Description

Farah Jasmine Griffin has taken to her heart the phrase “read until you understand,” a line her father, who died when she was nine, wrote in a note to her. She has made it central to this book about love of the majestic power of words and love of the magnificence of Black life. Griffin has spent years rooted in the culture of Black genius and the legacy of books that her father left her. A beloved professor, she has devoted herself to passing these works and their wisdom on to generations of students.

Here, she shares a lifetime of discoveries: the ideas that inspired the stunning oratory of Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X, the soulful music of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, the daring literature of Phillis Wheatley and Toni Morrison, the inventive artistry of Romare Bearden and many more. Exploring these works through such themes as justice, rage, self-determination, beauty, joy and mercy allows her to move from her aunt’s love of yellow roses to Gil Scott-Heron’s “Winter in America”.

Griffin entwines memoir, history and art while she keeps her finger on the pulse of the present, asking us to grapple with the continuing struggle for Black freedom and the ongoing project that is American democracy. She challenges us to reckon with our commitment to all the nation’s inhabitants and our responsibilities to all humanity.

Publisher Review

"Read Until You Understand is brought to life through Griffin's account of the ways in which Black culture was an integral part of her being, not just an adornment... Griffin is driven by a belief that the cultivation of aesthetic appreciation - in which the beautiful and the political do not compete - is where real change can be found. It is a book that acknowledges life's conflicts while still valuing hope and beauty." -- Douglas Field - The Times Literary Supplement "A book like Read Until You Understand takes courage to produce... Griffin's evangelizing of Black literature does what the best sermons do: It sends you back to Scripture-Baldwin, Coates, Morrison, David Walker and others-to discover or rediscover them, to ponder and treasure them anew." -- Monica Drake - New York Times Book Review "Read Until You Understand is brought to life through Griffin's account of the ways in which Black culture was an integral part of her being...Griffin is driven by a belief that the cultivation of aesthetic appreciation-in which the beautiful and the political do not compete-is where real change can be found. It is a book that acknowledges life's conflicts while still valuing hope and beauty." -- Douglas Field - Times Literary Supplement "Now a noted scholar of African American literature, Griffin shares, in a blend of memoir and criticism, the fruits of her lifelong journey to fulfill that aspiration [to read until you understand]... She also richly evokes her childhood in Philadelphia, long a hub for Black activism where she belonged...to a family whose women, skilled seamstresses and gardeners, cultivated beauty." -- New Yorker "Quietly captivating...This is a life lived among books, and reinterpreted through them." -- Carlols Lozada - Washington Post "[Griffin] is both masterful critic and master teacher." -- Walton Muyumba - Boston Globe "A book like Read Until You Understand takes courage to produce... Griffin's evangelizing of Black literature does what the best sermons do: It sends you back to Scripture-Baldwin, Coates, Morrison, David Walker and others-to discover or rediscover them, to ponder and treasure them anew." -- Monica Drake - The New York Times Book Review