Reviews

1919 by Eve L. Ewing

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scrow1022's review against another edition

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5.0

Love the format, the different styles/voices. These hit hard but tender too.

alisarae's review against another edition

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5.0

This is one of the most powerful books of poetry I have ever read. Each poem is introduced by an excerpt from a 1922 report called "The Negro in Chicago: A Study on Race Relations and a Race Riot." The riot in question is the 1919 Chicago riot where 38 people were killed and hundreds injured following the stoning of a Black boy who ultimately drowned while a White police officer looked on. Interspersed throughout the book are photos from the riot. I think what makes the poems so powerful is that they are linked so explicitly and specifically to an open wound. It is an event that, 100 years later, still has not ended.

afro8921's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was such a wonderful blending of historical text and imaginative prose. Readers learn about the impetus for the 1919 race riots in Chicago. What stands out for me are all of the ways we as African American's had to try and guard our very existence from tyranny. The jump rope song poem alone just completely horrified and sadden me (as it should).