Many thousand gone : an American fable /

Many thousand gone : an American fable /

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Fair, Ronald L., author.
Imprint:	New York, NY : Library of America, 2023.
Description:	xxii, 108 pages ; 21 cm.
Language:	English
Subject:	African Americans -- Fiction. Slavery -- United States -- Fiction.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/13317383

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	1598537636 9781598537635
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references.
Summary:	What if, in a rural, isolated corner of Mississippi, slavery didn't end in 1865 but continued uninterrupted into the present? This is the chilling premise of Ronald L. Fair's dark novel. In fictional Jacobs County, outsiders are rarely allowed in, and Black inhabitants attempting to escape are hunted down and killed. Hope is kindled in the enslaved community with the birth of the "Black Prince," a child celebrated for being "genuinely Negro" in a county in which Black women have long been subject to the sexual predations of white men. Secreted out of the county by his great-grandmother and a family friend, the young boy eventually makes his way north. Years later, his growing fame as a Chicago writer casts a spotlight on Jacobs County, setting in motion a series of events that will change everything for oppressor and oppressed alike. First published in 1965, Many Thousand Gone: An American Fable was hailed by The New York Times as "one of the most beautifully written books" of the decade. W. Ralph Eubanks's introduction explores Fair's extended metaphor for Black life under Jim Crow and reflects on the power of literature to excavate the legacy of slavery. --from publisher's website.

Description
Summary:	The premise of Ronald Fair's short, parable-like novel, Many Thousand Gone: An American Fable (1965), is that in a rural corner of Mississippi - the fictional Jacobs County - slavery did not end in 1865 but continued uninterrupted into the 1960s through the brutal tactics of the local sheriff's office and the willing complicity of surrounding counties. Black outsiders are not allowed into Jacobs County while Black inhabitants attempting to escape are hunted down and killed. All the Black women in the county have been made sexually available to any white man for generations, resulting in the mixed blood of nearly all the enslaved population. When the last all-Black child, 'the Black Prince,' is born, he is secreted out of the county by his great-grandmother and a family friend, and eventually makes his way north to join his father. Years later, when the Black Prince becomes a celebrated writer in Chicago, his growing fame puts an unwanted spotlight on Jacobs County, emboldening the enslaved population, exposing the white supremacists' false sense of superiority, and setting in motion a series of events that will change everything. Will the white population change with the times? Or will they willingly see the destruction of Jacobsville - the county's principal town - before sharing power with the Black population? An introduction by W. Ralph Eubanks explores Fair's extended metaphor for Black life under Jim Crow and reflects on the power of literature to illuminate the past.
Physical Description:	xxii, 108 pages ; 21 cm.
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN:	1598537636 9781598537635