by
Ralph Ellison
The Still I Rise Book Club met at Robin’s house on March 15. Maybe my memory is bad because of the Manhattans Robin served in honor of the book setting of Harlem OR maybe it was because we were all so excited because Nadine announced that she had found a publisher for her book!
Anyway, I didn’t hear anyone say that they didn’t enjoy this book. Everyone had
a point to make because each of us could relate to some part of Ellison's story. Some of us actually enjoyed the fact that he cheated the electric company. Others related to his feeling of invisibilty by stating why how and when we personally felt invisible.
Some felt invisible at work - totally overlooked for promotion consideration. Sistahs feel invisible when they are ignored by an African-American brother who struts by without even speaking, 'couse he got Miss Anne on his arm. And why do they always have to hug and hold hands with their white honeys? Who's making what statement? Women could absolutely relate to the invisible feeling of being overlooked in the sales line. You know, the sales clerk asked who was first in line after it was quite obvious Black came before White. .
We were all affected by the “battle royal”. (Some of us had seen Ellison’s story on PBS which showed enactments of graphic scenes from the “battle”.) It was so degrading because the narrator felt that he had “arrived” since he was invited to speak before prominent white men, only to learn he was just another "nigger" to be used for entertainment purposes.
After moving to Harlem and joining the Brotherhood, he finally feels that he has found his “place”, but is again disappointed once he discovers that he is being used. However, in the end, he still believes there is hope.
We felt that the book was intelligent and still relevant even though it was set in the ‘40s. The book leaves us begging the question, WILL WE EVER STOP BEING INVISIBLE IN THESE UNITED STATES?