An Annotated Autobiography of Henry O. Flipper

Edited by Rory McGovern and Tony McGowan

This annotated edition of Henry Flipper’s autobiography guides modern readers and researchers to better understand Flipper’s original work.  The editors’ notes explain the significance of people, places, and events that Flipper identifies in shorthand; provide additional context and subtext to help readers better understand Flipper’s experiences; identify areas in which Flipper presented an ambiguous or incomplete narrative; and explore the literary qualities of the original memoir as an early work of African American autobiography. Readers of this work are given insight into the history of the African American struggle in the Reconstruction and to Black presence at West Point, as well as the publication and material history of Flipper’s original  book and Flipper’s broader place in the literary tradition. 

ISBN 978-1-959631-07-1 (print)

ISBN 978-1-959631-13-2 (ebook)

What People Are Saying

  • "This book pierces through the nuances and adds context and clarity to Flipper’s own words. The resulting annotated autobiography takes the story from being effectively a two dimensional image into a three dimensional one. The editorial team conducted extensive research into the annals of history and the archives of West Point to find extraordinary precision about Flipper’s journey…[i]t is a compelling product and fits Flipper into the broader tapestries of West Point and of America in the 1870’s."

    Vincent K. Brooks

    General (Retired), U.S. Army

  • “According to the authors, the book is intended 'to help modern readers navigate and interpret the memoir—and in doing so, to better contextualize and understand Flipper, his times, his experiences at West Point, and his autobiography as a contribution to American literature in its own right. Ultimately, it is an aspirational project that [they] hope will frame and inform future scholarship.' I think the authors succeed in their purpose and goals….I was thoroughly impressed with the analysis and thoughtfulness of the explanatory footnotes.”

    Brian G. Shellum

    Historian

    Author of Black Cadet in a White Bastion: Charles Young at West Point

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