Bibliography (in Progress) about Greek American–African American Encounters

The urgency of these days provides the context to learn about Greek Americans in connection to African Americans

Sources: Documentaries, novels, short stories, autobiography, biography, commentaries, book reviews, scholarship

• Mini-documentary, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DziGTSRMQic&t=193s

• Dan Georgakas, "Black Metropolis," chapter in his book, My Detroit: Growing Up Greek and American in Motor City
Review by Nicholas Alexiou, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/475991/pdf

• George Pelecanos, The Turnaround
For a review see, http://immigrations-ethnicities-racial.blogspot.com/2013/12/greek-americans-and-african-americans.html

• Harry Mark Petrakis, A Tale of Color
For commentary see, http://www.newdiaspora.com/a-tale-of-color/

• Apollo Papafrangou, https://www.apollopapafrangou.net/category/african-american/

• Yiorgos Anagnostou, "Do the Right Thing: Identities as Citizenship in U.S. Orthodox Christianity and Greek America."
https://ergon.scienzine.com/article/articles/do-the-right-thing

• George Lipsitz, Midnight at the Barrelhouse
The Johnny Otis Story
https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/midnight-at-the-barrelhouse

• Athanasios Grammenos, https://www.thenationalherald.com/archive_church/arthro/the_late_archbishop_iakovos_u_s_greece_relations-19342/

and

• “The African American Civil Rights Movement and Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America,” Journal of Religion and Society 18 (2016): 1–19.

May 30, 2020

Diaspora Literacy_The New Frontier

• Diaspora books translated into Greek.

• Novels about diaspora in Greek win European literary prizes.

• Diaspora poetry featured in Greek literary journals.

• Diaspora documentaries competing in film festivals in Britain and Greece.

• Diaspora films shown in Europe.

• Diaspora music performed everywhere.

There can be no meaningful conversation (and processes of evaluation) in all of the above without knowledge of the histories and cultures of the diaspora.

Hence the necessity for a diaspora cultural literacy across the diasporas and Greece.

In other words, it is necessary for Greek and diaspora institutions––schools, modern Greek programs everywhere, journalism, museums, literary and cultural criticism––to embrace a diasporic framework to discuss Greek cultural production.