Honoring Black History Month

From The New Yorker’s archive: a selection of writing on race, civil rights, and justice. View in browser | Update your preferences Honoring Black History Month In November, 1962, well before the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, James Baldwin published his trailblazing essay “Letter from a Region in My Mind” in the pages of The New Yorker. The essay, which later appeared in the book “The Fire Next Time,” depicts Baldwin’s life as a young Black man growing up in Harlem and traces his thinking on race, religion, and the future of America. (“White people in this country will have quite enough to do in learning how to accept and love themselves and each other, and when they have achieved this—which will not be tomorrow and may very well be never—the Negro problem will no longer exist, for it will no longer be needed.”) This week, to commemorate Black History Month, we’re bringing you a selection of writing from the magazine on race, civil rights, and justice. In “Going to the Territory,” published in 1976, Jervis Anderson describes his visit with Ralph Ellison in Oklahoma City, where Ellison was born, and recounts the novelist’s thoughts on racial justice in America. (“There is no American culture which exists independently of an Afro-American component. I don’t care whether it is business, politics, or whatever.”) In “How Do We Change America?,” Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor explores the significance of the nationwide uprising that followed the killing of George Floyd, last year, and considers ways to dismantle institutional racism. Finally, in “Stacey Abrams’s Fight for a Fair Vote,” Jelani Cobb examines how the former Georgia politician, who has become a figure of national import in voter-turnout efforts, has reshaped the conversation about ballot access and civil liberties. These pieces show us how far we’ve come—and, more important, how far we still have to go. —David Remnick From The New Yorker’s Archive Reflections Letter from a Region in My Mind “Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.” By James Baldwin | November 17, 1962 Profiles Going to the Territory The author of “Invisible Man” revisits his Oklahoma childhood. By Jervis Anderson | November 22, 1976 Newsletters Sign Up for The New Yorker’s Books & Fiction Newsletter Book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature, twice a week. Our Columnists How Do We Change America? The quest to transform this country cannot be limited to challenging its brutal police. By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor | June 8, 2020 The Political Scene Stacey Abrams’s Fight for a Fair Vote Abrams is leading the battle against voter suppression. By Jelani Cobb | August 19, 2019 You're receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the New Yorker Classics newsletter. Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Sign up. Unsubscribe | Manage your e-mail preferences | Send newsletter feedback | View our Privacy Policy Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.