Unspeakable: The Story of Junius Wilson | 
 enlarge | Authors: Susan Burch, Hannah Joyner
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $29.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Pages: 312
ISBN: 0807884715
EAN: 9780807884713
ASIN: 0807884715
Publication Date: November 5, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet published
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Junius Wilson (1908-2001) spent 76 years at a state mental hospital in Goldsboro, North Carolina, including 6 in the criminal ward. He had never been declared insane by a medical professional or found guilty of any criminal charge. But he was deaf and black in the Jim Crow South. Unspeakable is the story of his life. In addition to offering a bottom-up history of life in a segregated mental institution, Burch and Joyner's biography also enriches the traditional interpretation of Jim Crow by highlighting the complicated intersections of race and disability as well as of community and language.
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| Customer Reviews:
Instructive, important AND compulsively readable June 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was amazed what a page-turner this was, for a story so carefully documented. Even so I found myself frequently in the middle of a deep muse pondering what his story teaches us about communication, isolation and contingency, not to mention injustice stemming from racism and patriarchal attitudes toward the minority who communicate without speech. I noticed I was also learning a surprising amount about broader social and historical movements (American, southern, racial, psychiatric, deaf cultural, and more), without ever feeling bogged down. Truly impressive.
A survivor of the social cross currents of 20th century America May 15, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I learned much about the social movements that I've long found fascinating (reconstruction, Jim Crow South, the KKK), have been a part of (mental health, deinstitutionalization, disability rights & ADA) or been close to (deaf culture). How inspired of the authors to recognize that this one man's life story could illustrate so much modern American social history. I was profoundly moved by the suffering, silent dignity and enduring humanity of Junius Wilson. This is an elegant, revealing and vivid story.
An incredible history book January 14, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Burch and Joyner have produced a wonderful example of what historical research can teach us. Mr. Wilson's story is heartbreaking but treated with respect and a gentle touch by this authors. The horrors experienced by this man speak for themselves and artfully told by these researchers and writers. This is a book that will appeal to many for many different reasons and leave all shaken. Perhaps it will also inspire others to help make the future brighter for others. I can think of no better use of historical facts than to improve the future.
unspeakable is right!!! January 10, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
i happpened to move to wilmington, n.c just when this story was coming to light in the press. i was gripped by the story and read every article that came out in follow up. when this book came out i had to have it.
to find out a deaf man was treated this way for a crime he did not commit is just.....well uspeakable.
the begining starts with a nice history of area and people. a lot of the begining is spectulaion and dead on at that. no one will ever know what junius' thoughts were in those early years. the story becomes more gripping when the facts start to arrive, via medical reports and staff and friends. it is truly a heartbreaking read. it still haunts me.
i recommend to everyone. the book is a nice piece of historical racial record. schools should add this to their curriculum.
Meticulous research, important story, terrific book December 22, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
It's a Southern horror story, and a courtroom drama, and an exploration of language and isolation, and a biography of an ordinary man caught in a senseless system. And it's all true. And it's frightening, and it's fascinating. It's the twentieth century US, through one man's story.
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