Smoketown

The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance

By: Mark Whitaker

Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi

The other great Renaissance of black culture, influence, and glamour burst forth joyfully in what may seem an unlikely place - Pittsburgh, PA - from the 1920s through the 1950s.

Today black Pittsburgh is known as the setting for August Wilson's famed plays about noble but doomed working-class strivers. But this community once had an impact on American history that rivaled the far larger black worlds of Harlem and Chicago. It published the most widely read black newspaper in the country, urging black voters to switch from the Republican to the Democratic Party and then rallying black support for World War II. It fielded two of the greatest baseball teams of the Negro Leagues and introduced Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Pittsburgh was the childhood home of jazz pioneers Billy Strayhorn, Billy Eckstine, Earl Hines, Mary Lou Williams, and Erroll Garner; Hall of Fame slugger Josh Gibson - and August Wilson himself. Some of the most glittering figures of the era were changed forever by the time they spent in the city, from Joe Louis and Satchel Paige to Duke Ellington and Lena Horne.

Mark Whitaker's Smoketown is a captivating portrait of this unsung community and a vital addition to the story of black America. It depicts how ambitious Southern migrants were drawn to a steel-making city on a strategic river junction; how they were shaped by its schools and a spirit of commerce with roots in the Gilded Age; and how their world was eventually destroyed by industrial decline and urban renewal. Whitaker takes listeners on a rousing, revelatory journey - and offers a timely reminder that Black History is not all bleak.

©2018 Mark Whitaker (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Prentice Onayemi offers an engaging, easy-on-the-ears narration...the stories are interesting, and Onayemi tells them well." (AudioFile)

Interesting historical perspective

It was fascinating to learn about Pittsburgh's place in African American history and that of the nation at large.

An Untold History of Pittsburgh

I grew up around Pittsburgh and have read pretty widely, and almost everything here was news to me. No surprise there. Smoketown doesn’t set out to be a comprehensive history of Black Pittsburgh; it’s a series of histories that, together, form a kind of Romare Bearden collage of many of the people, places, and things that made twentieth century Black Pittsburgh, and by extension Pittsburgh itself, great. As the stories pile up, it’s hard not to feel moved by the staggering level of accomplishment arising from just a few neighborhoods. There is also a profound sense of injustice as the effects of systemic discrimination begin to compound and literally eat away at the superstructure of what was. An informative, gripping, necessary read, well-written and equally well-performed.

Hopes for Pittsburgh aka "Up South"

This book provides an outstanding history of Pittsburgh as a city, but more so Black life in Pittsburgh. It lays out the struggles and challenges Blacks faced at the hands of racism, hate and ignorance. A sometimes tragic story of segregation and opportunities denied, told with as much eloquence as a gruesome story can be told. There were many stories of success celebrated in this book, mostly in sports and entertainment, but each an up hill battle. Hopefully Pittsburgh and America will one day see beyond skin color... but until then, books like this are vitally important to prevent history from repeating itself.

I learned so much!

You shall perish from a lack of knowledge!! There are so many beautiful stories about our “Black” American history. I’m grateful that someone made this available to us. This book is a gem.

Pittsburgh surprises

it was full of surprises of Pittsburgh greats. So well intertwined. From Lena Horne to August Wilson, who knew they were from Pittsburgh. The characters were so well fleshed out. Well done.