Come out the wilderness

At the intersection of poetry and politics, race and gender, analysis and feeling lies this first memoir from Estella Conwill Majozo. Come Out the Wilderness depicts a search for "some state of grace" amid a life rooted in contradictions as it traces the journey of this African American poet, performance artist, community arts activist, teacher, and single mother. Growing up in the "Little Africa" section of segregated Louisville, Kentucky, in the 1950s, Majozo is the only girl among five brothers. She is one of the only African American students at her Catholic school, and is expected to be a "spokesperson for the Black race" as the early battles of the Civil Rights Movement rage around her. Although she is raised with strong female role models - a mother and grandmother whose strength and intelligence are the bedrock of the family - she must win her college tuition by competing in the local "Miss Black Expo" contest. When an early marriage grows abusive, Majozo confronts the conflicts faced by African American women who are forced to choose between a sense of loyalty to race and a consciousness of gender-based injustice. Refusing to "live the blues," she co-founds an important Black cultural center in Louisville, earns one of the first Ph.D.s awarded in African American literature, and goes on to become a professor at Hunter College and an active member of Harlem's vital arts community. She synthesizes her new last name, Majozo, from the names of three great African American women: educator Mary McLeod Bethune, musician Josephine Baker, and writer Zora Neale Hurston. Estella Conwill Majozo's memoir testifies to the importance of a life lived in pursuit of spiritual growth, cultural heritage, and personal integrity.