Lay Bare the Heart

Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement is a 1985 non-fiction book by James Farmer, published by Arbor House in 1985. A subsequent edition is published by Texas Christian University Press. It documents his role in the Civil rights movement.

Background

Circa 1966 he began organizing his notes that would be used to make an autobiography.^[1]

Content

The book has descriptions of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.^[2]

"Intellectual Coming of Age," the fourth part, describes how the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil rights movement developed creative and intellectual life.^[3]

"God and Goddamn," the twelfth chapter, describes how Farmer navigated social life in Washington, DC.^[4]

Reception

Reviewer Beth Brown wrote that the work is "highly emotional, yet coolly accurate and objective".^[1]

David Levering Lewis of Rutgers University wrote that the book is "strikingly human", and that it has "an appearance of honesty" and "extraordinary eloquence and emotional power."^[5]

It won the Lillian Smith Book Award in 1985.^[6]

References

• Brown, Beth (1987). "Book Reviews : Do Lord Remember Me. By Julius Lester. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984, 210 pp., hardcover $13.95. Linden Hills. By Gloria Naylor. New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1985, 304 pp., hardcover $16.95. Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement. By James Farmer. New York: Arbor House, 1985, 370 pp., hardcover $16.95". Journal of Black Studies. 18 (1). Sage Publications, Inc.: 109–115. doi:10.1177/002193478701800109. JSTOR 2784615.
• Lewis, David Levering (1987). "Farmer, James. Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement (Book Review)". Labor History. 28: 112–114. doi:10.1080/00236568700890071.

Notes

1. Brown, p. 115.
2. Lewis, p. 113.
3. Brown, p. 113.
4. Brown, p. 114.
5. Lewis, p. 112.
6. "Award Winners". University of Georgia. Retrieved 2024-10-05.

Further reading

• Edmonds, Anthony (1985). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". Library Journal. 110: 84.
• Garrow, David J (1985). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". The Nation. Vol. 240. p. 535.
• Grier, Peter (1985). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". Washington Monthly. Vol. 17. p. 60.
• McGehee, Charles White (1986). "Lay bare the heart: an autobiography of the civil rights movement". The Humanist. 46: 448.
• "Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement". Emerge. Vol. 10, no. 2. New York City. November 1998. p. 78.

External links

• Lay Bare the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement - Texas Christian University Press