With 'simmering warmth' ( The New York Times ), Harris paints evocative portraits of her illustrious friends: Baldwin as he read aloud an early draft of If Beale Street Could Talk, Angelou cooking in her California kitchen, and Morrison relaxing at Baldwin's house in Provence. My Soul Looks Back is her tribute to that fascinating social circle and their shared commitment to activism, intellectual engagement, and each other. Harris debated, celebrated, and danced her way from the jazz clubs of the Manhattan's West Side to the restaurants of Greenwich Village, living out her buoyant youth alongside the great minds of the day-luminaries like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison. In the Technicolor glow of the early seventies, Jessica B. Harris recalls her youth 'surrounded by some of the most famous creative minds of the seventies and eighties.James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Nina Simone' ( New York magazine)-in a vibrant, lost era of New York City. The book is framed by Harris's relationship with Sam Floyd, a fellow professor at Queens College, who introduced her to Baldwin.In this captivating new memoir, award-winning writer Jessica B. Harris describes her role as theater critic for the New York Amsterdam News and editor at then burgeoning Essence magazine star-studded parties in the South of France drinks at Mikell's, a hip West Side club and the simple joy these extraordinary people took in each other's company. Harris paints evocative portraits of her illustrious friends: Baldwin as he read aloud an early draft of If Beale Street Could Talk, Angelou cooking in her California kitchen, and Morrison relaxing at Baldwin's house in Provence. My Soul Looks Back is her paean to that fascinating social circle and the depth of their shared commitment to activism, intellectual engagement, and each other. Harris debated, celebrated, and danced her way from the jazz clubs of the Manhattan's West Side to the restaurants of the Village, living out her buoyant youth alongside the great minds of the day-luminaries like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison.

Harris recalls a lost era-the vibrant New York City of her youth, where her social circle included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and other members of the Black intelligentsia.

In this captivating new memoir, award-winning writer Jessica B.

My soul looks back jessica harris