Testimony - Natasha Tarpley

Black youth, particularly college-educated youth, are the supposed inheritors of the civil rights struggles. Although symbols of victory for the generation that came befpre them, they are actively engaged in a new struggle—one for their own identities.

In Testimony , Black students across the country express their generation's shared experiences—from racism in school to the politics of hair. One student considers the dynamics between Black men and women as he explores his own relationships; another writes of ther decision to attend a women's college, and the importance of women role models in her development. Through their compelling poetry and prose, these student writers claim identities from fragmented lives, embrace themselves, and resurrect their spirits.