"With equal parts candor and humor, Jerald Walker--a recipient of the PEN Award for nonfiction and finalist for the National Book Award--sharply examines and explains Black life and culture in Magically Black and Other Essays"--

In Magically Black and Other Essays Jerald Walker elegantly blends personal revelation and cultural critique to create a bracing and often humorous examination of Black American life. He thoughtfully addresses the inherent complexities of topics as eclectic as incarceration, home renovations, gentrification, the crip walk, pimping, and the rise of the MAGA movement, approaching them through various Black perspectives, including husband, father, teacher, and writer. The collection's overarching theme is captured in the titular essay, which examines the culture of heroic action that African Americans created in response to their enslavement and oppression

Curse -- Magically Black -- Stopped by the Police -- Lost -- Good Help -- Crisis -- Blessing -- Combat Mode -- This Math -- Slip -- On Getting Along -- Minstrel I -- Minstrel II -- A Doctor Near Me -- It's Hard Out Here for a Memoirist -- Master of the Lawn -- Turning the Page