Passed On : African American Mourning Stories

A portrait of death & dying & a history of the funeral business in 20th-cent. African Amer. A thorough investigation of the myths, rituals, economics, & politics of African Amer. mourning & burial practices. Ways of dying are just as much a part of black identity as a ways of living. Interweaves archival research, interviews, & analyses of literature, film, & music. Shows how the vulnerability of African Amer. to untimely death is inextricable from how black culture represents itself & is represented. Examines how race not only affects the meaning of black lives, but their deaths as well. Demonstrates how a combination of racial injustice, violence against blacks, & medical neglect has shaped black people's expected transition between this world & the afterlife. Ill.Holloway, Karla F. C. is the author of 'Passed On : African American Mourning Stories', published 2006 under ISBN 9780756797782 and ISBN 0756797780.