Black Samson, Jeremy Schipper
Black Samson, Jeremy Schipper
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Black Samson
The Untold Story of an American Icon

Author: Jeremy Schipper, Nyasha Junior

Narrator: David Sadzin

Unabridged: 5 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/01/2020


Synopsis

Before Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King was identified with Moses, African Americans identified those who challenged racial oppression in America with Samson. In Black Samson: The Untold Story of an American Icon, Nyasha Junior and Jeremy Schipper tell the story of how this biblical character became an icon of African American literature. Along the way, Schipper and Junior introduce listeners to a cast of historical characters—many of whom became American icons themselves—including Fredrick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, and others.

From stories of slave rebellions to the Harlem Renaissance to the civil rights era and the Black Power movement, invoking the biblical character of Samson became a powerful way for African American intellectuals, activists, and artists to voice strategies and opinions about race relations in America. As this provocative book reveals, the story of Black Samson became the story of our nation's contested racial history.

About Jeremy Schipper

Jeremy Schipper is professor in the Departments of the Study of Religion and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. Recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he is coauthor, with Nyasha Junior, of Black Samson: The Untold Story of an American Icon and the author of Disability and Isaiah's Suffering Servant and Parables and Conflict in the Hebrew Bible. He lives in Toronto.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian

A recent example of an excellent study of the Bible’s reception is Nyasha Junior and Jeremy Schipper’s Black Samson: The Untold Story of an American Icon. This book traces the depiction of Samson as a Black man throughout the history of the United States. As you read it becomes apparent that this th......more

Goodreads review by Cat

Black Samson is a fascinating deep dive into the significance of a cultural archetype, and what it meant and means specifically for Black Americans. Junior reviews the history of the story and character of Samson, from his literary or religious roots in the Bible (Old Testament) to cultural signific......more

Goodreads review by Ancella

Very good read Nyasha Junior explain how black Sampson is related to how Americans view blackness, reviewing the history of Samson from his religious roots, I have learned so much .......more

Goodreads review by Erin

This is one that definitely gives you food for thought. There are so many things mentioned in hear that I had heard of, but now I realize I knew absolutely nothing about them.......more