The House Where My Soul Lives: The Life of Margaret Walker

by Maryemma Graham

This first biography of poet and writer Margaret Walker (1915-98) offers a comprehensive close reading of a pillar in American culture for a majority of the 20th century. Without defining herself as a radical or even a feminist, Walker followed the precepts of both. She promoted the idea of the artist of tradition and social change, a public intellectual and an institution builder. Among the first to recognize the impact of black women in literature, Walker became a chief architect of what many have called the new Black South Renaissance. Her art was influenced early by Langston Hughes, her political understanding of the world by Richard Wright. Walker expanded both into a comprehensive view on art and humanism, which became a national platform for the center she founded in Mississippi that now bears her name. The House Where My Soul Lives provides a full account of Walker's life and new interpretations of her writings before and after the publication of her most well-known poem
in the 1930s in Chicago. The book rejects the widely held view of Walker as the "angry black woman" and emphasizes what contemporary American culture owes to her decades of foundational work in what we know today as Black Studies, Women's Studies, and the Public Humanities. She was fierce in her claim to be "black, female and free" which gave her the authority to challenge all hierarchies, no matter at what cost. Featuring 80 archival photos and documents and based on never before examined personal papers and interviews with those who knew Walker personally, this book is required reading for all readers of biographies of American writers.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

696 pages, Hardcover

Published December 2, 2022

Reviews

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so grateful to have been introduced to Margaret Walker, on whose shoulders so many stand without knowing it. I am disappointed that it took me so long to have learned of her, her contributions to poetry and literature, and of her role in civil rights.

Maryemma Graham masterfully weaves together Walker’s life through primary and secondary resources, with powerful insights that have left so many notes in the margins, I’ll need to take time to go back and reflect on them all.

I urge others to make the time to read this, whether you were ahead of me and already knew of Walker’s role in 20th century American history or not.

[Shirleynature · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Maryemma Graham is on the cover of the winter 2023 Lawrence Magazine; my story and our interview starts on page 14.
https://issuu.com/sunflower_publishin...

And if you need more reasons to know how great this biography is, Alice Walker wrote a glowing review on her website:
https://alicewalkersgarden.com/2023/1...

To champion a great in a landmark study, to follow her lead and do such inspired work, may we all recognize others in our lives who share wisdom and wordsmith abilities!

https://www.humanitieskansas.org/get-...

https://mediaburn.org/video/for-my-pe...

[Jennipher · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do I review a book about an entire life? I will describe my feelings and impressions left on me by the details comprehensively expressed in this biography. I became so curious about Margaret as a young girl I looked for the New Orleans address on the map. Descriptions of her moods and circumstances were familiar of any angst ridden teenage girl that the difference of the 1920s to now felt insignificant. As she grew up and moved away to direct her own life she involved herself in the Communist party and other groups based on social action. Throughout the bulk of the novel we learn of many relationships; friends, romantic confusions and eventually her family including her husband. Margaret paid close attention to all the chaos in the world around her from WW2 throughout the Civil Rights movement & beyond. Her commentary was courageous and precise. The poems, essays and novels became prolific the older she became. Reading her observations about women’s rights, racism and the political climate in her time you question that it’s not history repeating itself but the exact struggles never ending. I want to add that I cannot fully fathom the extent of the oppression placed on Black women then and now but spending a little time every evening with Margaret for the last nine months I hold more understanding than I did before I met her.

“Mankind is only one race, the human race. The world has many strands in the family of Man” - Margaret Walker Alexander

[S. Maquita Moody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lost Treasure

Another black woman writer erased from us is brought to light. This is more than a biography: it’s lost history found. Thank you, Maryemma Graham!