Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina―a place “easy to pass by on the way somewhere else”―has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be “the rare bird, the oddity.”
By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a remarkable meditation on nature and belonging, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of black identity in the rural South―and in America today.
1. Los Angeles: http://losangelesreview.org/book-review-the-home-place-memoirs-of-a-colored-mans-love-affair-with-nature-by-drew-lanham/
2. Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/j-drew-lanham/the-home-place-memoirs/
1. American Bird Association: https://www.aba.org/lanham-interview/
2. Black Market Treads: https://blackmarketreads.com/2020/01/02/j-drew-lanham/
3. Clemson University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4rsVy5PSwI
4. Keynote Speech at National Audubon Convention in 2017: https://www.audubon.org/news/listen-drew-lanhams-keynote-speech-2017-audubon-convention-utah
Audubon's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion:
1. Bucks County Audubon Society's Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: https://www.bcas.org/about-us/diversity-inclusion/
2. National Audubon's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Site: https://www.audubon.org/about/edi
3. Politico Article: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/12/audubon-society-claims-intimidation-threats-436215
Discussion Guide from Longwood Gardens: https://longwoodgardens.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/TheHomePlace_DiscussionGuide.pdf
Discussion Questions: (Several of these questions were used or inspired from Longwood Garden's Discussion Guide listed above. Heidi will be leading the discussion.)
