book, can run as fast as Mercury, the swift messenger in Roman mythology. He incorporates other prime figures in black history as well.
In 1995, Goings asked Kim Bridgford, an English professor, to critique a draft of his work.
“I knew almost immediately that this was a fabulous piece. You could see the grandeur and get a sense of the story that he was telling,†says Bridgford of her initial reaction. “The Children is hard to put in one category. It overlaps different genres. Goings is [taking] a journey, like in the Canterbury Tales. There are all kinds of conversations within the text.â€
Peppered throughout the book are drawings by Romare Bearden, a renowned black mixed-media artist and friend to Goings.
For years Goings cherished images from his friend. He didn’t show them to anybody for years and wondered what he would do with them. That is, until he saw the Million Man March and realized that the children of children keep coming.