As a mother of a teenager, the fact that Trayvon Martin was a child was stark, as was the fact of how obscure this aspect of their deadly confrontation was in many media accounts. The specific vulnerability of African American children to racial violence influenced the development of the plot. I began writing it while I was still working on the first novel, right around the time the Black Lives Matter hashtag first emerged in response to the acquittal of the man who murdered Trayvon Martin. LH: The book was written in reaction to current events and my desire to draw links between the past and the present. I’m curious about what drew you to that time period. It could have been set in the present day, but you set it in the early 1900s.
They struggle with themselves and each other about how to put these talents to good use, thereby troubling the idea of “talent.” I think it was easier to represent the limitations of the concept that way, as well as the specific pressures brought to bear on the characters themselves.ĪE: The book feels so timely for so many different reasons. In The Talented Ribkins, I gave the characters “talents” that are physically manifested, a part of their tangible reality as opposed to being an abstract potential. The essay is about the need to cultivate and educate a Black leadership class and posits that 1/10 of the Black population is born with the innate talent that, if properly trained, will make them naturally fit to assume this leadership role. Dubois’ essay, “ The Talented Tenth,” published in 1903. The Talented Ribkins evolved from my interest in the cultural impact of W.E.B.
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