BURSTING BONDS: The Autobiography of a “New...

BURSTING BONDS: The Autobiography of a “New Negro” by William Pickens, edited by William L. Andrews (Indiana University Press: $8.95). The son of former slaves, Pickens was graduated from Yale summa cum laude in 1904 and later became one of the founders of the NAACP. He wrote two versions of his autobiography: The first, “The Heir of Slaves,” which dealt with his family and childhood, was modeled after the writing of Booker T. Washington. In it, Pickens stressed the value of hard work and the pleasures of education. The chapters he added when he changed the title to “Bursting Bonds” have a sharper, more critical tone and emphasize the often abusive treatment he received from whites, despite his many accomplishments. The key to his shift in attitude came with his discovery that “In America, even the good, conscientious, missionary white people are likely to find a really straight-out, straight-up, manly and self-respecting Negro co-worker inconvenient at times, to say the least.” This outspoken book refutes the popular illusion that prior to the 1950s, African-Americans waited idly for the civil-rights movement to arrive.