{"product_id":"blueprints-to-freedom-paperback","title":"Blueprints to Freedom - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMichael Benjamin Washington\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"In Michael Benjamin Washington's absorbing new play about an all-but-forgotten civil rights leader, one of the biggest moments in the fight for racial equality comes off despite-or perhaps because of-a crisis of faith.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Faith, in fact, becomes a key motif coursing through BLUEPRINTS TO FREEDOM: An Ode to Bayard Rustin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e There's the faith that other African-American activists place in Rustin to organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, despite plenty of agonized mutual history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e There's the broader faith in the idea that such an action can make a difference, with discrimination and segregation still pervasive in America 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e And then there's Rustin's own deep Christian faith, shattered (by his count) 669 days before the play begins, when he was forced to quit the Southern Christian Leadership Council over worries about publicity concerning his private life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Rustin, a pillar of the civil-rights movement who died in 1987, was a gay man (more or less openly so) in a time when that was difficult even for someone not already facing bigotry. That aspect of his identity helps explain why his name has faded from our nation's roll call of those who led the movement in the 1960s.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The play...is an often lyrical, dialogue-rich piece of work whose political sweep and sense of building momentum is reminiscent of ALL THE WAY, Robert Schenkkan's 2014 Tony Award-winner about President Johnson's push to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964....\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e [There is] humor, too. When Rustin's bright young assistant, Miriam Caldwell, asks Rustin and his mentor, A Philip Randolph, why they speak so formally, Randolph replies that it's a nod of respect to their ancestors. Rustin's response: 'I do it to confuse white people'. (After a pause, he adds: 'I speak this way aloud because I speak this way to God'.)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Despite the triumphant notes around the march, which drew a quarter-million people, there's a storm yet to come in BLUEPRINTS. There's always another storm to come, as the 'Black Lives Matter' movement can attest today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e BLUEPRINTS bears witness that history matters, too.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJames Hebert, The San Diego Union-Tribune\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 74\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.15 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 22, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42733407404095,"sku":"9780881459692","price":22.38,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/cbdb26d6e8b3c9bc7db44bef526ef9a1.webp?v=1765135817","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/blueprints-to-freedom-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}