"This relationship with Ellison would have a lasting influence on his own life and work, as McPherson acknowledges in his essay "Gravitas," which he published in 1999 as both a tribute to the (then) recently deceased writer, and to observe the posthumous publication of Ellison's novel "Juneteenth" that same year.McPherson also initiated a friendship with Albert Murray shortly after the publication of Murray's "The Omni-Americans