Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller
    Unavailable
    No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller
    Unavailable
    No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller
    Ebook252 pages2 hours

    No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller

    By Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "You can't walk straight on a crooked line. You do you'll break your leg. How can you walk straight in a crooked system?"

    Lewis Michaux was born to do things his own way. When a white banker told him to sell fried chicken, not books, because "Negroes don't read," Lewis took five books and one hundred dollars and built a bookstore. It soon became the intellectual center of Harlem, a refuge for everyone from Muhammad Ali to Malcolm X.

    In No Crystal Stair, Coretta Scott King Award–winning author Vaunda Micheaux Nelson combines meticulous research with a storyteller's flair to document the life and times of her great-uncle Lewis Michaux, an extraordinary literacy pioneer of the Civil Rights era.

    "My life was no crystal stair, far from it. But I'm taking my leave with some pride. It tickles me to know that those folks who said I could never sell books to black people are eating crow. I'd say my seeds grew pretty damn well. And not just the book business. It's the more important business of moving our people forward that has real meaning."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLerner Publishing
    Release dateAug 1, 2014
    ISBN9781467768078
    Unavailable
    No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller
    Author

    Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

    Vaunda Micheaux Nelson is the author of The Book Itch, as well as three Coretta Scott King Award-winning books: No Crystal Stair, Bad News for Outlaws, and Almost to Freedom. She is a former youth services librarian in New Mexico. Visit her online at vaundanelson.com.

    Read more from Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

    Related to No Crystal Stair

    Related ebooks

    Young Adult For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Crying Out For Help

      Jan 14, 2021

      Lucy Bailey, 24, Newcastle-under-Lyme Dialling the number, I waited for the familiar voice at the other end of the line. ‘Hi, love,’ my dad Jonathan, 50, said. ‘How’s things?’ I asked. ‘I’m really missing normal life,’ he said with a sigh. It was sum

      4 min read

    • Article

      I'm in Prison During the Shutdown. I Didn't Get "Holiday Steak."

      Jan 18, 2019

      We wait by the door for our turn at chow. It's Christmas dinner—really, early lunch since it's only 10:30 in the morning. Here, holiday meals are something to look forward to. They're never great, but the guys in the kitchen try hard. Life

      5 min read

    • Article

      Ice cream DREAMS

      Aug 4, 2021

      Ice cream DREAMS
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Ninth Step

      Aug 26, 2020

      The Ninth Step
      6 min read

    • Article

      Space To Reflect

      Sep 20, 2021

      Space To Reflect
      2 min read

    • Article

      Chouette

      Nov 12, 2021

      Chouette
      16 min read

    • Article

      Staircase from Heaven

      Jan 24, 2019

      Staircase from Heaven
      3 min read

    • Article

      Answer

      Mar 31, 2020

      Answer
      21 min read

    • Article

      Terror In the takeaway

      Apr 14, 2022

      Terror In the takeaway
      5 min read

    • Article

      Q&A Percy Daggs III

      Mar 26, 2022

      Q&A Percy Daggs III
      5 min read

    • Article

      Dementia

      Aug 12, 2021

      Dementia
      10 min read

    • Article

      Dementia

      Aug 12, 2021

      Dementia
      10 min read

    • Article

      Dementia

      Aug 12, 2021

      Dementia
      10 min read

    • Article

      A SMALL SSLICE of heaven

      Mar 16, 2021

      A SMALL SSLICE of heaven
      4 min read

    • Article

      Not Normal

      Jul 14, 2022

      Not Normal
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dementia

      Aug 12, 2021

      Dementia
      10 min read

    • Article

      Lies I Tell My Father

      Feb 10, 2024

      “How’s your job at the newspaper?” my father asks me. He is sitting on a couch, a plush throw blanket spread across his legs. “The newspaper’s fine,” I lie. I lie because it is simple. I lie because it is quick. I lie because it is easier than trying

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Invisible WOMAN

      Dec 23, 2020

      The Invisible WOMAN
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pops&Me

      Oct 1, 2021

      Pops&Me
      7 min read

    • Article

      My Battle With Booze

      Oct 15, 2021

      My Battle With Booze
      4 min read

    • Article

      Someone Cares

      Mar 30, 2024

      Someone Cares
      2 min read

    • Article

      Love Beyond Words

      Sep 24, 2022

      Love Beyond Words
      4 min read

    • Article

      Q&a With Richard Lui

      Mar 26, 2019

      Q&a With Richard Lui
      4 min read

    • Article

      Olivia

      Oct 30, 2019

      Olivia
      11 min read

    • Article

      How Kind Could You Be?

      Feb 14, 2023

      With four children (Flo, 24, Annie, 22, Monty, 20, and Dolly, 13), I spend my life doing things for other people, but for some baffling reason this isn’t considered to be kindness – just the often thankless duty all we mothers have to endure. As much

      4 min read

    • Article

      Connecting the Dots

      May 24, 2019

      Connecting the Dots
      4 min read

    • Article

      Why, Dad? Why?

      Oct 2, 2022

      Why, Dad? Why?
      7 min read

    Reviews for No Crystal Stair

    4/5

    41 ratings9 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I met Lewis Michaux for the first time in the pages of this book and felt said I had not encountered him before. Michaux founded the National Memorial African Bookstore in Harlem, a book store dedicated to works about and by black people. The book touts itself as a "documentary novel" replete with photographs, FBI case files, and pulling from rich source material. Lewis as portrayed in the novel was a magnetic, energetic thinker whom people gravitated toward and who was committed to sharing his understanding of the world and "proper propaganda" with others. I'm always partial to the poetry of Langston Hughes, so pepper that in the title and within the text and that was enough to get me to pick up this unique book. I'm glad I did!
    • 5/5
      One of the best, most educational reading experiences of recent memory, "No Crystal Stair" is a very creative mix of fiction, non fiction, newpaper clippings, original illustrations, FBI notes and family documents that tell the story of one amazing man, Lewis Mechaux. Sadly, I did not know who he was, so I learned an incredible amout about his life. What an amazing life story and what a wonderful store (and experiece really) it must have been to visit and spend time in. Highly recommended, for readers of all ages, but especially anyone interested in African American history, civil rights and racial equality.
    • 5/5
      This was an amazing historical perspective for African American's. Motivational without being too preachy.
    • 4/5
      Lewis Michaux grew up in Newport News, Virginia, the son of a black man who worked hard to own his own business and a mother who birthed sixteen children - twelve living - and struggled with depression. He got in some trouble as a youngster, but was inspired to start a bookstore in Harlem in the 1930s that sold books by and about black people and became a cultural center known for visitors such as Malcolm X and others.The subtitle bills this book as "a documentary novel of the life and work of Lewis Michaux." The story is told in snippets, sections of it told by various people - Lewis, his parents, his brothers, his wife, bookstore visitors both historical and imaginary - and includes photographs of historic people and quotes from FBI files. It's a unique format for a compelling story of a dynamic guy. Being separated into small segments like it is, and covering several years, did mean that I got only glimpses of who the characters/people were like, and I sometimes wasn't clear on when things were happening. I hadn't heard of Michaux before, but I loved his drive to provide books and education to his people. The title comes from the Langston Hughes poem that begins, "Well, son, I'll tell you: / Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. / It's had tacks in it, / And splinters, / And boards torn up, / And places with no carpet on the floor -- / Bare."
    • 3/5
      This was a recreated account, based on lots of factual material, of one man's quest to find his purpose in the world. He was independent and confident, and he knew he was going to make a statement with his life. He ended up finding his soul's home in a bookstore he opened, selling books about and by Blacks. A lot of influential people visited him for a book, or a chat, or to make a connection. A fascinating history of one of the men who lived through the civil rights movement and had quite an effect on lots of people.
    • 4/5
      Great novel about a man who was not just a bookseller. He sold and promoted African American's - through their work and words. He encouraged knowledge, reading, history, growth, development, and understanding. A great man.
    • 5/5
      A fascinating portrait of the pioneering and influential Harlem bookseller and literacy advocate in a wonderful mix of biography and fiction.
    • 5/5
      I think this is a shoo-in for the Coretta Scott King award this year - at least for an honor, if not the winner. It was fascinating to read about Michaux and his bookstore - an institution I had never heard of, but that clearly was an important part of history. Since this is an unusual format, it's a challenge to evaluate, but Michaux's forceful personality comes through clearly.
    • 5/5
      If you're like me, you had no idea who Lewis Michaux was and that is sad because he was a driving force for educating Blacks in Harlem. Born to a small business owner in Newport News, VA in the late 1800s, he was floudering. He knew that he wanted to get ahead but had no real direction.He was outspoken about how Blacks would get nowhere unless they knew their heritage. He was entranced by Marcus Garvey's beliefs about Blacks going to Africa to learn their culture. After years of this and that, he decided to open a bookstore in Harlem dedicated to Black authors and Black heritage. This was at a time when people thought Blacks didn't read, so he had a hard time getting financing. He ultimately started his bookstore and named it the National Memorial African Bookstore, after his evangelical brother's unsuccessful campaign to entice Blacks to move to Virginia and learn farming. It was located on 125th Street and Seventh Avenue and, over the years, it became a destination for Black activists such as Malcolm X.No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller was a labor of love and it is evident throughout the work. Michaux's great-niece, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (a Coretta Scott King award winner) is the author of this marvelous work, enhanced by the artwork of R. Gregory Christie. She combed archives, conducted interviews, sifted through library collections to try to obtain information about Michaux's life.Each chapter is broken down into snippets narrated by various people including Lewis, his brother Lightfoot, other relatives, customers and friends. It provides wonderful insight to both Lewis and the times in which he lived. The writing is descriptive. The story is uplifting. Lewis was true to himself in the life that he lived...he walked the walk and talked the talk. The accolades of this book are well deserved. So, sit down, enjoy this book and learn something in the process.