Proverbs for the people / edited by Tracy Price-Thompson and TaRessa Stovall ; foreword by Jewell Parker Rhodes.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Price-Thompson, Tracy, 1963- editor.

Stovall, TaRessa, editor.

Rhodes, Jewell Parker, writer of foreword.

Joanna Banks Collection of African American Books (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Short stories, American--African American authors.

Short stories, American.

American fiction--African American authors.

American fiction.

African Americans--Fiction.

African Americans.

Genre:

Fiction.

Short stories.

Penn Provenance:

Banks, Joanna (donor) (Banks Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xvi, 494 pages, 2 unnumbered pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Kensington Publishing Corp., 2003.

Summary:

"If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing." "Don't start none, won't be none." "If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything." Whether it was in the church on a hard-shined wooden pew, or around the kitchen table afterward, listening to the wisdom of mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends, and leaders, the messages of the proverbs resonate in the souls of most African-Americans -- a sweet refrain heard through striving, reaching, loving, and living. In this powerful collection of stories based on African, African-American, and Biblical proverbs, some of today's most exciting African-American writers tackle the unifying themes, delicious wit and undeniable wisdom of the proverbs, making them sing for a whole new generation. In the moving "Love Can Move Mountains," author Elizabeth Atkins Bowman explores the meaning of the African-American saying, "Mountain, get out of my way!" in a story about the miraculous, mysterious power of a mother's stand-firm love. In Arethia Hornsby's "My Momma Said...," two friends go out on the town and get schooled in a life lesson that proves the truth behind the ages-old African-American proverb, "Never judge a book by its cover." Town gossip gets the best of a loyal wife and gives credence to C.F. Pope's saying, "Never declare war unless you mean to do battle," in Gwynne Forster's wry tale of comeuppance, "First Thing Monday Morning." And in the flirty short story "Something Special," Venise Berry shows what the Cape Verde Islands maxim, "Every week has its Friday" really means as one woman's weekly ritual promises seven days' worth of sensual satisfaction.

In addition to such established writers as Pearl Cleage, Omar Tyree, Margaret Johnson-Hodge, Timmothy B. McCann, Brandon Massey, Kambon Obayani, Earl Sewell, Maxine Thompson, and others, here, too, are rising stars in the African-American literary world, including fourteen-year-old Kharel Price and fifteen-year-old Tierra French, proving that the wisdom of the past lives on in the next generation. From the struggle to break the chains of the past, (Pat G'Orge-Walker's "The Consequence") to the fight to keep hope alive in the face of injustice, (Robert Fleming's "A Crisis of Faith"), from the joys of loving an older woman (Parry "Ebony Satin" Brown's "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do"), to an African man's discovery of his own America (Amanda Ngozi Adichie's "Women Here Drive Buses"), this triumphant, stirring anthology is a glorious reminder of the power of proverbs to heal, to provoke, to unify, and to inspire.

Contents:

Women here drive buses / Amanda Ngozi Adichie

Life is short / Vicki L. Andrews

Love can move mountains / Elizabeth Atkins

Go back / Nicole Bailey-Williams

Something special / Venise Berry

Ain't nobody's business if I do / Parry "EbonySatin" Brown

Making your eight / Zaron W. Burnett, Jr.

In the time before men came / Pearl Cleage

Wham, bam, thank you, Ma'am / Evelyn Coleman

My wrong is right / Tracy Scott DesVignes

Junior Ain't / Frank E. Dobson, Jr.

Holding hands / Crystal Irene Drake

Flimsy and raggedy / Phill Duck

Chasing horizons / Jamellah Ellis

Not tonight / Tonya Marie Evans

A crisis of faith / Robert Fleming

Senseless / Nancey Flowers

Queen / Cherryl Floyd-Miller

First thing Monday morning / Gwynne Forster

If he didn't go / Sharon Ewell Foster

A difficult lesson / Tierra French

Back then / Michael P. Fuller

Dancing at Esperanza's / Michael A. Gonzales

The consequence / Pat G'Orge-Walker

Young ballers / Tracy Grant

Panhandling / Kim Green

John Q.'s blissful journey / Scott D. Haskins

Trick dice / Angela Henry

Rendezvous with destiny / Donna Hill

My momma said... / Arethia Hornsby

The cycle / Travis Hunter

And then she cried / Edwardo Jackson

Pass it on / Margaret Johnson-Hodge

Felicia and the prodigy / Tayari Jones

Ultimate forgiveness / Tanya Marie Lewis

Dead to the world / Brandon Massey

Death of a salesperson / Timmothy B. McCann

Detour / Trevy McDonald

The alcoholist / David McGoy

Handwriting's on the wall / Gregory K. Morris

The Sunday smile / Marilyn Ngozi Griffith

Colours / Kambon Obayani

The day Chano died / Nancy Padron

Lessons / Roy L. Pickering, Jr.

Charitable Roy / Kharel Price

Miss Mary Mack / Tracy Price-Thompson

20/20 foresight / Dierdre Savoy

The bag lady / Kim Stanley

The fire this time / TaRessa Stovall

Sink or swim / ReShonda Tate Billingsley

The willow tree / Mel Taylor

Valley of the shadow / Maxine E. Thompson

She planted faith in her dream / Denise Turney

That nigga's crazy! / Omar Tyree writing as the Urban Griot

Playin' the role / Franklin White

Miss Amy's last ride / Christine Young Robinson.

Notes:

"Dafina books".

First printing: June 2003 -- T.p. verso

Jacket illustration by Leon Zernitsky/Stock Illustration Source.

" ... what 'Proverbs for the People' teaches us is that oft-told sayings still have resonance and power."--Foreword.

Local Notes:

Kislak Center Banks Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2018 by Joanna Banks.

Banks Collection copy has dust jacket retained.

ISBN:

0758202865

OCLC:

52500716