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- Black Cherokee : a novel / by Downing, Antonio Michael,1975-author.;
"Ophelia Blue Rivers is the specificity of her circumstance. She's not just mixed in American binary sense of being a racial amalgamation of two races; she's a trinity of the three distinct racial identities that make up the identity politics of this continent. She's Part Black, White, and Indigenous (Native American), raised by her grandmother who is a Black descendent of the Cherokee freedmen. A history as rich as it is complicated, Cherokee freedmen were formerly enslaved Africans once owned by Cherokee elites. After Emancipation as well as the Trail of Tears, these former slaves were freed but their belonging to the Cherokee nation remained a point of controversy. Can people who once belonged to another people who were displaced claim birthright to that heritage? A novel in contemporary 1990s South Carolina, Antonio Michael Downing uses Ophelia's search for home and family to dramatize what it means to belong to a people when the terms of that belonging come at such a high price."--- Subjects: Bildungsromans.; Novels.; Belonging (Social psychology); Families; Identity (Psychology); Multiracial people;
- Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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- Saga boy : my life of Blackness and becoming / by Downing, Antonio Michael,1975-author.;
Antonio Michael Downing's memoir of creativity and transformation is a startling mash-up of memories and mythology, told in gripping, lyrical prose. Raised by his indomitable grandmother in the lush rainforest of southern Trinidad, Downing, at age 11, is uprooted to Canada when she dies. But to a very unusual part of Canada: he and his older brother are sent to live with his stern, evangelical Aunt Joan, in Wabigoon, a tiny northern Ontario community where they are the only black children in the town. In this wilderness, he begins his journey as an immigrant minority, using music and performance to dramatically transform himself. At the heart of his odyssey is the longing for a home. He is re-united with his birth parents who he has known only through stories. But this proves disappointing: Al is a womanizing con man and drug addict, and Gloria, twice abandoned by Al, seems to regard her sons as cash machines. He tries to flee his messy family life by transforming into a series of extravagant musical personalities: "Mic Dainjah", a punk rock rapper, "Molasses", a soul music crooner and finally "John Orpheus", a gold chained, sequin- and leather-clad pop star. Yet, like his father and grandfather, he has become a "Saga Boy", a Trinidadian playboy, addicted to escapism, attention, and sex. When the inevitable crash happens, he finds himself in a cold, stone jail cell. He has become everything he was trying to escape and must finally face himself. Richly evocative, Saga Boy is a heart-wrenching but uplifting story of a lonely immigrant boy who overcomes adversity and abandonment to reclaim his black identity and embrace a rich heritage.- Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Downing, Antonio Michael, 1975-; Downing, Antonio Michael, 1975-; Authors, Canadian (English); Musicians; Musicians;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 1 to 2 of 2