Winfred Rembert (1945–2021)

Without it winning the Pulitzer Prize, I'd have never picked up this book to read. This is the life story of leatherwork artist Winfred Rembert. I was both fascinated and horrified by events in his life. But what struck me the most is that fury would have been the main sense for people who have been through what he has, yet there was not a sense of fury from him. What was most manifest was gratitude to his wife, his friends, and his family who helped him weather a storm of experiences that show more would have destroyed him were it not for them. The depiction of his art was fantastic and I was thrilled by their beauty. He spoke early about doing his art on leather. Yet, further into the book, I came to realize the pictures of his artwork was a only a dim representation. His leatherwork is 3 dimensional, impossible to show in a 2 dimensional print. Maybe someday I'll have a chance to see some of his artwork in real life. His story was one of beauty. The beauty of his artwork, the beauty of his relationship with his wife, the beauty of his relationship with those who, he almost said, saved him from himself and showed him the real path his life should take. show less

Winfred Rembert (1945-2021) survived the worst brutality the rural Jim Crow South had to offer, including prison, time spent on a chain gang, and even a near-lynching, to become a celebrated artist with a distinctive style. Rembert's memoir, Chasing Me to My Grave tells his story beginning with his childhood of deprivation and going through his joining the Civil Rights movement, getting in trouble with the law, and ending with his redemption through his art and the love of a good woman.

This show more harrowing but moving memoir, which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2022, deserves the many honors that it has received. It features full-color reproductions of Rembert's leatherwork along with glimpses into the often-overlooked lives of Blacks in the Deep South during the oppressive Jim Crow era. Bryan Stevenson's thoughtful introduction is also not to be missed. Highly recommended. show less

So important, so crushing. An oral history of one man that tells us so much about the racism that has always been a part of this country, that we tried to change, did change some, and to which we are now returning, bit by bit by Executive Orders and Supreme Court decisions. I recommend this to everyone. And listen to it. This is intended to be heard, and Dion Graham's narration is superb. (I will listen to most anything by Dion Graham, all fantastic, but my favorite narration of his is the show more Colson Whitehead books and now this.) show less

A memoir of a Black man who had to overcome every obstacle America could put before him. And did.

In both its brevity and its presentation, it's hard not to think of Fredrick Douglas or Harriet Jacobs. Like those predecessors, Rembert's memoir is both a political act and a time capsule worthy of study and consideration.