GISH Hall of Fame 2022 - Book Bash

Comment: I took it a step further and included quotes from black, female authors :)

Comment: To complete this item, I decided to gather books by Black authors I had in my house, and use quotations specifically from page 61 of each source (since it was item 61 on the list). “This roasted yam soaked in red palm-oil and eaten in the open farm was sweeter than any meal at home.” — Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe “I am exhausted. I want this new life to begin.” — Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun by Faith Adiele “Ghost stories revealed how people who died wouldn’t let go of whatever they were holding.” — I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou “She was seventy-nine when I met her, sinewy, strong, and the color of old lemons.” — Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now by Maya Angelou “I didn’t say you were trash. I said how’d you like to be called trash. I see you don’t like it.” — Kindred by Octavia E. Butler “I got there with dad. I left with mom. No fireworks. No ugly words. Just the exchange.” — Blended by Sharon M. Draper “The etchings in the mirror splattered my image in a million pieces.” — No God Like the Mother by Kesha Ajose Fisher “Whenever Kunta had been made to go to bed after his father told him such tales, he would lie on his mat — as his little brother now would — with his mind making the uncles’ stories into pictures. And sometimes Kunta would even dream that he was traveling with his uncles to all the strange places, that he was talking with the people who looked and acted and lived so differently from the Mandinkas.” — Roots by Alex Haley “This was an impulsive thought, and I had not yet worked out all the details.” — I Hear the Black Raven by Claire Ishi Ayetoro “Her hands — four fingers rings respectively in plain bands of carnelian, white opal, gold, and onyx — rest on her knees.” — The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison “What will we say when people who are already hostile to transformative Justice aggressively demand a ‘solution’ for addressing Nassar’s abhorrent violent actions?” — We Do This ‘Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba “Naw it ain’t, it’s nature, cause nature makes caution. It’s de strongest thing dat God ever made, now. Fact is it’s de onliest thing God ever made. He made nature and nature made everything else.” — Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston “She had to do something with her hands because she was remembering something she had forgotten she knew. Something privately shameful that has seeped into a slit in her mind right behind the slap on her face and the circled cross.” — Beloved by Toni Morrison “No plates are out. The Maginot Line didn’t eat out of one of Mama’s plates.” — The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison “‘God’s love is in this house,’ he said. ‘I feel it every time I come here. Every time.’” — Paradise by Toni Morrison “The water was so peaceful now. There was nothing but the baking sun and something newly missing.” — Sula by Toni Morrison “I had grown up in a culture where unseen forces lurked just out of view, where people looked to ‘the mysteries’ to explain both good fortune and bad. — The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier “‘Is that Gabriel?’ Asked B.J., referring to a bronze bust with three-foot wings. ‘No. That’s just a regular angel without a name.’ ‘Oh. I guess he’s my favorite out of all of them.’” — The Professor’s Daughter by Emily Raboteau “Groaning loudly enough to voice our displeasure, but not loudly enough to arouse Mama’s anger, we stacked our books upon the study table and started toward the boys’ room.” — Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor “It was like he was a well-educated, smooth-talking zombie, and he had sort of jerky movements, too.” — The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker “Mom has her hand on her hip and won’t let Maxine through the door. ‘I’m sorry you wasted your time and gas coming over here, but Jade is not going with you today.’” — Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson “The crowd waiting in the town never got to see Neal die. The committee of six decided finally to just kill him in the woods.” — The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson “‘They’d be here lightning quick to get us.’ ‘Yeah. Quick like lightning.’ I said, ‘we’ll need a lot of dimes.’” — One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia “I wrenched my leg free with a lunge and leaped headlong out of the buggy, landing in the dust of the road, unhurt. He stopped the buggy.” — Black Boy by Richard Wright

Comment: Selections by: Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou and Cherene Sherrard

Comment: A significant portion of the quotes are from Levar Burton himself -an excellent advocate for literacy and education.