Middle Passage: The Artistic Life of Lawrence Baker

Lawrence Baker's Middle Passage is written in the tradition of western prose, in which a person reflects on influences and experiences in his life. Baker's world involved cultural, intellectual and social expectations pressing hard against negative racial stereotypes and reality. He came of age in Jacksonville, Florida, in the 1960s, torn between relationships, school, the negative magnetism of the streets, and the impenetrable reticence of his mother, intent upon survival in her own unique...