THE STRUGGLE FOR DIGNITY

Killens, John Oliver (1916–1987)

Youngblood [Social Protest Literature, Family Saga] [Association Copy] [First Edition Thus]

New York: Trident Press, 1966.
INSCRIBED ‘TO NAOMI AND LIBERATION’ — A LANDMARK AFRICAN AMERICAN PROTEST NOVEL FROM THE HEART OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA
A landmark of African American social-protest literature, Youngblood follows a Black family in the early 20th-century South as they confront racial injustice, class limits, and the struggle for dignity. Killens’ powerful storytelling made the novel a defining work of the period—praised by critics like Granville Hicks for its emotional force and historical significance.

KEY FEATURES
+++ Content: A sprawling family saga set in the fictional town of Crossroads, Georgia, tracing the Youngbloods from the turn of the century through the Great Depression.
+++ Association: Inscribed by the author on the front endpaper: 'to Naomi and Liberation / John O. Killens.' 
+++ Binding: Black cloth with titles stamped in silver and metallic white on spine; 8.5 inches tall. 
+++ Imprint: Trident Press, 1966 (The first reissue of the 1954 Dial Press edition). +++ Specs: [iv], [2], 3-475, [1] pages. 
+++ Condition: Very Good in a Good+ dust jacket. 
+++ Rarity: The 1966 reissue is notably scarcer in the original dust jacket than the 1954 first edition.

CONDITION: Very Good -- Tight, square bindings with clean text. Black cloth is well-preserved. The dust jacket is price-intact but shows even age-toning, light wear on corners, a closed tear at the abraded top spine tip, and a stain at the center of the rear spine edge.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE --
John Oliver Killens was a primary architect of the Neo-Black Arts Movement and a co-founder of the Harlem Writers Guild. Published originally in 1954—the year of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling—Youngblood was a pivotal 'protest novel' that eschewed the migration narrative, focusing instead on the heroic struggle to maintain dignity and build community within the Jim Crow South.

Association: Inscribed to 'Liberation.' In the context of 1966, this term was a specific sociopolitical marker for the emerging Black Power movement. The inscription materially enhances the book’s importance by linking this specific artifact to the activist fervor and the 'Liberation' ideologies that Killens himself championed as a leader among African American activist writers.

SUBJECTS: Racial Injustice, Class Struggle, African American Experience, Labor Rights, Georgia History, Civil Rights Movement, Social Protest Literature, Association Copy, Historical Fiction, Family Saga, African Americana

Item #20594

Price: $295.00