Zoom Interview with J. Chester Johnson about His New Book

CHV board member Kent McKamy interviewed Carnegie Hill resident J. Chester Johnson about his intriguing new book, Damaged Heritage.

Johnson, a well-known poet, essayist, and translator, grew up in southeast Arkansas along the Mississippi River Delta, and has written extensively on race and civil rights. His most recent books are St. Paul’s Chapel & Selected Shorter Poems (2010), Now and Then: Selected Longer Poems (2017), and Auden, the Psalms, and Me (2017).

In Damaged Heritage, Johnson turns in a new direction, grappling with his beloved grandfather’s role in the Elaine Race Massacre of 1919, in which more than a hundred African American sharecroppers were killed. His poignant account carries the story through to a moment of grace nearly a century later, when he met with Sheila Walker, the descendant of victims in the Massacre. It’s a page-turner-- and just the right book for the present. Autographed copies are available at The Corner Bookstore.

Our thanks to both Chester and Kent for sharing this fascinating topic with our members via Zoom

 Alden Prouty, event host
Carnegie Hill Village

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