{"product_id":"light-ahead-for-the-negro-9781513296838","title":"Light Ahead for the Negro","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLight Ahead for the Negro\u003c\/i\u003e (1904) is a novel by Edward A. Johnson. Written while Johnson was working as an assistant U. S. Attorney in North Carolina, the novel is a groundbreaking work of speculative fiction and Afrofuturism from a pioneering African American politician and lawyer. \"I glanced through the floor but the earth was almost indistinguishable, and was disappearing rapidly. There was absolutely nothing that I could do. I looked up again at my friend, who was clambering up rather clumsily, I remember thinking at the moment. [...] Involuntarily, I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them again, he was gone! My feelings were indescribable. I commenced to lose consciousness, owing to the altitude and the ship was ascending more rapidly every moment. Finally I became as one dead.\" The son of an abolitionist applies to work at a school for African American children in Georgia. In June 1906, he joins a wealthy friend on a flight from New York City to Mexico, boarding an experimental airship at a West 59th Street pier. When an instrument failure sends them spiraling into the upper atmosphere, the narrator loses consciousness. One hundred years later, he lands on a lawn in Georgia, awakening to discover a utopian society in which anti-blackness has been completely eradicated. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Edward A. Johnson's \u003ci\u003eLight Ahead for the Negro\u003c\/i\u003e is a classic work of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohnson, Edward A.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCharles A. Johnson\u003c\/b\u003e (1860-1944) was an African American attorney, novelist, and New York state assemblyman. Born into slavery in Wake County, North Carolina, he gained his freedom as a child at the end of the Civil War and went on to excel at Washington High School and Atlanta University. While working as a school principal in Raleigh, he wrote \u003ci\u003eA School History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1890\u003c\/i\u003e (1890), a pioneering textbook on African American history that was adopted by black schools throughout Virginia and North Carolina. In 1891, he obtained a law degree from Shaw University, a historically black university in Raleigh, before working as an assistant U.S. Attorney from 1899 to 1907. During this time, Johnson wrote \u003ci\u003eLight Ahead for the Negro\u003c\/i\u003e (1904) an influential utopian novel set in the year 2006. Devoted to Republican Party politics, he moved to New York City and became a leader in Harlem, eventually joining the New York State Assembly in 1918. In 1928, despite having gone blind several years earlier, Johnson ran a strong campaign for Congress in the 21st District, eventually losing to Democrat Royal H. Weller.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mint Editions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50382676132114,"sku":"9781513296838","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c08e2bd8-5230-4df6-bc8e-fa3ec373b758.jpg?v=1728713807","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/light-ahead-for-the-negro-9781513296838","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}