3 10 90 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/a87d67611dbb4a48dcf12179e95927ba.pdf 8f900f644c55edf8186640bf3d748e9d PDF Text Text CHAP.JEER IIJ:; AF/ijICAN I Voice IN ECLIPBE; I MITATION & ~GITATION , 1746-1~65 Sa aves, though we be en ro ll•d / tuk Minds are neverAsold -- from David Ruggles ' Appeal @, 35 ---· As we embark on a :m.D"l"BllmWIDW@immih -.... survey of the cha:m.onological development of Blac~ r y , it is important to remember that any study ot;:fiteraturef conc err);Jf. that which is "written" and "available . " ~~ made ~CXlllt:mmllt:m.x~ ; . r r ~m t:m:iiii'The fact tha-c~ writer hasAmore (1 _.,,. works accessible to the publi c than another writer does not mak e him/her »e g I IS 11 the a1 g r e atest' 1 or e ven 11 gre 2ter . 11 I n 8:luosts every '°jimnt:mwnam" era, quiet and important writers have been pa s sed over --.... !laft" in favor of literature that is more 11 timely, 11 "flamboyant II and "retJ.,,. velant 11 - - to use an overworked contemporary term. ·1iit: za21 ¼-t-e.n.t ~ d follo wing chapt e rs , represent a tions of the And while this book c ertainly I am including brief nanthology0 ven 9eo re'inforc e J. comments on styles , themes , subjects , language and other aspects of poems included, ~ the poetry. The fi £1<7JA it is hoped, will allow, student,lllld general r eader and tea che r :mwnmrrn;;;;;;&Dl:iczr:toa~ immedi ? te access to comparisons, contrasts and tent a tive analyses . There a lso is no over - riging effort to explain the works in a poem- by- poem breakdown. Howev e r , ~hapt er VII will offer an histo rical 11 running' an a lysis of several poems with t e !il~a..'"n.il1.e~t are emphasi s on how the poems can be read silently ~a~n~d~at1iio~u~d~.~ - ;j~;;.. o f the in themes somel\consistencies(and similarities)/that can be found in many of the poems . �UNir-, , L Blacks have been in the Western Hemisphere almost as long as whites. After 1501, most of the Spanish expeditions to the New World included Black explorers. By the time the 20 slaves-to-be were brought on a Dutch vessel to Jamestown in 1619, the presence of Blacks bad been felt for at least 100 years ,,. / Crucial to an understanding of early Black Poetry are the circumstances su~rounding slavery and. the political and bto. C0Lon1c«. L· ((J et vf, <~ ·y religious moods of~England and~America. British America did not follow the Greco-Roman tradition of the well slave. It was quite unlikely, then, that a 11 nfor,ned revolutionary 11 Black poet would emerge from a social and literary landscape so charged with self-riGhteousness and Neoclassicism (or from the Romanticism of the 1800's). Lucy Terry's "Bars Fight" (written in 1746 and published in 1393) could hardly be called 11 protest"; neither could the work of Phillis Wheatley, considered the finest Black talent of the colonial era, caught between contrivances of the Age of Enlightenment and the approaching 46 �on the class cs r.ti nat on" a v to Weldon · ers I y 1 I "' The ~o~~.a~~ical tradition that I reached its height in the poetry oF,nder Pope, had I already begun to die out with the death of Pope himself in I 1744. 1 All over Colonial America, however, white poets were I im tating the stiff-collared conventionality of that period. I I The moral issues considered by most of the poets (Black an white)--universal brotherhood of man, quest for reason and order, the Jeffersonian ideals of freedom, liberty and representative government--were removed from _t e everyday Some of the most liberal men of the . .M"."'8- ..... (Jefferson, Washington, Hume) implicitly justified slavery by suggesting that Blacks 1ere in some ways inferior. Despite Jefferson's pontifications on humanitarianism, he was unable to reconcile the disparity between bis puolic stands anq _qis_ f,e.ilure to maqµmit bi§...o;wn slaves,. ,..~ ;,;,t/,..Bwk. ~ rt ~ -Mll1l411•~, ~~ On the general American scene, the RevolUution J.~'Y I a national literature had begun to emerge. -,1 ehind, ~ J Fascinated with American employment of new technology (Franklin's lightning experiments, printing presses, etc.) and the prospects of unexplored regions of the New World, writers started recording travels and observing the mixture of races and religions. Although relig ous fervor was still high (Cab, inism, Weslyanism and deism had run their courses), pol tical problems dominated. 47 �Between 1790 and 1832 the new American government was being consolidated and the writings of men like William Bradford, John Winthrop, Cotton Mather, Thomas Shephard, Roger Williams, Edward Taylor and Jonathan Edwards were succeeded by the embryonic nationalistic works of Franklin, Jefferson, William Byrd, William Cullen Bryant, Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irvine, WilliatA Gilmore Simms and James Fenimore Cooper. Irving, Cooper and Bryant were to become the early writers most taught to American school children. Often called the "New England Renaissance,n the early decades of the 19th Century saw increasing tension between New England puritanism ,_ and Southern aristocracy over the question of slavery. ,. .,.. Debates over s l a v e r y ~ continue:lup to the beginning of the Civil War. ~ The early part of the century also saw the birth of many of"'-America 's greatest writers along with/omanticism and rugged individualism. Mystified by the noble savage (Indians and sometimes Blacks) and challenged by the 11 new frontier," Americans began to romanticize their situation and especially ~hat of explorers who became the first original folk heroes. l\J :\.~ ,?riters who dominated the period from 1826-186Sincluded Edgar Allan Poe (poet and short story writer, credited with creating the first detective in American fiction), Nathaniel Hawthorne (considered the first great American novelist--The Scarlet Letter), John Greenleaf 'Whittier, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russel Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Harriet Beecher Stowe (one of the first white American novelists to :feature a Black protagonist in fiction--Uncle Tom's Cabin), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, 48 �Herman Melville (considered to have written one of the handful of "great rr American novels--Mobv Dick), Walt Whitman (termed the ngreatest" American poet--Leaves of Grass). ~~ S.eme "Of b~•.>fleil'\ a.~e!: a:l"J . .~,,v~» . writers, primarily politic al a ti vis ts or abolitionists,~ .John G. Calhoun, . s} · i liii:ii-- William Dta ta!f Lloyd GarrisoP, Diiww~•~9Y~••••~and Abraham Lincoln. Usi ng their own and Black material, a number of white composers immortalized the era in songs--many of them nationalistic. It was during this period that Francis Scott Kev wr ote ~ y • ,e:, 11 Tbe w Star Spangled Banner. n Stephen Foster bas NJeen accused of merely putting to music t e songs that were sung by slaves. There was~tf~ncouragement, however, for Blacks to learn to read; ~~many slave owners indulged their chattel in writing exerciseias personal pasttimes and bobbies. So many of the early Black/oets, then, grew up in relative security. To be totally free, David Walker observed in bis Appeal (1829) was to be economically insecure, socially ostracized and psychologically oppressed. Consequently, those slaves priviledged to read and write invariably took European literary models. writing . Poets, of course, were not the only ones ~·A4t· P-mi this period ~P, =1, ZS ffflJi Black literary activity was highlighted by exciting slave narratives: accounts of escaped or freed slaves. these ' J, In addition to11.,essayists, like Walker and#\.Douglass, M.-..C:.1;11Pieoe, autobiographical The most pupular of an~fAe first recorded, was The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789). Arna Bontemps includes it in his Great 49 ~ ~~ �Chapt e r I TI ins e rt rr"l p6 ~ constructed ~assa, wh o also~penned some notable verses, a story p attern tha t was to become f ami liar to r e aders of early America: his or her that of t he escaped, freed or run a way slave who report e d~-- hardships Vassa rtumlxm.xm.:frn~.£l:6xm~ and struggles. describes his life in Afric4 u n unti l the time of his I ii I1 ki dnappling. m_r, !iMMie: is:6rirr2· l[fl)IJfmrltmnz:r. With vivid memory and detail, he -....!_lave come to ~ est ablishes t h e ~ bases for wna t wetcali t e "African C0 ntinuum in America.--. It is not~ust mere coincidence that this st a tement from 1$89 almost fits~~~ Ame ~ica of today;. We a re almost a nation of dancers, musicians, and poets. Thus ev e ry great event • • • is celebra ted in public dances which are accompanied with song s and music suited to the occasions. lit e rary Vassa 1 s ••gp.Ja!iag debut into this~g enre was fo l lowed by hundre ds of other narratives, ~ Writing:1760-1~3~, any of them fakes. Do r othy Poet e r, in ~arly Ne gro iscusseJ the problem of ••••tm-~ determining authenticity of the narratives. Mrs. Porter is librarian of t h e Moorland Fo~tion at Howard University--which hczs an oust anding collection !1111 on t he Bl a ck past . . . In her book •~ncluded: constitu t ions an d laws of beneficial societies; s p eeches before mutual aid and educ a t i onal societies; the peport of t h e earliest ro nual convention foe t h e i mprovement of free p eople of color; arguments for and against colonization; print ed lett e rs, se rmons, petitions, ora tions, l e ctures, es s ays, reli g ious and moral treatises, and such cre ative manifestat i ons as poems, prosef n a rra tives, and short essay s. Mrs. ,orter t ~ s sup the i ntellectual a nd lit e rary output of the early Africans. LAfrican, 11 ~,r;.,....-i!'8-~~8'4!1'4' ( wa s u s ed e;enere.us~J by most �(J} insert ffl(p 6 ) 2 spe A/'ft'VM,IVJ,;llil'"d ··,,r~ the era . vJhen "African" was not employed it of "voihoured," 11 Blac1>" ''an l!ithiop:ian C the someti~ (._and heretical ,J Placed againstt,r t f 11 • 3ophomor1c;\accua ations !il..l.~.wi~..;.i;;.""fllt--~,.lio,'-""';,;. Princess .,_" ~ some gf ;, - off,F ;_ ; 1$1 today's Black critics , these early disnlays of pride il8i mouth bqck to school! In addition to the plethora of pamphlets, broadsides, books and news organ that emerged from Black individuals and institutions during the period up to the end of the Civil War, lhhere was also In the early 1 much poli tica ial c · sness raising through oration'°t\,~U I ?• as · at rel chard Allen, Peter Williams , Absalom Ha · 1 Coker, ~;ijz::::;;,r;iij~ ,l~aii;-m;--,iiiir'"~'o:~~isoo"r""'immurfttutal aid II for Africans . onf set the ~ 22 Jfho . t t~ J missionary , atmi abolitionist and self- hel f programs 10:111 ,2 0 later by people like Jarena Lee , .l:!'rederi c k Douglass, R. Martin Delaney) Soj"a1,r,t1tkt""' and Alexander Crummell} :t.--- ~~ ,,_ 1'-,.,~•'J!IM.c-r·• The intellectual, religious and moral work of Blacks in the North wasp ralleled by the development of folk materials(the songs and stories) of Blacks on ;:jouthern plantations . In general few states , North or ~ outh, allowed educ atnonal or vocational opportunities for energies writers Blacks . T~~s the i..-k of early Blac and intellectuals , Mrs. W' ' ~• '\ • Porter~point , out, • setting up of various "African" slaves . Many ~ f @½Te • and the educated Blacks of the North also acted as conduits for the Underground Railroad,- .a 11mJ0i' mc,Hwa :for bhc litiu2tiisu2 • of s l a1re~.,. '-- popu] a:µ., The Rev . Allen,Areligious frusader and founder of the Bethel African (over) �9 3 insert ,fl ( p0) .... raarne C Methodist ~piscopal Church, seems to have been referring Black "sensibility" d es cribed by Vassa when he saids (in 1793) th a t he • a 11 was confident t hat there was no r el i gi ons sect or denominati on tha t wo u ld suit the capa city of t h e colored p eonle as well a s th e Ileth odi s t; ••• bure I am t hr- t r e ading sermons vi l l never prove so beneficial to t h e colored peop le as s p iritua l or extempore nre a ching •••• t,Xor 'mutual II concernsJ ~uch eviden ce exists, then, of Blacks banding toge therlfn e a r l y ~ days of + - ~ o ~ O i iliR :'ihi s tilGWibij I n ressure h orrors of sl a v e ry, t h e psych olo g ic a l .iiiii1•- the 'fhe of Northern "free~' 31S~erep risals in wak e of slave rovolte( such as those led byG~(?. Denmark Vese"W@ ) and Nat Turner~8 31), made for the a most unsettling ~ white Ameri ca' atmos pheDe ( see Walker's Anpeal). ' .rleporting on~ needn to vent ¥2 ·v fea r s 1 9 6tl) noted th a t son Black s, ~inthrop Jordan(White Over Black, ed three t h ing s: loss of identity, lack of self-control and sexual license. In an effort to esca pe t h e '' anmmal within himqelf the white man deba sed the l esro,surely, but at the same time he deba sed himseHt. 11 And a young Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, visiting America in 1 8 31, said racial prejudice wa s "strong er in the states tha t h a ve aboli shed sR.ave ry than in those whe re it still e~s." Ne e dless to say , creative lit e r a ture of the "arty" sort(though much of it was being done at t h e time) wa s not the n umb e r one priority ~ f a cing hell from all sides. Neverth eless~~ literary tradition Ame rica. The example of the narrat ives Bnd p lay �also worked r891B!mimllimi1Di r-m.d other social re form ~ Bis Ant~i lavery narp(l84b ) contained songs and poems pr rams _. :.,..,- , ,~ 1 ~~4',,,. · intellectual or artisan CfY\ c.-aJV"l,'VK-.n the dual~olef crealf or and a c tivist/characterizes the history of ~ Blac "---itlii!/Jtnt me·"i c ~ • ~ ,-mm y critics , Black a nd white, unaware of the stresses and demands on Black artists do not apnroach their ~derstanding_., subjects with the~t ee ann sr~ggiBI~c · Press , ); Political journal1sm~, a1s6 , was a strong vein in the development of Black A~erican writing j.Beginning with John Russwunn( • the second edi to Black c olle ge g raduate and fottfl~CI o~ first Black newspape , Freedaro~s ,&_µrnal,192 ~- 29 ), and evolv ing through Ruggles ' 1.irirror for TJiberty (first Black magazine , 1838) , Douglass ' Monthly(l84J.t-) and North Star ( 13 4 7) , ~o llami 1 ton I s ~ Anglo - A~ercan the tradition of Black journalism and ~ Ma azine ( 1859} , - on the i frican ex- perience w2 s firmly established. much of the journalistic writing{J took pros or cons on the question of imi g ration , colonization or I ~ f f i : m zimn or t he e 1 ev a t 5 on of the Black man s p 1 i gh t in America . During the early and middle years of the 19th Century , white ,,.- ~ travelers t h rough the uouth,)rimrRJP ~®J QQl)Z¥~t3" collecte d and compiled sla ve s ongs --.:>ecul a :l:Js and Spirituals . These songs would later form the nucleus for mu ch of the Black an d white writin eve of the Civil Wa ~ the Dred Scott d e cision themes. Onl the (a blow to slaves and abolitionists) Jilllliilillll:li!llllll!III!• help step up the demPnd s for t h e abolishment of sla v Ary. ~ , Th~ Dattern of the Black 11 "7NJ ,u,,.//4 Brown ' s 'l'he Black Man (/9~>) �CHAPTF.!R III contd "mean mean mean to be free 11 --liobert Hayden foregoing Against the,Abac~ground , the poets of Colonial - Hevolutionary .'.::>lavery America OIL- curious, tearmul, exciting, paradoxi c a l1 ~t,,~, and puzzlingf,31:Z~iae Biblical ijery, c l assical allusions and themes , hatred of slavery al :n~ ui,;h-am'giguous praise for slave ·~~~~e~s· ~of Africa, appeals and condemnations , mas ters , 'PeD~~ all become enmeshed in the intricate linguistic and psychological webbing of this early poet r y . In 1770, the privileged ~ At 17 years of age , Dtii;;;;;•:::i::i;~-,& slave girl Phillis Jheatley became the first Black "exception t:o the rule" in I an~A1erican I noetry . And for decades students of Aflerican poetry --~"'"'-gone about their recitations and research as though nothing or no one of importance ~ hapnened between :Miss \J:h.eatley and Dunhar. It was not until 1893 that Luc'y ~iiai•'1' ~ ·r erry~ s . . __ a l 746~ ~~:::~~ "Bar ' s Fight 11 -- the account of}rii Indian massacre in Deerfield, M a s ~ e to publi ,, light. And :illlll readers had yet . .\q'1S another 27 years to wait before Oscar fogeli~iscovered Jupiter - Hammon • s lillNt "An l!.,vening Thought, Salvation by Christ, •ith Peni tenti al CriesiiiiJi f" ( 1761) ~n the New York Pis tori cal ';:!,ocietyJ Jti~~J.UliV14'N"''1f (5.A ~ ~ ~ pc") ~ . • ..... ~ · mentioned · · · ~1ia t many antholo gies 0.mi t , /1.JO ~/ "bar I s Fight." 'T'h}s is understandably since 1-Tiss .Le y:,\never works . :Jl,; wrote, or at least p,e:=..,n, an literary America 1 s "first Ne r- ro poet," then, is important primarily for being just thQt -- first. Like Hiss 1:J'.heatley, Vassa and other 1Tew J.!,ngland sa.aves, New ""'ngland(Hhode Island) . she was kidn~pned as a child and brought to stui ~dtnessed the Indian raid reported in her 28-line do ggerel flair for storytelling. Hence despite the nee 11 obviously weak literary merit, 11 this first Black writer performed s �0- on e of the earliest service s of the poet -- tha t ofKinger of history -in recordin r a c tual names and places i n her narrative . ~ince she wa s 16- years-o ld and a servant gi r l , writing was surely not her aChieves som~ a gainst the o ral tradition in poet r y-: i t ten my children and you shall hear Uf the mid night ride of Paul Hevere, or A• story Now, childr en, I ' m goi n g to te l l you about r aw- head and bloody8bone s! an There wa s an o l lived in a shoe Qhe had so many c hildren she didn ' t know wha t to do . Compare the f o regoing line s August 1 ~ to twas , the twenty- fifth , ~evente en hundred forty six , T.he Indians did in ambush lay , Some ve r y valient men t o slay , The names of whom I 1 11 not lea ve ouh: Samuel Allen li~e a hero fout , and ~ · ~,. , the c onne c tioru will readily be seen . this poem apparent intentions . both the effects and h iss ·.L erry ' s "Bar ' s .ti' i gh t " Mi s s fo r an .t!Jbenezer Wells of Deerfield, Massachusetts/ ye a r s later e31 m iB ii::lNn...:h:er f12e2d om if! : U/'{p;m Id she mar r ied a free Black man , Abijah Princ e , by whom she had six children . Prince l a ter became the o ,mer of conside ralble land and was one of the founders of .:>underland, Vermont \,Jilliam Robinson( b;alry ,I · Black American Poets )~ l is t s JJfiss 'l'erry wi. th the rtorator" poets and rightly so . Other detai!.s about Miss Terry and the Princes can be obtained from George Sheldon ' s A His t ory of Dee r field, l1assachusetts , 1895 . �~lave poet and intellectual, Jupiter rta mmon(l720?-180 0?), ~ capabilities, into the provides I,tet another look Colonial Ame ~ica. Hammon mind-sets and limitations of Africans in is generally not regarded as an '1 important" BJ ack wri ter --but is a ~- distinguished for being the first• African in America to publishlllJ his verses. This he dicLll:lt!l!ml!II!!• ~n J:!,vening Thoughj"ioiil>composed in December 17605 1778("An Address to Miss Whillis Wheatly")~ 1782( 11 Poem for Children"J and in the mid- 1780 1 s( 11 An ..c.vening 1 s Improvement"). written in 178 ¥1' .'.Iii In his "Address to the lie oe o t a te o ,. tradition with cM>a§ p amphleteers•- like l~~ Htiggles Walker, others of the period. - sought freedom for younoer Blacks I do not wish to be free . 11 11 .hddress 11 , claiming that "for my own part This statement • •• l,.-~M su rfa cJ ; to b e the ultimate in self-debasement and self- denial}f but ifYtf/4.v::tr~ o,, 1~ . _, / 6 I st at!e~ents · · 11e, ~- alker, and othe rs, alb wt,{A >C t ~ ~_...,.,- 0 That H ~ himself was deeply reli gious is reflected in his poetry-- as · · many Black poets , e.g . , rtayden today -- and he obviousl;7" labored under the in f luenc & of Meth odism and the We sleyan JlevA-val(see ~ a r l ~ ~ro ~riting). In the poem to :tJfiss .Heatl ey, J{R_ J.t: it was th r o u ~ miaiiji': nnoo-tt-ee~siX,- that od' s tender mercy" that she n as k idn appe d from Africa and brought to America as a slave. And Hammon seemed, gene rally, to r Pflect with pre vailing white attitude toward the 11 darkll continent : "'o ne and evfil • engulfed in ignorance , barbarism y;/ Qbvio us ly not as well re a d as His s 1 'heat 1 "8!f!lll!!l inte 7 was unable to t ake hi;.fhemes to universa born a sla ve ~. (..;.., and belonge d to t he influential f ".mily of Lloyd's Neck on Long Islan~~was encoura g ed by his masters to write 2nd publish poetry • .®.(ov e r) �There is not a great deal of information ~' l ~vailable on the life of tlammon; h it is difficult to understand Blac k why a n i ntelligent man , who l i ved su ch a long life, mirrored almost c omplete ignoranc e of the horrors of slave r y - -despite ~t - the almost daily newsp a per and v erb al a c counts and discussions o f the "pe culiar institution . " _,-,e,,,~ ,.,,_,,..,,d were primari l y the~ ant · - B - I Hammont s , ..J /tJt,d,/',/.)~ material of hymns o f the period~x'is religious ferver--a t the time o f ~ u in r .c.urope and Colo:fnial America--co upled wi th his t.lfi!J-~Cil borrowings from hymns c onstitute his maj o r p o eti c effort . whi ch Hrs. "An Hvening 'r ho ught J" Porter tells us wa s probably "chanted during the delivery of a serma n , 11 be g ins : Sal vation comes by Christ along The only 0on o f God; Redemption now toevery one , That love his only word . Vear Jesus we would fly to thee , And leave off eve ry Sin , Thy tender lle r c y well agree; Salv ation from our king ; Like Miss ·r erry, Ba:rnmon was not primarily a poet . And hence , unlike C' Phillis Wheatley , one should n o t ,r spend too much time or be too harsh in criti c izing(or compihaining a bout) him. Th e basic stucture of the · .t:Jnglish hymn--which merged with the Spiritual -- as gammon interpre ts it, is an alternat i on of i:ambi c tetrame ne with a rath e r clumsy a b ---- rhyme scheme . Cbmp s r ed to oth r hymns , 0 it is no worse a nd is better than many . •~PllrilDl Vespi te the times , e nd ~ r hpw~ver , one is hardpres sed t o ~ ,1ith HamrJ.on I s I • • over �In Christi§n faith thou hast a share , Worth all the gol dl of ~pain . be fo un Critically inrtobinson ~~~dait~u ;xiax anthologn:J Works of ; critical- biographi cal The i.egro Author{l9Jl)' l By far~ ~ the most gifted an d complex poet until Dunbar , Phillis Wheatley was also priviledged as a young child and allowed access to Bo~ the;\lfbrary of John vvheatley--tio whom she was sold after being brought from Senegal when she was six or seven years old--where she read vorac iously . By the time ftll!P.,;,:.i:c:::.l=l~her teens she had learned to speak and write ,~nglish, and acquired a Ne-w .l!ingland .l!,duc 8tion which put great• eemphasis on the Bible and the classics . Her poetry-,,, like Hamm.on ' s , reflects deep interest in and knowledge of r nligion; but it it al so steeped in classical allusions and conventions of the,) eoclassical writing school . Critical attention to Miss 'iheatli,,y(wh/ lived a short l i ~ i k e D=baj}) has been both r 8ving and unkind. oenjarmin Brawley{The ~e gro ~enius) repE_rts th~t Jeff erson viewed her as beneath the dignity of cri~icism. Yet , genere.usly nraised~ other g reat. Jllersonalities of the day :at!! .,"received her work, G- eorge ~1ashington, so moved by~~ ner1'-crioute21::lllf:il;U9il{ "To His ..t!.xcelJ ency u- eneral tmi~ vashington 11 ) , invited .ao:-~21. the young poet to visit him at his camp at Cambridge, 1,1assachusetts --an invit a tion which she later ~ccepted and was tr eated as royalty. :Miss Hheatley 1 s earliest verses we re penned during the years of her :K'.R e • .,0,~ , . _ 0n the lJeath of the Rev. George ~lhi tefiel dl~ 117()/) 11 reflects a-"illllllll!M"if'l$ie~occupies much of her poetryJ:prc.i:sc fer ,fa> dea.~ �~ (!_5) ther members~-=-_l,U-~~.,_.,..~..,.,..., London who wel'e cum-ernea r b ,u,t railness and poor health, Miss \ heatley was r e ceived -Ib~GJl:t!lilit~ t¥ like a visiting dignitary in London 1 s literary circles ll ' ~ o 1.) The next yearj)11!>)1 and hailed as the "Sable Muse." -..::all.\,Awhi~n London, -she became the first african, and the second woman from america, to publish a book I of poems~ Poems ~ egro ;:jervant to Mr ,J~ oston.,. The ~olume, the only one l.e.y success in both Eng land in and the history of ~n glish poetry in America. Upon her return to Ame vica, Miss Wheatley's misfortunes seemed to come in such li ghtning succession that one won d ers how s h e with stood adversity as long as she did. First, there was the death of Hrs. ••he a tley 'l nd th en, during t h e 1770' s, the deaths of the remaining \lhe a tleys. then ma rried a Joh Peters, wh o 11 proved to be both ambitious e nd irresponsi- ble," f or -rh om she bore t hree thildren--all of whom died in infancy. Addit i ona J ly, the Pet e rs family l i v e in squ al.or a nd o verty, li "ke so many n e w ~ng land Blacks. Co~m enting on the circ umst a nc e s su r r ounding her death, Bark s da le and .n.innamon( Blac k_ 3 ite r s of er ica) ~--~----- ~~ with~accurac observe t he t: Her e a rly de a th provides a comment a ry on t he des p era te ma r ginality of li f e among Po s ton I s free Bl a c k s at th a t time. To Phillis Wheatley, at one time a privileged serva nt who enjoyed an ex- tremely beni gn mast e r-servant relationship, freedom's uncertainwere ove rwhelming. ties end insecuriti e s a nd i nsecurities vroctld µ2 obobJ y iHHJi@& Certainly, had she been initially free in Boston, she would probably never have had the time, the o pportunity, or the peace <bib' mind to write p oetry. For the state of freedom for the Bl a ck man in the 1780's-- e:uen in godly, li b erty-loving_ Boston--was • • • -r •Afo de Ioc,ctr1"1",(,(I_,, indeed prec a rious. _ The preceding explanation, couple :,tlW1 th the obs e rvations of \J alk er, }J.iKrnon �and othe rs, make Hammon' s s t atement about preferring not "to be free." somewhat mo re tolerable /. '/ 'l c ondemned . Some cri ti cs denounce her for not being invmntiv e and origmlh.al enough, clamming that she simply followed the conventions and themes asso ci a ted with neoclassicism:~ Truth , ~alvation, her so-called "pious ercy and Goodness. Some ~~~~•'8!1,J;e resent sentimentality 11 and accuse... her of calling on Chris<t when she should calling for she abolishment of slavery. Still others, II during the c urrent period, have ac cusef her of not being "Black ~ Considered · on the landsc a pe of the times , however, Ivii Wheatl e y comes off as a ss ' ......m- with hardly an~ equal among Bla ck , during a compa rsion or whi ye c ontempora ries. James Weldon Johnson of l"D.Ss '\•Jh e atley 1 s "Imagina tion'' to Anne Bradstreet I s "Contempla tion, 11 said " V.Je do not t h ink tha black woman suffers by comp a rison with the ; whi t e • " (_11 ~ & fj,r,,P,i,!!,-. J.o£t,..d) rinfg her life time Miss Hheatlyy n ublished some 50 p oems , almost haitf 11 of t h em el egie s; five or six no 7 j ti c a l and p a triot n ieces ( General 'J a::,hing ton" and ''Liberty and Peace" ) , andtremain d er nff1~,.,..,..,, J ~tJ ~ r e l i gious and moral subjects --as she s t ~tes in h e r title . Though --... de a ls with the question of sl s very--and she tentative reference to her own -pred:i.cament --he:r· work ma kes only sustainl!l a high level of emotional,~ linguistic , religious a nd ..g,r_eat~force. ~inee herooodel-k cla ssi c al writ e rs, one ~i:a..il.liii,...~ii::::t:•,,J£ese sources JIB,~l'lC:M> poeti c the.0v-h to un cover ~ ~ keys to~techniques and allusions . But one only has to read(alo ud) the followin g pa ss a ge from II ev. li-eorge to feel impact: "Take him , ye wretched, for youronly good , 11 'l 'ak e him , ye starving sinners, for y our f o o d . " Ye thrifty, come to this life-giving s t ream, 1vhitefield 11 • �"Ye pr eachers , take him for your joyful theme ; "Take~ him, my dear Ameri c ans , he said, aBe your complaints on his kind bosom laid; "'£ ake him, ye Afri c ans, he longs for you, mpartiaJ 8 avi or is his title due; "Washed in the fountain of rlede eming b l oo d , "You sha ll be son s and kings , and , riests to Go d. " x Mo re will be said of this poem in 6hapter VI I ; but we shou ld s t a t e that some ~f the ~reviou}'/}oiti c ism o f Miss Wheatley has been Llnc reasin~ temp er ed in light o f#eminis ~;i!t!lftCWJ;~:Wmutml!IWl a n d, espe c ially , effo rts by Black women writ e rs , llOlUi s ch olars and intellectuals to reevalua te her . Much o f her work i done in the hero i c couplet which dominated t he perio d of p o etry,..wr i t i n g . Thes e pent ame1fl e r coupl e t s (i;.Ihi ch would be popula rized in the 20th 1., entury as by hobe r t Prost) c a ll 1 unrhymed iampi c pent amet e r" for end- line rhymes to ap ear in two s , with 1 6 syllab les per line . Ro ger \II/hi tlow (Bla ck Ame r i c an Lit eratu re ) c ompl ains that Fiss Wheatley "falls short in 1,1hat Pope called the 1 correctneas 1 of diction and meter, that 'tle a r - perf e ct choice of word and me as urement and ,,reii;giini; of syitl able . 11 One cou ld ap;ree , i f Fiss 1/heatley ' s sole aim were sin ply to i --ni tate • But t he re is t hat she -- like Black poets always se em to be doing--wa s trying to achie ve a readable poem without losing the essenc e of the couplet . Afte r all , a s ~tephen Hende rson( Un d se r stanji ng the New Black Poetry,:4:) has su c;geste d/ many Bla ck Poets have thnir ear s x and thoug..~t r hythms attuned t h the spitirtual~,:man~s of the .written__. audien c e that l oves "extempore" deli v ery, even when the7l!ines a r e st r ict and tight . ,, Also , in p l acing "Their dolo112r is a diaboli c. dye II in Jlf:::;j:jiilt-~-e-e~~ ( "vn °eing Brought f r om Afri c a to Ameri c a") , de em her c olor ne gati v e bn t that she may not . despi t e he r c l o sin g coupl et : ov e r /tue:p:estl{, that others a possibility �Rememb e r, Christians, Ne groes, bl a ck as Cain, Hay be refined, and join the angelic train . that there is Wheatley was not insensitive, at Iii least to her on pre dice ment as a slave ~tlthout a fundamental and geneoihogi cal identify . In ''To fhe Hight t-i onourable Dartmouth, 11 she .,t;arl of· Should you, my lor ~ i llaim, says , while you peruse my song, Wonder from whenc e my love of Freedom sprung , Whence flow t h e s e wish es for the common good, By feeling he a rts alone best understood, I, young in life, by s eeming cruel fate Has sna tchi!d from ,1.fric I s f ancy' d XHXX li apDy se a t: What pangs excruciating must molest, What sorrows labou in my parentf~s breast? Steel 1 d w2s th a t soul and by no misery mov 1 d 1 Tha t fro m a f a ther seiz ' d his babe belov d: ~uch, such my case. And &an I t hen but p r ay Oth er s may never feel tyrann ic sway? Th:e canital "F 11 in "Freedom," t h e phra se "cruel fate," the sorrow felt for her pe rents an d the reinfo~cement of the agony via repetition ("such, such "t; see r1ar aret ·J alk er(s lines ''rlow Long ! 11 ) , place her <. J::H a c ~ 8 longs ide other'\voic e s t h.s t "'ea rch ed for answe rs to t h e f-M, of i n s anity t h" t enwe bbed them. Slilil::Gill~ pall Hiss ••healtley a lso expe riment s '1i t h ~estated el" rli er t ha t T~ is s imeatle v ' s;p-ma ge h a s sriift e d Perhaps t he c a pstone of thi s shift wa s the Jack son °t a te volle ge roetry 1 .i:' e s tival, held in lTovemb e r of 1973 to commemorate the 200th ~ni v er·sar y of the pub] ica ti on of Miss \IJhea tley I s (_t.1o.Mr) ... t.J) Poems. ~bony maga zi n~ di' a five-pa ge picture es s ay on the festival, -sp.mmnannmiix organized and hosted by Ha r r aret wal k er uoet - novelist (over) �(ff an d aire c tor of Ja cks on i:>tate ' s Institut , Life and Culture of Bl a ck Peopl e. Ac cording to/ ~bony ''eighteen Bla ck women noets converged 11 on the Black coJlege c am.pus to salute Hiss Wheatley , read their own poems and discuss poetry and life . Writer Luc i Ho ~ton noted that recently there has beeh more respect for the "slave girl who , under unspeakable circumstances , was able to write poetry or any literature at all . " c::.. list of,J In addition to Dr . Alexander, the 1poets included iaomi f Long hadgett , Mare;aret c• .ourrou~s , Narion Alexander , J\i:argaret Lsse DPnner , Linda Brown Bragg, Hari .C.:vans , Carole Gregory Clemmons , Lucille Clifton, i:>arah ·webster 1''abzbo, Ni l k"i Giova.nni , Audre Lorde, June Jordan, ·Tloria C . Oden , Sonia Sanchez , Alive alker, Ia Halaika Ayo Wanizara~ oyce vJhi tsi tt Lawrence) and Carolyn I • .ttodgers . Gwendolroc &rooks ' absence was conspicuous . The festival was also the ~ U b j e Ct Of 1 • ( Or-v. J'" n>- ~ 2 ~ JP Si]O ® ill t:®Gi , r itilfi a six- pa r e nicture ~ i t B_:ack 1vorld(1''ebruary , 1974 _ ). ~ Ghile of . comments wa s made by Paule Giddings , a young editor at Boward 'University firess : There is sometligg nrong with a criticql tradition tha t makes • - .-x::Phillis 1:Jheatley an historical footnote •••• Phillis '\rlheatley was b lack and this is the di ffernnce (between her r-md oth0r noets of her day) o.nd also the contradiction : ~he contradi t tion between her blackness which she recognized and never was free to forret by a thousand humili"'tions and 'White mercantile .l:!.ngland , a world th-_ t ,,m s never to be hers , wt 'Whose values she seemed to ., ccept . She was in a sla ve world, but not truly of it •••• It does no good to reproach a child for yielding to attrcctive influences when within herself there is no strong residue of any other infiuence or tradition . ±t i s easy to say she had no racial consciousness • .Lt would be fair to look at the chofu.ces she had and ascertain whether or not she was capable of enduring even more intense isolation . �Ms. Gidding,s has asserted what i:wpe a rs to to be a balanced answertt to the protest a tions of Redding , Brown, Brawley('no r a cial v a lue 11 J and oth e rs . It remains to be seen as to whe the r m:mxrflmlzm:mnn current and futu r e generations of Black and white mm.:triumJ stud ents will kepp I'iss 1,f ue a tley a 11 st a tute in t h e park" or bring her to the table of this first Black woman of letters 11 a nd 11 examine her blood and heart . Crtica treatment~already has been ex tensive ; Julian Mason ' s The Poems of Ph i llis W.h eatley(l9 66)~ critical introducti on! Robert Barksdale'> and Kinnamon I s C. Kuncio ' s 11 Some Unpublislj.ed Poems of Phillis \vheatley 11 (New n England ~uart rly, XJlll5IX XLIII, June , 1970t, 287 - 297)~ ~amr Loga i~s ' 0 IS Th e Ne gro Author(l 931 )~ BrawleyA,.The Ne p:ro · U' rte dding ' s To hake A .Poet Black , Shirley U-raham 1 s mhe ~tory o f Phillis Wheatley(l949) •end ilillllli.i-lU Jerry Ward ' s 0nd Charles rtowell ' s article in t h e Summor , 19 74, issue of .B'reedomwaps. �( 1 1+5-lROl) of the most in- W~ have already mentioned Gust a vus teresting of the e ri.rly writ ers, in Il!lltB!JblU1 another context. Porn the seventh and youngest son of a chieftan(in ~ssaka, not was tern Vassa(African name: Olaudah ~quiano) was fir t plantatio 1 i ~e r 1a), sold to a Virginia ---- His journeys.~ ater took him on s e v er al Atlantic voyR g es War. Vassa held technical jobs on ships as a result of his adeptness at the ~nglish language and his x He became a t ireless worker for the ab o lition of qlavery matics. and worked, briefly, n·1111•11al:mJ1Jftm•~ in behalf of efforts to colonize poor bl~cks of ~ngland in Sierre Leoni. Vassa is chiefly known for his Nar~ative(l789) which was a best - seller among abolitionists in ~gland and Am:erica. Slave narratives, we have observed, we re a part of a branch of Black writin~ which gave rise to auto the more sophisticate iographies(that stretch from Douglass throu~ Cleaver) which in turn laid some of the foundattion Baldwin and wq s not the first writer of a slBve Briton narrative, as is popularly thought~. ~ - - ~ Hannnon(no in LondK_Q relation to Jupiter) publim~A ~ar ative of the Uncommon ~ufferin s for American fiction. Vassa and ~ eliverance Qf r·t John Marrant published(also in London) Wonderful Dealings with J. J.'!arrant, A e Black.Q1~). Vassa, who we turn to briefly ior his efforts in poetry, included "Miscel~eous Verses" in his Narrative. His verse is interesting be c a use it helps to e s tablish the portra i t of a comple and many - sided ill provides man} it also · · further insight into the workings of the African mind making cont a ct wi t h RlllllillilUJ. white culture and especially Christiani ty-J/. 1ihile in his prose and speech - m8king Vassa was firm in his attacks on slavery, he proves in the end to be a believer in some ultima te for~~of "d e liverance . " - In the last line of the last stanza of his "Jerses" he reminds us that T P Y' �'Salvation is by Christ alone!" which is , of cou"Y'se,reminiscent of irammon 1 s onening line : Salvation comes by Christ alone Hever theless Vassa I s language is less saturated in Biblical terms than ~--rammon ' s . And the former , as verse writer, has a better control on the language . fn the ·'Verses" he i mnl>ic testrameter meter with an n annlies a driving a ab b rhyme s cheme ~ Those who beheld my downcas b mien Could not gues s at my wo es unseen : They by apnearance could not know The troubles I have waded through . Lust , anger , blasphemy , and pride , \Ji th legions of such ills beside , Troubled my thoughts 1.vhile doubts and fears C~ouded and darken 1 d most my yea~s. In the first stan z a quoted Vassa presages t duality and mental years to come• pressures that mo re sk illed writers would describe in ..i·,._c::1111aaui~n:aa Imp l ying hat t of the OPpres~ed Bla c k i s to keep his ~&•• Vassa says e v en those mo see him in his sorrie s t state c annot envision the suj!~erings he has endured. Dunbar thing in a different way in ear the Has k " more II e years later . And Countee Cullen would state it more than aJO years later in yet a diffe r.ant way . This '-a,...gpnarffilt f'8.bility o f Blacks to "keep c oo l" and adapt (see Johns on ' s The Auto biogr aphy of An ~x - Coilioured Man) under the most tryin~ circumstances has been promoted, nurtured and prBised by leaders of the r~ce . Vassa , then, is important as an early writer , not only bec~use of his skill , but for the insight and understanding he bring~ to the social 8nd r eligious pressures , demands and choi s es around him . There is a releasing therany in Vassa 1 s work ~=•~---a c ts as only one of numerou~A c ondui t s for Blac k an guish and outrage when the onti ons were slaver or d ea;uL.. �~~assa • s Narrative is most a cc essible in Bontemps I Great Slave 1'ifarrative s ( 1969 ). In 19f.. 7 Paul J..l dwards publi shed an edition of the Narrative including a c omprehensive introduc tion . ~ war ds also did a t wo -vo l ume Afri ca fa c simile Wnma~ reprint of the first edition ( l969) . Se e a lsoo~~• • ~ tiemembered : Narratives by \.uest h.fr.i cans. ;Crom the Bra of the S1°:ve Trad , edited by Phillip D. Curtin{ 1967 ). Loggins assesses the Na :l:7:uati ve ~ e z and Robinson provide s a h .m dy bi g rauhic a l-cri ti c a l i ntroduction . '1 rion L . ::it r ey t s Hore on Vassa can be found inK9triving to Hake I t My Home : Ame r i can from AfricaJ1964 )x and in Whitlow ' s Black American Li te rature . In the duc te d a gr a duate and po s t - gr aduate seminar on Slave 1~arr a tives at Iowa ~t ate University wh ere h e dire cts the Cent e r for Afro - Ame r i can Cu1 +-uv e . �The early and middle years of the 19th c entur y witnessed the matur a t ion of Black autobiography, politicBl activities . George - oses µortQ_i/)e.s 34 years old when ~JilJaim LJ_oyd G-ar,,,ison fovnded •~e Liberato 1'1, t he rriost influential..ailllll!!IBl and by we re mo re t h an famous of the abolitionist newspaners . And · 830 there" MaitltllliiK At11eri c a . Blacks in the Uni t ed utates had been stirred by bo t h here and in nlaces like Haiti , the Carribean Trinidad,,a!nl_.... l@ .Dspecia1ly inspiring during thiP ueriod waci the evo l t s chooner of slaves aboard the Spani-s~h---JJJ--li!li 1 Amistad. Led by Joseph Cinnue , a Nendi - speaking prince , the fif t y slaves , killed the c aptain, set the the ship t o Afri c a . An rehended, the Africans were escorted :iltI by t o ~ew Haven where the the would1!.x-f>resi dent John uincy Adams defended the Afri cans ' right to return to their homeland and in ~~ .~ eithe r the international sailed to Sierre Leone . A]M;S;;,.1;..;i.....~"""'•'!e"-r!!!'t,~l'ft'!!l!+--ifiiiiMiilile'lf::;:,, the connection between Liberation Front , apparently headquarte r ed in northern lia.lifornia during 1973 - 71-1-, and the Cinque of In light o the growing c0nsciousness among Bla c ks , fut was to be expected that A George Hoses Tiorton(l797 - lb83) would apneor to inveigh against tyranny and slavery . B ~ a slave near Chapel Hill to employ protest themes 1 0 arolina , Horton is considered to be the fir sq Black ~ , North volume of verse, ranged over the whole area of general and personal was first ovmed by a planter named L1 0rton who later rented him in the service of a janitor to the University of North G8 rolina . r .ry- c ve.nsat · s �m::iahla:mxim:rl!Em:km Horton exploited the academic environment by re a ding the .l:!:nglish c alled classics and composing poems . I Often the first professional Black wri t er, Horton hired his poetic s k ill out to students who paid him rath e r handsomely for composing II persona 1 ,t poems . fT.1 r · George IA . Horton , in 1845. 1-l s secon d b oo k o f poems , - Poe t i. c a l ~ k ors the Col~red Bard of North v arolina , was ...n~8@!8'8.Qao orton I s hopes tha t he would gain enough money from the sale of his books to se c ure his fre e dom were n ev er re a lized; and he was not freed until Union soldiers arrived in 1865 when his l a st volume , Na k ed Geniu s, was publ i_ shed . PhiJlis \~heatl that l:J) P orton I s themes are not d evoted , T.:r amvri.on and V,, ssa, for writing such line s a s those pe !Cl r in " On nearing of the int e ntion of a Gentleman to 11 'reedom" Purchase trhe .1:'oet I s : 1hen on life ' s o c ean first I spr e ad my sail , I t hen i~plor e d a mild auspicious gale; And f rom the slip ~ery strand I t o o k my fli p)lt, And sought the ne a ceful he a v n of deli ght . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . F ard wc s t h e r a c e to r e ach the distant goal , The needle oft was shaken from the nole; In such di s tress 1-ino c ould forbear to weep? Toss 1 d by t h e h eadlong billows o f the deen! i:.rorton goes on toe say tha t n.c.ternal Pro v idence '' sa• ed him when he was on the "dus k y v e rge of deep de s pair" a nd when '1 the last beam o f hope • P S almos t g one . " Yet orton writes bitterly of slavery as well as lightly of love a nd h umon ously of life J:. in general . Influenc es on his poetry are B'ff r on, Weslyyan Hymnal stanzas , .a and othe _v sour s es I from boo ks tha t he ~ e ad . In the poem from wh·, ch the stanzas above were tak en he pursues a rather monotonou s 1am · b"ic t e t ramet e r meter . But o er �in a poem like the way that Philli s Wheatley do es in her h ymn - inspired works . '.l'he effe c t is almo st Ballad- like : Hb.en first my bosom glowed with hope , I gazed as from a mountain top ~ s ome delightful plain; But oh! how transien t was the s c ene -- ltx fled as though it had no t been And all my hopes were v ain • • fit. .... . . . . . .. . . . . . Is it because my skin is bla c k , Tb.au thou shou l d 1 st b e s o du l l a n d s l a c k , And s c orn to set me f re e? Then let me hasten to the grav e , The only refuge for the slav e , Who mourns,i f or libert y . Al s o effectiv e and sustaininr in powerf i B " The S1ave· s ' ' eve when features t hre e - line stanzas with a fina l word refrain : " Fo r ever~" which is followed c olon or exc lamation mark . of his love poems and in ~ .' 11 · ' ""'""""LI',. , one mork , .tiorton I' 11:he Lover ' s 11 'arewell" is able ~ that INilM!l!m!!!m~broad !nderstanding of what i t means to say ~oodbye : I leave my parents here beh:i.nd, And alJ my friends --to lo v e resigned-' Tis grief to go , but death t o stay : Farewell - -I 1 m gone with love arway I In this and other pieve s Horton makes good use of dashes --whi ch allow him to develop suspense :and render his st2tements more dramati c. Because of its various uses , the dash has arri v ed as an important ingredient of modern and c one tmporary .01ack poetry . Contrary to many o f his learned contemporaries and predecessors , rlorton app¥ntly cons ciously thought o f, and worked toward , his freedom . rhis fa ct is re ~lected �-both in his life's work and his }iroetry{ .t<'or a purais a ls and sel n ctions of Horton's work s see Robinson's an t h olo gy, Collie ~ ,,,,,,.;J 1 0Cobb's Man of Letters--Ll- eorg e Hos e s i-f orton( 1886), r-!3ark sdale~nd An American 1..mnnamo~, Whitlo1.•r's study, Brawley's Ne g ro Genius, Lo ggins' wo r k, -:Redding 's study,:a:rul Richard \1als e r 1 s The Black Poet(l9 67).,.-B. Brown's ass es sment and Jean Wa gn er I s Black Poets of the u- i ted (1973-. own position, coupled with his sanguine delibery of fochk and emphasis, can be seen in 11 the followin g s tanza from 'r he Slave": Be s.ause the brood-sow' s left side pi g s Here blac k , Wh0 ° eable tincture was b y n a ture struck , Were you by justice bound to pullil them back And le ~ve the sandy-colored pigs to suck? t a tes �28 ~orton , of course , trails and pre c edes a long line o f orators and poets , many of -whom ke know very little about today . In fact , c ompa rati v ely speak ing , t here is a wide disnarity between the readily a v ailable insigni fi c ant I of vital data on Black s . wve do know th 0 t / the e a rly dec n des of the 19th century witnessed a developing con s ciousness 8.Y"'Onf Christian and political )1orthern inteful ectuals ~ t319.cl.rn and that mostl'flack wri t e r3;fnd edu c a tors turne d the ir att ention to the educ a ti onal , physical needs of 0 nd e duc a ti onal free and ensl8 ved Blac ks . O~ these and oth0 r matt e rs , Mr s . Port er provides ample proof and di s cussion in l!.iairl Ne i:r ro Writin . Occasional v erse was also some ihat of a tra dition among many le a rned Blacks BEU~ a s JD111ts:m was the pra c ti c e of writing hymns , an oth" r spiritual song s . On e s uch recorded by tlev . Hichard AJlen, deliv ery o f a sermo similar sounds ~ -;;1i;_~is 11 p s a lms Bpiritual ~fong 11 p r obably "hhanted or sun g durin g the . " Hev . Allen emplWYs internal rhyme by r e peating the middle antnd of line s. Varying his meter a n us i ng an irregular end- line r hyme s cheme , -••am he expresse s the religi o u s fervor the consumed many Bla c ks of the ~eriod : Our time is a - flying , our moments a - dyin p; , ~~e a re led to improve them and quickly a ppear , r 'o r the bles s ' d h o u r when J e sus in p ower , In g l o ry shall c ome is now dre wing near , 11 • e t hinks the r e wi 11 be shouting , and I 1 m not doubting , But c rying a nd screaming fo r mercy in vain : 'r here f <li're my dear Broth e r , le t I s n ow pray to g ethe r , That your pre c i ous soul may be fill 1 d with flame . Ano ther such examp l e is a "New Year ' s Anthem" wri ttien by r-i chae l Fortune and " sung in t he Afri c an .l:!;piscopal Church of St . Thoma s" on Janu a r y 1 , 1 8 0 8 . si �~rtune • s anthem is t raditional in its mmn:klgD ~ use of materials from liethodist hymns . B:e ;al tells the congregation to "Lift up your souls to God on high 11 "llho , with a tender father I s eye , Looked down on Afri c 1 s helpless race! two Robert Y. Sidney anthems "For the National Jubilee of the Abolition of the /::>lnve i Trade, Jamll.ary 1st , 1809 . 11 "Anthem I 11 begins : 1 DRY your tears , ~re sons of Afri c, God has sho,,m his gracious power; He has stopt the horri d traffic, That your country's bosom tore . 0 ee throush clouds he smiles beni~nant, See your net~o 1 s ~lory rise; Though your foes may from indignant, All their wrath you may despi s e . This stan,.fa is followed by a ''6horus , 11 In i;Jim 11 11 Anthem II 11 sh abbreviate form is Solo " d 11 ":==ae~Aand R ci ta ti ve . 0 11 drops the sole and recitative --keeping only the chorus : Chorus . Rej oice th nt you ·Here b 011m to see, rhis glorious day, your jubilee . 1 Sidney also wrote a h ~ M r s . by r eligious .., leai:l,ers Peter Williams Jr ., and Williams .Hamilton . Both men , c elebrate freedom, call for mutual aid among Blacks and preach the virtues of the Chris t ian God . Williams prai ses the 'eloquenc e /6 f Wilberforce II after whom 1 m: a predominantly Black university was named in Ohio . For detailed information on sources Mrs . <r1rter I s for these and Jru"1!11J! similar writings see .c.arly 1: e3ro Writing: 1760- 1873 . 11 0n The colle c tion includes~ very touching e xamples of ritings ~;i;1;;JYil ar;io., np~ ~fG.f~om" by 12- yeor - old boys from the Ne -r York African Free �30 (18 11 - 1 @9 3) is In readin g into the life and works of Danmel Blacks . i ~m ediately struck by his dedication to Educ atfor, univ ersity pre s ide nt, mis s ionary and poet, Pa yne was born in Charleston, S 0 uth Carolina of free p ~rents p He was orphaned and then t at 10 - ye a rs -oaa, ap n renticed to a c a ppenter an trained in cl a ssica l e ducati on at the local Minor ' s Moralist Society ' s school, he t a u ack students for fee a nd slaves free of charg e s t ni ght. Payne ' s travels took him to v a rious~.........-ct~ pla ces ~ t · s (.1.~e w Urleans , Baltimore , Cana da a nd twice to where he he l p ed exp and the pro g rams of the African En g l a nd ~ eth odist Ch urch. in ~ne"'exmina ry f or se v e r a l ye a rs, in in 1839,,Cll~a:ibml'!l~llU~ • op in 1 8.5 2 . m thel'lll•ilH n olitical a nd e duc r t i0nal urge Lincoihn(on Ap ril 14 , 1 86 2) to s i ~ t he bill to ema nci pa te s l a ves i n the District of C0 lumbia, and spearh e 8 de d the purc h ase of Wilbe rforce Un iversity --JNmil!-wi s e rvin .Cl'. as its 16 y ea rs. Payne ~evoted most of his life to t he c auses of f ree an d ensla v e d Bl a cks and to writin g poetry and r eli gious history . His Pleasures and Other Jv1 iscellaneous Poems was published in Baltimore in 1 8_50. t-Ie also wr ote boo k s on t h e hi s tory a nd mission of t h e A . H. E . Church • .1.Js p ecially value for its so c ial a nd intellectual insight into 19th eentury Bl a ck,s is Payne I s Recollec t ions of ~eventy Years Nashville in 1 888 . As a p oet Payne is erudite and imit a tive. Robinson correctly observes that a m~jor problem with the poetry is 11 the repetition of end stopped lines, and his dict i on, a hybrid of classical and Biblic a l voc a bul 9ries, can prove d i s tracting to many 1 r 0 adPrs.' I· uch of this we can for g ive, however, when He understand �Penry Dmnas 1 remar k that 11 a Black poet is a preacher . 11 Certainly a of and need preacher -- in f~ct or as poet -- knows very well the of for repitition . Yet Payne never fails to convince us his SPriousness • So hurt was law that , ef~e c ti ve in 1835 , wake of the 1834 South Carolina Black literacy(y illegal, Payne • 11 We find his wrote "The Mournful Lut e of the ..t' receptor 1 s l<'areweJ. enbossed concern for students in these lines : Ye lads , whom I hove taught with sacred zeal , For your hard fate I pangs of sorrow feel ; Oh, who shall no 1,r your rising talent s guide , Where v irtues reign and sacred truths preside ? - Payne is a handler of the lancuage , observing that 11 t WCl> r e volving moons shall light the shores 11 after the drea cl. law 11 shut the doors" ~ on educption for South Carolina Blacks . , gulfed in the religious and moral fervor of many nlack ministers of the period, the poet and orator reflects age-old concerns about de c eit and mistrust in such pieces as "'l'he Pleasures . 11 rte complains that Men talk of Love I But few do ever feel The speechless rcptures which its joys reveal:J,. l"len 11 mi stake love , 11 Payne notes , For grovelling lust , that vile , that filthy dame , whose bosom ne 1 er ever fe l t the sacred flame For insight into Payne ' s life and works one e ould go to any one of his nc onsiaerable number" of writings . Among others , they include The Semi the hetros ection o M tho dist ~ iscopal Church (Baltimore , 1866) and The Tiistory of • • Church(NashviJle , 186S) . exande r See also J o sephus R. Coam ' s 193~(Philidelphia) biography : Daniel, Payne) . ~ s t i a n ~duce t,;;;r")@I /i&,:,_,.,,,,,.,; ~ . , ; t , J ~ �32 Unfouuuna t ely too littl e is kn omi f of ~omantic poet John gifts and t a Jents. Boyd, especially since his work£~!~~ J · ma g e s are brilli ant, searin g and g enerally a ccurate even if they are not always connect e d in a way that mak es them re a dily ~cejsible. The only record of Boyd· is made available Esq., Deputy ~ecretary and Registrar of the by C.R. TTesbitt, Ne sbitt must have reco gniz e d the Government of t h e Bahamas. talent and the promise a nd he aided Royd•s noetry through publi c a tion in London i n 183\ . Boyd, it seems, was self-t a ught on New Providence Fis noemx Islan~ where he• remained all his life. 11 Va nity of Life:J. 11 was published in the February 16, 1833, issue o"sofl ,\:::t sc>(! Li bera tor. µ is 1834 volume is of,Jt;k; entitled rnhe Vision/ and other/ Poemsj / in Blank Verse/ by ~ob.n Boyd/ a Practic a lly ' unedited, the manuscript sc r amble," of the p oets of t he period• Boyd ts work owes debts to Milton, t he Bible and classical influ enc e s. Vision/ a Poem in Blank Verse" is i mmedi a t e l y r emini s cent Lost. Boyd skirts a r h yme scheme bu t emn loys a f a irly ~ ePular iambic pvt;;,/ pentameter met e r. All t h ing s consi de red, h is work~c an els tha the criti cism by St e rling Bro,,m th a t Bl a ck poe t s their styl istic awa r e ness. ,,,,Me thou ght the T• 11 la g in Vision 11 op e ns bril l iantly with: oon, pale re g ent of the s1ry, Crest e d, and f i lled with lucid radiance, F1un g h er hri ~ t g le ams a cro s s my lowly couch; And all of he a ven•s f a ir a:b.arry firmament Delightful s h one i ~ hues of g littering li ~ht, ~eflecting , li k e t o fleecy gold, the dewy air. In his "vision" Boyd encounters cha:nac t ers of both the he a vens and the hells. �33 \-l:hen the narrator , "dreamer 11 jo; ined the train 1''ervent hosannas struck the stonishll-d ear, As when in the midhour of c al:nrast night , StilJness pervadeth the awakened wave , Roused by the secret power tha t moves the deep , It heaves its loud surge on the sounding shore ; The"vision 11 is also peopled by 11 grim death end ghastly Sin" who "lay coiled, like snakes in one huge scaly fold, " and consider their 11 inexpiable doomr -; •" Boyd ' s tones re sacred and surreal and he assemles harmlessly complex subord inate clauses that h elp bufu l d 11 an exciting linguistic cre c endo as in 9c ean 11 : When the fiat of the most High , Thy fountains burst , alKl2t copiously Thy secret snrings, with amp~le store , r our{ d forb.h their ·waves from shore to shore Wide as the taters roll , oh, wav e . Boyd ' s work has yet to be appraised in terms c ommisserate with its importance . Robinson makes brief but · significant comments on his poetry . Ann Plato , another romanti c poet , is also one for whom there exists little of the important fa c tual data . This second Black merican female to publish a book almost skirts the racial theme completely . Her Lsse.x and .__..=.........,,-....,.~ tlartford in 7 PL~J. ;L Includin°/ Prose Bio ra hies w s published in tt--v'-- VJt'}.at little is lrnown of her comes by way of,__..~iiiifi:1148~- introduction to her bo,k w1J.ich ,,,as written by .ttev . J . 1·J. C. Pennington, pastor of the vo lo red Congrega tion2l Church in Hartford , of whi ch she was a member • .l.!Jxcept for her "'110 the .t<'irst of August , '' wr itten in celebration of the 1833 abolition of sl very in the British\ est Indi , �34 there are only al l usions to slav ery . · essays on reli ion , modera tion, condu c t and other conventional themes . These same themes are p r etty ~u ch par8ale l ed by the Of which deal f with home life , deaths of a c q iqntances end "rteflections , \-Jri tten on Visiting the Grav e of moral issues . a Venerated friend" begins : Deep in this grave her bones remain , ~he 5 sleeping on , bereft of pain; mhe langua e a nd t h e subje c t matter are sto c k but "Fo re;et Me No t" , each et>anza of which ends with the title , is well handled ~.nd has flashes of the p r ea chment on se l f-control that Vassa alluded to in his verses : ('"', ~~hen bird does wait th y absenc e long, Hor tend unto its morning song ; \JhiJe thou art searching stoi c page , Ur listening to an anc ient sage , \ h ose sniri t c urbs 1 af mourn fu l rage , Forget He Not . anparent in 11 hP .r~a ti ve s of America II where she asks : ".1.'ell me a story , f o ther , ple . . se , 11 And then I say u pon his knees . Again , as in aa!lll!i!I~ her c onte~poraries , we find the influences of 1mglish wri ters of a preceding e;Anerat:iion o r s o, the debt to Bi blical learning and . i<Q!l~N-. in rte chester , of ocrers 1 1 i mitation • • orator- p o et ~lymas Payson after t 0aching public sch ools ew York, took up pRstoring in 1 ewar k , 1 ~ew Jersey . One as a te e.hher was Jerimiah H. Loguen who become an iMportsnt social - reliaious le 8 Her "nd a Bishop of th e A•• u ° Churc h • ,:::, .&.1•.lll• �35 F gitiv P slav P o guen 1 s bio P'ranhy(s e e Nep-ro Ca r a van) a -oe,, red in 1859 , i n ~yrc cuse , un de r the title , "rn01.m, ri ' u.en., s we re man·? of' the orator - p oets , for a ve and a s a ~reem@ . his n oems ora lly, Ro ~0rs ' t h emes are unashamedly abolition no l i tic ql h~rnocris • \J erk ing poli t i cally on b ehal f of Blac k s , Ro ge r s a nnarently de s i gned ( e and Re eal of r iss .rark , 1855 ) Newa r k , 185 6 ) tot e ad aloud fro m n l a tform. Li ke , J a me s :W . ~1hi tfi eld, wh o c ame l a t e r , Rogers gave up h op e n Ameri c a ' s ever gi vi n g Blac k s a fair deal an d s aile d for Africa whe r e lie died after contacting a fever a f ew day s afte .,,, h e a r r ived t he re . ~..r is incisive n o-hole s - b a r ea.d a nn ro a ch to t h e polit i c a l c1ims.te a n d condit i ons of t h e t ime is seen in * 110 n the Fugitive ~lave Wt Law" : Law! 1 /hat is Law? The wi s e an d s a ge , vf t , Of e v ery c lime ,,,_nd eve r y a ge , In this most cordially unite , That 1 tis a rule for doing ri ght . An <:' the r inging c r y of t h e ,elo cutionist c an be heard later in the p oem when , in discus sing t h e fu giti v e bill , he as lcs 'Uld answe rs : Tha t Bi11 a l 11w? t h e South says so , But !-Torth Er n fr eeman answe r, No! Anti ci patin ~ the fiery a nd ~oJh i tfield( and 20th c entury "angry voi ce s 11 ) Ro gers continue s : ~Q8 t bill is l a w, gough f a c e s say ; But bl2. ck men e v "' ry ,rh e re cry "Na y : We I J. l n ev e r yi e l d to its control Jh i l e life shal l animate one soul At times biting and o ver - be arf inglyg h a rsh as a p oet , Ro ~ers resounds in 11 ·rh e t{epea l of the r-1iss ouri Compromise Gonside red 11 with these words : �36 "I want the land," wa s Freedom'l•s cry; And ::;l a v ery answered, 11 So Do I! By all tha t's sacred, I declare I ' l l h a ve my ju s t ~nd l a wful share . The Northern che e k s h ould glow with shame To think t o rob me iJi th built - in drama e na of my c lain . uts, Ro g ers a sses s ed t he s tate of t h e n a tion "Lawti• durin g h is ti me . In a line l i ~ t h e que stion i n order to beg 11 What is Law?" he i purno sely ~ring the emotional and rbetoric8l u ower from the words a nd to evo ke resnonses f rom ,.- s udience s . nefe ren c es to ttO~ers c:an be found in Hobi nson t s Math emf' tician, noP t, edu c " t a rl e s L. p are n t s . 11 e a r7' orf a nd ni ty work er , s on( 1818 - J 69c ) wa s born i n New Yo rk City of Tiai tian -r e qfl6ened t he Ne Y --.-.- as a 1nembe r of t h e a l l - Black ~hool where he late r retutmea S e e k ing t h e ministry , Heason was) attendance at the for ~ a cial r e asons, Theolo g ic a l Semina ry of th e Prot es t a nt ~pisconal Church • .r:..ventually, h owev e r , h o b ecame eli g ible for a p rofessor s hi p i n Math ematics and Bell~" Lett res I.""'( 1849) at the 11Tew Yo r ~ Central Co ] Je g e i n i ,c Grawville, INJ.u;.: G' A~ a..Jl- b8'Wi,. C~ , v ~ !vW r'l ~ , ( ~1'. • Courtl a ndt County. ~ -..:r ~ held v a rious e duc e tiona~ jobs including a principal s hip of the I ri sti tute for C.:olore d You th in Philidlelphia and g r ame1ar sch ool No. 80 in New York City mile H. Cordelia a y was a t e ache r t h ere. Reason was an intellectual end a sch ol a r but Has vocational c a reers~ h ere i n America . Again, not nrimarily a poet, Reason is competent as a n oet in 11 The Spirit Voicett wli ich opens with: Come! rouse ye brohltlers, rouse! a peal now bre a k s From lowe <' t islPnd to our gf' llant ·lakes: �37 ' Tis summoning you, who im bonds have lain, To st~nd up manful on the battle plain, and urges Blacks"'-i.l.lougl.l: J.i:\s fl'.'J rnlme) to fiP)lt for fr eedom and ounortunity. The poem(who(cornplete title is "The Spirit Voice or , Liberty c~.11 to the Disfranch ised 11 ) is indebted to the rh yrr.q n /couplet so famous during the era and whi ch had been used ri th great t skill by Phillis v-Jheatley It aupears in William ::ii"TlITlons 1 that of Me __ n_o_f_M_a_r_k_( 6leveland, 1887). ~ onier m.xrb.:kmxm orator - poets , Reason ' s ,.rork is designed to be read aloud in order to stir and move peoPle to a c tion . Therefore he exhort~, reinforces, demands , warns , admonishes and issues veiled thre 2 ts . ui s "s pirit voi ce 11 ( see the,/-ifrican Spirit Force) longs for the time when fr eedom ' s mellow li,,.ht Shall break, anJ usher in the endless day, That from Orleans to Pass 1 ma qu oddy Ray , Desnots no more may e a rthly ho:rrwr,e claim, lJo sl ves exist,to soiJ 6 o1umbja_1 s n ame • '-._!)~tic ~ The noem was written in 1841 and sh ows Beason ' s1ao1 itte~e~ched out an g~vc this fami1iar cry: 0 .t<'reedom l .,.."reed.om I Oh, ho v oft 'rhy lo v inr- children C"ll on '::'hee I In wailing s loud 0nd breathing: s shaft, Fow b e s e ech:ii-1g God , 'Chey f a ce to s ee . f "not unlike" the Spirituals this burst is! Certainly the student of thies p e riod of Bl 8. ck noetry will want to keep his rhyt hmic lyres attnued to the B1blical and innovati v e codences of those "BJack and unkno-im bards ." a s essments of d e ason see Robinson erlin. ~~~~~.....;;_:_.,;...;_~~-------~~Ul.l!6 /) a ~ �Anticipating ~he Afll10-American poie;nanc y and humor in tbi sK line by Langston Hughes American never Fas Ame ric James •· • to me ( 1hi tfield {l823 - 187t3) voiced mlllilial!l!llllll some of the most ~ otest pm.rnrful and angry yet heard in Black American poetry 1 ·,f ,. when he ~ published America and Uther Poems in Buffalo in 18.:,3 . Barber, worker for Black colonization, poet and pioneer journalist , ·lb.i t f ield had earlier authored various types of writing- s : Poems 1 1846 ; 11 -i:.row Long? 11 (published in Julia Griffith ' s Aut ograph ~ for in RochPster , 1853 )~ Fourth of July 11 11 Self- He] ir1.nce , Delusive t..ope , and Ode for the (in 'fh_e Liberator , November 18 , 1853) ; "Lines -- ~ As.dressed to ar . and Ilfrs . J . T . r1olly , on the Death of Their Two Infant Daughters 11 ( in Frederick Dou lass ' Pa er , February 29 , 1856 )•) and Emancipation Oration(San Francis co , 1867) . \/hi tfield is known chiefly for America:, whic was received so favorably that he ros able to leave his barber shou Pnd ~ote full time to making speeches for the abolitio~ c.?use, nor>lrin.- for colonization nroc·rams and generel black development . ~ ne had personal contact with both Douglass and novelist T·.artin Delaney who called the 1854 National .Dmigration Convention of Colored Men 1-!b.ich \ihi tfield attended . Douglass apuarently 3?esuected and admired Whit!B'ield . But the two men differed on the question of colonfuzatio n and par ticipated in a li v ely debate . Pursuing hisAposition with vigor , 'Whitfield established ·the Afri c an - American Hespository) in 1858 , as a pro - colonization T . t.. • - propaganda or~an . .-..... B:8.:(llpshire1 Whitfield spent «;imnm:m most of his life barbered @as.in Buffalo where~conductPd most of his colonization efforts . T!e xetPr , 1~ew appar ently died on his waw to look into the possibilities of colonizing Blac k Americans in Central Ainerica . Delaney had changed his mind ~nd the emigration scheme 1as never realized. �39 l l Li k e mo st of . b,ear he orato r- poets , \lhi tfield is writing to be _.,,.,."-"-_ · tened to and read aloud. Consequently much of ~~ ~4~~) orces his ideology a · ew.J o f Ameri c a . Swee t lan d of liberty r, • be comes for \fh.itfield/ ~ • Thou boasted land of liberty ,-and To thee I sing becomes It is to thee I raise my song, Thou l"nd of blood, .<end c rime , and vr ong. Like .Ko g;e rs, 1.lhi t f i e l dl did not beli eve Avneri c a was c apable of redemption; a n ~i s pre dec essor, he died on a jour ney to ' find something better . The idea o f "gi b ing " up on Ameri c a would anne" ~ themati c 'llly in t he poetry of lat Pr writers like Fenton Johnson , Lee , · Bar' ka and some of the 1.Fus lim noet s . It would also be i'11pli c i t in the expatriation of writers and artist s such as Paul Robeson, · 1 ~ri ht , 3ald-tln, Criester Eirnes and 1Ca therine Dunham. In a dri vinp; iambic pen tameter meter ( ~· vhich bas a ll the openin~s for snontaneous interjections and ex"rm0r:ic1:)' the 'nitAd .::it,,tes nletives , l/hi~-~d cCC ..t:.:i aazi&n of killing the Blaclr f'ons 1;ho fought for her 2nd of p-eneral hypocrisy . ~:rere one c rn see .1hi tfield antici na tin~ them, of in 11 1ords in the ;;;; c rrent slog;an , Fhich Fayden makes use T ourning illing p0onle to Time 11 : save;.,z;;~;:ei;,, ? • , ~ --- bon 11. more gen°ral, " i tfield c ontinues a similBr in -&- --=== re•rerent 11 1he rviisanthro p i s t ft but tones down to a / s2lute ~ "To Cinque 11 : All hai l! tho ugh truly nob l e chief , 'oWhofiroo iin e d to live a c oi-rn r ino; slave ; I �~hy name shall st8nd on history 1 e le~f, Amid the mio-hty and the brave: 1Jhi tfield praises the revolutionary Cinque 'Who I in freedom I s might 11 Shall beard the robber in his den; and ••• fire anew each freeman 1 s hecrt . Since i·Jhi tfieldl I s primary his uoetry, • •• • nolitical to get a/ 11me s sage 11 ovPr, ••lll.1. goal is as art, leaves som r" · Robinson uoints out that Whitfield 11 .., things to be W,lJ;:Jt:..f':!:""f/J-;""') is genuinely angry"~ and th~ the bitterness and force in his work in not to be mistaken for -Q'Ll_inruistic ~(lections of roilra.nticJvosmetic ./Hhi tfield.1 s poetry can be ~ Nerrro Caravan(l@41 discusses antholo~ e ana j 1'1hitfield 1 s uoetry "nd impact as does Loggins , Bro1.m /Ji. The most popular Black 19th century poet before Dunb"'r was .t<'rances E. W. Harper(lc:32.5 - 1911), ae!EL the first .Black ATTJ.erican to fee in Baltimore a publish a short story ( 11 The Two Offers , " 18.59) . Born \Jatkins , she was educated in Pennsylvania and Ohio , and spent most of her adul t life in the c a use of anti slavery and other types of social re form . She 1-1orked in turn for the abolition T'lovem0nt , the . ti Dndergttound railroad, the :• . M. '"" • Cburch and the ~Jomon I s lemperance league . According to Dunn(The Black Press) she contributed in 1860. by her narrioee to ~enton fter h. But is early death in 186L! she resumed her --- in Cincinnati , J ecturing in a lJ but twojSouthcrn /tf'tes 2.nd proTTJ.oting lEiiit Black self- he~p nrograms . Her fame rested primarily on her Poems on 1~iscellaneous :::lubjects published in 18.54 in Phi lideluhia . Iii& /le- very nopular volume~;;iiijiii,,;:, it went through ti enty editions by le74( ~illiam ~tiJ 1 1 s Underground Raiihroad, 1872). �~ p . tfo Lastly, we must note th 0 t o ppr-= ~ .J • on; -·-..!!!!!!! , -i , . 1'hi tficld ...._._._:,_ tc ~ mchL'.!: ~, » ~ n 'YO&q~-: . 0rv~ , r-e o erne9, ,-,i,,;. J ch1--o.nicler of world t r ulenc direct and~·er.iphntic ~~ poets he_pp non tyr -:- assaults that ny the "IIow Loni;:? 11 : I see -i-:r,e • ftug~ed Russian Be r" Upon the right of every State Its own affairs to regulate; To help each despot bmhind the chain Upon the people ' s rights again, And crush beneath his ponderous paw All cons ti t1. tions rights f:' nd law. :1.0 (£... sn /\ rbin t\'...,., [,l bal less, of t e �'. \ 41 U ~ Her literary 2ctivity · was stepped u .., ·Mo ses A Stor and inc l u ded -:! after the Civill~.raajr~iiilm:1~ of the Nile 18m1 1a11■•••••• ich vent through three editions by 1870} a volume entitled Poems c ame out by a seco ?'2 o_ fJIAJ~ /g9'.,hJil ffin · ~Aove l ) Iola LeR 'l.gree that 'rs • .Harpe r' s poetry is comes through iiir- with uo -rerful flam e s of ima ery and statement. 0 her models are 1 rs. rlemm s , 'whittier ence from the balled. 1m reading her noetry in public, -rhat I Johnso n ij;;,;;;;;.;;;~~ S"'nse of soundn for '1rs . narper was able to apneal to ( God ' s 'Tlrombones) C'llled a "highly developed fdQ.9,~ , ~~~.i3/11J, ~V644t>-) in f-ro - Kobinson tells us erican~ Sf.te aonarently lmew her limitations , that her nopularity ••• was not due to the conventional notion of poetic excellenc e , I rs . H2 rDer 1vas fully a mre of her limi t £> tions in that kind of poetry , it was due more to the sentimental , emotion- freighted ponularity what she had given the lines with her disarmingly dramat:i.c voice Pnd gestures nd sirr,hs and tears . Up tmtil the Civil \far , Mrs . h~rshness, 1arneri~ fovorite themes were slarery, its . 7 ...A.t, . ace nd the hyuocris~es of Americ'l. . She 1 :e c~retul to r:;atAt ranhj c c:et2ils-c·~,....._.,. 1-rhe re they wi J et the greatest resu t/ especially 0 rhen the noems are r ad aloud • .An examnle of th:i. s is fovnd in '1'l'he SlovEl !'Jother" : Be is not h0r·s, for cruel hands ~ay rudely tear an~bt The only urea of household love h~t binds her breaking heArt. A siT"Jilar play on · he e,.,,_otions is seen in noems li k e "Sonv.s for the Peonle, 11 "Double "~u ry Me in a Free Land, te.ndard"(with its sti r rings of feminism) and 11 �Ari ll•l'he 01ave liuction• " woman is not sol~ly responsible for her "fall,' 1 she su rreE'ts in "A Double Standardll edding that Anc1 wha t i B wrong in a woman ' s life In man ' s cannot be rivit . Bighly readable and less academic in her use of poetic techniques and vocabulr->ries , Mrs . H9rper is neverthele8S qui, te indebted to the is Bible for much of h~magery and Il;Or~ nB ssae;e. And she mIDBmsooil~ J? m 2zw.,rr a i a b le to b . ~d r lig:i ous forms in a noem I~ like ''Truth'' .Jhere she opens Hi th a debt to the Sniri tuals : A rock, for ages, stern and hfue;h, Stood frovming 1 gainst the earth and sky, And never bowed his haughty crest hen angry storms around him prest . 1,10rn, springing from the arms of night, tlad often b 0 thed his brow with light, Anc ~i ssed the shado 1s from hfus face With te11.der love nnd i:i;entle grace . ~ e i veral religious sono;s~crr·ested here; but she also loves t;:feturn to the themeJk <;;,rn as she does in "A Double Standard" 11 l1he ~lave l o~her . 11 In...-,:'v ashti II she tells of the heroine 1rm.o dared to disobey her dictator- husband . S<l!!l~!!lilll~-4The of wol"lanhood is expressed in the lP~tanzas : She heard again the 11..ing I s corJI11and, nd left her high estate; :::itrons in her e"'rnest womanhood, She calmly met her fate, And left the palace of the ~ ing ~roud of her snotless name -(9v e r) strength and determination �A woman who coul d ben d to g rief But would not bow to shame . Ce r tainly a compreh en s ive b -ig r a nh ic a l - critic a l study o f :Mrs . rtarp 0 r fl"'the Bark s da l e an d 1 innan on anthology 0 , r e c ent n~nume r·o us o t h r / anth olo r-ies . r-,..,. r rs . Aiar er I s vork s ar E' cri tic D}lY e xamined aP by Lo ggins, \ a gne r , vJhi tlow , Braw1ey ,<;' .oroi:.,m~ 1· of t h e 1 9 th_ ~ entury- 1974 ) ~ -. t ::Sherman:1111)( Jnv1. b le Po e ts : Bl a ck Ame ricans ,-t) f;p Li k e other writers , educat:kors Bnd activists of his day , Georg e B . Vashon lid22 - 18 78 ) cont ributed to the influential Anglo - African :Ma gazine ·which was published int e rmittently betwe n 1 85 9 until the end of t h e Civil \~ ar . Vashon h a d a good so lid education-- in classi c s and h ~ story-- a f Ob e rlin Colle g e wh ere h e · r e ceived his A. B. in 18¼ , 11 a nd M. A. in 1849 . Vash on, known chiefly for his Vincent Oglil which , _ __ rown tells us , "is t h e first n a r r Btive poem o f any length by a Ne i;r:: poet , " lilll!fil!Bii:J:illi••••~lllfJl!l1~mrl'-l::rmm ~istinguished h imself a s a teacher , la1 -ryer , lecturer and writer . He nra cticed law in Syra cuse, t aught school in Pittsbur g];i. , served on t h e fac u lties of Coll e ge Faustin in For- au- Princ e, P aiti, l~ ew York Central 0 oll e g e ( where he was a co l league of Reason and Allen) an d i:roward Unive -r si t y in D . -::: . wh e re he was a law professo r. l uch of Vashon 1 s poetry reflects debts to his~education and t h e influenc e of Scott and Byron . All a re seen in "Vincent Oge , " inspired by the coura g eous (but foolish) &][ CW efforts of Vincent Or e, a µ atian mul a tto who was "entrusted with the messag e of enfran chisement to the people of mixed blood on t he isl 0nd . " The zi!lliGt:. order h a d come down from the C0nvention in France , of which Haiti w1:1 s a colony . Int e rnf al disruption in ~rance(due to t he rl vo l uti on , 178 9 0 1799 ) had ech oed to its coloni e s in the Garrbb ean wh ere Og e led a �a short-lived armed uprisin~ that cost him his life when he ,,ras refused asylum in Spanish Santo D0 mine;o and remanded to the .J:trench authorities in Haiti . As :81~~iii,1P11;,• • ·?~'!'l punimIYJent and a warning to others, liiD: thP. 1i'~ench had Or:e tortured on the wheel 8Ild sevPred his body into four p2rts PP Ch of •rhi ch r· s hung up in the fo r leading cities of the ialand . Oge 1 s followers were either put to deathJ or imprisoned and thPir properties confic,ca.ted. Vashon ras as moved by Og:e l s example as was 1 fuitfield In the lengthy poem, "Vincent Ocr. ~, " Vashon i by Cinaue ' • o tralizes Oge in ~admixtu re of classi c al and Bib1ical language, using a pleasant iambi c tetrameter meter and an over dose of dissonance in his ab ab/ a a bb . The rhyme scheme which features an alternating style is somewhat remins c ent of vJhi tfield who breaks his rhyme nine scheme(see "Arn.erica 11 ) a f ter each group of ei r ht or/ :k& lines . "Vincent Ogi" and "A Life - Day" were both printed in 1tutographs for .t<'reedom :to r 1853 . For Vashon, the strup-~le is very much a liire , And Oge stands mid this array Of matchless beouty , but his brow Is brightened not by plea.iruret• s play; He stands unmoved--nay , saddened not , As doth the .10,.171 ....'.:.1ld mateless bird lll! i r Og~ , '!Rl " .. ~ ~ a 1rste:i~st11ru~e 1 presses on . __,,,.f ·' Vashon c arefully weaves the graphi c ~ det ~ils of ~ his protagonist ' s execution into the narra ive and) NC-h- t'tieM-1 anti c ipates the more iH3rJinpsdA such as Hohns o n , l c~ay, r..:rughes, Bro,-m and Dodsen : Fro1,ming they stand , and in their cold, St•lent solemnity , lhnfold The strong one ' s triurnuh o ' e r the weak -- �.' The awful gro an -- the anguished shriek -The un c ons c ious mutterings of despAi r-The strained eyeball ' s idiot star e -lhe hopeless c lench -- the quivrringx frame -'rhe martyr ' s death -- the despot ' s fh.ame . The rack -- the tyrant - -vi ctim, -aall Are gathe r ed in that Judgma nt Hall . Draw we a v eil , for it I tis a sight But fiends can gaze on with delight . F'1rnighted with emotmon and terro r like much of the ii He, Dod s on's 11 11 :f. McKay ' s n.che Lynching, , ament ' 11 V rk of l"rs . 11 arper, etueen tho · orld and setting the star·e for and © 11 "Dunbar ' s 11 'l'he "f-!aunted Oak" and ~ relentless narr ative • . 1s ashon 1 s ~ signa ~ "~ ~_,,. /I a ,,,,__.,~ sustaining power in the work of Black poets . Compare , for example , tb,e , his sonne t _, last&'two lines of the stanza above to r.,,-cKay 1 s c ouplet inA"'1 he Lynching ":, And little lads , lynchers that were to be , Danced round the dreadful thing in fiendish glee . ~ Unlike I~c hay , howevPr ., Vashon J:i•h ~N_:1P at the end : Thy comin[ fame , Oge ! is sure; Thy name with th ,. , t of L 1e verture, And all the noble souls that stood With both of y ou , in times of blood , \Ji 11 live to be the tyrant I s fear -- founded on a f a ctual event : the love - affair md eventual marriage b f a young white man and a light - s k inned Black . For selections of Vash on • S works see Autographs for .l.:''reedom anlfi Robinson ' s antholog"V . For criti c al di s c ,13 sion s see the works of Brown and B:rewley . �. • '6 U a As we prepare to move to the next phase I ,_1 in the develo t i s important that we tarry long enp:ugh to pay b rief attention ·w ' • J ' t > ~J'J ~;;l-l'blo?) ,., (JtSJ --Ji'/. to,.Sjg?n½ ft ho Creole p oet s t rmand tanuss , Vic tor Se j our. Jj,frr4LJJ"/.. - 11 Nelson Debros e es and Ni col Riquet . Somewhat of an anomaly in Afro-American literature and poetry , the ._ 6reole poets y are• nB vertheless imnortant if the mmnNmt:m. complete port 2ait of this many- sided 8nd complex tradition is to be understood . There is nothing typically A~eri can in thet poetry--not even in terms of American imitqtors of ~nglish forrns --and they rarely disnlay m.ny r"'cial consciousness or concern for slavery and general injustice . ' ! ~ J ,~,:: 0 - s, 8!½ 1 fluent in • speaking and writing French a-id from that influenc e their work derives a spicy melody and an ,-.., unhibi ted treatmr:mt of romantic love rmd revelry . Much .llll of the work is also intimate !'.Ind sonhisticated in its use of conventions and ma teria1 s ,,--.... ~ gained from l''rench ed 1c tions . ...,;sp neqred as ,; poets • -m,rk""'s ~, ·ep fjpet u71110ksd jr 11 the first D The Creole bl_ih ed anthology in a volume 7 adoition to l' rench , the Creole Doets also -Trote in Sp~nish , Latin and S:reek and 1- rere i:seneraJ ly from~we~lthy ~ land- owner class J. · ew Orleans C-reole newsnapers, r, 1union C0 nfederqte Bnd La 'rri bune, re:vved as a conscriDtea/soldi er in the Civil \ ar, spent some time es nrincipal of She Catholic School for Indigent Ornhans of Color • .ue also encourged literary and othe r artistic exnre.ps · on4 811ong fellow artists and solicited rk for Les Genalles . euf l d> gized his brother,Numa, in the poem ''Un 1''re r e/Au •rombeau de Son l''rere, i,e caJ linr.; that ''unfeeling death has cut you domi. 11 .l:!.,lsewhere Lanusse refers to depth ns "some other hand shutting vour eyelids . "~L Sfjour 1ived most of his life in France and only rPturned to New Orleans for brief visits to his mother . Son of a wealthy family, 7f~y �.insert ' '/fj p . 46 P 7 !114' About D2lcour little is kno1,m except th'1t he was born of e0lth;r parents who sent him to France in the e?rly 1200 1 ::: tJ, re- ceive a n-ood education . Returning to New Orleans ~ afte~hooling, he was unable to c ccept the racial tern.per Dndc..t~1iM .~lii1.Mc.J(.. ~ idency in 1''rance . 1 bile in New Orle ns , J:.owov r, he wrote a numbrr of oems, one of which was "Ver~e '.. ri tten in the L\.lbum of T'adanoiselle . " The poerrJ; 111k touching Jy relives the "ganlted skies" ...,nd r""~i' "gentle flaslj.es 11 which, to the poet , 0 re 11 less lovely" when seen an-ainst the lady ' s eyes Beneath tJ:.eir brown lashes . ~* tf r,lf6 Somewhat nau Lanusse gives the ~ccotmt of a "woman of evil" uho T-mnts to "ren,unce thA devil" but ,JaE asl{es : Before pure irace takes me in hrnd, Shouldn ' t I sho·-r my daughter how to get a man? 11 �r 97 ~ IM 21 of whi ch were st sged fun Franc e and three abilities"' s praised by 1rapoleon III in "New th ma jo r F r ench literary personalities of hi s and he day . mi s scope is wide r than some of the other Cre ole poets . F i s JI' "ta Retour de' Napol l o n 11 ( 11 rhe Heturn of Napoleon") ,,... i a7 is a and a c eleb r a tion all in one . \~hile euchogizing F apol , bejour praises both his and F ran c e ' s t r iumph s and glories . It i s a poem of flowin g , g raphi c exaltation . Opening • I Jz92£111 on the scene of a "sea II th a t "groans unde r the burning sun, 11 /!:.r r ates nd collapse o 0..-0 the g rowth ranee w,..,_a world power; And on and on she swep t , an unl e ashed t emp est gild·; and Fran c e moved on ahead . No more • .All is over . ••• Yet , hai l , O, c a pt ~in! Hail my consul of proud bearing . t l-ta t "death h a s lightning struck the people 1 s i:riant . Little is ~mown a bout the personal life of Debro s se ~ 11 sf wh ich , ac c ording to Robinson , "seems in keeping with his :-rai tian g a ined exp erience , in Voodoo, aspects of which he pra ctised in Hew Urleans . 11 In 1Jebrosses 111 Le Hetour au Village aux re r les 11 ( 11 Heturn to the Village of r e a rls 11 ) , he seems to ant i c ipate what \laring Cuney through the "dishwater" in his T)oem "Images . 11 The C ti see s Creole poet returns to the v~ll age t o find ~ Her spirit dances here and there in these enchanting places ::elf ■i g 1 and to locate -- that flowe r- bosomed g rove a gain, the witness of our secret pas s ion , and too , the cherished brook to which my sou1 4 would on this day c onfide its hau py memory . �tJJ1 • A 6iga.r-maker by trade , Riquet lived~ ' in New Orleans where he nursued 11 wri tj ng light v erses . Hi s f his life a vigrous avocation of Rondeau Redouble ~tl'lla1Ca z / Aux Drane \\ Amis"(,_pouble Rondeau/ Toliandid Friends") leaves no doubt that at serious in his avocation . Riquet smm A rondeau is a trench - originated l y rical noem of 13, or sometimes, 10 lines . Thero are two rhymes t h roughout the poem and the opening phrase is repeated twice as a refrain. The remotely reminiscent of the blues and Spiritual forms of Afro-American poetry. Riquet says that since his "candid friends are c aJ ling for a rondeau! J " he and his "Muse • . • must work a wonder. 11 The duty of the poet is he will "earn the name of poetaster -- from our c8ndid friends . " The Creole Poets are examined and represented by selections in , gton , D. C. , 194-~Robinson ' s antholor-y. See a~d Louisimna (li9vier Uni v e,,..si ty ~~ ~ ~,J,1,,Jj; United States nonulqtion internal soci~l in - ~Jl . protectin~ the soon-to - be-released slaves, the need to _deve loP and stn f ~ ~ educ "tional f8ciJ i ties for Blacks , aJ l d un bha J.o:i?~~J thouv.,h ~':!M~~MJ~~ fi it is cle q_ r that the works of many uoets leap the abbi t.,,,arily - i 'nPosed chinolo gical~ 't5o ilries, t:fie temperments , themes, diotj_o nal nreferences ~:ind limitations discussed o· enerally hold for mo!"t of the poetry of the period. ~ , /;)esni t the surprising successesJ nd~ a shes o :f bri lli anCil>;it intertwined with 0 mediocrity end comedy, the Bl8 c 1{ noet would la bot- long to remove _ image of a face" trrnt, in the words of Corr&thers, on the wild sweet flowers . " 11 Liet~ , like "the �~ ,& / - YX • {/f .2 _ /<{(c ) ) {Nt - 1 1 ~ ~ ~o ~/1, T ')) . 11,,n, -,j/ ~~ /, l ~~~~~~T~ To 0 La;- )\ /)l,1d")(,, ~ - ~, ~r V ; ) ,.,,a;t t () 1u �T I • 49 l.:;.B, eiJ::i <e • ha alt!! u:enre en; 4 here were oth r poets wri tin,.. and Ji== pubJ ishinr durin~ this sa rie 1© riod . ,. any of them nubl i shed their rkP in sing] e editions, ~ o'lies of A . _~re no anger extanfi. "Rr8Wle~, whose knotm rs 11 Ca esat> " who allegedly wrote but f.9r refPrf1 to a n0et 7 poetry is not PVailable . Ot1 er poems rnd th jr coJlect·ons are: 1 Haria .... nd rlarriet ' al½onar, Po~mE._~n Slavery (TI,ondo n, 17t,8 ); James T ontgomery , James U-raham, ~ . Benger , Poem~on the ~litjon of the Sl a v e_E_r.;_d~ ( London , 18oq) ; he •~est ID di a s and Other Poems n wnymous , (1811); John Bull , 'rh~av e and Other Poems(London , 1 824); Hev . Noah c. Cannon, flhe Ro ck of wJisdom ••• rro InteE_estip.-=g:.__:;:H-....L-_ s ( ew Vorir ,? 183 3); · ch Are Ad ed 0 everal nonY111ous , "'rhe Conll"1emorati ve Wreath : In Celebration of the .c..xtinc tion of !Terra .::i lavery in the british Dominions " (London, 1835); Anonymous , SlavAry in the British LJominions ( London , 1835); Anonymous, Ant i - .:>lri v e ry ___ 1elodie s (Hingham , 1'iasf1 a- chusetts , l @Jl, ); li0or@'.e ivhi tfield Clark , compiler, '11 he Liberty I i n strel ( ew VorJr , 18~11); illiamx Wells Brmm , Anti -::S li:ivpry H'1 r p{ 3oston, 1849 ); "A \ est Indian, " Chq_rleston , South 0 :=irolina : .a gati ri c ;poem sbm·□ JJ..i: , of being the seat of libert Br ought to J j gb t (Derry , ( London , 1851) ; Sam- - -- --- - - -- - - ---Darkne s s. Tew Hampshire , ? 18 55) ; George 1!. Clark , The Harp CF Freedom( 1 ew York, 1856) ; and Abel Charles (Neu York , lcr-1!_) . "' oma s , ~h0rosnel of S}qb ery � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_28 Title A name given to the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter III. African Voice in Ellipse, p. 1-49 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Description An account of the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter III. African Voice in Ellipse, p. 1-49 with an insert for p. 38, an insert for p. 46, and an unnumbered page https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/7597cf480c246dec34d8e10a180307e9.pdf 9ea569eaffdc20817f385704d788ff83 PDF Text Text .o r 1 5 J'(~V\._ 1 \ J .i. 'he the~ s o ~~ land•(; and,-ll!f as: self-esteem, the African ' ' th mother- a n ~mm!!!i11a:!·!1.1!1!11--l•AA--a new poetry as re the h idwest and West contributing i)TIIllensely ~tif. . ~~ f I iv ~ . to 11 1; J . tJ- ey . Ohio , for examp le ,~._,. sue Sf t ho -... oY\.. consciousn~ss ,- attracting a number of ,.,_Norman Jordan (19 38- ), Atkins , James Kil gorett--===:::;;,;;w,&11 ~levelan'.;;) • ··· ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -~-~/e-"I~~~~~~ and Herntonr"' _,.. .:ip the J Jrl&C ed21'!&&\ WM ~~ ' who A. · ~t Obe r lin (lqbf-lr?fl.); i:;1 Hernton succeeded li.e dmond ~ _t;i , ~ou e began a residency at Oh io Unive rsity . uarah Webster - -~al Hernton I s leavef -of- ab e ence . during M!ll•~A~i~;~~;~~ Clevela~~ /'; J r,t.,I) was spurred by tt,dition of Black writers Hughes , Chesnut (one of the founders of 1\.aramu House nontinuum produced Jordan and a host of younger po ets : Anthony Fudge , f La rry Howard, Larry Wade , Ar Nixon, Clint Nelson, R0 bef t F1e:mmng( Ku Wais maga zine) , Alan Bell , .Ho land .t<'o rte - '.l' ed Hayes , E. Buford and >,., t ,# Bi l l Russ e ll of the Muntu Po ets . Othe rl(TJ'te 'II\. - artists 2 !H!c;tJ R bldJ Lil e · f ar t1lb f beJpj'yag ,=0 • ziil.t were Clyde Shy, Ameer lta.shi~ ~ Anne t ta Jefferson . Support for poets and th eir activities carne~il~M . • '• ~ ~Jf•d~ni Call and Post, Afro-Xet/ Black Arbs project , United Bla~ Artists , Free Lance and ~aramu House wh ere Jordan's p lays , were p~o duced. J I "High Rise Dreams" of metropolitan Blacks caught in the urban scrabble . Devotion):iO dedi c a t e d to Uoretta ~cott King/ · �2 A, co nc erns f or Bla ck students , 'fhird World surviva,and • • f as c in1tion wi t h t ~~ !t'ranz l<'anon. sometimes ~ gry, othe r times prophetic and mystical . a .,.J;,tlllPl!ai=a · =ii ,4 differnnt /4:Jf f cynical and violent f ne has published three volumes : Des tinati on :Ashe,(1967 , 1971) , Above Maya(l971) , and with Marcfua uage , Two Poet s( l974 ). LJedicated • , " De~tination ~-="-ut,tlt>C J containe Jordan 1 e best and most memorable poems. ,)r"e emerge majo r fo rc e in the new Bla ck poetry , uni t ing the older symbol i z;9-~ ,..e I ll'ree Lance~a004 1(~}3ntu &i@Fi1 published privately by Jordan, ~ ater b r~ught out !:frhird ~~orld Press C~hicago) with need to 11 . bi& WI Lee,~ J re - write and about - town , 11 Lan ghing and dancing, 11 but now at 26 she is dead t:'"') and her ghost "trembles" in an a l ley wine bott l e "needing a ~ • fix/-~ ..._,,- Jordan ~poofs "High Art and All that J azz 11 : Fuck you and your damn ve-rbs let me tell it like it is nastey and fun.key . "Fe eding the Liona " ( 1966) is his most anthologigmd poem. The "army" ') �3 ~ ~ - of"-social work e rs inva des Black 81 I pass out checks_./ fPQlD Ua,oi• l f I neighborhoods each morning, aSti:t. move quickly from one r-6 ............. 11 door to another, and, after filling their quota, leave <E dark." There .a befor~ are also poems about mysticism, religion, mythology, and karma, including drawings of eyes, triangles and circles--all r e flecting the many influences on Jordan's work and the ap p roaching new mood(Above Maya). But Destination sees thro verses and 1!1/111 parables, , with its s h ort, exr.i g ramrnatic so r romantic 11 uni ty' 4'a! the end and mounts an attack,; -~-·~ • bac}:-s ~ - • violence as ,the onl ~-~-~ I i ~ 11 . ~ liquid ni ght ' ) ~ i d e the f o undation for tomorrow• s lib e r a tion. be seen i n the naJQe lI j' ,.....,_ mystical, magic a l p?weis ~~ t h ewo ~d °'--' ~ ~Al _ tJ.'.•·U'..utU<IU.f )Cleveland maga zine J> psi 8 o; ordan•s belief in D ~ ... "Cosmic Wi~doctorsrr reaffi~.. ~is f a ith ~ Black writers 1111Fll il11..11111i1(d:--ir -e1aei~ far into"--tea c s, to the Resurrection of th e Hen t a lly a nd .:ip iri tually ead. ,.Mt ,, 0,,"""~,.. ~und r---• ouile~ for their work in 01••::oi?::;. 'llack Ascensions (Cu~a C0 mmunity Col le g e), Yroud Black Image s(Ohio ~tate University)1••2 Lifelin t D : When America Sing s She Croaks(Obmrlin). Oberlin students also p ro duc e d a s~ial B1/;J. issue of the college's Activist mag azine; ¥'-it contained poems by\8tudents and well known poets. Fudge, 1979. a staff member of Black Ascensions, publis:ied Mi g ration in Another (jC(]'{:' ) j,J>oet, B. Feltorrought out Conclusions with an Introduction ...--... by Atkinst who praised the young poet for not consciously in the "disfi gurement of p erceptions II to p olemici ze a kind of •relevancef. 111 In 11 11 engaging aonstricted .An Elegy to .i!,t e rruhty, Tear-ducts swell, bursting in a delight of flood and fury. 1Gar.!_ield Jackson, a yonng prize-winning poet, is one of the editors of �4 Proud Black Images. Many yonng and older Ohio poets are included among its pages: 1''a,rrest Gay ,44h ( . . lJianne Gould, Jackie Toone, 1!.brahim Aljahizz, . . Mohsse~ Battmta Lukam a barca, Linda ~allender, Beverly Ch eeks, Antar Sudan Mberi, Leatrice ~irnaz; ,,,---. ~eruwa, Rosflyn Perry Ford, ~ay Mont- and o t h ers. ~hough th~itle sets t nep.a e i~ing theme 0 ~ ide a;;;i ti., /h"'~ • ~ ]i~i~ma~~irrgers, Dancers, ,-., 11 n;r/J do e rs of in,itial de e ds":, a nd ._;,,,; Impleme nt e rs o f t h e inevitable Black life. ~ J u,,-/,_,,;._~ , ,t/4&_ utr«1L!1 ;M.U. n the sixties. (_rlernton, wh o attended Ohio schools,A 1' The Coming of Chrones to the ~ouse of song-•-===•~in 1963 an since then boo k i/on meri- ca's social/sexual han gups. One of his m o powerful ~s poems appeared L:4Jf-~ [ f l fAC6:nfront f Aon: , A . Journal of Third by Troupe at Olb.io Univ e rsity. wl!!st his · I h the II 11 orld L i era ure in/4 ounded and :::it;reet Sc_e,.~<y'' sh ows h em.ton identity qu e stion t II 'Go to hell, sonofabi tch. _____}/_ /1/lfl ~~r things. he receives this answer: 11 C0 nfront a tion ~ishe.S other Ohio poets~ ~ , i t s conc e rns ,Iii. broad as seen i , , c ~ of contribUting editors: Damas, Sergio Mondra gon, Fernando Ale g ria, B~al, ~e and trf1fred eart e Tam F i ~ d e r s o n , Melvin Bd var s Mj~,=AIIIIEiillQi~!!!i:::=l:l!llfi•othe r o .. I Am A Black Woman, conta ining p o ems written ov e r several years, un1 fortnnately did not find a publisher until 1 970. ,rlie b6ok~\ ed ~t~ the Black Academy of Arts a n d Lett e rs~econd Annu~Award. She �has been closely identified with a c tivities in Chicago where Third Wolrd Press publishes her chidren's writings . psychological and • historical tre/ d fingers - 1' Her title poem is a spiritual , journey of the Black woman whose "trigger 11 -µ.J- seek the softness of my warrior ' s beard.... A major poem among the new poetry/it combines the best of~modernis~ techniques with a chart - work of music so as to give the impression o f someone humming along with;.; the reading of it . Mari .!!,vans s c ans~-\ml& fie l dejt!9"t e d women , self- o f Blac k life , writing about lonely and · · and Africa . In "Who c an be Born Black c an be born black and not exult! ~ l o s e l y asso c iated with the Chicago and Detroht movements is Ethridge Knight(l933 State Prison when P f' IV iii I1 ) , who was serving a 2Q-year term in Indiana Poems from Pri son _( l9q8l a~peared in 1968 with by Uwendolyn Broo ks . s~ ~ ~L4 f Vital . Vital . This poe t ry is a major announc ement ••• And there is blackness , inclusive , possessed and given ; freed and terrible and beautiful . ~ own version of the Black AestheticA._in -J ~ he same statement : "Since i!ltheridge Knight is not your stifled artiste , the r e is air in these poems . ~ 11 Knight /\[:_he deep crevices of Black spiritual and psychic experienc language of he prison sub-culture Bla ck Ameri c an ~ as he combino::s ~ with the rhyt~s of street speech . He bounces or drives hard- - ' L 1un~~ ~ "hard bop 11 prison life , love and ancestry . �6 .Prison .i..!.oxceptional from the rtospit a l for the Griminal and mythical "He Sees through the innovati" e ~ "On are - p oignantly dis p l a y e d in hai k u 11 9 11 : Ma k ing jazz swing in .::i e venteen syl l a bles AIN 1 T ~ No square po et ,t' s job. C.; h ni ght , who was 'l ater rele as ed from prison, a lso e dited Black Voices ~ ..~-.,,._ F rom Prison(l970 ) and in 1973 B ed Be l ly 0 ong and ethe r Poems . tilllllalifjlillillll--•1•~•~!!1!1!ll!!l!i~.t/l!Fls::;ii!")1111t when he tries bit uncharitable to over-int e llectualize in his p oetry . to say, belly Song proves that he wrot some fine moments but it ·s still stretching out as a poet , currently doing re - search into oral litera ~re with the aid of a Gug g enheim g rant . Bemly in " 'l 'he Bones of My Father '1 which shows him p ursuin g smile at the moon in Mississi u pi from t he bott om of the Tallaha tchie. 6_11y, a numb e r of . are included in a 1972) edited by Redmond . t h e Forum 0 ch ool of ~ duca t i on and edit e d by l gro American Lit e r a tu r e ~orumQapping, publishe d by Indi ana ~t a te Univers ity J ohn Ba y liss, an ~ng lishman. It regularly reviews Black li t e r a ture . Chicago is a Midwest heart a nd h as a long tradition of Black Arts , going bac.k to, 1927. the ~unset Club in oetry movement t here are : South ,:::,ide Co mmunity Arts venter, Johnson Pu b lic a t i ons , l uumba's Root �7 Theater (ll'rancis ard), OBAC , Insi tute o Post t}-~\\ ¥-u: tion orld 1-'ress( Madhubitm), Free. Black .P;:i~ , ~ l _ ! n ~ Q.ollege 1 tJJ1 b clJfJL✓ ~ ) ..IW,,,¥,~~.....i , Muhammad Speaks~icago Defender , and Thi rd ?1·1 Cohran(Artistic her itage .c..nsemble), to name Phili Jj As a maj or p oint between Chicago remains seene a a '1iub known as the Organization generate of Bla ck Ameri can Culture a nd Gwendolyn Bro oks Bla ck Wo~ld - • Fuller , to OBAC1s Writer's managing edi to t Workshop . In of Nommo , the ID rkshop I s journal , Fuller sai Blac k is a way of lookimg at the wor~d. The poets of OBAC, in revealing their vision, celebra te thetr blackness. In this momen t in history , what might under different circumstances 1:e simp ly assumed must necessatjrly be asserbed. And the OBAC poets know--if others do not --th a t pal e men out of the est do n ot define for mankind the perimeters of art . This they want all blac k people to know . Journal's winter issue of the same ye a r , In theN~BtU~.. _..;i~&X;..i!!111'111 Fuller said OBAC memb e rs ·were s.Q.WiSiiili•li@- '' both si mo le and profound . t1 an "imaginative ~ - • representation of their experiences, , revolutionary . 11 In the first quete, Fuller• s tone, o arr~ing the ~_..__.._~~"even if o t hers do not , for , a mong o t her , Don L. Leell942- t1 seemed to ave been ) , to'----"•r,-~u_,...aJ ~... 1 • since rhere were no sacred cows, as Lee saw it, and others do notl ~ kno a lso what the y o uthful Chiqa go know,,__, Lee's assignment was to t e ach �8 ~ would h a ve died a 1 Negro I fraction . 11 following the Le ) , Johari the editorial st aff•,,-- S)terling Plumpp(l940(lC/3S-rAmini/4_Jewel Latimore) ~9i;., ~ .1:!.,manuel , barah Webster 1'.i'abio , ~ M I ?'t1 a, dj I q ~L~orens(who launched Lee(s .~~national care er in in 1967 ,,..Qil!laiiliiB◄•~811!11'0°8'-Q.,t,;...,~;i,w.,,iliiWilo~~oe-'!""e'~~~:e:-,s,+t~~ : Wa lter Bradford(l937- ), Ca~l Ulark(l932- James Cunningham(l936~ ) , Hohda Uavis(l940- (1937- (1947- ), Lee , · po Gilb er tt l925 - ), Mike Coo~ ( 193 r:.. " r (!( 1 '1.enner ), Sharon ) , and a Sigemonde \vimb 0 r are Carolyn rtodgers ( 1 9)-1-3 - Other b'hic ago • Hc Laurin , 19 wa GE.iri/ Patterson , Jerrod, Zack a rea poets c an be found in Nommo, Black Expeessions , Bla ck Worl d, Black Writers ' News, Muhammad Speaks, and in the anthologies B ·Broadside 'rreasury (l97l).J+ and Jump Bad : A New f• 7 QC 4':!iChicago Anthology(l971), both edite d by ~wendolyn Brooks. They ean also be found in the numerous anthologies and journals alweady listed . ~--::;:;::s:=:::!::t:::::;::__ J • c e ssion won by Chicago area artists and Black \-Jorld ,~as activists , who proteste(¾~he old n ~me Negro Digest in the late sixties . the image ~ tbe pnbJ ie,.-t;iga through the �9 ticklish waters ch has h.ee . ,,......, pnin . t·ing th eir . wor k , poets and writers ,• noting books published, 3 ~ S prizes . new c ei v.;1, 't:' ~!t 1'1argaret ' .n i,&_.!!!iCJU•-----awc an ~co~rcial attention t I a d e s ~~t} he and his poetry have re- sampling of cri tic 7~na schochars mo feel he - o v alkerr , e1' would~ nc /Jai~nder son, >Ii 11 er , Gwend~ brooks , Paula Giddings, Baraka, Ma ri .c..vans , .ttandall Gayl~• Gw~% esus Christ . country . " 11 a11 '' the poetry itj. the u country" ~ statement J,Glllt'5 in view of the 1,coliec ti ve 11 uolicy -- and the ailti - indi "l2i. duali stwr feelin~ - ~' allegedly .Y;ti.le cornerstone o f ~ the Chicago poetry s c ene . be has p ublished five volumes of poetry: Think Blackl(l9 f 7) , Bla c k Pride ( 1968 ) , Don I t Cry , Scream( 1969) , 1/Je Walk the Way oft he New World ( l970 ), DirectianscorelSele c ted and :New Poems ( l971 ) and The Book o f Life (1973 ). His Dynamite Voices'ffil:6' ~ubliih ed in £ 7 1 , is a study of~1ack. p e:t . o,f 'the sixties ; but it~lileilffl-, like/\~ther criticli:sm) M ~~1r:rl~ /J4d..tliillll~ a hazy thinker, who lac ks discretion and~ ~ • page , for example , ~ illuminating and apparently advocating the use of the word "motherfuck e r . " And any book /)./,. ~ • 0 i 1 .< . "t ./_, about the sixties should not come off the press wi thoutA.and exar,&nabiunfof LeRo :iJ. Jones / Imamu Baraka.~:!! l"ee:t;ry . Madhubuti attributes the fathership of the �10 New Black Poetry to irum:im Baraka, but apnarently is incapable of discussing the man· s n oetry . 'I 'here are other, incredible fl a ws J.n the book#, for which this young noet·s oder mentors must share some blame . (~:ff' As a criti c, he did not~ultivate the 11 distance- tt of Brown , Hedding , or Hend~rson, and conseq~ently--already lac he .. · tter oet I • ~ " , I b~-,li~~""'"1!!"t"~M~~;i...,iQQ.~~~ i'fms 11 from The i~ew Poetry of ., A Black Hate)' ~IIM[IIIIWiV'J red pontifica tions The Book of A he re-arranges sayings and parables stated better by Aesop, bush hfricans , Plato, and Baraka, and Tolson. Like and others, his early work~re-inforce casti gatel i tey and encourageC,, up in the ti tlesl ,AA._ at· ay co Think Black! and wel}-...,.. ..... ~.,-------.r. often not ~;'-'ii~~~~rr""mct"ST Wall 11) 0. • n an of effective typography which moves in parallel columns vertically or horizontally on the pages . c ri ti cal arti n Introductions to his books and les Hadhubuti -~~~~--'~ gi veA "directions Black writers - - as he does in much of II to , _...,.A_. the poetry itself . ften - talked- " ,.alegy for Conrad Kent Hi 'Ie rs r~veaI in g s tha t ,uAitt:',w _,,/ cause prema ture black deaths. ~peaking of " too much" sex and drink, he s ~ many r-:--"poets who poet 11 die from But can unknowingly dabble with the most complex aspec~s of Black life a s in 11 ·rhe i:::ielf-Hatred of Don L. Lee" wh e re, �11 1 11 after studying Black hi.s:07, he learns to love the inner' person and hate my light brown outer. Certainl~ a pro~oundAd l~~a is stated here:since hating one's color will not change it; and since one has to live with i.J$he resu of one I s life . It is a good yoem for studying the so-called "solution" '/IA.,_, .~ m~il' BJ,ack wri t c rs ffl!:..1P~M tha 11 found' to the identity problem . --:-,, of conf There are othe r . sion in Ladhubuti's poetry. ...::,,;,, One of his most fa ~~~ I poems ;t Praised ~ighly by ~tephen Henderson , the ( encoura ged of 11.on .t\.a renga Blacks to refnounce the Blues . bute to Coltrane Madhubuti 1 s is largelY.-A.~ll!ii of intelligibilityt i cried for billy h olliday. the blues , we ain't blue the blues exhibited illus i ons of manhood . must Jafheinz Jahn .....--,. knew better . And certainly , today, Madhubuti ( (; 4,"1, 7 • ,if the blues w re destructive, then how did .ai11•-...----~f Inde.ed, how did any~ s ck Omn ioe~r/bake lf ./ 1urviu~}i~m ''.Jj;s~ . Carolyn Rodgers' vol (1969) , 2 JLo ve es are Paper ~oul(l968 ) , ~ongs of a Blackb:ird (broad,side) (1969) , Blues Gittin Up(l972) and How nvincing , she writes of young women , love , I Got Over{l975) revolutionarf music . In Phoeni "she recalls traveling "with the wind" and he a ring the many voices ,. screaming blooddrops of time . "Jazz" describes "three II C at the bar, the drinking glasses/ �12 and the murmur of thick mouths •••• " Re bolushinary 1.-mas/ eastuh juli_e 4/etc . etc . etc . " is a O"'>",.. 11 mil i tan ts •11 And she tells u§ that bits of me swlintered in to a mirror in 11 ~-71~) ... Look at My .t'ac e a 6oll age . " Thes e am e~fiW" ideas a nd theme/1\?an also be found in the poetry of Johari Amini , Pl liqnpp Johari Amini I s books include Images in Black( 1967) , FablK(broadside) (1969) , Let ' s Go ~omewhere(l970) , &nd A Hip T_a _ l_e_i_n_D_e_ a -t h S t ~ h " ett_ow~f · ~ ~ ~ • " E 9 > c o l l o q u i a l i s m s , ~ ~ ~But she has in 11 Black ""tcange1i~~ J.,L, Brother" whi ch longs for the "soil" of Black people, whe re ,they can.wuu11 • • feel~ unive r se shudder •••• ML.. A- l_p1umpp's ' Portable Soul(l969) .-,iit rlalf Black, Ha lf nlacker(l970) and Steps to Break the Circle(l97~) . A southerner~·- a backg rowdd in£ psycholog1/~"•~r:rtten called Black Hituals( study ~ ) . His interests ar e seen in titles like "From Manless • Sisters to Big Bad riappers , " " Black ~ -- Nesaages"("belfeve in us") , epic 11 ) "Living Truth 11 ( 11 black history ••• a banned and Bgyp t ( . _ For Black 1-liotherhood) "' : , ~ ~ r l a s t i n g sunrise awoke ... ~ ~!lip h,w.j,v-tl\J - -..... ~~t'he motTpercepti v/ ~ ski] 11'u.Lffuet~II' 111 ra., ~s Cunningham. 1 His l!!J~olume is The Blue ~arrator(l974) # and he has been published widely in periodicals . "The Ci ty Rises" as a ~ sad sti f f wooden place ... . ~:fib> St . 11 the • 11 il'uli en• s 1>ve : ~ Dennis Cross ear" by Brahms, and /....t here follows the wind- man tearing at the bridge as a man stands wondering why does the river •_ 11 ~,.l.lL,~~n--- ;/k# ~..,_~_::""" "stab bed d ._ II in �13 ~~ to pla ce dispara te ordering s in Kaufman - ville : or a note t hro wn to is a st,.udy of the " fr agments II of carolyn from r t i ~ i~~ ~~-- Bob Kaufman t - a ma dness unlike my own •••• ~ " ' " ' r a m the Na rra tor• s Tr a nce," Door(l971); series'.iiiiiiiill•liiiB•••--•• Ang ela ~agic'Cl974) f; lDamali(Denise Burne tt ) , I Am that Wo~ld Press I New Poets '-' Jackson, Voodoo/Love We May Be( le 74) ; Fred Hord, After {ours (l974)• and Sandra Royst er, Women Ta lk(l974) . These young poets deal with a v e ri e ty of subjects/~ ,.._,~s~m • a- l~~~F · ety o f f ~ mo s t l ~ ~ e concernea_ with r e volution , i e Bla life in tt ~ eme rg ed from Amon g t f( ,, new Gwendolytn Bro oks · uge ~ _.",.........V-""'"'-..• ehic av:ft., J;s wh o , as we saw in Chapter V, ~ o l i Blackness a nd wondor~ul ly magic t\- ~ in h e r in h e r p oetry . The Brooks of In the ~ eccatl968J, hi ot(l 96 9 ) , F amily Pictu r es(i970) and Alonene ss(l971) is ,,;,ti,._ �14 not drastically different from her former self . In neport approve w From a, tougbness , ~oetry whi ch yiel is to ry/ ~ readings . She and dramati c dialogue to white middle class ES inco rpora ~ Bing Cro s by and He 1 vin Van re e bl es/ in and l.le,ao i: t11i:1Nm n ompo si t ~ a c e of a "Hiot , It' aspects of love . Thef':s1ack philosopherJ /is tt t.9 A 1""'11., ~thread that spi~es the section ,e f po I c alled The Third Sermon on terse,,,; t he War pland . 1here are traces of her earlier I ,.. # • as her underfed h ::- un che s jerk jazz . A n d ~} llllilt&q z g a ri'.'.Jf a,#!a) "But WHY do 'lt'heses Pe o ple offend themselves? ' adding that n it is time to "help . " Family Picuures contains the ~ ap - sho ts of her new young heroes , the people who helped her bec ome "Blac k . ~ ~ ~~!e:e:Qr an,d ,19\ung fo. $ 64 .bMJ._~ 11 i c ans ~ the Young, " d"edicate~'\- to own ehildren , the mensitive mother - poet gives advise that many another ~ yo~ng person llliat. might cuddle and cherish: Live not for rhe-~nd- of- the - Song . Live in the a long . ~ t J. �Chica go po e ts were only skip Gary, Indianapolis, Clevela nd, Detroit, and St. Loui s, 1 ana sas City, and t h e ~A._Provided ~ t ~ interc~ang es and exchange s on all leve£s. Motown• r z poetry , like rllDW tha t ~ oth e r comm.uni t i e ~ i n termoven' with odtPtr rel a ted dl.lh.~ . .. ~~e.llr.pressiorf,.__l?ntii 11si~ Margaret Danneir 1 s Boone House ,___ for the Arts, .tiev. Cleag e s illll: 0hrine of the Black rlJ.adonn~, :r~oJfJn O.AJ (J.) 4t-. ~ Redords, Broadside Press, Vaughn's Bookstore, a nd ciiss8Y eimilrn oo!htolJNh • I for the late sixties.iJ!! ft and seventies, of course,~~~'4 andall ha;;;hanged a: a poet and p e rson, he says, in ways that p e rhan s parallef ~•••"ll~ wendolyn Brooks . Black po e ts, he -=-is publi~.4-' new books of his own p oetry, serve~) as distri butor of rl r eman 1 s Herit a ge 0 eries, a nd travels widely as a lectu r er, te a ch e r, librarian and translator of Rustian ~ poetry. -.. A formalist by training and temp e rament, .ti~dall t21M:*ri ••tl&iaasi!lin described his new poetic stance in a statement in Modern and Contemporary Afro-American Poetry(Bell, 1972) f My poetics is to try to write poetry a s well as I c a n. I think I h a ve said elsewhere tha t the function of t he poet is to write poetry. Tv1y e a rli e r p oetry was more formal. 1~ow I am trying to wnii.te a looser, more irregul a r, more colloquial a nd more idiomatic verse. I abhor lo gorrhea, a nd try to make my poems as concen- tratted as possible. , Indeed, ha.ad.all has tried to do just that--movin g from a traditional a ~ve rsational~ . This he attemps in volumeaf li k e Love You1197O)/ and After the hilling(l973). Vfuen Randall is describing a gt,(}1 in an African village or the "Miracle '' of love, he comes over g enuinely and strong . But ialllll1•11P n oems like "Green& Ap ples II and 11 11 ~ ords Word s Words II s ~ow him out of his fiel4 . 'l 'hese and other ~e~ • ~..B ■ '.U me relyflp'rose1 ,~ is primari]y �a librarian, pu.Ib.lisher , and edito r whose service~ Black poets has been and remains invaluable . _ . This is seen not only in his production of their work , but in the many anthologies which he has edited. With Chicagoan Margaret Burroughs,~Mi--he co-edtied Malcolm; Poems on the Life an d Ueath of Ma lcolm X(l967), a foresightful and commanding work . Also to his editing credit are Black Poe try (l969 )• and The Black Poets tl 971) , the latter imbalanced and apparently quickly f:! ' ,_~~ thrown together sinc e it hasi\EWi: ic1:rf fl 1 snt Introduction and contains no bio-bliog raphi cal and Margare t Danner, )' James Thompson(l936 Hayden, Rocky Taylor\ Tejumola' Ologboni) \/Q!. J, ; ~~Ullo,v; \ now living in Atlanta~ 194~ - CONJ ., , u1_12-7- ) onebeyatta 195~- d~ W1 (1 950 - (JJ3~- \ . Darnell Hawkins(l946- '-1- \h,(/)• , J, I\:. eonea ~ ("\_ - _ ad B~ily (l9Q6- Lo. .,,J ) ..... :·. -Jfll \J ither spppn(l 947 - Pearl Glee~ Lomax ., 1, ))f~rency ·Hodges(l940- )' . MelQ._a Boyd Q 5i - ), f{:itella Crews 1 ~ 50 - J ), ), poeeis can be found in Ten , ABroadside Treasury_, The Black i:Jihcse indivmdua and in the sm ooks regularly published by ~ a dsi de Black Press • . -• ~ .;;;;.till ' . . ,~~~ l1'W'-- ~ ~~ a~o t~,..........._,a>~ Qo.d {l(>.,LfY, ,q 7'l). James handal 1 has published Don 't Ask Me Who I Am and Cities and Other Disasters(l97J). His poetry is intense,~ commanding - £ UH ii ii In "~ etwork News , 11 ~"""'"""'"""\IMJI.,('__ we are told that For years he'd watched the growing madness of the ~t a te. There is irony and pathos. as in "'Stre et Games II where a boy/fl is black as the ancient curse of Afri ca •••• A different kind of poetry is writtmn by Ologboni who int e rmingles establishment-directed drum rhythms, inc antatory medi tationa and sharp~rbs in Drum SonJ{l969) , Introduc ed by Gwendolyn Bro oks . '!'he poet is als o an, artists,.Jdl tells us in "Untit led 11 that the night contains indifferent st a rs •••• �& liayden h a s been ~--~~il alma mat e r , since (1970) 11 · urningtime he 'IM1'P 218.liii@ Gheme 11 BJ are fri gh t e ning p oemsAi o;I! Jayne Gorte.x• s ~ a s eeks a pl a ce wh ere man kite or hunk ie , b'§It 11 man . " Th e re wi 11 M't~ be c a l ~ ni g~e r 1 g~k , • 11 i g an , h is th -F'e stivals&lllliii. Fun erals . jok e a nd men ) , · 11 wlds as .tiayden surveys the boledad 11 {ncra dl e d by dru g s , by j a zz 11 ) , ::;phinx" l "my 11 1.odachromes t h e Island -....... ... ~~. ~~-==-=~·-~z.. . ( "finger l e ss hand ~Bl- a i • ~ d - - - Malik El - Sha bazz 11 { "the wak ing dre am 11 ) visit to , t h e rledstone ~ '"feus ov e r h edeye 11 • Ft ;;:_ Ars enal . Jilt M.. It ,it.7'.11119. ,......,.,,.-,... r ",;I~ ,--...._ great p oems as a major st a tement on our times . ill D Western man s mythic totem, his depravi -- on/\ all a re · es ~ n a m ~ whetqe d e ~h - mytholo g ical f i g ures . At!!!!!lliliia~iWl..-•~!!l'IPM...,_.._. to birth invis1 11 ted • eN7iol8nce are dra gon , h ydra , b a silisk , tulips , corollas , ~ Zeus , Apo l lo , Ni k el\ He rc u les . 1'111!1.-:t~e -t::J,. ~ ,1 missile's ·~ o beoorno a s a c red phal lic g rove •••• ~ Apparent ly the guides at t h e arsenal about the missil e s ' de s tinies a nd d ange rs : _ , . 'four partial answe rs r eassure me less than th ey a p pall . I f e e l as though invisible fu s es we re burnin g a ll ~ro und us burning a l l around us . Heat - quiv e ring s t witch da n g e r 's h yper s en s itive s k in . The very s unli ght he re se e ms f lamma b le. questions • • �And shadows give us no relieving shade . Dismal and final , - adds its own particula r tone , t of the New Black Poetry . st~le and language , despite his disagreements with the Black Aestheticians , there is no doubt th a t 11 L.eus 11 ~~f a d spol(esman,-,: from bobby Dylan to Billy Graham. goes back before the days of famous , Dred Scott lovi:;,f_, -- Arts Movement . a the and / alternately war~ worked closely together during the height of the Black Poets an BAG(Black Art i st Group), House of Umoja , The Blacksmith ~hop of Black Culture , Black Liberator project , the House of 'i 1ruth , Impact 5< House , the .c..xperiment in Higher .c..ducation at ill( ii L.- ~- area were Q...., SI , ~atherine Dunham ' s Perfomm.ing Arts '11raining Center( t HE..-SIU), Black rtiver and the ~outhend ., riters , ~~ igh1):]prhood Center . poets .: 1 • in the f.J .Pl GM. ( ' '-' Rutlin , herman Fowler , rt~;;lm~DS , CYI];thia CG.llley(wh6 Et11 & <c XV..,:~ u '-- (Jq;1, ,J ~ • -~) , Arthur Dozier ,~ustin Black..(who went to Los ' I w -'14 I\ 11 Fred horton, enetha ashington , Donald Hender~5,n , Henry v~,u,. ~ i I~ . · , t14 l).ek'a ~ : e iJ Osborne , Jon \rd lson , ~loria \IIJalke r , Vincent Terrel , 1~ayne Loftin , Derri c k \'/right , Gregory Anthony, Kath erine Dunham, and others . �Writings by these po ets · in Sides of the Hiver : Be t ty Lee ' s A Tlfini - An t h o lo gy of Bl a c k Uri tin ,~ s l 196 9', rtedmondJ ,. St . Louis-based :. Proud magazine which offers pri ze s, The Mi ll Cre ek Inte lligeneer, !f67) ~ ilQoomm a spe c ial issue of Sou 1 wester ( fall , 196 8 , selected by Redmond) , Tambourine ( 1966, \✓hi te and :::,chwart z) , The Black Liber a tor, The Creator(l969) ,ACollection(l968) , allli\i. Volume I of Poems by Black s(l970) . Dumas , who ~ ~g~:t' St . Louis{S/()-E#f}J'~ co-s ponsored "m'!~~~,-b...._.....,......_..,...,.__......,;i,..,,,...s/)and Blac k h i~er und e r Dumas ' supervision, with Fo wler and Linda Stennis serving as editors • .1.:.i11iott writes , in 11 The .Urearn Time , 11 about the "spiroch e te womb 11 of the mo t her o f t h e universe , t he Phoenix, and the death ►7 f& "fashioned at the end" of 5 0 0 years . Great Pho- enix tha t she was/ the moth e r of the un iv e rse :iiD now le aves the drea me r With onl y h e r g r eat murky sexuality •••• Elliott is a dreame r and surre a list but Bl a ck temp e rament with his The Torn ado i n J t.u ushers in a J a a: 1~ i f f -1;;-e ] My Mouth (l966) . He h a s the irreverence . of the Be a ts, the funkin e ssl,f2f the h a rd bopp e rs , a nd the sexuality of one in hot purs uit . "Asexual Fli ght" says a man's l a st wish is to be banished to the island of remi8bRtW and loose lo v e . 1-' Another mood is p r esente d in "rtazor 1•1ama Democracy/ the ache in 3- D" whe re 'rhe blue haze h urts and now the hair is t u rning 11 11 into an "a ch ing g rey . '' ~ a Bl a ck salutes the gladiator" in"Coeval Drums for Leroi II but in the me an t i me f he cove rs quite a bit of ground : "the dead art e ria l insanity"; ;' futi l ity in j agge d crags"; "Ki er kega a r d/ Sartre"; 11 like dri pp ing brine " ; "over the window of my b eing" ; an d f i n al l y "He r p owe r i n h owJ ing winds " bri n gs �A DRu:MBEA.r FOR LEROI . "Black Funky'~ is subtitled a &. 11 o-D a hypothetical orga-srnf"f!PJ\there is irrevem-ence in "DAMN YOUR god ftt subtitled 11 the liberated Har - horse . " l1::_ Ga rrying 11 a 0tick , " Fowler asks : Who cares~that I had yesterday ' s stale gum for breakfast? "Thinking" allows l'lin i!,e, leis various images stream and burst forth vomiting tidings mind can hear . omenetha Washington writes about the pressure a on today 1 ~ Black woman watching people Scurrying from sun to sun ••• ong , she says I protest but still I run . Loftin, a young poet who writes with ec onomy and simp :}.i s:tty , \Jright and Baldwin up in 11 Heali ty'f : out of the cotton field s and burning suns to overcro~ded cities and shades of slums hedmond and Fowler founded the Bla c k ~iver Writers publishing company which brought out bides of the River • ..;?'currently under the supervision of Catherine Younge , the press has published Redmond 1 s volumes: A Tale of Two Tom:: (liSlf:- (broadside) (1968; , A Tale of Time & Toi l et Tissue (b~ pamphlet) (1969) , 0 en t ry of the Four Golden Pillars t l97O ), Rive r of Bones and Flesh and Blood ( l971) , Songs From In A 'l'ime of Hain &t anJ r-::--.. Desire (1973) , and an Bloodlinkf s and MO Consider Loneliness as These Things,t-n 1973 by the Centro Afro/Phone l l972) , ~tug.i B ~cam.bi Inte,;rnazjona.J.i in Italy . 0 acred Places(1973 ~ �for t h ~ h o o d f i n his poetr~immediate -~~-,liJ, .'illll•••• --.:;:~i,1.l.. ~ his without for c ed allegi a nces ds come naturally and historically. His poetry ranges from hiiJiorous fol k portraits like 11 Invasion of the Nose": His nose wa s his radar , His eyes icy darts th a t moved f as ter than speed- of -s ound jets . He could rap like a pneumatic drill Or croon like .:imokey Bill when the occasion arose . ~~ to considerations of love Aas in "Inside My Perimeter" : Inside my perimeter er fears A unit of guerillas Strikes at the barbed- wire 8ovels that hmaed our love : That inc a rcera te our needs -An insurgent a rmy .:itorms the b a stille of pride Shells this fa c a de of s ustom, Knells the collaspe 6 f the stra w men inside us -Accepts the sun , Allows the contorted face of Stress to smile again -To glow againjl AJlows Love to Live . :jM';C;:/;;, b e r e in I» there wer/ ~her ~°l[//!':_T in poetry! Iowa , Nebraska "-Kansas City where Wilbur Rutledge~ and othe:izs associated with the Afr o - Ameri c an Cultural Center re c ei v ed assis t anc e and exposure . �. . • v~~:aJ:r-·'{?Ml wf4} 7/ - Spicer, l \-i llesse Hester .- nd Jac k ie ~J ashington. ~ UlOU ~) ~~W.14:) 1'lidwesx.fle a 61 t more than fhe poets of the a hop , s k ip a nd jump from California , but ma.ny of them were insipred b y ~ t v ~ l magazine oov erage , en d cross-c ountry tours of r;;;-b etween t h e ~ . f ornia . the Watts poets . Born, a s 1· t were , Mllsicmr ~C ali :,un and the re bellion of 196.5 , the \.atts ~J ri ters 1 orkshop wa s ini tlilally under the diredtiJn of Budd Schulberg . Later, as ol der writ er s left ~ . and newe rfl\came i ~he supervision of the workshop was assumed by Har ry Dolan ~th 'IS$) SlrSCC'iit i'Wili: He rbert Simmons . helated cent e rs of culture and infJuence included the Watts Bapnening Co ff e e {o use, the sho rt-lived Shrew magazine, the Watt s Repertwry .t·heate r, the Acquiarian Books tore, the Sons of Watts, the Blac k Panthe rs, ha ren ga s US organ ization, a nd Frederick Douglass Writers' House which hou sed t hose associated with the Wat ts writers program . Among this and o ther writing groups were IIilton IJfc Fa rlane, Clyde Mays(l943Troupe(l943Donegan(l943- ), Stanl ey Crouch(l94.5- ), ), Robe rt Bowen, Pamela ), ~mmery ~vans(l94 3- ) , Fanita(l 943- L~ ) , ~effers , ~l~~ Lino , K. Curtis Lyle(l944) Leumas Sirrah(l948 Blossom Powe, , ), Vallejtl947Simmons(l930 - ), Cleveland Sims(l944- ), ~ric Priestly(l943- ), c. Ojenke(Alvin Saxon, 1947- Jmmny Sherman(l944 - ), I i:.rne st ), Johnme Scott(l948- ) ), K. Mo~eland, Mayh and, ), Fannie Carole B~wn(l9h2 )j David 1'..Jayne ortez ( 193eI\ ), Edna Gipson( l 946 ),;Blossom Powe(l929) , James Thomas Jackson(l927Reese Moody(l 933- Sonora McKe ller(l914 - ), Harley Mims (l92S- . Ridhiana, and others. Their· works are ~ c .fll:lll•llt' ¥Q ), Birdell Chew(l913- ) , IFe in two anthologies: Ashes(l9 67, Schulberg) and Watts Poets and Wri ters(l 9 68, Troupe) . --,.....~;:;;l'.:--perio di cal s poems are ~ sca~ed through such~ca s Los Angeles Magazine, Shrew, Conf ront a tionl'\West ' a J_ ILi§. ~ ......---. Seen as a movement , the \Jatts group ,;\qualitm.tf ~ and quantity , emerge ' �insert this p a ra/ page 22 • . . at the University of ~en¥e r fo r the yea r 1974- 1975. . . - 'l::J?h:d 1 r, /fphahl le during a l e ave o f absence , .Kgositle(l938 - . -:C ~~-••--••M~ tle 1..t ' Pan-1->.fri c ani·s act and symbo J_. was born in Johnanne sburg , South Afri c a , end has been exiled in the United 8 tates since 1961. His articles , noems 9.nd interviews h a ve been published on an i n ternational scale , and he ~ has taught at seve ra~/\co~~eges and universitt~ ' In addi t i on -SCIIII~ ooks already mentione';Jhetfublished "1y Bame Is Afria a(l971) and edited The \·~ord is He r e : Poetry from I·-odern Af ri c a {19 / 3) . His own e sthetic is sta t ed in his i nt oduc t i on to the antholo gy : Poetry , the word at its most expfessive , c a n be a praye r , an a ppe a l , condemnati on , encourage~ent , affirmation-- the list of ende a vor s is endless . And if it is auth entic , a s anything else e xp ressive of a people ' s s p iri t, it is a lways social. Thisfhe where in the Introduction , Gwendolyn Brooks writes th 0 t his ~ Arl t is life worked with ; ••• i n to their works and, m 1ciS.;?' indiginisms B~ckisms . He Gr :s"7 as says the combine s his own with a mastered fluen cy Ameri c an who le o f ~ tumultuous~ ~ A~), ~ ntermingling • • /"'I i.llli·•,==-111a~1J~m~s~mMittr~~~•INi ■Msrra·a~s--1111111iai·■:•J~ A Black s t ree t language with most ab l e c raftsmen, he· · ---.--,-~~ an a c quired fo:r;fl • One of the ~ ·,o childr en , women, v i o lenc e , musi c, Nalcolm X, Lumumba , Gwendol!'::J..-.J,'l.. _,. . ~ ~ ctl: , '.Jnl,fl.'(JV~~ Br oo ks , ~ ~._,.- 111 Afri c an d r- nce s , • Bill y Holiday , or "The Ni tty liritty 11 wnJ rew,-----¥.!""-i f r o zen on batte r ed bla c k lips •••• �as ,j) of the most power f ul on the Ne the po~try is not uni formly good or exc e llent, there is ~ visio~ style!.._and them~tha t one looks hard to migratory patterns of find in other g r oups. This may be due in p art to theAli.,lhiei a Blacks in the West-not born in Los ee.;tlf•■ t •s11e:..-1 we re~ of Galifornia. Whatev e r the reasons, the re is a prismatic rang e in the p oetry tha t moves from the earth-woman musicality of Jayn~Cortez, across the allusory a n tical M excursi ons of Lyle, the siJ;}:~~ lso wlieli-ai! s omel{!,';ijnal blues i n t e rludes of the ~ournal of Black Poetry. Ain 1 t No Ambulances for Mo Ni g ~ s Tonight(l972) i s ~ 1'!lllle-- of both his Lp r e cordin o:-f -which includes "rap" as contains liner notes by Lyle. Croudh uses fo~k well as po e tr'Y) ~orms and themes int e rtwined with music and various ~ramatic techniques. Many of the p oems are dedicated to musicians like Parker the and Coltrane; oth ers attempt,-complicated spontaneit ,, • The title p e '~" day of the final riot when t h e re fl!ilblwill not be ~ mbula nces ~ o e m s hero, Monkey Junior, 11 got on his job '' l ike Nat 'i' urner. Lyle says his influences are Artaud, Octavio Paz, Cesar Vallejo, 6esaire, a nd oth ers. His poetry is ~rounded in elliptical phrases and oscrure i nformat i on which he constricts into fri ght ening , surreal images and ~ st e tes. "Sometimes I Gof to Camarillo & bit i n the Loung e II describes how th e p o e t st a res into 1 'an aiming of s piri )" ¥~viewing the world as y ellow trump ets of st a rving blues yet wearing a Vietnamese mothe r•s "ult r a-h i gh -f r equency scre ams." (I. 1 ie a re told tha t 11 coba lt bu 1 lets II smash t h e h ea rt of the "lone range r Af -1.J./ .; ~---;;:~ _o ~~~/~' ~- to Sc r eam. " • ', .., a--t bl. ,, J> • .J) "-) -.P.. {) 1 AA ;"I~ 1 11 �Ojenke has an unlimited range of intellectual and social concerns as he sculpts his poetry from 'fC-, the f"i' di verse ingredients that produced the Afro - American . Apparentl.Y}\verse ~~ . reaeco - oman clas re of "Black Orpheus" pierce the dark solitude of a Hadean world : ••• ire wonders into ancient lireece and Nigeria in the same poem . In commotion caused by li~)ltning and famime , 11 1/atts '~A-4 X assassinating tin people and whole grass - blades? Later on Diogenes, ~&crates a nd the But these f ,..---.. Oracle of Delphi en t er the po~ ~ . heracters .......,.,._ only come to Jatts to find people escaping into a "toxicant" and fleeing from some too - true - ' truth •••• Ojenke also wrote an Introduction to ~vans' book The Love Poet(l971) . About ~vans 1 reading ability, o·enke said• is into your ear. " two roaches dance across the room to the tune of poverty; ••• ( Sco~ t is ~ one of the more well known of the ·J atts poets . In "The F ish Party , " he says The fish are gathering again tonight , ••• And fish - watchers , ignorant of the world 1 s problems , get their charges - from trying to guess what the fish will do . During the conversation , Scot t talks parenthetically about war and poverty , but all is exc* lamatorily interrupted : "Watts , 1.966" is difference . But ~cott closes it on memorable lines : ~h~ man named Fear h a s inherited half an acre, ~ l (J..~M• Other Watts po~ts deal with love violence , e:n ei i 8 &H e.;, ! 50 co~templati~~l\and music . 0 �2i Many left ~Jatts after the late sixties . ·univ ,, ) and ~~~~~~~~~~~u Troupe went to Ohio , ~mbryo(l973) , ~fter moving on to New York . not published a volume , went to Washington University in ~t . Louis , and recently returned to Los Angel e s . Jayne Gortez went to New York where she has lived and wrote since the late sixties . Her three books are Pissstained S · Man ' s Ware s l l969), She has also recor ~:;_:;~..Mto'-'-~:..i...~~~~-----....,.....,._i.w...~(1974) . Festivals and 'fi'-unera!s 1971) and carifi c tions 197J . er themes and styles are broad , but mostly embrac e musi c as aspect--..-~ rm. Afri c 5Mstruggle and a dominant theme in her poetry . Pissstained ~...._..1 music i s espe c ially i " The Ro ad 11 and struggle . is 11 where anothe r Hank moan s " and is "Lead" describes ."JLt~ . r kind of hard lifEJ\ crackl in hot a sunrise . " Lead, of c ourse , is Lead BeJly whom the 11 nig p-uhs" desperat e~ ~ hear spi t the blues out . hardships and goodt i mes o f Dinah , Brown and othe r s -- a deat h , from one who would ••• eat mud to touch the root of you •••• Among o t h e r ~ Arthur Boze(l945 - ets are Robert Bowenll936), Mc Neil,/ ) ,1 Kinamo Ho dari(l940 ) , Dee DeeJ1943 - Northern California has also been characterized by in- and trans migrations o f d writers . Inde ed a lis t ing of poets from the general area of the San li'rancsi co Bay read like a national convention Goncalves,1937Youngt 1939 - ) , Harper(l93.$ - Clyde Taylor( Ma ck(l947- ) lnow at Brown) , Conyus(l G1L2 - , ), Angelo Lewi s(l950 - ), El Muhajir(l944- J, Reed , Miller , Lawrence Mclraugh(l940 ) (Marvin .X) , Leona \ elch( J, ) , L . V. ) , ), Joyce varol Thomas �(1938- ), David Henderson, Joseph !Vic.Nair( ) , Jon .l;!;ckels ( George Barlow(l948 De Leon Harrison(l 941- ), Herman Brown ( ) ~Jfuumba), Pat Parker( tebster Pabio(l928- ), bara Anderson~aya Angelou(l928- ), Glen Myles(l933 'f." )' ), ) , William Bay area activity in the arts has been heightened and enhanced by the 0 an F'rancisco Afro-American Historical and Cultural Society, Bookstores such as Moa,e• , Ha rcus and 1~ew Day (Goncalves) , activities of Panthers and similar groups, the Hainbow Sign cultural center in Berkeley, Nairobi Colle g e, and nume rous other cultural and literary projects . Poems by many r.,~ ~ these bards~~-- · Mi ll e r ' s Dices of Black Bones(l970), Journal of Black Poetry, Yardbird Header( a semi:enual edited by rteed , Young, Cecil Brown , Young and Myles) , Umbra Blackworks(11!!1!l Henderson , ~ e s , especially 1970-71 ), a ntholo g ies and per1 and other nationally distributed dicals . Reed h a s published thr ee volumes: catechism of d neoamerican ':'I hoodoo church(l971) , Conjure: ~, elect ed Poems ! l~ 63-i~70(1972), . • f .,Chattanoogatl973) , a nd s s veral novels • .m.• • • , His work has drawn,-.,~ e mixture of "brillim t," adje ctives from critics: "cute," ,-.. "jumbles and I'<Zles," "important," "bad comics II and so on. Indeed rleed ~rites~oetry~lb.is novels and~vels In this service, i ~his poems . j(e employs ~[l ...,..c;_,,,.. occult, whimsicality, J wit , mysticism, aatire, mam.;m,liiltmmmmW.lllli*ijlillli!m all r einforced by assorted information l~brarJ and street-instinct He violates time barriers , placing arr ancient ~reek fi gure in a con,roughly recalling temporary u oem, or vice versa. His verse forms are experimental,,\: ,_----.._. ~ ] ] $ tg the Beats and other. recent-9-I' past stylistic irreverencies . There are no sacred~lll!!i~ for rteed who~ambasts Black n a{.ion a lists e~d white, l i b e r a l s ~ i n the same poem . Generally , his techniques wo but he often spends too much time attacki"ng real °t)•----....-...~- t t · I') or crea e an agonis--t- s --= ~, . �His titles alone are epou@ to keep you slapping your thighf or .,, '1-q..e '1•ni,r · l' sc r atching your head : "I am a cowboy in the ,..b9a ¼ of 1a, 11 11 ,~,~~~ a whale in my thigh , 11 Dev_il "~n>. a Ford, Pi 11 J\11 Gris 1 Lrris , o ,jlich ,; e als8 !to t d • " ~iQ)vt.~af&......,._,._. Uonc The fe r al pioneers , ~t'l , 8d, - •11...,.......-.-.-~ 11 '.L1here I s ({And the '/7 ~~• • n o ccasional poet , is unique in his intellectual - typographical tapestry of ideastsee Black Fire~ but his service to Black poetry h a s been more o bvious in his work as founder editor of J o urnal of Black Poetry. He also served as poetry editor of Black Dialogue . A quiet, but steady , influence on the New Black Poetry, he has written some of the most informed criticism to come out of the period. Currently he run s operates J.~ew Day Bookstore in ban Francisco, where 'l'he Journal and its press are headquartered. (Penetration , 1971)) Among poets 1)Ublished by the press are. Neal and \,el ton Smith.a a virtuoso C poetl{1imMU!B ~ who was born and raised inAthe £2,,r . are@ . ~ "Malcolm" ends discussi~ the kinds tracks tears make and telling the re der that in my heart there are many unmarked graves . (J.i,,~ rhere areJ\word-gifts in "a the danger zone, 1 for Light , " 11 11 11 If I could hold You for a sorceress "("you keEfchanging me into air")J "Black i,rother"("an odd e cstasy moving") ; these j_oin blues, excursions through city streets, and thoughts on Africa . Young and Harper both teach wri ting'jl,1 ~rown . Young has nublished • lit at Stanford and Dancing(l969) and The Back i nto Itself(l971) , as well as novels and articles . 0 ong Turning is poetry satirizes militants , salutes white and Third \IJorld poets,.-, and incorpora tes legends~ f1illlt a br fl base of linguisti c knowledge . There is a consistency of interest as seen in the titles of his books . In 11 8;rosong 11 he finds himself dancing "naked II though All my shores had been pulled up •••• "Yes , the Secret Mind whispers , " ~ .orif.._. , dedicat ed to Kaufman , c-iii1:riia ~ --- 0 '4/"\..L(_ A_ ,, �for ~ve r at your door •••• Young ~ ranges over the whole oftbe life experience , writing about squirrels , jazz mus i cians , Spain , ~tockholm, night time and sorrow . His poetry is markedly different from that of Harper who left Galifornia ~ 1970 . Dear John, Dear Coltrane(l970) , History i B Your Own Heartbeat(1 q71) , Photographs: Negatives : History as Apule 'l reell972) , Song : I \r,ant a ~'Vitnesstl973) , Uebridement,:J,.973) , and Night mare Begins hesponsibili t yf( 1974) . Praise for his, poetry has come from a wide spectrum of';_crit1c.....,wp~r~i-marily academiAc~i~a~n--w 7 recently of Black:,S5t.s Wff it I■ contributing to the new American poetry scene(The New York Times Times Hagazine , Novemberl 24, 1974)f~ieberman has also praised Harper i<!'-~M:3 received nominati ons for the National Book Award as well as the the Black .t1.cademy of Arts and Letters 1''irs t Annual Poetry ~ward . kept a consistency of1'-1Rlillill•m tone critics particulat rly · and though his poetry sometimes lack'!meta (1 ?) ignite uhorical tension~to~iiWiilili• P. statements he makes about Black musi<;,c ru p ooial 1~ 9 there is a at work, :ill·~===- ~ Y • His themes are illusionf, pained creativity , war , racism, ~ D I ~ ' deat~, and the J$thologj:cal evolution of mankind . Much of his poetry is personal , c onfessional, and he interweaves a medical vocabulary into of it . He often includes chants , hums , and names of songs and musicians . His musi c o - poetic concerns can be seen in these lines from" J ear John , DeaJ> Co 1 trane 11 : Why you so btac k? <;muse I ii~ WhI you so funkz? ~use. I al,IJ .W4Y. xoy §Q black? - · �Qause I am - ~•hxy you so sw.e.at;? "v!J::l:y yon sa blac k? cause I am ,a......,love supreme , a love ;;µ ;preme : •.. El Muhajir\ Marvin X) is a different k ind of p oet , Islam- influen c ed a nd adamantly Black : Fly to Allah(l969) , Black Man Listen~l969) , Woman .... ..., Man's Be st ,---::---. Fri endtl9'(3) , the latt e r obviously a rejection of white America • s fetish for animals . bach book· salutes Allah and contains some occasionally wih ll - turned poetry int e rmingled ·with p roverbs , parables and song s . He p raises C:lijab Huhammad , Tommy ~ith , and :k announces tha t " Bigg er Thoma s Lives!" In" e (') ri g ins of Blac kness" he says Black is n o t a color . but that A rom B\~9k •••• +.OLAi i). t6 My es published Down t& Country in 1 n74 as a collaJe of his drawings ~ contemporary life , his~•~•-9R on " Bebop and poems . He suveys and blues in Pho e nix 11 , a nd hi~periences a s an artist and art student . h a s moved from a p o e t ry o f anger and protest to a "po etry written by a human being , d5'or human beings . " :is books include Blac k Dawn , This Time i1 omor,baw, 1 J Bla c k Right On Home is Where the Soul I s( l969) , Our Busine s is in the ~treets(l9 7O), a n d Fire Sign(l9 73) , 1-in.ich g ive s its name to his new p r ess . In his early phas e .c,ckels "In 1v1emo ry of Harcus , 11 11 A J. wrote about " Bla ck Is , " "Hell , Mary , " esponsible l'Jeegrow Leader , als o co i n ing an interesting term : 11 and other poems/ ( Western byphilizati on •••• Fire ;:sign )P:Qrx sknn■Hkirmi "for the fre e and will be , " shows a themat ic and cultural bread th as he writes love poems and salutes f ~e edom in g eneral . �McNair, a cosmic poet who bridges African spirituality and his own psychis r e vel a tions , h 2 s p ublished Larthbook\1972 ) and ~x Juba lirl \1973). Gertainly the world wi J l he ~r more from this g ifted young writ e r . ~ , ; Jaya Angelou is primarily a prose f poems : ~ Jus t Give and script wri ter ,~ t has published • Me A C661 Dri nk o f - ~ ,. J ± ater rFor I Diiie ~971) . )(__Pat P~rkerJJ, J 2·mav poetry can be found in an excellent little volume called Child of MyselfJiB15(1 972) and Dices . Sbe,~i~Mto assess Nandsc a pe of t h e current atiliFe"S her own woman-fe elings 11 upheaval . Brothe r 11 reveals c ontra di c tions in the love - but-hurt EP P ra a ch some __. Black men take towards t h e ir wo men . The 11 system" she has jus t been struck wi t h / ~ -'Mt'.,...- is c a lled a fi s t . Othe r p oems deal with humor and husba iid - wi fe relat ions . In "A Moment Le ft behind 1' she asks Have your eve r tried to catch a t e ar? "From Deep Within" says the way of a woma n is turbulent with many forces e nd colors of f oeling s , but A woman's body mu s t be taught to speak- - ••• . Pat Park er ' s work se arches behind the cosmetics and the vogue to ·<@111111!._ truth ahd ~ isturbance . So does the work of Joyce Ca rol Thoma s whc;;,wo books , Bitt e rsweet ( l973) a nd Crystal Breezes(l974) , were uub lished by Fire Sign p ress . ~er poems are abo u t womens moods , church , Black music , children, and love. 1 f x There is a modern f e el and texture displaying in her l i nes which economize snd withou~abruptne ss or undecipherable aB co de . Yet h e r strength is unmis table I know a lady A c areful queen uhe bows to no one ~ "I Know a Lady ": �3f Her will is a Fine th r-ea<\_ of steel •••• ~ sees In these poems , -,t;ne works of rat f'arker and Leona ~Jelch, one gi::k:!7J.pxiuix a strong ~ health and future in Bay area woman poets . Black Gib r altar , Leona welch 1 s first book , wa s published r.-.. in 1971 . Here and there , one finds subdued rage and impatience before racism and ignorance ; b'§It h e r - poetry also exalts the Black woman and s n e a ks in low tones to men . He r of love . 11 langu ag e r a n ge s from folk ex-pressions to form a l ~ta tus ~"uo 11 1ffimrnhmx:ln is the study of a Black wi 1.,h e xaminat i ons II class II a nd d i gni ty : Got my white poodle by the leash . Less able than the oth e r women , her poetry salutes a numb e r of heroines including women in her family and Nikki Ll-iovanni . Finally there is the much~traveled Sarah Fabi o, intrumental in Black Studies development in north ern Ga lifornia , but who now lives in Iowa . jj a,n She published t r,ro volumes , A T1irror : A :St,ul ( 1969) and • Black I s a Panther va g ed(l972 ),~hen,without notice brought out seven 1 vo lumes ( ! ) all in ~ 1973: Soul I s : ~oul Ain 1 y , Boss Soul(also the name of her Lp) , Blac k Back : Bac k Black, Jujus & Uu bile e s , My Own Thing, Ju jus / Alchemy of the Blues , a l) d T _ o....._e_t_h_e_r-'/'-t _o_---jf--T_un __e_ o_f_ C_o_ l_t_r_a_n_e_;!_~_ s Equ i n o x . Her later work is more f o rmal tha t than late r -wh ich shows she has toined the new poe t ry mo v ement complete l y . One of h er more memo r able earlier p i eces is "~vi l is No Black Thing 11 in whi ch she takes a l l ,.-----... btJ!!~!Sfflt dark things tradition ally associfited wi t h evil a nd r ever s es them ; or, allo ws them to be seen u n a larger wh erein they invari ably embra c e something th a t is light. Her effo rts deal ·with exp e r 11imental blues , rap - s t yles , ont ext ,.i.,.;.,__7 • v o luminous folk n ar rati v es , and the r econstructi on of a general Black oral his t ory . This she does quite we l l on h e r album but much of the writing in the new books is c onversation a l. �~<-1-1,,,/1;14~• ~~ief.1~ cfrj u~~~~~~~-V:,~~~~~ . - briel , 1974 ) @_i)ha s done impuessive things with l a n gu a ge and histor #• B. hap publi shed t evolution Is(1969) ..,. and Het a morphis of buperni g g e r , 1973) . ma .. Q n ;uadsa vJhile ail inmate a t Va c aville , Brown(Muumba ) published &Ctine Poems and Things(l971) . In ~acramento, tije young poet Clarence McKie Wigfall has shown promise in 'f ue Ot her ~ide( 1970), while Wes Young published Life roday(l970) and Rambling a nd fuings(l972) . At J-rant Hi gh School~·&~lllilill!!•~IIIA- young Black p o e ts were i n cluded in Omnibus(l973) 9 ~~~~fil younger and olde r po et s e re stud Jng at California ~tate University --~'\,,Q-970 , with ~,edmond, #l* workshops1-,: ocated • on the campus as well• as in 0ommunity sites like the Oak Park School of Afro-American 'f hought . Meanwhi~n Se attle , Black Arts \Jest is attractin g • many poets; ait-N,cross s i:; ate at Washington State University~imus ~t . John wr ites and works with othe r writ e rs . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_27 Title A name given to the resource Draft of partial manuscript of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 1-32, 1975 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/e4eec4d0d314b40e9a48aeb44c15344b.pdf a0fbf1b49d8bb1faca52f47fd90374b3 PDF Text Text s & The Black arts Movement One ajor difference between the cu ltural/ polit c Fl '-' ~==-•, of the twenties and the sixties/seventies was location: the Renaissance I· rips literarily, if not always geo~ &r ~~i;f can graphically, in Harlem; but ••m111•-•••..,.mf\.successor~ North__, be found in ~ve~merican communlty with a substantial .._' • ~ r (.),Jt>.. l \ a.A,t;. ~ A,t Ld,~ If • B1ack , _ ' population.~To be sure, the cll'lture arrl political arms weddings interlocked. But suchA_ifl@e~,a~ieR of t h e Renaissance were, on 71 ha tJ6li.~ntered =~•-~ 1 . never r ... ~J'e) Black Poetry; but often "stars" of the New -1;~;;:::·it',;,... the J ilil!!III poets "outside II fl# their poetry. itllliillli"a?S.•-Iiiiimlr 0r, of "continpi ty,." "wholenes§" and ..-e,i' :Iii& 'iO' > ~t """',,,n.l:J'l,',,.H1c.c; the sta~"outside" topical and emotional stimuli "inside" what was indefensible as "poetry. 11 , 1, This AsnuJ meant t ~ t s had no connection whatever with a~literary &,~folk poetic tradition~ such. Instead f'theirs t' 0 •' JJ . Ju~~ /,.,t,. ~ was a tradition of immediacy, political urgency,,-rewspaper~i--ea±i~y, combined with high-shcool type punch-lining. 11 ~ This is not \is) not being written 4lllllil poetry"(of whatev er definition) was or that charlatans wer 0 always on the "take." There is much evidence to support the beli~f that dozens of these soothsayers were sinc e re and honest--~had 11 i1 y chosen what appeared to b e ~ " simp1;.sJ 11 and fastest II vehicle for expressing thoughts about " Revolution, 11 ,\ 11 Black llejti ve Go7sciousness" of their 1ilili~iji.'1~~",t';,. A\tiate.ls:am.,..~:s;~~:i:b~~oets-activists J:M,f.J µJ ~ ..!.. - -.. oj !,v,.C.~.tl giv )J. :'fiip.]l["ed two things: sometimes 1§~ r 1 ck vj,riters to~1 " /.,,.,,,., r,1,,,~,,. langtuage. · ·~ ~,.._liil-,i.;1;&..-@fll~t-i!"I~ ...,;,,, language was easier to ma ster \tniiti!!!ih that sincere expression, no; matter h ow poorly arranged, carry the d a ~ o e t r y . - c o uld / �insert pg 1 No , nothing remains the same . And my spirit~ reaches out to you my love without apologies without embarra s sment with only the thought that this is right for us that moving towards you is like touching leaves in autumn •••• .............. our minds and spirits interlocked like death . �2 the insi.. ncere versi ~iers more often than paving the way~not fell by the wayside in a short time, · rj~ke the Phoen:lx bir . mounters • more soa .r.-.awtl...iillil1191!1!111111!'!!!!~, a number the early phase-- ~~d. woodshe4,~~ became much better handler~ of 1the 'OAN,1 1UJIL~ t./J-44', (a._ f I late{/sixties Blzk lomrnunities all over America • 11 had bem abll Jhi,g turned up side down by police and I.Ws,~okesmet(~7Z.., of the Black nevolution . ,.j RM Young shock troopers like Carmichael, Brown, Charles ~oen, Ron Karenga, Huey Newton and ~ldridge Cleaver 1 II had al ready forced the "old time Black leadership to take a seat. Now, with father having destroyed son(Williams, Baldwin), the poets were free to declaim, proclaim and exhort . This trend alone was aqa1R0~ a shock to th~dition 2 t ·.,,--since it created a f~ood of polemicists and pamphlateers who ia JMnr;r ina+.ta£1sss would not discuss poetry in historical contexts. It ~ (J,{f(,fl-lfAJ,'t w ~ - by labeling i tsel~ .~'Bla~~_.:_./HiJ".,._,. L -d..l~ . ~d)/l,Udl.P5 '7U-' ~~o.~:~·,o·~ .J.,_ and renegoti1tin~ i s own 11 roots. "i;-n ~aaat sent~c."ft of the • • • f ~ J~ ~ ~ l ! \ ~ j.u~ , u ~I ~~ ; ~ew Black Poetry I\ 7a .___non-poetry or anti-poetry( in a ,J.i tera;1y c»":'TM~ ~ ~ conte.llrt) because)~ t tli d primarily on subtlety and k Ji I 8 ''c401 ii): references. Yet it remains to be seen what impact this stance in Ela.ck poetry 'Wi. 11 have on t/iiiiii' the literacy trends in Afro-Americ8'-• fBlyden Jackson ( Black Poetry in Americru,:, for example, beginA hms own discussion of the New Black Poetry by ;::{'analogy between the ~ buildinga+RPJ?;J~i:Siifi C:sii -~t-- ;;t. rise in ~ 1 eracy and the popularity of ag poetry. Stephen Henderson (Understanding the New Black Poetry) assures his readers that Black readers or listeners clearly 11 understand'P what their poets are saying as judges of Black aevthetical and are participating more and mora4"l?wi,bil. t Jg·r41 sf t J • qualities in the poetry and the poets• d e l i v e r i e s . - - - - - - - - - - - - - . J . �3 ~ i l e this cha pter will conclude with a few broad critical •• s observations, the,........, immediate aim is to continue the II t!),{:3 po~try • s developmen'l ~~/M "~~~ • oach• e r e are dozens o ~~ l.x/l~},114,1,(.JC.,J ffi .._ ~--lllilll•~~examine • • _._...,,,..,.,.'" ' ,/4 1~ .// to the New Black Poetry. One theme, structure and saturat j on(Henderson)' ,-.... or its several typestGarolyn .Hodgers, eee bibliography). a 0 tarting \Gayle, Fuller with important names is another way; the Black Aes e 1 preach al e AA tLi,,./~ ~ :tie mine.. 'l'hen there is the magic of Black poetry(Baraka, 'f oure, ~~ Neaf/:)~ The music is also a favorite p:a.th\Stanley Crouch, Mi chael ~~ l,n"r' HerpeJN. One could go on and o~: but the poetry has been written and r one place to start is with ~ asts Jeno bieta11:gr M ~~ role in the new;;:;,;: · 2 31 ergence ,o, Qo..,;,"'"~"'lf•/New York.,.'11/1:#~ k,!;; : to 1 iOiitl"!tf'§iJJil bt 11 1 ua l y; but it did not, m @xv J:J... ?:i. iib played a key .. ~ as said e a rlier, play the key or only role.---CSI:eaiP.Ll:' 06h01 A,reas of the E a st(Phil a delphia, ~or~ b.... l.w..,r1 { Boston,~hing ton, D.c.) ~~ in the boon • .__ _ _ I Bl Midwest cent e rs were Cleveland, Chicago, lJetroit, l:!. a st and ~t. Louis, Kansas City, to name some. in the S o u t ~ ~ was :c·r.Mllllllllt ~ a 0 t. Louis- rtelated events also took place another "rising" in Atlanta, Nashville, Jackson, Baton Rouge, •r uskegee, Houston, and Toogaloo. The West added richly from Los Angeles, ~an Francisco i ay a r ea, 0acramento, and Seattle. Interweaving developmentsj!I/;{~ poetry were numerous Black Arts activities C:.-:~onnected to cultural or nationalist programs)looated a~settlement houses, community centers, •=-••y11 t.MA.AU,,, ~serr...l-nation of ideologies, centers for the~ · , ; IE Of anti-pc,verty projects~ and educatmonal institutions. The high knthusiasm and vogo~!f~ ~ ~--0""' ~ Black-orient~ evident in the plethora of tabloidl' jo po~ers, ¥] S31awulooks ,~ pample-ys., and recor t-1..~ ... ~~~¥-1;.e-...i.Ql..e were the MIik new Black bo o kstores, African curio shops, walls of respect" (Cleveland, Akron, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Bewark , etc), W weekly festivals and jubilees, writers• conferences, writing work- 4 1 �4 shops, the fiood of liberation flags(Black-green-red), a. ~Black-oriente?tal~~ and other physical{power signs and handshakes) or culturaJ&lit ~frican clothe~, hairdos and jewelry). New Y~~k wasf\..9m&;g"0Pe of the aeet important show-paacel for the ..post~ \..Y_ears / new consciousness. It h a d the residue of the e n a i s ~ t h e ~h omburg ·n Harl,aa~ibrary and Micheaux 1 s Bookstor swell as ~urrounding communities which p lugg ed into its sockets. New orgF~~tions such as thei;;;;;R Barbara Cultural Council - Ann Teer 1 s Nati acii: Theate~d the Harlem flowered in the amazed light of olfer instituttions Jl-t like Freedomways 1Lnrtft {?1arke and .i....arnest Kaiser) ••._ xffi new poets: Tour~~~1Lee), Hande rson, published many of the - Clarence Head, Welton ~mith, Lloyd T, Delaney, W.D. Wright, Joanne Gonzales, Mari ,t;vans and others. l''reedomways also offers lively ..an..Q. commentarj es .on.reviews ,iii#poetry, lit erature and the Black Arts scene. From the variegated atmosphere of New York gushed forth a tide of Black poets#, some had~ w C)\made t h e i r - . mark earlier: Henderson, Larry Nea1(1937- need( Ii1Qffl8.8l ctnd 8!&fl8iiee), Patterson, ;:;un-Ra, Dumas, June Jordan ( 1936- Ji 1 Sonia ;:;anch ez{l935), S.E. Anderson(1943Len ), Victor Hernandez Cruz{l949Chanaler(1935- Hernton, Quintin Hill{l950- Jones, 1946- J, Q. R. Handt ~ rtay J ohnson( Barbara ~irnmons( J, Lefty ~ims{ J, ) , Lennox ), Jay Wright(l9 35- Lloyd Addisonitl931- ), I , Arlington Jones(l936- ), Lethonia ), Yusef Iman ), Odaro(Barbara tt~tone, \~ elton Smith(l940- Spellman, . l : ! . d w a r d ~ e n c e 1•1ajor(1936JRichard Thomas(l939- ) ), Lorenzo Thomas(1944- Kattie M. Cumbo ( ), ) , James ), Jayne Cortez(,r$.,.~Jatts, 1938- , ), ), Ted Wilson( . ), ) , Barak a, ,-.. J, Yusef Rahman{ Ronald ), Clarence heed{ , '1. J, John A. Williams, Lebert Bethune(l q37- ,, Kirk Hs71(19• ), ), Albert Haynes(~6- ), N.H. Pritchard(l939- ), Bobb Hamilton( ) ~d Bullins(l935- ), i~ oward Jones(l 941- Audre Lorde, John Major{l948Raphael(l940 - -'Si,.;,,=-1!:!:i~~~ ),.:.; ), ), �5 ' ,, 'I ) , .Nikki liiovanni (via ll'isk, 1943- hmanuel, C"'lvin Forbes( Tom Weatherly(l942M. Corbin, 1949- ), Ron Welburn(l944), Mae Jackson(l946- Julius Lester(l939(1947- ), Djangatolum(Llwyd ), ), Joe Johnson(l940- ), ~louise Lofton(l950- ), / Felipe Luciano ), L.V. Mack(l947- ), Charles Lynch(l943- )' ), Quandra Prettyman( ), Larry Thompson(l950), and K.W. Prestwidge. ~ew yqrJc Theplack Arts scene,. cm i I l c of ~etry specifically) was all-a-whir with the:. •:,a excitement of publishing and reading poetry aloud w-.JJ.id 3( were at the infinite number of gatherings. Joining these youngerf• d-'J•l older, often revived ones. Hughes :?'f-e"Sffl~t! of the proceeding• until the amc of •his deathA1967J. And there were old, as well as new, outletx for the poetry4 which was being read at the Apollo, Carnegi~_Hall, New ....._~),,,,,._ ~ Lafayette Theater, ~lugs ~ast, Mount Maris Park,~ountless com1m unity centers and churches. ~ " s t of these poets were not n a tive New Yorkers; i-+,=111:l!lat be ackna] @4i,i'd tbilo~a rreat number o&Ct:m were not er etuall ~ N-uring the height of the .black Arts Movement--but often in Youth Brid~e) , outlying areas like Bridgepo t, rt"e, f'redenonia, Brockport, Rutgers, Brooklyn, Boston(~lma Lewis's Genter for Afro-American Culture), and Bedfor~ ~tuyvesant. But, while they h a d separ~t.e Black Arts programs, " ms,ve~ in,... c:::J,.,..., a ., most loo ed to ew York•-••• .le Acrro wan ti an a elptthe Umbra Workshop 48ilii=~~... but there were •-=~: Harlem Writers Guild Clar ""' fouglass ~II-•e~•APoetry Workshop.,'\ :t., Killens), ~" 1 " the Columbia Writing pr:~am( Killens), 1 Black Arts rtepe~tory an (- chool Baraka, ~nellings), ~d tJ I \PEP> n ~ 3rJJt k l PM MM e,iri9f§iitg vp av• n~ N:38 aiJEtsice mui ae. 011il!lias Umbra(l963) /1tf{.vAmong the i1l1Jtee:s:iik-t1',journals were,.Soulbook(l9 64 ), Black Dialogue(l965), ~ Journal of Black Poetry(l9661), Pri'de, __ . -·····"··- .. ...... .... ~, . ...... .., Black TheatreJii (1969), Cricket(l969), Black Creation(l969), AfroAmerican:A Third Wor~d �b L@terary Journa1(1973, ~yracuse), BOP\ Bl a cks on Paper,, Brown UniversityJ, 1964), C0 ntinuitiest Words from the Cormnunities of Pan-Afric~City College 1~ew ~ York~1 19'(4),JObsidiar tB ~ ~ - - - -- J , 197.5). During a speech at Howard University's First Nat j onal Conference of Afro-American Writers ( .1.~ovember, 1974 ), TourJ, recounting the tumultuous years and develop- saia.r.t' ments, those responsible' for the '' Black artts and aesthety movement" were "activists as well as artists. ~ """,_._~was . _ most ~ e-i,;1:: 11 a _ -- ilKL t as Ba raka returned to .~ J this panticular f\ -. Newark ( relllaming it 11 New Ark") and chang~ his name~ {!;mamu Amiri Bar~ka), reflecting Tl ~ ;,:fl r~ti~· Av\.~ . the . . gre~J. influence of ~Isla.mt:,m • his new,-. 'Bid£ Wi cg Having a, . 4,c:; ,~tJ;Rff¥u~i!Wtrvojee-t "to re-educate the nearly half a million Ha rlem Negroes to find a new pride in the co l or," he movedtoes abl. h r--: - ·.-f t' '-5~ ~ L f: ~ r" _r- . ,j) J ~ewarlyjSpirit Haus-;;, and, ::=;uch spin-outs ail }fieAfrican I1ree Sc.nool(with .(J I (. ~ , /~ its Kawaida doctrine), ~ommittee for a Uni~ied Newark, and ~helpii launch several n ational Black ~olitical ~entions. 470} VJ..A. ... 74 He was""'-aa-s....~a;e.founder of the 19WN! rife-ridden Con gress of African f>eoples ' During truf~fots(insurrectionaQ(in Newar:atk, Baraka was arrested with several companions and charged with po s session of two handguns . and ~ ammunition. Between his arrest and the trial " Black People!J" was published in ~vergreen heview •• The poem openly encouraged looting, theft, murder of whites, and general insurrection: "What about ,____ that bad short you saw last Qeek 11 ; "You know how to get it, you can get it, no money down, no money never"; "/ne I owes you anything you want, even his life"; "Up against the wall motherfucker this is a ,,,--.. stick up!"; "Smash the window at ni-A,fght"; "Let's get to gether and kill him my man•": ••• let I s get together the fruit .s4ib Mau ... of the sun, let is mak e a world we want black chil dren to grow and learn in �do not let your children when they grow look in your face and curse you by Baraka returned to Newark and organized the Black Community LJevelopment and ~efense a'organization(BCD). ~ ~;:a:-;e,;;tia:A~!'Mtft!:!m::IC8l~•~•·.a.lloy.€efforts in t h e e 1 e ct ion of ~..,...!!!!!II&_ enne th Ui b s oI_;J.9'9'@8-tllllt ...~11"'m!P'jlP'lO!'Jlll£i-oo~i..,,lijJll~cr,iwn!&Pl!!~1PP:;~,l?J.::.:DiiP ~~P-~~!Ml~---~~..,.-•~J:aa"""'~~~~.,t;:i~ -a.t C having impact ,... , . 4' Dlkf:~pegional and national Black political/poetry see~ Baraka's pictures wLth bandages from the 1967 scuffl~ with Newark police) began appearing on walls of cultural centers, dormito llt and homes. O j. At, /; ,_?bservers, however, were somewhat wary of Baraka, having seen him go through the "changes 11 from Beat poet with a white wife, to Harlem and Black Arts, into Newark and political work(for great insight into all t h i s , . e Th~dore Hudson's # From LeRoi Jones to Amiri Baraka, l-973). · ~ ,J.r"., ( ;,cb~/S/J! d(. ~ L~ ~araka 1 s influencesMfS••l!!!!!!!!!!JI- in most centers of.,..ruetry---~places 1 ✓---" ~ where his poetry had not actually been read; or, if read, not fully understood and digested. It was not unusual to hear a Black youth quote a few lines from a poster-poem o~ from a live readi~~¢1Jlld,S. but who, when questioned about ~· ~ w rks, ~ di<) no. t kn<?1:i )the name of a sin~ one. Dead Lecturer#, I (_~ ~ , 'W .I ~~bsll!-fubii~he'd Black Magfec: Poetry 1961-1967(1968), In Our Terl,>A l'j ribleness(1970), ~pirit, 1ieachtl972), as well as numerous essays, stories. With ~ Neal he co-edited Black .l'iretl968) which, along with Ma.jor•s The ~ew Black Poetrytl9 69, snow-cased the new poetry. �8 ~ n the Forward to Black .!:''ire, Bar aka c a lled 1:1~Jr. •~ "the f<lrnnding Fathe rs and Mothers, of our n a t i on. We rise, a s we rand rise(agin). By the rower of our beliefs, by th 11 p ur,ity strength Using j,((J v-{J~ of our actions. 11 • t--a st a ccato grammar, .M"'1lil!l!l!ll""''N!~!lll!'I-.~ the poets and writers as: The bia ck man. ~he black artist. The black man. The h oly man. The man you seek. The climber the striver. The mak er of p e a ce. The lov e r. The warrior. We a re -chey wh om y ou seek. Look in. Find yr s elf. Find the b eing, the speake r. The voice, the back dVst hover in your soft eyeclosings. Is you. Is t h e creator. Is nothing. Plus or mimus, y ou vehicle1 We a re p resenting , Yourvarious selves. ~Je a re presenting, from God, a tone, your own. Go• on. Now. He thus sets t h e "tone 11 poets/philosophers, r much of what had al, a perceptive critic and b a lanced t h eoretician, h a s p ubli shed two v o lumes1: Black Boogaloo: Notes on Bl a c k Libera tion{l969, Jourhal of Black Poetry Press, l:''orward by Jones) and Ho odoo Hollerin' BeBop Ghosts(l975). His Afterword to Black Fire is tantamount to Hu gh es' resenting 11 artistic a nd political work" th a t mu s t be " called a r a dical p e rs p ective II Black Fire should be read 11 a s if political, social and of Western exhor ting oth e~ writ e rs, Neal continue: Wlt have been, for the most p a rt, tal k ing about co n temporary realities. "e have not been t a l k ing about a return to some g lorious African p a st • .but we r ecognize the p ast--the total pa s t. Many of us refuse to accep t a truncated ~e g ro history �9 which cuts us off completely from our dfrican ancestory. ro do / so is to a~ept the very racist assumptions which we abhor. Rather, we want to comprehend history totally, and unde rstand the manifold ways in which contemporary problems are affected by it . ~ C ,J.f) Speaking fmint;t;:1:r!~hindsight o Neal add: There is a tension within Black America . And it has its roots in the general history of race. The manner in which this we seewistory determines how we act. How should we see this history? What should we feel about it? This is important to know, because the sense of how that history should be felt unites or separates us. he sums of what can credo or modus operandi of the Bew Black Poetry and the Black Arts Movement: The artist and the political activist are one. They are both shapers of the future reality . Both understand and manipulate the colledtive myths of the race. Both are warriors, priests, lovers and destroyers . For the first violence will be int ernal- the destruction of a weak spritual self for a more perfect self. But it will be a necessary violence . +tit the only thing that will destroy the double-consciousness--t~e tension that is in the souls of Hlack folk . It was the kind of challange that sent many the long night of the soul to purge himself his enemies o f ~ people . ~ i c a l l y speaking, a~S.~~t;;;;' poetfinto r e al or imagined ~.-n.!lr, it was Baraka 1 s "Black Art 11 that set much of th: pace/rd'fll form :f: 'n the r ew Black Poetryt Poems are bullshit unless they are tee1ilh or trees or lemons piled on a step. Or black ladies dying of men leaving nickel hearts ~ �10 beating them down . Fuck poems and they are useful , wd they shoot come at you, love what you are, bre athe like wrestlers , or shudder 1 strangely after pissing. e want live words of the hip worl d live ~ flesh & coursing bloo d . Hearts Brains ~ouls splintering fire . We want p ~ems like fists be a ting niggers out of i oc ks or dagger poems in the slimy bell i es of owner-jews . Black poems to smear on girdlemamma mulatto bitches whose brains are red jelly stuc k be tween 1 li zabeth taylor 1 s toes . Stinking Whore ~! We want "poems that kill . " Assassin po ems , Poems t hat shoot guns . Poems that wrestle---t cops into alleys and take their weapons leaving them dead with tonges pulled out and sent to ~reland . Knockoff poems for dope selling wops or slick halfwhite politicians Airplane poems rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ••• tuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuh ••• rrrrrrrrrrrrrr r ••• Setting fires and death to whities ass . ••• •• •••• ••• • •• • • ••• ••• •• We want a black poem. And A :Bla ck World . Ji:et the world be a Black Poem And let Al l Black People Silently or LOUD 0 peak This Poem �.f• 11 ..._ sangtj.ine _ ~lrwi:!~1$JJ!MIBl&Glii~often sited as the_itembodiment of the Black Aesthetic and a rejection of white culture and life style. Poems, Baraka states, must not only have guts and earthiness(like Black5) but they must also be weapons and shields against racismt, f police, mer t hustlers , crooked politicians and status-climbing Above all exalte Blackness ( "sons " "lovers 11 "wa rriors 11 "poets 11 0,.if~tk P~Bla ck bour~eos1.e.1'These then are the dominant themes JHt-mu?~ of ~- ' ~ ~ " ) the New Poetry and the philosophies stated~ith radical ~v. from coast to coast. Baraka•s purge s ) xt-end~ through poems like " Poem for HalfWhi te College ::;tu dents," "The .hacist," "Little Brown Ju~ 11 ( 11 WE ARE GODS), "W.W. 11 \attack on wig-wearing women), "OIVIL RIGHTS ----POEM11( 11ROywilkins is an eternal faggot"), "Ka 1Ba, 11 and fi/nally, \.../ in 11 leroy 11 ') ~~~oa.li..-.P8'1~~ his l a st will and testament: vfu.en I die, the consmiousness I carry I will to black people. May they pick me apart and take the parts, the sweet meat of my feelings. And leave usellrul a th e,ii;(_ter bullshit rotten white parts ~ • I alone. j)} f .rA '(' - But there are also/\l9ve poem~ ip the later period, caught up in A e, 1~ the stressed life of irlackness: "the beautiful black man, and you, gtrl, child nightlove, ••• : We are strange in a way because we know w:ho we are. Black beings passing through a tortured passage of flesh. (rn"his ~1 l''orward to"1c. Black Boogaloo , Baraka says of the world: "the soldier poets will change it. 11 What Neal's volume chan ge d has not yet been ascertained but it certainly contains ambitious apq sµccessful ,, ~ (),JJ/-J;t-1r; ) oetry. His debt to,fhe older generation of poet~~an be veen in poems vJ-9 -.) 1 },,:-r' I • , / 11 11.kef\"The Middle Pa~sgge and After, "Love bong in the Middle Passage, '' "Garvey's Ghost , 11 "Lady Day," "Harlem Gallery: l''rom the Inside, 11 11 MaJ:. ,,-n· • ik.; ',,vw~J,./JU\.I,(.,('."(' ~ co lm X--An Auto biography'!) 11 Making use of mysticism, chant an · / �rr Olorwn ~ Olorwn • • • see~ ;rhe Ji iil',i,. Middle Pas sage II +-I. ~. pillaged• "A.Aa-.a "Love ~ong in ~I "cthe horror of "The Middle Passag€ After.,_ " 11 .uecked, stf!cked, ~ fl!:w ad Jlw the n. ~' M&;±@wof sea- death mornings . i ".t\.unt ti ~ _.,\poems ]9e~'Song, ~ "Jihad, 11 9 rishas 11) ~ reveal · "-..in-cerests a /l'l}A., in sypernaturali sm, f\rrican philosophy and~lusive,;mystic a l powers i n ~ ~ ~eticPll:JiF11 the "word.1• He 9Tf lilJ 5, seel?sff!o implement the ideas he stated in alll. ~ e c i a l Black issue of..-, Black Fir~ an~TDR( The Drama Review) Bll:ld!llll'~in . _ summer of 196e . The issue , edited by TDR s contributing edito b . . .Bullins , compiled ideas and plays rooted ~ ~eatured work by x 'irie special issue projected many of the concerns oft he New Black Poetry. Ne a l ' s "The Black arts Movement" was a blue-print for Blac~ts and political chang e . ~choing · ; i:ra. Black <1 lai l fl. r e ~4'1Ulb!ll8Rt · ,.,, alienates him from his comrnuni ty ) 11 ffl. "e:-rw ~~a# · concept of the artist that • Black Art is the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept . As such , it envisions an art that speaks directly to the needs and aspirat i ons of Black America . In order·· to perform this task , the Black Arts Movement proposes a radical reording o!k.he western cultural �13 ,_ aesthetic. It proposes a separate symbolism, mythology, critique, and iconology. The Black Arts r ---.. and &:'..!!!-ii!• Black Power concept both relate broadly to the ~fro-American 1 s desire for self-determination and nationhooa. Both concepts are nationalistic. One is concerned with the relation betx:,; art and politics; the other with the art of politics. ~-n~1J-£f"u:lln~tol,11 f-; · r was not wi ■ 11 ~aaparj/-te" aesthetic 1 g ~ a - 4J.' 33:g sac Ji&dJ.,..by all Black poets, artists,, rll a Vii or intellectuals. Neither was there a complete lMir.,&iiiii.•f(or under- standing) elllll;a..._among~~ponents.1iiiiW11111ic==t:::a:::ca••~-. .- -.• For a boycott of Major·s The New ·••.-ed being ..RP'. rou · was a whi tef ~~~'-'-•~~e'!'!~ffl"'1!P!llt,f!flel!l~ffl~!-,.•priggsfhad not objected eaJer to use of his work in Black !''ire, also published by ~ou 1121 s sea a fa! >p 1 ! ggs *°si tion statemen~: wJM~~ •t b 1'"'1dl'.0 tt' * ls fie h lMOIVl ,~~liahsd a ftob&~lo 'f ile Journal of black Poetry(fall, 1968)~ how in the hell are the black publishers ev er going to get off into it if not by the assistance of the writers. how ~ are distrub~qorships everi going to mature witn~publishers if the highly marketable works of wm keL ly, wms, 1 neal, ef bullins, j. killens, ja leroi j, or the like never comes their way? does the concept of black power and black arts extend that far? i say yea, i ~pri:ggs joined say yea, yea. a.,, large number of critics and practijoners ~ of the Black Arts--Toure, :eal, Crouch, Bul~ns, Goncalves-in the controversy over ~ri ter$ 1 • .,a 1 1 1 £~ m5£ ties ta 1!1m av.... Despite the controversy, howev e r, rn] J · ' apueared as,:_ kaleidoscopic offering~ the tf,w B l a c k ~ • �lij. Major included a perceptive and .fl. tting Introduction: • of black reality is often studded in these poems THE INN ER crisfs by the swift, vividly crucial facts of social reality; which fconsists in part, anyway, of all the implications and forces of mass me dia, the social patt e rns, the bureacratic and mechanfucal ~ nmdiums of human perceptions, even :iarof the quickly evolving nature of the human psyche in this highly homo genized cultur·e, in all of its electricl processes and specialist fragmentation. Black reality, in other words, is like any other reality profoundly effected by technology. Th e crisis and dr ama of the late 1960s overwhelms and thre a tens every c r evice of h uman life on earth. These poems are born out of this tension. ~ In his own po etry, Major ~ l D o a t Vietnam, a lienation, impending world destruction, B1ack history, music, mytholo gy, and personal excurs i ons into Urn ::s221!i. C. dreams. He published The Dictionary of Afro-American Slang(l970), Swallow the Lake(l970), ~yrnptons and Madness (1971), Private Line(l971), The Cotton Club.(1972) and The ~yncopa ted Cakewalk{l9741/ as well as novels and essays. He has also di fe ~te~he Harlem Writers Workshop. In the a c l m o w ~ a j o r ~ ow~ JLr' lrlAJ() . mfny ;J • Lowenfels, Ishmael heed, ttaphael, Art Berger, velton Smit Hoyt l<'u er, Nat .tien- toff, Dudley Randall, Russell Atkins, Bremen, Al Young,~avid rtenderson. of his style: spacings shapp punctuation, tidbits of world the racial s tatement f!,atire or exhortat i on), and exp erirental tUPograp:\?;y. rtecalling l}is 11 passage 11 he sees "Tonto Sambo Willie 11 --noting that even Mexico-"an assk issing nation"--now has £he 11 sup e r-biionde 11 on its 11 billboards. 11 �In the midst of .,r-- ~vigorous 1 y promvt1,K ~ bpriggs f\.. Ahmed~ editors of N ournal; Baraka, Major, Nazzam Al tributing editors. Editor-at-large Bullins was later joined by TourJ. In the seventies brnie Mkalimoto was added as a contributing editor with Major's name disappearing. Major, Handall, Neal, Spriggs, Bullins , Baraka, and A l h ~ l l served as gues~ors • ianusic An im o • ant c(and outlet influenc'e'"i onr"5e new • • ~ poetry, the Journal was "in many ways born of Soulbook and n The Dialogue"(Goncalves, now D~ane,~editor). s~ the newest poetry, zeroing magazine continues to in ~ o n other areas like the West Indies(~ummer:n_zf73), printing lively news and announcements, as well as reviews~ticism. Its spring, l9 68 , issue, for examp le, was dedicated to Joseph T. Johnson, who had recentl7 been killed • . , - Abdul Karim Toure, edited Black Dialogue with Sprig~and Gonvalves serving as associate editors. rtelocating in New York in the late sixties, Dialogue 's new editorial board was represented by ~priggs, Nikki uiovanni, Jaci ~arly, Elaine Jones, S. E . Anderson and James Hinton c:Q · 1 A1hamisi and Garolyn Rodgers became Midwest '3~itors; Spellman, Julia Fields an d Akinshiju became editors for the South;~ /'iiiiiia' Joans and Kgosi t~le took over::t-,. Africa and a t - l a r ~ o o k I s ~ow incl editoriai board =-rls24mtn1 Hamilton, Alhamisi , Garol Homes , ude~::: Baba Lamumba, Zolili, Ngqondi Masimini and Shango Umoja . mong the . administrative staff is Donald Stone(Rahrnan ) whose work appearls#t. Spriggs, Tou:rJ , and Black Hi_y Larry Mille~(Katibu) , Blues , 11 at Spirit H o ~ 11 Transcendal full of chanyaat:J. song and l_in,:;,Xperimentation, fuses the world of Black music(and mucisians) ~ t h e "strife riddled concrete �16 bottoms of skyscraper se a s." Rahman•s influences, obvious in his ~ a re name, se en in his statement that a "riff 11 so hilgh and grand "Could be Al lah. 11 Fina].17- winding the poems into a tribute to the Black womanl "Bitter bit her bitterness hummingn J, he ~ rejects Christians a nd whit e s a nd warns that ~ s pea rs shal l rain •••• 'r he ~ i n f l u e n e is also seen in other po e ts oftre period: Spriggs, Toure, Baraka, Iman, Neal, Alhamisi, Dumas, flJllll mo along with poeta of the era . Ni k ki Giovanni Tre s e J •s women Lorde, June Alexis was by way of Tennessee and Fisk Universitl wh ere she wa s a of Killens' Writers Workshop. C <$A a series of volatile prose-like statements which were startling: J.M7..,..,,t ~coming from a woman. lack Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judg ement ( 191,0~ Re-Creation appe a r e d ~ 1 9 70) ~972 and •••lihl.a book Black Song(l971}. Comes 0 1 ~ My House of poems for children, Spin a uoft Her antholo gy of B~ack a women po e ts, Night oftly, was published in i970 and she has recorded albums/ �17 written an autobiography/nd series of "conve:_:;~tio~' ~;(/,/) 'N-e-01,1~ with Margaret controversial -iifil~~new poet ~, acoo.la,.d ~ l e of the Yea :a, :b~e :ein'l!e BR8 uo s _ ~ i n magazines like l:!:bony, 1 and Essence; app e a r ~ on the Johnnny Carson Show; tt.-4..0., sou ght-after~peaker on the college circuitj (j ' and labeled . i lberfo rce; the "Princess of Black Poetry" by the Ida Lewis, Encore editor. Denounced as an "individualist" by Madhubuti (Lee) and praised by Margaret Walker and Addison Gayle, Nikki Uiovanni denied Show,hosteO by Flip Wilson) ~ a "nevolutionary.' singing of "God Bless America II on nat i onal television, a~ter receiving the 11 Woman of the Year :W.ward, 11 prompted letters ,t o Black publica tions "Uf Liberation": Dykes of the world are united 1''ag gots got their thing to ge ther (~veryone is organi~ed) Black people these are illr facts Whe refa.1111 y our power •••• Honkies rule the world •••• The most vital commodity in America Is Black people Ask any circumeized hankie •••• ~ ~ j t i e fil::_al stanza of this p oem~ wa rns: / Our c h oice now is war or death Our option is s..... rvi val Listen to your own Black hearts 11 C0 nceming one nesponsible Negro 'With too much Power" echoes other themes in the l~ew Dlack Poetry . ·l'he "responsible ne g ros II are �18 "scared' and on the run. fsabM· tells he~ your tongue must be remoi.e d sinre you have no brain to keep it in check \~.h'.e flections on April ~' 1~68, 11 ~ a n act of war. 11 she Dr . King~ ~~~ In "fhe Great Pax \Vhi te II she paraphrases the a section from Genesis in the ~ible,cml!i noting thatt the word was '';D;3t9.}°; "S@iH½ ~g_ all nigg ers." Occasi~naJ} , A jutted throuep. thp otherwise polemical Jrlr~lli,,o!'I~. "Beautiful "hug what i like to hug ." There /(,,,()' emotion-freighted language as in "The True Import of the Present Dialogue, Black ve Negro 11 : Nigger 6an you kill Can you kill Can a nigger kill Can a nigger kill a hankie Can a nigger kill the Man ••• Can you stab-a-jew ••• .--::---,,... Can you run •Bllit. a protestant down with your 1 68 ..l!.,ldo rado ••• Can you piss on a blond head.... ~r~{Ji~ The poem continues) reciting names of the "enemy" a n ~vs a nd wrong-doings visited on Blacks, finally asking~ffiM~~ Learn to kill niggers Learn to be Black men Much of what Nikki Giovanni was saying in the sixties moved~ Blac k youth--it was not always safe or chic to disa gree even if you wanted to-and some of it was admirable. But these things do not make her work dedtensi ble as poetry. 11 My Poem" and II Poem for Aretha II are certainly worth~ �19 subjects but they fall leisurely down the page , angling here f?nd, ~ ) there but revealing nothing of the insight into human beinrs--~t one ~inds in - ru4 ~oem by Helene Johnson , Margaret ~alk er, Gwendolyn Brooks , or Jaynfe Cortes. V from the early pe riod, is a believable flow ~ i n the conversation-like language istic of €haracter- her poetry) and the details pull on the inner reaches o f ~ the collective Bla ck experience as she unfolds the storf of family fun and misfortune: your biographers never understand G . your fatherf's pain as he seils his stock "-- and another dream goes And though you're poor it isn't poverty that conc erns you •••• My a newer Nikki Giovanni. House The venom has lessened, though some of the rampage is evident in a poem like "on Seeing Black Journal and V~at ching Nine Negro Leaders IGi ve Aid and Comfort to i ,, the ~nemy~ to Quote Richard Nixon . Again therec4j~~Re~ 11!1!:lil'i~~~vi gorous interest in a stylisticf or linguistic d ·th • The poems~lid!amiM!il!BB love, the city, childhood ~ ites of woman-passage), Afri ca and Afro-ltrnerican culture. ~er promise and potential c an be glimpsed in 11 .n.frica I": on the bite of a kola nut i was so high the clouds blanketing africa in the mid morning flight were pum ed away in an angry flicker n of the sun's ton ue.... ~ ' {J;ri ~ infl~c 't<-~-- about themselves arrl their world . �20 like Mae Jackson who won Black World 1 s C0 nrad hent 1t3howf Rivers ~ward, have the "stuff ii of poetry in their writings. Can I ~oet with You was published,.. in 1969 by Black Dialogue Publishers. Nikkm Giovanni a II □- wrote t h e turn, dedicated the book to her. Nae Jackson, in is full of the "complaints" that quickly became monotonous in the poetry of the sixties. In themes and usages, the poems resemble Nikki U-iovanni s work. "To a rieactionary, ntellectua~Note from a E'ield Ni gger, 11 ~ are familair of the new poetry. S0 nia Sanchez, closely identified with the alternate terse, explicit vers 7 and between the sprawling, prosaic meanderinglthat serv~the auditory demands of the new a diences. Formerly Crried •1 to the poet ~theridge hnight, sh~A~~L2aj,e~8"d activ e ly as a omecomin playwright, poet and teacher. Her books are ea Baddddd People(l970), ~ 7 1 ), It 1 s a New Day:.Poems for Young Brothas a nd Sistu~,f..iii,i,ove Poems (1973) and an anthology from her yo~g Writers Worksh op at the Countee Cullen Library in New York, Three Hundred and Sixty Degrees of Blackness Coming at You(l972). 9"Malcolm" is ~ament and a night-fmlled memory for her: Yet this man this dreamer, thick-lipped with words ----- will never speakW again and in each winter when the cold air cracks with frost, I 1 11 breathe his breath and mourn my gun-filled nights. 11 ;:t;; �21 Her II for unborn malcoihms 11 , however is another approach. O:onstricting attempting to words, structure, and achieve a Black s'breet speech, she teihls Blacks to "git the word out, 11 to the "man/boy" who is taking a :ihd>liday. murderer 11 shit 11 11 " will die t o. An experimental· 11 Blacks are blk/princes 11 dief wbo80 OJ<pet ~onia Sanchez 1;$'11mi.•ni-. erisive la imeli~s e flood of t 'hip to his hite "faggots" "° n o ~1 4 ange!fJ~-~-..~·( 11 deni ti on for bl~/children"): a policeman is a pig and shd be in a zoo with ill the other piggy and animals. until he stops killing blk/people cracking open their heads remember. the policeman is a pig. (oink/ · oink.) -- joined the poetry of Black love and man~woman unity, seeking particular style and voice to heal wounds of doubt,.ai mistrust and loneliness.In "to al ~ s;.ste11'.'s 11 she sa'js "hµrt 11 is not the /' ' "shd be in. #. -;(}ht' Black m."'anAmg es them "turn in/side out." /~ journey ha ' c~ar~i~d her from the fire o~~the ,--Ill/' blatant revolutionary to the qui e't~ I /> -t::re:tt:, of Love Poems- -beln~ ) ong the first of the new poets to fullfill Handallls prediction th a t Blakk �22 poetry would 11 move from tr~larnatory to the subjective mode. 11 s r1.t~1Ji:~a j. publi:h edf( Who --~- June Jordan Look at Me ( 1969), ~---.;...__-::::_::--" ~"".--7"f<.•"'"7~•-.. Some Changes ( 1971), an anthology Soul~crip,.t(l970), and a volume of poetry ~y students in CJ'W'lt-f~·~ J' workshop i,p BraeJril!,n, The Voices o f the <h ildreb(l970). ast HerSJ••k volume of poetry his is a New Day(1974). Concise, analytical, her and book-folk based, her poetry is also a free verse style characteristic of practically all the r ecent Black poetry . "uncle Bull-1Joy 11 relates the death :tll~t,&&1tli!li!llil!t1N1111111tdbl!l!ilei'!ll!l-ll!l::i:t!iMtil......... lillii:ll~ of a man whose eyes "were pink with alcohol ." The manner of Black men, expensive shoes, and alcolhol. ~d fin al ly: His brother dead from drinking Bullboy drank to clear his thinking saw the roach insi d e the riddle. Soon the bubbles from his glass were the only bits of ch a rm which overcame his folded arms. Audre Lorde 1 s 11 Rites of Passage 11 (for MLK Jr) Now rock and remembers Quick children k iss us we are growing through dream. Much of Addre 1 s Lorde 1 s recent work r' a concerns young people; even the the title of her la,!t,book/;Erom a Lad Wh e re other People rnllLive(:}.973), carries the awe and dream of the child 1 s world. She writes now about �23 teachers, men-women relations, seasons, dreams, "As I Grow up Again, 11 - and "Bla ck Mothe r Woman" 'Who thinks of her own mother's strength when "strangers come to compliment" her: I learned from you to deny myself through your d enials. Alexis Deveaux Among the younger New York women poets , Judy Si and ~louis Loftin sing out. ¾Judith's Blues(~ published ·n 19(3 ;,fz ~l.iilil(llfjileMreteiiiLi!~~!fblr.-,. A/,/1 by Broadside Press. fill: E'.iii h.?JiHM 111Li1 Cult ' 11 ' ~'Schizophrenia"), "Women ' ,n ,.and~ 11 l the " Youth . JJaffodils"- -although the titles do not reveal I -1 - () tMflecting Judy ~immons• sustained study of psychology , poetry yields its mean~g as the multiple layers and ingigh.ts are In i;.,,- ~ »4Nl!I~""° • UI the "animal squats" next to the "piano" and a mouth that stretches from 11 forehead to abdomen 11 • But the poet assures herself that if she does not lose control ) it won't come back inside of me4 J C~ 1\ I l:l Elouise Loftin 's poetry indicative perhaps. of A'. hful, zesty imagery, ,-new technicians' ease. "ttain ::Spread" informs that L~t night threw her legs open to me •••• I She has the new woman ftl{nowledge of social I ., \I(J"W often found among tl\e r;fGl:mt!§ l?il.l:'1 bm gh),. I and the caught 11 if they ca tch you with your pants down and wit: "get t in /h t~k. �offing your guard or peeing for free if they catch you doing something crazy with quates around it and try to make ~ou feel like you been catched you must be doing 0 ~I ( ~.) Spirits in t h e Streets(l973) is Alexis DeveaUlt's strang e but fascinating -~-e,.~ VCCOunt of L,J growing up ili/J,w" I HR in lj rlem. A • est Indian mother/ dis- pairs over a husbandis~e ating him~-~..,.,,,A.:.Al't"o\...t','V~~ ~ lord why he be a t that woman so? an them children god only know' what's gonna haJpen to them. eatin poison. has lye. eat you up inside jesus have mercy. you aan 1 t be t~o careful with children. you got to watch them every second. The world is so evil honey you know what i mean? merciful jesus shame them with word. re present only a fraction younger(and older) New York area poets. S 0 me others are Eath erine ~olomon, Gayle Jones, Stephen Kwartler, Vanes~a to name just a handful. Poets who got their star puplished new . items. ( I> J_. intro ducedV y Jones. in the the e a rlier period also s Felix of the Silent Forestll967) was J. published De Mayor of Harlem in 1970, the same year he re-looated to Berkeley. ~ssentially a Harlem poet, �25 Henderron Surveys everything from the "Harlem rt.ebellion, Summer 1964" to "Harlem Anth r op ology. 11 The transitions and outreachings of these ~,. f 1 1 ; in l q {-,8 poets are also evident inwu ,QP8Ml of Toure who s.;puRt a ~erie& e.£.. WE!nt . . to teach B+ayk 0 udies at ~an l<'rancisco ut a t~ fl~ Vi f d!.)llh1 College . His works are Juju(l970~ and Son~ail(l972),t,Published by Songhai Press and introduced by Kil lens. Toure 1 s "Soul-gifts II are arnp1yJ,jiSMj1, with philosophy , Black history, Black music, Ismamic influences, ,;VJ §.nd " Juju" which w.:i'8Jerl!J,ei'B Coltrane I s hornA ncascading fountains of blood and bones." Songhai ranges from'~Nilillfii•-- of Diana Ross and magical power s · ncere acti vistsjillr thPll:ila@,eze:f ideal Black society. Tourt~liiiiiM~~ _,,_.,,,,,... /I d -iihe ~ ;;,,, I uences ~e../ Blackfoetry emanating frorl!)\flew York area: Neal , Dumas, Baraka , Goncalves , Coltrane, Pharoah ~anders, Cecil McBee --all • J called "Poets of a Nation-in-Formation. 6:ai';-~ .;$'\Y8~f~ll!,/1.\,N~ - such proje~Wakra, a ne Boston-base 11 mo;:m~ t 1oua:.i can be seen in . ,,,..,..~..·j dev!foted to the examinatiQn a(# "of events, the arts, ideas"; _B_e_t_c_h_A_i_n_1 t_(l 974), Celes Tisdale's anthology(Broadside) of "Poems from AJica 11 ; a new anthology of young poets, We Be Poetin 1 ll974), Tisdale~riters Workshop Anthplogy, No unifying thread runs through the work of New York area poets, except that of a relentless acceptance and pursuit of therr /71Al·-i., __ exarrrl,,natjon.Blackness. One 1'298 ob n Q:'e,however, th a t -;g~••IIIQit." mystici ,)tthe occult, cosmic-musical forms and-- • and the infl unee of Islam are more eviden~ in the poetry of other regions. But these are, of course, generalities which await more hindsight and research before they can be finalized �26 di'· life blood while it repaid other eal, for example, w..all is a Philadelphian ed up.,.lllllll&iiii•lialllllliiliili~~ in Harlem, who attended Lincoln, b with occasiona+ short stays at Yale, Howard, ~outhern University, and Kent State University. . .• ~~. &a ~ pattern\ ~ ..,~~~==~::mam.'!a.-•-,.i~..fimilar .c:111-lllliiiiilll• ~ dozens of other poets who criss-cross " ~ ylvania,:tll!!lft University--lllh-ich produced Tolson, diverse_,. othb-JVt'roup of· Hughes, et --- l\ ~ • ~verett Hoagland, . Converging at points like the by Neal, I ller, tlh.eoretician Jirym ~tvwart, and Ma rybelle various JW""'W of assi s tan c e. Philadelphia poets found 1(1'3 adj p~ and ;pJJbl j shii.iAg gntlit:i I Ah• .rb:.i ~ Other Phil a delphia poets · 1 / from the older school, F. J. t:>~ L~...\aet~2: ) ~ ~ .q,.,.., a. Gre j n ev..P-- ~umith Clarence Ma)oney, Pat Janet M. Bro~ks, Garo:a. J en~fer, Don Mizzell• youthful po ets i;;;;;aa 45 /f!l4;..i-..1111111.-ial!t 8ft& ll½Sl±J liIOIG\ \1/orks by in Black Poets ~rite On: An Anthology of Bl a ck Philade l phia Poets(l97O) publi shed by the lee&l B1ack History Museum Committee. • • • Harold Franklin:'....,1itFi:l;ee Introduction :i... ,rhicl:i lffl s t a tes: 11 ilR A BLA CK PO~T IS A KIND OF WARR IOR"-- �27 Philad!.bphia sentiments to those in New York and Bos thus linking i~ tJ',4.1 Bla ck Butterfly, Inc., was ~c various cultural/political a ctivities in Philadelphia . n. ~ ss-roads for ~A:.4"'JJ'V"lil<~v~ ••blii@.-id•·•••••~o~2~211111!10~£ Maloney(now .Chaka Ta~~- Dimensions of Morning 11 was published in 1964» in Paplona, ~pain• Friday: 2 A.M. 11 Good celebrates a "sultry brown girl" who ·'seems a superior a. C". 11: .-;_._. > ~ rhyme rhytbrn~nd ma,a them hard-loving hard-talking hard-loving cfol black dudes Ana:t them fine-looking fine-tr~lking fine-talking fine-loving them fine soulf sisters •••• x ~ "llbl V "\;t_he short-] j ved oaJ '('iiM:G&~ -e!1e ttills e J!! .Pitt sburg'ril\was. born ~mack Lines: A Journal of Black ~ ,Studies ( 1970,. 7P +a· a e J area ~ p ublished Pi t t s b u ~ e t s like .llid Robefl!on , - August ~vilson, Joanne Braxton , as well as po e ts from the Midwest like Al G~over Armst~g an d Redmond. The university of Pittsburgh Pref.ss opened up to Black poets tha t same yearf, publishing 1'1ichael Harper(Dear John, Dear Coltrane,1970; Song: ~anl I ~et a Witnes ~ 1973), R0 berson(When Thy King is a Boy, 1970), and Gerald B~rrax(~other king of rlainf., 1970) • .ti.oberson•s poetry runs the gamu~ of themes and styles-- �28 ~ -·-~ from neat Jal• ~ is t fl to slanted spacf ings and slashes . In "mayday" there u.,, ~ "underside of heaven" and the warning from one ., .!1! 141& --. ,f misunderstood that he is "armed" to fight the final kindling of your dreaming . 11 0thellol Jones Dresses for Dinne r " is a satirical look at the "Guess Wrio•s coming to Dinner" theme . After dating t~, ~ ae,f;;'* Cc white woman , the n a rrator "w~ 11~ rw-nnered . ~ 11 l<AA D. C. where • • • - - _ .~ Brown the late six ies . Howard, by now' i continued to teach&i to I 1 e le adini-:ilack ,. in the new • a d 9o;npla -d :ane poetic h istory hile Howard I s the early days of ~terling Brownland into the Howard Poets) , the school has- number of younger writers rt° iddings . atmosphe re was of the @@l■ lil•u-MP-t Guianese p oet d eepened and broadened by t,b;e a ppointment~ T~Gi~ sand Stephen Hend:e:e,eon~who heads• LJ the Institute for the Arts and Humanitiefu~~ward u.A\.4 ~ . . .\ ~ 1ttt·1V,,,-a~ ,t.,L played out against a series of developments in the surrounding �29 lthe Institute In addition 'to-15"amas and ttenderso~ .ilRMos A h as be en ~ It lilt! 9!1111 Madhublll.ti(tee), Killens invaluable. so f a r , ~ r a ka, Gwendolyn Brooks, in the First Annual Symposium ~ .uoans~dson_\Jfitcr:f!:;fa ctiis.{~ Lucile (.;lifton, Goss, cott-he ron, Adesanya Alakoye, Miller, and Hari .c.vans. Tour:, Johnston and Kgositsile were guests for :BIik a pro g ram exam~ th e African 6ultu r al Pres ence in the Ame r icas. ei::c•~ets h ave r eco ~~ ~ been invited to re a d and bE... ~A"ene.d r or,A p e rmanent audio/video library: Jayne Corte z, (.;rouch, Davis, ~lllllit Sarah Webst e r .tt'ablbo, , Har p er, J e f fe rs, J o ans, .Redmond, Sonia Sanchez, Scot x - Heron, Brucs ~t. J ohn, Marga ret Walk er, a nd Jay i·; ri ght. ,.-- 1 - (1- • -~~n 1968~ eal said his ,......M "' "plh.ilosophy" was "to purge myself of the whiteness within me and link completely with my Bla ck brothers in the stru ggle to de stroy the enemy and rebuild a Bl a ck Nation. 11 He ap p e a r ed to be working a t tha t t a sk for a while before the Afro-beric an school clo se d. In "Today " he said t h e tone of his life r esembled a " growled minglegjt" the groan of the past •.• x and he lamented the jungles wh ich had been deflowered by nap a lm •••• ~arl Carter, another D. c. po e t, .8r;pears in Under s tanding t h e ~ew Black Poetri. He evokes the s pirits ol-::__~heroes 11 ~of Memphis, New York, and l~a shville, 1 Or 8 n geburg, Jac k son, recalling tha t during a riot in Nashville he was Hiding somewh e re i n my mind with Eldridge Cl eav e r •••• "Roots" is an unsuccessful attempt to fuse the drama. of colchloquial Black langua ge with a f ormal ~ glish na rrative about his gr andmoth e r. �30 Other poets living or publishing in the the sixties and seventies 1-' were D.c. area during Bernadette G-olden(l9~-9- Henlen Quigless(l945over the years con ributed · to the g rowth of Black poetry. She edited three important anthologies: Negro V6ices(l938), ~bony ..kb.ythm(l947) and Today 1 s Negro Voices(l970). Her own volumes of poetry are Love is a Terrible Thing(l945) and, with Nancy Arnez, iae nocks Cry out(l969, Broadside). He r ~ poetry has moved from a traditional meter to a tra ditional free verse dealing, in the new pha se, with tensions 01.r¼- caus e d by u i3 9 white" and 9 11 Blacko/,) and war. She is currently di rector of t he Ne e- ro Bibliographic and nesearch Center and s e rve s as managing editor of its ,C,. Clifton(l936Sa.m:x Cornish a nd Yvette Johnson(l943- )iJ, ) h a ve produced poetry tha t holds them in good st e ad. Good Tfmes(l969), Good News About the ~arth(l97a) and An OrdinaI'J' lvo ~volillJles produced by Lucille C1ifton who also writes many children's booki. She currently t e aches at Coppin °tate Coll~~e ip Baltimore wh e re she lives with ~NA ~ her husband and six children.~itles ~·•IIJ!!l~iiiii.i~llllii-M,a-lilliilli~.-"""-i!!i"llfi,,_--........_ ~ about her s p iri,,.t a n d ~ temperament. ~ • • • • • of d pre ssion and bleakness, it ~~ndeed warming to see someone proclaim Good ,............._ News! 11 .l:!.ldridge" is comp a red to a meat "cleaver" which wi ll not "rust or break. 11 And th e re is humor, irony and truth in " Lateley 11 : where the "always drunk" d e live ry man says: 111m 25 years old and all the white boys my age are younger than me.I i- �31 But while a 1s 0 ~ .1::9:?;;;f Ckn O ',r ledg sing ~ ·. t ~il ,,_, ~ ilill i go od times in the kitchen , ~eille '-11 !ton •rh •t M __ v "hal colm," nb.ldri· dge , n "Bobby Seale , " and the studeent-participants a t Jackson and h.ent states . gives a Black •11111!1.b• or contemporary~ a l'Aaozen~ Good News Abo-wt the Eavth, r'.biblical stories . Host are unique , like " /tt this kiss soft as cotton over my bre asts all shiny bright something is in this night oh Lord have mercy on me i feel a @:arden in my mouth between my legs i see a tree G An Ordinat-iry Woman is oo nsciously woman and the poems , like those in other volumes , deal with e v ryday thing s- - "ordinary '' things . become ~ "H owe'ver, she has,._,a.~~a::~:=• more"mystic. , N rre;}J and allusoryt4 7 as in "Kali", "The Coming of Kali, • Mood. n AA ! 11 He is tireyd of bone , it breaks. He is ti red of eve I s fancy and Adarn 1 s whining ways . ".tier Love Poem, "l{"i::>alt." "God's �32 Corfnish is a poet, teacher and editor. His books include Angles(l967), Winters(l968) , Your Hand in Mind(l97O), Generations (1971~), and People Beneath the Window(n .d.). ~~ith w. Lucian , ::.&., edited Chicory: Young Voices from the Black Hhetto(l969) which developed into a series still being p~blished by the bnoch Pratt Feee Library j n cavjunctj on uiie:l;;ft 1'fte~ommuni ty Action Program Current editor of Chicory is Melvin l.!,dward Brown . Cornish • P'ei•-•iw;i-b~ stylistic language. ~ @!O~dr ammunition a n d ~ r e t c i s ~ ~ s l of he tells "MIDDLE CLASS GIRLS WITH CRIPPLED FINGERS WAITI NG FOR ME TO iIGHT THERR CIGARETTS": your fingers 4 2 l hsi&&EJHiftlJtW f folded in your lap control the serpent in your eyes your face never staring with a smile in your ruffled color your eyes pmpulate the brick with restless stares. r.-These Baltimore poets, and others,. continue the vast line of poetry output ths t embraces the ~outh •ra=-,."'" many �33 \1944I • ~ (New Orleans) Margaret Walker, Alice Wai'lt~fl,t±Iilit'1e Lane, iii BLK.8.R1·SOUTH . poet , ~ (I < , tJ, 71.(~ fl l,.~t ~ p the Ix-umbra poets( North Carolina ventral University),~ etty Gates{Miles ,, J C I • 1 Col1 ege, Alabama), Gerald 1JJ+~~J~LaAe le X(Leslie Powe ll), Leo Ja. Mason ~tlantaJ, Lorenzo Thom he iliil: :_~~':t!!i. ; g<1 o•• The pe s bi J s rf? 111 ~x~h;~~ pro grams which, since ~outh h a s ~ rec ei the late fifties, have flow of = poets and teach ers older ef paibi&aj to and from the ;::,outh. Some wel,l lmownjn~es -•a• Tolson , Jef f ers Johnson(Hames), Braithwaite, Hayden,r_nd ••P.i:D•Vesey. poets iP?l de ivv0' ounger South are ~udre Lorde(Toogaloo), Redmond( Southern), Wright (T oogaloo i=md Talladega), Spellman (: Io rehouse), and ~ ~sile(North Garoli~a A?:T ). The ;::,outh, too, has exp e rienced ••tllllllll!lili• 7 iK dramatic changes as a result of the he Free South(ffi ~ _j ymbols are everyw"here: e Dashikm Jheater~n tremendou,_..,~4kg (_; ,..,_ ~ , Black N ~~ovement. - · New Urleans,.SUDAN South/West poetry-musica.theatbr group in Houston, the Theater of Afro-Arts in Miami, a nd Atlanta's Black Image. In Atlanta, ~pellman organized the Genter for Black Art which publishes Rhythm(l970). Stone became editor, ~bon(~igemonde Kharlos Wimb erli) poetry editor and 8pellman editor of essays and features. The summer issue of Rhythm was 197. also a memorial to Donald# L. Graham (1944-1971), poet-theoretician who succeeded KilHms as di rector of the Writers Workshop at .B'isk. ~raham,~rr:snsmiwisama xaax M.. who was also a musician, h a d publis~ed three books: Black ~ong , 8oul Motion, and ~oul Mot on I I . hhythm said he "was running one of the baddest worksho n s in the Soutb.J" People's co ·1 le ge in Nashville Margar e t Walker in Mississipi/ a1as1 j.,w s and "teaching at the hevolutionary 11 . at Jackson °t a te Colle ge !l:973- hoste4.~~7f bi-centennial celebr • tion of the publication of Phyllis \fueatley • s Poems. XXXJlft ilhc celetn abion somewhat from the stance -- �she took in For My People. Yet Prophets for a New Day(l970) and Octob e r ,_1--,_,., ·u ..L<., ~ ~ ,u.u_:1.,..~i~ , a11d,,,. (,'p,:ti,. Ri ghts Movement A_~ its She writes about 11 Birmingham," "Street Demonstrat i on," "Jack son, Mississippi, 11 'fihe March on Wa ~ g ton, and the new pro ~ 11 "Jeremiah, 11 a Legend" she says "Isaiah, "Amos," 11 .joel~' a.Rei erl;:k@P9, In 11 ts: 0 ford is Andy Goodman, -~~ Michael Schwerner, and James Chane y , who 8!11~ "opp r e ssion" in Louisiana, M~ssissippi andbeorg ia. October~I fl b® a quieter riety of••~verse iorms incl~ding the ball a d .ner own unique in "tlarriet Tubman.'' .:::>1,,e sti 11 ;r,?Jre112 a drlu . sonnet t in "For Mary McLeod Bethune 11 a nd ~ earlier 11 1''or Paul Lawrence Dunbar." poet is suggested in with the p oets telling us f 11 .1 want to Write " ,--..., • I want to w rite son.jg s of my people. '-""' 01ice Wal k er, novelist a nd poet, sha res the st a te of Missi sippi~ ~ 19 68µ Petunias with Ma rgaret Wal k er. Her volumes of p oetry are Once~ana. RevolutionarYA the title of , is probably ~,.....,.1,4(,~ (1973)f,.which, judging from othe r st at ements she has made, mi~t be o • ' • Her p oems some s a t ir e. A poem in Once r e lates t h e story of the y oung Black man who wanted to inte grate a wh ite be a ch s in Alabama--in the "nude. n She k t lieorge · Ahistory an~ folk-strength �35 is made of : ~"romance" that 11 blossomed 11 and t he in ~ pews at funerals; women with fists that • • • "battered II doors; ~ "Sunday ~chool , 0 irca 1950"; a "backwoods woman" wh ~ killef to water the petunias/JI ind of " Hage 11 : also writes The silence between your words rl:¥lls into me like a sword. Yet an~ther Mississipian and poet is Julius Bric Thompson , a history Hopes tied up in Promises was pµblished in teacher at Toogaloo . ~970 and aims at li ing the new consciousness above mere "hopes . Thompson writes about being a Black man in Mississi p pi , Martin ~uther King, and "Black ~over..11 I series~ poems "Delta Children , " 1 o~~ In Louisiana much new poetry has been arriving from the pens of young and, old poets alike . ~u-Bolton, now in D. C. , edits -.....:---- Hoodoo I through bngrgy Blacksouth Fr ~ss ) in DeRidder . co-edited The Last Cookie.lJ based in DeRidder, .:1an Francisco , a nd Geneva , New York . Hoodoo I, dedicated to two Bla ck students killed by policemen on the campus .....-, of ::;outhern University in Nov 8mb er of 19 ·121 contained work by Lorenzo Thomas, May Miller, Pinkie Lane Kalamu Ya ::Salaam, Jerry War d , and other southern- based poets . Hfodoo 2. & issuel published in l975 , contains work of< • ii 11 3 , a double more southern poets: �36 ""'-~~:..w;~~~~~a~n~ :\ .<"\ Arthenia Bates Millica Uharles Rowell,as well as selection• from t~nJ the braader ~ an:e world of Black writing. Press will also publis ~ volume of poems. t'diiWii iiiiiiiiiPIIIK bnegery Black~outh A Nig, erer Ament, Zu-Bolton 1 s first ►~ \!ider the g ud~ ·ce of the late English $. ~ short-live I/ ■ C I /'nairrnan, Melvin A. Butler , ~s ablished t e ac .1!.xperience) C several £Oems by Alvin Apbert , the first issue of' which contairie<l]lpbems, a 'Southern alumnus who now rL resides in New Yo rk and edits Obsidian: Black Literature in rteview. Aubert s Against the Bluestl971) . I ; surveys blues, love and his Louisiana heritage. Pink@. Lane , n~w ~nglish Department .;;:'-head at uouthern, published Wind Thoughts(l972) as well as sev eral Broad- sides: Two Poems(l972 ), Poem~ather(l9I2), and Songs to the Dialysis Ma chine(l972), all ~ f s : & - - ' - > o u t h and est, Inc., of Arkansas. ~outh& and West is also the publisher of the annual ( 19~9, 1971, 1972-l} rwhich Poems by Bla ck Pinkie Lan C ~ / ermanent editor. inaugura ted the annual Black Poetry Festival In the program of the first festival, l,Dx he stateciJ: in The Bla ck Poetry Festival provides a rare opportunity to bring together profeS"S"ional a nd apprentice poets in an effort to define a nd legitimize all forms of Black poetic talent as a prelude and postlude to defining-and legitimizing the reality of Black people . Hopefully, t he results of our efforts will be a bett er understanding and a grea ter apurecia tion of the lives, aspirations and achievements of Black peop~e . TI I j.l"°frre •-• festivals, "- ( c~ ..,.;..~ Southern has attractive a number of poets; 1 ~lq 7t-1l) _, Madhubiti , Sonia Sanchez,~ Randall ,'rre'a:mori~ Bolton , Fnigfit , ~alamu S a l a ~ ~ Aubert, Luc~ ""ITlifton,v eal, ,'\.udre Lorde }I .Lrma JJTcLaurin. The festivals, which included student poets and mus ici ans , have inspired a Poetry Workshop under the supervision of Howell , an ~nglish instructor. The first two volumes of Poems by Blacks contain a rich lode of oouthern riting �37 poets : Leon~ . Wiles( Philander .::>mith College), blijah Sabb(Little Rock) , Booker T . Jackson( Little Rock), Eddie Scott(l"1emphis) , Otis Woodard Tuske gee Institute (MeJD,phis) , Arthlil.r Pfister (Mbllfhi,,, Beer Cans Bullets .;.,-Things & Pieces , 1972) , Upton Pearson(Jac k son , Mississippi) , Jacquelyn Bryant( h eridian) ., Lois Miller (Baton Houge) , Barbara J-ean hnight (iviemphis) and h.atheleen rteed (Shreveport) . Although Pinkie Lane Lane did not edit the first two ~ issues of Poems , she acted as aavisor ana~ was subst antially r epre s ented . :::;he is a gifted, ,,: skill and 7 3 gr.di I 7 7 ·:uzb. word-manipul a tor with consummate passion .~:ll■b~i--~l•~k North of Baton Rouge in .New Orleans, the .t< 'ree .::>out h e rn Th eater haA burned out by the late sixties , but~5'€ttt1;iw9~0aff?E1lfl!I~ ~ Nkombo which 4lllll the work of BLKARTSOUTH writ e rs . Tom Vent , one of the founders of FST, and ~alamu now jointly edit the publica t i on . Some BLKA RTSO UTH poets are Isaac Black, Dent, r.iiiii_- 0alaam, ~ lienaldo .B'ernande z, Na y o (Barbara Malcolm,, Raymond Washingto4, and J ohn O .r eal . Again, no single thread ties these poets together- - except the o r "movement'' in the outh • ~ h e ir con- cerns for the movement are o f ten expressed bett er outside of the poe try than in . I n 19 69 BLKARTSOUTH published i n dividual volumes of poems by Salaam( The Blues h er ch ant) , Fernandez (The I mpati ent hebel), Nayo (I Want Me a Home ) , and Washington(Visions From the Ghetto) . " Racist ~ Psychotherapy" is Black 1 s blue - print for i l A Afro-American salvation . He advises Blac k s to spend less time r a pping and drinking and more time w o ~ ha rles at Mississipp i State" Dent says I h ear p eople wa iting for the riot to be gin in t heir hearts • ••• Of ..-..."The ~ Blues , 11 Salaam says: it is not sumbission •• • • of his work is speechy . Salaam has al so published Hofu Ni h.wenu: My Fear Is l<'or You:t( 1973) which received a mixed review from Rowell in the 0 ep tember , 1974, issue of Black World . Salaam i s ~ editor �38 of the New Orleans-based Blac k - - -----,=--- Na yo writes a 11 -~ dtime "h question , ' when we gonna h a ve the revoluti o~ "cW the moth e r I! . castigate whitey and prais e Blacks . But , Jdlh I •ot"'"'F Y}1,-m4:l!~!b ~ · - . · ~f!"""K'• they wrgbout south e rn life , le d Congo Writing 'or~op . There are also writing workshops 0 quare Dillard and Xav i e r Univ ersities ~ A Julia• Fields, still living in ~o rth Garolina , c111• •-- brought oug l!.ast of Moonli ght ,--_ in 19(3 , but testimonies is "High on the Hog 11 one of h ~ q u e n t which ~ est a blishes herfigp_t • to h a ve "caviar 11 or "Shrimp souffle" over ~ L Ja )_i,. stances-t• a~ A"'-n7of-r,ic J I revol u tionaries, she says;lf.e h a s E: 11 "gut b a II or "Jowl . " ~c over-exotici zed b'y rt<t I/MA. ,, A 1 ,. ~~ ,,,!:,,. I,../,,.. ea rend 11 the right to enb lrt(sh • She has e v en heard "Maus Maus" scr e aming and ~Romanti c izing 0 i pain . 11 from both But The i"@/3/ x/o~ le'f.-t in po~ts of lJt!f<1. ~~YJ,8jil-c. Fl'7 Thet(con- s s!en by somra;~jor juncture in the New • Gwendolyn Broo k s talk 4Jabout it in her auto - b iogra phy , Margare t v~alker discussed it with Nikk i Giovanni in their published " conversations , 11 Blac k Worl d. a r g \¥,i t e rs ~u 7 l er wrote glowingly of it in e c onfe renc e were David Llorens , ~ Fuller ~ Milne r , Clarke , ~ennett , Maggaret ~anner , Nikki Giovanni , Randal l , Lee , Margaret \-Jalker , t>onia Sanchez , Jones , and Marg aret Bur r oughs . �39 . ., 1; il provided the first writer s. ~wendolyn coHl..ly res p ected" afte r ,,,. I"'"' just h a ving f l own Ja to Nas h vi l le from 11 whi te -whit e ~outh Daij:ota. 11 P-owever, she was amon g t h e first (with Handall a nd .1:'' u l l e r u p t h e babner of the <ii? of to take J the Black Aesthetic 2nd the causes of ,,,.l the young writers . t!i.S; + Such action, of course, was dis n leasing to a numeber of whi , e and Black poets, not the le a st among them Hayden -who rmfi:Dses e~o acknowlege the exist~nce of a ~'' who expre~red l:Jj s feelAngsaboPt i "1u!,'&.<Pf!ti@ A.aesthetic + tr for Blacks md bie :moe J io ;pee,i:::tiisa p?eiett 12n~aleidos~ope • • • Janua ry, Bl ack World po11)af BJaolc mibcrs wrd er!i:tics • Although the Fisk conference has been followed by dozens E. ~ no 1968 , ollifJOfs Black colleges all over the South, Midwest and st, ;,here is still but Cf"'\. monolithic st a nd *""dire ctions" 771 a g'r: some writers keep trying ; to give them anyway . One indicationg of t h e healthy diversity among Black writers is the journal Roots, published at Texas Southern University • .C.ditors are Tommy Guy, Jeffree James , ·.1,·urne r Whorton, and Nance \rJi lliams . Volume I, number I contains es s ays, art and ( the works of ~PA trt.er i ~emsn poets , most of them southerners. The poetry, d evoid of monotonous theme or style, represents a broad rang e ~ of interests in supreme" says 11 ,# • ai@~lfllm!~~ subjects and forms. ?m 1 lo in 11 a love all my eyes gazed forever backwards ." In 'she 1 11 never knxow" :Mick ey Leland writes of various a s pects of the social and pl;tysical l an dscape, including the "Kinky haired boys" -who build 11 arsen~ls of s traw." ~ la rence ~ard notes in "nanging On' " that ~ the rent h a s gone up , eviction is Ao 1 ..g, t h ere is no food for r the baby, and Han ging on aint easy •••• j ahmad j . 1 s title "rtard He ad 1v1akes a ~oft .1:-iss" i mp lies t h e poem's statement . ~taszy: eternalizes, "like a good high, '1 for Tommy Guy in 11 Brother . 11 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_26 Title A name given to the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, B. Griefs of Joy: The Poetry of Wings, p. 1-39, 1975 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975 Description An account of the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, B. Griefs of Joy: The Poetry of Wings, p. 1-39 with additional page 1a. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/2c10cb80f982bd8cecdc13e9698d0417.pdf b152d5e2d632be3ca4a24011f22a6846 PDF Text Text .,. seculars . 7 It is next to imppossible t o ~ l i s t all(or each type) of the SecuJa rs. \ve have mentioned Profe s r or Talleyc!:s pioneering efforts at C1assifying them. But many obst a cles lay in the way of , of secular folk life. One problem was that Such e. all types of Black creativity, from the slave narratives to religious songs. Hence the more "urotesting" aspects of the xm: works were deleted as were "offensive words." Ar,yone who h'1s heard "authentic" Black folk songs knows that they ~a;;& roflectU(, of the converg;:nce :p 1 madness, absurdity and hope in the Black body. Subsequently what are known as "curse" or 11 obscene 11 words are sprinkled throughout Brown discusses the 11 realism 11 in the folk rhymes along with an attempt to classify at least some of the~( "fiddle -sings, 11 "c~songs, 11 crow/): Ballads , Ballads : Ne 0 ro Heroes , 1 • jig-tunes," "ups tart John Henry(folkified in song), ork S 0 ngs, The Blue s, Irony and ,Protest • . Irony andr ~ protest~ of Course, run through Black folk and literary poetry from the earliest days ( ~~hi tfield, Harper , anti-slavery songs) to the most recent times(Josh Vhite , Leon Thomas, D0 n L. Lee, John ~ chols, Johnny Scott). Some observers have pointed to the silliness of taiili€(!\dlli•~ resetw:-che rs who, white as ever, appeared endorsed 11 askl\i'Olk song writers and singers if they;\; ■ z 11 prote s~ away ,hature and history ~ satisfied with a "no" answer~,. Given th ..-of ..i!!!i11,tm::mllliiei1a re- __.El.~_cy lations o-nP c....-. - ~ - , M . , O ~ . C - ~ .l.:ii11¥i1.-IMIIIJlll!!l-±E~~~ reluctance on the parts of Blacks to tell whites ,--. the truth about 11 anything" let alone ro out sucJ'sensti ti ve.-:.- areaf as "protest." Yet in the dog-eat-dog world of survival, the folk person knows that "If he dies, I'll eat his co 1 n; AnJ if he lives, I'll ride 1 im on. --30-- 11 �C?.!Vsecul rs 8 In suimnaryp)11n we can say t hs t unlike other ethnic immigrant groups(the Afro- erican was not a willing immigrant!), the Black American did not simply transplant his stories--keeping them in thetr exact same form. lie found American or ~uropean languag e ,> count e rparts for his themes and vocab~lari. But his phonology, style and spirit were informed by the African tradition. The student of Black folk poetry will wand to comare and contrast the Secula rs to othe r ethn ic stories and songs. Boasting or 11 lying, 1 for examp le, is one ing redient of the "tall" tale. How does the Bl a ck song or story(i.e., "Sh ine," mite, II " Frankie and Johnrwe, II 11 :::>ign"fying Honey,n etc.) fit this PJ.Otif? How do es it conceal deeper meanings on the issues of slavery, inhuman work conditions, or contradictions in Christianity? What are the ~ similarities between the Se culars a nd the ~pirituals? Between the Beculars and the lit erary poetry? Th~d other qu e stions(on Black heroes, cultural motifs, blues themes, langua g e and endurance) will le a d oneWilf through exciting corridors of Black ~ativtty and t ho ught. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_25 Title A name given to the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 19 and 20, Seculars 7 and 8 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/9d2563405437f3b198a16775de1116d4.pdf 1ad35d6d5980763968fcc17cd7917904 PDF Text Text .AND UN1(110 1:JN BARDS 'o black and unknown b2.rds of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire? - -James We ldon Johnson J. Black Expression: G_ this ~ t e r , as in~~i_'i.{ ores, ~lack creativ@ mind ::i:: will attel'lpt to ple.ce •·•~·!:!!!:::l}:~~me-,1111:11-=••wi~•~~La...- wi tti~the spirit and letter ~rican-Americ Unfortunately, many~~• early scholars played down or ignor~d ~ African influ~nccs ei t he r1' • This was c ertainly of on brief every- mince most antholo vl!k:!t~~. . . . becausel\one will e of Black literature and poetry omit these items; and 'lc,_...,. hard-pressed to understan l:.J:! I a a rut 0 Dunbar use of folk matoria.fts(see,(J. ohiison, v Walker and others). Bronm, �(} wt 4 ~ olr! . a .J discussing <l/1- t h e origins of Black expression, . 12&£!g'?: + • 0 it,(, ment i on,,.,.illl!-lliiil(h~the role of the pre-industrial African(and other) societies . ~ grio . t s-s t ems f rom th e group o f ar t i. sans kn own as lillDi,: --=:-.-:--- h lore. -~ ._ a, ' r • • • • •.'· ~- • human1';'.:~•i~ of iMlll!IIIIIIII family and national~ ~ .. Originally ~ e d to recite--without flaw--the geneologies , eulogies, victories l. cal ami tie s~:m:f::::l:i::i:ee:::=ll:c:t::::i;J;1:::t;i11@1-e~~~mm- of the folk, the griot(like the •11111• lead his reportage with iiiilliim'ii"ftE singer of Spirituals) had to spice itementM.1~~.~ ,~;,,iµ~c,-,,~ iia:IB:i1111a~Hardly a Black younsgter grew up ( even in recent times) without input from a .Ac-et °(j griot(uncle , grandmother , big brother or sister , mother or ~ather, job preacher, etc) . The ,__,_ of the griot, like that of the mater-ceremonial . ~ t societies a#mistake drumrner;R wa s so , t). , i mportant that in many 4 ~ could sost~•---- life. 1· - very · j 7. early ~ -ef ~~,~~~.:~~~5£::1'.!l:lr~e . adjustment r. griot life his ii • nu mastery of technique and inf0rm- Like the drumm~r, he ------1.w•~ undevstud~eJ, ~ .l. a••••BY t(is trainingje,.a:;:t;;1.;ax:l,:-'!!!l!!'J!"'!!"'e-iiiei• a certain psychological '/, ~ to ;;,;gd J?eali!la'6ioP I i i !!Hlln the significance of his job-- o 11 contain(anr,1dvi~e o~ the and centuries passed, this heirloms 11 of the community. -Om. ~ A.s years 'factual" information wa s conve rted into a lore, cosmologyA web of racial consciousne ].¥-, and legend; it became a part of the vast emory. It became the legacy with which ev e ry new born bhild learly , then, the myth- a nd legend-building poet has a past to dip and a future to predict, project and protect. ~ ''.' any violation of the pas~present or future constitutes a serious crime against one 1 s ancestors--against one's parents, a gainst one's blood, against one I s god.;,'t that the poet --griot --}s not some haphazzardly ~ arrived hipster or slick-talk er P#fl J1!f1J simply l!!F6.c:w.w:i~tired old phrases. ~ To the/lgriot-sing er-poet the job of unra veling the complex network of his past and present-future worlds is a painful but rewarding labor of love. �.ttf J';(n· 1/,Ti, A: 1e B a.ck Experience n the United States continues via the African Continuum: a complex (~cJ,.-4) ~ · ) (5ee~ 1 ~ h ~ J . ) . of mythica\, linguistil' gestura\, psychological, sexual,M~ phvsical and religious forms. - 11 }l. This complex is e~idenced in M~4 the day-to-day attitudes~of Blacks: their sacred and secular (~ expressions, their physical appearances, their dress patterns and their family life. Jot only in the United States, but , in the Caribbean, lrtbe West Indies, in Latin America, in all WlrJitl IM\,~~ (J4 th t-l«' lM J) J-it'.l •. ~ r n,,..,..Jr,. ,.,_ - -tfiey areas of' tbel\ :t:ie:opePS.i'\~-~~-A£ri-ean--e-.xffae-tJ • ~ Aexbi bit �~~t~ ~ '-1 ( I ;r:; t characteristics peculiar to the nature of indigeno s Africans. /J • }..,,.,,.,._ -jJlllmu-J'!!. , 1 fl ac,-,-,pmtlm~ ~ eral Black 1/xP.ression~ 'fi~::· :; ,.. · "'/\Black ,ulture; and {-OfMl) p ft~) (Aiu r,'\ the art~st c "expression--tradi tional Black Jommifni ties did people·--is a more sophis- not separate ~ l i f e ticated form boned from the '""eneral "storehouse." No one bas yet put their hands on exactly what moment in time and where the first African sounds or movements were incorporated into nwhite" or Western frames of references or vice versa; but we do know that it did happen. Unfortunately, inept reporting on the Black Experience has muddied the waters so much that one is repulsed and horri.fied by eem:e- of the observations and conclusions of some Black and white 11 "" researchers.n In an unflinchingly brilliant analysis of Black African Oral Literature, presented at the First World Festival of Negro Arte4 (1966) in Dakar, Senegal, Basile-Juleat Fouda , noting that 11 oral literature is as old as creation, 11 Archival Literature of Gesture." revelations, Fouda said: 11 coined the phrase Concludinc his important "Thus in the Black Africa of tra- dition, literary art is an anonymous art because it is a social art; it is a social art because it is a functional -rtt; and it is functional because it is humanist. is not bounded by color. 11 t:t29J, ~esearch Black sociologist E. Franklin Frazier (Black Bour~eosis) h e i ~ there were no significant carry( ~ l.1/ t N\,ll.,~~TI.l,Q~ overs~from ~frica to tbe United States. (Slavery, Frazier said, "stripped" the African of his culture and "destroyed" his personality.) White anthropologist Melville Herskovits (The Myth of the Negro Past) proved without a doubt that 41 �there were African nsurvivalisms" operating daily in Black Ameri?ans culture. (fo (!J; lR'-9. t<,M,.., 1..J. ~. -To.. ?, 1,1,. 1 IvvA1, • I~ • •'f ) , 0 ..,.. ,.,.t _ w1.>.,".mt T>-J. •• >Vhlk oc ~ If ,, ,,.,,flu '1 , 6!8¼112:ft I -- p . ~ Rudimentary Black/x~ression~Na.... a~ ~ w erous . l folk forms it produced (field hollers, vendors shouts, chants, worksongs, Spirituals~teflues Gospels, JAzz, }{hythm 'n ,Blues, ~ '-.!~£~ ~oul Music) f~~ ases for,lBlackA:5cetry. S<>11~ ~ The N f":"' .;::,/ ,~~{ · r.f early tM-clstle~fo~Ms ~ere almost always accompanied b y what we have come to call __J.. _ .(J,,r1~ 11 \.!,I dramaticl ideogra1!1s "-ir-o~c~._ :1~.P:.:ld lr;-/-<rtk~. ~ three basic~ ar istil°"~odes/\lfu~ and Drum. ';; ~ ~ M.t li~ ~ " 4 . · Ol1 ~eans or communicati-, over distances, the dr~yed~ar?'-i~~ role in t ~ e s of traditional ,8") 1 . .i\.frican peoples. -1 The career drummer, like the BlacK~musician today, went through years of grueling practice and preparation-·learning not only drumming techniques but the legends, the myths, ' the ~P-~nin~s and symbols of which the drum was derivative. Dance always accompanied song--Fouda refers to the "acoustical phonetic alphabet 11 --sp that the complex web of ora.l nuances ~ was tµ h. IT~ate ,J. .. ,,.,J Obv1ously, when teaching or entertaining , the artist/teacher had to present his material in interesting make-up, props and i mportant subject matter. A Jn..t ~~, n<YtrtvicariousAbut one of the act and �'lche #8.m'i .time: T '-lile such a prospect boggles the mind, a serious study of these forms and the general tradition will \~ ~ye-opening for many a disbeliever. Early Black American oral and gestural art forms init.t ~ ~ LJ.u,., - • heri ed the~above mentioaed ~ri±t-t'e. In lang~~§e in (<.iui«, ) dance, and, more importantly, in points of view~toward time, -i,, . life and death, the cosmology of Africa ~ ('4~~~~-~4) "continue~in the Black efulture o- the Western Hemisphere. Specifically, in- 1 for mation was conveyed by~.a of aphorisms, riddles, parables, tales, enigmatic dances an jokes and poetry. 01,'.\~t ,>(.o(.(,' ) §o"'ill'ld~o J ··.nL'!O--·• que~utte ances, puzzles, t rfunt~ The pattern remains in tact today. -- .Jahn ments many examples of the African ncarryovers 11 and "survivalisms 11 operating in the Western Hemisphere. One can f nd the tradition -' ' · 4.t1-ni6' 1, 1/; ~ "vw 4(ru{t in Black poe s,~inistevs and~family,._,ga~herings. The scintillating Black po'et I'olson operates ~ 1 the old eni gmf'l t i c ( ~ ~ ~ frame when in "An Ex-Judge at the Bar 11 'be says: Bartender, make it straight and make it twoOne for the y~u in me and pn~.frp. tpe me in you. t" ~ N ~ i-fc · 'JI ,Ju.,kd t £ti.•, ~ . « > t.W Ar ·AIMlft~ ~ ..-.~~:.<, ~-. '', e''t. N _ I .1~ Tolsonl\.ends the poem~ ith n equallw en· gmat·c rn c : '~ <) Barte n er , make it straight and make it threeOne for the Negro ••• one for you and me. /, . ~UJ ' I n t he Sp rituals (t:5.e.:.:::~n~ml'?3"S't'ttmi /4 '~ Bi ..............,""-¥·) one finds s milar debts to the African tradition of song, dance and drum. ~ ::. r- So too in the shouts and hollers where (J f:.M n NOTe:it ~ actual African ·wor ds and phrases were iftnii,ie.11-, used. A Hence we can say that the traditional African phonology and ritual, modified on the anvil of slavery, were operating and continue ' . ~ " " " ~ ~;r nu.~~· [r;, to w 6 . . 9· ' �1t vi .lviJ 1.,, ~ ~ ' fA"t--- J for ms of Black American ,,E'xpression. The African slave, forced to acquire functional use of English and to re j ect surface aspects of his reli gion, went "underground tr so to speak and became bi-lingual and bi-psychical. Hence, while much of the thematic material of the Black /o1k tradition is taken from the harsh difficulties the sl ve encounte r ed in America, A:frican. tonal scale and the employment of the blue tone, the development of a distinct body o:f folklore and a rich language to convey the lore--all represent the African's resourcefulness. Cross-cultural ¢As however, in--for example--the Spirituals which, in many cases,.. ~~, were influenced by tbe English tiym t• j Other consicteratio~ .., include t h ~ e o~ European instruments ~araka points out in 1 Black Music, that the piano was the last ·, nstrument to be td' mastered by the Black musician!f The reason ous ht to be obvious.), the Black adaptation of songs beard in t h e 11 bi g house," the continual re-styling of American fads and the employment of B.blical imagery and language in songs and sermons. Langston Hughes noted that the Blues usually dealt with the theme of the re j ected lover and personal depression. Hughes/ first volume o:f poems, in fact, was entitled The Weary Blues. ~ however, the Blues, like the §pirituals, . ' I. , .,.,~• I ,,i,.ll J., l( r 1 ,f.x, 11 ,~ �I ., I . • �Rather, as 3 ~ and Howard Thurman (The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death) note, underneath the complaint is a "plaint": things must get better or change! For as the slave said: Freedom, ob Freedom, bow I love thee! Freedom, oh Freedom, how I love thee! And before I'll be a slave I'll be buried in my e;rave And go home to my aker and be Free! �I ,1) nA.,k. ;~ ..;--F"e, 11<!&1.4 __::j( t'w:,, , ~~~~ . . '\~ht / -- �"Tryin I to get home 11 -~~For many reasons , the use o~e word 11 spi r i tual 11 Black reli gi osity is a misnomer . Current h ·"'-U-vwcn..1 new information an rch into I': us that the entire BJa ck world i s 11 responsible to a tai~IIIMQ.....~ili::Bi•c~~~~•~ , ida~ 11 . spiri tua~ 11 : i . e ., informed by and hi~er orde r"--the order of God or the "gods . 11 The e.xhuberance , the spontaneity, the ecst a s , the trances , the t~lking and flair in tongues , the racial flavor/ in dress(church and nightclub) , al~ point up the interdependence and t h e integrat ion of v arious modes and points of view in the Black community . Professor\1'ork describeS • · 11 it as r this difference and this oneness . " The contemporary Black poet l2B1 11 Hayden understands this integration when, in a poem to Ma~lcolm X, he excf laims the "blazing oneness" of Allah. Further proof is seen in the emotional abandonment of church secula r picnics , socials and othe r events of merriment . One has only to "---:::-~a~lft~e~rJn~a~t~e~~~~~ listen to Arebha Fran lin -..-. Gospel and ~ pues to see this unity of expr") ssion pe rating todayf ...nd c ertumly it is cl ear in the , work_s, of t ~ ~ ~l .e.....s~ S""'infe::::.; ~w5d,Hawkins~ g e rs. a n ~ a !' fs a more vulga :r:dzed manner i n Blip \•ilson(Rev~ Leroy) . ,\_Btill , it mmportan and break-doi-m that we offer the tra ditiona :gortrait/of Black folk expression --so as not to confuse or invade notetJ4(chapt er II) W J ~· 1·~ ~~lll'!l!I...Q that t he most ( .liant\ intimately }influent i alQnd b ~ ~ Black poets have ;understood this a s pe ct of Black cu lture. Almost 11i thout exception(and Ke rlin, Br01.-m and others 1.mrn young Bl a ck writers to follow exarnnle) Black poets since the Civil Uar have avai led themse lve s of i n te gral folk rudime1 ts--even when they did not use them in poetry. It is still a fact that Black culturefdespi~e the r a cist and technolo gi cal barrages of the ~es t) still remains mo~"o/lt;_te at ed' than other JC I I: cultura l uni t ll in America. �5hou.lJ l �.' ��I I I ' J Chapter I :(.I insert(pl2) .... Professor Work 1 s 191.5 study was remains a l and mark in the study of African and Black American songs . His work provi des many.: answers to questions and issues that h a d b e&. z * been ( and contmnue to be) muddied by the waters of insensi ti v i ty and careless research . j P'f!o:cSr)::\;?,,. W;;; l I iii"- hi efforts , "undertaken for the the love of our fathers ' songs , " gives clear connections between the African ~nd Afro - American f olk song. ::::is main concerni.' is for the reltgious songs--although his s commen~on form and style are of general value: In America we hear it(the song) and see it acted in the barn dance , on the stage , in the streets among the children; in fact , many an occasion is enlivened by this spec ies of mus i c , the interest in which is intensifi ed by the rhythmical patting of hands rhythm and feet. This / !l\DlIXU is mout strikingly and accura tely broughtlll!IB out in their work songs . ' t 1 " " he emotionalism and uongifi ed ilat intensity of ~ Black Amerio ~ ays "He worships not s o much because he ought , the as be - I c ause he loves to wor@hip." Th "worship , " of course , is the kind we reintegration of into the ferred to earlier : the~!lliii.lQ~ id::u sensu e c stasy sweeping ritual is "as natural to the American Negro as his breath" : Indeed, it is a portrayal of his soul , and is as characteristic as a re his physical features. Hear him sing in his church, hear him preach, moan, and give 1 gravery 1 in his sermon , hear the washerwoman .' .. singing over her tub, hear the laborer singing his accompaninent to his toil, hear the child babbling an extemporaneous tune_aallfitl!!IIIM!,'1!!111~ been educated and who have been influenced by long study , find it difficult to express their musical selves in any other way . �.' possesses both pure song(the Black song , as is readily observable , verse ahd chorus plan) and chant(use of interjection s and expletives) qualities : Poor man Laz 1 rus, poor as I , Don't you see? Poor man La z 1 rus , Poor as I , Don ' t y)u see? 1:·Jhen he died he found a home on high , Be had a home in dat rock , Don ' t you see? the deeper , more psych?logicalf ..._, meaning of th es e songs , Professor Work ~ a s r;rw,,t. . " there are closer relati ons betwe en the soul and musi cal expression~ than have been satisfac tmrily explained. These relations can be felt , but any accurate description s ,:;ems beyond the grasp of man ' s mind . 11 Nevertheless this important study goes on to :pim..Rirrxm:mll classify and number th es e songs of : J oy , Sorrow, Sorrow with Note of ~oy , F aith , Hope , Love , Determination , Adora tion, Patience , Courage and Humility. Pir o f esso 1 U e !Fli:J k ke most scholars of the Spirituals , ~ i n t s out that the re is no hate , :fowe v e r , resentment or vi~dfct~r;rss i n them./Dr. Thurman , theologian and f p h i l o s o p h e r ~ ~ n n i n g s of turbulencetf:~drllll!ll::llllili!R ~ M WJA~~~He--lft'Tm~:;i!!tl;M'1311 , Dr . Thl2mna ¥gr the slave. Li of anxiety and fear , the slav ~ developed a rather stoic such an atmosphere attitude in which he saw death as inescapable a.nd as , possibly, the only remaining ____ p lant a tion lords ~ Vehicle for media ion · i th t h e ~. The s1 a ve could take his 01.m life , if ~ •ranted to--as he did many times in preference to slavery or separation f r om family andi or l oved ones . Dr . Thurman ' s brilliant analysis must be r ead by any serious student of Black thought a nd culture . �. /JI J Folk Seculars 1')wt I( insert ffl l I I wdi. Al 0:. II I I \l , 1 ~0, I, 1 I f;:'oLL--}-( ~ ive~~~~ll:9a~ observed t hat t he re is a thin line betwee secul a r world,._f a ck This is true for many reasons--some of t hem stemming from the African tradition of inter-rel a ting all aspects of life. As John M' Biti (African Heligions . < and Philosoph1 ) , Gabriel Bannerman-Richter and others point out, the African takes his religion(his beliefs) with him where ever he goes. eTls st -'ild~NliilQPii{ Jahn, 11T 1 Bi .L"frican ti and others) also remind us two languages a»e inseparable. Again ,...--,. the ways of i-i.frican peoples(see Mphahlele's i hi~lwind) i Black .8.rneri ca are expressed in 11 inte grated 11 terms . True, th7r'fl._.-;.,__~ tension between and religious communities-~but so often(and most different hats on different occasions. 0 tudy, Re v. Jesse Jackson or a rlev. I k e or a ,iC,t,n We have also observed tha 'T'ba t is, ,.., a gain, th e c as e of a Lev. Ada~ Clayton Powell J ' r (~ many motis;> o :~ip re ssion are interchangeable. song{, designed for -a....church or other reli gi ous be re-cu t(modified) for a s e cular--so ground has be en the training/a91!l!M.-.1Ai~ ~1:::~=~ if you will; see Frazier's The Negro Ch urch in .americ for most in Black popular music as well as for important orators, race le a devs an~ community businessmen. I Against the fore going al part of the ri ch storehouse of Black folklore. Through songs, aphorisms(my 1 y 11 You don't believe f a t meat s greasy. 1 and "If you grandmo ther!U e to ain't gon' do n othing get off the pot ! " ), f ables(see Aesop), jokes(s e e minstrelsy and the Black comed (over) tra~tion), blues and other enduring �..• insert for seculars p~l ! Then:e are numerous examples of the this practice. During the Civil rtights era, we would sing I woke up this mornin with my mind stayed on £reedom church though we were fully aware that olk szi-. were used to singing · this way: I woke up this mornin with my min~ stayed on Jesus strongly 's(and the Impressions') songs Many of Curtis songs sung in Black churches. Even Mayfield 1 s 11 1 f there, s A Hell Below") c 8 rry the Black church societal destruction, fla.-,vor--wi th their warnings, admonishments pleas for love(s e e also Nargin Gaye's pieces like 11 ::::iave The Wild 11 ) by the femptations ·sto ri cal theme of "searching" •~ p,r, ,, . ~~~1 Up This Mornin" is a blues idea expr e ssed above in the II ...~.iii!l:l!t!l:~&0 $~premes singing religious ~ 1# j the -i.;;.o.,;;;;..i.J,,W" Spiritual: "I Woke Up this mornin . 11 Stop in the Name of Love II we .,.,.t,a.C..,, "God. wanted to replace "~ove 11 with - 11 When ~ ,,_,.,111!'~!:f',ilorl--ti~t,Orte 11 .,.:s,. ' exchangeable and interahangeable words such as 11 Lord 11 and 11 "Baby" and "God"; "Sweet thing" a nd "Sweet Jesus"; and "God" and "Han." The reasons t "Mother"; Captain 11 and "Maker" ; for such usages, as we have stated , are deepllf enmeshed in the mythes of Blacks . Hichard Wright's "Bright and Morning .:>tar(in t h e Bible · lJI I ~ ld Jesus) becomes ,.,_son of ' ! t i n the s h ort story-,,,. by tha t name . The hero of The Man Who Cried I Am says 11 thank you man 11 to God after ~~~.::s:tl::l:Ig::::!:C:::mt.- • When we he a n a tune like ----~- ("when I heard my mother say 11 John A. William~ ) War's "Slipping into Darkness" we must understand the historical si gnfficance ; ,. ~tlfli:il•► and function of social art--just a s we must underst~=··= -= · onishe saac Hayes to D r,1/ ; 11 shet 11 in "~haft•1 �u seculars II form severe"&· tribulations, folk wisdom, joys and tra gedies, and the longings and hopes of Blacks during slavery more so than· the clues to the innertradi:.tion lie structure and Spirituals, ~omrnon workings of tne ack principles of folk psychology. It is, after all, back and forward to these folk materials that researchers will have to go if they are serious about de ·neating the feelin gs, emotions and t he ~ecul because ~jii5~;;i'i;;;:;r-t Ko.:1,i~_..,pe,e of Blacks. [ workin gs of the folk mind n0t as limited as th e 8pirituals,MU.±lJa:i::::e=mm$~a......lll._rtxlm:mu Bl a cks in the United bt a tes are aware of and have heard number ~ r::tihll..-"ill•~~ have had sust a ined the j to be informed entertainers to borrow freely from what they he a r-~~ while the folks "run and tell that" once of from the people are: M.a.I~-Q.~,.p....;tl::tf!:~ Pm~;cs:rr-t>--:cit::t::n T'~~""'f't--'t"l'-+-8"11'e'I'. song-S epithets borrowed directly James Brown's ''Brand New Bag, " "Licking Stick"(s e e "honey stick" in McKay's story ,,rr ruant 11 ) , "Give It Up or 'l 'urn It II Loose,'' "'l 'he Paybac and ''It's Hell"; !Ollte'11Ilmn•~ I"'l a!1!';in Gaye's "What 1 s and Going "Let I s Get it On•IIJ~W"; Curtis May field' s "Superfly"; the on:t," Jackson Five's "Get It 'fogether or Leave It Alone"; Flip Wilson's "What you ~ee is What You Get 11 (and the Dramatics' tune by the same name); Franklin's Aretha "Hespect" and "Run and Tell That"; and Jean Knight's "Mr. Big .:>tuff 11 --to name just a few. As with the Spirituals, whites(primarily abolitionists) were among the first to collect iecula of whatever type. Wil J iam Wells Brown, the pub1im edJ first Black nov e list and playwright, collected s anti-slave ry songs. (over) �seculars j Thomas ~1 entworth Higginson, writer and aboli tionistl who led a .black regiment in the Civil ~ ar, collected song s he heard among primar:ily con - his men around campfires and during marches. Though ce~ned with reli g~ song also - described some of the properties of general Black song delivery. One ofthe most important collections of these seculars ,ras put to g ethe r by Thomas \.i . Talley(of Fisk University, as was Professor Work). Professor Talley did pioneering work in the indentiftcati on a nd classification o f • • ~ Negro Folk Rhymes. Describing ~ ' the philos phy,za, struc~u::_ ~~ in some c a ses, origin of the~~as>-.~} ~ the Fisk sch ola r ~ ~ ~ e l l over 300 examples. Other important - -..__ 411¥1.,lll -44~ examp les end discussions of th e J3;r:l~W lroducts t~ ~~> secular folk life can be found int he works Oi:~wer, Spalding,,_ Chapman'# Brown(Negro Poetry), Abrahams(Deep Down in The JungleA and Bell(The Folk J Roots of C0 ntemporary Afro-American Poetry). Bell's work in recent(irom the ':;J:4'.P I r perspective C14,;tV~(l.CJ-/ ne B · · .tg 5 P£ u J F. au iii> ...._-h.~ Also valuable9 ~xamination .-.?~A iJb@1tii:Uitr[of '.li\laet:<7:se'. 3 k' -4'.eculars are a Ii regional works(such as Abrahams') including Dru..~s and ~hadows(§liiltG-eorgia and ~outh -....Life aucLb.rolina), Goldstein 1 s(ed.) BlackJ\Culture in the nited States, Lorenzo Dow ~ ~ f ,~ '6,N)uJt . Turner's work fn~Bttuliaff"'c;;~~and othe .s.(see biblio g raphy). By far -.. :1-l -~~c~u~l~a:f.r:._i!.~~~~~ the most#..~Tmc represent a tion of olk mate ials in the written poetry lJ iS fr-; in the war~ of Sterling Brown(see~outhern rload; especially Johnson~s introduction, and h i ~ e n t s in Ne g ro Poetry). Brown takes exception to Johnson's comment thB.t dialect poetry has only two stops--''humar and pathos,t.!.!- and E I trt implies that Black poets up until ~ his time had been remiss(or lazy) in not developing broaaJ.er uses and deepenini 1.....:.:-- th e meaning of Bl a ck life through the use of folk materials. The tradition of "tall" tale-telling is, oE course, submerged in the -- ' American mythos. So the Black nar:rator found iii C · tr a flexi b le atmosphere lover J �® f secular into which he c ould introduc e his own manner of storyt e lling and his 01.m tradi ti on of son1:s . As he had done in the ~? frituals, he gained a r esourcefulnes s i n th e the s ong or r• of language , ~ruments to accomp anf 'rg '- s t o r ~ l oped an a"?ili ty to seize u p on a good or amenable c ontext in 'll'h i ch t o ~ o ry ; ~ ::.or,~;:;..;;;:~~ ~om the v a ~ themesde a s/iai ethni c p oyp ourri of America. The grew up s ~ of b y - s i de wi t h t h e Spirituals . The Spirituals e ~ a t tempt • o f the sla ve to --~,, web to g ethe r his disparate (yetfmutual) wouib.ds. Spiritu a ls represent t he slave' preserverence and ~n man! ins t an c e s) hi s h ope and f a ith in mank ind. The 0 eculars, also '--lii!jiiilli~~!i in the shado ws o f the the nm,o= Bl a c k ~ ~·,u,, _-'- · 11 bi g h ouse , ( 11 r e flect t he soci a l life of ~~ / ~ ~ th e ~ In ~ song s a n d ditties , t he Black A er i c a n c ouche d h is l o ~ t t e r n e s s e s., but voiced hi& hopes and ~ c yni ci sms through the oblique, eliptical and en coded words an d s e emi ngl y unintel li gible ph onetic symbols . Th e se Afr ican fo rms(see Rappin' a n d Stylin • Out , Kochman) h a ve continued up to the pre s ent. Few Bl a c k y oung sters a re able to side - step the ri gorous ( and s ome time s pai nful) v e rbal dexte~rn@8 dema nde d :ft: I ha playmates aftd ee@88LM.1ttab&s du ring verbal s p a r ring matches t h a t inevit a bly tak e place. Ba rts :t;c;i U I I t I ~ forms of ~ b ehavior were "- might/ in tac t duri ng slavery--wh en a slav~rzTT, b e d i s cus sing a ma ster ' s or " old l a dy 11 during a ra t he r harmle s s " rap "(rhapso dy? moma " rapport?) with his Ula r ra ti ve) fe l low fiel d worke r s . F r ede ric k D0 u g l a ss repo r ts ,,,-....._ 11 c that sla ve 1128 over- seers t h ought sla ves sa11,,g p e c a use 4a l)v r()t.4, ~ ~~~~!!!£.. We know t hat · such Ha s n ot tne c a se~a nd that~~-~~l!flt'""'!"'e!M~-"'Uilllll~ i mpli ed "stea l i n g awayi' m 5 I •iFllli a lot more than wanting to r e ach t h e arms of 'l Jesus on the c ross . -:r enry Duma s ch roni cles similar"- o ~ in h is stortes d,f-~ and p o ems. An d iv1el Jat k ins (Amist a d2) d is c u ssed a n u pdate d vers i o~ of"-tn is ( o v e r) 16 �@ seculars . folk s i nger - h e ro phonenon in his article cl'l.lll•lllllJ••-lllliilZ!llli&a-ili&a on/James Bro~ . Tho @l he is•••l•m1 discussing a secular character, Watkins ' re v ela tions are Bhan Thurman ' s : that in the a bsurd context of similar to Dr. fRl · a f.1 I"') being o'W!le d.:f by someone el~ se, it i s £Ot l i fe or death that loom so importantly . One lives, ~ . (_IrMfr9dh .(J. ru; .t!,lli·son, su gp est:A, the day - to - day absurdity i n a sort of comic - tra g ic vice . Watkins says ~ James Brown's initmal ac ceptanc e by a b l a c k audien c e is fixed,, _.._ i n this crucial f a c tor. From t h e moment he sli, des onto the ..Ii :d ;tage, £ ~ whether unconsciously o r intentionally , his gestures , his facial expres si ons and even the sequential arrangement of his mate r ials ,-...,, external affirmat i ons of a shared a c ceptanc e of the absurd ore, more ing enously, of jiv ing . The impe c ably tai lored suits , whi ch he brandi shes at the outset, become meaningless ac coutrements j as his act pro g resses and, sweating and straining, he ge ts do ~m, lit e rally down on t h e floor , to wr ing the last drop '- of emotion from a song . . Wat k ins is ~ o r r e c t about the d r ess becoming 11 meaningle s s 11 to a Black audi ence ,~ s general thesi s i s ~ on targ et . b lsewhere i mp o rtanc e o f v erb a l a ili ~ Watkins , firmly understanding ef.. .in lare . IUac k-'./ says 1 r ap 1 or 1 11 it is common to hear bla c k women dis cussing a man ' s p r o g ram 1 on t he same level as they discuss his bank a ccount . 11 .._ gen~rallz_ Black:s ------ withhold t h eir judg,nent :fon ( o r a c e eptanc~ r fa ,r speak er or enter- tainer until he exhibits , in hi s dress - gesturet- rap , that · he , - . c:......:- underst and~ t he wellspring that produc ed the "Bl a ck and unk no'W!l b a rds . (over) 11 I �e f, ' ecula l'S Heturning ,XJ&Xmll briefly, to our historical a ssessment, we can . now see how th e fol k strain in Black wr itten a rt eveloved. F rom t h ~ "Song" recorded in the 1 8_5ors by Dou g lass, Dey gib#us de liquor, And say dat's good enough for t h e ni gg er. +.a t:Rl"f~ar of ~ 6a. " d e Cunjab Man" the latter part o f t h e 190 0 1 s, De Cunjah man, de Cunjah man, O ch illen run, de Cunjah man! the deceptively ~ as ~ " s i mple" employment o:f :folk expressionJ~vailed an i mp ortant antidote for the social mala~inherited by Blacks in the Western Remi s ph e re • ..., "De Cunjah man" is, of course, equivalent to the "thing s t h at go bum~ g in t h e night 11 i1 peg-leg, 11 11 bugga h -man"(lJunba r 1 s 11 0beah man. in Irela nd--and thus h~s olk sup e rstitions an d mytholo gy. But the r e aas - ~ ties also the 11 ~ " t i t t le Bt-01.m Baby"), t h e "rag ;nantl, raw-head and bloody bones II and( in places i k e Trinida d) the 1 ~lArA'l'JV' ~ Llt,l.lll'L'~ T.1ost of these superna t u ral characters -P1,itii!'!ll. .-i,M African 11 Blues and Gos p el Jubilee(held in Cliff Top, w. Va., in August and September of 1974) wa s "Tryin 1 to Get Home. 11 How ste a dfa stly the fol k tradition runs like a vein t h rough Black history, Ip the ~eculars(and the Spirituals) r::-, • f _, o.hAt;, ' stanza ;._;;;;> we .llliiil•b repeatedly he a r somethi~~the ,-;;~of illilllM{ "Rainbow Roun Mah !:>boulde r": I 1 m go n na bre a k ri '¥lt, break ri ght pas t h at sh ooter, . I' m go i n home, Lawd, I'm go in h ome. Again the u;e 0 f the word e,,...,,. n )d( { 11 Lawd " in a " s ecula r" song further bears out ~ . the A:integration of t h e fo lk expre ssion. Illfy"-si s ters often or exca.aim "Lord" or 11 Lawd" i n e v e ryday discussions about life. (over) interject � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_24 Title A name given to the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter II. The Black & Unknown Bards Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Description An account of the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter II. The Black & Unknown Bards, with addenda note 4 on page 7, an inserted page after page 12, and an insert for seculars after page 13. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/e51234b35acd575953b4f9ae115119e2.pdf 20b92ec7e25752317e03fe04f976b2d1 PDF Text Text Wil? !id id,•:>•Jer 1 e r Ra i nbo w lr-ibjp . ,ou...'7. · .3.h ..:,hou li,6 Dc .u, v~ c l, ' r ~~mr ts 1 0 ,John . enry '.a.""1.nc r .:)on~ ~ FPL .:tsu .. ,, s t l tn? s a·r 17 I aeiatinf- • t _a s. o, r I 011 Li ., t I ll' e:::; /:I l"li t' I Ovr-rvi ei.i II ti-c e,..·~r':- ::::11 :1:1e 70 n r.Jok<iS J ...... ci n 7 e .- -' t m i T t1 ... ( .... e io r· : . .,.1hi le e s , I 1, ver·1io1.1 ::-1 ,J: I "3 o '1Q ,.:>,.,. ':!; i.: "\a ~ ;- tbP \J o\<.es -,n ~ 8 -'n Cl:!rl ,,.. c T'\3 14 \ )l. )n ,..,d .,,_, ..., / -1 ':; 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_23 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, copy of typed manuscript, partial table of contents Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/6d2870f99578e24cdd7ec92987e876c1.pdf e0f0bf5e4f52a7cda7742fc5b227f530 PDF Text Text P:ffil!l'A6E :e.. ·1 \DU .H.t this ~uncture in the ~ro-American cistory, on , wave o.£..., Bi-Centennial and in the midsh a jhird orld ve of HUI'lanism, Drumvoices comes as a partial answer to to trose who say poetry•s inpact on mankind 1 s cons ciousness has been insignificant . ih . . ~ ~ -.~~Blac!Trombones have historically blared through or soothed tqe •harsh end s • ~~ ((11.u I e 001 d.sA of realities of the Afro-AMerican Lxperience- /nd the cultural safe -~eposit boxes of as ever are as accessibie~to ~lleE!~ tCl tap~ • 1J._ -.>pir,(l.J Thes"{ spirits 1 r "roots" are what has Drumvoices ' 7 owes ~ debt to a S'1iri ts , 11 Known and unknown . " 71. As a reference mrk , Dru~voices attempts to fo l low in•~~--ll!t!~Si='• such important works as Vernon Log ins ' ~he Negro_ Author in Amori ca, Benjamin Brawley ' s ~arly 1egro Anerican •~iters ~nd The 1egro ~enius , j Sterlin lake -- Brown•s Ne 1 ro Poetry ~nd LJrama 1 J . Saund:re nectding ' ~ To I!: Poet Black he establishMent o~~ion end focus was · ~l"ed GeQYge msr · ton \ i 1 liams , Benj aMin E . Nays , b-p: imuortant dtudieP of W. E . B. DuT3ois , John Fope i•'ranklin , Lofton A Mitcl1 e ll and Dorothy Porter , to name just a few . Uf the cri~ics and }iterary historians , only Brown was concerned exrJusively with poets . Loggins I , lso include a checklist of Black poets . " '4' ID rk views~ Jjlack author-5,\until 190C;; and liedding, Brown, throughat the mid Dr umvoi ces 1930s. area of poetry--~ t,{J wi t h (/ Lucy J.'erry · S~ ~~ who wrote a poem 2?? years ar;o . 18tl-i abd Unfort unately, ~igni~icant studies of 19th century alack uoetry 7 ��' . ~ we re not availa~le to k..~o OF:liM1n• while chapters on these a r eas wer~ being written; h~vo~ , Jean Sherman's ~I~n~v~i~s~i~b~l~e~~~~P~o~e~t~s: _A_f_r_o_ _e_r_1_·c_a_n_s of the 19th Century and M.A. Richmond's Bid the Vassal Soar:Interpretive Essays on the Life and Poetry of .Phillis ·J heatley and cteorge rI_o_s_e_s_~-I_o_r_t_o_n_ provided gr e at insi gh t text. a J ~ J!~us ~specially some slight resh uffling of my ws.s Early Black American Poets, William Robinson 1 s i mportant antholo gy(with not e s)i.mi•lilHl'l-; at this writing , pvm ~ 4 f' it remains the best source . in the fioldw r holars"9 20th century fie ..--, Black poets, I . _ am indebted to Jean v a gn er 1 s Bl a ck Poets of the United From Paul Laurence Dunbar to Langston Hughes, S'rephel'l l-h~hdel"';(;,.-,l 1.1ndg 'U i' 1ligt:b e Nei+t(l¼l'-P•~) StatesjAArthur P. Davis i F'rom the Dark Tower:Afro-American Hri ters, 1900-1960, Donald Gibson's Modern Black Poets, B~l~a~c~k~P~o~e~t!r~y:_Ji~n:!_:Am~~e!r~i~c~a~~--- Thurman Blyden Hac k son 1 s and Louis Rubin's B. 0 1 Daniel 1 s Langston Hughes: Black Genius, George P. Kent's Blackness and the Adventure of Western Culture and Joy Flasch 1 s Melvin B. Tolson. A book does not just happen an d the fuel for this one has been pouring in over a number of years and from a great many sources. 9 1 students AC Ch@ f ~ srd • teecbsrs ,:n Bi zber sa:1sstj sr in Es t §t I211i a tbs serrsjrst · ~~ a i fl 602 tsa r Jtpu li:16110 t1112 &Plldif Germinating ideas came from li!ll orrfse.fsoir ces: students, fri® ds, teache r s , a nd most,import~antly, from collea gues at Southern Illinoim , \..!., university 1 s ~xpe riment in Hi gher ~du cation i n ~ast St. Loui s. The hundreds of po e ts a n d critics with wh om I h a w met and talked t h rough nights and days s tand now faceless and nameless, some ev e1b daad, but ~ ~ .~as much a part of this project as the autho ~+@~lellil!~helpful in this area were the critic.al 1(1-j C1yde Taylor, ~Orm.fr• teacher Ted Hornback .IRik LQ I ii L\'k 11.JlS~ i1s ki$ ~ 6harles Rowell. for thlt.,Gr p a tience, a ssistance and great stores of knowledg e I am indebted to librarians at California St a te Unive rsity, I R(New Yor).{ Public Li brar"M:) Sa cramento, the Schomburg Gent e r for eaearch in black Gultur~, the Moorland-Spingarn Hesearch 0 enter at Howard Univ e rsity, Oberlin Colle ge, �. . 3 and ~outhern University . Just as a book does not hap~en in the mind'-A; neither does it just hanpen on paper . Hours o f ~ and relentless work were invested by my g raduate assistant Julie compilation bibliog aphY, and textual problems . . sG · P-~ : ai ±er ~ similar matters,_:@il:J 11 tJ e · z .h.eith Jefferson and +t iu ev~ '('..> Rona ld 'fibbs . :B I il l ion ' s share of the load 1 / s:u~e1--v1.1ur- 0 fo t- fl' • i Otk p S 1 10 was assumed by Marie Collinsr J x~who type ;1 ii:!! 1'/ r ..,. otherwise committedAto the pro~ect . t- by (SUS sec..-!_I( ry jfr•fa...-?-r:~1•••••••-lll!!l!IJillill•z•J■·11111-11111•2•r•••••••s1••~Beve,!1Y Williams Finally , my editor , Marie Brown, deserves a a ilS.t II y; El I l gaA; f . izt 1@!1 l J !D r'llute for ·• □H QF7SH J I l&&&gl SM bwpsa; her I ? \en- couragement , concern , and iw■Pi!, .,.;,. continued suppo rt of the writing- research through to the end. Onward, the poets ! Eugene B. Redmond Febrµary 13 , 1975 ~acramento , California � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_22 Title A name given to the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Preface Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Description An account of the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Preface with a page 1 handwritten insert. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/17371cb4b43c1f22c3fb837607028d83.pdf aa833d528e91568db1606ff6b49519a0 PDF Text Text D V' v ,n v o It e.5 _. 1 1 from_ -~ ,; i •,) (;~ !..Y ___2..f_~ :_:: : uoubloduy, i '170. p . 1:)) . J " tiocl:urne VHrio.1 '' ( :-? l .\.n(::_;) : Al ex: n dcr , l ,r•vJ.~ ~· : (\ f' 1·0 ( : .u1) vs I came us a shadow, '110 dazz lo your ni 1:).1 t. Allen, JW1ins l·i<> fd c c ai_ ~ J l·io r·u 1_~ 1 l en ): fr~m. ,t~~n:o Po~ n~d trie:i r Poem s { Rob e 1 t .P • 1. e r 1 1 n , c d • ) , u .: hi n f ~ Lo n , lJ • C • . r I ti >J i r; h ,: 1· ~; , 1 p • •~ • 1 1 'l'o o.ic--tJut ,_.: ai.n Atkin s , t~u : ~el J: tt11 -' : ; : ; • , J,,1-r_ _ i 11d1. fr n rn Am8l."i c::rn l~t.wro l'c~et.!'.Y.( .)ontemps) , ] <)'() ~p J . "At 11 1 j n <.: 3 ) : sudden • tt its Wn r ( )~. fuf-'.i ti V , H ,~nur ... f:S • • • • - ( 11 .} ()<J) Or say upon re · ttl'll • • • in tocinyr( tn.]10) / " Block J\.rt"( ;,'1 Jines) : 1·oem:, nre bullshit unles~J they 11•·e • • • 01· l,1 J 1.J]J ( n . 11()- 11'() ) " l31nck !'corJe " (): li1ws) : ) II 1 C 1·0 y II ( 1,i ] j_ n u !3 ) : uJonc. ii i } ] ,:e \wng , �( . 11 ::>tcrlinf~ ::jtn:ct 0 epte1nber " ( j 1 in,3s) : We ore !3tr1,.nf',C: in a w·a y oo ce.use we l<now ••• :J a 4 t ortured pussa ~c of flesh . (p . 177) Black , Austin : from Pho l'r)r·nud_? in '.'-)' · 1 , ,uth , .c;x~iosi Lion 1-'ress , 1'J6h . J "A se xual r'Ji 1)tt"( :) Jines) : 1 inst1 :rt rl of 1·, ·mis~, . ( l ) . l J. ) • - - - - ---------- --· 1~ T'DIJ. 't lli11 1' I'O tn one dn-y 1 w i l J ' c ru iriblc ••• I ] . 11 Lt ii n \-: :it; \•JilJ tiu 1. ic, :1 ~:.otl.e . ( o . ·('J) ,.,pc:e;cli to the '(, ,1 111[: 11 l? l in , :: J : J,iv<: noL t'or ,'be--~n l l- 1J' - Ll1· ; - .:.,onl'., . 1j v c: in t·. 11 c 1 :. Jun ·· . tp . ?J ) 'l'hink of swc!et unci cl. oc o ·l nte ••• L'l1c m:i.1nl1 ·L!, of ••• • • g in t ,1'iO I':1 . not t h t anyLoJy ••• �:..J S:- "the cl1U.drf;n of the noor" ,F4 ( 2 lines): Por h v vln t~- nr:~t to civili:::e u space \Jh ,: re in to pln:1 y ,., ur violin Hi th gr1'.Ce. ~ "or JJe 'jitt \.DJiams on :. is 11 ay to Lincoln Gemetory"((, lines): :Swine; ]ow swine low sw e et SH · 0 t cl1ariot ••• l'l uin l>lack boy. 1 "do not be Hf'r·aid 01' no"(2 J_ines): It i:; b , uve to l.J e inv u lvetl, 'l'o be not f e:1 r.f'ul to b,~ unr·e~~o 1 vcd. i "J.nn g ston !i u h 0 s"(2 lines : : Yet lf 11 :i. ri riri:,ht of twi :, tine free ••• 'l'he Last ~ll! a tr n jn of the BE,llud of .urnmett 'rill"(:? lines): Chaos in wi ndy /'1· n ys ti :rou ;j1 o. r·ed prai:r·ie. lO 11 -Liegro Hero" (4 lines): !ndee·d, 1 1 d ra U1er be dead; 'I'han su veci by t : c drop of o bli-.ck mun I s blood. /f 11 'l 'he .i:'r() acl·1er: Huminates b ehind the :.:iermon 11 ( 2 lines): Euy him G Coco.-Colr: or· a beer, :i.s , oJ i t:i.cs, CFJll him o fool? Pooh-111)oll /2 "hiders to the o ]ood- 1 (cd 1•ia th 11 1·1y ncrcn1n ! unu , 1i t e d, (3 !Uf Hr) bert l''l'< ) :1t 11 (." lint-~~): Tron Ht tl 11: ,·1n ut11 ••• f{ 11 we 11oul Co,il"(l 1 lines): We ronl coul, he D.le ~won. (1 .'.- ; lines): unfri voJous .•• �1 Brown, ~torling: from ::.;,,uth n rn Hou.ct_, Bea con .Prer;s, ) ' 1'/l~(JlJ3?). / "Memphis P.lues '' ( .-'. lin c 8): . ,t De wid sin~ 3perrichels 'l'b rough nci r· du~' •••• (r • >) -,·.,l ) npany, l')'/2, '-.acrni lJn~ /Y 2-"0ld Lem"lJ l i nc · s): \ 'hey do11 1 t. c ome by CJll' : ~ • • • But tl1c~r come by tens. ( p. 1 , J , - 3L~) ! If; '. '' T'O l I • < J I, Ii: T· " ( r•1 J ; n c- :: ) : nuj J d in ::(rnr· :::: , it] t ~1e t.thiopian JJow ,:-; r, .•• ( !"• • Chri::,tian, l-.arcus d:: from 'l'he }•oP.try 0 1· 3 O .) - 304 ) the ,erro(H ·· H). / " J< cLJon oi_i;h voy in llc\J Orleans"(2 lin0s): But few \-1:rnld lmow--01· even c;uess this fact: • • • is blr, ck, Cli f'ton, ( 11 Lucj l le: t'rom Good l'-i ews About th e ~ r, rth, Lat l.:! 1 y 11 ( l I- 1 in e s ) : •I 1 m 25 y c~ rs old ••• u re youn . 1:r t l 1an !no. ( IJ • ;__ 11 Mary 11 i ( l1, ) 1 0 J inc s ) : SO(J a Ll't!C ( 1, , :Y :) ) "God'~ 1-~, ,ud"(l1 1ine~;) : ndnm I s wliinin tz wny :1. (r.L; ) nanctom :i ou:ie , l CJ 7 2. �L - J Gorni sh, :::iam: from People !~;!n ,; :i th tlie "indow, ::i n cco l'l1t) li sh c rs; I ,.or, 1·:.t rk ~v-e11ur:-;--sa J.TI !110 r e-,-1Tn l 'Y 1and. n. cl. "MID ) LI~ CLJ\S:: . : T r~T ,S 1.-11 ·rJI CH ' 1-' PL ·<D 'rl!r•:JH CJ (}J\l<:~'l"l' :_; "(13 :J,. In es ): / r'] 1:G 1-:ns \JAI'J' IN , ; H~ '.PU l.I Ci-l!'l1 your fin r, ,: rs ••• 'w5 th re :,tless s t ares. l'rom 1•·, :; ti. v .:i. 1s :-- nd 1"1tnF:rals, Phrase 'l' xt, 1971. Uortez, Jayne: I ".r'e sti v als And Funera l n "( tl linE:s): '!'hey win ,·:,: d bis !; niri t cc. ••• Cott er , 2.."·rho ,. Jose:ph :., ,:arnon ~Jr·• : Ueber ini.n• y(Jur mnnhood•s r-isi11 , ..:>o you h:; v,--; a w:ly to :., to.y it. (p. :'J'/) ti o1_:ro Chi1cl"(3 lines) : 1 ••• ••• be your f · 1 od, your <!rinl{, your rest, ••• Your h C)fAu : nd be:", . rt to oare. t JO: ' - j\J j ) Cott er , Joseph ::;et:mon Jr. :from Negro .l-' net.~1 ,n d rp}10ir Poems ( i,erlin ). /'"Hain !-iu :.,ic "( J linen): l'~ C)\'1 n ,-,lii ~ipcred 111urmur, ••• .. . d r•u1n :: t j cl·: s • Cullen, C0 untco : t'rom 'l'lt1 : -oo l·: o f 1, ,,1 .. r.i<~1 i n !·:e ,· ro 1·01 ,~(Jnmes \Jo]don John8on,ed.} : ln1 ·court , l 1,1·nco--::-7,:or·]d , ]C1'. ?T. ( 11 l!erit.. nc;e" r,2 J:inc s ): ''LJoff Ll , i !: 11 n 11 ·:.,:ul ,·: r:l 11 ('.• ' Come ; , 11 d n : : 1<'. o t l I c· 2,. "I!e ri t n r.: o 11 ( () ·1 i n c o ) c l•'ut 1·1or , ~ ;>n, und itoly 1.;hos t, ••• l.Jo I plo.y u double pnr to ( . ·; 'l1. ) �from On 'Phe_~c 1 .::itanci, Ho. rpt; r ; "~cottsboro, 'l'o o, :1:s • 01•L JJ 1 ·: How, 1cJJ1.7. I ts ~oni-'' '( .') J i n es ): ••• shar,, und pretty ••• succo nnd vnnzctti,t 160 ) fron; Cn.rolinr.i: 1.Jusl<.(Cullen, ed.), llarper & ltow, 19 ?. 7, 1055. '{- "Yet Do I J·1arvel 11 (? lines): ~et do I Tn.[,rvcl nt this curious thing: 'l'o malrn a poet blHck rmd bid him sinc:J ( H :~ ) Cuney, ~1arinc;: 1'r·om ·i 'he Ne,~ro Carnv nn(: ~r own, D1 tvi s , Arno l're :: :-; , 1 9 7-() . Lee, eds.), New 'Mork: / "Jlard'i1imes LHues"(J lines): Grea t-Liod-Amj. i·: n ty .•• fa r 2,_ "No C_ • Imug<:s " ( J lines): , thinl: s her brown body ••• ••• Has no g lory. And dish wate r- gives b , ~ck no i,naccs . (37S) Cunninl'.,hnm, ,Jumcs(OJ.umo): from Jump Had(liwendol d roolrn, ed), Broadside Press, 1971. / 11:::;t. Julien 1s wve: li'or Bennis Cross"(J lines): the Hind-man t r,n r· ·i.nc; o. t the brj_p,~c ••• float u p Go tl1c :_;icy •••• Davi~, f•'run L 1 I! r:,hnl 1: from Ihde 1· :: t : nd:i. n ,n; tl tr' J·: c,1 1Hacl, J'o1: t1·y ( otophen li< n, l1 ,r~1on, c d), v1j J.J1run ,·u r i-- JH, l <'i /J._____ _ / 11Jnzz Band"{ . ' ·1ines): l'lay t i "' t V l:.ld.n i_: ~l •)tt juz.z nu d 1' n )} :: I... }'}jnJ< nln n J.: pJun 1c n i;J. unlc. ( 1 11! I ) t �l,a J t(:r : f'r·om urn.in!' 0ne1!r: 1-\n ,1n tho1n1 ·y or nf1·0-:.:ia.xon J'oetrv, \'iash:i.n [~ton, D:tr.·-;- Jupi t -;i~ - > 11~.non i'I'O:'. 3, l t)63 . / "l'salm fnr ::iormy HoJ 1ins" (!1. lines): Abso 1•be <.l in the of the sound ••• W•) Hlh I am the sound . ( (: ) - ----------Deveaux, Alexis: from .:::ini_12ts in tl !e ~trects, Doubl day, 1973. pa ru r~raph exc e: r p t ( [, lin es ) : / Lord why he bout ttu, t \-JU111 ~1 n so? ,: nd them ••• word. (107) I DAnkins, Clwi·JB s: from !.c ,' r o l'oetr-v L,ncJ JJrrunn(~ter·l ng Brown), Atheneurn, 19f.'). / "lnvocation" ( ;.-> lines): F'orgi ve thine , erring Lo 1·d, pr! O r> le, Ylho lynch ut ltomo lt!l<.l love nlJroud. (S~ ) Dodson, Owen: from 'L'ho Confo '.; ::iion Stone: ;Jon r~ C Jr, s ( "l'rrn Conf<~s :ii on ,Jtonc·" ( ? lines) ; Shusl 1Yil1 , you need the r·es t ti) Let me rock him a1~nin in my trcJ11bJing arms 11 '2,..- i·.1ary 1,as~; ed. 'l'lli s l\ ornin r::: -, I 11 ( ::, v) lines) : frCJ[ll J·o wt ; rf11 J _ ! ,i )r:1r: _Lo clck r ( JJc, d ::011), "(.;ount,:o (.;u l J 1;n" (:' line:~-) : \fo J1 0:i r l•'or 4 :1 n ] ·1 111:tn!d nd ~)·,<1 rnin13 nc\J ye· r 11.L Ll 1,> ut liornlocl( i11 l'/3) lJ:i vine c,)ll! Odl_( ', l:i n u :.,)= Cunccl us, •• o\tr' r.::;J.n~~ ::,. Paul Llremen, 1971. �1Joll3on ( c .,n Lu) 5 11 Uuit1.1r 11 (/~. J i w:s): r, J\.i n i_t h · d_~, l 0 .02_. ~ • 1 t ro t:c.111 \-.1 1 <: r· e l ( ~-; J "Jonathnn 1 s ~onc"t3 lines): ~ Jew is not a race ••• I am u pu.rt of this. (89) 7 11 Lament 11 ( 10 lines): ~lake up, o, boy, ;,ind tc11 J11 e how you died ••• wo.ke up, \! ~0 kc I U-\) i 11 Upen Letter''( ') J.in c:,): ••• to. Le our bl ~• c1·: l iun , s in · y () ur-s. (103) l'ocm~ f o r t·~ y Br·0 !;! / r· Ke nn 0 th (? lines): ( ';'h r· re h llS no re ply: You g i, ve rne n srn:i. lc :·nd ro turned to the era ve. (65) DuBois, \HJ]ia:n •JdHard ,\u1· r.:L urdt: (Johnson), 1 1) ~ ' ) . f "A Litany of 1~tl unta 11 ( ,') fr om '• 'he Pook of ,::, , r:i.cnn llcfTo l'oetry ------c---------- 1 lines): Surely ·1' hou too nrt not Hlli te, f O Lord, a pale bloodl ,: ss tLinc? ( '} 3 ) . ;2 from Uark 1-mt, :r: '•'l k ·1.\; (\ntieth Cr, ntur'.r C0 ,nnl r: tio1 in 1~ t ui~7Y.c·.-:--;;:-· -j~:n1< ins ,..,o-:, l ') ~-;11 J lintc (! Lh c 1:i , ••• from _Q~C:}·: ~ ?_i~_'.__:1_( .1~broJ1 : ,.in Cii ~qmmn, ed.), i ! cH :} 11 rt :[yrnn 01' Hate"( /! lines): Song of th c Smo l:c 11 ( 1\ :. 'l'ic :t11 J/ brary, 6 J.ines): ~ouls unto 111c nre us lllL.,;1..s in Ll1c n:i. c-,ht, Hail to tlio blnck I (::, : o) y ] 96U. �Dumas, llonry: from U_~ ___'.,\Jony .Play Tvo_E1.(~ur; ,·:ne H,; clm,:.nd,od), J CJ?) ~• ( 11 I lnugh 'r n1\.: Jol:e 11 ( 1f> lino s): co.u ::ie ] d on't r>:la y ( SO) 2,, 11 from Jackhwmnc r 11 (? lines): 'l'he .i ack j :.ick bnc '. dng bn clc 1ind s tnckin i~ stone louder l '> l1<kr l ,'. -1 0 ) f "Plt•-y ~bony J]:Yy lvor·y"('( 1htes): f o r th c s o n 1_r; 1 e :-: :J , 1, h l! o c :t d • • • ( 3) ~ " lii t c~ " ( 12 l j_n C! :i ) : Vodu r;r, : en cl incl d 111: h j s Hrist, ••• I u 1r1 n o t c J. ,: 11.n · l :; - (, J ~"Hoot Song"( ~ lines): Once when I was tr r1e 1',lesh co.me and worsh :i pped at my roots. (19) 7 110 aba 11 ( 7 lines): sx watorl n gs • • • of fln ge] 111 fl uclcsin g 1·i \., e (lJU-131) i,'hen I nwo l :c, ••• • • • r;utl rt . (j L ) of Y ' ) lll' li1 : : Ho.nctom House, �/() I 11.nd U !c ~nm Jnu)1c d 1·1i 1',I , jn tl11 , inl':initn si ·y , And tltc J i :_•) 1ts .1ur·e f'or·:~ot jn t.h o sweet , 1 snne f' r1 lm. ( 11: '1) Durem, Hay: from 'l'n!,e l: o l'r:i soncrs, p; !ul Bremen, 1171 . "Broadminded 11 / 01. lines): Some of my be:1t fri, _, ncls ar·c ,.m j tc bo y s • •• • ( 11) Evi -ns, Mnri: / 1 1 ~tho V fro 1n I Am!, ·n: cl: '., oman , l;i11ian l·!oJ•roH, 1970. tlan be .11orn BJ1 ck"(J.i l~ne s): Who ••• and not exult ! ( ') 3) ~ 11 1'he Hebel" t ? lines): Curiosi ty/seol cc rs (7( , ) Pelton, J "An n.: fr-0111 C0 _!1c] usio ns, !-,onarch .c.le •_~ y to i~t ,: rni ty 11 ( -' lines): 'l'enr -du c ts sHf'\ ll, burs tine; in a df~7 i :)it ] of flood 1,nd fur-y. 11Anrclvnrl< 11 ( 3 1inc s ) ! ••• tJ ,ou )1L t i bou t b,.; 1'01·0. ('( ·, ) ✓ �Fowler, 0h<:rmnn: from ::;i <le~ of the J ii v c rt ..:.Uf!,One 1kdmond , eel . ) , Black Hjvor \/r-itc1•sf::iel: Hccluiond 1 ~; o.rldress), 1 (,l). . l<1. ng J "1'h 1n 11 . ( , ' 1 1. n es ) : onl:t tne mind can lleur· ( 1 I, ) Giovanni, Ni. 1.l-:i : fro m J· lt,cl -: 1' c cJ.inc; , :.' l :, cl< 'l'alkJ S l n ck .Tud , :rncn t, William · ------·- --. ---------- - ----- - ·•'··- -l ''. 0 rroi·; l 9'/0 . J "C nn o , rninc: ,~mo Hc~pon:-· i bJ e lf egro With 'i1 0 0 Muc h to 1: ~:-: p J. j 'o wcr" ( j t :i.11 c ltcc 1: "Of' l.iu ,; y,1,1,jon "\l '• Jino:-1.): ( ••• your own b l : ck :.cortn., "} 11 l Hik ld -Hosa"t ~ lines): J y our l> .io r ropner~: never underst and ••• cone e rns yo u ••• l( lines): " 'l'he 'l' rue Import of t ho r'r .o~;c nt Dialoc,ue, Black f; Ne ro 11 (12 lines): from 1.l_l_?_u:-:~(u j n•n , ,111i), JC i'/2 . f:; 11 iifric n I"(r) J :i.ncs) : on t11,) b.i. te o f [1 1-:olo. nut I of th0 ~:1tn s tongue •••• - -- - - - -Gov an , o~n1,1ld : 1'1·,,r:1 l'- u)•ri:in ·· :Jn, :1 r: "n " ntr\olof_)' of i',fro -Saxu n 1·0_0.t~, Jupilnr j, :-~on 11·1: :·~\ (l).C.), J. •~l~J. / "i'hc Lyne in ['. 11 (.5 Jines) : 11 0 ••• , 1:13 :-10nked in oil : nd the rn:,tclL {'j ,,; J•y inl lUIIILUl dw1c e . (1 .'J ) Ll11•,J\!l1 . // �!\.:~-~-'.::.ri ~ :,n Grim Ju(, AnL~C: 1 i n a: J'r-um \-Jun e; , 19 1 .3. 11 / He f T r>()~ () t ~ ( 11.rnn )) ( )!"\ ti"!l'l! ,;, 'ed. ) , I !i 11 'f.he Bl u ck Fine; c r"(;~ lines): \"hy, b e uu i: iful still finc:cr, are you blacl<? , And why are y o u p ~)intinG u p ward s ? (17) Har pe-::' , Mich ae1s::rrom De o. r John, LJ flnr Co ltrnn e , Univ e rsity of ,eittsburgh ..Press, 19 70. / "D e ar John, u e a r Coltr·an e 11 (11 line s): ~·ihy y o n so Ll n ck? a love su o rc:nw , n lov e s u o r <.:rnc : ••• (7"5) - ~ - - - - - ~ ~ - - -- - - > --- -- - - Haydon, / Hobert: from •;1 l1 t~ :1e ' r·o Ga rn.v i,n( ·, rown, v a "Gabri el" ( ? line s ) : Prom for go tten fr, r n v c s , ••• IJr; v c r-, n e v 1.r r e~: t. r f. () ~0 0 ) from Sel ~~_t n d l 'o e m~ , Oct ,)hc r 2,.. 11 i ,ous e, F d)6. Hunv. 1~ate Htmn !· ~: te"(5 line :; ): nuns f [, ! l:"; r :i ses ... ( o n e lin e ) l\nd bof,H·C I 1 11 b e a s] n ve lJead 1'0·I 1.: n co nt ••• from \;orrlc. j 11 U 1e__!.'. 0 H r·ni 11 rr L:irr1e , cJ c t n b e r !: ou s c, 1 Y70. )"El-l!o.jj !·l n1i l: J~l ~ll D. bnz z''( 6 lin r: s): o f Lli d r Uf> no r· c :J:i 1· v:in c :·l 1n<.lo. (::,,.l - )1) sc rv j turl ,~ . u ,n Lee ), Arno Press, 1 97 0. �11 / Gu I ling thn Uoctor" ( /~ lin1.: s ): BJ u c -rn:.t::s, lnud-nwn, J.J v 1.:r 1i]Js , a.n• half-u bottle X. Y.. 7 z. (1 J6 ) L " Hiss 1•1 erlerlce 11 (3 lines): Sof • brown cheek nn I sr1:i lin I face ••• sil '. :y nrrn so t;lur·1p a.n 1 br! r-e . ( 131~-l ;,S) ---------- -: 1 { . -- ollowny,Lucy A1·iel ,1iLtin111::i: from 'l'lic !~ool< of Hl'Wri~::.n 1'f' f°I'') l'oetry lJohnson) , 19.Ssi . 11 llo r·thb oun 1 " ( r 1.i.ne s):. _ H , it I s one }onl~ ::tri r ••• '-- I 1 m upwnrd boun'. t 2Gl:i - :) l• ·,. ) , llur-r,hes, Lanc~>ton: from ':'1:c ·ook of Am,·-rjcan hce:r o 1'oetry~Jolm:;on), / "Jazz oni a " ( 6 1 in P- s ) : Oh, silv"r tr e e! Oh, mlv•·r river~: of r.l.0 "oull t :)}. 6) from ::,electect .1:'or:ms of L::m1~:, ton r~urhcs, 2, 1111 arl em" ( ? l:i.ne s ): ',J eJ.J non [ 1 1] tr ; J.] :;ou Life t'or me :dn 1 t b, ·, n no cryst :.1 ~,tn:ir . ( J . ·r l or li:i VO J 'S" ( l , l .LDl:[:) : X 1 vo J.:nown river:~: ••• !·I,',' !, , >ll} 11· • :; l_r,ro\!n Ui;<; l) 1il·: c t.i10 1·iver~, . () l· ) �Ilur110s ( con Lei ) You did :.. .lri c ht j n Y•J t1r dn y , 1 re c l-: on -- ••• 1-!o.r x C,.J11u,nmi st Leni n l 'e &. s :, n t 0tuJ. in , '-''ork er, ME - - Je ffern , Llll1ce : fr ·om My l.1Jn c l: n e sn fs t h o Fe m1ty of This f. nn.9.1__ '-' ro n dside Prens , 1 1 / 11 / /() . !:H ack '.~ouJ. of th o Lnnd 11 (7 l 5 nos) : a so c P1 · t :.:r , :1 n i) • • • ••• c r::1:.~(: to l) c it. :: 11. • • • ~FHtn d r-; d : J nd ( !:·: o . ( • I ) ) \•Ji [J ( ; , • • • ( (: ) ,Joun[; , J :J.' ed : fr r,;,1 i l r: \I 1~c 1' ro 1·,),.,t·. [l : U . S . A . (L u n [: :~t o n ·: u -;hc ::,, 1 of ln cl1 un 11 1-r ss , "). C)f,1+• - 1 '1 'he . JIJ 11 ('/ 1 h u, r ed. ), i L c orn in ;:_ · f :.:.:tc: 1· 1.l u n :rn t.md Lh o • JU 1, I _' m l :, . r ) 1/: - l:! 1) ' t/ 1. J.jnc s , no tit Jc John s on , li' o n t o n : 'l' irc d 11 (J lin e[; ) ; f' 1·01n '',l 1'- cl: :i v e n) '✓ n i. c c s ( G) 11q>ir,1 m) , 1 9 (){) . 11 'l'ltrow t. I 1, : ol1 .i1 dre n i n t o Lh u r .i ver : • • • y ,Jt, a re co J o r, ,d . (J 7U) John.s o n , (fco rr~:i111J<) U/ ;lus : frorn Gur•ol in :1 lJu: ;\.: \Cul.lon) , 1 ~ 1'he .IJrernns of tl1 0 Ur·onm c r" ( J 1 inu s) : Aro ton (: S tl1nt ror 1::1 t ••• 'Pj 11 i t c, : :?:; er.; to l.) .-, :, i..: . lI 1) v \. j 1' 01: rns 11 Uni v er·s i ty ·1in 1:f.i): • • • He :i J o J J ] 'i5S . (1. u rJin ), 1935 . ) �John:;on, llolene: from ~_cl_!_'.1,l_)nr. '{u:,H(~11 1 1011), )') 1;~, . 111 / ·ia r~n1µ 11 (3 IS lines): ~Jou 1 d yo 1 t n c 11 Ll 1 o cu 1 o r s o f yo 11 r ~-\ u n !"l , t ••• • • • let you danco? J·ohrtson, J n rne s Weldon: frO!'l Fifty Years n..nd 0thc1· J'oems, Boston: Corn.hill, ]_<)l'(. J "J.:y Lndy' s Lips Am Like de Loney •L ( ~~ 1 ines) : 1''elt lier l~indcr- squeeze mah b an•, 1 2- 11 0 il uff' to rn nk e me unocr~3tan 1 • Black nnd unlmo\•m i;nrds 11 \!;. lino s): O l>Juck :, nd un l~ n o wn bnrds of lon ;:r, ~1go, ••• O blue:-: :ilavr; sin1~ · rs, ;~one, f'or ,,:ot, unfarne d, .•• 'hc Vj_k j_ng Pross 1 3 "Tllo , Crention"( !~ line~): Li\-: e :, rntt1runy bcndi11 [~ over LAr b:_::_by, .f "' 'l'iJJ. He; ::!10.pe d l l i11 : 1 is own im::;_~ e, ••• 1't,o J·mcti r,"1 ~on" (3 l i nr, s): You.nv. man - - - - - - - ---Jolinston, ] .l:'c1·cy: f1 ·o w ·'. ur·rdn,: :,;1 )e ur(:..~c.:c- llstin 11I•'itchc:tt•s , :·, ::,, 111 ,• nt }lies, upue '.;:> 11 ( '~ r,L o \·c). Jjnon):, l want Ooltl'nnc or ~,;nny u11 Jurdan, J II l In C 1 e Jun(:: fr0in ! I u ·1 1 - l, 0 y II ( ,'_) Sorries 1j ne 1~\!ll l" 1 ~•:S(,lur,1: .n), :3 ) : ... ] 11 dic1t J\r-t;: · <1 r•'uc1{ :,ou :!Jl that ,Ja:.:~~ 11 (~ lino:,): :, 111: y ,i ur· ••• 1:: .1 · . ]Juttor:, ) I �lb 1. 'l'he r~tdio is tu;chin ;_- my ~oldfish Jujitsu • • 1 • • • too much wei ,_;ht • 6Jl ------- - - - - - Knic~t, btheridge: from ~cJJv Son r , 1. llroadside ' ' r ) 1 "l he ,5ones 01' My Fath,· r"(? lines): from the hott um of the ·1'nJ lah ;•tchie. · from Poems · from r'ri son , :J, 11 Lir·onds:i. de .t·re ~.: s , l A8. 9"(3 1Ln,: s.): i loj Jrn 1 No square roet s job Lane, Pin1'.ie 0or·dop : fr o m lvind Thou -,hts, So uth ;md 1,,est , Arlrnn: :as, 1972. j. "griefs Inc.l .b'ort ~mith, of joy" ( 11 line s) : Mo nothing remnins th 8 same •••• interlocked like death. Loftin, i:;1ouise: 1 . ."Getting from .Tu1nbish, l'.;merson '.i all Publish 21· s,Inc., 1')72. Caur·ht"(lj lines): .) if they cntch you ••• F) thins ok . , , "Ho.in .:ipri",o.d"( ') Jines): open to 111e •••• Loftin, j 11 1 :Jaylle: . from :Ji de:1 n 1' tlie J~j vc· r, ' ),ln cl: ll e~1]:l.ty "(.I:. ]:inc~~): out o .t · L: , ,1 co t, t, <>n f .i. , 7 , t :, ••• J �/7 I,orde, Audre: fr•orn !i ixes_ :,nci Jnvon s , l n ndo n: l'nu1 •' r c rnen, ) ·f.1hc Ji 1·j1t th: · t ma1:·c :'. u s fertile s h u] l mi. 1( c us s tn-l.e. from F'rom a La nd vJh, -i•e u th r J 1<)(,;: . l, eo ple Li_~ , ~ 11 u1 11 ck i·:oth ~r \·Jo mo.n"U Jjnc ::): I l our·n c d f'rorn yo u ••• rh r·ou )1 yo ur cil:.: ni 1, 1 :-~ . from '1 1he J "11; t c s 1' 0 c tr-y o f 1,1:': c l: h ·1< li H Pp o r ..: How, r :i. c n (Arn o ld 197 3 • of Pa s~::.1r: e "( J lines ): l-lUi ck ••• ------ McEay, C1nuclo : fr· om .Jc l e c ted l'ne ms of Cl oud!.e 1 " Bap t i s m11( 2 i ~u rc urt, Br a ce oc horld, 195 l i ne s ): I wi -1 J c om0 6u t , to b a c l{ ~,' OUI' world of te a rs, A stron rcr soul '.-iitl iin a finer fr nme. Li k e rrwn 1-,1e' 11 L ,cc the rnur· ae rd>us, cowu rdly pe ck, l''ress e cl to t i1 e wall, dyini::, but fi ,~.hting b l-i. CJ{! J "'l'h e Lyn chin e: " ( ;' lines) : And littJ c l n o s , Danc e d 1· 0 Madhubuti, l! n l-::i l y nch1 °rs th t. t we r e t ·o b e , tmd t he dr,· d ful thin g in fiendi sh {l.Jon L. Lee ): t (. r oc-m s, , 1 1 my 1 i :•,ht • • • o ut n r- • .2,."D,m• t C1·y :_j c fr·o rn Uir l:. ct ion sco 1· e : ;j elc te d :; n d Ne w 1 9'('.f~- - ,r-0 :i d ~; j_ d u 1,1-cs s, ] "·L'h e ::> cl 1'- 1 !n.tr· o d o f !J,_,n L. 1·e: , 111 11 (J l i n es ): glee. eo 11 (3 l :i. n o.:3 ): �/!J' Madh11l>uLl (contd) fr o m '.!'._!"1_:i.nJc Bl ~ , >." Lro :: d ~: i c1r • J.r os !.i, Fi r· n t Imp .,. . c ~ ~i ·i o n 3 o f a l o c L; • s LJ 1 e A.th 11 • (·(. 11 •( !1 J i n e R ) : s eluom ••• overexp os1i r-c. 'f'•:arr;c t son, li c· o t ·,ce Ho ;!,inald: f rom 'l'h e r:.00 lc of Am,'"' r _ c a n J~ e;".rO l·o c tr l Johnson), 195 ~(• L'. 11ushin [~to n to l 0n d th e1n, .:iome lo o k to ) •• I ,r a ce &. World, I I .1. T, t oo , o nce truste; d 3i r I I I that p l un ;_:e d me do H-n . Yes, II , Ojenhc (Alvin .,) axon): .J. 1967. 1 11 ·1~ at ts 11 ( 2 1 inc I fr o1n ·t'i1c !'o e t ry__o r .n a clc .1-1. !!:c r·1 c n ( Ad o ff), J SJ 73. } 3 ) : assrtssi n:, U .n L: tin pe o ple nnu 1Jho l e ••• some too- t ruo truth •••• Parker, Put:----rrom C: ii l , · of 1.1 ·vs c Jf', \io111 c n 1 s l)ak l o.n d ~J if., 9)~{~113"; l l) '{ :-> . J, 11 brother 11 ( 2 1inc :,): is cn1led Cl l'i :; t • Hondall, lJudJ c y: J )- fro rn 1-l.: •cl< Vo :ict··n(C h 1-q rn1an), 11 Bo ok er 11 Iwo J1ma 11 ( 2 lin1::.;): Lil<<' o .i 1 of ~ ux n s o l lective, ~25 1 Uro a dw a y, I I �Rivers, Conr•:1cl i,c nt: 1 <)7 2 . / from ·J'l1,~ LI Vo:i.ce of llarJ1 ·m, Loncl0111 Paul Bremen, "In vcfense of Blacl( l'oets"t2 lines): a black po<:t mu: ·. t :) ;_;,tj 11 rcmc1· 1b(.;r the horror • ••• to read you . 1 i'he ~till V0 ice oi' 11arlem 11 t3 lines): I run the hope ••• of your u · 1bo rn . l·lust I :;hoot ••• from 'l'liA 1•r:i , ·:1 t 't 11 '1'o tiich :-: rd 11 Jocr'ls , J,,1nclon : l'nul !3r·c men , 1 17-;i . r :L ·J1t"(J l:inc s) ! 'i'o be bo 1 ·11 blc ck ••• .. . the p·:.m d Cl.CW n t ur-c . Snncllex, :Sonia : frorn .'o meC ,)!_nin r~ , j 11 br·o r, d s ide r ess , 1 ,_; 69 . 11 Halcolm (9 l:i.nes) : Yet thi::i men ••• • • • gun-filled ni 1!)1 ts • from 'l'he }'oetry of black Arn0.rica~Adoff J, 2 1973. "definition for blk/childr0n 1.1 ·.111. lines): a policoinan ••• oinkJ Scott, Johmnc: ·I•11 c l' 11 rt:; fro m "or] d 11 i I r> \I , J n u k ? ~ ) ~ • 11 \ Jatt:::i , /{Yo i l j _11, :, ) : : , 7 ti i. c: l 1: , :.: n : . t 011 .J c s u :·; t .p ! l•)(· (;"( ;'' 1:in,, :.) : 'J'l1e m:·n n: ,m<-:1 i 1", ,n1· hn. :· :inll,··ri toct lw.lf nn 11c1·0, �Simnon::i, Judy JJ0L11n1·d : f1·o ir1 ,l u clitli'·· ._t. 11 ·1w·: :-, , Broad : ide: n·es '., , l':T3 • :3chizophrenio.."(? lines ·): it . won't como b: ; cl-: in sidu of me. Smith, Helton: from nm e trL1t:i on , JournL.J of ;.:ilac · l-'oet1,y Pr ess tl 9 71J, 9 2 2B Jlaif:',ht .Jtr· c ct , oLmf ranci c-co , CnJ.if J. 11 Mal r.olm 11 ( ? lines): in my hcurt tf <· Jc arc many 1 unm r1rl:1'd ,:rn v cs . from F~urn in :' S 1lc:~ r ( s ce l i :~ t inr; 1t11ove) , Stone, LeH 0 y: J., "1'':tamenco S1rntchcs"(li. linds) : Dissonant nos~nlcia of one kiss ••• Cormnent I Thomas, Joyce Carctl: from Crystal i.:. rcezes , Fires r;n r, -, c, T',-CC 1 1 oy, C 8. 1-1· f' • n! ·;.1. 70 1 • 1., 11 P.O. Gox )~02, 1 1<.now a Lady "l5 lines): I know a J.u dy ••• F'ine thr·cnd of 8tcel •••• 'l'olson, Me] vin E.: fr,)m J. ,~ndczvnus with J,,"Hen cte zvou s \-dth Amcrica "( c) lin es ): 'l'irnc unii:i n r_~ed the 1,,n.tcs ••• I-" Uar~t America! Symphony Before 3 11 1\.1 1 II l 1~ lines): l'n tr-:ic l, :.,' nry·s ••• 1!l1 i t (i ~x -,Jud 1__i;u n t u 1· 11 (I: l i nu t c 3 ): d Unt; J'u1· 1,11,: 11 c 1·0 ••• ont) for you ) �~ "id 1,h n" ti~ 1 j n c : :; ) : I tr n •JC•] fr o m l: H:,J :; ••• • • • t\/i]J e d is nlain. t' 11 L:. eta"()l l:in 0 s) : on f: ne · ds the c l o. ri ty ••• swoJlen with ry e . b" l!:tH"(J.3 line s }: Across nn alp of •·t:it terlin ('s , . .• nn lbc o riot or ~n lucn . 1''G r.. •· •o " (9 lj1 ws ): Cn t a c o ir111s of Lio s i o . 8 " Lnmbda 11 ( ;:' l :i n e::, ) : , if olcl ;.) a tchrno h :· d n e·.1 r b e en bo rn . 1" XI"( f}. line s): 'l'he n:i. ,•)1t Jolin i lun r y i:.:i b o rn an nx ••• ••• n p]a t te r of r, orlc :: nd b e: unsl /) "Zctn" (3 lin e;:, ) : the s i um,: s e twin of f u nw . fro m Li.or ct. t " _ t', )1' t h e_ { ( " Do 11 (L1 1 in e s ) : {2. 11 11 c r ,11hJ.j C or L \ \., r :i n , l'wuyn c , 'i' o u P r e ••• Do " ( L1 J in e s ) : A. t o o t h l' Ullor u p n tnnlt y sici s t in n ••• • • • on u ,mlk J 1,rSJ . �/ 'l "'ri 11 (5 lin e ;. ): Quai d, Urs uy ••• Ag ain h1 Pc 1c Ao th i op r .cu c he s at the s un, 0 Gr e ek. 'ro o rfl e r, J ean: f r om BJ :· c l{ hri t t~r s of 1\'.!1e r i c a ( Bark sd al e nnd 1\ inn nmon), 1 <)'( ;> .. 11 / P. 1uc j,1e ridi nn 11 ( ? l i re ~; ): .fo I r e ::l 1 n i :· ,;;. :r- s n o w - - : '. e t 1 2 ••• y , ur ch o ic e . fr o m Gane, Bo ni tc Live 1·LJ 1t, Pour o p ou r rn e ? J.nc., t h :, t •'P r-t i n i~ s -n 1l :i n so n g , 'rr n ylor, Mar i.: f r om BJ ,·: k 1 ot ! ts 1•,rj t-,~ u n: An An l_:2_.l_!?_:.::.Y.__C?.f__:_~ Ju c_!,':.,_thil acl.e J nh i a n Pu 1·,'l' ::; , !1.l ucl-: 1 ' i~; t ory Jv:us oum "C omsri i ttc , l' .0. P.ox 1'50.://, Phi l ade l phia, J' e n n . ,, 1 1) '(0. { "C o ol Bl u c k :,! i ; .h t :'l 11 l \l 1 in ·s ): '..;td TI'•) U [JC ' / 11 1·J l d J IC y: t e \, e c: b: r H l 11 ( 1 3 1 J n c s ) : 'l'he s to c k rna rl<c t we nt u p lU po ints •••• Vesey, ("'ro 1 I 'aul(S nrnu e l Al__}en)·. fr·om ~oon i'•lf re J A. h rw p f, l<)() J. , I O ' ! 1l I l ll V 11 1·' . l ) r•n1.·nrr( Jl i'Jl ed) e, Jie . r l ) t•rt , . • 1 Sut ch"( ' l ines ): wii.T1·:~ r, ;\] i-t:c _:_l; l ',)lil / l.,, n 1 iO'✓ u ·1uti r.n1 1 , r •y i C'l I , J ·11C • , J ,·t:1 1 l 1 1"'7':, • ilo ,:e''(3 1 1111: ::) : 1 'l l1 e :: :i :1 c: n c e b, : t 1 8. :'l .",: dt ,,. -· G 1-1. w1 _yu u r wo n i rJ ••• I' I �'l' iJl lie ki lled th:_, t \Ji d d :i t b l t~d c h e c op a n d t u1•ncd out bn ••• H 1,r-e un n e r ncnf his shir t •••• "Por My .Pe o r., le 11 (1 J lin1,;s ): For my peop l e e v ·r yw11e r e ••• 3 " i 'oppu ... now rise illld t al< c c,. int rol . Chi c lu m ''( ? l ines) : Bo ugh t hi s pardo n n yr : 11 r ; . • • j n ':'h e 1:~HJ. ~i c 1:·i nd l,aw u y I Lawd l 1 r ~ Stru vr:. lc b e tw (:; en Lli c rnornin ;:, :,nd the ni . t; 'l'h :i r; m1i rk~1 ou r .y< ~: rs ; "We !la v e b n en ]-nl ;i c v r; r e" ( J • • • bc] i nv in r t his s e t t1es , t o o , our- p li 1)1t . 1 lines ): in our burdens ••• • • • with a st 1·till f: e -Lnsi :; tency . Wa shington , J- 11 lwr: e ne t h a : from Sides o f the Hi. ver (F d.mond ), hn t l1n c e 11 ( ? l ine s ): Sc ur r y int f' r .) 1n sun ito sun •.. I pro t.:st bu t I "A Pray , r of t l ?e st i l l Ha c e I run. 1'! 1:, L <iod Had e n,lncl< " ( , God s av e u ~i in 'l'hy Henv e n , f .., vfl ii te , Jo~~c ·1} i : 11 1:: n :; iu J 1 ] :1 <..: I: 1 f 1, o rn 11 ( '.; ~ wl · P r- e 111 ·n in , . ;:; r, ,_yr-l :1, •,: l :i1l!::1) : :,11 7 j_ :~U . lin t:! s J: :: wo lJ I { l ')6<J. �I nm b l :, c h :! n d 1 111 , ve ~-\c.: Cn b l1 -c 1: n a n ds , ••• I • •• do ubt :trt d hu! .i t.utj on <.nd irresJ 1ut5 o n • fr o.n 1\1'.1 e ri c :.1n l'ic, 2 11 ;-,; \. i J ,,n t11c ' Y' r.J 1,u,-, Lr·-; , .•; iJ ·l l : :.ncl i .(; 11 (l . .. Ci n : :· , 11• .' ll". ,,_,. • . ) ' � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_21 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Poetry Acknowledgments, with edits, p. 1-24 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Description An account of the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Poetry Acknowledgements, typed manuscript with edits, p. 1-24 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/6bc3d0603d251a9e3cbd18941283f0ba.pdf 9d69e1a35fad5c5ccb1d33163cefe27d PDF Text Text 'I A'E'KNOWLEDGMENTS { ? Many thanks are due the following poets, editors, publishers and survivors of poets for use of cited material . All efforts have been made to secure the proper permission for each selection. However, if some of the selections are not properly acknowledged, please contact Doubleday & Company, Inc., in order to clarify the situation. 1 -1 tw ~ · ~ines from "Nocturne Var1a? / a : ~ of the Negro, copyright @ 1949, 1970 by Anna L. Thompson. Company, Inc. Pub 1i shed by Doub 1eday & Reprinted by permission of Mrs. Anna L. Thompson. Margaret Walker Alexander for lines from "Bad-Man Stagolee, 11 "For My People, 11 "Pappa Chicken," "The Struggle Staggers Us, 11 and 11 We Have been Believers" from For My People, copyright © 1942 by Margaret Walker and Yale University Press. Reprinted by permission of Margaret Walker Alexander. ~ , ~ f~.x,..c,• ~ ~or 1ines from "The Psa 1ms of Up 1i f j e1 3,MJ ~) /(rom Negro Poets and Their Copyright (Q 1923, 1935 by 11,e Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin. • Samuel Allen (Paul V·esey) for lines from "To Satch, . 11 _)cJ-~~=~f ~ . 11 copyright @ l962 by Reprinted by permission of Samuel Allen (Paul Vesey). 1 W~t �I' ' I 11 Russell Atkins for lines from At War 11 which first appeared in American Weave, copyright © 1962 by Russell Atkins, and "Irritable Song" which first appeared in Naked Ear, copyright © 1958 by Russell Atkins. Reprinted by permission of the author. from "Black Art, 11 "Black People," Imamu Amiri "Sterling Street September" from Black Magic: © 1969 by LeRoi Jones. 11 leroy, 11 and Poetry 1961-1967, copyright Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. >IAn. /1: t!n. f,4;,,J)~ (Y,a,Ji4 t - r ~or li:_ ASEXUAL FLIGHT" from The Tornado in My Mouth: Black, copyright © 1966 by Austin Black. Exposition Press, Inc., Hicksville, P#-~ © 1963 ' ~ f\ Poems by Austin Reprinted by permission of NX~11801. lines fro~ "Golgotha Is a Mountain" from Personals, copyright by Arna Bontemps. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates . ~ (4w?~ /J;rv.c, ~ wendolyn Brook~ / or lines f~om "The Anniad," "The Ballad of Rudolph Reed," I) ·':, OV\ ~\\ ~ -' 11 B:!_verly Hills, Chicago," "the children of the poor,i 1 11 0f De W1tt Williamsl\ '0-N>t·be,o.~~ G no, 11 "The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till, 11 Rumi nations Behind the Sermon, 11 and a 11 of 11 Negro Hero, 11 "The Preacher: 11 We Real Cool, 11 from The World of Gwendolyn Brooks, copyright © 1971 by Gwendolyn Brooks 11 ) ;~~s~ Hughes," "Riders to the Blood-Red Wrath" and 0f Robert Frost, 11 from Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks, copyright © 1963 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Reprinted by permission of Harper 2 & Row, ~ 1 ~14 . �J:.Jijg ?~ ~ ~}jA ~~i9ti!.t:!~;aa~ .· for 1ines from 1~ ( Speech to the Young 11 Pictures, copyright @ l970 by Gwendolyn Brooks Blakley. from Family Reprinted by permission of Broadside Press. Sterling Brown for lines from "Memphis Blues" from Southern Road, Beacon Press b~9eri.Ji')~ copyright @ 197~, and "Old Lem, 11 copyright@ 1975 by Sterling Brown. by permission of Sterling Brown. ctt~ i ~---Y re.p;.1af Used -e ~:-;rom Negro Mothef1;r~ P ::::1heir "A Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin, copyright a) 1923, 1935 by The Associated Publishers, Jnc. Reprinted by permission of The Associated e.~-/ Publishers, Inc. \ ) ~ ~ ~ ~ ; ines fro "McDonogh Day in New Orlean:)'"t1i~fr'f1o-..im- T _h_e_ _ _ _ __ Poetry of the Negro, copyright© 1949 by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps. Copyright@ 1970 by Arna Bontemps. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Company, Inc. ((t,,~c~:.~ for 1ines fr~ e~ "Mary" from Good News About the Earth, copyright (s) 1972 by Lucille Clifton, and "God's Mood from An 11 Ordinary Woman, copyright © l974 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted by per- mission of Random House, Inc. Sam Cornish for lines from "Middleclass Girls with crippled fingers waiting for me to light their cigarettes" from People Beneath the Window, copyright @ 3 �1968 by Sam Cornish. Published by Sacco Publishers. Reprinted by permission of the author. Jayne Cortez for lines from "Festivals and Funerals from Festivals and Funerals, 11 copyright © l971 by Jayne Cortez. Reprinted by permission of the author. ° [ ~ ~ ~-~ ~~lines from "ThelLDon't Care Negro" and "T; Child/ ' ~V asr Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr ~ tor 1 Negro H.. Josep/1 )Mh14>1(ouer:J1', lines from "Rain Music,;, ram ? ? Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin. 1923, 1935 by The Associated Publishers, Inc. ~ ~ ~ lines from r Heritage, and Yet Do I Marvel 11 11 Reprinted by permission of ]'/JlvC.-• The Associated Publis i Copyright© 11 11 Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth Its Song, from On These I Stand. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. 11 Copyright(s)l927, 1955 by Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Waring Cuney for lines from "Hard Times" and "No Images" from Storefront Church, copyright @) l973 by Waring Cuney. [\ . -\\ft O~ -1a~~ ~ --- ~ Reprinted by permission of Waring Cuney. ~ .-~,.,',. 0 ~~o-..~~11.,,, for lines from ~•st. Julien's Eve: Jump Bad, edited by Gwen~ n Brooks. For Dennis Cross i~ ~-11 from Copyright@)l971 by Broadside Press. Reprinted by permission of Broadside Press. 4 �~ J ~ ili>()A,'-0) ¥\~~ f\ V'~~ Waiiia, ~@al':1 for 1ines from ~salms for Sonny Roll ins" from Burning Spear: An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright <:&) 1963 by the Dasein Literary Society. Reprinted by permission of Jupiter Hammon Press of Dasein Literary Society. ~ t.~ ~ •fro~ Alexis Deveaux. tst ~ V ~ ~ts, copyright(al973 by Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Company, Inc. Charles Dinkins for lines from 11 Invocation 11 from Negro Poetry and Drama, copyright @ l969 by Sterling Brown. Reprinted by permission of Atheneum. AI'-'•~ p~Yv,G Divfoe Comedy, 11 Guitar, 11 "Jonathan's Song, 11 11 Lament, 11 11 0pen Letter 11 and Poems for My Brother Kenneth from Powerful Long Ladder, copyright© 1946 by Owen Dodson and copyright © renewed 1974 by ,,rf!,boim Owe, ,dson. ~printed by permission of Farrar, Straus &Giroux, In J1i ,nes from f\'The Confession Stone, 11 11 7 Let me rock him again in my trembling arms 11 and 11 Mary Passed This Morning 11 from The Confession Stone, volume 13 in the Ll~tfeo Heritage Series, published by Paul Breme~ London, 1970. Copyright © l970 by Owen Dodson. Reprinted by permission of Owen Dodson. MIil,sLJ;G~ \)~ • VV, E-, e,,\)/~o~J for lines froml\_'A Litany of Atlanta," copyright © l906 by W.E.B . ~ois, .aa 11 Hymn of Hate II from Darkwater: The Tw~ntieth Cen5 of Uncle Tom's Cabin, copyright © l920 by W.E.B. the Smoke, 11 copyrigh~ l899 by W.E.B. D~is. Mrs . Shirley Graham D±_is~ 5 Completion D~)~~ ~f;Pj- Song of 11 Reprinted by permission of D J1 p_ cUJ,uYI 11 L �\-ot- andN i nes from "Jackhammer," "Ngoma, 11 "Play Ebony Play Ivory, 11 "Rite, 11 "Root Son~' and "A Song of Flesh;' from Play Ebony Play Ivory, copyright{s)l974 by Loretta Dumas and edited by Eugene B. Redmond. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. ' W~~mt:a:r:a•fflm\ Atv-t~~ r lines froml\_The Lights at Carney's Poin1:J' from Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin. 1935 by The Associated Publishers, Inc. Copyright€)1923, Reprinted by permission of The Associated Publishers, Inc. ~ j ~f Ray Durem!~ "Broadminded/' from Take No Prisoners, volume 17 in the Heritage Series, published by Paul Bremen Limited, London, 1971. by Dorothy Durem. Copyright(s)l971 Reprinted by permission of Paul Bremen Limited. Mari Evans for lines from "Who Can Be Born Black" and "The Rebe~' from I Am A Black Woman, copyright@l970 by Mari Evans and published by William Morrow, 1970. Reprinted by permission of Mari Evans. B. Felton (Elmer Buford) for lines from "An Elegy to Eternit~' from Conclusions, copyright(t)l971 by B. Felton and reprinted by permission of the author. J-v~1~~ from f\'Aardvark" from Nine Black Poets, edited by R. Baird Shuman).8Jr!I copyright(s)l968 by Moore Publishing Company. Used by permission of Moore Publishing Company, P.O. Box 3143, West Durham Station, Durham, N.C. 27705. 6 �rmiaa-~oi,;ref for lines from ~ Thinking} from Sides of the River: A Mini-Anthology of Black Writing, edited and copyright © l969 by Eugene Redmond. Reprinted by permission of Black River Writers Press. - ·~ - : . ~ ~ - ---..;..-- I ~ · tJ~ G~~ or lines from f\,'Concerning One Responsible Negro with Too Much Power," "Of Liberation," "Nikki-Rosa," "The True Import of the i resent :; Dialogue, Black vs. Negro;• from Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgement, ~C,nur:r-copyright (c} 1968, 1970 by Na kki Giovanni; ~ Africa" from My House , copyright © 1972 by Nikki Giovanni ~/eprinted by permission of William Morrow &Co . , Inc. J - ¢ / t : : : : io~ es from~ : = ;• from Burning Spear: An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright @ l963 by the Dasein Literary Society. by permission of Jupiter Hammon Press o~ \-~~!,:~✓;:: Reprinted sein Literary Society . from~ ~ : ~ ~ from American Negro Poetry, edited and copyright © 1963 by Arna Bontemps. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. 0 / l i ) , , J t ~ =for 1i nes fro~ K , o:~ ,[ ~1trane . " Reprinted from ~ Dear John, Dear Coltrane)by Michael S. Harpe) by permission of tile University of Pittsburgh Press. (~-¥<.;i re, d,q: Copyri ght @ l 970 by University of Pittsburgh Press. ➔ John Wesley Hollaway for lines from "Calling the Doctor" and "Miss Merlerlee" from From the Desert, copyright © l919 by John Wesley Hol laway . Reprinted in The Book of American Negro Poetry, edited by James Weldon Johnson. 7 �Copyright€} 1922, 1931 by Harcourt, Brace 1959/ by Mrs. Grace Nail Johnson. & World, Inc. Copyright (9 1950, Source for reprint rights could not be found at publication time. J..1~P(hb., ~ y ~ \1;,..\Lucy Ari e1 Wil 1i ams Ho 11 owa for 1i nes from "Northboj"' /\1 n The Book of American . Negro Poetry, copyright @ l926 by Lucy Ariel Williams Holloway. Reprinted by pennission of the National Urban League. ~~r~ •r 1i nes fri:;.t;~e~ ~:n" and "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" from Selected Poems, copyright @ l954 by Langston Hughes) /-printed by pennission of Random House, Inc.;~"'ines from "Harlem" from The Panther and the Lash: Poem o Our Times, copyright @ 1967 by Lan gs ton Hughe~ /epri nted ~ by pennission o Random Hou e, .r~-~ nc.; ines from Jazzoni ,- from The Weary 11 1 Blues, copyright @ 1926 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and renewed by Langston Hughe/ 7°printed by pennission of Alfred A. Knopf, Incj f b w e ~r lines frol~ 11 Jeffe:.. J) Is the Beauty ofi'his Land, copyright @ l970 by Reprinted by pe.;ission of Broadsfde Press. ~~~l~V· V~l-..1) ~ Charles Bertram Johnsorrs o9lines {no title given) from Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin. Publishers, Inc. ~.e,,f.ff c; ~ ; . , .the Land" and "My Blackness t s the Beauty offhis l~nd from My Blackness ~i!(. ' f ~n;e ( Copyright@ l923, 1935 by The Associated Reprinted by permission of The Associated Publishers, Inc. 8 �' ffe~ ~-7 · 1~t,SMfJt:J@~~- ¥ g i a Douglas Johnson for lines frocli"Dreams of the Dreame~" from Caroling Dusk, Copyright©1955 by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. edited by Countee Cullen. Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. -fJ.i~~~~ Helene Johnsoli for lines from Magulu from Caroling Dusk, edited by Countee 11 Cullen. 11 Copyright@1955 by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by of Harper~ Row, Publishers, Inc. ~ M.U-' UJ ~ ~"- ;=~-/ and "The Prodi ga 1 So~• from ~rdames God's Trombones by James Weldon Johnson, copyright01927 by The Viking Press, Inc. - Repr Copyright(E:)1955 renewed by Grace Nail Johnson. i rr ted -'oy i:)ermiss ion ohnsto Spear: Society. lines fro All rights reserved. Viking Press, 11 Fitchett s Basement Blues, Opus 5 from Burning 11 1 An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright(t:>1963 by Dasein Literary Reprinted by permission of Jupiter Hammon Press of Dasein Literary Society. ~' June J ~ : : ~ ~ U n c l e Bull-Boy" from Some Changes by June Jordan, N1----- copyright@l967 and 1971 by June Meyer Jordan. Reprinted by permission of the publishers, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. \ ':_A~.~;Jo~~ ;~~orman Jordan} or lines from 'High Art andj11~at Jazz" from Desti,Wshes, \ copyright@l97D by Nonnan Jordan. Reprinted by pennission of Third 1/orld ' ~:-(place '.P~~tt~~~~=~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ at beginnin : for lines from,\"My l Lady ' s Lips Like de Honey" and 11 0 Black an i Unknown Bard.s/ from Saint Peter Re tes an Incid~nt by James Weldon Johnson, co pyright@ 1917 , 1935 by ames Weldon J ohn on, copyright@ renewe d 1963 by Grace Nai l Johnson. printed by permission of .Viking Penguin, Inc. l �~~ b Kaufma lines from 11 Heavy Water Blue~• from Golden Sardine, copyright @ 1967 by Bob Kaufman. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books. ' \ r i 1 ~dge K n i g ~ ~ "The Bones of My Fathef from Be 11]( Song, copyright (D 1973 by Etheridge Knight, and 11 Haiku 911 from Poems /rom Prison, copyright:(0 1968 by Etheridge Knight. I Reprinted by pennission of Broadside Press. Pinkie Gordon Lane for lines from "Griefs of Jo 11 1 1972 by Pinkie Gordon Lane. ·,fl~~ from Wind Thoughts, copyright@ Published by South &West, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Pinkie Gordon Lane. ;~.,\,~~~~ ~ - Wayne Loftin'~ or lines from 11 Reality 11 from Sides of the River: A Mini-Anthology of Black Writing, edited and copyright © 1969 by Eugene Redmond. Reprinted by pennission of Black River Writers Press. Lorde's or lines from "Black Mother Woman; from From/(Land Where Other People ----Live, copyright© l973 by Audre Larde and reprinted by pennission of Broadside s from._"Moon-minded the Sun" appearing on pp (fill inJ, from Sixes ~ and Sevens, copyright@ 1962 by Audre Larde, and "Rites of Passage) from Cables to Rage, copyright 0 1970 by Audre Larde. Used by permission of the author. RJ~ k"~t} laude McKay's or lines from "Baptism," "If We Must Die" and "The Lynching~• from Selected Poems of Claude McKay, copyright(g l953 by Twayne Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by pennission of Twayne Publishers, a Division of G.K. Hall &Co. 10 �- ~ ~~ ~ ~Ma_d_h-ub_u___ti'S~ " F i r s t Impressions of a Poet's Death;' from Think Black, copyright ~ 967 by Don L. Lee, and "The Self-Hatred of Don L. Lee'" and "Don't Cry, Screamy from Directionscore: (!i 1971 by Don L. Lee. Selected and New Poems, copyright Reprinted by pennission of Broadside Press. George Reginald Margetson for lines from The Fledgling Bard and the Poetry Society, copyright © l916 by George Reginald Margetson. Reprinted in The Book of American Negro Poetry, edited by James Weldon Johnson. by Harcourt, Brace &World. Copyright@ 1922, 1931 Copyright @ 1950, 1959 by Mrs. Grace Nail Johnson. Source for reprint rights could not be found at publication time. G.C. Oden for lines from 11 ••• As When Emotion Too Far Exceeds Its Cause;• from Ka 1ei dos cope, edited by Robert Hayden. ~;. _ ~ .~r-ltl Copyright Cr) 1967 by G. C. Oden. Reprinted by pennission of the author. Pat Parker for lines from 11 Brother 11 from Child of Myself, copyright © 1972 by Pat I Parker. Reprinted by permission of the author. ~ ~ ey Randad for "lwo Jima" from More(a Remember, copyright © 1971 by Dudley Randall. Reprinted by pennission of Third World Press, 7524 South Cottage Grove, Chicago, Ill. 60619 . ~~~.~ ~ Eugene Redmond or lines frdm "Invasion of the Nos7 " from River of Bones and Flesh . 5 and Blood, copyright © 1971 by Eugene Redmond, and "Inside My Perimete~• from Inj Time of Rain I & Desire, copyright @ l973 by Eugene Redmond. pennission of Black River Writers f..US. 11 Reprinted by �. ~,YN'-t-,o:P ~~~ onrad K-e-nt_R_iv-e-rs-' or 1i nes from II In Defense of Black Poets II and "The Sti 11 Voice of Harlem" and for "Watt~• from The Still Voice of Harlem, Volume 5 in the Heritage Series, published by Paul Bremen limited, london, 1968, copyright© 1972 by Mrs. Cora Mciver Rivers; ~ines from "To.....Richard Wrigh) from The Wright Poems, Volume 18 in the Heritage Series, published by Paul Bremen Limited, London, 1972. Copyri 9ht © 1972 by Mrs. Cora Mciver Rivers .~printed by permission of Paul Bremen Limited. ~~ 1 oni a Sanchei~~§ i ~i:fil ~ Sanche& z ~ ~ (qC,q ~ !'..,! i ~ :' - 1 r~) Reprinted by permission o~ Br,,o adside Press; ""; f,, ,~ !I/; 61#~:I ~ ~ ~ • f.P.✓._,VU,.._,'-le,C, l--o f ~ , r . _ oJ ~l))UA udy Dot ard Simmons' for © 1973 ~/!~~•; .;.om Homecoming, copyright_© 1969 by Soni a So,,t,Ut. >~~ h C.'1ff:!,,;,Jrci t --✓r W ~· ,- ines from "Schizophrenia;• from Judith's Blues, copyright by Judy Dothard Sinmons. !~P;inted b; pennission of Broadside Press. ~~~ IA)£ 1~ N hr C'\,~ ~ LeRoy Stone~~"Flamenco Sketch•?" from Burning Spear: Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright© 1963 by .l!lf"Dasein An Anthology of Literary Society. Reprinted by permission of Jupiter Hafllllon Press ~sein Literary Society. -. from 1974 by Joyce Carol Thomas. II I Know a Lad~' from Crysta 1 Breezes, copyright© Reprinted by permission of Firesign Press, Box 402, Berkeley, Calif. ~~>1rNe,vin Tolson' or lines fr "Rendezvous with America," "Dark Symphony" and "An Ex-Judge at the Baf from Rendezvous with America, copyright© 1944 by Melvin Tolson. Reprinted by permission of Dodd, Mead 12 &Company, Inc.; �' : I • .t • from Do, 11 11 11 11 11 11 Do and TJ from Libretto for the Republic of ~ beria by Melvin B. Tolson, copyright @ 1953 by Twayne Publishers, Inc.; and , lines ~,.. 11 Alpha, 11 11 Beta, 11 11 Eta, 11 11 Gamma, 11 11 Lambda, 11 11 XI and Zeta from Harlem Gallery 11 11 11 by Melvin B. Tolson, copyright © 1956 by Twayne Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Twayne Publishers, A Division of G.K. Hall &Co. • -."H G~~v; • Af'IV J1~:::...--tt---",,___ , ean T mer'. or lines from "Song of the So')• from Cane, copyright ~ 1923 by Boni &Liveright; copyright renewed 1951 by ~ean ~mer. Reprinted by permission w·, X\l' NoWln.f:~7>vf~ of Liveright Publishing Co~p~ration) Je;; .. L ua&&/\or ~ 15N lines from "Blue Meridianj' from Black Writers of America, edited by Richard Barksdale and Keneth Kinnamon, copyright © l972 by The ~Millan Compan ~ permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Copyright 1936 by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1964 by Lewis Mumford, co-editor with Alfred ------ Kreymborg, of The New Caravan. ~ - - - - - - - - t ~~ I\::_ ~ \I\JNt\11..,.,...k aylor for lines from "Cool Black Nights/ fr!"" Black Poets Write On: An Anthology of Black Philadelphian Poets, copyright © l970 by A Philly Rig~nalski. Reprinted by ~~rmission of the publisher (Author dead at age 22.)J~P-~ 1 G· srwgi)m~MXU - - ___Ar Quincy Troupe for White Weekend;• from Embryo, copyright 11 ~~J . Troupe. Reprinted by permission of Quincy Troupe. Alice Walker for lines from Rage from Revolutionary Petunias &Other Poems, 11 1 copyright (§') l973 by Alice Walker. Reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Brace, Janovich, Inc. 13 �~ ,q o~Jrt-, ~ Romenetha Washington~ or lines from "Rat Race; from Sides of the River: A Mini- Anthology of Black Writing, edited and copyright © l969 by Eugene Redmond. Reprinted by permission of Black River Writers Press . ~ ci en B. or 1i nes from A Prayer of the Race That God Made Bl acl~ from II Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Thomas Kerlin. by The Associated Publishers, Inc. Copyright © 1923, 1935 Reprinted by permission of The Associated Publishers, Inc. Jc.~~ ~~~~~ ~ ~ ~oseph White or lines from "Black Is a Souiu from Burning Spear: An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright © 1963 by ~ e Dasein Literary Society. Reprinted 0 by permission of Jupiter HaIT111on Press ol~Dasein Literary Society. ~)t "' kh r ~ ighl!, or specified line~ "Between the World and Me," copyright © 1935 by The Partisan Review, and I Have Seen Black Hands, 11 by The Partisan Review. 11 copyright @ l935 Reprinted by permission of Paul R. Reynolds, Inc . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_20 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Acknowledgements, typed manuscript with edits, p. 1-14 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Description An account of the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Acknowledgements, typed manuscript with edits, p. 1-14. Page 9 is unnumbered. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/1b8deb5946e86e3a0df9036c416f3865.pdf 6a7a3b4a705d4c675eb9f56794384dce PDF Text Text PO ...'T .Y CKNOU DG~I✓,.....::1-TI'S - • o 1c.e.s - Alex d r, Lewis: from The Poetrb of rrhe Negrd ( rughes J Doubleday, l~7. p. 158. J "Nocturne Varial 11 (2 lines): D 1) ~ Bontemps), I crone as a shadow, To dazzle your night. Allen, Junius Mordecai(J. Mord Allen): from Negro Poets and their Poems (Robert~. Ker lin, ed.), Washington, D.c.: Associated Publishers, 1935. P• 50. J."The Psalm of Uplift 11 (8 lines): Till sunset of eternity •••• To die--but gain an inch. ==' 5-- t Atkins, Russel : from American Negro Poetry(Bontemps), Hill cc Wang , 1974. J. "At War" (4 lines): sudden 1 d its appear • • fugitives •••• (>J.169) ;2. "Irritable Song 11 (6 lines): Or say upon return ••• in today? (p 170) Baraka, Imrunu Amiri : from Black Magi c Poetry, Bobbs-Merrill, 1969. / 11 Black Art 11 ( 34 lines) : Poems are bullshit unless they are ••• or LOUD (p 116-117) ). "Black People" (4 lines): ••• let 1 s get toge t her the fruit •• your tomish ways. (p.225) :J 11 leroy"(5 lines): when I die, the consciousness I carry I will to ••• alone. {p.217) �4". "Sterling Street ;;jeptember" ( 3lines): We are strange in a way beca use we lmow ••• a tortured passage of flesh. (p.177) Black, Austin: from The Tornado in Hy Mouth , .llixposition Press, 1966. j "Asexual Flight 11 (2 lines): a man 1 s last wish ••• instead of remiss. (p.11). Bontemns, Arna? from American Negro Poetry, Hill~ Wang, 1974 J. "Golgatha is a Mountain" ( 2 lines): One day I will crumble ••• I think it will be Golgotha. (p.79) Brooks, Gwendolyn: from Family Pictures, Broadside Press, 1970 ]."i:>peech to the Young 11 (2 line s): Live not for The-~nd-of-the-~ong. Live in the a long lP• 23) from ~elected Poems, Harper & Row, 1963. :).. "The Anniad 11 ( 7 lines): Think of sweet and chocalate •• The minuets of memory. "] "The Ballad of Rudolph Reed 11 (3 lines-}: Falling like fat rain ••• And a beastly butche r knife. '-(- "Beverly Hills, Chicago 11 ( 2 lines): •• not tha t anybody ••• •• beautiful banner • �>' "the ' ch'ildren of the poor" H4 ( 2 lines): For having first to civilize a space Wh erein to play your violin with gra ce. ~ "Of De Witt Williams on .dis Way to Lincoln Gemetery 11 (6 lines): Swing low swing low sweet swe e t chariot ••• Plain black boy. 1 "do not be afraid of no 11 ( 2 l-ines): It is b r ave to be involved, To be not fearful to be unresolved. "6 "Langston Hughes 11 ( 2 lines): Yet b is right of twisting free ••• Till the air ia cured of its fever. Cf "The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till 11 (2 lines): Chaos in windy grays through a red prairie. l O "Ne gro Hero" (lli lines): tndeed, I'd rath er be dead; Than saved by t h e drop of a black man's blood. f( "'f ue Preacher: Huminates Behind the Sermon 11 ( 2 lines)• Buy him a Coca-Cola or a beer, Pooh-p ooh 1is politics, call him a fool? /2 "Riders to the Blood-Red ~rath 11 (15 lines): My scream! unedited, unfrivolous ••• We lurch, distribute, we ext end, be gin. (3'POf Robert Frost 11 (2 lines): Iron at the mouth •• With a place to stand. ('f 11we Beal Cool" ( 8 lines): We real cool. We Die soon. �Brow.n, Sterling: from Southern Road, Beacon Press, 1974(1932). 1 / "Memphis Blues 11 ( 2 lines): De win' sing sperrichals Through deir dus• •••• (p.59-61) from Black Writers of America(Barksdale & h.innamon), Macmillan Company, 1972, 2- "Old Lem II l 3 lines): They donrt come by ones •• But they come by tens. (p.633-34) Burrell, Benjamin: from Negro Poets and Their Poems(~erlin) . / "To a Negro Mother" ( 2 lines): Create anew the captains of the past, Build in your soul the Ethiopian power, ••• (p.303-304) Christian, Marcus B.: from The Poetry of the 'iegro (H & B). /"MclJonogh Day in New 0rleans 11 (2 lines): But few would know--or even guess this fact: • • • is black • (p.157) Clifton, Lucille: from Good News About the tarth, Handom House , 1972. ( "Lately" (4 lines): I 1 m 25 years old •• are younger than me. 1 ( p. 8) .l-"Mary 11 ( 10 lines) : this kiss •• i see a tree 'J ( P. 39) "God's Mood " (4 lines): He is tired of bone, •• adamis whining ways. (p.15) �Cornish, ::;am: from People Beneath the ~'indow, ::;acco PubJ_ishers; 408 Park Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland. n.d. l 11 MIID LE CLASS GIRLS \JITH CRIPPL~D FINGERS WAITING FOR ME TO LIGHT THEIR CIGARETTS 11 (13 J_ines): / your fingers •• with restless stares. Cortez, Jayne: from J:testivals and Funerals, Phrase 'rext, 1971. ( "Festivals and Funerals 11 (8 lines): They winged his spirit & ••• festivals and funerals ••• Cotter, Joseph Seamon Sr.: from Negro Poets and 11 / 'fhe Don't 0 'l 1 heir Poems (E.erlin) are Negro"(4 lines): Neber min' your manhood 1 s risin 1 • • ~o you have a way to stay it. 2... 11 (p The Negro Child 11 (3 lines): 237) ••• be your food, your drink, your rest, • Your head and hea rt to dare. (302-303) Cotter, Joseph ::;eamon Jr.:from Negro Poets aid Their Poems( Kerlin). /" "Rain Music 11 ( 3 lines): Now a whispered murmur, ••• • • • drumsticks • Cullen, C0 untee: from The Book of American Negro Poetry(James Weldon Johnson,ed Harcourt, Brace & World, 1959. ( "Her:rtage 11 (( 2 lines) : "Doff this new exuberanc e Come and dance t he Lover Is ~~a~ t II ~ "Heritage 11 ( 6 lines): • Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, ••• Do I play a double part ( 224) l �from On These I ~tand, Harper Row, 1947. & ] "Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth Its Song 11 (2 lines): ••• sharp and pretty • • • sacco and vanzetti'{l~O) from Caroling Dusk(Cullen, ed.}, Harper & How, 1927, 1955. t(_- 0 Yet Do I Marvel 11 ( 2 lines): Yet do I marvel at this curious thing: To make a poet black and bid him singJ (182) Cuney, Waring: from The Negro Caravan(Brown, Davis, Lee, eds.), New Mork: Arno Press, 1970. / "Hard Times Blues"(3 lines): Great-God-Am.ighty ••• Lost all they ever had. (375) 2..."No 11 Images (3 lines): • • • thinks her brown body ••• ., Has no glory. And dishwater gives back no images (375) l Cunningham, James(Olumo): from Jump Bad(Gwendolyn Brooks, ed), Broadside Press, 1971. 11 St. Julien• s .l:i:ve: For flennis Cross 11 ( 3 lin~ s): the wind-man tearing at the brigge ••• float up to the sky •••• (129) Davis, Frank Marshall : from Understanding the New Black Poetry(Stephen Henderson,ed ), William Morrow , 1973 / "Jazz Band" (2 lines): Play that thing you jazz rra d fools! ••• Plink plank plunk a plunk. (lL~) �7 DeLegall, ~valter: from ~urning 0pear: An Anthology of Afro-~axon Poetry, Washington, D.5., Jupiter Harmnon Pr~ss, 1963. / "Psalm for Sonny Rollins 11 (4 lines): Absorbed in the womb of the sound ••• I am the sound. (B) Deveaux, Alexis: from ~pirits in the Streets, Doubleday, 1973. / paragraph excerpt(8 lines): Lord why he beat that woman so? and them ••• word. (107) D~nkins, CharJes: from Negro Poetry and Drama(Sterling Brown), Atheneum, 1969. f "Invocation 11 ( 2 lines) : Forgive thine erring people, Lord, Who lynch at home and love abroad. (52) f Dodson, Owen:from The Confe s sion Stone: Song Cycles, Paul Bremen, 1971. 11'.riie Confes s ion .::>tone 11 (2 lines), Shushhh, you need the rest (i) 2--- 111'lary Let me rock him again in my trembling arms (v) Passed This Morning" (8 lines): Martha ••• 0igned Joseph }from Powerful Long Ladder(Dodson), 1946.(fa..v-rO..\'"l)S1;'av!.S'tj"Countee Cullen 11 ( 2 lines): We hear all mankind yearning f For a new year without hemlock in our glasses. (73) Divine Comedy(9 lines): Cancel us ••• This shall not be for ev er. 6,'ratJx) �Dodson( contd) 5 "Guitar"(4 lines): Aini t had .4obody ••• Where I rorun (5) {, "Jonathan I s Song" t 3 lihes): Jew is not a race •• I am a part of this. (89) 7 "Lament 11 ( 10 lines) : Wake up, boy, and tell me how you died ••• o, 'b wake , up, wakel (3-4) "Open l,etter 11 (9 lines): Brothefs,let us discover our bearts again, •• • • • take our black hands in yours • (103) 7 Poems for My Brother Renneth(2 lines): There was no reply: You gave me a smile and re turned to the grave. (65) DuBois, William bdward Burghardt: from The Book of Nnerican Negro Poetry (Johnson), 1959 / "A Litany of Atlanta 11 (2 lines): Surely Thou too art not white, 0 Lord, a pale bloodless thing? (93) from Darkwa~er: The 'r wentie.th Cevtu1 Completion of Uncle Tom I s <Jabin. WasP.ington, D.C.: A. Jenkins o., 1920 • .) "Hymn of Hate 11 (4 lines) : I hate them,. • As J I hate hell! from Black Voices(Abraharn Chapman, ed ), New American Library, 1968 "Song of the Smoke 11 ( 6 lines): Souls unto me are as mists in the night, Hail to the black! (3 (, 0) �Dumas, Henry: from Play ~bony Play Ivory(~ugene Redrnond,ed), Random House, 1974. ( "I Laugh Talk Joke 11 ( 18 lines): i laugh talk joke cause I don 1 t play (50) 2,. 11 from Jackhammer 11 ( 2 lines): The jackjack backing back and stacking stone ••• echoes of dust(lB) 1 "N goma 11 (_ 13 lines ) : aiwa aiwa louder louder (8 -10) f "Play Bbony Play Ivory 11 (7 lines): for the songless, the dead ••• poison the hea rt of e a rth ) 11 U3) Ri te 11 ( 12 lines): Vodu green clinching his wrist,. •• I am not clean (5-6-,} ~"Root Song" ( 2 lines): Once when I was tree Flesh came and worshipped at my roots. (19) 7 "~aba 11 ( 7 lines): sx waterings ••• of flagella flucksing rite (130-131) Song of Flesh 11 ( 8 lines): When I awoke, • •• sea of your he a rt. (38 ) r �/() Dunbar~Nelson, Alice: from Negro Poets and rheir Poems(Kerlin) / 11'I'he Lights at Garneyts Point"(2 lines): And the sun laughed high in the infinite sky, And the lights were forgot in the sweet, sane ~~lm. (147) Durem, Ray: from Take No Prisoners, Paul Bremen, 1971. / "Broadminded" (4 lines): Some of my hest friends are white boys. • • • as if they was people • Evans, Mari: from I Am (11) A Black Woman, Willian Morrow, 1970 / 11Who 6an be Born Black" (4 lines) : Who ••• and not exult I (93) 2-- "'J:he Hebel" ( 2 lines): Curiosity/seekers (76) Felton, B.• from C0 nclusions, Monarch Printing Service, 1971. J 11An .c.legy to Eternity 11 (2 lines): Tear-ducts swell, bursting in a delight of flood ·and fury. Fields, Julia: from Nine Black PoetstR. Baird Shuman , ed ), Moore Publishing Company, 1968 ] "Aardvark" ( 3 lines)! Looks like Malcolm helped • ••• thought about before. (75) �Fowler, Sherman: from Sides of the Rivert~ugene ttedmond, ed.), Black River Writers(see Redmond 1 s address), 1969. J II l'hinking '1 ( 2 lines ) : vomiting tidings only v~e mind can hear (16) Giovanni, Ni kki: from Black ..t!'eeling, Black Talk/Black Judgment, William Mo rrovtl 97 0. J "0 0 ncerning One Responsible Negro With Too Much Power" (3 lines): your tongue must be removed to keep it in check )_ "Of Liberation"\ 12 lines): Dykes of the world ••• '} ••• your own black hearts . 11 Nikki-Rosa II t.5 lines): your biographers never understand. concerns you. • if "The True Import of the Present Dialogue, Black vs Negro 11 {12 lines): Nigger ••• ••• Black men from My House (Uiovanni), 1972 5 "Africa I 11 ( 6 lines): on the bite of a kola nut I of the suns tongue •••• Govan, Oswald: from Burning Spear: An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, Jupiter Hammon Press(D.C ), 1963. f "rhe Lyne ing" ( 3 lines): tle was soaked in oil and the match throim • • • fiery inhuman dance. (18) // �GrimkEf, Angelina: from American Negro Poetry;(Arna Bont emp s, ed. ) , Hill Wang, 19 63 • _, / "'fhe Bla ck Finger" ( 2 lines): Why, beautiful still finger, are you bla ck? And why are you pointing upwards? (17) Harper, Michaels.: from Dear John, Dear Coltrane, University of ~ittsburgh Pre SB, 1970 / "Dear John, Dear Colt r ane 11 (11 lines): Why you so black? a love supreme, a love supre me: ••• ( 75) Hayden, Robeet: fro m The Negro Caravan( Brown, Da vis, Lee), Arno Pres s , 197 0 / "Gm:bri el 11 ( 2 lines ) : Fr om fo r go tten gr aves ••• Never, n ever rest. (405) from Selected Poems , October House , 1966. 2-" Runagat e Hunagate 11 (.:;, lines) : Run s f alls r ises •• (one line ) And before I'll be a sla v e I 1 11 be buried in my grave(2 lines) Dead folks cant ••• you keep on going now or die , she s a ys . (2 lines ) from Words i n the Mourni ngtime, October House , 1970 ) 11 El-Ha j j Mali k El Shab a zz 11 ( 6 line s): He Xrd his n ame, b e came h is people ' s anger , f •• ice gardens of their s ervitude . (39) "Zeus Over Redeye 11 ( 10 lines) : a sacred phalli c grove • • us no relieving shade . ( -31 ) �/3 Hollo way, John Wesley: from '1:he Boo!f of American-ONegro Poetry(Johnson), 1959. 11 / Calling the Doctor" (4 lines): Blue-mass, laud-hum, liver ~ills, ant half-a bottle X. Y. 2.. 11 Miss z. (136) erlerlee 11 (3 lines): Sof 1 brown cheek an' smilin 1 face ••• 1'1 An' silky arm so plump ant bare. (134-135) Holloway,Lucy Ariel Williams: from The Book of American Ne gro Poetry{Johnson), 1959. 11 ( N6rthboun 111 ( 6 lines): .. ,. ,,---- ll_' it Is one long strip ••• I 1 m upward boun 1 • l288 -289 ) Hughes, Langston: from The Book of American ~egro Poetry(Johnson), 1959 / "Jazzania 11 (6 lines): Oh, silver tree! Oh, si. 1 v er rivers of t h e "IOUl I (236) from Selected Poems of Langston Hughes, Alfred Knmpf, 1970. 2,..."Harlem" ( 2 lines): What happens to a dream deferred? Or does it explode? {268) J "Mother to Sont' ( 2 lines): Well son I 1 11 t ell you: Life for me ain 1 t b een no cry st a l stair. f (1 87 ) 11 The Ne gro Speak s of Ri vers"( 8 line s): r 1 ve known rivers: ••• My s oul h as grown deep like the r ivers (4 ) �Hughes(contd) from Good v orning Revolution(Faith Berry, ep. . ) , Lawrence Hill 1973 • c: Company, .>"Goodbye Christ 11 ( 3 lines) ; You did alright in your day, I reckon-- ••• Mark Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin, Worker, ME-- Jeffers, Lance : from My Blackness i s the Beauty of This Land, Broadside Press, 1970 . / "Black Soul of the Land"(? lines ) : a secret spine • • •·• cease to be its name . ( 9) 2,_ 11 My Blackness is the Beauty of This Land 11 ( 3 lines): My blackness ••• ••• wounded and wise , • • (8 ) Joans, Ted: from New Negro Poets: u.s.A (Langston Hughes, ed.), University of Indiana Pre ss, i964 J 'The .38" ( 7 lines): I hear it coming faster than sound the • 38 Hellof,, 1 1 m here! ~ (83-84) Johnson, Charles Bet-tram: from Negro Poets andl Their. Poems (Kerlin), 1935. J We have fashioned laughter • •• Pain and tears again. t4 lines, no title given) Johnson, Fenton: from Black Voices(Chapman), 1~68 1 "Ti red 11 ( 3 lines); Throw the children into the river : •• • you are colored. (3'70) Johnson, Georgia Douglas: from Caroling Du.sk~Cullen), 1955. 11 1 ,,/' rhe Dreams of the Dreamer" ( 3 lines): Are tones that repeat ••• Till it ceases to beat ( 81) �IS Johnson, Felene: from Caroling Dusk(Cullen), 1955. 1 11 ~ . lines): Nagiq.1µ"(3 Would you sell the colors of your sunset •• ••• let you dance? Johnson, James Weldon: from Fifty Years and Other Poems, Boston: C0 rnhill, 1917. 1 "My Lady I s Lips Am Like de Honey" ( 2 lines): Felt her kinder squeeze mah han 1 , 1 Nuff to make me understan•. 2,. 11 0 Black and unknown Bards 11 ~4 lines): 0 black and unknown bards of long ago, ••• 0 black slave singers, gone, forgot, unfamed, •• from God•s Trombones: Seven Negro ~ermons in Uerse, The Viking Press, 1955. 3 "The Creation" (4 lines): Like a mammy bending over her baby, Till He shaped it in His own image, ••• t "'l 'he Prodigal Son" (3 lines): Young man-Your arm I s too short to box with tiod. Johnston, Percy: from Burning Spear(see listing above) ] 11Fitchett•s Basement Blues, Opus 5"(2 lines)~ I want 6oltrane or Sonny all I get is Brubeck, •• Jordan, June: from Some Changes(Jordan), E.P. Dutton, 1971 J "uncle Bull-boy 11 ( 6 lines): Bis brother •• • • • his folded arms. Jordan, Norman: from Destination:Ashes, Third world J "High Art an d all that Jazz"(5 lines): Fuck you and your ••• nasty and funkey ress, 1970. �16 Kaufman, Bob: from ijolden Sardine, City Lights Books, 1967(San Francisco) 1~ 'Heavy Water Blues" ( 6 lines): The radio is teaching my goldfish Jujitsu ••• ••• too much weight Knight, Etheridge: from Belly Song, Broadside .Press, 1973. 1, "The Bones of My Father 11 (2 lines): from the bottom of the Tallahatchie. from Poems from Prison, Broadside Press, lij68. ,2. "Haiku 9 11 ( 3 lines): Making jazz ijwing in ••• No square poet's job Lane, Pinkie Gordon: from Wind Thoughts, South and West, Inc.l Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1972. j,."griefs of joy" ( 11 lines): Mo nothing remains the same •••• interlocked like death. Loftin., Elouise: from Jumbish, l!;merson Hall Publishers,Inc., 1972. 1 . ."Getting Caught 11 (13 lines): if they catch you ok J, "Rain thing Spread" l 2 • lines): Last night threw her legs open to me •••• J Loftin, Wayne: from Sides of the River, Black River Writers(Hedmond), 1969. "Reality"(4 lines): out of the cotton fi e lds ••• and sh a des of s lums �Lorde, Audre: from Sixes and Sevens, London: Paul Bremen, 1962. J_ "Moon-minded /7 the Sun 11 ( 2 lines ) : The light that makes us fertile shall make us sane. from From a Land Where Other People Live, Broadside ~ress, 1973. j__ 11 Black Mother Woman 11 (3 lines): I learned from you •• ·fhrough your denials. from The Poetry of Black America(Arnold Adoff, ed), Harper J "Rites & How, 1973. of Passage"(3 lines): Quick ••• . ••• through dreams. McKay, C1aude: from Selected Poems of Clau~e McKay, Harcourt, Brace~ World, 1953 J "Baptism" ( 2 lines): I will come out., back to your world of tears, A stronger soul within a finar frame. 2."If We Must Die 11 (2 lines): Like men we'll face the murdermus, cowardly pa ck, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fi ghting ba ckl J 11 The Lynching 11 ( 2 lines ) : And little lads, lynch e rs tha t were to be, Danced round the dredful thing in fiendish glee. Madhubuti, Haki R. (Don L. Lee): from Directionscore: ~elected and New Poems, Broadside fress, 1971, J "The ;:;;elf-Hatred of Don L. Lee" (3 lines): my light ••• outer. i -"Don 1 t Cry Scream"(3 lines)= i cried for billy holiday ••• the blues exhibited visions of manhoo d. �Madhubuti(contd ) from Think Black, Broadside rress , 1967. J. "Fi rst Impr>essions of a Poet ' s 0eath"(L~ lines) : seldom ••• overexposure . Marget son, George Reginald: from The Book of American .1. 'l'he l\l egro Poetry( Johnson), 195 Fledgling Bard and the r oetry ~ociety ( 8 lines): Some look to Booker T. Washington to lead them, ••• To marry and to mix in white society . Oden, G. C : from Kaleidoscope {R0 bert Hayden , ed.), Harcourt , Brace & World, 1967 • ..1.. 11 • • • 1hen .t:!.rnotion Too Far Exceeds Its Cause As 11 (3 lii;Je s): I, too, once trusted air that plunged me down . Yes, If Ojenk e(Alvin ~axon): from The Poetry of Black America(Adoff), 1973 • ..f. 11 Watts 11 (2 lines): assas sinating tin people and whole ••• some too-true , truth • • • • :J. Parker , fat: from Child of M self , Women 1 s Press Collective, 5251 Broadway, Oakland, Calif., 9 618, 1972. "brother " (2 lines): 4 is called a fist . Randal l, Dudley: from Black Voices(Chapman), 1968. t W. E. B "(19 s fro Third World -..Pre s, 1971 . )- "Iwo Jima 11 (2 lines) : Like oil of ~ exas My blood gushed here . �/9 Rivers, Conrad Kent: from The Still Voice of Harlem, Londonf Paul Bremen, 1972. / "In Defense of Black Poets" ( 2 lines): a black poet must remember the horrors • 1 • • to read you. "The Still Voice of Harlem" U lines): I am the hope •• of your unborn. } "Watts"(4 lines): :Must I shoot •• in his head? from The Wright Poems, London: Paul Bremen, 1972. 4 nTo Hi chard Wright 11 ( 3 lines)! To be born black ••• · ~, ~ ••• the grand adventure. 1 Sanchez, Sonia: from ::omecoming, Broadside r r ess, 1969. "Malcolm" ( 9 lines): Yet this men ••• • • • gun-filled nights. from The poetry of Black America\AdoffJ, 1973. 2 "definition for blk/children~ '.14 lines): a policeman ••• < oink~ Scott, Johnnie: from From the Ashes: ~ 0 ices of Watts(Budd Schulberg,ed.), The World Publishing Company, 1967. J "The Fish Party 11 (2 lines): The fish are ga th ering again tonight, ••• HPy,lool{? ~ldie has eaten Jesus up! •rA:"Watts, 1966"(2 lines): The man named Fear has inherited half an acre, and is angry. �Simmons, Judy Dothard: from Judith's Blues, Broa~side Press, 1973. ,..t. "Schizophrenia" ( 2 lines-): it won't come back inside of me. Smith, Welton: from Pepetration, Journal of Black Poetry Press(l971), 922B Haight Street, Sanfrancisco, Calif. J.. . Malcolm 11 11 ( 2 lines): in my heart there are many unmarked graves. Stone, LeRoy: from Burning Spear(see listing above), 1963. J. "Flamenco Sketches 11 (4 lines): Dissonant nostalgia of one kiss ••• Comment! Thomas, Joyce Carol: from Crystal Breezes, Firesign Press(l974), P.O. Box 402, Berkeley, Calif 7¾.701. 1., "I Know a Lady" t.5 lines): I know a lady ••• Fine thread of steel • • • Tolson, Melvin B.: from Rendezvous with America, D0 dd., Mead, 1944. J ."Rendezvous ·with America 11 (9 lines): Time unhinged the gates ••• America! Dar:\t Symphony II t 5 lines ) : Before white Patrick Henry's ••• J.." We advance! J "An Ex-Judge at t he Bar" (4 lines): d Bartehder, make it straight anA make it two-One for the l~egro ••• one for you and me. �'io son(contd) from Harlem Gall~ry, Twayne Publishers, 1~r5. 1 "Alpha 11 (4 lines): I travel from oasis ••• J:°' 11 ••• twilled is plain Beta (4 lines) : 11 one needs the clarity ••• swollen with rye b "Eta 11 13 lines-}: ( Across an alp of chitterlings, ••• an Iscariot or an Iago. 1 "Gamma 11 ( 9 lines): Between the dead sea hitherto ••• Catacombs of Bosio. 8 "Lambda" ( 2 line s ): I I d b e _the greatest trumpeter ••• r" if old batchmo had nev er been born XI" ( 8 l ine s ) : The ni ght John Henry is born an ax ••. •• a platter of pork and beans! /) "Zeta 11 (3 lines) : and infamy the siamese twin of fame. from Libretto for the Republic ofl Liberia, Twayne, 1953 /f "Do" (4 { 2 "Do" (4 lines) : You are ••• Without a hemidemisemiquaver in an Oxford Stave! lines): a tooth puller a pataphysicist in a •• ••• on a walk ) �Tolson(contd) { 7 "Ti 11 (5 lines): Q;uai d t Orsay ••• Again black Aethiop reaches at the sun, 0 Greek. Toomer, Jean: from Black Writers of America(Barksdale and Kinnamon), 1972. / "Blue Meridian" (-2 lire s): We• re al 1 niggers now--get me? .~. your choice. from Cane, Boni & Liveright, Inc., 1969. 2 "Song-of the Son 11 (4 lines): Pour o pour that parting soul in song, ••• a singing tree. Traylor, Mark: from Bla ck Poets Write On: An Antholog of Black Philadelphian POETS, Bl a ck Hi s tory Museum onnnittee, P.O. Box 1 0 7, Philadelphia, Penn., 1970. { "Cool Black Nights" l 9 lines): them h ard-loving ••• them fine soul sisters . Tro upe, ~ui ncy: f r om Bmbr yo, Barlenmir Hous e, 1972 . / "vJhi te "1 ee kend 11 ( 13 lines ) : They dep loyed military troops ••• The stock market went up 1~ points •••• Vesey, Paul(Samuel Allen): from Soon, One Morning(Herbert Hill, ed.), Alfred A. Knopf, 1963. /"To Satch,.(2 lines): And look over at God and say Bow about thR.t! Walker, Alice: from Revolutionary etunias & Other Poems, Harvourt,Brace, Javanovich, Inc., 1973. 11 / "Rage ( , lines): The silence be tween your words ••• like a sword �Walker, , Margaret : from For My People , Yale Uni verS""i ty .t'ress, 1942 . / "Bad- Man Stagolee 11 (2 lines): Till he k illed that cop and turned out bad • •• 2,.. Hid dat blade he wore unnerneaf his shirt ••• "For My People 11 ( 13 lines) : For my people everywhere ••• j • • • now rise and take control. "Poppa Chicken 11 ( 2 lines): Bought his pardon in a year; • •• f The gals cried Lawdy! Lawd! "The Struggle Staggers Us 11 (2 lines): Struggle between the morning and the night; This marks our years; this settles, too, our plight 11 ( we Have been Believere 11 (3 l i nes): • • • b eli eving in our burden s •• • • • • wi th a strange insistency. Wa shington , Romenetha: from Side s of the River(Redmond), 1969 . J. 11 .1:ta t Race 11 ( 2 l i nes ): Scurrying f rom sun ~ o sun •.. I protest but still I run. I Watkins, Lucien B. : from Negro Poets and Their PoemstKerlin), 1935 11 A Prayer of the Race That God Made Black" ( 2 lines J: . God save us in ~hy Heaven, where all is well! We come slow--struggling up the Hills of Hell! White, Joseph: from Burning Speartsee listing above), 1963 ..,,/ "Black s a Soul" (5 lines): Where black-eyed peas~ greens are stored •• 1 ••• & I'm from Look Back. �t Wrigh't", Richard: from 'l'he Negro Caravan(Brown, Davis, LeeJ, 1970. t,. "I Have Seen Black Hands" (3 lines): I am black and I have seen black hands, ••• ••• doubt and hesitation and irresolution. from American Negro Poetry, Hill & Wang, 1963,Bontemps) 2 "Between the World and Me 11 ( 18 lines): • • • dry bones ••• • • • hot sides of death. finis � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_18 Title A name given to the resource Poetry Acknowledgements for Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed manuscript Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B.