New book by George Davis
Tracking the American Dream
Archived article from Feb 11, 2000
By Douglas Frank
Amid the revolutionary tumult of the 1960s, eight African-American students, four women and four men, are about to graduate in Howard University's class of 1965. President Lyndon Baines Johnson gives their commencement address, promising them the same chance as all other Americans to achieve the American dream.
Thus begins a remarkable saga of the human spirit told in a planned trilogy by George Davis, Rutgers-Newark's unofficial griot-in-residence, associate professor of English, former New York Times and Washington Post reporter, and author of "Coming Home" and "Black Life in Corporate America."
The first volume, "Branches, the Human Spirit in Search of the American Dream"(Authorlink Press), available now, takes the characters to the end of the 1960s. The next two volumes, due in the fall of 2000 and 2001, will take the characters to their 20th class reunion, where they wonder if they found the dream or lost something more valuable --contact with their spiritual self, says Davis.
Inspired by Alex Haley's "Roots" and written in the style of a journalistic narrative, the novel echoes the African oral tradition of griots -- tribal history tellers and praise singers -- who passed along through the generations the pathos, satire, humor, irony and spirituality of the culture.
The eight characters are about to leave Howard to pursue the American dream in eight different career fields -- journalism, medicine, acting, high finance, social work, professional football, secondary teaching and popular music. They exist in a work of fiction based on actual historical events and are composites of hundreds of interviews conducted by Davis in his role as a griot.
"The book is based on a set of concepts called spiritual intelligence," Davis says. "Each character is a spiritual being, caught up in the turmoil of the '60s, about to begin the search for material success in the major institutional settings of American life, while maintaining contact with spiritual aspects of being. The ability to do this is the essence of spiritual intelligence."
While his characters are obviously African-Americans living in the second half of the 20th century, Davis insists that they represent all of us in our struggle to keep in touch with who we really are.
Prepublication readers agree that the characters are universal and can be related to across racial, gender and time lines.
One notes that although the book was "written from the point of view of my parents' generation ... there are so many people and situations I recognize in this book it may as well have been written just for me. The characters ... represent what happened to all Americans, not just African-Americans, in search of the dream since the civil rights movement."
Another advance reader, identified as white, calls the book "a wondrous journey" and asserts: "It's destined to produce a wonderful feeling of spirituality in many people. I feel close to the characters, each in a different way."
Both comments appeared on a special Web site established by the Committee for Branches, made up of friends, former students and other supporters who are helping market the book at www.americangriot.com (see above).
As a griot, Davis says he doesn't claim to be the author of "Branches," but regards himself as a collector of truths about people over time. "It is a tribal representation that spans the large spectrum of human responses to the things that happen to the spiritual self in the material world.
"'Branches' is the result of a lot of thinking, study, research and hundreds of interviews over some 15 years," Davis says. "I'm very happy with it and relieved that it is written, because I carried it around for so long.
"It's my masterwork by far," he added. "The thing that I was put on earth to do."
Cast of characters Here are the eight men and women introduced in George Davis' newest novel, "Branches."
Tyrone Banks comes to Howard from rural Louisiana obsessed with becoming a journalist. His spiritual aspiration is to save the world. His earthly desire is to own a Mercedes-Benz.
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