My Cup Runs Over. A Book of Poetry. Poems Written from 1940-1982. (Signed &

Description: Bertha White Hinton My Cup Runs Over. A Book of Poetry. Poems Written from 1940-1982. (Signed & Inscribed) [Self-published. 1978, yet book’s title contains 1982 as an end-date of poems written]. Small 8vo. 112 pages. Softcover. Light staining to front cover; title-page gift inscription: “To Mickey. From Cole and Doris Richmond.” Inscribed copy of this privately-printed collection of poems written by this Tennessee-native and Californian author. The book’s prevailing themes are economic, political, racial and class injustices, racism and civil rights, Black identity and the Black experience. These appear within the section “Poems That Cry Out” and throughout the book. In the poem “Am I to Blame Because I am Black?” Hinton asks “Can I help it if my hair is kinky? Surely that’s no sign to hold a person back.” In “What Are You Going to Tell Your Kids?” The narrator continues: “When they ask why they are Black? Why you ain’t got nothing? Why people don’t treat them the same?” In this poem, the children must accept that they are to be bused and integrated: “You have got to learn the white way.” In “Black Women Be Strong”, Hinton writes that Black women do not need alcohol, drugs. They do not need to to become prostitutes (“We will learn some kind of trade. We don’t need your kind of aid.”) or to become economically-enslaved: “We don’t need your credit cards / You make your credit for us too hard. / I won’t be your slave / Paying your interest to the grave / Black women be strong.” In “Black Wednesday”, a poem about the day the decision of California v. Bakkie was handed down, Hinton compares the ruling to the Dred Scott decision; both denied Black Americans their civil rights and social equality. “In My Grandfather”, Hinton explains that her ancestor was the mixed-race son of a Southern slave-owner, a son only taught to read and write because he looked white. Hating his father, Hinton’s grandfather joined the Union Army and returned to Clarkesville, Tennessee after the War only to discover that his enraged father had placed a bounty on his head. The author was graduated by Tennessee State College circa 1935. In “Going to College” she writes from the perspective of a Black male in the 1970s preparing to enter college and speaking to a friend: “Man I am going to college … I have got to increase my vocabulary. I have to learn to talk like Walter Cronkite. Man, that is going to be difficult. Because I sure ain’t white. I bought a tape recorder. I am recording that dude. I study every night. I now have him down pat. Last night I tried this talk on my girl friend. Do you know what she said? [What did she say, man?] She laughed and said, ‘Man are you getting queer or something?’ [...] I ain’t giving up. I got to learn these words the teacher keeps dropping on me, like behavior modification. [Man what is that?] Well she explained it is like self-control, changing your actions. Example: man, remain cool at all times. Don’t express your true emotions.” [Then, on being interviewed for a job:] “Listen to some of these questions. How do you feel about people? Man that is a loaded question! How do I feel about that news commentator who called us kooks on TV because we want to be free? I cannot answer questions like that. [Man that would incriminate me.] You have to remember your behavior modification…” [text in part, condensed and abbreviated] Other example poems are “My Black Fantasies”, “My Black Child”, “Black Woman’s Blues”, “A Lynching”, “Our Share of the Economy, “To Housing Discrimination”, “I’ve Seen the Black Man”. Bertha White Hinton had a career as a social worker, dietician and hospital educator. The rear cover has a lengthy biographical sketch (i.e., “After two years in one of the most prejudiced counties in the United States, she and her husband decided to leave Tennessee and come to California.”) My Cup Runs Over… appears to be Hinton’s only published work in book-form.Our Stock# 3733566 About Us Established in 1995, Ian Brabner, Rare Americana, LLC buys and sells rare and antiquarian books and historical manuscripts published or created in pre-1900 America. We are located in Wilmington, Delaware. Member Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA). International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). The Manuscript Society. Ephemera Society of America. Guarantee All items are guaranteed to be as described. Authenticity is guaranteed for the lifetime of the original purchaser. As a member of the above-named trade organizations, we abide by their published code of ethics. Any item is returnable for any reason within 30 days(prior notice appreciated). 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Price: 450 USD

Location: Wilmington, DE

End Time: 2024-12-30T17:54:10.000Z

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