Refugeed - by Reginald Flood (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Poetry collection based on slave narratives recorded by the Federal Writers' Project of President Roosevelt's Works Projects Admiinistration. "Refugeed" slaves were conveyed away from the advance of Federal forces in the American South. .

Review Quotes

"Reginald Flood's lucid poems liberate the voices of a little-known population--slaves who were 'refugeed, ' smuggled away from advancing Union Armies during the Civil War to preserve slavery's rule. Braced with historical documentation from WPA interviews, we delve across generations of American history's whip-torn surface to explore the soul of what it means to be free. Flood has written a necessary and poignant remembrance."

-Tyehimba Jess, author of Leadbelly and Olio, 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

"Blending historical scholarship on slavery with rhythmic cadence and imagistic precision of poetry, Reginald Flood's Refugeed is a masterful performance of black cultural memory."

-Tony Bolden, Associate Professor of African and African-American Studies and author of Afro Blue Improvisations of African American Poetry and Culture and a collection of essays The Funk Aesthetic in African American Poetry. Black Music, Black Poetry: Genre, Performance, and Authenticity.

"The lived experiences unearthed in under appreciated yet riveting Arkansas Slave Narratives serve to ground this collection. Flood's meticulous research and dexterity with words raises the bar and the historical poem to another level. The final result is so brilliantly conceived and executed, the reader won't blink as the dots between enslavement, Mamie Till and the streets of Compton are connected. History buffs and poetry enthusiasts alike will be fighting in the aisle to claim copies of this important work. These poems are rich and alive with voices, they masterfully exhibit the skillful application of memory, research, imagination and empathy."

-Frank X Walker, founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, Poet Laureate of Kentucky and author of several books of poetry including About Flight and Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers