Text from “A Conversation with Lewis Michaux, Chester Himes and Nikki Giovanni.” Encore, September 1972. With permission of Ida Lewis, former editor and publisher, Encore Communications, New York, NY.
Text from “Dr. Lewis Michaux.” Transcript of a tape-recorded interview by Michele Wallace, January 18, 1974. James V. Hatch, Leo Hamalian, and Judy Blum, eds. Artist and Influence, 1997. With permission of James V. Hatch, Hatch-Billops Collection, Inc., New York, NY.
Text from “Eviction of Harlem Bookstore Owner Is Protested by Leaders,” Jet Magazine, February 1974. Courtesy Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
Text from I Was a Black Panther by Chuck Moore, copyright © 1970 by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. Used by permission of Doubleday, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Text from “Louis Michaux, Owner, National Memorial Bookstore.” Transcript of a tape-recorded interview by Robert Wright, July 31, 1970, New York City. With permission of Joellen ElBashir, Curator, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
Text from Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X. by Rodnell P. Collins, nephew of Malcolm X, with A. Peter Bailey, 1998. Used with permission of Rodnell P. Collins.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexander, J. B. “Black Culture Was His Cause.” New York Post, May 21, 1976, 9.
Alternatives. “Louis Michaux—Guardian of the Black Archives.” April 1974, 6, 8.
Anderson, Jervis. This Was Harlem: A Cultural Portrait, 1900–1950. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982.
Angelou, Maya. The Heart of a Woman. New York: Bantam Books, 1997.
Barker, Kevin. “Seeking Malcolm.” American Legacy: The Magazine of African American History and Culture, Fall 2006, 16–26.
Betserai, Tarabu. “Lewis and Elder,” character study with letter to Norris E. Micheaux III, December 12, 1989. Unpublished.
Blockson, Charles L. “Damn Rare”: The Memoirs of an African-American Bibliophile. Tracy, CA: Quantum Leap Publisher, 1998.
Cobb, Charles E., Jr. “ZipUSA: Harlem, New York.” National Geographic, April 2001, 120–124.
Collins, Rodnell P. Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X. With A. Peter Bailey. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1998.
Cronon, E. David. “Garvey, Marcus (Mosiah).” Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1982, 254.
DeCaro, Louis A., Jr. Malcolm and the Cross: The Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, and Christianity. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself (1845). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1993.
Dunbar, Paul Laurence. The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1944.
Dyer, Coleen, and Michelle M. Kenyon. “The Heart of Harlem.” Country Home, February 1995, 26–30, 121.
Emblidge, David. “Rallying Point: Lewis Michaux’s National Memorial African Bookstore.” Publishing Research Quarterly 24, no. 4, December 2008, 267–276.
Encore. “A Conversation with Lewis Michaux, Chester Himes and Nikki Giovanni.” September 1972, 46–51.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Subject: Michaux, Lewis Henry. Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts, 1959–1968.
Fraser, C. Gerald. “Lewis Michaux, 92, Dies; Ran Bookstore in Harlem.” New York Times, August 27, 1976, D-15.
______. “Lewis Michaux Is Eulogized in Harlem as a Bookseller Who Changed Lives.” New York Times, August 31, 1976, 31.
______. “Lewis H. Michaux—One for the Books.” New York Times, May 23, 1976, 55.
Garrow, David J. Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1986.
Garvey, Marcus, Jr. “Garvey.” The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1973, 331–332.
Gladney, Gerald. “Michaux’s—The Man and the Institution,” Spirit Magazine: An African Publication, Spring 1975, 28–29.
Goldman, Peter. The Death and Life of Malcolm X. 2nd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1979.
Green, Cheryll Y. “A Book Fair in Harlem.” Freedomways, Second Quarter, 1976, 112.
Hamilton, Willie L. “Louis Michaux, a Familiar Face.” New York Amsterdam News, January 19, 1974, A-4.
Harris, Janette Hoston. “Michaux, Elder Solomon Lightfoot.” Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1982, 432.
The Holy Bible: The Authorized King James Version. Cleveland: World Publishing Company, n.d.
Hughes, Langston. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
Hunter, Charlayne. “The Professor.” New Yorker, September 3, 1966, 28–29.
Jackson, David. “An Intimate History of the Lewis H. Michaux Book Fair (1976–1979).” Publisher’s information unavailable.
Jet. “Eviction of Harlem Bookstore Owner Is Protested by Leaders.” February 7, 1974, 28–29.
Johnson, Samuel M. Often Back: Tales of Harlem. New York: Vantage Press, 1971.
Lopez, Sharon Y. “Up in Harlem.” Crisis, October 1981, 20–21.
Malcolm X. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. With Alex Haley. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992. First published 1965 by Grove Press.
The Man and His Vision: Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, Celebrating 85 Years of Grace, 1919–2004. Gospel Spreading Church of God, 2004.
Meltzer, Milton. Langston Hughes: An Illustrated Edition. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press, 1997.
Michaux, Lewis. “Dr. Lewis Michaux.” Taped interview by Michele Wallace, January 18, 1974. Transcript, James V. Hatch, Leo Hamalian, and Judy Blum, eds. Artist and Influence. New York: Hatch-Billops Collection, 1997, 120–129.
______. “Louis Michaux, Owner, National Memorial Bookstore.” Taped interview by Robert Wright, July 31, 1970, New York City. The Civil Rights Documentation Project, Washington, DC. Transcript, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC.
______. “Special SALE Notice: The People of Harlem from the National Memorial African Bookstore,” New York Amsterdam News advertisement, October 26, 1974.
Michaux, Lightfoot Solomon. “Program of the National Memorial to the Progress of the Colored Race in America,” presented at Golden Gate Auditorium, New York, NY, n.d.
_______. Sparks from the Anvil of Elder Michaux. Compiled and edited by Pauline Lark. New York: Vantage Press, 1950.
Micheaux, Norris E., III, and Lewis Michaux. Taped conversation between Lewis Michaux and his great-nephew, Norris E. Micheaux, III, Flowers 5th Avenue Hospital, New York, 1976.
Moore, Chuck. I Was a Black Panther. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1970.
New York Amsterdam News. “Michaux Fights for Bookstore.” Februrary 9, 1974, B3.
New York Daily Challenge. “Annual Michaux Book Fair.” May 17, 1978, 7.
New York Daily Challenge. “The First Annual Michaux Book Fair.” April 6, 1976, 9.
New York Post. “Obituaries: Lewis Michaux, 92.” August 27, 1976, 48.
New York Times. “Malcolm X Scores U.S. and Kennedy.” December 2, 1963, 21.
Oates, Stephen B. Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994.
Pearson, Hugh. When Harlem Nearly Killed King: The 1958 Stabbing of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2002.
“Presenting a Pictorial Review of Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, International Radio Evangelist.” Gospel Spreading Church of God, n.d.
“A Sketch of the Life of Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux.” Gospel Spreading Church of God. n.d.
Tapley, Mel. “Lewis Michaux Buried—4 Decades of Service.” New York Amsterdam News, September 4, 1976, C-14.
Third World. “Lewis Michaux: The World’s Greatest Seller of Black Books, Part 1.” October 20, 1972, 1, 3, 11.
______. �
��Lewis Michaux: The World’s Greatest Seller of Black Books, Part 2.” November 2, 1972, 3, 13.
______. “Lewis Michaux: The World’s Greatest Seller of Black Books, Part 3.” November 24, 1972, 7, 11–12.
______. “Lewis Michaux: The World’s Greatest Seller of Black Books, Part 4.” December 8, 1972, 3, 4, 13.
______. “Lewis Michaux: The World’s Greatest Seller of Black Books, Part 5.” December 22, 1972, 3, 12.
Thomas, Lorenzo. “Garvey, Marcus Moziah.” The African American Encyclopedia. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1993, 644.
Webb, Lillian Ashcraft. About My Father’s Business: The Life of Elder Michaux. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981.
Wilson, Sondra Kathryn. Meet Me at the Theresa. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
INTERVIEWS
Bailey, A. Peter (journalist and former bookstore patron). Taped telephone interview with author, March 19, 2001, and follow-up telephone discussions 2001–2011.
Becknell, Charles E., Sr. (pastor, Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church, and former bookstore patron). Taped interview with author, June 18, 2010.
Bryan, Ashley (artist-author and former bookstore patron). Taped telephone interview by the author, September 13, 2010.
Collins, Rodnell (author, son of Kenneth and Ella Collins [Malcolm X’s sister], nephew of Malcolm X). Telephone interview with the author, March 2001, and follow-up telephone discussions, 2010–2011.
Giovanni, Nikki (poet and former bookstore patron). Taped telephone interview with the author, May 31, 2010.
Hurst, Anthony (former assistant pastor, Church of God in New York City, and former associate minister, Church of God Philadephia). Telephone conversation, December 13, 2000, and follow-up discussions via e-mail and telephone with the author, 2000–2011.
Jackson, David Earl (program coordinator for the Lewis H. Michaux Book Fair, 1976– 1979), telephone interview with the author, February 2001.
Michaux, Lewis. Tape-recorded interview by Gil Noble, “Like It Is,” WABC-TV, December 8, 1974.
Michaux, Lewis H., Jr. (son of Lewis H. Michaux). Taped interview with the author, August 1999, and follow-up discussions via telephone and e-mail, 1999–2011.
Micheaux, Olive Batch (former bookstore employee and niece of Lewis H. Michaux by marriage to Norris E. Micheaux Jr.). Interview with the author, summer 1996.
Robinson, Willie (chairman of the board of deacons for the New York Church of God). Telephone interview with the author, December 26, 2000.
Shabazz, Ilyasah (daughter of Malcolm X). Taped telephone interview with the author, March 7, 2011.
Turner, James E. (founding director of the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University). Telephone interview with the author, November 6, 2000.
FURTHER READING
Benson, Michael. Malcolm X. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 2001.
Bloom, Harold. The Harlem Renaissance. New York: Chelsea House Publications, 2004.
Giovanni, Nikki. Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate: Looking at the Harlem Renaissance Through Poems. New York: Henry Holt, 1996.
Hardy, Sheila, and P. Stephen Hardy. Extraordinary People of the Civil Rights Movement. New York: Scholastic, 2007.
Helfer, Andrew, ed. Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006.
Hill, Laban Carrick. Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009.
Kallen, Stuart A. Marcus Garvey and the Back to Africa Movement. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2006.
Leach, Laurie F. Langston Hughes: A Biography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004.
Meltzer, Milton. Langston Hughes: An Illustrated Edition. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 1997.
Myers, Walter Dean. Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices. New York: Holiday House, 2004.
Expand learning beyond the printed book. Download free, complementary educational resources for this book from our website, www.lerneresource.com.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There is a large cast of people, some of whom have passed on, who played parts, large and small, in this project of more than 15 years. I owe much to family, longtime and newfound friends, librarians, fellow writers, editors, and those who gave their time and shared their knowledge of, and affection for, Lewis Michaux and his National Memorial African Bookstore.
I am deeply indebted to my cousin, Lewis Henri Michaux Jr., who generously entrusted me with his father’s story and, during my research trips, shared so much of himself and Lewis’s life with me, as well as taught me how to navigate the New York City subway system. For their stories, photographs, scrapbooks, and love, I thank my grandmother Sinah Eichelberger Michaux; my mother and father, Olive Batch Micheaux and Norris E. Micheaux Jr.; and my brother, Norris E. Micheaux III, all of whom I know are looking down from Heaven and I hope with pride. I owe much to my sisters, Renee Sinah Gressem and Regina Jan Ramseur, and brother William Wesley Batch Micheaux, for photographs, genealogical brainstorming, and unconditional support. Thanks, also, to the late Willie Ann Michaux-Edwards, and to my cousins Jon Micheaux Jr., Jan Micheaux, and Carson Jean Bates. A heap of hugs for all my family who have cheered me on through this challenging project.
Unending thanks to the amazing women in my writing critique group who have lived with this project for many years, read and reread numerous drafts and revisions—Katherine Hauth, Stephanie Farrow, Uma Krishnaswami, and the late Lucy Hampson—the stones upon which this story was polished.
Special thanks to Kathy Dawson, who provided guidance and extensive comments when the manuscript was in its earliest form back in 2001. My gratitude to Jeanne Whitehouse, Kate Harrington, Rob Spiegel, Penelope Stowell, Lynne Polvino, and Stephanie Zaslav for their helpful feedback.
I was blessed to connect with current and past members of the Gospel Spreading Church of God including Deacon Jasper W. Sturdivant (Washington, D.C., Church of God), Deacon Willie Robinson (New York Church of God), and Donald Harris and Theresa Edwards (Newport News Church of God), who all welcomed me with kindness and provided invaluable historical resources. Extra special thanks to former Church of God member Anthony Hurst for his generous contributions to the book and his kind friendship.
Thanks to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators for selecting me as the recipient of an SCBWI/Anna Cross Giblin Work-in-Progress grant, which made some of my research possible. And to SCBWI New Mexico for ongoing support.
I am truly grateful to Joseph McKenzie, interlibrary loan librarian at Rio Rancho Public Library, and Auburn Nelson, Senior Reference Librarian at the Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture, for often going that extra mile, or ten, to locate a resource. And also to Joellen ElBashir of Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, James V. Hatch of the Hatch-Billops Collection, Elizabeth Brown of The Studio Museum in Harlem, and to Newport News Public Library, Library of Virginia, and professional researcher Anne Taylor Brown. All provided valuable assistance.
Thank you Marilyn Schroeder, Toni Beatty, Christyl and Justin and the Browns, Betsy White, Lori and Greg and the Snyders, Rob Nankin, William Cicola, and my friends and colleagues at Rio Rancho Public Library for your enduring support.
For their fine contributions, I am obliged to Ida Lewis, Nikki Giovanni, A. Peter Bailey, Rodnell Collins, Professor James E. Turner, the Reverend Dr. Charles E. Becknell Sr., Ilyasah Shabazz, Abdullah Abdur-Razaaq, Marie Brown, and the late David Earl Jackson. Additional thanks to Don Fox, John Farrow, David Emblidge, Sherry Sherrod DuPree, Louis A. DeCaro Jr., Marva Allen, Max Rodriguez, and Tarabu Betserai.
I am especially honored by the contribution, support and friendship of Ashley Bryan. I am grateful, too, for the thoughtfulness of Walter Dean Myers.
A thousand thanks to Tracey and Josh Adams of Adams Literary for the gift of time; they are always behind the scenes taking care of business so that I can write.
Many, many thanks to my outside-the-box editor Andrew Karre for his belief a
nd delight in Lewis’s story; and to the wonderful staff at Lerner Publishing Group—Adam Lerner, Mary Rodgers, Julie Harman, Danielle Carnito, Zach Marell, Elizabeth Dingmann, Erica Johnson, Sarah Marquart, Lindsay Matvick, Terri Lynn Soutor, Lois Wallentine, Kathleen Clarke, and Brad Richason.
And to R. Gregory Christie for his stylistic interpretation of Lewis’s world.
I’m most beholden to my husband, Drew, my first editor and best friend. His love and patience are beyond measure. This book would not have happened without him. Thank you, my darling.
To all who have escaped mention, please forgive me, and know that I appreciate your contributions.
Above all, I thank my Lord for enabling me to fulfill this dream.
INDEX OF HISTORICAL CHARACTERS
Ali, Muhammad, 152
Armstrong, Louis, 84
Bailey, A. Peter, 96, 106, 112, 161
Baldwin, James, 84, 132
Banks, Margaret (née Michaux), 137
Basie, Count, 83
Becknell, Charles E., Rev. Dr., 140, 157, 162
Brooks, Gwendolyn, 165
Brown, Helen, 107, 164
Bryan, Ashley, 164
Clarke, John Henrik, 84
Clay, Cassius, 83. See also Ali, Muhammad
Collins, Rodnell, 113, 163
Davis, Miles, 83
Davis, Sammy, Jr., 83
Douglass, Frederick, 29–30, 62, 76
DuBois, W. E. B., 57, 76, 84
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 90, 137
Ellington, Duke, 83
Fitzgerald, Ella, 83
Garvey, Marcus, 14–16, 29, 38, 56–57, 75–76, 80, 98–99, 112
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