MOONRISE OVER NEW JESSUP
Winner of the 2021 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, a thought-provoking and enchanting debut about a Black woman doing whatever it takes to protect all she loves at the beginning of the civil rights movement in Alabama.
It’s 1957, and after leaving the only home she has ever known, Alice Young steps off the bus into the all-Black town of New Jessup, Alabama, where residents have largely rejected integration as the means for Black social advancement. Instead, they seek to maintain, and fortify, the community they cherish on their “side of the woods.” In this place, Alice falls in love with Raymond Campbell,
Winner of the 2021 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, a thought-provoking and enchanting debut about a Black woman doing whatever it takes to protect all she loves at the beginning of the civil rights movement in Alabama.
It’s 1957, and after leaving the only home she has ever known, Alice Young steps off the bus into the all-Black town of New Jessup, Alabama, where residents have largely rejected integration as the means for Black social advancement. Instead, they seek to maintain, and fortify, the community they cherish on their “side of the woods.” In this place, Alice falls in love with Raymond Campbell, whose clandestine organizing activities challenge New Jessup’s longstanding status quo and could lead to the young couple’s expulsion—or worse—from the home they both hold dear. But as Raymond continues to push alternatives for enhancing New Jessup’s political power, Alice must find a way to balance her undying support for his underground work with her desire to protect New Jessup from the rising pressure of upheaval from inside, and outside, their side of town.
Jamila Minnicks’s debut novel is both a celebration of Black joy and a timely examination of the opposing viewpoints that attended desegregation in America. Readers of Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and Robert Jones, Jr.’s The Prophets will love Moonrise Over New Jessup.
- Algonquin Books
- Hardcover
- January 2023
- 336 Pages
- 9781643752464
Buy the Book
$28.00
About Jamila Minnicks
Jamila Minnicks is the author of Moonrise Over New Jessup, the 2021 winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Her work is also published in CRAFT Literary Magazine, The Write Launch, and The Silent World in Her Vase. Her piece “Politics of Distraction” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan, the Howard University School of Law, and Georgetown University. She lives in Washington, DC.
Praise
“My favorite novels light up my brain with things I hadn’t considered before – and this one does exactly that. The deep complexity of the American Civil Rights movement; the various, sometimes opposing approaches of its leaders to desegregation; the gains and inevitable casualties that social progress can claim. With compelling characters and a heart-pounding plot, Jamila Minnicks pulled me into pages of history I’d never turned before.” —Barbara Kingsolver
“An immersive and timely recasting of history by a gloriously talented writer to watch. You will fall in love with New Jessup: the town and the book.” —Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, author of The Revisioners
“I was awestruck by its beauty, rapt by its originality, and astounded by its depth. But what astonished me most was learning that this is a debut. The craftwork is extraordinary. Was this book dreamed into existence? Did the Ancestors themselves place this story in the writer’s mind? From page one, I knew this work would transform me. It expanded the way I imagine what is possible in the art form. More than interesting, it is integral. More than important, it is inspiring. Read this book. Cherish it. Protect it. You must. Right out of the gate, Jamila Minnicks’s Moonrise Over New Jessup is a masterpiece.” —Robert Jones, Jr., author of The New York Times bestselling novel, The Prophets
“A warmly appealing book debut” with “impassioned characters. A thoughtful look at a complex issue.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Elegant and nuanced, Moonrise Over New Jessup is an incandescent work of art through-and-through, from a powerful new voice.”—Jason Mott, author of National Book Award winner Hell of a Book
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think Alice sobs when she first realizes that she’s ended up in what appears to be a thriving, all-Black community? What did you think of the way she is embraced into the town by the Browns, Miss Vivian, and Mr. Marvin?
2. Though Alice, her friends, and family refer to New Jessup as a “town,” it was never formally incorporated as a municipality after the 1903 riot. Technically, this would make it a Black settlement. Why do you think it was important to Raymond and the rest of the members of the New Jessup NNAS to incorporate New Jessup into its own city?
3. More often than not, the people of New Jessup say they are trying to maintain “separation” or “independence” from the other side of the woods, as opposed to saying “segregation” or “desegregation” or “integration”. Why do you think this is? How do you think their language reflects their mindset about New Jessup?
4. White Citizens’ Councils were organized in many localities after the Supreme Court issued the Brown v. Board of Education decision which desegregated public schools. These councils were generally created to fight desegregation and perpetuate anti-Black laws and conduct, and were generally comprised of “local white men of distinction” such as the judges, police, and business owners of Jessup. Why do you think they asked Pop, Cap, and Mr. Marvin to join their meetings? Why do you think Pop, Cap, and Mr. Marvin withheld information from the council and handled any organizing around New Jessup themselves? Do you think this is something that would happen in the Black community today?
5. Why do you believe that Raymond wanted Alice to stop working outside the home? And why do you think he ultimately forced the issue? What as your reaction when he had her fired?
6. Alice mentions wanting to vote, but that she is unwilling to “wear out her shoe leather” just to cast a ballot for the same candidates that are always on the ballot. Why do you think she took this position?
7. Do the women of New Jessup fit your definition of the “strong Black woman?” Why or why not?
8. Why do you think Raymond considers the theft of his sister Regina’ shoes the worst part of the altercation at the Montgomery bus station?
9. What is the significance of Alice dreaming about Rosie? What do you think happened to Rosie?