Happy Anniversary Baileyblog and a New York City Book Talk

UPCOMING BOOK READING AND TALK IN NEW YORK CITY

Wed., January 31, 2018 at 12:30pm

The Weeping Time:Memory and the Largest Slave Auction in American History,
Anne C. Bailey  (Cambridge University Press, 2017)

Departments of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
New York University
53 Washington Square South, 4th Flr

ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS and YEAR IN REVIEW

Well, it's been one year of blogging at Baileyblog and I am happy to mark this milestone with you, the readers.  Thank you for reading the blog, sharing it with others also and also sharing your comments. A big thank you to our guest contributors, Dr. Bernice J. deGannes Scott and Douglas Law Jr.

I thought I would share a few highlights from the year and invite you to come to a reading of The Weeping Time this week Wednesday, if you happen to be in New York City.

Jan. 21   The America That Raised Me

I still believed that the America that raised me was at its core compassionate, welcoming and loving….yet now I hear of another America that boldly says, “America first! “  and “Make America great again” with clenched fists instead of outstretched hands.  Now I hear of another America that is turned inward not outward. Now I hear of another America less proud of its welcoming past and more concerned with its own problems, its own plight. Now I hear of another America which suddenly has no more to give.  And I weep because the America that raised me stood head and shoulders above the world precisely because it dared to link its fate to the fate of Lady Liberty’s tired, poor, and huddled masses.  It dared to join its soul to those dejected souls.  It dared to share and it dared to reach out and it was in those moments that it was first and it was great.

More at  http://annecbailey.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-america-that-raised-me.html

May 5, 2017 

 Turning Point: Harriet Tubman and the Suit She bought for her  husband

The records don’t say but in my mind’s eye I imagine her picking out just the right suit, just the right color and fit and pinning her hopes and dreams on the suit and the man that would wear it.   She then voluntarily leaves relative safety in the North to come back for that man only to hear that he has moved on! Moved on?
More at http://annecbailey.blogspot.com/2017/05/turning-point-harriet-tubman-and-suit.html

May 27,  2017            The Life of Jordan Edwards

I know and you know that blogposts and facebook posts don’t save lives. I know they can’t change much that is wrong with the world but when a life is lost for an apparently unjust reason, they do say one thing: that life matters.

More at http://annecbailey.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-life-of-jordan-edwards-2002-17.html

June, 2017    Introducing My New Book: The Weeping Time

My new book, The Weeping Time: Memory and the Largest Slave Auction in American History, is now available for advance purchase on Amazon.  After 10 long years, it will see the light of day this fall. A big thank you to all who made this possible. From time to time, I will share excerpts on this blog with particular attention as to why memory of this period matters.

 More at http://annecbailey.blogspot.com/2017/06/introducing-my-new-book-weeping-time.html

 

July 8, 2018   

The Journey to Economic Freedom Begins with a Few Basic Steps

People who grew up in the tradition of the “sou-sou” will attest to its utility, having witnessed first-hand how it has impacted lives.   Perhaps, the family used the lump-sum payments to accumulate funds for the down payment on the purchase of a house or to pay for a wedding; for college tuition or to establish a rainy day account.  A successful “sou-sou” thrives on honesty, trust, community, and the desire to save money.  Try it.  I do believe that Ms. McCarty and Ms. Winfrey, the ancestors, and you will be pleased with the result.

Dr. Bernice J. deGannes Scott
More at http://annecbailey.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-journey-to-economic-freedom-begins.html


July 30   Standing on the Shoulders of Miss Lou and our Elders

As a child, I remember being transfixed by a Jamaican TV show called “Ring Ding” hosted by a Dr. Louise Bennett who was affectionately called Miss Lou.  Ring Ding was a kind of Jamaican Sesame Street with one major character: Miss Lou.  She presided over groups of students in a school setting and sang heritage songs, told stories and recited poems representing hundreds of years of culture.  She elevated the Jamaican language, patois, to an art form and exposed its multicultural roots at a time when others were ashamed of it.
More at http://annecbailey.blogspot.com/2017/07/standing-on-shoulders-of-miss-lou-and.html

August 19, 2017   Heather Heyer and the Power of One Voice

I want them to know that their voice can change and enhance the conversation, and that all voices are needed at the table.

Heather Heyer, a 32 year old woman, if we listen to her equally stalwart mother, seemed to have understood this early. Her voice mattered and she would not be silent in the face of injustice.

Heather Heyer, RIP and thank you,
More at http://annecbailey.blogspot.com/2017/08/heather-heyer-and-power-of-one-voice.html

November  6, 2017             Why Memory of Slavery Matters

Memory matters because, as Civil War historian James McPherson says: “the war is still with us.”  It is not only the great academic works which have looked at the war from every angle that demonstrate this continuing interest, but it is the Lincoln associations, the Civil War Round Tables, and the hundreds of reenactors who meet regularly throughout the year to reenact battle scenes of days gone by.[i]  In short, memory matters because the past is hardly past, as William Faulkner would say.   It lingers around the contours of our minds and hearts as any unresolved issue tends to do...

            Though there has been much progress, the dream of a post racial society is just that…a dream.  Ironically, it may in fact be the deepest desire of most of American society, but we still have a long way to go.  Yes, memory matters because without it, we are left with a shadowy lens of the past and such cloudiness is an obstacle to racial reconciliation.  As the Gullah proverb reminds us: "Mustekcyear a de root fa heal de tree."  (You need to take care of the root in order to heal the tree.) Ultimately, memory matters because racial reconciliation matters.
More at http://annecbailey.blogspot.com/2017/11/why-memory-of-slavery-matters.html

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Anne Bailey on Travel Channel, Mysteries of the Museum

Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7pm

I am honored to return to the show, Mysteries of the Museum on the Travel Channel with the story of the Osage investigation- a remarkable story of what happened to a Native American group who enjoyed great wealth in the 1920’s due to discovery of oil wells on their land.  

http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/mysteries-at-the-museum/episodes/sergeant-bill-goat-hero-gilded-grudge-and-osage-investigation

See also a great book on this story:

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann.

***PLEASE ADD YOUR EMAIL IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY (to the right corner of blog and below) at http:// www.annecbailey.blogspot.com and looking forward to another good year!