Juneteenth

Winner of the National Book Award and one of America’s most influential writers, Ralph Ellison spent 40 years creating this ambitious, stunning saga. Using a celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation as a reference point, Juneteenth speaks poetically, musically, and wisely of the bond and the burden of racism that black and white Americans have always shared. When racist Senator Adam Sunraider is downed by an assassin’s bullet, he mysteriously summons an elderly black minister to his deathbed. As the two men relive their memories of a shared history, they gradually reveal the secrets of their past. Both hope to find redemption as they converge upon the tragic series of events that first brought them together. Ellison scholar John F. Callahan carefully assembled this rich, passionate composition from thousands of pages of notes. Peter J. Fernandez’s considerable narrative talent imbues the audio version with all the resonance of a fine jazz improvisation.