book not only makes its case through fine-tuned analysis but also raises important questions about evidence, resistance, and literary value. "
Armstrong concludes, "[Mitchell's] study offers significant new insights into a key historical moment and provides a model of academic scholarship."
For more, see American Historical Review 117.4 (October 2012): 1231 - 1232.
