Reading the Classics: Manchild in the Promised Land, Claude Brown

Join us at Kindred Thoughts Bookstore for our flagship book club, Reading the Classics: Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown! Dive into Claude's 'Harlem World' as he portrays the "promised land" for those who were seeking a better America as part of the Great Migration. Facilitated by our very own cultural historian, Michelle Black Smith. Don't miss this chance to connect over literature and share your thoughts on this iconic piece. See you there!

About Manchild in the Promised Land:

With more than two million copies in print, Manchild in the Promised Land is one of the most remarkable autobiographies of our time--the definitive account of African-American youth in Harlem of the 1940s and 1950s, and a seminal work of modern literature.

Published during a literary era marked by the ascendance of black writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Alex Haley, this thinly fictionalized account of Claude Brown's childhood as a hardened, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the Northern ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s.

When the book was first published in 1965, it was praised for its realistic portrayal of Harlem--the children, young people, hardworking parents; the hustlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, and numbers runners; the police; the violence, sex, and humor.

The book continues to resonate generations later, not only because of its fierce and dignified anger, not only because the struggles of urban youth are as deeply felt today as they were in Brown's time, but also because of its inspiring message. Now with an introduction by Nathan McCall, here is the story about the one who "made it," the boy who kept landing on his feet and grew up to become a man.

About Michelle Black Smith:

Michelle Black Smith is a writer, curator, educator, and cultural historian. Black Smith specializes in the material culture of the African Diaspora. She is particularly fascinated by the intersection of literature and art as it pertains to African American creative production. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Art History at Princeton University, and her Master’s Degree in Museum Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

Host or Publisher Kindred Thoughts Book Club