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Dry Victories
Examines the struggles of blacks to achieve freedom and equality, focusing on Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement
80 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1972
26 people want to read
About the author
June Jordan
73 books449 followersJune Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was a Caribbean-American poet and activist.
Jordan received numerous honors and awards, including a 1969-70 Rockefeller grant for creative writing, a Yaddo Fellowship in 1979, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1982, and the Achievement Award for International Reporting from the National Association of Black Journalists in 1984. Jordan also won the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers Award from 1995 to 1998 as well as the Ground Breakers-Dream Makers Award from The Woman's Foundation in 1994.
She was included in Who's Who in America from 1984 until her death. She received the Chancellor's Distinguished Lectureship from UC Berkeley and the PEN Center USA West Freedom to Write Award (1991).
(from Wikipedia)
Jordan received numerous honors and awards, including a 1969-70 Rockefeller grant for creative writing, a Yaddo Fellowship in 1979, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1982, and the Achievement Award for International Reporting from the National Association of Black Journalists in 1984. Jordan also won the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers Award from 1995 to 1998 as well as the Ground Breakers-Dream Makers Award from The Woman's Foundation in 1994.
She was included in Who's Who in America from 1984 until her death. She received the Chancellor's Distinguished Lectureship from UC Berkeley and the PEN Center USA West Freedom to Write Award (1991).
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 8, 2022
• Dry Victories by June Jordan, 1972
A hybrid photo album / prose poetry collection - two teenage boys (Jerome and Kenny) discuss the parallels of post-US Civil War Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Era. Juxtaposed archival photographs & newspaper clippings.
There is a running dialogue in "Black English" (what we refer now to as AAVE), one of June Jordan's main linguistic / literary research topics throughout her work.
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"Jerome: ...you tell them teachers "Dry" mean 'nothing at all'. So Dry Victories mean 'nothing like victory' be taking place, ever, during Reconstruction days or in them other days, the days of Civil Rights." (p3)
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"Kenny: He was Black. But when did it happen? What'd he do?
Jerome: This was Mississippi, jim. That's what you got keep in mind. Nobody in Mississippi give you explanation. You be Black and biggern a minute, they just blow you away." (p65)
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Jordan's Author's Note excerpt: "History is the business of choose and show. I have chosen two times, Reconstruction and Civil Rights, when Black folks were supposed to have a victory...and both times, how we were prevented from real victory."
A hybrid photo album / prose poetry collection - two teenage boys (Jerome and Kenny) discuss the parallels of post-US Civil War Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Era. Juxtaposed archival photographs & newspaper clippings.
There is a running dialogue in "Black English" (what we refer now to as AAVE), one of June Jordan's main linguistic / literary research topics throughout her work.
.
"Jerome: ...you tell them teachers "Dry" mean 'nothing at all'. So Dry Victories mean 'nothing like victory' be taking place, ever, during Reconstruction days or in them other days, the days of Civil Rights." (p3)
.
.
"Kenny: He was Black. But when did it happen? What'd he do?
Jerome: This was Mississippi, jim. That's what you got keep in mind. Nobody in Mississippi give you explanation. You be Black and biggern a minute, they just blow you away." (p65)
.
.
Jordan's Author's Note excerpt: "History is the business of choose and show. I have chosen two times, Reconstruction and Civil Rights, when Black folks were supposed to have a victory...and both times, how we were prevented from real victory."
May 7, 2024
ive truly never seen anything like this before. a highly curated picture book/prose poetry/sort of script about the similarities between the american reconstruction era and the civil rights movement. the content is obviously deeply saddening but i am also ecstatic at the sight of such a creative way of formatting this book. the choice to pose it as a conversation makes the story being told all the more endearing and the use of photographs totally realizes all that the book talks about. june jordan is a f*cking genius!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews