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My vanishing country : a memoir  Cover Image Book Book

My vanishing country : a memoir / Bakari Sellers.

Summary:

"An eye-opening odyssey through the South's past, present, and future that is a moving and gripping tribute to America's forgotten rural working-class black folks. The small town of Denmark was once a thriving hub of South Carolina's idyllic Low Country. Yet today, this majority African-American town with a population of 3,500 is emblematic of the "Forgotten South" -- small communities of color stretching from Appalachia to the Sunbelt. For CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers, Denmark is "home" -- the land on which his forefathers toiled to build lives of meaning and substance, despite systemic racism and Jim Crow laws. In My Vanishing Country, he illuminates the pride and pain that continue to fertilize the soil of one of the poorest states in the nation and the forces threatening rural working-class black life. As he eloquently and powerfully argues, places like Denmark are worth saving; its people -- and their hopes and dreams -- matter because they are an indelible part of America. Since the 2016 election, politicians and the media have focused on the struggles of the white working class while consistently overlooking the residents of Denmark. In this atmospheric, rich, and poetic book, Sellers shines a light on life in today's rural South, where Americans still struggle for the basics of modern life: internet access, groceries, medical care, and clean water. Part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis, My Vanishing Country is a compelling read that captures the remarkable spirit and resilience of one small town and makes visible other "forgotten" communities. My Vanishing Country charts Seller's extraordinary journey -- from growing up the son of civil rights icon Cleveland Sellers to building on his father's achievements as the youngest person to serve in the South Carolina legislature, to his work today at CNN, and to his life as the father of twins he hopes will embrace the Sellers family name and carry on its legacy." -- Jacket.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780062917454
  • ISBN: 0062917455
  • ISBN: 9780062917461
  • ISBN: 0062917463
  • Physical Description: 226 pages ; 24 cm
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York, NY : Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2020]

Content descriptions

Formatted Contents Note:
Black, country, and proud -- The wounds have not healed: "don't be a dead hero" -- Black and forgotten -- School daze: the making of a Morehouse man -- The making of a politician, part 1 -- The making of a politician, part 2 -- Dreaming with my eyes open: becoming a leader -- Risk taking -- Anxiety: a black man's superpower -- A voice for the voiceless -- Why are the strongest women in the world dying? -- Why 2016 happened and the power of rhetoric.
Subject: Sellers, Bakari, 1984-
African American legislators > South Carolina > Biography.
Legislators > South Carolina > Biography.
South Carolina. General Assembly. House of Representatives > Biography.
Rural African Americans > South Carolina > Social conditions > 20th century.
Racism > South Carolina > History > 21st century.
Denmark (S.C.) > Biography.
South Carolina. General Assembly. House of Representatives.
African American legislators.
Legislators.
Racism.
South Carolina.
South Carolina > Denmark.
Genre: Autobiographies.
History.
Autobiographies.

Available copies

  • 1 of 1 copy available at Branch District Library.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
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Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Coldwater Branch 328.7309 SEL (Text) 35401425156980 Non-Fiction Available -

Syndetic Solutions - Summary for ISBN Number 9780062917454
My Vanishing Country : A Memoir
My Vanishing Country : A Memoir
by Sellers, Bakari
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Summary

My Vanishing Country : A Memoir


New York Times Bestseller What J. D. Vance did for Appalachia with Hillbilly Elegy, CNN analyst and one of the youngest state representatives in South Carolina history Bakari Sellers does for the rural South, in this important book that illuminates the lives of America's forgotten black working-class men and women. Part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis, My Vanishing Country is an eye-opening journey through the South's past, present, and future. Anchored in in Bakari Seller's hometown of Denmark, South Carolina, Country illuminates the pride and pain that continues to fertilize the soil of one of the poorest states in the nation. He traces his father's rise to become, friend of Stokely Carmichael and Martin Luther King, a civil rights hero, and member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) , to explore the plight of the South's dwindling rural, black working class--many of whom can trace their ancestry back for seven generations. In his poetic personal history, we are awakened to the crisis affecting the other "Forgotten Men & Women," who the media seldom acknowledges. For Sellers, these are his family members, neighbors, and friends. He humanizes the struggles that shape their lives: to gain access to healthcare as rural hospitals disappear; to make ends meet as the factories they have relied on shut down and move overseas; to hold on to precious traditions as their towns erode; to forge a path forward without succumbing to despair. My Vanishing Country is also a love letter to fatherhood--to Sellers' father, his lodestar, whose life lessons have shaped him, and to his newborn twins, who he hopes will embrace the Sellers family name and honor its legacy.

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