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Hope's Highway: A Novel (1918) is a historical novel by Sarah Lee
Brown Fleming. Published during the Harlem Renaissance, Fleming's
novel is a powerful work of fiction exploring the lives of formerly
enslaved Black people living in the South during Reconstruction.
Recognized as a leading advocate for the advancement of Black girls
and women throughout her life, Fleming is a writer whose voice
never falters from the task at hand: telling the story of her
people. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the promise of the
Emancipation Proclamation is fulfilled to with varying results
throughout the South. On John Vance's plantation, many of his
former slaves have remained to work in their new capacity as wage
laborers, fearful of change and confident in the relative kindness
of their former master. Among them, Enoch receives financial
support and an education, eventually rising to the role of first
Black teacher in the Reconstruction South. When John Vance dies,
his land and belongings are divided among his former slaves,
including the influential Institute, now left for Enoch to run. As
much as their situation promises some hope for the future, the
specter of enslavement and prejudice lurks around every corner,
forcing them to use caution when dealing with those who would
sooner have them back in chains than treat them as fellow humans.
Hope's Highway: A Novel is a story of tragedy and redemption set in
the South during the period of Reconstruction, a time of immense
change and even greater promise in a nation only just emerged from
the shadows of war. With a beautifully designed cover and
professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Sara Lee Brown
Fleming's Hope's Highway: A Novel is a classic work of African
American literature reimagined for modern readers.
Clouds and Sunshine (1920) is a collection of poems by Sarah Lee
Brown Fleming. Published during the Harlem Renaissance, Clouds and
Sunshine is a powerful work of poetry exploring themes of faith,
racial identity, loss, and love in twentieth century America.
Recognized as a leading advocate for the advancement of Black girls
and women throughout her life, Fleming is a writer whose voice
never falters from the task at hand: telling the story of her
people. Separated into three sections, Clouds and Sunshine shows
Flemings prowess as a lyric poet of the Romantic persuasion, a
dialect poet in the tradition of Paul Laurence Dunbar, and a
groundbreaking political writer who observed the experiences of
Black Americans while recording and examining her own. In
"Tuskegee," she offers an ode to the iconic institution founded by
Booker T. Washington in Alabama: "On thy consecrated ground / Is
carved a wondrous story, / Out of chaos, Washington / Raised this
place to glory." In "The Black Man's Hope," located in the section
titled "Race Poems," Fleming condemns the politics of the United
States, which promises so much to white Americans while betraying
time and again a people it never meant to recognize as citizens: "I
hear the talk of the white man's hope / In the ring and at the
poll, / But never a word of the black man's hope / Do I hear as
time doth roll. // Bowed with the weight which slavery left / Upon
his chattled frame, / No star of hope comes into view / The weight
is still the same." In two brief stanzas, Fleming effectively
condemns the emptiness offered with every election cycle. Far from
despairing, she makes a powerful case for resistance while telling
a terrible truth: prejudice is a manmade thing, and only targeted
action can undo it. With a beautifully designed cover and
professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Sara Lee Brown
Fleming's Clouds and Sunshine is a classic work of African American
literature reimagined for modern readers.
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