June Celebration

Author: Ralph Ellison
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: This book is hailed as "Ulysses of America." A white woman has an affair with a Black man and falsely accuses the Black man's brother, Bab, leading to Bab's execution. The mixed-race child, Bree, is born, and the grieving Hickman, with a heart full of tolerance and love, adopts him. Hickman becomes a pastor and takes Bree to serve in the church. Over the years that follow, he promotes racial discrimination and eventually becomes a Senator. The work recreates a segment of American history, deeply concerned with the fate of Black people, explores the mysteries of human nature, and delves into the path of Black liberation.
Adam Sunraider, a Senator from New England, is wounded by an assassin while delivering a speech in the Senate and is on the brink of death. To the astonishment of everyone who believed they knew him, Sunraider's last request is to see an elderly Black pastor named Hickman. The pastor is summoned, and the two have a private conversation. Through their dialogue, as long-buried memories are gradually brought back to life, readers finally unravel the mystery and witness a heartbreaking story. It turns out that this American Senator is the son of a white woman and a Black man, with an unknown father. However, his white mother falsely claims that the father is Hickman's only brother, Bab. After Hickman's brother is executed, his elderly and ailing mother also leaves this world in grief. Then, the white woman leaves the child with Hickman.
Hickman knows that hatred cannot erase the pain of his brother's execution and his mother's death, so he raises the boy with love and self-sacrifice, naming him "Bree" (Bliss means "bliss, ultimate happiness"), hoping that he will grow up to work toward eliminating racial hatred. He dedicates much of his life to this idea. Bree grows up to help Hickman conduct the ritual of Christ's resurrection. During a religious ceremony celebrating the traditional holiday of June 19, 1865, the day of Black emancipation, a white woman recognizes Bree and claims he is her long-lost son, "Cudworth" (Cudworth means "worthy of chewing over"). She insists on taking him away no matter the cost. The white people present mistakenly believe Hickman had raped her and beat him. Although most of the Black people present do not believe this is true, none dare to defend him.
After recovering, Hickman takes Bree to see a movie. In the cinema, Bree fantasizes that his white mother is also a white movie star and runs away from his adoptive father, Hickman, embarking on a long and arduous journey to discover his identity. Bree's departure deeply strikes Hickman, testing the ideals in his heart. Since agreeing to raise the child, Hickman has given up his former joyful life and become a bachelor, also nurturing Bree into a genius in ministry. However, as Bree grows up, he sacrifices loyalty and repays kindness for selfish and worldly gains.
Through the character of Hickman, Ellison poses the question: Why do white children raised by Black nannies always turn against them in adulthood? Why are Black nannies destined to lose from the start? Must the bond between a child and the roots of love always be severed? Is this a common phenomenon or a necessity of power structures? Yet Hickman's love transcends the pain of shattered ideals. He not only does not lose faith but strengthens it. This faith drives him to closely watch the boy's career, especially when he becomes a politician. When he learns that Bree is in danger, this faith compels him to come to Washington. Even in the final moments of the Senator's life, Hickman remains omnipresent, always appearing in his thoughts and actions.
For Bree, his departure marks the beginning of his life's tragedy, for he leaves behind the true source of power—the very social roots that nurtured him and the Black people who raised him. He desperately tries to forget his identity, dressing up as a traveling filmmaker and manipulating the camera as a means of forgetting, denying, distorting, and mocking, becoming a master of deception. He explores life among white people and successfully changes his name to "Sunraider" (Sunraider means "one who rushes toward the sun"). He uses the power of racial prejudice to punish the weakness of Black people, seeking his own power, and eventually becomes a U.S. Senator, turning into a political demon.
Ironically, at the peak of his political career, he is assassinated, and the assassin is his own son, the result of a brief but passionate affair with a mixed-race girl of Black, white, and red descent.