Synopses & Reviews
One of the few depictions of African Americans in World War I, Wings on My Feet (1929) follows the tale of Black Ulysses, John Wesley "Left Wing" Gordon, begun in Howard W. Odum's Rainbow Round My Shoulder (IUP, 2006). On one level, the novel continues a symbolic journey of the African American spirit; on another, it tracks the experiences of one black soldier from draft to training, shipping out, landing, fighting, returning stateside, and reintegrating into society. The book also explores broader social issues of race, war, and prejudice. As the subtitle makes clear, it is the story not of one war but the various wars Black Ulysses has endured before, during, and after World War I.
Synopsis
This second novel in Howard W. Odum's Black Ulysses trilogy follows our hero to the warsWorld War I and the wars of racism and social justice
Synopsis
The second novel in Howard W. Odums Black Ulysses trilogy
About the Author
Howard W. Odum (1884-1954) was a sociologist, chiefly known in academic circles for his important studies of the South. Others knew him for his collections of black folksongs--The Negro and His Songs (1925) and Negro Workaday Songs (1926) prepared in collaboration with Guy B. Johnson--and for three "novels" based on the life of a black laborer and known collectively as the Black Ulysses Trilogy.
Steven C. Tracy is Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Steven C. Tracy
1. Do You Think I'll Make a Solder?
2. No Hiding-Place
3. This Old World's Rollin' On
4. I Feel Like A Feather in the Air
5. Down Don't Worry Me
6. Gonna Whet My Blade on Kaiser's Hide
7. Me and War Same Thing
8. Boy, Did You Ever Think About Dying?
9. Lord, I Want to Go Home
10. Roll 'Em, Soldier, Roll Them Dice
11. I'm on My Way an' Can't Turn Back
12. Hitch My Mules to Hindenburg Line
13. Never Seen Like Since I Been Born
14. Sun Don't Set This Morning
15. Ain't Nothin' But Me an' War an' World
16. I'm Greyhound Outrunnin' Shadow of Eagle
17. Ain't Gonna Study War No Mo'
Chronology
Selected Bibliography