I am pleased to announce the publication of two new books: Adventures in Black and White by Philippa Duke Schuyler, Edited and with a critical introduction by Tara Betts; and Substance of Fire: Gender and Race in the College Classroom by Claire Millikin
What can I say? I don’t want to sound too cutesy, but Tara Betts and Claire Millikin have become the “2LP Gals” who have stuck by the press, thick and thin with their incredible works, and take-no-prisoners work ethic. What follows is an introduction about these two new great books, an my personal insight into the great ladies who have made these books happen.
I first met Tara, who I fondly call “Ms. Betts,” in 2010 when I relaunched phati’tude Litrerary Magazine. I was looking for the latest, hottest poets on the circuit when a colleague of mine suggested Tara. I did my reconnaissance and liked what I saw and ended up doing an extensive interview of her in our first issue: “Multiculturalism: In Search of a New Perspective.” Going forward, she supported the project by appearing in phati’tude events in New York City. Even after she left the city, we kept in touch, and by the time Tara earned her PhD and returned to Chicago, 2Leaf Press had begun to pick up steam. In 2014, Tara wrote the introduction to Claire Millikin’s first book with 2Leaf Press, After Houses, and in 2015, Sean Frederick Forbes and I asked Tara to write the afterword for What does it Mean to be White in America?, which launched our 2LP EXPLORATIONS IN DIVERSITY series. Tara, known widely as a journalist, performer, activist and a spoken-word artist and poet, was beginning to flex her muscles in academic and literary criticism, and I wanted to do all I could to support her efforts.
Tara’s next project with 2Leaf Press was co-editing The Beiging of America with Cathy J. Schlund-Vials and Sean Frederick Forbes. She was also a contributor to Abiodun Oyewole’s Black Lives Have Always Mattered anthology. In the meantime, we had begun to talk about launching the 2LP CLASSICS series with an eye on reissuing African American works when I came across the announcement that Philippa Schuyler’s book, Adventures in Black and White had entered the public domain. It was this book that captured our attention. For me and Tara, who is mixed race of African American and white French descent, it was about reintroducing a once popular figure into twenty-first century culture: Philippa Schuyler, a biracial child prodigy who was a world-renowned concert pianist and composer.
Philippa was a very interesting character. Her parents promoted her as a superior hybrid human being, which would have a devastating effect on her psyche and identity. Her father, African American journalist and writer, George Schuyler, who identified as a socialist for many years and was a well-respected figure of the Harlem Renaissance, moved sharply to the political right during the 1940s and was eventually shunned by the African American community. When Philippa was killed on a writing assignment in Vietnam in 1967, and her mother, Josephine Lewis Cogdell Schuyler committed suicide two years later, the Schuyler name had already evaporated from the public sphere.
When Philippa decided to follow her father’s path and write, she also adopted some of his political philosophies as well, which perhaps did not bode well in the African American community. But what Adventures in Black and White shows is that Philippa did not see things entirely in “black and white.” Philippa was as compassionate as she was curious when it came to people, which is revealed as she traveled and performed in Africa, the Middle East and South America at a time when colonial powers were relinquishing their control and countries were claiming independence. Had she lived, it would have been interesting to have witnessed Philippa’s viewpoints at the end of the Vietnam War, which even with what we know about her, is difficult to speculate. Politics aside, Adventures in Black and White manages to connect to readers as Philippa tackles cultural differences and race in pretty much the same way people are doing today. This and other issues, is what Tara Betts raises in her critical introduction. Tara also reminds readers that despite Philippa’s politics, she left behind a legacy as a multi-talented and professionally successful biracial woman who was not allowed to break glass ceilings as she struggled with her racial identity.
Claire Millikin was one of 2Leaf Press’ first poets we took on when we had an open submission call in 2013, and she has been with us ever since. I think one of the reasons I like and admire Claire is that not only does she think outside the box, she is willing to knock down the veneer and dig into the root of the matter. Her poetry books with 2Leaf Press, After Houses (2014), and Tartessos and Other Cities (2016) challenge the status quo by exploring homelessness, both figuratively and literally, with poetry that investigates both physical and mental spaces and places.
While Claire’s soul is entrenched in poetry, she is also a very fine scholar. Publishing academic and scholarly works under her married name, “Raymond,” her focus has been to excavate the beauty and strength of womanhood, whether it is American photographer Francesca Woodman, who committed suicide at age twenty-two, or investigating the works of Carrie Mae Weems, Toni Morrison, Emily Dickinson, Flannery O’Connor, Dorothy Allison, Carson McCullers, and Zora Neale Hurston as it relates to sadism and the American South. Tough topics, to be sure, Claire digs, unearthens and explores the meaning behind their acts and their art.
I remember the day when the Charlottesville riot happened. In fact, as I saw it unfold on television, I was stunned and then moved to post a commentary about it here on 2Leaf Press’ blog. Although I refrain from espousing my personal sociopolitical thoughts and ideas on this website, I felt it behooved me to make an exception.
I should note that Claire was there. She teaches at University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and we had a long talk about this and other societal issues. Of course, I couldn’t help but think that there was a book somewhere in all of this.
Actually, prior to the riot, I was gently urging Claire to publish something different besides poetry, and put some of the ideas she had shared with me about the college classroom into a book. We had batted some ideas around and at some point, Sean Frederick Forbes, who happens to be the editor of the 2LP EXPLORATIONS IN DIVERSITY, became a sounding board and with his input, the idea evolved into Substance of Fire. To be honest, I was not entirely clear on what this book was to become, but I left it in Claire and Sean’s capable hands to come up with something interesting, and boy oh boy, did they.
It would be sophomoric for me to simply say that Substance of Fire challenges the status quo, because it is much more than that. What it does do, quite admirably, is bring to light race and gender issues in a college setting, which is really, when you think about it, an incubator for what is happening in the real world today. Growing up, many of us have used he/she pronouns, and now, while young people are growing up with an expanded use of pronouns, it’s only recently that old fogies like me are coming to terms with this change, or at the very least acknowledging the existence of multiple genders.
For me personally, it has less to do with resistance and more about reprogramming myself from what I have known all my life. Nonetheless, I try my best to adapt, because I want to. Because it is meaningful to the people I have met in my life who prefer it. Unfortunately, there are folks out there who refuse the idea of multiple genders altogether, not realizing that their resistance has a profound effect on people, often crushing them. Substance of Fire calls out this as well as racial constructs, questions resistance, and explains why change is good with engrossing narratives and essays alongside photos, and poetry that help round-out the book. There is a strong foreword by R Joseph Rodriguez and an afterword by Richard Delgado, with contributions by former University of Virginia students, Riley Blanks, Blakeley Calhoun, and Rox Trujillo.
When Claire and Sean delivered the final manuscript to me, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, because it was not a typical book. 2Leaf Press book designer De-Jon Graves and I had to figure out how to make the cover and layout live up to the material inside the book. We decided to make this into a visually appealing big book, with lots of space to compliment the words as well as the photographs and artwork. In the end, Claire has created an exceptional book. Substance of Fire probes and sheds light into what today’s students – our future leaders – are dealing with, forcing us to reconsider how we see ourselves and each other.
– Gabrielle David, Publisher
