Bessie's Resurrection

Bessie's Resurrection gives voice to Richard Wright's fictional character Bessie Mears from his novel Native Son (1940). These poems offer Bessie room to articulte her experiences as an African American woman and how she suffes in her unenviable position, powerless and unseen. Here, Bessie's fictive character is self actualized by two historical African American trailblazers: Bessie Coleman and Bessie Smith who lived during the same time period when Bessie's story takes place. These poems, ...