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Sacred Ground: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black
Timuel Black is an acclaimed historian, activist, and storyteller. Sacred Ground: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black chronicles the life and times of this Chicago legend.
Sacred Ground opens in 1919, during the summer of the Chicago race riot, when infant Black and his family arrive in Chicago from Birmingham, Alabama, as part of the first Great Migration. He recounts in vivid detail his childhood and education in the Black Metropolis of Bronzeville and South Side neighborhoods that make up his "sacred ground."
Revealing a priceless trove of experiences, memories, ideas, and opinions, Black describes how it felt to belong to this place, even when stationed in Europe during World War II. He relates how African American soldiers experienced challenges and conflicts during the war, illuminating how these struggles foreshadowed the civil rights movement. A labor organizer, educator, and activist, Black captures fascinating anecdotes and vignettes of meeting with famous figures of the times, such as Duke Ellington and Martin Luther King Jr., but also with unheralded people whose lives convey lessons about striving, uplift, and personal integrity.
Rounding out this memoir, Black reflects on the legacy of his friend and mentee, Barack Obama, as well as on his public works and enduring relationships with students, community workers, and some very influential figures in Chicago and the world.
Sacred Ground opens in 1919, during the summer of the Chicago race riot, when infant Black and his family arrive in Chicago from Birmingham, Alabama, as part of the first Great Migration. He recounts in vivid detail his childhood and education in the Black Metropolis of Bronzeville and South Side neighborhoods that make up his "sacred ground."
Revealing a priceless trove of experiences, memories, ideas, and opinions, Black describes how it felt to belong to this place, even when stationed in Europe during World War II. He relates how African American soldiers experienced challenges and conflicts during the war, illuminating how these struggles foreshadowed the civil rights movement. A labor organizer, educator, and activist, Black captures fascinating anecdotes and vignettes of meeting with famous figures of the times, such as Duke Ellington and Martin Luther King Jr., but also with unheralded people whose lives convey lessons about striving, uplift, and personal integrity.
Rounding out this memoir, Black reflects on the legacy of his friend and mentee, Barack Obama, as well as on his public works and enduring relationships with students, community workers, and some very influential figures in Chicago and the world.
216 pages, Paperback
Published January 15, 2019
10 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Timuel D. Black Jr.
3 books5 followersTimuel Dixon Black Jr. was an American educator, civil rights activist, historian and author. A native of Alabama, Black was raised in Chicago, Illinois and studied the city's African American history.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 8, 2020
Timuel Black always told his students: “You come from people. You are somebody. Trouble don’t last forever.” In his mind, you needed every last bit of optimism to keep fighting. This book is like sitting down with Timuel over a period of time and him just telling you stuff from his life and boy, this guy lived quite the life. His grandparents were still of the slave generation, his family moved from Birmingham to Chicago for a better life. And he recounts his “sacred grounds” as in the places and spaces that shaped him. A short book, a quick read, but fascinating and insightful and I think if you are American, probably 100 times more so. I must have missed out on a lot of references simply because I am not American. @nupress always publishes interesting books.
September 5, 2021
"I can't hear watcha sayin' because watcha doin' talks so loud"
This was a great book.
I'm having a hard time putting into words how I feel about this book, because it's not just a book, its not just a story. It's Timuel Blacks life. And what a life it was. He is a Historian, Emeritus professor, World War II veteran and so much more.
From his days as a child, growing up in Chicago, Timuel grew up knowing injustice. He lived injustice.
As a young man he was drafted and sent overseas, there he saw young black soldiers, who were there risking their life like everyone else, being used as cannon fodder.
He tells a story of when the Germans dropped a bomb on an ammunition dump, and soldiers had to go in and separate the live ammunition from the exploding ammunition. Black says that it was predominantly black soldiers being selected for the task, if you refused you would get a dishonorable discharge and if you accepted, you might not come back.
Black survived the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. He thought he had seen the worst the second world war had to offer, but nothing could prepare him for the horrors he would see when he liberated prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp.
When Black returned home he vowed to dedicate his life to fighting that injustice he had seen his whole life.
And he has changed the landscape of our future.
This is an inspiring book. Some people ask the question, 'I'm just one person, what can I do. '
Reading this book it's amazing to see what one person can do.
This was a great book.
I'm having a hard time putting into words how I feel about this book, because it's not just a book, its not just a story. It's Timuel Blacks life. And what a life it was. He is a Historian, Emeritus professor, World War II veteran and so much more.
From his days as a child, growing up in Chicago, Timuel grew up knowing injustice. He lived injustice.
As a young man he was drafted and sent overseas, there he saw young black soldiers, who were there risking their life like everyone else, being used as cannon fodder.
He tells a story of when the Germans dropped a bomb on an ammunition dump, and soldiers had to go in and separate the live ammunition from the exploding ammunition. Black says that it was predominantly black soldiers being selected for the task, if you refused you would get a dishonorable discharge and if you accepted, you might not come back.
Black survived the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. He thought he had seen the worst the second world war had to offer, but nothing could prepare him for the horrors he would see when he liberated prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp.
When Black returned home he vowed to dedicate his life to fighting that injustice he had seen his whole life.
And he has changed the landscape of our future.
This is an inspiring book. Some people ask the question, 'I'm just one person, what can I do. '
Reading this book it's amazing to see what one person can do.
January 23, 2019
Read it as research for work. Enjoyable, opinionated, and informative.
April 21, 2019
Thank you, Mr. Black.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews