Up South in Akron

The legendary Umar Bin Hassan is best known for his work over the last six decades as one of the founding members of the Last Poets. Back in 2013, he shifted gears a bit and wrote a first- person memoir about growing up in the Midwest in the Fifties. Entitled “Up South in Akron” and vividly illustrated by the notable comic book artist Nate McDonough, it was published in a miniscule edition and quickly disappeared. 

The book is once again to see the light of day thanks to the good taste and hard work of the folks at independent publisher Music Arkives. The imprint has set a release date of October 30, which happens to be Umar’s 75th birthday. 

The inspiration for “Up South in Akron” grew out Bill Adler’s appreciation of Umar’s unique ability to spin a tale. Adler, who worked in the Nineties as a publicist for the Last Poets and for Umar as a solo artist, was particularly fond of Umar’s stories about growing up in Akron, Ohio. Known in the Fifties as the Rubber Capitol of the World, the city then included an African-American community that made up about 30% of the total population, which was subject to the usual strictures of second-class citizenship. The irony of this racism in a northern state wasn’t lost on the locals, who used to joke about living “up South in Akron.” 

One day Adler suggested to Umar that it might be fun to put some of his Akron stories into comic book form, zeroing in on his work as a shoeshine boy on Howard Street, a/k/a Little Harlem, where the city’s Black residents congregated to play hard after working hard. Umar consented, Nate illustrated his tales, and the rest was history…or it would have been if the book had been professionally marketed. As noted, that did not happen. Ten years later, “Up South in Akron” is getting its second chance.

$14.00 USD *Shipping Included