graywacke's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.5
But the photographs... Called poetic or elegant prose, this is really a kind of historical manifesto on the crimes of America against African Americans. Wright's Communism is held in check, but he contextualizes everything with economic power - the power struggle between the "Lords of the Land" and the "Bosses of the Buildings", and their way of controlling and mollifying poor white tensions by directing them towards white/black divisions. The photographs, almost all depression-era images from the FSA, are magnificent. Terrific text/photo combo.
skersh68's review against another edition
5.0
Written by Richard Wright in 1941. In this book, Richard Wright speaks for the millions of blacks who were in search of something better in life and was willing to go to any extreme to get it. Richard Wright tells of what it was like for millions of black to migrate to the North (or out of the South) to leave one form of slavery only to encounter other forms of slavery. He focuses on the three classes of men. Some things Wright mention's in this book hold true today. Not all black people are poor, a few of us do have money, many of us have managed to send our children to colleges and some of our children are professional businessmen and women. Some of us own small businesses and other devote their lives to law and medicine. This is a very informative book and I think everyone should read this not just people of color.
drlove2018's review against another edition
3.0
Compelling photographs and fluid language make this quasi-propagandist parable of the African American experience a pleasure to read, though its toeing of the Communist party line threatens to turn the simplicity of its prose against it.
sel1999's review against another edition
5.0
Wright's gorgeous narrative about the lives of African-Americans who endured slavery and their descendants up to about the early 1940's takes us through the real struggles and hardships that they faced post-Emancipation and their eventual mass-migration to the cities of the North. The stark photographs mixed with the bluntness of the third person plural narration style sinks readers into the truth of the harsh realities of the African-American population of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. History is helpful in learning what things have been like in order to not repeat any mistakes. A lot of the racist sentiments against African-Americans that Wright describes are unfortunately still very much seen today. Reading this book and other narratives like it can help us to understand the political climate of the present and enact change upon the broken systems of our government.
mxsunny's review against another edition
3.0
interesting use of photos and narrative but wright leaves the women out. forreal. that's why it's a three.
duffymn's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Life-changing. Granted I am reading it for grad school, but amazing. For the sheer talent in the photography alone, this book should be picked up. Richard Wright, as amazing as any author, uses words so full of power, one cannot close the book without shedding a tear.