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Waiting in line at the drugstore : and other writings of James Thomas Jackson / collected by June Acosta ; introduction by Charles Champlin ; foreword by David Westheimer

Author
Jackson, James Thomas, 1925-1985
Published
Denton : University of North Texas Press, 1993.
Physical Description
1 online resource (xviii, 277 pages) : illustrations
Additional Creators
Acosta, June
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Language Note
English.
Contents
Preface / June Acosta -- Foreword / David Westheimer -- Introduction / Charles Champlin -- pt. I. Essays and Articles. Waiting in Line at the Drugstore. Once Upon a Time in Houston. Of Roses and a Black Family's Unusual Visitor. Terry and Me. On Learning Values, and People. Juneteenth Was Freedom Day -- A Long Time Ago. Hopeth All Things. In Search of Country. Wheel in the Midst of a Wheel. Once I Crossed the Rubicon. On Faith and Being "Born Again" The Burning of the Books. Looking Back -- and Ahead. Awakening to a Common Suffering -- and Pride. My Africa -- It is All This, and More. Black Friday: The Day Kennedy Was Shot. Welfare and the Single Man. Not a Bad Dude. Watts Workshop: From the Ashes. Some Notes on the Frederick Douglass Writers' House. Stars in a Black Night -- Beacon for a Black Dawn. Ned Bobkoff and Me. Wadsworth -- pt. II. Fiction and Poetry. Fiction (Chapters from the unpublished novel "Shade of Darkness"). Gasthaus. The Party. Reveille. Shade of Darkness. Caravansary. Corporal Willoughby's "Waw" Heavyweight. Poetry. Jean. Blues for Black. Poem from the Temple of My Mind. Coda ... #1. Coda ... #2. Daybreak. Poem for Medgar Evers. The Breadwinner. Michael Powe: Epitaph to a Beautiful Person. Watts ... '68. Excerpts from Bye, Bye, Black Sheep (Play). Act I, Scene 1. Act II, Scene 2.
Summary
Jackson was a hard worker. He did construction work, house-painting, and other odd jobs, like sweeping out a neighborhood bar. He had to work hard to support his all-consuming habit - writing. Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times says that Thomas wrote "irregularly, idiosyncratically, entertainingly, personally and, above all, passionately ... His opinions, forceful but fair, were measured against a life that had never been easy but that had seemed to leave him.
Despite all, with a profound philosophical optimism that better days were coming." From a black perspective, Jackson's work forms a particular and important testimony, both positive and negative, about life in the United States from the 1930s through the 1970s, and about life in the Army during the 1950s. One of Thomas's friends, noted producer and playwright Ned Bobkoff, wrote upon learning of the publication of the collection: "There is an indelible connection between.
The Watt's Riots, the Rodney King incident - the outbreak of pain in L.A. - and the sudden renewed interest in James's work ... The cycle is with us again. James had a real vision about time and place that may be the important contribution of his writing."
Subject(s)
Genre(s)
ISBN
0585270570 (electronic bk.)
9780585270579 (electronic bk.)
0929398505 (pbk.)
9780929398501 (pbk.)
0929398629
9780929398624
0685680592
9780685680599
View MARC record | catkey: 43312389