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Lawrence Jackson

Lawrence Jackson is the author of Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius (2002) and The Indignant Generation: A Narrative History of African American Writers and Critics, 1934-1960 (2010). He is Professor of English and African American Studies at Emory University.

Lawrence Jackson

Christmas in Baltimore City, 2009

American Politics
23 May 2011

The funeral came off without a hitch, in spite of the snow. It was as dignified as we could have hoped for and no one from the altar mentioned what had happened. I parked my rental car on Argyle Avenue, feeling a bit more alert than usual. In Atlanta, just after Thanksgiving, two gunmen robbed me of my station wagon and wallet; two days before Christmas I didn’t want to invite fate’s wrath a second time. I was back home in Baltimore. More…