In the early United States, a Black person committed an act of resistance simply by reading and writing. Yet we overlook that these activities also brought pleasure. In her recent book, Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America, author Tara A. Bynum tells the compelling stories of four early American writers who expressed feeling good despite living while enslaved or only nominally free. Join this Clements Bookworm event to ask your questions and learn more about the book that reveals how four Black writers experienced positive feelings and analyze the ways these emotions served creative, political, and racialized ends.
Dr. Tara Bynum is an Assistant Professor of English & African American Studies and a scholar of early African American literary histories before 1800. She received her PhD in English from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Political Science from Barnard College.
The Alumni Association of the University of Michigan is proud to sponsor this episode of the Clements Bookworm.
