On America: Misbehaving at the Crossroads with Honorée Fanonne Jeffers and Imani Perry

The Center for Fiction is thrilled to welcome acclaimed poet and novelist Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois) to celebrate the release of her new book, Misbehaving at the Crossroads. National Book Award-winning author and scholar Imani Perry will join her in conversation for this special event in our On America series.

The “crossroads” has traditionally symbolized a place of simultaneous difficulty and possibility in diasporic Black culture. Black women in America often find themselves at a third crossroads—navigating ideals of femininity and respectability primarily assigned to white women, while inventing improvisational strategies to resist oppression.

In her nonfiction debut, Jeffers explores the emotional and historical tensions within Black women’s public lives and her own private life. She traces the journey from Black girlhood to womanhood and the forces shaping it, including racially gendered oppression, the adultification of Black girls, the irony of Black female respectability politics, and resistance to white supremacy and patriarchy.

Don’t miss this critical conversation between two luminaries about the experiences of Black women from the past to the present. A book signing will follow the event.