A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib Download ebook
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A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib
A stirring meditation on Black performance in America from the New York Times bestselling author of Go Ahead in the RainAt the March on Washington in 1963, Josephine Baker was fifty-seven years old, well beyond her most prolific days. But in her speech she was in a mood to consider her life, her legacy, her departure from the country she was now triumphantly returning to. ?I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too,? she told the crowd. Inspired by these few words, Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound and lasting reflection on how Black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. Each moment in every performance he examines?whether it?s the twenty-seven seconds in ?Gimme Shelter? in which Merry Clayton wails the words ?rape, murder,? a schoolyard fistfight, a dance marathon, or the instant in a game of spades right after the cards are dealt?has layers of resonance in Black and white cultures, the politics of American