Black bottom saints
On his deathbed, Ziggy (1914-1968) Johnson, nightclub MC, dance school founder, and entertainment columnist writes a Saints Day Book in which he recalls the joys and challenges of a life lived among bold-faced names, breadwinners, and small fry who attend his Detroit dancing school. In his pages we meet Mari, an endangered young Black writer, and the 60 saints Ziggy sends to save her. Ziggy’s saints include Tanya Blanding, a four-year-old Black girl shot dead in her home by a Michigan State Trooper in the summer of ‘67; poet Robert Hayden; golfer Teddy Rhodes; and singer Della Reese. The profiles, some as short as three pages, can be read as stand-alone short stories. Woven together they form Black Bottom Saints a novel that has been hailed as an “instant American classic” and a “must read now triumph.” Whether you read cover to cover; start with a Saint with whom you are already familiar; or take a quiz to discover “the Saint you need now;” enter Ziggy’s world to gain new insights into why Black Lives Matter and to discover, or rediscover, the nitty-gritty Black Bottom truth, Black joy is radical!
Buy your copy at one of these independent book stores:
“Be Good to Yourself, Amen!”
- Saint Rev. Clarence Cobbs
Readers are shaking up Ziggy cocktails, listening to curated Spotify playlists with tunes from Ziggy’s era, spritzing on Arpege perfume, exploring a virtual museum hung with Jimmy James Greene’s portraits of the saints commissioned by Alice Randall, and dancing around their kitchens between chapters. Preview Black Bottom Saints by peeking into Ziggy’s scrapbook.
What, or who, is a black bottom saint?
Black Bottom Saints are ancestors: they walked through the lobby of Detroit’s famed Gotham Hotel; were beloved by Ziggy Johnson and appeared in his columns; moved from trauma to transcendence; and who, through the imagination of fiction writer Alice Randall, provide powerful inspiration for people living now. One is your need-now Black Bottom Saint.
Take the “Who’s Your Saint?” quiz to discover the Black Bottom Saint you need now.
Alice’s Saint
Ethel Waters is the Patron Saint of Twice-Told Stories, Having Your Say, and Abused Children.
Ethel is my patron Saint and the Saint I need now. Why? Wind Done Gone, my first novel, is a twice told story. I was an abused child. I had my say and taught my daughter poet Caroline Randall Williams, to insist on having hers, that’s why Ethel's my patron Saint. And she's the Saint I need now—because I want to write a memoir, and Ethel wrote hers twice! Find Ethel in chapter 13.
Caroline’s Saint
Eartha Kitt is an undercover operative, the hidden saint. She’s the Saint who walks right into the White House and speaks truth to power— getting invited because she knows how to hide in plain sight. Eartha’s my Saint and I will tell you what Ziggy doesn’t, where to find her if you need her: striding (but hidden) through Chapter 43!
Who’s your saint?
