Political Rewind: Dogged Honesty, Wry Wit In Jerald Walker's 'How to Make a Slave and Other Essays'

Credit: Photo by Brenda Molife / Cover Courtesy of The Ohio State University Press

Friday on Political Rewind: A return to a previous conversation with author Jerald Walker, writer of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays.

Last December, we spoke with Walker about his recently published collection of essays and his own personal journey as a writer. Walker's How to Make a Slave and Other Essays is a finalist for a National Book award. It illuminates an intimate account of the writer as an African American man in the United States. In the process of examining his own experiences, Walker challenges white readers to confront their assumptions of the Black experience in America today.

In recent years, there has been the start of a long-needed and vital conversation among white people about racial justice. The essays in How to Make a Slave offer valuable contributions to this dialogue, and defy preconceived ideas of race with wry wit and unyielding honesty.

Panelist:

Dr. Jerald Walker — Author of How To Make A Slave and Other Essays and Professor of Literature and Writing at Emerson College