Overview
Morgan Campbell comes from āa fighting family,ā a connection and clash that reaches back to the south side of Chicago in the 1930s. His fatherās and motherās families were both part of the Great Migration from the U.S. rural south to the industrial north, but a history of perceived slights and social-class differences solidified a great feud that only intensified over the course of the century after the families came together in marriage and split up across the border.
Morganās maternal grandfather, Claude Jonesāa legendary grudge-holder, as well was an accomplished musician, peer of Oscar Peterson, and fixture of the Chicago jazz sceneāwas recruited to play some shows in Toronto, fell in love with the city, and eventually settled in Canada in the mid-1960s, paving the way for Morganās parents to join him amid the tumult of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement. Morganās paternal grandmother, Granny Mary, however, remained stateside, a distance her schemes and resentments would only grow to fill.Ā
That fighting spirit wasnāt limited to the familyās own squabbles, thoughāit animated the way every generation moved through the world. From battling back as a group against white supremacist newcomers who violently resisted Black neighbours, to Morganās pre-teen mother burnishing her own legend by cold-cocking some racist loudmouth bullies, the lesson was clear: sometimes words werenāt enough.
In Canada, the Campbells started a family of their own, but the tensions between in-laws never ceased, even as divorce and disease threatened the very foundations of the life theyād built. Bearing witness to all of this was young Morgan, an aspiring writer, budding star athlete, and slow-jam scholar, whose deep American roots landed him an outsider status that led to its own schoolyard scraps and exposed the profound gap between Canadaās utopian multicultural reputation and the very different reality.Ā
Having grown up bouncing between these disparate identities and nationalities, real or imaginedāBlack and Canadian, Canadian and American, Campbell and JonesāMy Fighting Family is a witty, wise, rich, and soulful illumination of the journey to find clarity in all that conflict.
This book title, My Fighting Family (Borders and Bloodlines and the Battles That Made Us) - 9780771050213, ISBN: 9780771050213, by Morgan Campbell, published by McClelland & Stewart (January 7, 2025) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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