Surprise Castle
Black California Gold

Black California Gold - Paperback

$14.99
$19.95
-25%

Choose Option

Black California Gold

Paperback

$14.99
$19.95
Hardcover

Hardcover

$52.99
Quantity
01

Pay over time for orders over $35.00 with

Availability:In StockContributor:Wendy M. ThompsonSeries:Griot Project BookPublish date:03/11/25Pages:130
Language:EnglishPublisher:Bucknell University PressISBN-13:9781684485505ISBN-10:1684485509UPC:9781684485505Book Category:PoetryBook Subcategory:American, Subjects & Themes, Women AuthorsBook Topic:African American & Black, PlacesSize:7.95 x 4.96 x 0.32 inchesWeight:0.2998Product ID:SCG58QJ2FW
For numerous migrants who ventured westward in the twentieth century in search of greater opportunities, the glitter of California often proved to be mere fool's gold--promising easy riches but frequently resulting in dispossession and displacement. Poet Wendy M. Thompson is descended from two of these migrant waves--post-1965 Chinese immigrants and Black southerners of the Second Great Migration--whose presence has permanently transformed the region.

In this arresting debut poetry collection, Thompson traces the past and present of California's Bay Area, exploring themes of family, migration, girlhood, and identity against a backdrop of urban redevelopment, advanced gentrification, and the erasure of Black communities. Traveling down both familiar highways and obscure side streets, her poems map a region where race, class, and language are just some of the fault lines that divide communities and produce periodic tremors of violence and resistance.

Confronting assimilationist myths of the American Dream, Black California Gold depicts a setting that is less a melting pot than a smelting pot, subjecting different ethnic groups to searing trials and extreme pressures that threaten to break them down entirely. Yet, it also celebrates the Black residents of the Bay Area who have struggled to sustain home and hope amid increasingly desperate conditions.

Language:EnglishPublisher:Bucknell University PressISBN-13:9781684485505ISBN-10:1684485509UPC:9781684485505Book Category:PoetryBook Subcategory:American, Subjects & Themes, Women AuthorsBook Topic:African American & Black, PlacesSize:7.95 x 4.96 x 0.32 inchesWeight:0.2998Product ID:SCG58QJ2FW
WENDY M. THOMPSON is an Oakland native whose creative work has most recently appeared in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora​, Juked, and Hayden's Ferry Review. She is an associate professor of African American studies at San Jos? State University.
Publisher: Bucknell University Press

Free shipping on orders over $75. Standard shipping takes 3-7 business days. Returns accepted within 30 days of purchase.

Recently Viewed

View All