BLACK IN THE MIDDLE
​An Anthology of the Black Midwest

​Black Americans have been among the hardest hit by the rapid deindustrialization and accompanying economic decline that have become so synonymous with the Midwest. Since the 2016 election, many traditional media outlets have renewed attention on the conditions of “Middle America,” but the national discourse continues to focus on the white working class and marginalize the Black people who live there.

Black in the Middle brings the voices of Black Midwesterners front and center. Filled with compelling narratives, thought-provoking analyses, and impactful commentaries, this anthology explores the various meanings and experiences of blackness throughout the Rust Belt. Bringing together people from major metropolitan centers like Detroit and Chicago as well as smaller cities and rural areas where the lives of Black residents have too often gone unacknowledged, this collection is a much-needed corrective to the narrative of the region.
The honesty in the essays, the emergency in the poetry, and the intensity of the photographs and paintings help to sharpen the edge of what it means to be Black in the middle of anything, which is the sum of our fears and the hope that manifests itself in our dreams. “Black in the Middle” reminded me of a home imagined and of a home realized as someone who grew up in the Midwest. 

​JASON VASSER-ELONG - 'BLACK IN THE MIDDLE' PROVIDES NEW LOOKS AT LIFE IN THE MIDWEST - ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Midwesterners sing a distinct strain of the blues, moaning and strumming about the ways coastal culture-makers overlook their bodies of work. Williamson and Co. dig one layer deeper, showing how the contributions of Black artists and thinkers in “flyover country” are passed over twice. “Black in the Middle” addresses this issue, drawing out the Midwesterness of a canonical creator like Toni Morrison and introducing contemporary names to the record.

​AARIK DANIELSEN - COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE

INTERVIEW

Recovering Narratives in “Black in the Middle” - Interview with editor Terrion L. Willamson

BY JEN ST. JUDE
SEPTEMBER 11, 2020
CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS
​Contributors: Leslie Barlow, Joe Boyle, Gabrielle Civil, Tara L. Conley, Beverly Cottman, Curtis L. Crisler, Nia Easley, Lyndsey Ellis, Aaron K. Foley, Tanisha C. Ford, Kisha Nicole Foster, brian g. gilmore, Devon Ginn, Janice N. Harrington, Zenzele Isoke, Michelle S. Johnson, Ezekiel Joubert III, Kidiocus King-Carroll, Jamaal May, Phyllis May-Machunda, Edward M. Miggins, Gladys Mitchell-Walthour, Alexandra Nicome, Njaimeh Njie, Mikael Chukwuma Owunna, Mary Pattillo, Courtney Wise Randolph, Deva Rashed-Boone, Katherine Simóne Reynolds, Mark V. Reynolds, Terrence Shambley, Jr., Wylliam Smith, Melissa N. Stuckey, Zuggie Tate, Vanessa Taylor, Rachel Elise Thomas, DeMar Walker, Kim-Marie Walker, David Weathersby, Jordan Weber, Tamara Winfrey-Harris, Jeffrey C. Wray, Kevin Young, and Yvonne.

Edited by Terrion L. Williamson with a foreword by Jamala Rogers.
The Black Midwest Initiative is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of African American & African Studies and the  Race, Indigeneity, Gender & Sexuality Studies Initiative at the University of Minnesota.
© COPYRIGHT 2020.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.