Closer to the Truth Than Any Fact: Memoir, Memory, and Jim Crow

Acknowledgments

acknowledgments i would like to express my affection and gratitude to the entire Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts ; I feel fortunate to have been trained at a place where I was exposed to so many disciplinary perspectives and diverse points of view. I would particularly like to thank John Bracey for his suggestions (and lengthy “must read” lists) during the early stages of this project. I am also grateful to Bill Strickland for his support and blunt, well-reasoned advice (much of which was proffered over cosmopolitans at the Monkey Bar). I am thankful to Esther M. A. Terry not only for advising me about this book but also for teaching me much that transcends the academic realm. Steven C. Tracy gave me a crash course in literary criticism, and his careful reading of my work challenged me and saved me from more than one embarrassing mistake . I am deeply indebted to Robert Paul Wolff, who has had a transformational impact on me both as a scholar and as a human being. What would I do without his support, his guidance, and his friendship? This book could not have been written without him. Also to Manisha Sinha, Jim Smethurst, and Ernie Allen: thanks for your support and for your savvy advice about the thickets of publishing. To Andrew Rosa and Rita Reynolds, my graduate school confidants—what can I say? This manuscript has benefited from comments by David W. Blight, whose own work has pushed me to think broadly and in interdisciplinary ways. Thanks to Jeannie M. Whayne, another role model, for her invaluable advice and support. Jennifer Ritterhouse and Steve Estes, thank you both so much for your intelligent and perceptive critiques of the manuscript . I hope each of you will recognize your imprint on the final version. Thanks to Derek Krissoff, my editor at the University of Georgia Press. I have benefited from your professionalism, your sharp intelligence, and your great sense of style. Some of the passages in this book appeared in an { ix } earlier form as “Building a Bridge of Words: The Literary Autobiography as Historical Source Material” in Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 29, no. 3 (Summer 2006). I would like to thank the editors for graciously allowing me to reprint some of that material here. The following people provided me with sustenance—emotional, financial , and/or inspirational—while I was researching and writing this book: Aaron and Gemelle Jensen, Jamie Jensen, Sarah and Matt Gates, David Briggs, Jeremy Wallach, David Jensen, Jonas Hauptman, Marty Gould, Amanda Sharkey, Lindsey Swindall, John Pincince, Grimsley Graham, members of the Department of History at Stonehill College, and members of the History, Geography, and Philosophy Department at Georgia College & State University. Finally, thanks to my mother, Carolyn S. Briggs, for pushing me toward the hardships and pleasures of the intellectual/writing life. My work has benefited tremendously from the influence of her poetic sensibilities on my more prosaic style. Special thanks to Charles Bittner for his zealous championship of me and my work and for being a tireless sounding board, editor, and companion during the latter stages of this project. { x } acknowledgments “Closer to the Truth Than Any Fact” This page intentionally left blank ...