"Ralph Ellison: A Biography"

"...with the music of Bach playing softly, and with Fanny snuggled tightly against Ralph on the hospital bed, Callahan saw a single tear roll slowly down his cheek. Then he was gone."

"Ralph Ellison" quickly caught my eye on the shelf in the Library's "New Book" section. Picking it up, I discovered "A Biography" in small print. I picture Mr. Ellison looking down from heaven today at Jena, Louisiana with that single tear rolling down his cheek, shrugging his shoulder, turning to walk away sadly shaking his head. "Ralph Ellison: A Biography" published in 2007 by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. written by Arnold Rampersad, is in a word: thorough. Writing this book was obviously a labor of love to Mr. Rampersad.

The very thoroughness of the book made it a labor for me to read. This is not a book you want to borrow from the library; this is the kind of book you want to buy for your home library, to read slowly over a period of time. "Ralph Ellison: A Biography" is more than a biography; it is a lesson in history of 1900s United States of America. There is a dispute of Mr. Ellison's birth year, but he was born just about the time Oklahoma became the 46th state to join the Union. His parents had rushed to the new territory, like many, to stake claims under a new government homesteading law. Freed slaves and their ancesters that were tired of being mistreated in the Southern states saw it as an opportunity to start anew as equal citizens with other settlers.

Named, Ralph Waldo Ellison, because of his father's love of Ralph Waldo Emerson, it might seem the young Ellison was destined to become a noteworthy author. This biography painstakingly shows the years of struggle that went into the writing of "Invisible Man" which won him "The National Book Award" in 1953. Black and white television was in it's infancy in 1953, and at the time Mr. Ellison would be considered a Negro writer. Among his competition for the award was Ernest Hemmingway's "The Old Man and the Sea". He had indeed written something noteworthy. The novel, "Invisible Man" made a profound impression upon me, when I read it many years later in the late 1960s.

Mr. Rampersad's biography, not only gives a history lesson on how the new Southwest was tamed, but takes one on a tour of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. One of the reasons the book was a bit tedious for me to read, was it did not just touch on Mr. Ellison's friendships with other prestigious authors of the time, such as Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, it seems to include a mini-biography of those men as well. The biography moves right on into the future telling of Mr. Ellison's disagreements with authors and civil rights leaders. He shows disdain for the new crop of angry black female writers, like Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. Many found him aloof and disinterested in the difficulties facing African-Americans.

You know it was coming; one angry militant called him an Uncle Tom. The book quotes Willie Morris writing about the encounter. Mr. Ellison vehemently denied the charge asking the young man what he knew about his life. He went on to say, "It's easy for you to say. " and "Get on your motorcycle and go back to Chicago and throw some Molotov cocktails." Undoubtedly a reference to the riots that erupted after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther, King Jr. The account tells how, after that encounter, Mr. Ellison laid his head on the shoulder of a friend and cried. "I'm not a Tom. I'm not a Tom." Sadly, such accusations are still going on in 2000s USA.

Mr. Rampersad writes well. One passage tells Ellison's visit to Massachusetts, much squabbling along the way with his wife, Fanny. He refused to stop to ask for directions, finally parking the car and falling asleep near a beach. Many hotels in the area would not rent a room to blacks. The Ellisons ran into a famous photographer who got them "...a room in a creaky old house run by two creaky old New England ladies." Such are the detailed accounts of Mr. Ellison's life, friendships and relationships with the ladies, as well as his involvement with Presidents and work with the National Council of the Arts. He tends towards analysis and dissertations of Mr. Ellison's writings. He weaves quotes from essays, letters and telegrams to and from Ralph in the biography.

"Ralph Ellison: A Biography" includes 24 pages of black and white photographs. The biography is 566 pages long with close to 100 more pages of notes and an index. I would recommend this book as required reading in every High School, especially for the students in Jena, Louisina. In addition to a comprehensive history lesson, they might come to an understanding of the complexities of being an invisible man in 1900s United States of America.

Author Note: Reference to Jena, Lousiana relate to article by Shamontiel's AC article about the "Jena 6". Ralph Ellison lived through the era that saw Jim Crow laws and "Whites Only" signs declared illegal. "White" teenagers in Jena hung nooses on a school property tree to threaten "black" teenagers that sat under their school approved "Whites Only" tree, August 31, 2006.