The black body

30 black, white and biracial contributors celebrate the black body's dramatic role in culture. Award-winning actors, poets, comedians, filmmakers and journalists come together to offer their perspectives on a fascinating and fundamental question - what does it mean to have, or love, a black body? Ranging from the deeply serious to the playful, these essays explore desire, old age, obesity, sex, hunger and parenting with passionate wisdom and a deep sense of history.

• Acknowledgments p. 7
• Introduction: Body Language p. 13 Mrin Nana-Ama Danquah
• "Reading" the Black Body: or, Considering My GrandmotherÆs Hair p. 31 Elizabeth Alexander
• Blood and Fire p. 41 Steven Kotler
• Playing the Verses Straight p. 47 Jason Luckett
• Hair Apparent p. 55 Lynell George
• Even a Brick House Can Blow Down p. 65 Annie Burrows
• Not As Fast As Joe p. 75 Joel Lipman
• Hands p. 91 Nzingha Clarke
• My Ace in the Hole p. 99 Susan E. Matus
• Initiation of a Desire p. 109 Brent Jennings
• Our Kind of People p. 119 Kimball Stroud
• A Cinematic Montage of the Black Male Heart p. 127 A. Van Jordan
• The Meaning of Ashy p. 135 David Goldsmith
• 1,000 o'clock: Johnson Time p. 141 Peter J. Harris
• The Unborrowable Blackness of Being p. 149 Philip Littell
• A Tail Tale p. 157 S. Pearl Sharp
• Feeling Tosha Jones p. 161 Kenji Jasper
• Stones and Sticks p. 167 Carolyn L Holbrook
• My Daughter, My Self p. 175 Anne Beatts
• The New Math p. 183 Werner Disse
• What You See Is What You Get p. 191 Hill Harper
• The Right Side of the Dial p. 199 Kenny White
• Soul Power p. 211 Yolanda Young
• The Soul Section p. 217 Susan Hayden
• Break Skin, Break Spirit p. 229 Men Nana-Ama Danquah
• The Black Brain p. 245 Greg Tate
• Hungry p. 253 Kenneth Carroll
• Fear and Loathing p. 261 Stephanie Covington Armstrong
• In Sickness p. 269 Gail Wronsky
• Sacred Rhythm p. 279 Tajamika Paxton
• The Joy in the Journey p. 287 Tonita Austin-Hilley
• Notes on Contributors p. 296