Why The Other Revival is an Important and Urgent Book

Statement from Frances McCue, Editor of Pulley Press

The Other Revival is an important book and an urgent one. While Southern revivals have been traditionally religious gatherings, Salaam’s book asks us to consider hosting our own revivals–to celebrate and question historical events, to learn about what artists are doing, and to search out our own transformations.

While most poetry collections display individual poems that readers come upon as separate works of art, The Other Revival shapes the story of a Black woman who is asked to perform her poetry at a former plantation house and grounds. There, she hosts rituals for descendants of those enslaved at the house, and the descendants of their enslavers. The performances are collaborations and ways to host rituals of healing.

But they are something else too. They wear down our speaker. The performances eventually take their toll on her. One day, as she is working at the Wallace House and convening a gathering, the speaker envisions a ’woman in a yellow apron.’ She is a stand-in for the real-life Salaam Green, a ghost from the house’s past, and an inspiring image who leads Salaam away from the house, in search of a revival.

This book doesn’t go where you’d expect it to. Instead of remaining at the house, in the gatherings of the descendants, the woman in the yellow apron leads our speaker out into the country where she finds ’History House.’ This is the oldest house continuously owned by a Black family in Shelby County. It’s the home of Peter Datcher, a self-made historian who has kept the artifacts of his ancestors. There, the other revival takes place.

This book is important politically because it asks readers to consider other paths into history. As museums and support for art and artists are shut down, The Other Revival gives us all a new model of keeping history. In this case, it happens at Peter’s home. Then, he opens his home to the community.

𝓻𝓃𝒪𝒾𝓈𝓣
Frances McCue
Editor | Pulley Press