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Lay Bare the Heart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement is a 1985 non-fiction book by James Farmer, published by Arbor House in 1985. A subsequent edition is published by Texas Christian University Press. It documents his role in the Civil rights movement.

Background

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Circa 1966 he began organizing his notes that would be used to make an autobiography.[1]

Content

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The book has descriptions of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.[2]

"Intellectual Coming of Age," the fourth part, describes how the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil rights movement developed creative and intellectual life.[3]

"God and Goddamn," the twelfth chapter, describes how Farmer navigated social life in Washington, DC.[4]

Reception

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Reviewer Beth Brown wrote that the work is "highly emotional, yet coolly accurate and objective".[1]

David Levering Lewis of Rutgers University wrote that the book is "strikingly human", and that it has "an appearance of honesty" and "extraordinary eloquence and emotional power."[5]

It won the Lillian Smith Book Award in 1985.[6]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Brown, p. 115.
  2. ^ Lewis, p. 113.
  3. ^ Brown, p. 113.
  4. ^ Brown, p. 114.
  5. ^ Lewis, p. 112.
  6. ^ "Award Winners". University of Georgia. Retrieved 2024-10-05.

Further reading

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  • Edmonds, Anthony (1985). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". Library Journal. 110: 84.
  • Garrow, David J (1985). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". The Nation. Vol. 240. p. 535.
  • Grier, Peter (1985). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". Washington Monthly. Vol. 17. p. 60.
  • McGehee, Charles White (1986). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". The Humanist. 46: 448.
  • "Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement". Emerge. Vol. 10, no. 2. New York City. November 1998. p. 78.
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