Frederick Thomas, Moscow 1912
Publicity photograph, giving his name in Old Orthography Russian, as "F. F. Tomas"; published on the eve of his opening Maxim, Moscow's premiere nightclub, one of the successful businesses the Black Russian millionaire owned.
Frederick Thomas is identified by his Russian name,
“Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas."
This is for all of you loving world travel. We can't always roam the planet like we'd to, but we can certainly use great literature to experience the far-off and exotic, all from the comforts of home.
Recently I've been reading books by authors from other lands and authors telling stories about far off places. What a fresh perspective that's been. These books have been about stories both true and non-fictional, but all thoroughly researched so that the scenarios unfold within accurate historical contexts.
On my armchair journeys, I've gained insight into the Caucasus regions, Eastern Russia and Moscow from before the killing of the Czar to the Bolshevik revolution and WW2; the society and mindset of a white English merchant that had a slave ship built so he could get into 'The Trade'; France, her politics and society spanning two decades before, during the Revolution and on into the reign of Napoleon; the social demography of contemporary Pakistan; the exotic multicultural world of Constantinople/Istanbul, Azerbaijan; and the ideological and social transitions of France and Germany pre-WW1 and on into WW2.
Besides the joy of deeper learning, the gift of this type of reading is how it impacts that part of me that pays close attention to today's world as a political scientist that's focused on international relations. It's all about understanding 'Why people act the way they do?!?'
What I'm receiving delivers meaning to the events and actions on today's world stage. This knowledge is allowing me to understand and clearly trace the roots of today's conflicts. To deepen one's understanding of history through the eyes of different cultures and people is profound. America is in the trouble she is today, because she understands nothing of the underlying history, relationships, conflicts and culture of these far-flung regions that are now commanding her attention.
I've got treats for you below, because I've been running across some great new titles that are really worth your time. What's been delightful and personally inspiring, is that all of these stories are intertwined with people of the Black Diaspora. They've shown me how my own people have popped up in the most unexpected places at critical moments of humanity's history to play major roles.
Here's the link to watch the a great BookTV program I caught 2 weeks ago. Author and Yale professor Vladimir Alexandrov has done incredible research and tells the story of The Black Russian, a brother named Frederick Bruce Thomas born in 1872 in Coahoma, Mississippi. Truly an awesome story about a Black man from Mississippi and his quest to live true to his full potential...wherever that took him. Really inspiring story. I'd love to hear what you think after viewing. The author's responses in the Q & A after are also not to be missed.
http://www.booktv.org/Watch/14417/The+Black+Russian.aspx
And here's the link to a recent Ta-Nishi Coates piece from the Atlantic Magazine, "What We Mean When We Say 'Race Is a Social Construct'"
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/what-we-mean-when-we-say-race-is-a-social-construct/275872/
I'm also telling folks about The Black Count by Tom Reiss, which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in April for Biography. It's a great read!
The Black Count
Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
By: Tom Reiss
By the author of the internationally bestselling biography The Orientalist, The Black Count brings to life one of history’s great forgotten heroes: a man almost unknown today yet with a personal story that is strikingly familiar. His swashbuckling exploits appear in The Three Musketeers, and his triumphs and ultimate tragic fate inspired The Count of Monte Cristo . His name is Alex Dumas. Father of the novelist Alexandre Dumas, Alex has become, through his son's books, the model for a captivating modern protagonist: the wronged man in search of justice.
Born to a black slave mother and a fugitive white French nobleman in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), Alex Dumas was briefly sold into bondage but then made his way to Paris where he was schooled as a sword-fighting member of the French aristocracy.
He was only 32 when he was given command of 53,000 men, the reward for series of triumphs that many regarded as impossible, and then topped his previous feats by leading a raid up a frozen cliff face that secured the Alps for France. It was after his subsequent heroic service as Napoleon’s cavalry commander that Dumas was captured and cast into a dungeon–and a harrowing ordeal commenced that inspired one of the world’s classic works of fiction.
The Black Count is simultaneously a riveting adventure story, a lushly textured evocation of 18th-century France, and a window into the modern world’s first multi-racial society. But it is also a heartbreaking story of the enduring bonds of love between a father and son. Drawing on hitherto unknown documents, letters, battlefield reports and Dumas' handwritten prison diary, The Black Count is a groundbreaking masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.
-- from the publisher
Checking the Pulitzer website, I also noticed another book that might be interesting about the great litigator and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
"The Pulitzer Prize was also awarded to "Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America," by Gilbert King (Harper), a richly detailed chronicle of racial injustice in the Florida town of Groveland in 1949, involving four black men falsely accused of rape and drawing a civil rights crusader, and eventual Supreme Court justice, into the legal battle."
So you can see~ don't ever underestimate our life stories, accomplishments and exploits. Consensus says they make award winning, highly fascinating reading. If these titles sound interesting to you, let me encourage you to order these books from Esowan Books in Los Angeles, or Marcus Books, Oakland or San Francisco!
lovu,
Kentke
