Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Watterson, Kathryn, 1942- author

Title I hear my people singing : voices of African American Princeton / Kathryn Watterson ; foreword by Cornel West
Published Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2017]
©2017

Copies

Description 1 online resource
Series Book collections on Project MUSE
Contents Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; FOREWORD ; INTRODUCTION: "THE NORTH'S MOST SOUTHERN TOWN" ; 1 Our Grandmother Came from Africa as a Little Girl ; 2 I Grew Up Hugged to the Hearts of My People ; 3 School Integration: A Big Loss for Black Children ; 4 The University: A Place to Labor, Not to Study
5 Every Day, You Work to Survive 6 A Neighborhood under Siege ; 7 Fighting for Our Country in Every War ; 8 Racism Poisons Our Whole Nation ; 9 Standing Strong and Moving Through ; 10 Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow ; MEET THE RESIDENTS: SPEAKERS' BIOGRAPHIES ; ENDNOTES
Summary "I Hear My People Singing shines a light on a small but historic black neighborhood at the heart of one of the most elite and world-renowned Ivy-League towns--Princeton, New Jersey. The vivid first-person accounts of more than fifty black residents detail aspects of their lives throughout the twentieth century. Their stories show that the roots of Princeton's African American community are as deeply intertwined with the town and university as they are with the history of the United States, the legacies of slavery, and the nation's current conversations on race. Drawn from an oral history collaboration with residents of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood, Princeton undergraduates, and their professor, Kathryn Watterson, neighbors speak candidly about Jim Crow segregation, the consequences of school integration, World Wars I and II, and the struggles for equal opportunities and civil rights. Despite three centuries of legal and economic obstacles, African American residents have created a flourishing, ethical, and humane neighborhood in which to raise their children, care for the sick and elderly, worship, stand their ground, and celebrate life. Abundantly filled with photographs, I Hear My People Singing personalizes the injustices faced by generations of black Princetonians--including the famed Paul Robeson--and highlights the community's remarkable achievements. The introductions to each chapter provide historical context, as does the book's foreword by noted scholar, theologian, and activist Cornel West. An intimate testament of the black community's resilience and ingenuity, I Hear My People Singing adds a never-before-compiled account of poignant black experience to an American narrative that needs to be heard now more than ever."-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed May 3, 2017)
Subject African Americans -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- History -- Interviews
African Americans -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- Biography
Oral history.
oral histories (literary works)
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)
HISTORY -- Social History.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Ethnic Studies -- African American Studies.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Social Scientists & Psychologists.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Discrimination & Race Relations.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Minority Studies.
African Americans
Oral history
Race relations
Social conditions
SUBJECT Princeton (N.J.) -- Race relations -- Interviews
Princeton (N.J.) -- Social conditions -- Interviews
Subject New Jersey -- Princeton
Genre/Form Biographies
History
Interviews
Form Electronic book
Author West, Cornel, writer of foreword
LC no. 2016048694
ISBN 9781400885718
140088571X