Oxford American # 122, Fall 2023

Guest Editor’s Letter: A Deep Wanting to Know
by Tayler Montague


POINTS SOUTH

Language of Hunger, by Clarissa Fragoso Pinheiro

Her Retirement, My Retirement, by Logan Scherer

A Louisiana Story, by Virginia Hanusik

Background Noise, by Jeremy Steen

Unspooling Norma Rae, by Kit Duckworth

Ja’Tovia Gary’s Cosmic Return, by Amarie Gipson



FEATURES

LOVE LETTER FROM KOKOMO
Filmmaker D. Smith’s documentary explores the lives of Black trans women
By Jewel Wicker

MADE FOR TV
On Polly and Debbie Allen’s directorial savvy
By Jessica Lynne

THE INTIMATE AND THE PUBLIC
On Les Blank and collaborative documentary
By Rahim Fortune

IS THIS SACRED GROUND?
A Q&A with Kasi Lemmons
By Tayler Montague



OMNIVORE

TOWARD A RADICAL CINEMATIC HORIZON
The unrealized works of Toni Cade Bambara and Gloria Naylor
by Randi Gill-Sadler

IMAGINING THROUGH FABRIC
The textiles and memories of Cameroon’s Muna Moto
by Qaman Omar

THE BLACK GIRL BEST FRIENDS AT THE SURVIVORS PARTY
by Justin Phillip Reed

FUGITIVE PIECES: In Old Wilmington
How the failed search for a silent film uncovered a lost musician of the Harlem Renaissance
by John Jeremiah Sullivan

JOY TO THE WORLD
From the web
by Adam Nayman

BodyPoetry: A Short Film
From the web
by Zandashé Brown

ART BY: Barry Yusufu, William Eggleston, Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber, Baldwin Lee, Sabrina Gshwandtner, Jules de Balincourt, Virginia Hanusik, Mike Reddy, Ja’Tovia Gary, Rahim Fortune, Adé Randle, Francesca Gabbiani, Feraul Fosso, Monet Alyssa, Beauford Delaney

COVER: Lady for Television, 2020, charcoal and acrylic on canvas by Barry Yusufu © The artist. Courtesy Unit London