ON THE SHELF
The Rains: Voices for American Liberty The Battle for the Heart and Soul of a Nation
By SULAYMAN CLARK PUBLISHED BY LAUREATE HOUSE PRESS (2013) Deep in the dark depths of a janitor’s closet at Cheyney University sat a treasure trove of history for decades. Rare books, manuscripts and an estimated 360 homemade scrapbooks of news clippings of black achievements from the 1800s that had been given to a former Cheyney president had been long forgotten until a janitor found them during a building renovation. It was 1980 and Sulayman Clark, who is special assistant to President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79, had been brought on by Cheyney to catalogue the materials. “I said to myself then as I said now, ‘Nobody is going out to Cheyney to look at some dimly lit microfiche machine,’” he said. “’So I will use the craft of historical storytelling, historical fiction, to bring to life these extraordinary people, based on their actual exploits.’” The result is a book based on the facts found in those old scrapbooks of an interracial group of activists fighting against slavery and racism from the
mid-1800s through Reconstruction. Following the real exploits of people such as William Still—a civil rights activist widely seen as the father of the Underground Railroad —Harriet Tubman and others, Clark tells a story about the ups and downs of the fight against slavery during a time when even preachers spoke of the merits of black men, women and children in bondage. The story covers the period between 1837 and 1877, in and around Clark’s hometown of Philadelphia, though he maintains the book is a national story. But Clark’s book isn’t just a fictional look at the lives and stories of these people. He said it’s a way for readers, especially younger readers, to learn the real lessons from the fight against slavery. “As a writer and an educator, I was sick and tired of portrayals of black folk as helpless, hapless victims of slavery because the historical record does not bear that out,” Clark said. “When you read this book, you’ll find many ways that we resisted and over-
America—Washington, D.C.,” he explains in the preface of his book. “The premise of this book connects certain Kemetic (Egpytian) papyri to the urban plan of Washington, D.C., the actual street layout, to Kemetic ideas that go back in time at least 4,100 years,” he said. Banneker had been appointed a member of the surveying group for Washington, D.C. But the lead person quit and took the plans with him. Legend has it that Banneker’s photographic memory of the plans saved the day. Not true, Mitchell said. “It is this memory that is passed down in the African
came. So when you talk about slavery, don’t talk about black victimhood. Talk about black victory and triumph over slavery. In fact, The Rains has been made required reading in Philadelphia’s high schools and some of the colleges in the area, Clark said. “That’s the quintessential message of the book,” he said. “But I’m using facts, historical facts, to make the point. I’m bringing history to life by getting the reader into the minds of the people, the motivations, the aspirations of these people—which only historical fiction can do. I’m not interested in regurgitating historical facts. I want to emotionally connect readers, particularly young people, with this history.” n
American community as lore, but it’s not substantiated by any scholastic evidence,” Mitchell writes. He asserts that it was Banneker’s knowledge and leadership in the project that made him an expert on the plans. Mitchell said there are other contributors to the creation of D.C.’s urban plan, much of it influenced by African thought and tradition. “The book is about visual image and what and how we see Washington, D.C.,” Mitchell said. “The book shares the realities of historical truth, visual interpretation and the subtleties of cartographic expression in America’s capital based on Kemetic thought.” n
COMMEMORATIVE INAUGURATION ISSUE 2014
19 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE