[Chi Boy is part memoir, part social history, part eulogy for his
ancestors, and part tribute to men whose literary output continues to
inspire him. ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

REVISITING THE GREAT MIGRATION AND THE BLACK LITERARY LEGENDS IT
INSPIRED  
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Eleanor J. Bader
February 9, 2023
The Indypendent
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_ Chi Boy is part memoir, part social history, part eulogy for his
ancestors, and part tribute to men whose literary output continues to
inspire him. _

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_Chi Boy: Native Sons and Chicago Reckonings_
Keenan Norris
Mad Creek Books/The Ohio State University Press
ISBN: 978-0-8142-5853-8

Keenan Norris’ _Chi Boy_ is part memoir, part social history, part
eulogy for his ancestors and part tribute to men whose literary output
continues to inspire him. The Windy City is the linchpin of this
poetic but searing story.

Jim Crow racism drove Norris’ people from the South, eventually
landing them in segregated Chicago where opportunities were few and
poverty was extensive. Still, arriving after World War II ended, they
took whatever menial jobs were available to men and women of color and
made do, raising four kids in a cramped, rodent-infested apartment.
Domestic violence, alcoholism, and infidelity were part of the social
fabric. So were books.

Writers such as James Baldwin, Frank Marshall Davis, Ralph Ellison and
Richard Wright sustained Norris’ dad and he passed his love of
literature to his son. Later, Barack Obama, another transplanted
Chicagoan, gave the Norris’ new perspectives to consider, and fueled
debate about the limitations of the promise of equal opportunity. 

These ongoing discussions fired the younger Norris’ imagination;
_Chi Boy_ not only parses Obama’s words but also interrogates the
most significant works of the aforementioned writers, all of whom made
their home in Chicago. Now a professor at San Jose State University in
California, Norris deconstructs their work with an eye toward time,
place and social conditions, zeroing in on the political milieu that
influenced each author’s work. In addition, personal foibles and
missteps are highlighted.

Richard Wright’s misogyny, for example, is detailed. And while
Norris does not condone it, he offers an explanation: “Violence
begets trauma,” he writes, “and trauma remains and is inherited in
one form or another.” At the same time, his conclusion is stark:
“Chicago’s most famous Black writer is among its most
misogynistic…That misogyny in the writing is often directed at Black
women particularly, which is even more disturbing, given the deep and
unique harms that Black women are subjected to in this society.”  

Other critiques are equally perceptive, and Norris’ prose is
brilliantly pointed.  

The result is fascinating, if nonlinear, and includes numerous
seemingly unrelated forays into seemingly unrelated themes. Among them
is the story of the Norris family itself, a tale that is woven
throughout the narrative and illustrated with emotional anecdotes
about grandfather Bill’s decision to leave the South and father
Butch’s coming-of-age in the 1950s and 60s. The result could have
been jarring since it pairs incongruous histories, juxtaposing
acclaimed writers with regular guys who lacked national or
international fame. That it works is a testament to Norris’ skill as
a writer — this is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve
ever read — and his ability to thread racial and class prejudice
into each rendering.

Another tangent involves the media. Norris lambastes journalists that
continue to present stereotypes about Black communities in Chicago and
elsewhere, depicting them as places overflowing with thuggery, gang
violence and grinding poverty. This, he explains, ignores the manifold
ways that Black and Brown people provide mutual aid to one another,
organize to improve community conditions, and create joy through art,
music and activism. The media creation of the term Chi-Raq, as if
Chicago was and is a war zone analogous to Iraq, comes in for
particular critique for its damaging misrepresentation.  

Taken as a whole, Chi Boy is a powerful indictment of Jim Crow’s
enduring legacy. Both deeply personal and deeply political, it is a
palpable denunciation of white supremacy and the foundational lies
that sustain it.

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* literary memoir
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* literary criticism
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* the Great Migration
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* African American literature
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* U.S. history
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* Black History
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