God Sends Sunday

by Arna Bontemps

God Sends Sunday was inspired by Arna Bontemps's great-uncle Buddy, whose down-home folk spirit animates this racy story of Little Augie, an irrepressible black jockey of the romantic 1890s. As a frail, undersized youngster, Little Augie leaves his grown sister's home and with luck and charm rises to fame and fortune on the Mississippi River racetrack circuit. But sudden wealth and hopeless rivalry for a beautiful woman change Little Augie's character and set him on a path of self-destruction.

Genres: Fiction, African American Literature, African American

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Works of poetry, history, and fiction, such as God Sends Sunday (1931) and Black Thunder (1936), established American writer Arna Wendell Bontemps as a leading figure of the renaissance of Harlem.

People note Arnaud Wendell Bontemps, an African novelist and librarian, as a member.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arna_Bo...

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic from one of the earlier published African American authors, and fascinating for that. A very quick read with a loose plot that the writing and subject doesn't quite redeem (which would lead more to three stars), but loads of dialect and snippets of old blues (even more fascinating). It's an almost charming lackadaisical account of the world right after emancipation, a rather grim and terrifying world of simplicity and avarice and deep poverty and racetrack wealth. Beating your woman is more intimate, more a mark of love than sex. And the portrayal of L.A.'s old mudtown is extraordinary, with its walk along country roads to Watts to buy cheap liquor...

[Daniel Polansky]

A fictionalized biography of the author’s uncle, a reconstruction era jockey, vagrant and ne’er-do-well. A vibrant recreation of black America at the turn of the century and a charmingly amoral character study. Good stuff.

[Errol · Rating 2 out of 5]

So so novel about African Americans in early twentieth century Los Angeles.