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A review by lisaschamess
Smoketown: The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance by Mark Whitaker
5.0
An incredible commitment of a book — both for author Mark Whitaker and for the reader. Thoroughly researched and meticulously reported, this book brings Black Pittsburgh and the Hill District of the 20th century back to exuberant life. Anchored by the history and adventurous newspeople of the Black-owned Pittsburgh Courier, the book delves into the lives of the city’s Black elite, the golden era of the Negro Baseball Leagues, the outsize number of musical and artistic celebrities who are from or closely tied to Pittsburgh (Lena Horne, Billy Strayhorn, Billy Eckstine, Errol Garner, Romare Bearden, to name a few) and the considerable engagement of the Pittsburgh Courier with building the careers of sports figures such as Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson. The life of the Hill District, and the irreparable and racist damage done to it by urban “renewal” is an important turning point toward the end of the book, presaged by the rise and failure of the “double VV” campaign during World War II, when Black servicemen campaigned for a victory over racism at home while they fought for American values overseas.
One chapter is devoted to the Civil Rights era as seen through the eyes of elegant reporter Evelyn Cunningham, who covered Thurgood Marshall’s fight to desegregate schools and Martin Luther King Jr.’s rising leadership in Montgomery as she kept up with her weekly advice column for women as well.
The final chapter culminates with the life and career of playwright August Wilson, who barely lived long enough to complete his ambitious 10-cycle play, one for each decade, about his native city.
This is a terrifically engaging book.
One chapter is devoted to the Civil Rights era as seen through the eyes of elegant reporter Evelyn Cunningham, who covered Thurgood Marshall’s fight to desegregate schools and Martin Luther King Jr.’s rising leadership in Montgomery as she kept up with her weekly advice column for women as well.
The final chapter culminates with the life and career of playwright August Wilson, who barely lived long enough to complete his ambitious 10-cycle play, one for each decade, about his native city.
This is a terrifically engaging book.