Photo by Taylor Hardy
By Jai’Den Smith
Managing Editor
Jamila Minnicks, an accomplished author and HBCU graduate, hosted a two-day book tour on Jackson State University’s campus. From Feb. 6-7 students, faculty, and staff were invited to attend a series of masterclasses, conversations, and lessons varying in topics such as Black Nationalism and Integration.
Her book, “Moonrise Over New Jessup”, details the fictional life of Alice Young, as she navigates life in 1957 New Jessup, Ala. The story centers around the all-black town and their rejection of integration in hopes to develop the town without the help of outside races.
Minnicks, a Howard University School of Law graduate, was interviewed by graduate student Anastasia Taylor about the ins and outs of the book during the “How Literature Sparks Our Ability to Imagine” writer’s series.
Taylor, an English major in her first semester of graduate school and a Jackson native knows how important it is to have stories like this one being told by our own voices.
“For one, having any authors on campus is enriching for students and promotes reading, but also, specifically having Black authors (especially black women authors) offers options for our youth,” Taylor explains. “It shows that black people can succeed in the world of publishing while telling stories that are authentic to them.”
The racial conflict and southern lifestyles told in the book are very similar to life here in Jackson.
“One way I think that Jackson struggles similarly to New Jessup is in the financial department,” Taylor stated.
“In the novel and directly causing the founding of New Jessup, white people came through the black settlement and took everything of value. In Jackson, the situation is a little different and much more modern, where we are being actively refused funding for our city and our people, even when it’s been promised.”
Jackson, Miss. has struggled for decades from lack of funding and lack of support from Government officials. These issues impact the black community disproportionately from the white races of Mississippi.
Taylor’s interview with Minnicks was a conversation intended to dive deeper into the themes and perspectives of the book.
When asked how they prepared for the interview, Taylor felt that knowledge of the book and author were necessary.
“Preparing for my interview with Jamila Minnicks was really simple. I, of course, read the novel; I read it once for pleasure and then went through and read it to take notes and mark particular passages. I also took the time to look through a few articles about New Jessup, which allowed me to see where a lot of the gaps were in regards to discussion of her novel.”
Taylor felt the opportunity to view a new, fictional world created by Minnicks was an enjoyable experience. She was able to appreciate Minnicks skill to create a fictional world for readers to explore as an English major.
“I hope that students take away their capacity to build worlds. Jamila Minnicks let us look into the world for a moment and she illustrated why it was worth protecting. The work of world building is an act of fiction, but it is also a powerful act that projects a world and ideals for an audience. It can lead to monumental changes in the environment around us. All change is a practice in imagination and fiction first and foremost.”
When asked what Taylor took away from her read, she stated that it was similar to a history lesson.
“The book taught me a valuable lesson about history, specifically in pointing out the contrasting opinions on desegregation and activism. I think that some people like to claim the activist work of their generation without having taken part in any actual change or action. The novel confirmed some suspicions that I already had. It also really shows how there are always multiple solutions offered to problems, but we don’t always see that when looking to the past,” a senior English education major from Xandrea Seals, Houston, Texas.
