On the Same Page – Amherst Programs Announced
How does a Black professor at a mostly white liberal arts college in Massachusetts experience and confront racism at work and in the community? The selected title for the 2022 On the Same Page Amherst community reading program, How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, tells how author Jerald Walker addresses this challenge with strong emotions, humor, and constant reflection.
A finalist for the 2020 National Book Award and winner of the 2020 Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction, this collection of essays has been widely praised (“the essays…are restless, brilliant and short.”–New York Times). The Jones Library invites the community to read the book and join the discussion during its 10th On the Same Page community reading program.
A number of programs are being offered to enrich the reading experience of this title and to encourage dialog about the themes the book presents. Planned programs include the following, and will be held virtually during March. For complete program descriptions and registration information, visit the program’s webpage at www.joneslibrary.org/onthesamepage.
Thursday, March 10 at 7 p.m. – online via Zoom
Race Is Real, But It’s Not Genetic – Alan Goodman, Professor of Biological Anthropology at Hampshire College, will reflect on why biological race is a myth and how human variation is neither described nor explained by the idea of race.
Monday, March 28 at 7:00 pm – online via Zoom
Book Discussion of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays – Join us for an in-depth discussion of our selected title, led by Jimmy Worthy, Assistant Professor of English at UMass-Amherst, and hosted by librarian Linda Wentworth.
Thursday, March 31 at 7 p.m. – online via Zoom
On the Same Page with Jerald Walker – Join us for a virtual discussion with author Jerald Walker, whose How to Make a Slave and Other Essays has been called “brilliant” and “both engaging and enraging.”
Copies of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays can be borrowed from the Jones Library and branches, requested and checked out from the C/W Mars library catalog, or purchased at Amherst Books in Amherst. Find all the details at www.joneslibrary.org/onthesamepage.
Jerald Walker is the author of two previous books. His essays have appeared five times in Best American Essays. The recipient of James A. Michener and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, Walker is Professor of Creative Writing at Emerson College in Boston.
On the Same Page – Amherst and its programs are made possible with special funding from the Friends of the Jones Libraries. For further information about On the Same Page – Amherst, please contact Janet Ryan at ryanj@joneslibrary.org.