Synopses & Reviews
Passed On is a portrait of death and dying in twentieth-century African America. Through poignant reflection and thorough investigation of the myths, rituals, economics, and politics of African American mourning and burial practices, Karla FC Holloway finds that ways of dying are just as much a part of black identity as ways of living. Gracefully interweaving interviews, archival research, and analyses of literature, film, and music, Holloway shows how the vulnerability of African Americans to untimely death is inextricably linked to how black culture represents itself and is represented.
With a focus on the "death care" industry black funeral homes and morticians, the history of the profession and its practices Holloway examines all facets of the burial business, from physicians, hospital chaplains, and hospice administrators, to embalming chemical salesmen, casket makers, and funeral directors, to grieving relatives. She also uses narrative, photographs, and images to cover lynchings, white rage and riot, medical malpractice and neglect, executions, and neighborhood violence. Describing the specialized caskets sold to African America, formal burial photos of infants, and death bed stories, the book unveils a glimpse of the graveyards and burial sites of African America, along with burial rituals and funeral ceremonies.
Revealing both unexpected humor and anticipated tragedy, Holloway tells a twentieth-century story of the experiences of black folk in the funeral profession and its clientele. She also reluctantly shares the story of her son and the way his death moved her research from page to person.
In the conclusion, which follows a sermon delivered by Maurice O. Wallace at the funeral for the author's son, Bem, Holloway strives to commemorate through observation, ceremony, and the calling of others to remembrance and celebration.
Review
"Karla Holloway writes about a central and little-explored American phenomenon with a wide and patient breadth of knowledge and a startlingly profound personal depth. It feels like a book as durable as a well-shaped stone as reliable, useful and finally consoling, however hard to bear." Reynolds Price
Review
"Beginning with the tragic loss of her son, Karla Holloway poignantly examines how race not only affects the meaning of Black lives, but their deaths as well." Paula Giddings, Smith College
Review
"Karla F. C. Holloway weaves a seamless and engaging narrative from interviews, historical sources and personal testimony, showing continuity in the black experience of death....Her tales are by turns poignant, horrifying and amusing....[A]ny one-sidedness could be seen as the result of Karla Holloway's absorption in her subject, a subject that she sensitively and engrossingly explores." Josie Appleton, The Times Literary Supplement (read the entire Times Literary Supplement review)
Synopsis
Passed On is a portrait of death and dying and a history of the funeral business in twentieth-century African America. Through poignant reflection and a thorough investigation of the myths, rituals, economics, and politics of African American mourning and burial practices, Karla FC Holloway finds that ways of dying are just as much a part of black identity as ways of living. Gracefully interweaving archival research, interviews, and analyses of literature, film, and music, Holloway shows how the vulnerability of African Americans to untimely death is inextricable from how black culture represents itself and is represented.
With a focus on the death-care industry--black funeral homes and morticians, the history of the profession and its practices--Holloway examines all facets of the burial business, from physicians, hospital chaplains, and hospice administrators, to embalming-chemical salesmen, casket makers, funeral directors, and grieving relatives. She uses narrative, photographs, and images to summon a painful history of lynchings, white rage and riot, medical malpractice and neglect, executions, and neighborhood violence. Revealing both unexpected humor and anticipated tragedy, Holloway tells a story of the experiences of black folk in the funeral profession and its clientele. She also reluctantly describes how her son's death, in the midst of her writing of this book, painfully brought her research home.
Synopsis
A personal and historical account of the particular place of death and funerals in African American life.
About the Author
Karla FC Holloway is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at Duke University. She is the author of Moorings and Metaphors: Culture and Gender in Black Women's Literature and Codes of Conduct: Race, Ethics, and the Color of Our Character. Karla Holloway is also Associate Faculty Scholar in the Duke Institute for Care at the End of Life.