An anthology that celebrates the life and work of a major African American writer

This is a moving tribute to a seminal figure of American literature whose work continues to resonate. Booklist Oct. 07 Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka, Pearl Cleage and other African American luminaries remember the late writer and activist [Toni Cade Bambara]. What emerges is a portrait of a brilliant wordsmith and tireless revolutionary who 10 years after her death, is missed, says Cleage, 'each and every day.' Ms Magazine 2007 This volume is a tribute to the legacy of Bambara, an appreciation of her work, and a celebration of her life and contribution to contemporary American literature and social consciousness. Editors Holmes, Bambara's former student and a successful writer, and Wall, a writer and Rutgers University English professor, assembled the voices of distinguished art and literary personalities like Amiri Baraka, Abena Busia, Sonia Sanchez, Eleanor Taylor, Audre Lorde, Rudolph Byrd, actor Ruby Dee, and many more. They all write insightfully and affectionately, as they celebrate a truly genuine writer and social activist who made no apologies for being black and female. Recommended for public and academic libraries Library Journal These carefully selected ruminations by Bambara's peers stand as a testament to her and the impact of her iconoclastic vision and style...Savoring the Salt provides fond memories of an incandescent spirit. Filmbill These personal reflections, scholarly essays, poems, interviews, and photographs--many previously unpublished--pay high tribute to Bambara...[T]he volume provides a comprehensive approach to Bambara's life and work. Recommended. Choice

Savoring the Salt: The Legacy of Toni Cade Bambara
Edited by
Linda J. Holmes and Cheryl A. Wall
With a Foreword by Pearl Cleage
July 2006
Annotation: * means previously published

Savoring the Salt: The Legacy of Toni Cade Bambara
Table of Contents


Foreword Pearl Cleage

Linda J. Holmes and
Cheryl A. Wall Introduction

Linda J. Holmes Poised for the Light

Cheryl A. Wall Toni's Obligato: Bambara and the African American
Literary Tradition


Part I - Writing From Laughter, Writing From Rage


Toni Cade Bambara A Sort of Preface from Gorilla, My Love*

Salamishah Tillett 'Straight-Up Fiction': Sittin' Down with Gorilla, My Love

Kalamu ya Salaam Searching for the Mother Tongue *

Eleanor Traylor The Language of Soul in Toni Cade Bambara's Re/Conceived Academy

Anne Wicke Bambara in Translation

Valerie Boyd 'She was just outrageously brilliant': Toni Morrison remembers

Toni Cade Bambara*

Nikky Finney The Making of Paper*


Part II - Making Revolution Irresistible


Toni Cade Bambara From The Vietnam Notebooks

Jayne Cortez Toni. . . she was who she was

Amiri Baraka Make the Revolution!*

Beverly Guy-Sheftall Black Feminist Foremother *

Paula J. Giddings At the edge of the world

Farah Jasmine Griffin How do you measure a revolution?

Kristin Hunter Lattany Drive This Thing


Part III - Teaching Usable Truths


Toni Cade Bambara From The Children Who Got Cheated*

Audre Lorde Dear Toni [poem] *

Nikki Giovanni We Drove Together

Linda J. Holmes Lessons in Boldness 101

Jan Carew A Timeless Truthteller

Pepsi Charles T.C.B. -- Taking Care of Business

Rudolph Byrd The Feeling of Transport

Abena Busia Teaching Toni Cade Bambara Teaching

Ruby Dee Poem*


Part IV - Guerrilla Filmmaking


Toni Cade Bambara Why Black Cinema?*

Aishah Shadidah Simmons Asserting My In(ter)dependence: The Evolution of No!

Frances Negron-Mutaner Things That Toni Taught Me: A Filmmaker Reflects

Part V - Having to be whole to see whole


Toni Cade Bambara From Those Bones Are Not My Child*

Bettina Aptheker Toni Cade Bambara: A Political Life of the Spirit

Avery Gordon something more powerful than skepticism*

Sonia Sanchez Remembering and Honoring Toni Cade Bambara [Poem]*