9 10 650 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/ef065bf72b1366e9deda6cf963c47d46.pdf d074750f9f4dba023b981659125bcd2d PDF Text Text CHAPTER VI FESTIVALS & FUNERALS: BLACK POETRY OF THE 196Os & 19 7Os They winged his spirit & wounded his tongue but death was slow coming Who killed Lumumba What killed Malcolm festivals & funerals festivals & funerals festivals & funerals & festivals & funerals .• . Jayne Cortez Overview The space between festivals and funerals can be infinite or it can be deathly short . her poem. - So Ja"'yne Cortez\ says} through the twistings and turnings in But whatever the space, or the pace, we all slip, slide, soar, and trip as we make our way between the polarities (assigned each at birth) +he Ktridol= ofl\life we live and the kind of death we die . 197Os often face• life and death "straight up" : Black poe~ of the 19 6Os and though, as we have seen, Black poets in o ther times did not cringe from the breaches of racial nightmares, violence , sexuality , unbeautiful language, wicked or religious folkisms, and the demands of music which each of them seemed to hear--albeit from "different11 drummers .• To attempt a discussion of contemporary Black poetry is to turn others ' tongues into flames: " Blasphemy!," "I was the first!," i �"We started it!," "That anthology was incomplete since it didn't include beaQh me!," "It all /fts3•a e. in this place or that place!, " "His/her poetry is not Black enough!," and so on. Nevertheless, the "smoke" from the sixties is beginning to clear and, while more hinl sight is needed, there are important observations that should be made. Hence in this chapter, the format will follow preceding ones--bvt J4.ta: with a 1118t :i.o s ae 1-e de-emphasis in biographical-critical notes on individual poets. eo.rl.it Most serious poets who began writing in the late fifties,11xties . andr{>e~ent1es, still have much growing and threshing to do . volumes really contain earlier poetry . Also many recent So it is not easy to evaluate (or even list) Black poetry produced over this period. Yet, historically speaking, certain undeniable trends have pccurred, and they look roughly like this: Black Poetry since the Harlem Renaissance (see Brown, Redding, Henderson, Jackson) has had cycling currents of "rage and " fire " though not the sustained gush witnessed in the mid and late sixties; Black poetry after 1945 expressed a belief (see Ray Durem) that white liberals were not really interested in mounting the ( 01-- 1oim5'aU -the "''o/'IJ "final" chariots of fire/ion behalf of Blacks (despite Communist Socialist pronouncements); t:ff.es Black poetry of the ~ -.vi six1ks _/ and earl) ,f:9680 provided a }f:i.vil ond PoL;J'itaL e.t:M o.T-e. ~1ghts groundswellAfor the volcanic burs ~ of the later sixties; In Black poetry of the early sixties there was planted the anvil which shaped the stylistic, attitudinal and linguistic character �of what is known as the New Black Poetry; Current Black poetry, despite "evolutions" and "changes," has not radically altered or laid to rest the best work of Hughes, J"o..mer. ot'" fe,nfc,11\ Johnson Gllii72RI, Davis, Toomer, Walker, Hayden, Brooks, Tolson and Dodsonj Except for what Stephen Henderson calls "tentative" answers, Black poetry defies all definitions (like Mari Evans' f "Black Woman")--splintering off into ennumberble directions, styles, forms, themes, considerations and ideas. f This chapter, all above considered ( ! )) will briefly sketch the ,r:; from the fifties into the mid-sixties. L,c._ ban ia15 Again, chronology will be ""'"•••~since many of the poets listed were writing in the forties and fifties; .rvh ffa.nud L. but most did not rece1ve~attent1on until the sixties. The sketch will include a general look at transitional poets (older and younger) as their work appears in about a half dozen anthologies (from I Saw How Black I Was, 1958, to Kaleidoscope, 1967) and what few volumes were being brought out at the (he examination (see Locke's and Bontemps' • divisions time. 1f>en ~ of the Renaissance)~takes up the poets who came to recognition under the banner of the Black Arts Movement and who loosly fall into the category of New Black Poetry. Older poets--Hayden, Brooks, Randall, Walker, and others--will be briefly re-visited to see if the "new" mood wrought any significant changes in their views and/or their poetry. we 10uch ~e,n ci--i-t'c.,,'-' m Thougll\.alae s Hiitii.,u~a. bi stow, this book is primarily a historical guide- designed to aid sad ½a; -{.aders in their exploration of Black poetry. Only a naive person �would attempt, at this stage, a full critique of the poetry of the 1960s and 1970s. However, there are stylistic patterns, similarities, and thematic clusters which will be pinpointed and assessed from time to time. Some of the most provocative of recent studies of contemporary Black poetry are Henderson's The Militant Black Writer in Africa and the United States i r,1,,q with Mercer ~oo~• Joy Flasch's Melvin Tolson (1972) ; and Understanding the New Black Poetry (1973); Sh~ rley Williams '• Give Birth to Brightness (1972); Gibson's GIiii Modern Black Poets (1973) and Jackson ' s and Rubin's Black Poetry in America (1974) . '3) 152 gq ] "] l 1 1er) :JI. Literary and Social Landscapet - L.e.~eL Assassinations, highApolitical corruption, upheaval, violence, change, .~_l"-s~!l~p .11 e!! ,,: a.LL • ideolog:i-es, flaming rhetoric --•/\ contemrQrary period. i!IIA d I2 N describe the Revolutions (of all kinds) mock and mold the world. From Cuba to Vietnam, Harlem to Chile, Pakistan to Watts, Nigeria to Indonesia, Kenya to Berkeley~ Jackson State to Kent State-- the facts and ovell'cast, h owevei,.) A~ riot symbols of change have been dramatic and violent .rf!~w~h ().r1 -tAwa.r ted ma.i or tie vt-ltJp me1its l[ i whe1-> ~ 9/\in the Black sphere/\ tneqlop was declininef[by the mid-fifties)' j?-.,1'' BLMt. and 7azz ' s greatest living interpreter, Charlie Parker, was dead. A)lusicians c.onlTh "ed.probing new forms under the leadership of Miles Davis, and vocalists"9 John Coltrane, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Wes Montgomery, Charles, ~ 1 ! , Ornette Coleman, Billy Eckstine, Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, who died in 1959 . D~~tQ ~~v~, g,Llie - i,l],i?ft~n, Ray Ella . /\.Holiday's name and fame again reached a worldwide audience when, in 1972, Diana Ross, formerly of the Supremes, starred in the controversial movie, Lady Sings the Blues. Saxophonist Coltrane, a major influence on the current generation of musicians and poets, died in 1967. An innovator, he sparked new interest.$ in music wit1} j �aMOllJ,\6ffi•tui,mives) his "sHeets W of soun~',.a ppe fdl · • 1u t;;Q }ilq"am iaribucaa•nl!l ~~ The / iftiesAalso witnessed the maturation of/4hythm and /lues, popularized by Black radio disc jockeys . weaving 1· 1i 3 · 3 f 1 I gs J RF 1 g Inter- Jg Pl Ji social • - - • • commentaries with the news, they Resvtlf"'a lo. 1e,.-, anticipated the new oral poetry of the,.,ixties. )'tP±n ufifg from these broadcasting styles were programs like Bandstand (started in the late fifties). Young white America watched Blacks dance, listened to Little Richard and Chubby Checker, and tried to imitate it all on TV and in their homes. /I This 1/ period gave birth to the first white superstar Soul artist--Elvis Presley. •f~J..a••lllii·r.-•·-••-•~j~s-llllllih■iWE•t~a.xlliiil·..-~all!llll!t~e!lllll!t•l••-.::t c:fhe "f new lllack social music, and the dances accompanying it, freed white American youngsters from the prudish and self-righteous inhibitions of their foreparents. &ut"-fhti4 t. r~mG\m.S ~(>i!.t_tott('. tt eda.OC$ f:'rooM11\-f t-/t¥1"17~. Generally, American science and industry developed more rapidly than in previous periods. ~ Russia launched Sputni~k, a feat which was followed v by~erican-Russian science and space-exploration race which 9~ continues. new..s ~ Telt star paved the way for -••J-••~i@~coverage of global activities while h~v-e \!, biochemical warfare and atomic researchJ\.became the nightmares people live4 daily. The American literary scene was swamped with political novels, satire, writings on the war and experimental-j ournalistic prose. The "underground " newspaper emerged as a major vehicle for this new writing. · ,ii~ 1 · {f~r,-fii)'( · . 11 present. psyc h o 1 ogy ~-emp 1 aye d 1.n ~ar 1.er I\.W:J ti § s~s s t1. The symbolism and FI owever, t h e influence of the writers from the Depression and war years is giving way to gadgetry and a new wave of existential concern. Black, Jewish, Chicano, Indian and Asian writers are grabbing more of the literary stage.~ I$ ..r-een 1n the vie.w ethnit. s(.)ur-"'a.Ls o.ncl fubl,st.;.jco mp,u,re.s t-lsweu..as ntVJ inier-e~t estt:bL1'the.cl f ub Lish e"'s , 0 �5~A. Contemporary white and third world writers of influence include: John Cheever, N. Scott Hornaday, Ralph Ellison, Bernard Malamud, Frank Chin, John Hersey, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, Ch~ a Achebe, Ernest Gaines, James Baldwin, Paul Chan, Flannery O' Connor, Albert Murray, Ishmael Reed, William Styron, James Ngugi, William Demby, Shawn Hsu Wong, John Barth, William Melvin Kelley• and Irvin Wallace. Black writers are included in the general listing because during the contemp.orary period, many of them achiev~d recognition on ~uh.'1bga.Clb}" "''.s ~l..5!.!''fil ( ) Sol.cl. ,~~- ..6J,. MU.Lioncop,e..r~ par with the best writers everywhere. J-teed el!iellllllfl[:lll=iil• was nominated in two categories for ihe National Book Award in 19 ]3'.l Aflt~mportant con- Amet-t'c.o,11, temporary/..poets are: Stanley Kunitz, Cyn Zarco, Robert Hayden, Richard Eberhart, Robert Penn Warren, Jose 1ontoya, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lawson Inada, Theodore Roethke, Karl Shapiro, Robert 1?rgas, llelvin Tolson, John Berryman, M\c.~~ c.H().y./!_ er Henry Dumas, Victor Hernandez Cruz, ~l ob~rt Uowell, Daniel Halpern, Richard Amir.I' Wilbur, Paul Vesey, James Dickey, Imamu1'!3araka, Sylvia Plath, William Bell and James Wright. Hayden received a National Book Award nomination in 1972 . art/Jf.s Many of the Black prose writers)~nd poets (some from the pre- and post-war schools) died during the contemporary period (Tolson, Bontemps, Hughes, Wright, Durem, Dumas, DuBois, Horne, Rivers, Toomer, Malcolm X, etc.). Indeed death, in one way or another, not only preoccupied writers (white and Black), but was often romantically pursued. Beat poet Kenneth Rexroth asked "Why have 30 American poets committed suicide since 1900?" Those poets not concerned ~e(F-des); ffi\,e, et., M enTs with death were investigating decadence or the • • • • • ~f society. The development of contemporary poetry cannot be viewed properly without understandi ng the "Beat" period . As a partial product of the Be Bop er, • - - Beat poets emulated the hip mannerisms and aped the "man alone" (drop-out) image associated with musicians. Be Bop was one way the Blackman used to fi ght the commercialization of his ar~ He also used it in playing �"Something," in the words of Thelonious Monk, "they can ' t play." (~, ,-..._ meaning whites). Important &n lllt Beat poets were Lawrence Fedlinghetti, Rexroth, All! n Ginsberg, and Gregory Corso, among the whites f.> and Bob o.. u116C ~ I ~,8; SpeL.MAll 7 among the Kaufman, Lef oi Jones, F ' fed Joan Blacks. The Beat Movement, which nurtured occultism, rejection of the Establishment and an existential view of life, was centered in New York's Greenwich Village and the San Francisco Bay area. Ir 'Al~•-••••·~~died in the early /ixties. Kaufman is viewed by many as the unsung patriarch of the era. $0Me.., ~ ~critics say major white poets of the movement enthusiastically took their cues from Kaufman's innovations, but were not so %, 7111d:.. 9'\in re- cognizing his influence. ltl J" (1261) • As a kind of spiritual heir to Toomer, Kaufman is a complex, sometimes fragmented, but brilliantly original poet. His work, like that of many of his contemporaries, is influence by Eastern religious thought and the occult. Stylistically, Kaufman has the "sweep" of Whitman coupled with the best techniques of modern poetry. He passionately experiments with jazz rhythms in poetry and often invokes jazz themes, moods and musicians. fvil Many Beat poets and enthusiasts later joined or were spawned by the {ights struggle which was intensified by several things: Martin Luther King's Montgomery bus boycott in 1955-56; sit-ins and other dramatizations of segregation and discrimination; the challenges of Jim Crow in travel in 1961 (CORE); the widening activities in SNCC (1961-64) and the March on Washington (1963). Other significant activities _enflamed and �inspired the hearts and imagination of Black American youth especially. The Muslims' (Nation of Islam) growth to 50,000 members by 1963 and the Congressional action on Civil Rights Legislation were two seemingly unrelated but strategically important events. The growing influence of the Muslims suggested that many Blacks no longer believed America was C.h{U')Qf..S sincere in its pledges to implementl\e~n when they became law. Qt.+'\ l\~(pA,,,f~ of='viol.fn,e, their distrust were the continued,\.ftlli•ge, night-ridings in the jouth; and harrassment of Blacks in public places and their homes. With the bitter taste of Emmi tt Till's murder still on their tongues, Blacks reeled under the killings of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, Halcolm X, Medgar Evers, King, the Kennedy brothers, and the three Black Panthers r ~:1..1.e,, in a Chicago apartment). #.y 1966, however, Lci..A by police ha.J Black Power signs and slogansAbegdn to replace the "We shall overcome-Black and White Together" exclamations. • wetA1-t1nf Young Black America, •orttitofll, Afro hairdos and African jewelry, attended cultural festivals, back-tofJLM \<. pciwo• t ohFt~ntu; Africa rallies,f\'.'oetry readings, and _ . read (III community news published in revolutionary broadsides and tabloids. Rhetorical forays by H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, young SNCC officers, set off a flurry of state and national laws against inciting to riot and the transpor of weapons across state boundaries. or i r) • S~t.$ Ja rse and swal--l ~ties.\ignited in fthl flame'.: .-.... setAt he stage for gun battles between police and the often 14 "imagined" snipers. These conflagrations were repeated in scores of cities after Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. Watts poet Quincy Troupe captured the shock and horror, and chronicled the official reaction, in his poem "White Weekend": �The deployed military troops surrounded the White House and on the steps of the Senate building a soldier behind a machine gun 32,000 in Washington & Chicago 1,900 in Baltimore Maryland 76 cities in flames on the landscape and the bearer of peace still lying in Atlanta ••. In the last stanza, Troupe notecsi with curdling irony: Lamentations! Lamentations! Lamentations! Worldwide! But in New York, on Wall Street #At the stock market went up 18 points this writing, fallout from the Black Revolution reverberates around the globe. Black journalist Thomas Johns_!on reports Irish revolutionaries sing "We Shall Overcome." Posters and emblems commercialize everything from African hairstyles to the raised clenched fist--the initial symbol of Black unity and defiance. A wave of Black movies--called Blaxploitation-- ~f'~L~s, beginning with "white" experimental ~ i k e Putney Swope (1969). is capturing a multi-million dollar theater patronage. Black movies retrieved the crippled movie industry from the brink of disaster. Meanwhile, the murder, incarceration and political harrassment of Black men and women mat e them heroes and heroines in Black communities--yet ironically symbolizel the torment and "genocidal schemes" of America (see Samuel Yette's The Choice). 4 l'f �Criss-crossed by paradoxes, political contradictions, social revolts --- and religious _ . ambivalences , the Black community is nevertheless regenerated by its singers and performers. Black popular music has not only reached unprecedented audiences, but unprecedented money-making capabilities. wht<-~ }hythm and ,;6.ues, s!!i![tl to ha ~Adied about 1965 , gave way to "Soul"-"I ' ma Soul Han," Sam and Dave announced in the late Sixties. The Impressions told lovers that you "gotta have soul" and Bobby Womack reminded listeners that the "Woman ' s Gotta Have I.t " --presumably "Soul." W>ntcfL..1 '4fVf<.oti •..1 Black recording companies 11 are 11"'~1b oc, , the .... largest onef being M<Crown (Detroit) , and Hebb a Sten ,. Curtis Hayfield ' s soundtrack album Superfly (1972) sold more than 22,000,000 copies and Marvin Gay ' s What ' s Going On (1971) set records for album sales. Recently, however, Stevie Wonder has surpassed them all. Literally dozens of singing groups--modeled on the quartets and ensembles of the ( ifties-are releasing albums regularly. These folk or "soul" poets have become _,d r.~pt_~ more "conscious" in recent years and many now ~ ~essages and exaltations of Blackness . their songs with political Much of this new wave came on the heels of severe criticism by Barak~ who admonished the singers for doting on unrequited love. he st\,dJ ifteme, Like \t\ Too many)f{ire preoccupied"witht\' 'my baby ' s gone, goney(!) Black consciousness activity--and creativity in general--now flourishes . Related involvement includes: development of Black acting ensembles; opening of free schools and Black universities; establishment of Black Nationalist/ i ultural communes; increase in the number of Black bookstores and African boutiques; establishment of Black Studies programs on white and Black �campuses and, in some cases, quota systems for enrolling Black students; the escalation of Black deman~ for "cream of the crop" jobs such as tv ;, announcing and the hosting of variety shows; expansion and creation of new roles for Black newspapers, magazines and radio stations; formation of ~L ~D gzL1M1111lUm~NwlP""lnM112~0a""'lf!s~t~aw~~')\~JBlack Cong;essional caucus• and similar units i n ~ ano Lel ista'T"'"~ bo~lte.s professional~ · · and, finally and importantly, new engagement with Africa and her problems and possibilities. Indeed, future trips to Africa-- to the "Mother country" or "Homeland"--are discussed at all age and social levels. Much of this renewed interest is understandable in light of the emergence during the contemporary period of several African nation states and the increased fraternization among Africans and Afro-Americans. Malcolm X, ,tudel\ ' ~ r)d. ':) . ca~onized today by great numbers of Black~ntellectuals, did much to foster this current interest in Africa. Shot to death at a expelled from the Nation of Islam, and had formed a splinter group known as the Organization of Afro-American Unity. His Autobiography of Malcolm X (with Alex Haley, 1965), which (as he predicted) he did not get to see in print, chronicles' his odyssey as Malcolm Little, hustler "Detroit Red," Malcolm X, and El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz. h~s k.eet1 N-ionized by Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Ossie Davis, Baraka and various other shcolars, activists and artists. Black poets, especially, have found Malcolm (and Coltrane) a limitless source of inspiration. can be seen in For Malcolm: A partial indication of his impact on poets Poems on the Life and Death of Malcolm X (1967), edited by Dudley Randall and Margaret G. Burroughs. Shabazz" Robert Hayden noted that: In "El-Hajj Halik El �He X'd his name, became his people's anger, exhorted them to vengence for their past; rebuked, admonished them , Their scourger who would shame them , drive them 4.tthe from the lush ice gardens of their servitude. First World Festival of Negro Arts, held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966, Hayden was awarded the Grand Prize for Poetry . A major event, the festival was attended by experts, scholars , artists and enthusiasts of the Black Arts who gathered for 24 days to hear papers and discussions, view art exhibits) W cultural performances, and give prelim ' nary direction to the Black Arts Movement. one of the architects (with -- NegritudeI #/la clsair~ . . Damas) : f a philosophy of Black Humanism.•1•l•·•.-.-•N11s~n~s.e~§iiaa zrsu wt et tJJe esngj : · ard artjsts "C$k\e,rtSenghor,(senega~ ~ Presiding over the festival was znd Ills J Ii Q!l!Jd@ I J 1 & a I t . t · s te JJ es tr als Fr African-oriented publications such as Pr~sence Africaine and Black Orpheus have renewed their interests in Black American writers . Likewise, Black American journals and popular magazines (Black World, Journal of Black Poetry, The Black Scholar, Essence, Encore, Ebony, Jet, etc.) have begun to publish more materials by and about Africans . The revolution in the Black Arts was signaled by many events including the First Conference of Negro Writers in Harch of 1959. Langston Hughes was an important figure t here--as he was at the Dakar gathering seven years later . The First American Festival of Negro Art was held in 1965 and the Second AFNA ' �took place in November of 1969 in Buffalo, N.Y. Interlacing these and other conferences, symposia and conventions, were exciting developments and experiments in New York, Chicago, Watts, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit and Washington, D.C. During these periods of social turmoil and artistic upsurge writers and poets often aligned themselves with ideological positions and regional movements. Consequently, Black Arts communes and regional brands of Black consciousness grew concurrently. Splits between older fvil f..ights workers and Black Nationalists were paralleled by splits between older writers and it younger pracw,oners of "Black Arts." The splits were not always clear-cut, however, for many older activists and poets joined the new mood in spirit, thematic concern and personal life style, while some of the younger writers retained the influence of the earlier moods. Complicating things even more • were the variants on the domtnant themes of each camp. Gwendolyn Brooks, Randall, Margaret Danner, Margaret Walker and John Oliver Killens are among the older group of writers who vigorously took up the banner of the new mood. rt.PL c...-t Younger writers whose works I{ J ., IJ/f'ome "tradition" include Henry Dumas (Poetry For My People, 1970 and Play Ebony Play Ivory, 1974), Conrad Kent Rivers (The Still Voice of Harlem, 1963, etc.), Julia Fields (Poems, 1968), Al Young (Dancing, 1969, etc.), and Jay Hright (The Homecoming Sinrrey, 1972) to name just a few. ~he creative promise of this period was dealt a severe blow by the untimely deaths of Dumas and Rivers in 1968) These poets are deeply influenced by the moods and preoccupations of the period (self-love, racial injustice, violence, war, Black ¢onsciousness and;{istory) but they work along tested lines and experiment within careful and thought-out frames of references. Most of the writers of the period �(their styles and ideologies notwithstanding) have found themselves engulfed at one time or another in heated debates over questions related to the vf.~\6 "Black Aesthetic," the relationship of writer to reader, Black,.__• white audiences, and the part politics should play in their life and work. At this writing, these discussions continue in most sections of the Black forld. The flurry of ideological and aesthetical debate among the poets (and other writers) has often been precipitated or attended by critical writings, historical ~ies, social essays and public political statements. Some of the individuals associated with initiating the plethora of rhetoric on the question of a "Black" aesthetic (and related issues) are Ron Karenga, 1 -~ " Gwendolyn Brooks, Barak.a, ~Ct-yleJ Edward Spriggs, , a, H~f IL" Fuller ..,S,.C,tlClgJf Redding, Cllllll!li~ t lison, ' P11 (Black World), Larry Neal, Ernest L•r,. Kaiser, Mel Watkins, Ron Welburn, - - ~ Randall, Lerone Bennett, Jr., Nathan Scott, James Emanuel, Toni Cade-Bambara, John Henrik Clarke, Don L. Lee, Ed Bullins, and Stanley Crouch . A number of important studies, literary and cultural, by Black and white writers, aided in whetting or prolonging the critical thirsts. are: -me~~ Some of tliaAimportant and/or controversial writings The Militant Black Writer: in Africa and the United States (1969), Cook and Henderson; Black Expression (1969) and The Black Aesthetic (1971) Gayle Jr., ed,; Muntu: Literature: The New African Culture (1961) and Neo-African A History of Black Writing (1968), Jahn; Langston Hughes: Black Genius (1971), O' Daniel, ed.; Black Poets of the United States: Paul Lawrence Dunbar to Langston Hughes (1963, French edition; 1973 English trans., Douglas), Wagner; Before the Mayflower (1962), Bennetta (196 ; Shadow and Act Ellison; Understanding the New Black Poetry (1973), Henderson; Colloquim on Negro Art: First World Festival of Negro Arts, 1966 (1968), �I Editions Presence Africaine; The Negro Novel in America (1965), Bone; Mother is Gold: A Study in West African Literature (1971), Roscoe; The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (1967), Cruse; Native Son\: A Critical Study of- Twentieth-Century Negro American Authors (1968), Margolies; Dynamite Voices: Black Poets of the 196O's, vol. I (1971), Lee; Blues People (1963), Black Music (1967), Home: Social Essays (1966), and Raise Race Rays Raze (1971), Baraka; and Give Birth to Brightness (1972), Williams. A number of Black critics, artists, and activists heatedly de- nounce whites who research or criticize Black literature, saying that only those who have lived the Black Experience can write about it. Another group holds that whites can report on Black writing if they are sincere and sympathetic. The Black Arts Movement , as the contemporary period is sometimes called, took place in the shadows of what many Black social critics have "second Reconstruction." termed ••Athe Hence, much of the writing is a revolt against political hypocrisy and so~ial alienation. In the angriest poetry, authors shower,.. disdain and obscenities on the "system" and whites in general. Refusing "integration" even if offered, younger poets deridef American values and attitudes. "Unlike the Harlem group ," Hayden noted, "they rejected entry into the mainstream of American literature as a desirable goal." Of course, more than a few of the older poets were writing in the/ixties and are writing today. Many of them, however, were sometimes laid aside by young readers who were unable to separate "poetry" from the fiery declamations of Carmichael, Brown and innumerable local spokesmen and versifiers. Often the poets exchanged superficial indictments, indulged in name-calling and, as groups or individuals, began rating each other on their "levels of Blackness" even though no criteria existed then and none exists today for .I lf{)O �such judging . . Nuch of the dispute centered around the question o f wh o II starte d" the Black Arts or New Black Poetry movements . While it is true that there ~ -leading ligp.ts of the new movements, it is misleading and false to .say that -one geographical region of the country or one group of persons is solely. responsible for either the main (or major) writing output or for kicking off. any tradition of Blacks writing about themselves. Such a stand would dismiss the fro-American musical past, on the one hand, and distort the historical development of the creative wri t ·ing and thought on the other. Anyway, the - question of who started what is not that significant. During the sixties and intv the seventies, literally hundreds of Black poets started writing and publishing--in tabloids, magazines, broadsides, anthologies and individual collections . were the new publications: of Black Poetry . regions. Also showcasing the new poetry Umbra, Black Dialogue, ~ d The Journal Significant clu~ters of poets developed in geographical And the atmosphere was enhanced by a number of African thinkers, artists, poets and novelists who arrived ~/\America to teach, lecture, perform and travel. The importance of this interaction among Blacks from various parts of the globe cannot be overemphasized. Black writers and students now read African, West Indian and Afro-Latin writers. �Hughes acquainted American audiences with African literature in his anthologies: An African Treasury: Essays, Stories, Poems by Black Africans (1960) and Poems from Black Africa (1963). Whispers from a Continent: In 1969, Trinidadian Hilfred Cartey edited The Literature of Contemporary Black Africa. Marie Collins compiled Black Poets in French (1972) and Keor l petse Kgositsile edited The Word Ls Here (1973). Other scholars and writers also wrote critical studies or edited anthologies of African and Caribbean literature. Black writing received a significant boost when in 1971 Senghor and Afro-Cuban poet Nichol' s Guill~n were nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature--thus fulfilling James Weldon Johnson ' s 1922 prophecy that the first Black writer to achieve substantial international fame would not come from America. Heightening the feeling of the period was Charles Gordone ' s winning of the Pulitzer Prize for drama (No Place to Be Somebody, 1970). -wn Black writers now publishing or living in the U. S. are Nigerian novelist-poet Achebe, exiled South African poet Kgositsile, Nigerian poet-playwright Wale Soyinka, Ghanaian poet Kwesi Brew , South African critic Ezekiel 11phahlele, Nigerian poet-playwright Ifeanyi Menkiti, Martinj~Y? poet-playwright clsaire and Guianese poet-scholar Damas. The writers fraternize, ex- Hphahlele, for example, has written critical (i1UJ4"' drJ.y11 studies of Black American writing (Voices in the Whirlwind, 1972) while~ change ideas and compare styles. Brooks has praised African writing (Introduction, Kgositsile ' s ~1y Name is Afrika, 1971). South African poet, Hazisi Kunene, wrote the Introduction ko~, Awoonef"(~ ~ Me"'•"Y> h~s ,vl,Li.JJ.ed-rtf,.te l,oo~s it11kt c,.s. for Cesaire ' s Return to Hy Native Land _(1969 t r a n s l a t i o ~ _... e;4..,.,, Poet ? Csever:~ ~re-American expatriate artists and writers returned to America during the current period for either temporary or permanent residency . d/TfAdded to ll 1h~ . activities and ~ changes ~ he establishment of �Black publishing houses (Broadside Press, Third World Press, The Third Press, ______ ..... etc.) and hundreds of .-w. news organs and literary journals. Ii" ...... have also been published. A number of important anthologies Some of the more notable ones include Beyond The Blues, Pool, 1962; Sixes and Sevens, Breman, 1962; American Negro Poetry, Bontemps, 1963; Soon One Morning: New Writing by American Negroes, 1940 - 1962, Hill, 1963; New Negro Poets, Hughes, 1964; Kaleidoscope, Hayden, 1967; Black Voices, Abrahams, 1968; Black Fire, Jones and Neal, 1968; The New Black Poetry, a.bAvL Major, 1969; Soulscript, Jordan, 1970; 3000 Years of Black Poetry, .a...~and Lomax, 1970; New Black Voices, Abrahams, 1972; The Black Poets, Randall, 1971; Black Spirits, King , 1972; and The Poetry of Black America, Adoff, 1973. In addition to these and other nationally distributed anthologies, many collections of Black Literature were compiled and published in various regions • �tkom 1111111-.-=zll8Sl=m:t:::::mc::a::::m::i::ticl;:m:!!:1mm::ila;c:::iillia::~:;;=i]i~~;;:=a-==-=mmsm:c:t:a ~M~ 111 ~--olll_!I P!llple!El!!!! o!!l:: (d~e!Jii r z::t: t\f\:t:ldl:cy~oc,:c:cftas~ : r;:..n ril:Ja!dn,::Cel!l~tlL c::;tm n "=et: cl~t crti · h·e· t-fl h1 P · · · Lucille Clifton (Good Times, News About the Earth.;:: ,.... Pinkie Gordon Lane (Wind Thoughts), :Nii :::1 Harper (Dear John, Dear ~C~o.:!:l~t_Er~aEn:5=ei_,__2:!lI2;i~s~t~o_Ery__y2i~s~Y~o~u~r~O~wn~EH~e~a~r:.Et:_Eb~e:f!a~t~1•_.. .._ ) , ,11■•••e Cuney (Puzzles) , Troupe (Embryo) , Sterling Plump (Half Black Half Blacker) , Jayne Cortez (Pisstained Stairs and the Monkey Man ' s Wares, Festivals and Funerals ~. Dumas , Rivers/ Nikki Giovanni (Black Judgement, Black Feeling, Black Thought , Re: Creation) , Reed ( atechism of 4. neoamerican hoodoo church t1µ--. ) , David Henderson (De Mayor of Harlem ) , Arthur Pfister (Bullets, Beer Cans & Things), Baraka (Black Magi1~ .a ), John Ec~ s (Home is Where the Soul Is) , - - Bontemps (Personals) , Hayden(Selected Poems , Words in the �Mourning Time ), Lee (Think Black, Black Pridr" 0 ), ~onia Sanchez (~II~o~m~e~c~o~m~i~n~gi• • • •? , Randall (Cities Burning and !ore to Remember), Crouch (Ain ' t No Ambulances for No Ni and the Las" ; Vhs Toni ht), Hughes (The Panther Norimarr, jok:f nC~OR!tiru 1l~A«l m } , Atkins (Heretofore) ~ May Miller (Into the Clearing~ Austin Black (The Tornado in My Houth), Tolson (Harlem Gallery), Young.) James A. Emanuel (Panther Man), Vesey (Ivory Tusks) , Mari Evans (I Am A Black Woman) , Julia Field ~ Stephany (Hoving Deep), Etheridge Knight (Poems from Prison), Gwendolyn Brooks (In the Hecca, Riot, Family Picturei a ), Roy Hill (49 Poems, etc.), Ray Durem (Take ~o Pt~ePDff~) . Far from being exhaustive, this list is merely p4rlad~ representative of the!\.great poeti Many of the po~ts a lso writ • ehildr~n, S'··stories (Evans, Jordan,Clifton) 4twl o.n a L O Cl-'- a.nn*,u7.iCTNHlpe.,a-u.}°"'d •t....,t """'~ """'',t•s ..i•• fiction( Heed, Youn~) A. ' cri ti e irm1(Neal) . l lte list grows and changes con,.-, stantly, especially in view of the (Oft unfolding of surprises . Suffice it to say that the contemporary mood of Black poetry is multi-leveled and complex . There are generalities; one is that most of the poets unreservedly saturate their work with obvious Black references and cultural motifs . There is also an anti-intellectual flavor as many poets turn their backs on academic or Western forms. 1s. rtvett This t-':: el- ,' a general disregard for the esoteric, clo ie,vre literary and sometimes •••Aallusions white poetry. employed in much -rn . :rs Lo.,.'',. There are exceptions, of course-- notably i nAs pecial ~symbo lism I of Musli,11 poets (Marvin X, Askia Toure, Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, and others). These exceptions can also be seen in works of poets who explore African Ancestor Cults, Voodoo, mysticism and African languages C,eed, K. Curtis Lyle, ilE Tour~, Kaufman).ac:za otho~So. Dumas, Norman Jordan, Sun Ra, Generally, though, Black poets are �framing t:iilll:l:lll!l!l~ allusions, images and symbols in the more concrete cultural motifs, as indicated in a line from li!Zi l+ Redmond's "Tune for a Teenage Neice": "spiced as pot-liquor . " :.m:. _TH_E_•\/..:...:0::.J.ic=E=S~O-"-n,..,__T__II_E_ _T_OT_E_M_S!J--rA. 'Soon, One Morning~ Threshhold of the New Black Poetry My Blackness is the beauty of this land. ---- Lance Jeffers Wright called ,._ Blacks "America's metaphor" and Lance Jeffers -tl,e1tttU referred to~ 'the beauty of this land." -thQ. .-.i S oth • ••••m•••~ stances were taken well in advance ofl\'Black Pride" poetry of the sixties and seventies. Margaret Walker ' s discussion of her playmates in the Alabama "dust" (1937) is not self-deprecating; and Gwendolyn Brooks' f portrait~fatin Legs Smith (1945) is far from being unhappy. These are only four randomly selected poetic affidavits of Blacks viewing themselves "po sitively" before the advent of the New Black Poetry. We could, of course, bring up hundreds of examples from Hughes. the poetry of Phyllis Wheatley through But the point, already made, is simply that one is seriously remiss in looking at recent Black poetry without considering its history. The poets who wrote and published between 1945 and 1965, for example, did not work in sealed chambers of tunneled vision . S<.~ .F Each group, each cluster of concern, evolved from~ vhat had been written or said before. Some of these poets were heavily influenced by white writers , teachers, and critics. However, the best of them applied their knowledge and tools to the service of the Black literary tradition. Others ~ere under the direct tutelage of Slacks (Paul -.tl•ts "'~u,., Vesey studied with .-rl\ Johnson, Ro,....,. Joyce Yeldell with Hayden) and became part /\ �of a continuing line of Black.C::-•=P• thought and writing (Vesey in turn taught Arthur Pfister). Whatever their make-up, or their mission, the poets as a group show great facility with language, depth of insight and passionate concernf for their collective and individual hurts l as Blacks and as humans. ~t,,p...VftfteJ°' The works of thes ~ poets, and that of their older pen-fellows, can be found in several anthologies: Poetry of the Negro (1949, 1970); the bilingual Ik zag hoe Zwart Ik Was (I Saw How Black I Was, 1958); Beyond the Blues (1962); American Negro Poetry (1963); Burning Spear (1963); Sixes and Sevens (1963); Negro Verse (1964); New Negro Poets: USA (1964, 1966); Poets of Today (1964); the bilingual Ik Ben De Nieuwe Neger (I Am the New Negro, 1965); and Kaleidoscope (1967). Bontemps and Hughes edited Poetry of the Negro in 1949/ jhe first major collection since Cullen ' s Caroling Dusk . ft was revised by Bontemps in 1970 after Hughes' • death. Interestingly, some of the 1949 entries \.,dude are deleted while the table of contents has been doctored to ..._,..,,new entries .o,..c-lt-o I 'l\p 1l I Randall, Evans and I Bontemps, a Renaissance also edited American 1'o Dureml\,coincide with their age-line. poet who did not publish a volume until 1963 (Personals), Negro Poetry, a task which gave him the opportunity to pick the best from the past as well as the present .I V!y«Mcl-1:hf - .i e..w Mow .....,~ ~ 'ttn,.... -- Ito.de ~ was Q.t, d Swere published in Holland and England and edited by Rosey Pool, with the assistance of Paul Bremen. ~iftre.oF Dr. Pool (1905-1973), a~ Iolland llf , came across Cullen when she was preparing a paper on American poetry in 1925. covery led to a life~long interest in Black culture and poetry. This disDuring 1959/60 she toured the United States on a Fulbright travel grant, spending several months visiting and lecturing at 27 Black colleges and universities. work in Black poetry has drawn mixed reactions from cautious Black writers and critics. But her importance in helping to bring attention to Black poets, �despite cries of "exploitation," is undeniable. Even more controversial is Bremen, who appears to fancy himself as an English Jean-Paul Sar*; he originated the Heritage Series--"devoted entirely to the works of Afro-American authors"--with Hayden's A Ballad of Remembrance in 1963. Since that time Bremen, who edited Sixes and Sevens and You Better Believe It: Black Verse in English-(1973), has released more than 20 volumes of Afro-American poetry . Randall's Broadside Press servQ es as the American distributor of the slim books which have included the aesthetical and historical range of Black poetry: Horne (Haverstraw, 1963) ·, Bontemps, Rivers (The Still Voice of Harlem, 1968; The Wright Poems, 1972), - - Evans (Where is all the Music?, 1968 but withdrawn "at the author's request"), Atkins (Heretofore, 1968), Lloyd Addison (The Aura & the Umbra, 1970), Audre Larde (Cables to Rage, 1970), Randall, (Love You, 1970), Ir; 1 Reed, whom Bremen calls "the best Black poet writing today" (Catechism of d neoamerican hoodoo church, 1970), James W. Thompson (First Fire: Poems 1957-1960, 1970), Dodson, Harold Carrington (Drive Suite, 1972), Clarence Major (Private Line, 1971), the "first non-American contributor" Mukhtarr lustapha (Thorns and Thistles, 1971), Durem (Take No Prisoners, 1971), and Hayden (The Night-Blooming Cereus, 1972). Bremen notes that both Mari Evans and Raymond Patterson ordered their books withdrawn because they "were suspicious of the contract terms." In addition to such "suspicion," felt also by other Black poets, there is great resentment of Bremen's fast-draw critical evaluations of the poetry--which bro<>.der to"1ter--rts are often caustic, ridiculous~ narrow, and reflect a lack of & 13 3 1 : of Black poetry. poets. He calls Durem, for example, one of the first "Black" His statement about Reed, coming as it did in 1970, di es violence to both the author and the critical atmosphere in which Black poets grapple everyday. He says Dumas was born in the "incredibly named town" of Sweet �Nevertheless (alas!), one wonders where these Black poets .., published if such 11 dis.e ases" as Bremen did not exist. • Negro Verse, edited by Anselm Hollo, has no introduction or forward, but does include a dozen blues and Gospel song-poems. New Negro Poets was )n7hetitLe T'/H>G~' edited by Hughes with a Forward by Gwendoly,. Use of the word "new" A.exemplifies Gwend{llyn the kind of spirit that was in ascension at the time. ~Brooks ~._sea.r-d- is also her usual/\,definitive self: At the present time, poets who happen also to be Negroes are twQce-tried. They have to write poetry, and they have to remember that they are Negroes. Often they wish that they could solve the Negro question once and for all, and go on from such success to the composition of textured sonnets or biant villanelles about the transcience of a raindrop, or the gold-stuff of the sun. They are likely to find signi- ficances in those subjects not instantly obvious to their fairer fellows. The raindrop may seem to them to represent racial tears--and those might seem, indeed, other than transient. The golden sun might remind them ti they are burning. There is an attitude in this statement that the Gwendolyn Brooks of 1968 will reject: "poets i(ho happen also to be Negroes." But she reflects Cullen in the "dark tower" and his ruminating on the "curious thing" of the Black poet. She also presages the twistings and turnings in Jayne Cortez' f "Festivals & Funerals." ~ , in introducing the "New Negro Poets," she informs the reader that "here are some of the prevailing stars of an early tomorrow." Walter Lowenfels '#f decision to include "20 Negroes" in Poets of Today was spurred in part by his recognition (along with Shapiro) that "most general �anthologies of American poetry exclude Negroes." An authority on Whitman, Lowenfels shared an award with E.E. Cummings in the thirties, and has helped a number of Black poets make it into print: Dumas, Troupe, Patterson, Redmond, Carrington, Major, Reed, Harper, Hayden, and many others. Lowenfels' was the first new white-edited anthology to include such a substantial number of Blacks. There were 85 poets in all. One of the most important of these anthologies is Burning Spear which contains the work of the Howard Poets: Walter DeLegall (1936Govan ) , Jeffers c,<f/q , Percy Johnston (1930- LeRoy Stone (1936- ) , Al Fraser , Oswald ), Nathan Richards ) f and Joseph White. Burning Spear, subtitl~ An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, was an outgrowth of the Dasein Literary e~ o.l,L,'sJie.J Society, located at Howard University, which J("laS1&1!11i11••• Dasein: A uarterl Journal of the Arts in 1961••--~ as publisher while DeLegall was editor. Johnston, its founder, served Their connection with the older group of poets and scholars is evident in the advisory board A. Brown, Arthur P . · Davis, Owen Dodson and Eugene C. Holmes. fait : Sterling Fraser, Govan, w e.r-e.. Jeffers, Stone and White ?<' A..contributing editors. Poets in the inaugural issue of Dasein, which doubled as a memorial to Richard Wright, were Delores Kendrick, Clyde R. Taylor, Jeffers, William Jackson, Vernon A. Butler, Robert Slaughter, Laura A. Watkins, Govan, Fraser, Delores F. Henry, R. Orlando Jackson, DeLegall, Johnston and Stone. There is no single unifying thread running through either Dasein or Burning Spear but Black influences and subjects are clearly imbe d. Burning Spear, for example, is published by Jupiter Hammon Press, another connection-in name--to the tradition of Black poetry. In a back-cover note, the eight contributors are called "a new breed of young poets who are to American poetry what Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis i �are to American jazz." After this important analogy, the statement continues: These eight Afro-Saxon poets are not members of a literary movement in the traditional sense of the word, because they do not have in common any monist view about creativity or aesthetics. Collectively, however, they are indifferent to most critics and reviewers--since criticism in America is controlled and written in the main by Euro-Americans. ii H U Poems by DeLegall, Jeffers, Johnston and Stone also appear in Beyond the Blues "1nd.. and in numerous "little" magazines. MA..all of the poets participated in reading-lecture programs leading up to the wider interests in poetry in the later sixties and seventies . DeLegall (Philadelphia) 1 a mathematician and electronic data processing specialist, published in many anthologies and quarterlies, and Ted~ read his poetry and lectured at various eastern and · southern colleges. Fraser (Charleston) is a political scientist with a specialization in African Affairs . Along with DeLegall, Stone, Govan, Johnston and Richards, he has been recorded reading his poetry at the Library of Congress. Fraser cultivated a coffee-shop audience for his readings and appeared before college groups . He is a philosopher-mathematician. One of the older members of the group , Jeffers (San Francisco) is credited with having " influence" on the Howard Poets. He has taught English and writing at half a dozen American colleges and universities. His first volume of W,o. poetry was My Blackness is the Beauty of This Land (1970) and ~second, When I ,\N"t,O Know the Power of My Black Hand, Broadside Press . b~u9lti ~out in 1975 . Both are published by Jeffers has also written novels, short stories and criticism. �Johnston (New York) currently teaches at a college in New Jersey and with ---. Stone "co-authored the revolutionary verse pamphlet Continental Streamlets. Also a playwright, Johnston published a pamphlet of his poetry, Concerto for Girl and Convertible in 1960 and was considered the leader of the Howard Poets. 1 White is a native Philadelphian whose work appeared in Liberator, Poets of Today, and other places. He is a technician for FAA and has written short stories as well as successful prose-poems. As a group, the Howard Poets represent one of the toughest intellectual strains in contemporary Black poetry. Maybe the fact of their having such diverse interests, backgrounds, and training aided in their vitality, virtuosity and power. To be sure, these are "conscious" poets; but--avoiding slogans and sentimental hero-worship--they present precise analyses and interpretations of their world. Most of them grew up in the Be Bop era and so their subjects quite naturally include Miles Davis, Lester Young, Charles "Yardbird" Parker, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and other makers and contributors to that period. struggle :a .- ,4 ,.c.or-.ce'f\ ¢ P.o" merge$ with ~ . a.n Aawareness uttft/ivil ;ights and of the "bomb," middle class pretensions, history, mythology, religion, and the various trends in poetry: Beat poetry, jazz Black modernity, and folk lyrics.tlneLegall celebrates the Black presence ("Hy Brownskin Business") and satirizes a pretentious Howard coed ("Requiem for A Howard Lady") who is "cultured" and performs every social amenity perfectly. She wears "High-heeled tennis shoes'; but he hopes, near the poem's end, that the president of The Universal Institute of Eugenics will send a New species of female who will be robed in clothes of "sincerity" and who can be called "A Woman." II �In "Ps alm for Sonny Rollins " he announcef that he is Absorbed into the womb of the s ound . I am in the sound The sound is in me. I am the sound. Rollins, the Harlem pied piper, will lead his listeners to "truth," "Zen," ~ · · fu ~ r~~ "Poetry," and "God . " "f'f'After "The Blast" (nuclear bombingJ/\there will be ... no I, no world, no you. /J.nd /('ovan also writes convincinely as in "The Lynching": He was soaked in oil and the match thrown. He screamed, he cried, he moaned, he crackled in his fiery inhuman dance . Govan's interests span the turbulence in "Hungary , " space exploration ("The Angry Skies Are Calling"), and "Prayer" wherein he asks "Christ" for a new dawn's light! Jeffers is a living example of the -....a helpless p l ight of many a Black writer. 11 i}m e,-,'ic«n Although he had been writing for several decades, his work was whit~~listed by anthologists and his poetry did not appear in book form until the seventies . "My Blackness is the Beauty of this Land" stands as a rebuff to those who say " Illack" poetry wasf'invented" ~ecentlyJ Jeffers' s poem, written in the fifties , is a t once defiantJ -1 proua Jruv-bvleni' My blackness is the beauty of this land, my blackness, tender and strong, wounded and wise, The narrator, after the fashion of Hargarct Walker, chronicles the hurts, the happinesses, and the hungers of Blacks . These he stands against his �"whiteness" and the perversions of larger America. mines the same vein: past. "Black Soul of the Land" rich reliance on the well-deep strength of the Black The "old black man" in Georgia is "leathered, lean, and strong." And these are secrets that "crackers could not kill": a secret spine unbent within a spine, a secret source of steel, a secret sturdy rugged love, a secret crouching hate, a secret knife within his hand, a secret bullet in his eye. The poet asks the old man to pass on his source of strength so that he, and his fellows, will be able to "turn black" the soul of the nation and America shall cease to be its name. Jeffers gathers up a fury of love, anguish and commitment in other poems: . "Her Black and African Face I Love," "The Man with A Furnace in His Hand," "Negro Freedom Rider," "Her Dark Body I Cluster,"" Black Han in A New Day," and "Prophecy." Johnston echoes Jeffers, though in a different voice· and style, in many of his poems. prit1A.~v' But Johnston's~conefern is with Black music and musicians. "To Paul Robeson, Opus No. 3" celebrates the multi-faceted talents of the man whose song "stood Brooklyn on its feet." magnificent tribute to the President of jazz: tinues to "ignite the heart." "In Memoriam: Prez" is a Lester Young whose music con- In "Fitchett's Basement Blues, Opus B" Johnston wonders why everytime I want Coltrane or Sonny all I get is Brubeck, ... �"Dewey Square," with its "Beat" repertoire and interests in contemporary everyman, is a poetic summary of the collective history of Johnston's generation. Words for "unkinking hair,11 recollections of radio shows, reminders of Relief and WPA, and Duke Ellington, all leave Johnston with the knowledge that nothing Has changed but my postal zone. In other pieces he surveys the current and past Black musical scene: "'Round 'Bout Midnight, Opus 17," "Variation on a Theme by Johnston," and "To Bobby Timmons." c//. "Black is My Reward" Richards says, noting that Sorrow came, and I left the world ••• Anf experimentalist, his "Do Not Forget to Remember" includes a " prelude" and an "interlude." Like the other poets, he writes primarily in free verse Consiin+lv (almost no rhyme) and in the foregoing poem he~epeats "A petal falls ." The Howard Poets all touch grief and anguish, as does Richards in "God Bless This Child and Other -Children ••• Requiem." ~ resembl~i.ce Atkins. e-R,P:a:t:j 2111,n·~ In syntax and vocabulary, it the beats and ~ Kaufman and Lll~tt41.y m&~l9:::::iiillll.,_ Words and phrases like "matronymic diva," "sepiacenic martyr," "albumenic hawk," "womb-prize," and "black aegis" convey the mystical and eerie sense implied~ · the repetition of "sleep" and the innovative typography of the poem Leroy lso experimental and original is ~Stone. Miles Davis' I "Flamenco Sketches" is separated into five parts: cannons, enart and bill. His study of ouvert, selim, New York is "red in weeping" and Chicago is "Black- draped" as Miles utters in "mutes." The music captures the Dissonant nostalgia of one kiss of a Spanish lady as it weaves in and oU:t of transcontinental experiences and locations~ Davis' ti use and 'knowledge of ·world music is revered. Finally, \ �, the music is asked to Comment on a cloud of oriental ninths comment! In "Notes from the Cubicle of A disgruntled Jazzman" Stone becomes a verbal maestro ripping in "changes," rattling up "thirteenths," storming the "minor mode," and whipping up "passing tones"--all "with impunity." ~Epk.vfuite' s "Black is A Soul" repeats "<lown" as the -e_ersona drops into "depths," "the abyss," and the "infinite" vfuere black-eyed peas & greens are stored ..•• This poignant revelation is mad.e in the end: I raise my down bent kinky head to charlie {----& I'm black. & shout I'm black I'm from Look ~ack. f!:'" We think immediately of titles like Think Black (Lee) and "Say It Loud-I'm Black and I'm Proud" (James Brown) even though this poem preceded them by several years--to say nothing of Joseph Cotter, Jr. 's "Is it Because I'm Black." But White can also do light and touching things as in "Picnic" and "Day is Done" which places "music in the air" as he prepares for bed and his "woman" sets her hair. His ironic, satirical "Inquisitive" displays the range of these poets. The narrator wknders where "Gods" and "buddhas" hide if the earth and sky are both visible to man. �(cMllf Little critical attention has been given the,Howard~~ or any of the other poets •.,.rfitU well-Known wr-:i\nQ ft c upp4iaa · ag vn~~m'rlltt._ including •t.,.as well as Anderson (1938- perrod during this ...~ . names: Cuestas (1944- Joyce Yeldell (1944Hernton (1932- ), Peter T. Rogers, John Sherman Scott, Carmell ), Vesey, Sarah Wright (1929- ), Robert Earl Fitzgerald (1935- Zack Gilbert (1925Latimer (1927- ), ), James Emanuel (1921- Herbert Clark Johnson (1911- ), Nanlf James P . Vaughn (1929- Ishmael Reed (1938(1942- ), Yvonne Gregory ), Roscoe Lee Browne ), Oliver Pitcher (1923- ) , ·) , David Henderson ), Thurmond Spyder, A.B . Spellman (1935- Mance Williams, Tom Dent, LeRoi Jones (1934- , ), Bette Darcie ), Mary Carter Smith (1924- ) , Adam David Hiller (1922- ), Don Johnson (1942- ) , ), Catherine Carter ), Robert J. Abrams (1924- ), William Browne (1930- ) Alba (1915-1968), Frank London Brown (1927-1962), Isabella Maria Brown (1917), Ernest J. Wilson, Jr. (1920- , ) , Rivers, McM . Wright, ), Roy Hill, Sam Cornish (1938- ), Frank Yerby (1916- ) ), Hoyt ), Ossie Davis (1922- ), Oliver La Crone (1915- Pauli Murray (1910- , ), Calvin ), Sarah Webster Fabio (1928- ), Carl Gardener (1931- ) ), Gloria C. Oden, Mose ), Alfred Duckett (1918- Lerone Dennett, Jr. (1928- (1930- ) , Katherine ), Gordon Heath, Horne, Ted ), Lula Lowe Weeden (1918- Carl Holman (1919- (1917- , ), Naomi Madgett, James C. Morris, O'Higgins, Patterson, Simmons, James W. Thompson (1935- (1919- ) ) , Margaret Danner, Gloria Davis, - - - Dur em, Mari James Randall (1938- Fuller (1927- ), Julian Bond (1940- ), Leslie M. Collins (1914- Evans, Micki Grant, Julia Fields (1938Joans (1928- Johnson Ackerson, Charles ), Eugene Redmond (1937- John Henrik Clarke (1915- But they are legion, ), Vivian Ayers, Helen ) , �Ed Robe~~on1 Morgan Brooks, Solomon Edwards (1932Polite (1932- ) ,/\Yilma Howard, George Love, Allen Ho.--t Leroi ), Lloyd Addison (1931- B',bb~ },~Durwood Collins (1937- ), Bobb Hamilton, ~fay Hiller, Stanley Morris, Jr. (1944 dn ~~lo~1es K11is non-exhaustive list was often intermingled with early poets (as far back as Phyllis Wheatley~ _ . older ones (Johnson, :McKay, Dunbar)./ I and spiced with a good offering of post-Renaissance poets (Walker, Brooks, Tolson, Hayden). Names like Fuller, Bennett, Jr., Holman, Yerby, Davis, and Clarke, fall in the category of "occnsional" poets--most of whom undertook full-time duties as novelists, editors, lawyers or teachers. Other important movements paralle l to this phase were the emergence of literary magazines (Free Lance, Phylon 4 ~ ) , especially on Black college campuses; Black newspapers' renewed interest in verse; ~l:,s met\ of poets-in residences at southern Black colleges; the flowering of regional "movements" or writing collectives--such as those in New York's Greenwich Village (Y ry,en, (casper Leroy Jordan, Atkins), Howard's Dasein Group, the Detroit poets, and Georgia Douglas f Johnson's home-based workshops • - • • • • in Hashington, D.C. all of these developments occurred e~cL11s.1~q4' c._. .t Not among Black poets, however,At:1-iere also were racially mixed writing communes and editorial staffs. Julia Fields, for example, was in residence at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference in England and studied for a while in Scotland. Redmond, who won writing awards and published in little magazines between 1960 and 1965, worked with the staffs of the Three Penny Broadside (Southern Illinois University) and Free Lance (Washington University). Other poets and their outlets were Dumas (Trace, Anthologist), Patterson, Jones (Floating Bear,Yungen), Gloria C. Oden (Urbanite, The Poetry Digest, The Half Moon), Rivers (Kenyon Review, Antioch Review, 1 Development of f~4ffiening audience was a centr 1 a../m in most of these activities . For example, on June 16, 1957, young poets Calvin Hernton d .Raymond Patterson read together at I c.(3'8 �Ohio Poetry Review), Spellman (Kulchur, Metronome, Umbra), Hance Williams (Blue and Gold), and Audre Lorde (Venture). Margaret Danner published a As ta.,-lt AS series of poems in Poetry magazine •~1952 and in 1956 became an assistant editor . Of these parallel movements and developments, one other deserved special notice . Though not on par with. the Howard Poets, the Umbra Workshop parti- cipants aided in the production and distribution of Black poetry in the early sixties. Centered in New York 's Greenwich Village, the Umbra poets were founded by Tom Dent (New Orleans), Calvin Hernton (Chattanooga) and David Henderson (New York). The workshop , which also involved artists and fiction writers, published the first issue of its Umbra quarterly in 1963. Other issues came out in 1964, 1967-68 (an anthology), 1970-71 (tabloid anthology) and 1974-75 (I..a..t.in ful.ul issue). who now d \..,ec1s the Dent first served as editor and Henderson, publication from Berkeley, took over in 196 7. attracted to the Umbra workshop were Others Reed, Rolland Snellings (now Askia Tour~), Nonnan Pritchard, singer Len Chandler, dancer Asaman Byron, the Patterson brothers (Charles and William), painters Gerald Jackson and Joe Overstreet, Lennox Raphael, Dumas, James Thompson, Julian Bond, Sun-Ra, Durem, Steve Cannon, and Joe Johnson. damaged by two events. The promise of the Umbra group was One was a failure to print an interview (conducted by Raphael and others) with Ralph Ellison. The second, resulting in a serious -tt11l" split among members, was a controversial anti-Kennedy poem~by Durem. President Kennedy had just been assassinated when the Durem piece was approved by the editors. taste. Hernton, Dent and Henderson decided rt ~was in bad Others, according to Henderson, wanted the poem printed and subsequently "kidnapped Pritchard, who was treasurer, 'threatening him with bodily harm t" 316 ~ast 6th Street in New York Gi·ty. A f avroi·t ~ vuew York gathering place for readings was the Market Place Gallery{2305 ~eventh Avenue) where Roscoe Lee Browne was featured in the late fifties . In July and ~~ Augus~ ~f 1960 a numb~r ,o.t:_ Black poets --r-ea..dJ '":' there: Lloyd son, 0 ert J . Abrams , ~5q>wne, Phil Petrie, Allen Polite, Sarah 9 �The incident is viewed as one of the near-fatal blows to the Umbra group. Later Snellings, the Pattersons, and others went Uptown to work with Jones ' I newly formed Black Arts Repertory and School. The work of Umbra contributors range from the occasional and humorous - Durem . Bond to the serious Poems by Durem, Henderson, Hernton , Dent • and Thompson , also appearf in the early anthologies along with work of other " Village" poets such as G. C. Oden, Spellman, Jones (Newark), and Joans (Cairo, Illinois). later anthologies: Some are also represented in two Black Fire (1968) and The Poetry of Black America (1973). Though racial consciousness is not blatantly evident in these poets , the protest is there, especially the works by Durem, Henderson, and Hernton. . ..j1.e. Umbra made clear its twofold aim 1.n • ~1.naugura 1 issue: Umbra exists to provide a vehicle for those outspoken and youthful writers who present aspects of social and racial reality which may be called ' uncommercial ' but cannot with any honesty be considered non- essential to a whole and healthy society .. • We will not print trash, no matter how relevantly it deals with race , social issues, or anything else . ~ent views "Love" as a " blue tom" lurking " icily" in the darkness. Henderson sees a "Downtown-Boy Uptown" and asks : Am I in the wrong slum? His " Sketches of Harlem" include the " GREAT WHITE WAY" and a small Black boy confusing the moon and the sun . 14, was born in Seattle . Durem, who ran away from home at age While still in his mid-teens he joined the Navy and became a member of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. Hughes tried to find a publisher for his works as early as 1954 . himself Durem said: "When I was ten years old I used my fists. Of When I was . Wright, Hi l t on Hosannah, M.D., and Brown e (reading the works of Hernton). Others associated wi th the project Clark and Langston Hughes. 1../ O 4 inc l uded John Henrik �thirty-five, I used the pen. I hope to live to use the machine gun •.•• The white North-American has been drunk for four hundred years." His work does not have the finish of a Hayden or Brooks, but he provides an exciting shot in the arm for this period of Black poetry (though Bremen's tit/~/ "first black poet/ is unwarranted). Take No Prisoners (1971) contains many of Durem's memorable poems and a "Posthumous freface," ~ signed in 1962 although he died in 1963. "White People iot Trouble, Too" surveys the plight of whites following the Depression, recession and war, and notes that such an intrusion in the affairs of whites does not equal slavery. After all, life (or history) calls for One tooth for one tooth. Most of Durem's poems are short, satirical, ironical and musical as in "Broadminded": Some of my best friends are white boys. When I meet 'em I treat 'em just the same as if they was people. He writes of Black history, slavery, social inequities, prison life, and "pale ~~t poets" to whom he confesses his~s not "sufficiently obscure" to meet white critical standards. Strangely, Take No Prisoners does not include "Award"-- "A Gold Watch to the FBI Man (who has followed me 11) for 25 years~-which traces the agent's surveillance of the narrator through the "blind alleys" of Mexico, the high Sierras, the Philharmonic, L.A., Hississippi, and other places of violence and mayhem. But it is not all over, the agent is told, for in the end I may be following you! �The work of Village poets was highlighted by the versatile and prolific Le ~oi ~.g. Jones (] liter Imamu Amiri Baraka) , Spellman, and Ted Joans. Before his new " "Black" stance of the mid and late sixties, Jones published in little avant garde magazines (editing several himself) and was identified as the most talen t ed Black among the Beats. His two volumes , Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (1961) and The Dead Lecturer (1964), show him as a hip, arrogant, musically-involved cat with a tough intelligence . as he noted, were Lorca, His influences at the time, Williams , Pound • and Charles Olson. ~ w~ He illl1'_an adventurer in style with an elliptical and sometimes sacril~gious posture. poets: Such an aesthetical philosophy was shared by the Black Mountain George Oppen , Robert Greely, Robert Duncan, Denise Levertov , Paul Blackburn, Edward Dorn, Gi~ berg, Corso , Gary Snyder and Hichael McClure. A music critic for such magazines as Downbeat, Jazz and Metronome, with an 1 intense interest in Black music, Jones nurtured a careful ~ar his verse. fensible. 11 in Hence, the belief that Jones "suddenly became Black" is indeIn "Lines to Garcia Lorca"--the great Spanish poet--he uses a section of a "Negro Spiritual" as an inscription. The poem is typical of Jones ' s ability to merge numerous ideas, symbols and images in one poem . Lorca ' s death is lamented as Jones uses excerpts from the Catholic mass, reflects on his childhood, explores mythology, gathers bits of poetic confetti from nature and hears Lorca " laughing, laughing"--maybe mocking his killers-Like a Spanish guitar . In "Epistrophe" he finds peering out the window "such a static reference." So he wishes "some weird looking animal" wo~ come by. In the title poem from his first volume--Preface--he adjusts to the way "ground opens up" �and takes him in whenever he goes out to "walk the dog." Life is as monotonous as the "static reference" of window watching: Nobody sings anymore. another Village poet closely identified with the Beats, published Beat, and o1'he"' voLl)me~ All of Ted Joans (1961), and The Hipsters (19611 -- His most widely known poem from this period is "The .38" with its debts to Hughes (whom he acknowledged), Whitman and the Deats. Beginning every line with the phrase "I hear," Joans narrates the murder of an unfaithful wife and lover by her husband: I hear it coming faster than sound the .38 I hear it coming closer to my sweaty forehead the .38 I hear its weird whistle the .38 I hear it give off a steamlike noise when it cuts through my sweat the .38 I hear it singe my skin as it enters my head the .38 I hear death saying, Hello, I'm here! As a group, Joans, Jones and Spellman can be carefully compared to the Howard Poets. They are in the same age range and their themes and interests are di b~t1 similar. T(Spellman, like Jones} studied at Howard Univer,tity and hasl(.cm,tr . - n disc jockey ~FM radio stations. w tl. His book reviewsft{rticles on j a z z ~ have appeared in Kulchur, The Republic and The Nation. volume of poems, The Beautiful Days, was published. In 1964 his first He has also published a book-length study of Black music (Four Lives in the Bdop Business, 1966). S4t$ In "Zapata & the Landlord" the "thief," the speake~, is running in "circles." The poem is a humorous treatment of revolutionary struggle in a Latin American country. In "What is It" Spellman applies a similar technique. This time a cat "hides in your face," in the corners of the mouth and in "that strange canyon" behind the eyes. "A Theft of Wishes" is experimental in its use �of jagged lines and shifts between the tangible and surreal worlds. In the end we are told that home is where we make our noise. Another poet who joins this "irref{nt" generation is the Beat innovator - Kaufman of the San Francisco nay area. sides from Ferlinghetti's City Lights Books: His first works came out as broad"The abominist Manifesto," "Second April" and "Does the Secret Hind Whisper." Kaufman's poetry, con- veying protest through understatement and irony, is marked by unusual and surreal images. His books are Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness (1965) and · Golden Sardine (1967). Solitudes was published in French, "immediately" achieving "a notoriety rare among books of poetry by foreign poets." Sardine). (jacket, Leading French magazines reviewed the book, publishers noted, adding that "Today in France Kaufman is considered among the greatest Negro-American poets alive in spite of his continuing exclusion from American anthologies, both hip & academic." Kaufman's themes are racial memory ("African Dream"), jazz ("Walking Parker Home," "West Coast Sounds--1956."), other poets and writers ("Hart ••. Crane," "Ginsberg," "Camus: I want to Know"), incarceration (a series of 34 in Jail Poem§), history, mythology and religion. In "The Eyes too" he says My eyes too have souls that rage .••• A "Cincophrenicpoet" meets with "all five" of himself where a vote is taken to "expel" the "weakest" one who resents it and soars over all limits to cross, spiral, and whirl. Somewhat typical of Kaufman ' s elliptical constructions and wacky imagery is "lf eavy Water Blues": �The radio is teaching my goldfish Jujitsu I am in love with a skindiver who sleeps underwater, My neighbors are drunken linguists, & I speak butterfly, Consolidated Edison is threatening to cut off my brain, The postman keeps putting sex in my mailbox, I put my eyes on a diet, my tears are gaining too much weight. In this form and style, Kaufman is not only related to the Beats but to Jones, Joans, Spellman, Atkins, and the~£ ted young Los Angeles poet K. Curtis Lyle. Among the older poets who did not come into prominence until the 1960s were Vesey (Columbus, Ohio), Holman (Minter City, Mississippi), 1-lcM . Wright (Princeton, New Jersey), O'Higgins (Chicago), Duckett (Brooklyn), Atkins ~ (Cleveland), Emanuel (Nebraska) A Randall (Washington, D.C.). These poets, and others of their generation, are not similar enough to be labeled a "school" or "movement" but they came of age during the integration push when words Like "identity" and "humanity" engendered more philosophical discussion than they do today. These are the men who went to World War II, opposed lynching 0)14 attended northern white graduate schools. Most were occasional poets pursuing academic or professional careers.iesey as a poet and professional, bridges"'"\n~ middle passage between Africaf and ~fro-America. At Fisk University he studied creative writing under James Weldon Johnson, then went on to law school at Harvard. While studying at the sirbonne in Paris some of his poems were published, through the intercession of Richard Wright, in the French magazine Presence Africaine. I Vesey has helped greatly in the interpretation and �w d.1ssem1nat1on . . . d e. o f Negritu Paul Vesey (birth name Samuel Allen) is the name under which he published his bilingual volume of poems: Zahne (Ivory Tusks, 1956, Germany). Elfenbein Vesey works with skill and precision. he "The Staircase" is a poem on which, ~ I \ says, "I would rest my case, I think, and that of the Negro in this land ~ ~(Blues)* _1he poem studies the Black predicament through the plight of a man for whom the "stairs mount to his eternity." Perhaps, like Sisyphus, the stair is purposefully "unending" since the rotten floor, the "dripping faucet" and the "cracked ceiling" also remain. The man is joined by a "twin" who later goes "exalted to his worms." Vesey also writes an elegy for Dylan Thomas ("Dylan, Who is Dead"), a praise-po€ftt for - - ~ baseball legend Satchel Paige ("American Gothic"), and a powerful <T'A Moment, Pleo. set!) piece~interweaving two different ideas and themes: ge.ri~L. c.1re,,urr1s1irice.s theJ\m= 1•t and J h;t of man; the other As,'l._l'ewin4 *'•.4 called "nigger" by two adol~ent girls. tribute to Louis Armstrong. one viewing the universe spec-iPk the!feality of being Black and "To Satch" is reminiscent of Tolson's Speaking in the poem, Satchel Paige says one morning he is going to grab a "handfulla stars," throw three strikes to burn down the "heavens," And look over at God and say W'l M·~ ~ How about that! , . . Holman s work is among the few entries for poetry in Soon, One Horning. But he is also '('~rE_e.~~r anthologies. He has led an active life as a jivil fights fighter (Information Officer of the United States Commission on Civil Rights) editor (Atlanta Inquirer), writer• and teacher. at Chicago University he won several awards for writing~ While a student Holman, whose poetic subjects range from complex psychic meditations to racial pride, is very good indeed but much overlooked. The leisure class finds clocks "intrude too �early" in "And on This Shore." The general indifference is also captured: Across the cups we yawn at private murders. w-~,c~ "Picnic: The Liberated" examines the shifting uncertainities withf\leisured southerners must live. The tension of everyday southern life lie underneath the merriment of the picnic grounds where men rotate the liquor in "dixie cups" and "absently" discuss "civil rights, money and goods." Yet as the I<.. "country dark" comes in and they return to spri~ered yards and "mortgaged houses" they do not know they are Privileged prisoners in a haunted land. Yet this same poet can hear "Three Brm•m Girls Singing" through the "ribs of an ugly school building." h~ ~ Celebrating the Black musical past, Holman /\them Fuse on pure sound in a shaft of April light: ..• ~t'OC.e. Mcl1. Wright, now a Federal District Judge in New York, was a Lincoln University poet and)with Hughes and Cune~editecl Lincoln University Poets (1954). He served overseas in World War II, later receiving law training at Fordham. While he was in the Army in Wales, he published a volume of his poetry_, From the Shaken To1-1er (1944). "The African Affair" finds Md!. Wright on a safari to find out what "Black is." He discovers it in "prisons," in the "devils dance," where "deserts burn," the Niddle Passage, and areas ~ whM•t :bi?ll[i' "conscience cannot go." His search carries him deep into Africa where "traders shaped my father's pain." In "Four Odd Bodkins for :My Analyst" one finds that "outraged flesh of secret guilt" has come from the pressures of "circumstance" and "need." . Finally, "When You have gone from ooms" there are "never bloor.1ing petals" and "never burning suns." .-u talled ~, 81111i,.,\,u Bvatcraps oa11& 0 'Higgins~ a membe-r of the "tribe of wandering poets." �After studying with C\ 7i ~ Brown at Howard, O' Higgins won Lucy Moten and He later served in World War II, Julius Rosenwald Fellowships in writing. after which he co-authored, with Hayden, The Lion and The Archer (1948). O' Higgins ' s style is less formal than either Holman's or McM. Wright's. He is closer to Vesey, especially in poems like "Young Poet" and "Two Lean Cats" in which the rain fell like "ragged jets" and made a "grave along" the street. The lean cats, running in "checkered terror" into a poolroom, find that a "purple billiard ball" makes the color scheme explode. The much anthologized "VaticideN("For Mohandas Ghandhi") sees Gandhi "murdered upright in the day" and left with his flesh "opened and displayed." likening Gandhi's death to ~ But, Christ's, the narrator says such a person who created the "act of love" knows the guilty carry his "death to their rooms." Gandhi's "marvelous wounds" contain the sun and the seas.1/nifferent, yet similar, these poets sought through their individual voices to deal with man's current and past hurts. Atkins, for example, saw the "swollen deep" rise higher as he "went walking" in section two of "Fantasie." A "restless experimentalist with a very high regard for craftmanship," Atkins was a founder of Free Lance. (1950) which Rivers called the "oldest black-bossed magazine around." Between 1947 and 1962, Atkins's poetry appeared in numerous journals and other outlets. A few are View, Beloit Poetry Journal, Minnesota Quarterly, Naked Ear, Galley Sail Review. His volumes of poetry are Phenomena (1961), Psychovisual Perspective for Musical Composition (1958), Two by Atkins (The Abortionist and The Corpse: Objects (1963), and Heretofore (1968). as complex as the poetry itself. Two Poetic Dramas set to Music, 1963), Atkins' I aesthetical ideas are often An early training in music and literature, he said in Sixes and Sevens, that he was trying for "egocentrical phenomenalism: an objective construct of properties to substantiate effect as object." He /I' �searches after the "designed imagination." In "Night and a Distant Church" he moves "Forward abrupt" then "up" through a series of intermingling "mmm" ~ and "ells" with words like "wind" and "rain ." There is more than --;. hint of Tolson ' s ability to meander among Graeco-Romanf and Afro-American traditions in Atkins '~ poetry. But he is unique. "At War" informs the reader that beyond the "turning sea's far foam" the "ephemera" of a "moment's dawn" sudden ' d its appear .•.. Later, in the same poem, after allusions to Hemf ngway, the silence splits: \.:., Listen a moment--!Sh! Listen--! inl that hurry~as of a shore of fugitives. Once Atkins ' s technique is understood, however , his poetry can be enjoyed for its witty, wacky, off-beat, philosophical musings. In " Irritable Song" he inverts, reverses and convolutes regular syntax: Or say upon return Coronary farewell Leaves me lie . Dare, sir? Ugh! Be nay ' d Tomorrow, tomorrow in today? Atkins writes of the fine arts, John Brown ' s raid on Harper ' s Ferry, Black ahd heroes ("Christophe"), the "Trainyard at Night1 '/\. the Cleveland lakefront • -~ At another end of the stylistic and thematic pole is Randall, a librarian by training and trade who , as we shall see in our discussion of poets of the late sixties, figures prominently in the development of an audience for the �New Black Poetry. Randall also served in World War II and writes poems about the war, love, violence, art and the Black presence. His well known "Booker T. and W.E . B. ," digesting the Washini1>uBois controversy, was seen by DuBois and this pleased Randall. The poem first appeared in Midwest Journal, 1952. Randall has also written about and translated Russian poetry . With Nargaret Danner he co-authored Poem Counterpoem (1966) and his Cities Burning appeared in 1968 . More to Remember (1971) pulls together Randall's poems from "four decades . " His work has been published in Umbra, Beloit Poetry Journal, and other places. He initiated the Broadside Series (posters) in 1965 with his own "Ballad of Birmingham." The series grew quickly, laying the foun- dation for his Broadside Press, the most significant Black press in America. Randall's work of this period has the stamp of formality. He writes in ballads and free verse forms but he has a tightness that will be relaxed in the late sixties. • • • • • • • • "Legacy " chronicles the hurt, physical and mental, of a land "Lit by a bloody moon." But the one who is . "moulded from this clay" vows that My tears redeem my tears. "Perspectives " recasts the time-irrnnemorial theme of ~we ~- • only pass this w~ There is no need to complain about discomfort, the poem says, because even the mountains--in their hugr:')eness--are dissolved "away" by the seas. Randall ' s Pacific Epitaphs are recollections of the war. are epigrammatic and haiku-like. The short pieces Here is a poignant one ("Iwo Jima"): Like oil of Texas My blood gushed here. Prominent in a group of Detroit poets (Margaret Danner, Oliver La Grone, Naomi Long Madgett, James Thompson and others), Randall often enmeshes himself �in a sense of personal injury over his people's history. This tendency, and a debt to the Black poetic tradition (especially Sterling Brown), can be seen in "The Southern Road" where the "black river" serves as a "boundary to hell." The country is "haughty as a star" And I set forth upon the southern road. The variety of styles and themes found in these poets is found also in younger poets of their generation: Patterson, Addison, Browne, Redmond, Jay Wright, Anderson, Hernton• and Polite come readily to mind. poets, Patterson is particularly interesting. Of these His "Black all Day" yielded from its second line the title for I Saw How Black I Was. /J-Lso Q._ po.11e..s.on Lincoln University poet,A.,_won an award for his poetry while still an undergraduate. A native New Yorker, he studied political science and English, and has worked as a counselor for delinquent boys and an English/nstructor. Patterson said in Sixes and Sevens that his first poem· was written during World War II as the "out-growth of a Cain-and-Abel conflict without the dire consequences." "Three Views of Dawn" includes the "silken shawl of night," the disappearance of "corner specters" and the "splitting" of "stillness." The musical "Tla Tla" presents free verse spiced with alliterative language ~ of landscape, season and nature. 31!!37J~ "Alone," the protagonist "keeps poems warm" as he watches over the sleeping lovers as well as the "numb " who wake and weep. Patterson did not publish a book until 1969; and its title, 26 Ways of Looking at A Black Man, shows the influence of .Lnagists and modernists (see Stevens ' s 13 Ways of Looking at A Black Bird). It also reveals much about the Black poet's ability to forge and merge his academic training 5/ �with his own indigenismt- The speaker in "Black all Day" is "looked" into "rage and shame" by a white passerby; but he vows that "tomorrow" I ' ll do as much for him. Patterson constructs a solid poetic foundation, "stone on stone," as he paints precise portraits of " the brave who do not break" when provoked ("You Are the Brave"), or the "lost, the "tireless and raging souJ._:.' ("Envoi") . In the work of Patterson, and the younger group of the period, one finds anger or protest, though the general tendenc1 is toward experimental verse which pinpoints the surest and richest human feelings. jects more often than not reflect this fact. Phyllis Wheatley As Black poets, their subihey dt noi' sl'llln But/\variety. · hitd/\6et11 the most well known female poet until the mid ~1'~iJ•Ellli?lillt••t•l• century when Frances Harper took up the banner of fame though not of skill. • Ulil" A leier new mood was ~evidenced in the work of I Angelina Grimke, Georgia Douglas, Johnson (the most famous poet after Frances Harper), Gwendolyn Bennett, AnuiSpencer, Alice{Neiso?t:?un~, Helene Johnson (a young spark in the Renaissance), Margaret Walker~ and Gwendolyn Brooks. I'\, Ll >I ~nrf'1c A Between the forties and sixties, the n~er of publishing women poets increase\ 't(ottry · (men ) ; and since in America has remained under t h e tvpew.is,or,f SW t>.,.o wh ites women in general have not had the range of opportunities open to men, certainly the Black woman went the worse way of that flesh ! t.S poets of the period,lstill 1:owsma:itte-impressive: But the list of Black women Gloria C. Oden (Yonkers, New York), Nanina Alba (Montgomery), Margaret Danner (Pryorsburg, Kentucky), Mari Evans (Toledo), Julia Fields (Uniontown, Alabama), Vivian Ayers �(Chester, South Carolina), Audre Lorde (New York), Naomi Long Madgett (Norfolk), Pauli Murray (Baltimore), Sarah Wright (Witipquin, Maryland), Nay Miller (Washington, D.C.), and Yvonne Gregory (Nashville), among the dozens of occasional and regional names.<fl..n 1952--two years after Gwendolyn Br(loks won the Pulitzer Prize--G.C. Oden, who uses her initials "as a way of being anonymous," received a John Hay Whitney Opportunity Fellowship for The Naked Frame: A Love Poem and Sonnets. She has worked as a senior editor of a major publishing house and currently teaches English in Baltimore. In the fifties, she joined the Village poets in New York where she read her poetry in coffee shops, reviewed books and worked on a novel. Her poetry has also appeared in The Saturday Review and The Poetry Digest. Noting that she appeals "primarily to the intellect," Hayden (Kaleidoscope) compared her to Cullen, adding that she "is concerned with poetry as an art expressing what is meaningful to everyone, not just a vehicle for protest and special pleading." Although G.C. Oden uses a variety of forms, her poems are usually . .-, i :i'i::!:, tart. crisp an d ~RtQx2cctua1:cy "The Carousel" in an empty park rides me round and round, 0 5eV'Ve$ and the dark drops for her as she i'il!!!l~~her surroundings with explicit word-choices: "sight focusses shadow." In "Review from Staten Island" an item in the view is "spewed up from water . 11 Later we are told that "One gets used to dying living" and "even the rose disposes of summer." We hear the dislocated woman in " ... As when emotion too far exceeds its cause" (phrase from Elizebeth Bishop). Retreating from heartbreak, she admits that she too knew "love's celestial venturingt.": I, too, once truste<l air that plunged me down. Yes, I! I �Nanina Alba is similarly terse and poignant. The Parchments (1963) and The Parchments II were published before her death in 1968. English, fsic She taught and French in public schools and was for a long time a member of the English Department at Tuskegee Institute. use of Greek /ythology to draw a subtle " unwise" actions. c&e,l , analogy "Be Daedalus" makes between Blacl<S and Icarus, _ Death comes as a "tax" for "parching" the sun: Suns can be brutal things. "For Malcolm X" recalls "History ' s stoning." -n-•e;h l Margaret Danner is lflA•illlllai- sensitive. Born in Detroit, she has spent the greater part of her life in Chicago where she was one time editor of Poetry. Her poems in that publication in 1952 prompted the John Hay Whitney Fellowships Committee to offer her a trip to Africa. And in 1962 the literary group with which she identified in Detroit was the subject of a special issue of the Bulletin of Negro History . She has published four volumes: Impressions of African Art Forms in Poetry (1962), To Flower (1962), Poem Counterpoem (with Dudley Randall, 1966) and Iron Lace (1968). A former poet-in-residence at Wayne State University, she founded Boone House, a lively center for the arts in Detroit, and a similar cultural program in Chicago: Nologonya ' s. She employs African tenninology and theme; but she can also write delightfully in other veins as in "The Elevator Man Adheres to Form." wings" the elevator reminds her of "Rococo art. " The " tan man who Struck by his elegance--and +iit. rod " Godspeedings"--the ~~anders why so intelligent and artful a "tan" man has to run elevators. It is a meticulous poem, subtlety exposing the lie that education qualifies you. She finally wishes the elevator man ' s services cou Jd be employed toward lifting them above their crippling storm. �Far From Africa: Four Poems is a sheet of sights, sounds and suggestions carrying the reader across "moulting days" in "their twilight,,'' ("Garnishing the Aviary"), "lines" of "classic tutu ,.'' ("Dance of the Abakweta"), "eyes lowered" from "despair," ("The Visit of the Professor of Aesthetics") and a bed of green moss, sparkling as a beetle, Mari Evans is another kind of transitionalist--shifting from /ivil Jights poetry of the early phase to, finally, a more obvious "Black" stance of the later period. ''he has worked as a civil service and instructor of writing. employe~;4v show hostess and producer, Sometimes referred to as a spiritual, if not technical, heir to Gwendolyn Ilrooks, Mari Evans employs irony, suspension, and rich folk idioms in a free verse style. / \ death ' and funeral, wonders if '' "The Rebel," pondering Cv f'-IOSt;\'y /se. ~e__..,,.s .aa kO-'l. Olollrl 11 Gtt!iositr- want to know whether she has really died or just wants to cause "Trouble.;;:" There is humor and satire in "When in Rome" as the poet interlaces (in the manner of Vesey's "A Homent, Please") two different conversations. Black maid,"M affie dear," is allowed to eat "whatever" she likes~ The Alternating ~r'OM the maid ' s silent resp.onses with the recitation of a menu 9Athe middle class environment ("Rome"), the poem incidentally records the traditional soul food items which the maid craves. "The Emancipation of George-Hector" ("the colored turtle") shows a growing impatience with one-step-at-a-time social change policy. The turtle used to stay in his "shell" but now he peeks out, extends his arms and legs, and talks. and sentimental. But this same poet can wax philosophical "If there be Sorrow" it should be for the things not yet dreamed, realized or done. Add to these the withholding of love, love �"restrained." In "Shrine to what should Be" an audience is asked to "sing" songs to "nobility," and "Rightousness." The children should bring "Trust," the women "Dreams," the old men "constancy." Ironically the audience is told to ignore tears that fall like a "crescendo," and constantly as "a soft black rain." Her tribute to Gospel singers is telling in " ••• And the Old Women Gathered." One cannot (despite "Rome") escape one's self, the poet says, as she notices that the "fierce" and"not melodic" music lingered on even as "we ran. " 4 . p·ie ld s, f.,t.ru ll 1 yJISeA-~c.J.tin · . di e d at Knox Co 11 ege --. J u1 ia IHI L I f/1 spirit• , stu (Tennessee) ,in England and Scotland, and has taught • high school and college. Her work appeared in Umbra, Massachusetts Review and other journals. Along with Margaret Walker, Tom Dent, Alice Walker, Pinkie Gordon Lane-. and Spellma/ she is among the few good Black poets who now voluntarily live in the South. Her first book, Poems, was brought out by Poets Press in 1968, the same year she received a National Council on the Arts grant. She is substantially represented in R. Baird Shuman's Nine Black Poets (1968) and her East of Moonlight was published in 1973. She also writes short stories and plays. Iler main poetic subjects are racism, death, love, violence and history. "The Generations" come and go and in between there are "The wars." And in between them are the seasons, flowers, "lavender skies," dawns, "Sombre seas," and the "embryonic calm." ,, "AArdvark" has achieved "fame" since "Malcolm died and the poet muses: Looks like Malcolm helped Bring attention to a lot of things We never thought about before. She again salutes this martyr in "For Malcolm X" whose "eyes were mirrors of our agony." In "No Time for Poetry" the reader is advised that midnight is ( �th notA_time to beseech one's muse: too much "calm." the "spirit'' is "too lagging" and there is But the morning is ideal since it carries "vibrations of laughter" and has no "orange-white mists." "broken-hinged doo 11 1 ,oA.a As a "woman," listening,)near the man talk of war ("I Heard A Young Man Saying"), the narrator "somehow planned on living." And the "bright glare of the neon world" sends " gas-word s bursting free" in "Madness One Monday Evening." i,h Pauli Murray and Sarah Wright are sometimes poets who also write,\other 4en..--'.s. ~••~, Pauli Murray pursued training for law while she won academic awards and fellowships for her writing. A 9'1vil lights pioneer, she published one 0.. volume of verse (Dark Test~nent, 1969) and a family history (Proud Shoes, 1956). In "Without Name," she is revealed as a formal but excellent craftsman. are no names for true feeling : There let the "flesh sing anthems to its arrival." Sarah Wright, Lnown as a novelist (This Child's Gonna Live), co-authored Give About Black writers she said( ii,. 1961) Me A childJin 1955) with Lucy Smith. "My motto is tell it like it damn sure is." "black outlines in living flesh." and traffic lights. In "Window Pictures" she sees · -the · l · b etween d rivers . "Urgency" viewsAre 1 at1ons11p "God" is "thanked" that the car stops so the passenger can "glory" a while in the "time-bitten punctuationJ"?f the "pause. 11 Vivian Ayers, the daughter of a blacksmith, attended Barber-Scotia College (Concord) and Bennett College (Greensboro) where her major interests were drama, music and dance. She published a volume of poems (Spice of Dawns) and an allegorical d.rama of freedom and the space age (Hawk), performed at the University of Houston's Educational Television Station. lives in Houston where she edits a quarterly journal, Adept. Currently, she "Instantaneous" features a man being "stunned" by the bolt of "cross-firing energies" and grabbed up jn a blaze resonant as a million hallelujas-- ••• 7 �A:Q. man inhabits another man who, dying, gasps faintly: "My god--this is God .. . " j \n m.oo~ m.;u.,zo.!aJ differentl\is Naomi Long Madgett, who moved to Detroit from Virginia in 1946 to teach at a high school. from Wayne State University. She holds a Master ' s degree Associated with the Detroit group of poets, she has published four volumes: Songs to a Phantom Nightingale (1941), One in the Many (1956), Star by Star (1965, 1970), and Pink Ladies in the Afternoon (1972 ) . Currently she teaches English at Eastern Michigan University and runs the newly established Lotus Press. projects was Deep Rivers: A Portfolio: One of its first 20 Contemporary Illack American Poets (1974), which includes a teachers ' guide prepared by the poet . Editors for Deep Rivers include Leonard P . Andrews, Eunice L. Howard, and Gladys M. Rogers . The 20 poster poets are Paulette Childress White, Jill Witherspoon, William Shelley, G. C. Oden, Naomi Madgett, Patterson, La Grone, Pamela Cobb, Pinkie Gordon Lane, Etheridge Knight, Randall, Hayden, Thompson, Margaret Walker, June Jordan, Gerald W. Barrax, Audre Larde, Redmond, Harper and Kaufman . 1• Naomi Hadgett ' s " Simple" ("For Langston Hughe jf is realistically humorous . Simple sits in a bar, wanting to talk to someone, when he is approached by a hand-out seeker who needs to change his clothes Birt wJthi11g, "but my lan ' lady ' bolted the door. " AJoyce)r{vill tap "impatiently" and leave the bar and Simple wondering what "he wanted to say ." In "Mortality" we learn that of "all the deaths " this one is the " surest. " Some deaths are merely "peace" but vultures "recognize" the "single mortal thing" that r:-'I holds on to life and they wait hung,arily for the time ~ When hope starts staggering. Han must come to grips with the things of this world, we are told in ,I • �"The Reckoning": And why and how and what, and sometimes even if. Poems from Trinity: women and humans. A Dream Sequence convey uncertainties and fears of One character has been besk/i)ged by "dream and dream again" ("4") and a naked day "corrodes the silver dream" but the music will not -----,,. "cease to shiver_,'' ("18"). "After" is a lamentation for "mortals" without "wings" to fly away from the "purple sadness" of night. And "Poor Renaldo" is "dead and gone wherever people go" when they "never loved a song." even "hell" must have "music of a sort." But "";) Finally sculpted, like the others, i_.., the poem turns to more sorrow near the end. Renaldo, though dead, is "still unresting." e~~lv q~e~i Audre Lorde'sAwork reflects/lt'kill and control. In the early sixties she wrote: I am a Negro wmaan and a poet--all three things stand outside my realm of choice. My eyes have a part in my seeing, my breath in by breathing, all that I am in who I am. love are of my people. All who I was not born on a farm or in a forest, but in the centre of the largest city in the world-a member of the human race hemmed in by stone, away from earth and sunlight. But what is in my blood and skin of richness, comes the roundabout journey from Africa through sun islands to a stony coast, and these are the gifts thr_ough which I sing, through which I see. This is the knowledge of the sun, and of how to love even where there is no sunlight. This is the knowledge and the richness I shall give my children proudly, as a strength against the less obvious forms of narrovmess and night. (Letter o.c<.o,npo.nyltlj poems S11b~:1tedib ~i'(es ond reveru} �thus gives a balanced account of heQelf as• woman, Black and poet. dimen~i ns And all these~lmtllilll she handles quite well in her poetry,-~ She has published three volumes: The First Cities (1968), Cables. to Rage (1970) and From a Land where other People Live (1973), which was nominated for a National Book Award. In her early poetry she reflects on "Oaxaca" (in Mexico) where the "land moves slowly" under the "carving drag of wood." The drudging field work goes on while the hills are "brewing thunder" and one can observe All a man's strength in his sons' young arms .••. "To a Girl who knew what side Her Bread was Buttered on" describes the girl as a "catch of bright thunder" apparently guarded by (and guardian of) bones. Ordered to leave the bones, she watches as they rise like "an ocean of straw" and trample~ti , hei,, over-see~ Iii 11 1 J U:8 @I!!!!' "into the earth." "forth in the moonpit of a virgin." S:11ftor ~ "comes like a thin bird"-- The "N.9mph" is brought In "How can I Love You" the 1n Te4Jo~ ike the u] J af -later to become "great ash." ! ;w! S"C.ot-n!4 1 magnificent Phoenix bit J <Ms No wonder, the speaker confirms, that your sun went down. The light that makes us fertile shall make us sane. And we hear that the "year has fallen" in "Father, the Year •.. " Audre Lorde's work cuts sharp paths of 4ti, !gliL ad light across the n.ea1t!hi:tg ignorance whk.~ C.onf'u$~oti dfltls i5Troe and prli iiY"R around her • 1 ~'And Fall shall sit in Judgment" "-examines love, ot concluding that "in all seasons" it is false, but the same. A much-neglected poet is May Miller, of Washington, D.C., whom Gwendolyn Brooks acknowledged as "excellent and long-celebrated" (Introduction, �The Poetry at BJack Aroeti~~). Her work can be found in three volumes: Into the Clearing (1959), Poems (1962), and she is one of three poets represented in Lyrics of Three Women (1964). Currently a member of the Commission on the Arts of the District of Columbia, she has been a teacher, lecturer, dramatist and has published her poetry in a number of magazines: Common Ground, The Antioch Review, The Crisis, Phylon• and The Nation. "Calvary Way" shows a Christian influence with a twist of irony and gore·. Mary is asked how she felt, "womb-heavy with Christ Child," as she tasted the "dust" of an "uncertain journey." finally asks Mary: Recalling the crucifixion, the poem "Were you afraid?" The "roaches are winning" in "The last Warehouse" where humans seek to "abnegate survival laws" and kill roaches until they are "sa turated with their decrease." The characters in "The wrong side of Morning" were shaken from a "nightmare of wings" and a.ssembl.es "mushrooms of huge death" as the poet powerfully m!f:!!,=:t-limages and layered meanings. "Procession" employs the dramatic technique (made famous by Brown and others) of interlacing the formal English of the poem with italicized Black expletives and refrains such as "Ring, hammer, ring!" It is the procession of Christ but the reader easily understands, noting the Black idioms, that it slavery and racism. if~OBlack procession through the labyrint+ of '-" There is a series of juxtaposed contradictions like "Time is today, yesterday, and time to come," "moving and motionless," and "infinite takes familiar form," :re?: while "we seek conviction." Christian mythology pervades Hay Hiller's work (though she Black-bases it). In "Tally" the subjects "lay there drained of time" and empty like the "bulge of hour glass" while "Lucifer streaked to reality." �The deaths of Dumas and Rivers left voids and created still more anxieties, coming as they did (1968) in the midst of racial turbulence. However, by the mid-sixties both poets had written a great deal of poetry and a great deal about themselves . Rivers died an unnecessary death in what has been called an "impulsive" act. white policeman in a New York subway. other . Dumas was shot to death by a wi't\nn Both deaths occu:{ed/\months of each Rivers was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and attended public schools in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio . His college days were spent at Wilberforce University, Chicago State Teachers College and Indiana University. In high school (1951) he won the Savannah State poetry prize. Rivers was greatly influenced by Hughes, Wright and his uncle Ray 1'1civer. His five books, two of them published posthumously, are: Perchance to Dream, Othello (1959), These Black Bodies and This Sunburnt Face (1962), Dusk at Selma (1965) , The Still Voice of Harlem (1968) -. and The Wright Poems (1972, with an Introduction by friend-novelist Ronald Fair). Ohio Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, and Antioch Review were only a few magazines in which his work appeared. Responding to a request (1962) to comment on himself as Black man and poet, Rivers said, among other things: I write about the Negro because I am a Negro, and I am not at peace with myself or the world. I cannot divorce my thoughts from the absolute injustice of hate. I cannot reckon with my color. I am obsessed by the ludicrous and psychological behavior of hated men. And I shall continue to write about race--in spite of many warnings-- �until I discover myself, my future, my real race. I do not wish to capitalize on race, nor do I wish to begin a Crimean War: I am only interested in recording the truth squeezed from my observations and experiences. I am tired of being misrepresented. Adding to the statement, Rivers said "beauty and joy, which was in the world before and has been buried so long, has got to come back." ~\"O 11~J, But Rivers saw little "beauty and joy" •'l_his own mind' s eye. His poetic landscape is often bleak and filled with deep psychic yearnings and wanderings through the ambivalences of Black-white relations. is also torment and brooding. There In this , _ he bears some kinship to Dumas. For both delve deeply into psychology, bu't are at the same time accessible. Rivers spent much time researching his past and reading from the great volumes of world literature. During the mid-sixties in Chicago he parti- cipated in discussion groups--involving Fair, David Llorens and Gerald McWorter--out which --irir grew the now well-known Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC'l: 1 1 Arts programs ~of t h t poems. · · g. o.. :Sg ID~prominent veh ' ~ Po.-. · a;,.u,..,, Black Rivers talks about his own death in several "Postscript" is a poem which "should not have been published." The narrator says he was "living and dying and dreaming" all at the same time in Harlem. And, toying with his own fate i ~ k e of Wright's "sudden death," he recalls the elder writer's "prophecy"~ that he too "soon would be dead." The theme of death--often moral, spiritual or physical as in Hayden-- can be found in pieces like "The Death of a Negro Poet," "Prelude for Dixie," "Four Sheets to the Wind," "Three Sons," "Asylum," and all of The Wright Poems. �d1 es. s In "Watts, " he JliAllll•!t!es generations of fear, horror, history and anguis~ ~,1f-t epigrammatic · · ~__ f ury- ~ · 1 y apparent ease: a d eceptive Must I shoot the white man dead to free the nigger in his head? a.. iii n: 9dil,1y.4weak assessment of Rivers '• poetry, Haki Madhubuti (Lee) said this poem " asks a revolutionary question" (Dynamite Voices , Vol. I). Such a " question," ,~one, wh\C.h of course, tfontinuaily turns or revolves . Dut, 41tl.e.""'.•'Athe w~th lllli-•.... deep semantics aside, the comment is blind to Rivers ' ea.vs d v,a..Lt' L fears and sores/ \ • • • • • by America ' SA._nightmare. t?gt' answers ~ Sl4.p,s1tc.~ verbal · · -tt.~1 ne't1htw- • d He knew .-A5 impl €•b'\m:je would make these hurts disappear . A~ , such criticism violates the poem , robbing the poet of his many-layered concerns and analytical powers . River~ is not all somber ancl bleak, however; in " The Still Voice of Harlem" he announces: I am the hope and tomorrow of your unborn . Even amidst the contradictions and uncertainties of racial/political ping-pong (" In Defense of Black Poets ")! A black poet must remember the horrors . Especially since Some black kid is bound to read you . ~a- . The "Note on Black Women" asksf',t:hey teach the poet "honor, " " humor ," and "how to die, " presumab l y t he reborning death . sheet . The Wright Poems is an elegaic " To Richard Wright " exclaims/ alnost with defeat, that �To be born unnoticed is to be born black, and left out of the grand adventure . Wright" ~ refers to the novelist as young Jesus of the black noun and verb . Other poems find the poet wandering or searching through the " spirits" or "bones" of Wright. In "A Mourning Letter from Paris " Rivers recalls knowing and feeling ~eve~o..L o(.h,~ gl-'>eu,c,c.utL,u~eu~l;,1.., rot191 s 0.~t rr-•M~4 t ~"t'k, s•pTe1tt b•"'J''"!i JSSCI~ f: (lloct&YI • "Harlem ' s hone ed voice . " _ Off.ffsimilar in feeling and the;-~ ~t,i,.!a lmost never in voice and £:. form, is the work of,.,pumas wh~"Negritude ranges across time and space . " H,,.,., forn .&iilliim11M12er-.1111a,._~ . "OvrntU in Sweet Home, Arkansas, ~moved to New York when he was 10 years ~ old and completed public schools in that city . He attended City College of New York and Rutgers between stints in the Air Force and other activities. Active on the little magazine circuit, he won a number of awards and helped establish several publications. At the time of his death, he was teaching at Southern Illinois University's Experiment in Higher Education in East St. Louis . In 19 70, SIU Press published two posthumously collected volumes: Poetry for My People and ' Ar k of Bon' and Other Stories, edited ~ -,,o,.ts h,tcn~ f'ltf. Chatfield and Redmond. Hale • ,-e-,..• t't-1,r,., Random House re- issuedA_t' ry Play Ebony Play Ivory &, fl Redmond.@@ gsi• o5 . Though there have • J .w.Wi . ~iiilililiiiiWN-~•---•••••liiiil~~ been no full-length critical studies of Dumas ' ' poetry, Jay Wright and Baraka assessed him in the SIU eif''YI the new K4 . U>· C,ot\(lf'fl\S e.. and Wright ' s Introduction is retained in ltc.h1t t,'- s . Wn.ght, himself a major poet of the era, ,.imz=..i."the .--. linguistic ~lm!IN& and ~ musical range of Dumas: None of this is perverse, intellectual play . of Dumas ' sense of history. It is indicative In "Emoyeni, Place of the Winds," ) �he writes "I see with my skin and hear with my tongue." ••• The line, I suggest, asserts some elementary truth about Dumas ' , and not alone Dumas ' , poetic techniques. is grounded in that line. This book ..• What Dumas means i~ that there are racial and social determinants of perception, ideas that he was just beginning to develop. The mind articulates what the senses have selected from the field, and this articulation is, in part, determined by what the perceiver has learned to select and articulate .• , ,11 ii C t £3 U L 1 lg L &lib 2§ Uii&L if&tp@hS i PJ&L &lid 5 IS In '{I] hear with my tongue," Dumas asserts that the language you speak is a way of defining yourself within a group. The language of the Black community, as with that of any group, takes its form, its imagery, its vocabulary, because Black people want them that way. Language can protect, exclude, express value, as well as assert identity. is why Dumas' language is the way it is. That In the rhythm of it, is the act, the unique manner of perception of a Black ~ man. rrWriting with the removed passion of the friend that he was, Wright makes vital statements not only about Dumas but about the whole area of Black creativity, perception and stance in the world. Indeed Dumas jutted all these antennae r from his poetry which he wrote to maintain "ou~ precious tradition." Lin- guistically, Dumas' f base is formal English, a blend of Black African languages, Arabic, and Gullah from the islands off the Carolinas and Georgia. His cosmos �is shaped by the rich textures of Black religious and spiritual life, expecially old time church services and Voodoo. Wright notes: and gospel music, particularly, were his life breath. "The blues Only Langston Hughes knew more, ~ rat least as much, about gospel and gospel singers •... Music seemed to Dumas to be able to carry the burden of direct participation in the act of living, as no poem, that was not musically structured, could .... " "Dumas was searching for an analagous structure for poetry." As a poet, Dumas combines the past, present and future, often inseparably, as in "Play Ebony Play Ivory": for the songless, the dead who rot the earth all these dead whose sour muted tongues speak broken chords, all these aging people poiijon the heart of earth. Curses and curdles, mysticism, blessings and warnings abound ~· ~ °f?,'+ 1e ft) / : Vodu green clinching his waist, obi purple ringing his neck, Shango, God of the spirits, whispering in his ear, thunderlight stabbing the island of blood rising from his skull . . Later, in this same poem ~ come, must come: ' the word takes precedent over all; what must �No power can stay the mojo when the obi is purple and the vodu is green and Shango is whispering, Bathe me in blood. I am not clean. ,~ Je,m,td His intercontinental, intergalaxia! soa~ ewrls,~any and all devices at his command. ~ explores the dense rhythms (" of percer,tion") as in "Ngoma" where he compares the belly of a pregnant woman to the drum head . h.,J /:::d. 11d The~ •1ts r listens to the baby ' s heart; the drummer listens to the voices of the ancestors: aiwa aiwa it is the chest-sound same that booms my chest aiwa aiwa a strong sound running like feet of gazelle ~ em~ aiwa aiwa ---, merges goat skin The ~ rescendo, with its bu~lt- in ,n c..fAn and woman ' s belly in the • JI ory q 1 £!'¥\roar: the goat-skin sings the boom-sound louder louder sings the goat-skin louder the goat-skin sings the boom-sound louder sings the goat-skin louder louder louder boom the goat-skin b.,om-sound louder louder louder The rich, experimental language, couched in several " traditions, " is seen �everywhere in this major voice (" from JackhglJlilley") : The jackjack backing back ancl stacking stone city-stone into cracked hydraulic echoes of dust ?1 ( " Root Song" ): Once when I was tree flesh came and worshipped at my roots . fr ("A Song of Flesh") love) _,,. maddened IL,' When I awoke) I took the sleeping mountains of your breasts tenderly tenderly between my quivering lips and I guillotined the stallions, drowned the eagles, and drove the tiger fish back into the sea of your heart . There are also "many" poets in Dumas . NNll--•i~e:1-A combination of Dunba r, Hughe s J . Walker, coupled with the best of the riming poets of the sixties) - produces -,i..,'s . . - sanguine and humorous Black truth ("I Laugh Talk Joke" ): i laugh talk joke smoke dope skip rope, may take a coke jump up and down, walk around drink mash and talk trash beat a blind hoy over the head with a brick knock a no-legged man to his bended knees �cause I ' m a movinl fool never been to school god raised me and the devil praised me catch a preacher in a boat and slit his throat pass a church , I might pray but don ' t fuck with me cause I don ' t play There are epic poems like " [osaic Harlem" and " Genesis on an Endless Mosaic," a blues series , experiments in African forms (using spontaneity and ritual), and mystical/exploratory poems like Thoughts/Images , Ke£ , Ikefs and Saba. Gnc) r,wi i'4l 1i/ fO'""P1/ ~bvt'') -th rt i.vh;c~ b In one " Saba" Dumas uses bizarre imagery/\ to render ~ ~hard to describe: sx waterings streams striking aorta vibraphones sx veinings myriads of flag,ella flucksing rite Dumas possessed a boundless love for the acoustical leap and the dramatic " implosion" (as he put it) of ideas in poetry . haye on Black poetry remains to be seen . What influence his ideas will 2111'/i It would have been ,;J1,lll![il•~ interesting if his work , much of it written in the early and mid-sixties , had been �available in collected form when the first <:KC-V C,.rec:J Poetryl\rue bd,R8 f,H.i3t1 t . r, The Amer ican temperament (disfavor i ng Black writers t elling their truths) kept Dumas and Rive r s running . Dumas sought his peace in the deep well of his own folk culture and in occasional excursions into mysticism, Afric ~ ancl Voodoo. Rivers buried himself in the "identity" issues and brooded over his plight as a brilliant Black in a country where the two adjectives together are neither believable or legitimate. both left~ fegacies .fo~ o-.c.c,, ..."t Gftd fo..t.-reAL"•·n1 -&£t.., AUessw,e,a,r of bu.nu' potJli.y o.9'Cl a.,";.,~,....d' sec CjyJc"Tlylo..1 •tfffN.y bu...as:Le~ao, o~A. len,~ $1R9eto-"(ij,gllAM-~ B. ' Griefs of Joy~ The Poetry of Wings & The Black Arts Hovement No 1 Sept. \9'15'). nothing remains the same . And my spirit reaches out to you my love without apologies without embarrassment 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 . ---- Pinkie Gordon Lane, "griefs of joy" One major difference between the cultural/political upsurges of the twenties and the sixties/seventies was location: the Renaissance was centered literarily , if not always geographically, in Harlem; but its �recent successors can be found in every North American community with a substantial Black population. Another difference was in degree of artistic-political consciousness. To be sure, the cultural and political arms of the Renaissance were, on occasion, interlocked. But such marriages never reached the current state of 11 wholeness" and "continuit~ In the early days of this period there were (are) "stars" of the New Black Poetry; but the glitter often attended activities "outside" of the poetry. Or, put differently, the stars sometimes put "outside" topical stimuli "inside" what is no longer defensible as-"poetry.tt This often meant that the star poets had no connection whatever with a Black literary or folk poetry tradition as such. In- stead theirs was a utradition" of immediacy, political urgency, and newspaper headlines, combined with high-school type punch-lining. This is not to say good "poetry (of whatever definition) was (is) not being written or that charlatans were always on the"take." There is much evidence to support the belief that dozens of these soothsayers were sincere and honest--and had chosen what appeared to be the 11 simplest 11 and "fastest" vehicle for expressing thoughts about '1Revolution~ and "Black Togetherness" or raising the "Collective C0 nsciousness." Such a situation was not helped by the learned poet-activists who sometimes advised young writers to give up "Western" influences and a "white" language. These advisors usually stopped short of suggesting ways in which young poets and writers might assimilate another language into their works. Yet this need to identify and institute an alternative language is a pressing one. In the meantime, impressive contributions toward such a realization have been made by such beacons as James W~ldon Johnson, Melvin Tolson, Margaret Walker, Henry Dumas, Ishmael Reed, Jayne Cortez and others. However, the insincere versifiers usually _fell by tilie wayside in a short time, paving the way, like the Phoenix bird, for still more soap box mounters. At the same time, a number of poets--whose wits and crafts were ~7~ �not about them in the early phase--took to the woodshed to become much better handlers of the word. a "panorama of violence." All this occurred, Larry Neal notes, against Indeed by the late sixties Black communities all over America had been turned uJVide of the Black Revolution. own by police and spokesmen/supporters 12 Young shock troopers like Carmichael,N3rown, Charles Koen, Ron Karenga, Huey Newton, and Eldridge Cleaver had already 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. o.entrA-i the~oetic tradition-- This trend a l o n e ~ shoe~ since it created a flood of polemicists and pamphle teers who could/would ,'n not discuss poetry inNiistorical contexts. It caused further shock by labeling itself "Black" and renegotiating its own "roots." (the word "Black" :r has appeared throughout the history of Black poetry, but before the sixties it was not used as a categorical f\*...e.nceto poetry written by Afro-Americans.) Hence much of the New Black Poetry has been viewed as non-poetry or anti-poetry (in a traditional literary context) because among other things, it J,,e:, · not depend primarily on subtlety and recondite references. to be ,Pi1.~c,LAr f.eo..lVt' o f' seen what impact this · Black poetry will have on the literacy trends in Afro-America. Jackson (Black Poetry in America), for example, begins his own discussion of the ew Black Poetry by building a convincing -ft.e. h'2w analogy between the rise in Black literacy and the popularity of~poetry. ,,, Henderson (Understanding the New Black Poetry) assures his readers that Black readers or listeners clearly "understand" what their poets are saying and are participating more and more as judges o f ~ aesthetical qualities in the poetry and the poets' deliveries. II But while this chapter will conclude with a few broad critical observations, the immediate aim is to �continue the sketch of the poetry ' s development, interpolating from time to time pertinent critical and illuminating data. There are dozens of ways to approach the New Black Poetry. One could, for example, examine its theme, structure and saturation (Henderson), or its several types (Carolyn Rodgers, see bibliography). Starting with important names is another way; the Black Aesthetic (Gayle, Fuller) approach is another way. Then there is the magic of Black poetry (Baral4 , Tour~, '1 Neal, Dumas). Jlusic is also a favorite OtfP fJJ Harper, Jayne Cortez). One could go on and on: ( 811 J4 Crouc h , Re6:IJ ucasce but the poetry has been written and one place to start is with its emergence. New York certainly played a key role in the new movement; but it did not, we said earlier, play the key or only role. Areas of the East (Phila~., "l"l"t delphia, Boston Baltimore, Washington, D.C.) enhanced_the boo~ . Midwest centers were Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, East St. Louis-St. Louis J and Kansas City, to name some. Related events also took place in the South where there was another "rising" in Atlanta, Nashville, Jackson, Baton Rouge, Tuskegee, Houston,- and Toogaloo. The West added richly from Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento • and Seattle. i'ht. b evelopments related to poetry mc.h,4'e ~numerous Black Arts activities (connected to cultural or nationalist programs) located at settlement houses, community centers, museums, centers for the dissemination of ideologies, anti-poverty SvRfo .."t".c.a.,.,,,i,Jo..lSo l'n ff.re f:o.,. W\ot~ projects, and educational institutions. l:iifljl · plethora of tabToi~ck-oriented, journals, flyers, posters, books, pamphlets t and records . .._ ~ f great importance were the new Black bookstores, African curio shops, walls of "respect" (Cleveland, Akron, Chicago, St . Louis, New York, Newarl-J ~ , art exhibits, weekly festivals and jubilees, writers ' conferences, writing workshops, the flood • \ �of liberation flags (black-green-red), Black-oriented -,Y talk and variety or-CvL-tii1'6...l S'y~b ol...1 >P«c.i' t.. c.,.i,iy ~ shows, and other physical/\ · , Ji handshakes_!',.-eir----.._i....~==t"'.African clothes, hairdos and jewelry new consciousness. New York was an important show-place for the It had the residue of the post-Renaissance years (the iomburg Library and Micheaux 's Bookstore) in Harlem as well as numerous 'RLo..d<- surroundin~ltommunities. New organizations · ,he such as ta- Barbara Ann Teer ' s National Black Theater, ~New Lafayette Theater, VD..'1"\C,VS hew and a.-llllarlem fultural ~roje~1I_ flowered in the amazed light of older institutions like Freedomways magazine (Clarke and «a•aea:t Kaiser) which has published many of the new poets: Tour~ ~ (Snellings~ Madhubuti (Lee), Henderson, Clarence Reed, Welton Smith, LlGyd T. Delaney, W.D. Wright, Joanne Gonzales, Mari Evans and others. Freedomways also offers lively reviews and commentaries on poetry, literature and the Black Arts scene. From the variegated atmosphere of New York gushed forth a tide of 1n olnero.v>eos hwi'nei 1-lenderson, Larry Neal Black poets, some ••!l!la,.rt!ade their mark earli"erf.; (1937- ), Reed, Patterson, Sun-Ra, Sonia Sanchez (1935(1936- June Jordan (1936- ), S.E. Anderson (1943- ), Hernton, Quintin Hill (1950- Baraka, Audre Larde, John Major (1948- ' ), Albert Haynes A, (FLurence Ar,~ 1 (tQ</7-) > ),~ Howard Jones ( 941) , N.H. Pritchard (1939- J~mes AY'Un5(on!o nes(iq.1'1Lennox Raphael (1940- ) ?, ) '/\John A. \Jilliams, Lebert Bethune (1937- ), ) , 1,/,t, ), Lethonia Gee, Bobb Hamilton, Q.R. Hand, </usef Inan, Ray Johnson, Odaro (Barbara Sho.rion Bovr>l<e Jones, 1946), Clarence Reed, usef Rahmanl(Ronal<l Stone)/ Barbara Simmons, Lefty Sims, Welton Smith (1940Clarence Major (1936(1939- ), Spellman, Edward Sprij (1934), Gi-OS'fCl'lo~dCfho-""> \)ouqh»-Y LOVl~ (I q4 ~- ) ), A.L orenzo Thomas (1944),/.f-ichard Thomas ~"u ), Jay Wright (1935- ), Ted Wilson, Lloyd Addison (1931- Q'Ut-) Kattie M. Curob~ James Arlington Jones (19361933- '' O?t1-5- ) ), ), Jayne Cortez (via Watts, °" ), Ema nuel, Calvin Forbe~, Alexis Deve~ux (1950- ), Nikki Giovanni L<>~~ �(via Fisk, 1943- ), Tom Weatherly (1942- Djangatolum (Lloyd M. Corbin) Q. 9Lf9- ), ~~e ), Ron Welburn (1944Jackson (1946- ) ' ), Joe Johnson (1940), Julius Lester (1939), Elouise Lofti•n (1950), Judy Gy /tl1n k(l'11'\J (iq44- ') Simmons/( Felipe Luciano (1947), L.V. Mack ) , At.::harles Lynch (1943(194 7- ) , Rhonda Mills, .@!!Ill K.W. Prestwidge. (tf.fto- } od i 81t0<f'to11 , Larry Thompson (1950- ), The New York Black Arts scene (poetry specifically) was all-a-whir with the excitement of publishing and reading poetry aloud at the infinite number of gatherings. older, often revived1 ones. his death in 1967. Joining these younger writers were Hughes oversaw much of the proceedings until And there were old, as well as new, outlets for the poetry which was being read at the Apollo, Carnegie Hall, New Lafayette Theater, Slugs East, Lt'be~iv f-4,,v.se ~~rd! H@rie 1?8'1!'k, and in countless community centers and churches. Most of these poets were not native New Yorkers; and a great number even were not psnpolii ailsiy there during the height of the Black Arts Movement-but often in outlying areas like Bridgeport, (Youth Bridge) Yale, Fredonia, Brockport, Rutgers, Brooklyn, Boston (Elma Lewis ' s Center for Afro-American At11 t$Lc,.c,K. Ac.o.demy ot At-T.u.nd LettT.-..s Cultur ~~ and Bedford Stuyvesant. But, while they had separate Black Arts programs, most looked to the movement in New York. Workshop there were: Douglass Creative Arts In addition to the Umbra Harlem Writers Guild (Clarke, Killens), Frederick Center♦ Poetry Workshop, the Afro-Hispanic Workshop, ~ Workshop for Young Writers, the Columbia Writing program (Killens) A. Black Arts Repertory and Theatre/School (Baraka, Snellings). Glv~, l..o..'1Le to #ie p.-ets. Among the new journals/\ fw e Umbra (1963), Soulbook (1964), Black Dialogue (1965), Journal of Black Poetry (1966) (ironically, the last three were begun on the west coast), Pride, Black Theatre (1969), Cricket (1969), Black Creation (1969), AfroAmerican: �A Third World Literary Journal (1973, Syracuse), BOP (Blacks on Paper, Brown University, 19'(/4), Continuities: Words from the Communities of Pan-Africa, City College New York, 1974), Impressions (1974), Cosmic Colors, c, bslc:hg.n dr - /\ (Fredonia, 1975) . T(During a speech at Howard University's First National Conference of Afro-American Writers (November, 1974), Tour~, recounting the tumultuous years and developments, said those responsible for the "Black arts and aesthetic movement" were "activists as well as artists." It seemed \..e. Ro, :!ones so, for this particular pattern was most obvious as Jia uah../\ returned to Newark 1ff (renaming it "New Ark") and changed his name l imamu Amiri Baraka, reflecting cin h 1n.-i 1 i.11 the great influence of the Nation of IslaTI}l\and fl\J Q~l\'t!c~es in African Fovndaftlit {jL,.d,. Ah-U eep11►forf1t,ea(;e ctn:I sdtoo'lculture. Having 1-• '/\'to re-educate the nearly half a million Harlem Negroes to find a new pride in the color," he (;(JeAT:G_~o establish Spirit House --- ~ ~e~.,tl'\Sf11~,:Co?t~ (Newark), and such s+w,il i 11 t 1\as Spirit House Players and Hovers, the African Free School (with its Kawaida doctrine), Jihad Publications, Committee for a Unified Newark, and to help launch several national Black political con. vent ions. He was a f oun cl er (1970) o f t h e;:,/\..~t~~,t..y ( tlif I ilrgr stri"f e-ri"dd en Congress of African Peoples. During the 1967 riots (insurrections) in Newark, Baraka was arrested with several companions and charged with possession of two handguns and ammunition. Between his arrest and the trial "Black P~ple!" was published BA"' .seems ti> "°'"e b"e11 UJY1vlc7etJ 11n1he.JJ;enjhilll!_,. ., PoeM s,~e Th «--""'.,,. t,t~ . t"° ch-th Cov i.Trt1ctm in Evergreen Review.A The poem openly encouraged looting, theft, murder of whites, and general insurrection: "Hhat about that bad short you saw last week"; "You know how to get it, you can get it, no money down, no money never"; "he owes you anything you want, even his life"; "Up against the wall motherfucker this is a stick up!"; together and kill him .my man": "Smash the window at night"; "Let's get �... let ' s get together the fruit of the sun, let ' s make a world we want black children to grow and learn in do not let your children when they grow look in your face and curse you by 1r pitying your tarnish ways. ~u ~v It was the kind ofAiii,,lip and tfage that ch_aracterized Baraka' s (a11dA other Black poets ' ) ~e,..se.. I\_••• ~ '\so.: ~\<:.6... wo.s ~ti"' aq..wTed bv1" ,. .,,._ between 1965Al969. ~wrim~ t hia pedeN Mlrntta: •~ a number of /\t a..ted _developments occurred. Impressed by the Mt3a.i~ "of Ron Karenga wk om he rne:t <t(hile teaching l • ?Pg at San Francisco State College in 1967), returnetl to Newark and organized the Black Community Development and Defense Organization (BCD). His efforts eventually aided in the election of a Black mayor .Kenneth Gibson deve.Lo pmem ts . These ti.a· u~s A..w ere having great impact on regional and national Black political/poetry scenes . Baraka ' s picture•paire~~ (with bandages from the 1967 scuffle with Newark police) began appearing on \sCl: t walls of cultural centers, dormitories and homes . ~'(/any observers were somewhat wary of Barakq , having seen him go through the "changes " from Beat poet w::•i~L•l...,.....,,_l~i~t~-.~·5.,..3._, to Harlem and Black Arts, into Newark antl political work , ( f or great insight into all this, see Theodore Hudson ' s From LeRoi Jones to Amiri naraka, 1973 J ♦ Yet Baraka ' s influences were felt in most centers of the New Black Poetry--and even in places where his poetry had not actually been !ead; 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 or from a live reading, but who, when questioned about Bara·a ' s works, did not know the name of a single one . After The Dead Lecturer, Baraka (also playwright) published Black rlagic: �Poetry ,1961-1967 (1969), In Our Terribleness ( 1970), Spirit, Reach (1972), j as well as numerous essays and stories. With Neal he co-edited Black Fire (1968) which, along with Major ' s The New Black Poetry (1969) show-cased the new poetry') . In the Forward to Black Fire, Baraka called Black artists "the founding Fathers and . . 1others, of our nation. We rise, as we rise (agin) . By the power of our beliefs, by the purity and sJ:;rength of our actions." Usi'n.3 his ~~nie, htw C}V" 4 m rYHU\ 0,.'00 4>'11"l r~, he.. v l•e,v..,e.cl 1N po.en O.V\6 W-;.iil,~s: o.s:. _; . holy man . The black artist. The man you seek. maker of peace. you seek. speaker . The lover. Look in . The The climber the striver. We are they whom The waior. Find yr self . The Find the being, the The voice, the back dust hover in your soft eyeclosings. Is you. or minus, you vehicle! selves. The black man. Is the creator . Is nothing . We are presenting. Plus Your various We are presenting , from God, a tone, your own . Go on. Now . He thus set• the "tone" for poets/philosophers , reiterating at the same time w~sberna _-r:; ·much of what --••.i.•<1exclaimed in other writings ac~0~5 the Y\<Mt-O O • Neal , a perceptive critic and balanced theoretician, d!IIIIIP published two volumes: Black Boogaloo: Notes on Black Liberation (1969 , Journal of Black Poetry Press , Forward by Jones) and Hoodoo Hollerin ' BeBop Ghosts (1975) . 1 His Afterword to Black Fire is tantamount to Hughes ' famous ~declaration ~f the twenties. Presenting "artistic and political work" =A~~~ be "called a radical perspectiv~ • Black Fire should be read "as if it were a critical re-examination of Western political, social and artistic values. " and exhorting other writer s, Neal continued: We have been, for the most part, talking about contemporary Challenging �realities. We have not been talking about a return to some glorious African past. total past. But we recognize the past--the Many of us refuse to accept a truncated Negro history which cuts us off completely from our African ""' ancest ♦ ry. To do so is to accept the very racist assumptions which we abhor. Rather, we want to comprehend history totally, and understand the manifold ways in which contemporary problems are affected by it. Speaking against the hindsight of psychology and turbulence , Neal added: There is a tension within Black America. its roots in the general history of race . And it has The manner in which we see this history determines how we act. should we see this history? it? How What should we feel about This is important to know, because the sense of how that history should be felt is what either unites or separates us . Finally, he sums up what can be called the credo or modus operandi of the New Black Poetry and the Black Arts Movement: The artist and the political a~tivist are one. both shapers of the future reality. They are Both understand and manipulate the collective myths of the race . warriors, priests, lovers and destroyers . Both are For the first violence will be internal--the destruction of a weak spiritual self for a more perfect self . be a necessary violence . But it will It is the only thing that will destroy the double-consciousness--the tension that is in the souls of black folk . �It was the kinq of challenge that sent many a newly Blackened poet or activist into the long night of the soul to purge himself of real or imagined enemies of his people. Poetically speaking, however, it was Baraka's "Black Art" that set much of the pace, form and violent tone in the New Black Poetry~ Poems are bullshit unless they are teeth or trees or lemons piled on a step. Or black ladies dying of men leaving nickel hearts beating them down. Fuck poems and they are useful, wd they shoot come at you, love what you are, breathe like wrestlers, or shudder strangely after pissing. We want live words of the hip world live flesh & coursing blood. Hearts Brains Souls splintering fire. We want poems like fists beating niggers out of Jocks or dagger poems in the slimy bellies of owner-jews. Black poems to smear on gir<llemamma mulatto bitches whose brains are red jelly stuck between 'lizabeth taylor's toes. Whores! Stinking We want "poems that kill." Assassin poems, Poems that shoot guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys 4:SI �and take their weapons leaving them dead with tonges pulled out and sent to Ireland. Knockoff poems for dope selling wops or slick halfwhite politicians Airplane poems)rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ... tuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuh ... rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr t ··· Setting fires and death to whities ass . . . . We want a black poem. / And Black World. Let the world be a Black Poem And let All Black People Speak This Poem Silently "Black Art" was often cited as the sanguine embodiment of the Black Aesthetic and a rejection of white culture and life style. Poems, Baraka states, must not only have guts and earthiness (like Blacks)) but they must , also be weapons and shields against racism, police, merchants, hustlers, crooked politicians and status-climbing Black bourgeo~ie. Above all, they should exalt Blackness ("sons," "lovers," "w_arriors," "poets," and "all the loveliness here in this world.") These then are the dominant themes in much of the New Poetry and the philosophies stated (with radical divergencies) from coast to coast. Baraka's purge extends through poems like "Poem for HalfWhite College Students," "The Racist," "Little Brown Jug" ("WE ARE GODS"), "W.W." (attack on wig-wearing women), "CIVIL RIGHTS POEM" ("Roywilkins is an eternal faggot"), "Ka 'Ba," and finally, in "leroy," his last will and testament: �When I die, the consciousness I carry I will to black people . May they pick me apart and take the useful parts, the sweet meat of my feelings . And leave the bitter bullshit rotten white parts alone . But there are also sensitive love poems in the later period, poems caught up in the stressed life of Blackne.ss ("S t erling Street September" ) : "the beautiful black man, and you, girl, child nightlove, ••• : We are strange in a way because we know who we are. Black beings passing through a tortured passage of flesh . In his Forward to Black Boo_saloo, Baraka says of the world : " the soldier 1l, ~/~Je t,) poets will change it. " /.. What Neal ' s volume changed has not yet been ascertained f/h(l"lf, C,o,. ~tJ..fi;Cl WAS p11obo.W.y r,.t(:er-J.1hi but it certainly contains ambitious and successful poetry. His debt to the older generation of poets, artists and thinkers, can be seen in poems like "Queen Hother ' s Sermon, " " The Middle Passage and After, " " Love Song in the Middle Passage," " Garvey ' s Ghost, " "Lady Day," " Harlem Gallery: From the ~ Ins id et,''/.. "Halcolm X--An Autobiography. " Making use of mysticism, chant and musicographic interpolations . Neal (re: Dumas) . is effective--moving,sensing, and feeling: Olorum Olorum Olorum The horror of "The Middle Passage After" is seen in the "Decked, stacked, pillaged" slaves. "Long Song in fiddle Passage" views the Red glow of sea-death mornings. �Other poems ("Song," "Jihad," "Kuntu," "Orishas") reveal Neal's interests in supernaturalism, African philosophy and the allusive, mystical powers inherent in the "word." He seeks poetically to implement the ideas he stated in Black Fire and a special Black issue of lJ.1E. (~ D...r.rn..Review) in summer of 1968. The issue, edited by ;m,B.'s contributing editor Bullins, compiled ideas and plays rooted in what was then called the "new" consciousnes, also featured IAM4. work by Sonia Sanchez and Adam David Hiller. #weal's "The Black Arts Movement" was a blue-print for Black Arts and political change. Echoing statements in Black Fire, he argued against "any concept of the artist that alienates him fron his community," and noted: 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 aspirations of Black America. In order to perform this task, the Black Arts Movement proposes a radical reordering of the western cultural aesthetic. It proposes a separate symbolism, mythology, critique, and iconology. The Black Arts and Black Power concept both relate broadly to the AfroAmerican's desire for self-determination and nationhood. Both concepts are nationalistic. One is concerned with the relation between art and politics ; the other with the art of politics. But his idea of a "separate" aesthetic was not embraced by all Black poets, artists, or intellectuals. Neither was there • complete agreement (or understanding) among its own proponents. For example, Spriggs, a versatile �artist an<l thinker, led a boycott of Major ' s The New Black Poetry on the grounds that it was being brought out by a white publisher (International Publishers) . But Spriggs had not objected earlier to use of his work in Black Fire, also published by whites (Morrow). His position statement appeared in The Journal of Black Poetry (Fall, 1968): how in the hell are the black publishers ever going to get off into it if not by the assistance of the writers . how are distributorships ever going to mature with the publishers if the highly marketable works of wm kelly, j . killens, ja wms, 1 neal, e bullins, 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 say yea, yea . Spriggs joined a large n umber of critics and pract ; ners of the Black , \:" u U e,1-" > Le ~ > Arts--Toure, Neal , Crouch , "-1 '3u!lins, ,\Goncal ves--in the controversy over Black writers ' roles and responsibilities . Despite the controversy, however, Major ' s anthology appeared as a kaleidoscopic offering of the New Black Poetry. Major included a perceptive and fitting Introduction: THE . INNER crisis of black reality is often studded in these poems by the swift , vividly crucial facts of social reality; which consists in part, anyway, of all the implications and forces of mass media, the social patterns, the bureaucratic and mechanical mediums of human perceptions, even of the quickly evolving nature of the human psyche in this highly homogenized culture, in all of its electric processes and specialist fragmentation . Black reality, in other words, is like any other reality profoundly effected by technology . The �crisis and drama of the late 1960s overwhelms and threatens every crevice of human life on earth. These poems are born out of this tension. Avt--vt..'i !. In his own poetry, Major"-e.rnsss u:e Vietnam, alienation, impending world destruction, Black history, music, mythology, and personal excursions into dreams. He published The Dictionary of Afro-American Slang (1970), Swallow the Lake (1970), Symptoms and fadness (1971), Private Line (1971), The Cotton Club (1972) and The Syncopated Cakewalk (1974), as well as novels and essays. He has also directed the Harlem Writers Workshop. ledgements to Poetry, Lowenf els , I 1 In the acknow- 1ajor indebts the anthology to many influences: 1 Reed, Raphael, Art Berger, tl: 3t • Smith, ~ Fuller, Nat HenJtoff, 121' 14 Randall, t1P--■lt1-l Atkins, Bremen, ~ Young, and David V Henderson. Major's "Down Wind Against the Highest Peaks" is typical of his style: ~harpf-ana\angledjtwisted language, spacings that replace punctuation, tidbits of world knowledge applied to the racial state~ent (satire or exhortation), and experimental typography. Recalling his "passage" he sees "Tonto Sambo Willie"--noting that even Mexico--"an asskissing nation"--now has the "super-blonde" on its "billboards." In the midst of all these events, the poets vigorously promoted programs which extended their concepts and visions. Spriggs and Ahmed Alhamisi were corresponding editors of the Journal; naraka, l!ajor, Nazzam Al Sudan (now El Huhajir) and Neal became contributing editors. was later joined by Tour~. Editor-at-large Bullins In the seventies Ernie :Mkalimoto was added as a contributing editor with Major's name disappearing. Major, Randall, Neal, Spriggs, Bullins, Baraka~ and Alhamisi have all served as guest special editors. An important influence on (and outlet for) the new poetry, the Journal was �" in many ways born of Soulbook and Dialogue" (Goncalves, now Dingane , Journal editor). The magazine continues to print the newest poetry, zeroing in on other areas like the West Indies (Summer, 1973), printing lively news and announcements, as well as reviews and criticism . Its Spring , 1968, issue, for example , was dedicated to Joseph T . Johnson, Los Angeles poet who had recently been killed. I Abdul Karim edited Black Dialocue with Spriggs, Toure, and Goncalves serving as associate editors. Relocating in New York in the late sixties, Dialosue ' s new editorial board was represented by Spriggs, Nikki Giovanni, Jaci Early, Elaine Jones, S . E . Anderson and James Hinton . Alhamisi and Carolyn Rodgers became Midwest editors; Spellman, Julia Fields and Akinshiju became editors for the South; and Joans and Kgositsile took over as Africa and at-large editors . Soulbook ' s editorial board now includes: Hamilton, Alhamisi , Carol Homes, Baba Lamumba, Zolili, Ngqondi Masimini and Shango Umoja . Among the administrative staff is Donald Stone (Rahman) whose I work appears in Black Fire and all the journals . f Along with Spriggs, Toure, and Larry 1iller (Katibu ) , Rahman aided Baraka at Spirit House . His "Transcendal Blues," full of chant /song a nd line- exper i mentation, fuses the world of Black music (and musicians) with the " strife riddled concrete bottoms of skyscraper seas ." Rahman ' s influences, obvious in his name, are seen in his statement that a " riff " so high and grand "Could be Allah ." Finally winding the poems into a tribut e to the Black woman (" Bitter bit her bitterness humming") , he rejects Christ i ans and whites and warns that ~ My spear s shall rain • ... / (The Islam influence is a l so seen in other poets of the period : Spriggs, I Toure, Baraka, Iman, Neal, Alhamisi, Dumas, Marvin X, Sonia Sanchez, who roevl.-A.-r-, along with Nikki Giovanni emer ged as one of the most1t•' J IT IA. poets of the �era . These women poets and others--Aud r e Larde, J une Jordan , Mae J ackson , Ka tt ie M. Cumbo , Jayne Cortez, Al exis Deveaux, EpSli se Loftin, Odar o (Barbara Jones) II" heLplld 9- -..,,. .::r eatef § a new wave of exc i tement about t he pos s ib il ities and potential s •"J[t;u:I', wome1$oet r y b ,dding t o this h Mlth-y SlOMV\ ii §Aof a c tiv e 6Ji;. int e r e st a r e the new Bl ack :: oug 'a magaz i nes l i ke Encor e w om t.11 poet' The most famous oc•&•ill91!!@~••••tlllii~is Ni kki Giovanni , 3 & a - llfNia wh.u/\s ose-1·11 . · h ts d o no t profound thinker and provocative speak er, '-1 a s an d insig Jl'('tat'\c ■ \t\to h er, l I ti poet r y . Her route to New Yo r k was by way of Tennessee and Fisk Univers i ty where she was a member of Killens ' Write r s Wo r kshop . Fame came i n the late sixties a f t er she penned a series of volatile prose- l i ke statement s wh i ch wer e star tling : and even more so, coming from a woman . In the s i xt i es s he pr ivately published her poetr y and was l a t e r brought ou t by Broads id e Pr ess and larger publ isher s . Her volumes include Black Feeling, Bl a ck Talk, Black Judgement (1970 ) , Re-Creation lj p;::;::;r.(1970), My House (1972) and a book of poems for children, Spin a Soft Black Song (1971). Her anthology of Black women poets, Night Comes Softly , -'lc2 ~~e.4- was ~•± ➔ l in 1970 and she has recorded albums, written an autobi ography , and publ i shed a series of "conversations" with Margaret Walker . ~1Jrnt rous. the new poets, she has been accor ed Aaccolades: Su~t oP Year Award; £ eatur~ " · andMi\<£ D1,u,w Johnny Carso~ in ••s Highly controversial among Mfflll Q ~nc.es L ca :i:Uiss Ebony «. and Essence; appear ..A on the tt mvih. speaker 1~ed p1enTbF Qr\I l~A sought-after '1iilllla f~oWI ho~ 4 •N foman of the nett on the college circuit; ru1udsJ • ·Ahonorary doctorate degree • ~Wilberforce University and labeled the "Princess of Black Poetry" by _,,jf enounced ~ Ida Lewis, Encore editor . as an "individualist" by Madhubuti (Lee) and praised by Margaret 7T°Walker and Addison Gayle , ho.s re.feireJ Nikki Giovanni Aa ai d ~"'~i•W@ij@!~a~S~I...,"""'l""~t-•J•l•;IJlllll•Falei~I- ;th~ la..loel •4f1111±"fl!l!§.iolfllff..,',~zj z a "Revolutionary . " Her singing of "God Bles s America" on # See , as related reading, And!'.ea Benton Rushing ' s " Images of Black Wom~n in Afro - Amer i ean Poetry" (Black World, Sept ember , 1975).• tf</'Z �national television , after receiving the "Woman of the Year Award," prompted Sorn e S &N- tol\~n1.ch~ on-. '1n1'1-e µ,om.Al'\ who1 letters to Black publications questioning her sincerity .,;1uring the sixtie) 41a wrote "Of Liberation": Dykes of the world are united Faggots got their thing together (Everyone is organized) Black people these are facts Where ' s your power •••• Honkies rule the world The most vital commodity infaerica Is Black people Ask any circumcized honkie •.. The final stanza of this '"poem1"warns: Our choice now is war or death Our option is survival Listen to your own Black hearts "Concerning i.ne Responsible Negro ~ith the New Black Poetry. £00 1%uch Power" echoes other themes in The "responsible negros" are "scared" and on the run. She tells them that your tongue must be removed since you have no brain to keep it in check In "Reflections on April 4, 1968," she calls Dr. King's assassination "an act of war." . In "The Great Pax Whi{ e" she paraphrases a section from Genesis in the Bible, noting that the word was "Death"; "death to all niggers . " ve..ti ca..l. Prose, a line of interest jutted through the otherwise pt] · 1A@cr0Lr,~ . Occasionally The pants �~r>' for~ of "Beautiful Black Me1y'~'hugl what i like to hug." There is the characteristic ~ repetition and emotion-freighted language as in.,,._ True Import of the Present Dialogue, Black vs Negro": Nigger Can you kill Can you kill Can a nigger kill Can a nigger kill a hankie Can a nigeer kill the Han •.. Can you stab-a-jew ••• Can you run a protestant down with your ' 68 Eldorado ••• Can you piss on a blond head ...• The poem continues, reciting names of the "enemy" and cataloging crimes and wrong-doings visited on Blacks, finally asking: Learn to kill niggers AJ Learn to be Black men Lff;ruch of what Nikki Giovanni was saying in the sixties moved Black youth--it was not always safe or chic to disagree even if you wanted to--and some of it was admirable. But these things do not make her work defensible as poetry. "Hy Poem" and "Poem for Aretha" are certainly worthy, even noble, subjects ~ 119:1li41 fall leisurely down the page, angling here and there but revealing nothing of the insight into human beings or poetic power that one finds in a poem by 1 \-\er Po-eT...y w~r. t.y ..iasm ().l'\Q im~t ..y4nd he~•1~<1r-ced"-themess-how he~ AS 4 VlC.Ot'>IOCIS ' ievoL,1i'o Helene Johnson, Margaret Walker, Gwendolyn Brooks, or Jayne Cortez. f\ "Nikki-Rosa," M ..,_ C.t. Qtf6 '\ her most often quoted poem from the early period, is l( laiBh I fut · to-th-t \AV f,e l I wall It has a believa ble f1iu .:.n t!tc conversation-like language (characteristic of �h.on£sl1,.y ,{t.s 1a.f her poetry~and ~/\detaill \ . ~ the inner reaches of the collective Black fxperienc/ as she unfolds the story of family fun and misfortune: your biographers never understand your father ' s pain as he sells his stock and another dream goes And though you ' re poor it isn't poverty that concerns you My House is a newer Giovanni . The venom has lessened, though some of the rampage is evident in a poem like "On Seeing Black Journal and Watching Nine Negro Leaders ' Give Aid and Comfort to the Enemy1 to Quote Richard Nixon . dr"!'t - lH'~a;here dl"(echn,iue.. ' llT 1mpt-~.,e.m ls no.,swn~(i . stylf , - - L~ngvo.&e. w n The poems deal with love, the city, childhood (always her rites of woman-passage), Africa and Afro-American culture. Ytf:_r promise and potential can be glimpsed in "Africa I": on the bite of a kola nut i was so high the clouds blanketing africa in the mid morning flight were pushed away in an angry flicker of the sun's tongue ...• rtmihlsr.tti1 o ft'\Anee.S H e.►•.s~ Nikki Giovanni's importanceJ(\ies more in her personal influence (especially her great drama on albums and in public) which has inspired many youns Black women to write about themselves and their world. But some of them, like Mae Jackson who won Black World's Conrad Kent Rivers Award, have yet to show the M4.CCan~ca.,tsort~ I poet with "stuff" of poetry in their writings. 1969 by Black Dialogue Publishers. " You was published in Nikki Giovanni t-.rrote the Introduction and �Mae Jackson, in turn, dedicated the book to her. Poet is full of the "complaints" that quickly became monotonous in the poetry of the sixties. In themes and usages, the poems resemble Uikki Giovanni ' s work. "To a Reactionary," "To the degro Intellectual," and "Note from a Field Nigger," \h the,\confused '>om eii',nQ,S, are familiar • and disturbed annals of the new poetry. Sonia Sanchez, closely identified with the new poetry and the new consciousness, alternates between terse, explicit verse, and the sprawling, prosaic meanderings that often serve; the auditory demands of the new audiences. Formerly married to the poet Etheridge Knight, she has actively worked as Iler books are Homecoming (1969), We a Baddddd a playwright, poet and teacher. People (1970), It ' s a New Day: Poems for Young Brothas and Sistus (1971), Love Poems (1973) and an antholo~y from her young Writers Workshop at the Countee Cullen Library in New York, Three Hundred and Sixty Degrees of Blackness Comini at You (1972) . . "Malcolm" is a lament and a night-filled memory for her: Yet this man this dreamer, thick-lipped with words will never speak again and in each winter when the cold air cracks with frost, I ' ll breathe his breath and mourn my gun-filled nights. Her "for unborn malcolms," however is another approach . Constricting words, structure, and «,t tempting to achieve a Black street speech, she tells Blacks �to "git the word out" to the "man/boy" murderer who is taking a "holiday." Dlacks are "hip to his shit" and when "blk/princes' die again white "faggots" "will die too." Olalll lfn i'q."e An experimentalist, Sonia Sanchez added herl\.v oice to the flood of angry, cynical and derisive language in the new vers ~ ("d~ition for blk/children"): a policeman is a pig in a zoo 4ll with~the other piggy animals. and until he stops killing blk/people cracking open their heads remember. the policeman is a pig . (oink/ oink.) She also joined the poetry of Black love and man-woman unity, seeking through her particular style and voice to heal wounds of doubt, mistrust and loneliness. tll t.t,"-' In "to all sisters" she says "hurt" is not the 11 bag"~-1omen "shd be in." They are advised to love the Black man who makes them "turn in/side out." journey has carried her from the ,. . :._·, ~~ be.a.vlv P,t~'I dttlAm•t'L-s •i c!f the '\ Her revolutionary to the quiet ...... f't_urbulcnce~of _L_o_v_e_P_o_em_s--being, maybe, among the first of the new ...... poets to ful~ fill Randall ' i=, prediction that Black poetry would "move from the �declamatory to the subjective mode." June Jordan published Who Look at 1e (1969), Some Changes (1971), an anthology, Soulscript (1970), and a volume of poetry by students in her Brooklyn creative writing workshop, The Voices of the Children (1970). 'Poem~ !.~ Ex iLe ~ l'etii,.t,~ Her last volume of poetry is w Da ~1974). Concise, analytical, and book-folk based, her poetry is also a free verse style characteristic of "Uncle Bull-boy" relates the death UUl'l(4 of a man whose eyes "were pink with alcohol." Thel\brother (uncle) reminisces, practically all the recent Black ~try. in the manner of Black men, about tneir sharing of street-talk, expensive shoes, and alcohol. And finally: His brother dead from drinking Bullboy drank to clear his thinking saw the roach inside the riddle. Soon the bubbles from his glass were the only bits of charm t which overcame his folded arms. udre Lorde 1 s "Rites of Passa&e" (for MLK Jr) eulogizes Dr. King: Now rock the boat to fare-the-well. and remembers him this way Quick children kiss us we are growing through dream. Huch of Audre Lorde's recent work concerns young people; even the title of her latest book, From a L Where other Peo le Live (1973), carries the awe and dream of the child's world. She writes now about teachers, men-women relations, seasons, dreams, "As I Grow up Again " and "Blad-. Uother Woman" �who thinks of her own mother's strength when "strangers come to compliment" her: I learned from you to deny myself through your denials. Among the younger New York women poets, Judy Simmons, Alexis Deveaux and Elo1ti~Loftin sing out. "' Judith's Blues (Broadside) was published in 1973. The poems submerge themselves in the troubled human psyche ("Schizophreni~ , and explore the "Youth Cult," "Women," and "Daffodils"--although the titles do r!'.ot reveal the poet's pithy searchings. Reflecting Judy Simmons' study of psychology, the poetry yields its meaning as the multiple layers of tensions and insights are uncovered. In "Schizophrenia" the "animal squats" next to the "piano" in a "corner" with an abnormal number of legs, arms, and a mouth that stretches from "forehead to abdomen." But the poet assures herself that if she does not lose control <115 it won't come back ~<--e)( • (U~~~ inside of me tElouise Loftin's poetry (Jumbish, 1972, Emerson IIallJ has youthful, zesty -the eo.se o ~ 6l:the LA11~11At°' imagery, indicative perhaps off,....these new techniciansK: • "Rain Spread" informs that Last night thre~ her legs open to me .••• ~ e, She has the new woman sensibility, a good knowledge off ocial landscape, and the cynicism often found among today ' s young, gifted and Black. caught" displays her hurp.or and wit: if they catch you "gettin �with your pants down (ffing your guard or peeing for free if they catch you doing something crazy with quotes around it and try to make you feel like you been catched you must -be doing some thing ok # Spirits in the Streets (1973) is Alexis Deveaux ' s strange but fascinating prose-poetry account of growing up in Harlem . • A West Indian mother, dispair &~ over a husband ' s misuse of his wife and children, complains: lord why he beat that woman so? and them children god only know what ' s gonna happen to them. eatin poison . jesus have mercy . children. has lye . eat you up inside you can ' t be too careful with you got to watch them every second. The world is so evil honey you know what i mean? merciful jesus shame them with the last word . These examples represent only a fraction of the new poetry being written by younger (and older) New York area poets. - (J_qt/-<f-) ~ Others are Catherine Cuestas, wesJy lsrOLVYl) F~ Phillip Solomon, Gayle Jone~ , Stephen Kwartler, R_anessa Howard, s -~ illt!l.~ ~v!k_~ �~ "'-e. !,om e.. and Glen Thompson, to name ~,-.. mrm:lfal. Poets whoN'57 t] the earlier period also published new items . ahd uu.tr,c.h e d · I in 1 Henderson ' s Felix of the Silent h(s . Forest (1967) was introduced by Jones1',. 'iia mlfmeographed The Poetry of Soul bears no date . he .-iii tnc.,•d 1~ He also publ ished De Hayor of Harlem i n 19 70 , the same year t~~to Berkeley . Essentially a Harlem poet, Henderson sur veys everything from the "Harlem Rebellion, Summer 1964" to "Har lem Anthropo l ogy ." ~ he t r ansit ions and out r eachings of thes e poets a r e a lso evident in a poet like Toure' who in 1968 went to teach Black Stud i es at San Francisco State College . His works are J~(l97 0 , Third Horld Press) and Songhai ! (1972) , I the latter published by Songhai Press and introduced by Killens . _ Toure ' s " Soul-gifts" are amply spiced with philosophy, Black history, Black music, Islamic influences, and "Juju" which says Coltrane ' s horn is "cascading fountains of blood and bones." Songhai ranges from satire. of Diana Ross CM1iq<Al1m.$0F A":" and Dionne \larwick to ,._i-n~incere activists• _!:he magical power of words t, V~f crtb ~ :!' structure N-deal Black society . Tour~ ' s list of influences ( see Forward) explains much about some of the Bla~k poetry emanating from the New York area: foal, Dumas, naraka, Goncalves, Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders , Cecil McBee--all called " Poets of a Nation-in- Formation. " Related developnents of the New York movement can be seen in such projects as the .(;.ThP ttP ' ~ (Sol B~ tle) anthology of the Workshop for Young Writers in Harlem; Uakra , a new Iloston-based journal devoted to the examination " of events, the arts, ideas " ; Betcht Ain ' t (1974), Celes Tisdale ' s anthology of "Poems from Attica " ; a new anthology of young poets, We Be Poetin ' (1974), Tisdale; and Writers Workshop Anthology . No unifying thread runs through the work of New York area poets, except that of a relentless acceptance and pursuit of their Blackness . One notes, however , �that mysticism, examination of the occult, cosmic-musical forms and subjects, than in the poetry of other regions . But these are, of course, generalities which await more hindsight and research before they can be finalized and presented as significant phe- nomena in the larger tapestry of the poetry. Finally, for the New York area, the fire of the oral tradition was ignited by the dramati<:Jincan,ry (<lrumaccompanied) declamations of "the Last Poets" and "the Original Last Poets." Along with Gil Scott-Heron, their impact on the Black masses ~;n.llte. exce,n;a" ,,t 6, l ho.s "triem MIIN~ een Aotviau~ ➔ · ~1 ( Scoff-lltro1tt(wleo he., •~e so,.,eT•I•-~) 1\-ue w. ,..,,, • .,;o'tl '' ht>..I)(! rempol"O.l"f s1i1,1dt:.,. 5cotF,l/e,,.(Jlf (Amb,.,,~s b(c,~tJfoJ1 and n;. • .,,-eontJe,.~«ll~ Ir/~ u~ ~ 8 r ts nd tnsl JI t; 1c/~ of'p,-dfcf-GJttd e • h± dL&l!l@!l!C , IS & 2h!t&dd..ph.1!&2! tJliG &CECirl d During the New York resurgence a number of things were going well for Black Poetry in Pennsylvsnia. ~~ Lincoln '3 .. 011~ 0 Universi t y--which produced Tolsont\ Hughes wl"IJ\¥\l- --delivered another /\di verse of poets during this period: Carl Greene, Mary-Louise llorton, Everett Hoagland, S.E . Anderson, d'lf'},{_nenjamin, Gil Sco{-Heron, Bernadine Tinner, Rita i~1itchead, and others. Hoagland is a Broadside poet (Black Velvet, 1970) and Scott-Heron (Free Will, Pieces of a Han, etc.) is a recording poet-singer. Converging at points like the Muntu Black artist group--founde<l by Neal, C.H. Fuller, theoretician Jimmy Stewart, and arybelle Moore--Philadelphia poets found various (6...,l kinds of assistance. Other Philadelphia poets are~Greene (1945), Lucy ir• Mttt,,-k_~{l..vlotn) Smith from the older school, F.J. Bryan.51\(1943) , ~ larence Maloney (1940- ), �Pat Ford, Joseph Bevans Bush, Janet N. Brooks, 7 A.rd Carol Jenifer/\ Don Miz f ell. l I I (J@(@ Works by some of these youthful poets are in \:,/ Black Poets Write On: An Anthology of Black Philadelphia Poets (1970), published by the Black History 1useum Committee. duction states: Harold Franklin's Intro- "A BLACK POET_!.?.. A KIND OF WAiOR"--thus linking Philadelphia ac.vltvt\ L. t..ehffi""J sentiments to those in New York and Boston. The Black Butterfly, Inc.,kwas one of the several cross-roads for various cultural/political activities in Philadelphia. Its founder was Ualoney (now Chaka Ta) whose Dimensions of ~rnin~s published in 1964 in Paplona, Spain. "Good Friday: celebrates a "sultry brown girl' who "seems a superior animal." "sepia siren" also holds the "semen" of a "vivid passion." poets explore city life, Africa, and exalt Blackness. 2 A .. 1." This Philadelphia There is, too, the rage and vehemence often found in New York and Chicago poetry. pg• "Cool Black Nights" (Traylor) also captures driving street rhythms and f hymes: them hard-loOMl)8 hard-talking hard-loving Cool black dudes and them fine-looking fine-walking fine-talking fine-loving them fine soul sisters .... w~ Pittsburgh there Aborn the short-lived _B_l_a_c_k_L_i_n_e_s_:_A_J_o_u_r_n_a_l_o_f_B_l_a_c_k_ Studies (1970). It published Pittsburgh area poets like Ed Roberson, August I �dbo.t11\e 8,u1itt toa /\swell Wilson, lnnno nr Armstrong and Redmond. as poets from the Midwest like Al Crover The University of Pittsburgh Press opened up to Black poets that same year, publishing l t Coltrane, 1970; Song: • Harper (Dear John, Dear Can I get a Witness, 1973), Roberson (When Thy King is a Boy, 1970), and Gerald Barrax (Another kind of Rain, 1970). Roberson's m-.Kes c,.se o~ -tedou~ue poetry the gamut of : 1c u;,and styles--from neat drama to slanted ~A spacings and slashes. In "mayday" there is an "underside of heaven" and the warning from one misunderstood that he is "armed" to fi,t,'t the final kindling of your dreaming. "Othello Jones Dresses for Dinner" is a satirical look at the "Guess Who's ~oming to Dinner" theme. -: After dating . a white woman, the narrator assures her parents that he is "well mannered." Roberson adds his voice to a growing group of Pittsburg poets which includes Kirk Hall (1944- J,y <l4wf;..t$ beet1 Poetic talent - · · ~ -rath~sootl\ I l in ired"-ss 11ibe ). Washington, D.C. ) where early seve.n1ie.$ Sterling Brown continued to teach into the ~at~ gjyt · u . Howard, by now leading all Black universities in the new consciousness, was the scene of a number of significant disturbances toward "-- f e l')'lA.. ~ new~INiiliNlll!,e ~o;t a ~nudged the school While Howard's poetic history can be traced through the early days of Sterling Brown (and into the Howard Poets), the school has produced a number of younger writers: Clay Goss, Richard Wesley, E. Ethelbert Niller (Andromeda, 1974), and Paula Giddings. 1mo..: '(l. --~=&'11~-'iiiiliie ' - ~5 new was deepened and broadened by the appointments of the Guianese poet Damas and Stephen Henderson (English Chairman at Morehouse) who heads the Institute for the Arts and Humanities. « Howeveriward drama A was~••.:laffl: against a series of developments in the surrounding communities: Federal City College (Scott-Heron), Center for Black Education (Garrett), soc �New Thing in Art and Architecture (Toppper Carew)) G h v H& :Ji,,. The New School of Afro-American Thought (Gaston Neal), Drum & Spear Bookstore ani (and Press) A.. the D.C . Black Repertory (Hooks). In addition to Damas and Henderson, the Institute has added Madhubuti (Lee) , Kil lens, Goss, Brmm, Arthur P . Davis and Ahmos Z.JBolton . the program ' s service to poets has been invaluable. J: ~c.tU Selected for/\",onor~ have been Baraka, Gwendolyn Br~oks, Joans , and Dodson. poets were also featured in t~~Jt~teinnual Already Synposium: A number of Lucille Clifton, Coss, Scott-Heron, Adesanya Alakoye, Hiller• and Mari Evans. I Toure, Johnston and Kgositsile were guests for a program examining the African Cultural Presence in the Americas . Several poets have been invited to read and be recorded for the permanent audio/video library: Jayne Cortez, Crouch, Davis, Sarah Webster Fabio, Harper, Jeffers, Joans, Redmond, Sonia Sanchez, Scott-Heron, Bruce St. John, Margaret Walker, and Jay Wright. In 1968 Gaston Neal said his "philosophy" was "to purge myself of the whiteness within me and link completely with my Black brothers in the struggle to destroy t!1e enemy and rebuild a Black Nation." Ile appeared to be working at that task for a while before the Afro-American school closed. he said the tone of his life resembled a "growled mingled" In "Today" w't1'. the groan of the past .... and he lamented the jungles which had been J/ deflowered by napalm ... • T'&arl Carter, another D.C. poet, appears in Understanding the New Black Poetry. He evokes the spirits of the "Heroes" of Orangeburg, Jac}cson, Memphis, New York, and Nashville, recalling that during a riot in Nashville he was Riding somewhere in my mind with q.dridge Cleaver ... • 50 / \ �"Roots" is an unsuccessful attempt to fuse the drama of colloquial Black language with a formal English narrative about his grandmother.ither poets living or publishing in the D.C. area during the sixties and seventies .,... Aflcl Co..-.-.ie ohd Ro • ~ tfo ir\ ts, were Bernadette Golden (1949) , Ile~len Quigless (1945)" ~ Beatrice Murphy (1908of Black ), who over the years has contributed greatly to the growth poetry;_, JtAJ - , ledited three important anthologies: Ebony Rhythm (1947) anJ Today ' s Negro Voices (1970). Her own volumes of poetry are Love is a Terrible Thing (1945) and, with Nan1 Cry Out ( ~ . Negro Voices (1938), Arnez, The Rocks Her own poetry has moved from a traditional meter to a traditional free verse dealing, in the new phase, with tensions caused by overemphasizi~g "white" and "Black," and war . She is currently director of the Negro Bibliographic and Research Center and serves as managing editor of its publication Bibliographic Survey: The Negro in Print . Poetry by other D. C. area poets can be found in Transition, a journal of Howard ' s Afro-American Studies Department. Hardine and Veronica Lowe . Adjacent to n·.c., Lucille Clifton (19 36- Editors are Hiller, Iris Holiday, Ella tL 1-t"'"es t.o-ci~~t-ecl 8_sl~IL6'11l). in Baltimore) more is addeJ to thf;/f/em . ) , Sar:i Cornish and Yvette Johnson (1943. produced poetry /fh_eJ~l-.,1 ) have vtw'se• ~-•A 1ll.t $rlhdsw,flrtkt bt£+C~~..,•"!ood I\ Times (1969) , Good News • About the Earth (1972) and An Ordinary Woman (19 74) are vo l umes tp£Udaced by Lucille Clifton who also writes ~ children ' s books . She currently teaches a t Coppin State College in Baltimore where she lives with her husband and six children . temperament . to ~ Even her titles suggest something about her spirit and In the swamp of depression and bleakness, it is indeed warming someone proclaim Good News ! which will not " rust or break ." " Eldridge" is compared to a meat "cleaver" And there is humor, irony and truth in �,, "Latelfy": where the "always drunk" delivery man says: L, 'I ' m 25 years old and all the white boys my age are younger than me. 1 But· while some sing good times in the kitchen, there are also other acknowledgements: 11 .falcolm, 11 "Eldridge, " "Bobby Seale," and the student-participantsirt d~1t ~o.1i\ns /\.a t Jackson and Kent States. Good News About the Earth gives a Black or con- ----------- temporary setting to fiblical stories. 1~e 'lft-x WOM(J..r.Ly Most are unique, like I\ Mary": this kiss qs A.soft as cotton over my breasts all shiny bright something is in this night oh Lord have mercy on me i feel a garden in my mouth between my legs i see a tree An Ordinary Woman is consciously woman and the poems, like those in other fu.. volumes, deal with everyday things--"ordinary" things. LvfiLle cL\tron A.has However, become more of the mystic, using surreal and allusory imagery as in "Kali," l~ 11, ere ,:s "The Coming of Kali," "Her Love Poem, " and "Salt." !\ ' Cod's Mood": • t'-h �He is tired of bone, it breaks. Ile is tired of eve's fancy and adam's whining ways. Cornish is a poet, teacher and editor. His books include Angles (196 7), Winters (1968), Your Hand in Hind (1970), Generations (1971) t and People _Be_neath. the Window (n.d.). With W. Lucian, he edited Chicory: Young Voices from the Black Ghetto (1969) which developed into a series still being published by the Enoch Pratt Free Library (Community Action Program). editor of Chicory is Melvin Edward Brown. Current Cornish has much stylistic ammu- nition an<l is a precise navigator of language. He tells" 1IDDLE CLASS GIRLS WITH CRIPPLED FINGERS \AITING FOR ME TO LIGHT THEIR CIGARETTS": your fingers folded in your lap control the serpent in your eyes your face never staring with a smile in your ruffled ~ co1F your eyes populate the brick with restless stares. The influence of Cornish and others can be seen in Exproos Yourself(l973) , an "anthology of student writings" from .l!.dmondson High School and I Speak (1973), poems by students at Coppin State College--"the Coppin poets." 04 �l.onl ~~ t,),C • The~ Baltimore,\poets Cl~N"\ continue the ' ■•,(hi:221. of poetry - •--- that embraces the South where many poets now live: wk-, V l\'t'L "''tt\1Ly ',·vui" Spellman, Jeffers, '";"''' ,·,,;., )A, Pinkie Lane, the BUCARTSOUTH Margaret Walker, Alice Walker (19L14- poets (New Orleans), the Ex-Umbra poets (North Carolina Central University,l, Betty (.Ylorih Ca.roL.ino. ~~re IJNt'J ~tTy) Gates (Niles College, Alabama), Gerald Barrax (1933- a\'\d Powell), Leo -J. Has on (Atlanta) A.. Lorenzo Thomas. given new blood to poetry through The ~, Ladele X (Leslie \"'e~ ib·n-- receive$ and .w••~-.~~-•~•-••••11111111111111111•• contihu4-(. flow of poets and teachers to and from the South. Some well known older names are Johnson (James), Braithwaite, Tolson, Hayden, Jeffers and Vesey. wllohe.vtT...,.•t '" ..cct11'1 vu,., ,;, 1'-e -a111:,1v.-aungcr poets ~ outh are Audre Larde (Toogaloo) _, Redmond (Southern), Wright (Too galoo and Talladega), Spellman ( !orehouse), and Kgositsile (North Carolina A & T). al.So vnde ne. The South_." ! > has,\aiii~- · =tllllllllllll• 1 I 23 &Wei dramatic changes as a result of the Black Consciousness Move- ment. C-. \ ymbols are everywhere: The Free Southern and the Dashiki theaters in New Orleans, SUDAN South /West poetry-music theater group in Houston, the Theater of Afro-Arts in Miami, and Atlanta's Black Image. In Atlant « , Spellman organized the Center for Black Art which publishes Rhythm (1970). Stone became editor, Ebon (Sigemonde Kharlos Wirnberli) poetry editor and Spellman editor of essays and features. The surmner (1971) issue of Rhythm was also a memorial to Donald L. Graham (1944-1971), poet-theoretician who succeeded 'illens. as director of the Writers Workshop at Fisk . had published three books: Graham, who was also a musician, Black Song, Soul lotion., and Soul Notion II. Rhythm said he "was running one of the baddest workshops in the South" and "teaching at the Revolutionary People's college in Nashville." 1t-1~ '"fwe,m· l :tl'\sm-\)te ,f '\\e \\La.(.~ wo. .w, AL.so ,-n A,\Lt.h~ \~ liarearet Walker , a long time teacher at Jackson State College in Mississippi, hosted in 1973 the bi-centennial celebration of the publication �of Phyllis Wheatley ' s Poems. Her own poetry, however, has changed somewhat from the stance she took in For Py People . Yet Prophets for a New Day (1970) and October Journey (1973) are difficult to judge against her other work~ jrie turned to the novel in the fifties and sixties were published in journals between 1930 and 1960 . the / ivil(ights J'ovement _. t I .I 11 t ~ several poems in October Prophets is a chronicle of ace ::nt n 1 D r rm She writes about " Birmingham, " " Street Demonstration, " " Jackson, Mississippi, " bibLi(J(l on Washington, and the ~ Eu--rtE,. e 1'_•,rewllprophets rophets: ' the March " Jeremiah ," " Isaiah ," "Amosc." and " Joel. " h.1 ~ alcolm, Medgar Evers, Andy Goodman, Michael Schwerner~ftai James Chane~ ~ fought " oppression" in Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia . October is a quieter mood, employing a variet ballad in "Harriet Tubman ." forms including the 1 of verse J" sonnetJ is seen in " For Hary ~1<"-9i:t~e.t-W4Llc:C.,.S T///ltlil\own uni~ue And McLeod Bethune" and " For Paul Lawrence Dunbar ." ,(he earlier poet is suggested in " I want to Hrite": I want to write songs of my people . · un-f,1.197'1 Alice Walk.er, novelist and poet ,~ shar ed the state of ~ississippi ( ::)Uc: · $~l) b ,vith Margaret Walker. Her vo l umes § I t (? are Once (1968 ) and Revolutionary Petunias (1973) the t itle of which, judging from other statements she has made, is prob ~bly also a pun. Her poems ,rldvJe .1tt1.n~fAher averown civil right s a c tivities, general experiences, andK orne satir e . A poem in Once relates the story of the young Black man who wanted to integrate a white beach in Alabama- -in the "nude ." to Petunias: She announces her debts in the dedication George Jackson, " heroes and heroines, and friends of early SNCC, " Bob Moses, and Fannie Lou Hamer . These poems (written in personal tones) deal �with his tor~ - - folk-strength and the stuff the Black South is made of: " romance" that "blossomed" in pews at funerals; women with fists that "battered" doors; " Sunday School, Circa 1950" ; a " backwoods woman" who kills her husband ' s murderer, tlien reminds her executors to water the petunias . And she also writes of a different kind of "Rage" : The silence between your words rams into me like a sword . Yet another Mississipian and poet is Julius Eric Thompson, a history teacher at Toogaloo . Hopes l ied up in Promises was published in 1970 and aims at ::,. lifting the new consciousness above mer e " hopes." Thompson writes about being a Black man in Mississippi, "Delta Children," Martin Luther King "Black Power." There is also a series of poems on Africa. rt!f&,l,i In Louisiana much new poetry has been old poets alike. and iiei1d1n.«t from the pens of young and «,LL Zu-Bolton, now 1'in '!'LC . , ,\edits Hoodoo magazine through Energy Blacksouth Press in DeRidder. He formerly co-edited The Last Cookie based in DeRidder, San Francisco, and Geneva, 1ew York . Hoodoo I, dedica ted to two Black student s killed by po licemen on the campus of Southern University in November of 1972, contained work by Lorenzo Thomas, Hay Miller, Pinkie Lane, Kalamu Ya Sa laam, Jerry Ward, and other southern-based poets. Hoodoo 2 & 3, a double issue published in 1975, contains work of more southern poets: Arthenia Bates d illican, Alice Walker, and Charles Rowell, as well as selections frora the broader world of Black writing. Energy BlackSouth Press will also publish A Niggered Amen, Zu-Bolton's first volume of poerns.1,u_nder the guidance v11we,.si1i/ of t he late English chairman, Melvin A. Butler, Southern1'established the short-lived Black Experience, the first issue of which contained several �poems by Alvin Aubert, a Southern alumnus who now resides in New York and edits Obsidian: Black Literature in Review. Aubert's Against the Blues (1971) surveys blues, love and his Louisiana heritage. Pinkie Lane, new English Department head at Southern, published Wind Thoughts (1972f as well as several Broadsides: Two Poems (1972), Poems to ~Iy Father (1972), and Songs to the Dialysis Machine (1972), all brought out by South and West, Inc., of Arkansas. South and West is also the publisher of the annual Poems by Blacks (1970, 1971, 1972) for which Pinkie Lane has become permanent editor. Butler inaugurated the annual Black Poetry Festival in 1972. In the program of the first festival, he stated: · The Black Poetry Festival provides a rare opportunity to bring together professional and apprentice poets in an effort to define and legitimize all forms of Black poetic talent as a prelude and postlude to defining and legitimizing the reality of Black people. Hopefully, the results of our efforts will be a better understanding and a greater appreciation of the lives, aspirations and achievements of Black people. ,~~ ~ inclvci,hq '1iiilll,.'"l:he festivals "-.ll&l®e.•Jt=a•ll,21!!1'&98 attracted a number of poets I\ H~hubiti, Sonia Sanchez, Randall, Redmond (writer-in-residence, summers 1971-72), Zu-Bolton, Knight, Aubert, Lucille Clifton, Kalamu Salaam, Neal, Audre Lorde. and Irma HcLaurin. proql\4MS The ~~• •~:k , which included student poets and musicians, have inspired a Poetry Writing Workshop under the supervision of Rowell, an English instructor., The first two volumes of Poems by Blacks contain a rich lode of southern poets: Leon E. Wiles (Philander Smith College), Elijah Sabb (Little Rock), Book.er T. Jackson (Little Rock), Eddie Scott (Memphis), Otis Woodard (Memphis), Arthur Pfister (Tuskegee Institute, Beer Cans Bullets Things & Pieces, �L, nd 1-h,rdnd; 1972) '/\Upton Pearson (Jackson, 1ississippi), ~Jacquelyn Bryant (Meridian), Lois be11~l~ t-f-1..t-~tU..(1'o,.Ucv,~ssee)) --t,.t, te. y Miller (Baton Rouge ) , ~ arbara Jean Knight (Memphis ~tnd Katheleeen Reed (Shreveport). Although Pinkie Lane did not edit the first two issues of Poems, she acte<l as advisor and her own work was substantially represented . a gifted• word-manipulator with She is onl ur.unate skill and passion . North of Baton Rouge/ in Jew Orleans, the Free Southern Theater had burned out by the late sixties, but out of its workshops came Nkombo which carries the work of BLKARTSOUTH writers . Tom Dent, one of the founders of 0.0.rr\ FST, and jointly edit the publicat ion. Some BLKARTSOUTH poets are Isaac Black, Dent, Salaam, Renaldo Fernandez, Nayo (Barbara i1alcolm), Raymond Washington and John O'Neal. Again, no single thread ties these poets together--except the "movement" in the South . But their concerns for the movement are often expressed better outside of -.... poetry. • - - - - In 1969 BLKARTSOUTH published individual voluues of poems by Salaam (The Blues Herchant), Fernandez (The Impatient Rebel), :fayo (I 1 ant He a Ho1:1e) ,-. and Washington (Visions From the Ghetto). Afro-American salvation. "Racist Psychotherapy" is Black ' s blue-print for He advises Blacks to spend less time rapping and drinking and more time working for the cause . In "Ray Charles at Mississippi State" Dent says I hear people waiting for the riot to begin in their hearts .... ( Of "The Blues, " Salaam says:, ,,,--,---- .. ~ it . is . not sub mission . . . \ , But bo much of his work is speecht · Salaam has also published Hofu Ni Kwenu: Hy Fear Is For You (1973) which received a mixed review from Rowell in the �4 h.:is September, 1974, issue of Black World . ~1 ~ an editor of the <1 Vcl Lv~ bL.e pvbLt ,41, • New Or leans-based Black Collegian) A Fellow BLKARTSOUTHerner Nayo writes a " Bedtime Story" : an exchange between mother and son about " revolution. " Answering the son ' s question, "when we gonna have the revolution?" , the mother says " soon son ." The other poets castigate whitey and praise Blacks. ironicall y they write very little about southern life . the Congo Square Writing Workshop . But, Dent currently leads There are also writing workshops at Dillard and Xavier Universities . Cu ~I\ tr\ Julia Fields, ~ ~ iving in North Carolina, brought out East of tlf Moonlight in 1973, but one of her most eloquent testimonies is " High on the Hog " which establishes her right to have " caviar" or " Shrimp souffle" over " gut " or " Jowl. " Some menus an<l political stances are over-exoticize<l by revolutionaries , she says, and she has "earned" the right to do what she likes . She has even heard " ·laus Haus " screaming and " Romanticizing pain. " But she has paid her dues, and had enough pressures from both sides of the color line . o..h4 ~~ e p .. .,.. do.► t The subtlc,edoe , but direct powe) of Julia Fields s ugge sts ~ Black poetry.,. }"o.shvilLe ftf:~om. bh ii .ill! t I O A ] i tl\~ecLoof' ; cameAJohn Oliver Killens1 i1¥pa -•Hi t Writers Conferences at Fisk University, the most important one taking place i n j pring of 1967 . Hayden, who had been at Fisk since the forties left in 1968 after a series of brushes wi th proponents of the Black Aesthetic . The 1967 con- ference (probably the straw that broke the camel ' s back for Hayden) is seen by some as a major juncture in the New Black writing . Gwendolyn Brooks taU:.ed about it in her autob •t ography, fargaret Walker discussed it with Nikki Giovanni in their published "conversations, " and Hoyt Fuller wrote glowingly of it in Black World . ivriters atte nding the conference were David Llorens, Fuller, �Ron Iilner, Clarke, Bennett, Margaret Danner, Nikki Giovanni, Randall, Lee, Margaret Walker, Sonia Sanchez, Jones.-. and Margaret Burroughs. Probably held in the South for symbolic reasons, the conference provided the first real national dramatic arena for old and young writers . Gwendolyn Brooks (a "Negro" then, she has said) recalls being "coldly respected" after just having flm-m to Nashville from "white white South Dakota." However, she was among the first (with Randall and Fuller) to take up the banner of the Black Aesthetic and the causes of the young writers. Such action, of course, was displeasing to a number of white and Black poets, not the least among them Hayden who refuse, to acknowledge the existence of a "separate" aesthetic for Blacks (Kaleidoscope ~ f ;anu:ry, 19681 Black World pol ) . Althougb the Fisk -el- 9alil f has been followed by dozens of Black colleges all over the South, Midwest and East, there is still no monolithic stand on "directions" but some writers keep trying to give then anyway. R,p1e indication of the healthy diversity araong Black writers. :is the journal Roots, published at Texas Southern University. Lditors are To!!lr.ly Guy, Jeffree James, Lo-l't.t\JO 'fh omo.~ ls tlL,d A ss.ot:JoTetl t,., il1-\ thE pucUe4.rton , Turner· 1lhorton, and Hance Williams. I\.Volume I, number I contains essays, art and the works of several poets, most of them southerners. The f poetry, devoid of monotonous theme or style, represents a broad range of interests in linguistics, subjects and forms. gazed forever backwards." m'lo/ in "a love supreme" says "all my eyes ~ In 'she' 11 never know 11 Mickey Leland writes of various aspects of the social and physical landscape, including the "Kinky haired boys" who build "arsenals of straw. 11 Clarence Hard notes in. "Hanging On" that the rent has gone up, eviction is immt•nent, there is no food for the baby, and Hanging on aint easy .... I �j . .ahmad j. ' s title "ilar<l Head Hakes a Soft Ass" implies the poem ' s statement. And fantasy eternalizes, "like a good high," for Tommy Guy in "Brother." - 'the themes of unity, self-esteem, the African "motherland," and anger remain in the new poetry as the Midwest and West contribute immensely to ~ 'rs rilliance and the controversey. Ohio, for example, rcpre- sented a unique gathering of diverse views on the new consc1ousness, attracting a number of poets to aid the work of Norman Jordan (1938Kilgore ,._ (all f ~ Cleveland) an<l Hernton. Now at Oberlin, Hernton succeeded ~-.,.,,, ~ Redmond K~ Jn Ii ,ro B writer-in-residence there began a residency at Ohio University. during Hernton ' s leave-of-absence . ) , Atkins, James ~ the same yea rJ'fr oupe ~bfu " Sarah Webster t(1as also taught at Oberlin However, Cleveland activity was spurred by a long tradition of Black writers including Hughes, Chesnutt (one of the founders of Karamu House) and Atkins. host of youn3er poets: This continuu1'1 produced Jordan and a Anthony Fudge, Larry Howard, Larry Wade, Art' Nixon, Clint Nelson, Robert Fleming (Ku Uais magazine), Alan Bell , Roland Forte, Ted Hayes, E. Buford and Bill Russell of the Muntu Poets . Other participating writei artists were Clyde Shy, Ameer Rashid and Anetta Jefferson . for poets and their activities came from various places: Support the Cleveland Call and Post, Afro-Set Black Arts project , United Black Artists, Free Lance and Karamu House where Jordan ' s plays were produced. Kilgore writes out of a strong tradition of Black humanism nurtured in religious homes . His volumes are I,lJ.e Big Buf,falo and OS}lEp; ,fQSi:W~ (1969), Midnight Blast (1970) and A Time of Black Devotion (1971). The poens expose the contradictions in American Democracy and survey the "Iligh Rise Dreams " of est I 3 fl& Blacks caught in the urban renewal scrabble . Devo tion, dedi- cated to Coretta Scott King, vibrates with concerns for Black students, Third �World survival, and a fascination with Fra:/i,. Fanon~ different kind of poet, Jordan is sometimes angry, cynical and violent; other times prophetic and mystical. He has published three volumes: Destination: Ashes (1967, 1971), Above Haya (1971) , and / with Harc)' a Gage, Two Bo&ks (1974). Dedicated to the "Community," Destination contains Jordan's best and most memorable poems. In Cleveland he emerged as a major force in the new Black poetry, uniting the older tradition, symbolized by Free Lance, and the Huntu Poets. Destination, first published privately by Jordan, was later brought out by Third World Press (Chicago) with an Introduction by Lee, who said he "learned" that Hughes had no need to "re-write and revise." (!) Anyway, Destination chronicles Jordan's own development from the period of civil rights through Black Power. His poetry is all free verse, usually simplistic narrative making ample use of dramatis persona from every walk of Black life. There is alcoholism, violence, pover~y, loneliness and exaltation of Blackness. "I Have Seen Them" describes those on relief, hungry and cold} praying for "miracles." Nellie Reed used to be a t irl-about-town, "Laughing and dancing," but now at 26 she is dead and her ghost "trembles" in an alley wine bottle "needing a fix." Jordan also spoofs "High Art and All that Jazz": Fuck you and your damn verbs let me tell it like it is and "Feeding the Lions" (1966) is his most anthologized poem. The "army" of brief-case-carrying social workers invades Black neighborhoods each morning, pas8l out checks, mov~quickly from one door to another, and, after filling �\4.s ~ quota} leavet 'before <lark." There are also poems about mysticism, religion, mythology, and karma, including drawings of eyes, triangles and circles--all reflecting the many influences on Jordan's work and the approaching new mood (Above Maya). But Destination, with its short, expigrammatic verses and parables, sees through allusory, romantic "unity" near the end and mounts an attack on revolutionary charlatans, back-sliders of the movement and those who view violence as the only solution to racism. Yet "Cosmic Witchdoctors" reaffirms his faith in Black writers working far into a "liquid night'J they provide the foundation for tomorrow's liberation. Jordan's belief in the mystical, magical powers of the word can be seen in the name Vibration, a Cleveland magazine with which he was closely associated. It is "Dedicated to the Resurrection of the Mentally and Spiritually Dead." a. Ohio journals: poets found outlets for their work in Vibration and other Black Ascensions (Cuyahoga Community College), Proud Black Images (Ohio State University) and Lifeline: When America Sings She Croaks (Oberlin). Oberlin students also produced a special Black issue of the college ' s Activist magazine; it contained poems by both students and well known poets. a staff member of Black Ascensions, published Migration in 1972. Cleveland poet, B. Felton (1934- Fudge, Another ), brought out Conclusions with an I1tro- duction by Atkins who praised the young poet for not consciously engaging in the "disfigurement of perceptions" to polemicize a "constricted kind of 'relevance.'" In "An Elegy to Eternity," Felton, a vibrant poet, says: Tear-ducts swell, bursting in a delight of flood and fury. Garfield Jackson, a young prize-winning poet, is one of the editors of �Proud Black Images. pages: Many young and older Ohio poets are included among its Forrest Gay, Dianne Gou:J_d, Jackie Toone, Ebrahim Aljahizz, Mohssen Aslam (Chris Jenkins), Battuta Lukamba Barca, Linda Callender, Beverly Cheeks, Antar Sudan Mberi, Leatrice Emeruwa, Roslyn Perry Ford, Ray Montgomery, Kilgore, Jordan♦ and others. ()._ Although the journal's title sets -.."conceptual pace and places it in the stream of the new consciousness, there is no unifying theme or idea in the poetry. John Whittaker calls "Singers, Dancers," the "doers of initial deeds" and Implementers of the inevitable Black life. Hernton, who attended Ohio schools, became writer-in-residence at Central State University, in the sixties. He published The Coming of Chronos to the House of Nightsong in 1963 and since then he 1as written many books and articles on America's social/sexual hangups. in the first issue of Confrontation: One of his most powerful poems appeared A Journal of Third World Literature (summer, 197O)/ foun<led and edited by Troupe at Ohio University. "Street Scene" shows Hernton playfully looking at the identity question along with other things. When he meets and speaks to his "dream" on the "street," he receives this answer: "Go to hell, sonofabitch." Confrontation also publishes other Ohio poets; yet, its concerns are broad as seen in the names of contributing editors: Damas, Sergio Mondragon, Fernando Alegria, Neal, Redmond, Tam Fiori, David Henderson, Melvin Edwards and Wilfred Cartey. Ats• ,1&owe.l i~i,"1,in,of.11,c. nlft,,toltlt«I-~ • •Gther Ohio comrnunitiesA.r am1tb ~ l ~ '" " ts 932; 22 r I. CincinaJ ti' s first J.' Black Arts Festival was organized by Nikki Giovanni in 1967 and out of this effort grew The New Theater. Herbert Martin (1933- 5 15 ), New York the Nine �Hillion and Other Poems (1969), made an immeasurably valuable contribution to the understanding of Black poetry when he organized the Paul Laurence Dunbar Centennial in 1972 at the University of Dayton. Indiana heaved forth precious words from Gary, Indianapolis, PurJue, Terre Haute and other areas. Mari Evans organized arts and consciousness programs in Indianapolis and Bloomington. I Am a Black Woman,containing poems written over several years, unfortunately did not find a publisher until 1970. However, the book deservedly received the Black Academy of Arts and Letters Second Annual Poetry Award. She has been closely identified with activities in Chicago where Third World Press publishes her children ' s writings. Her title poem is a spiritual, psychological and historical journey of the Black , woman whose "trigger i re/d fingers" now seek the softness of my warrior's beard ••. • A major poe}• f5R : p t 94 it combines the best of the modernists techniques with a chart-work of music so as to give the impression of someone singing or humming along with the read ~ • j l k, Mari Evans scans other fields of Black life, writing about lonely and dejected women, self-pride, violence, Black unity and Africa. In "Who can be Born Black" she joyously and defiantly asks: Who can be born black and not exult! Also closely associated with the Chicago and Detroit movements is Etijidge Knight (1933- ), who was serving a 20-year term in Indiana State Prison when Poems from Prison (1968) appeared · 1 ■ with a Preface by Gwendolyn �Brooks. She called his poetry Vital. Vital. This poetry is a major announcement ••• And there is blackness, inclusive, possessed and given; freed and terrible and beautiful . Her ovm version of the Black Aesthetic was expressed in the same statement: " Since Etheridge Knight is not your stifled artiste, there is air in these poems." Knight roams the deep crevices of Black spiritual and psychic experiences as he combines the language of the prison sub-culture with the rhythms of Black American street speech. He bounces or drives hard--a poetry of "hard bop " --looking at prison life, love and ancestry. Exceptional pieces are the folksy "Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane," the mystical and mythical " He Sees through Stone, " the genealogical "The Idea of Ancestry," the innovative Haiku sections, and "On Universalism" Bl.cu,k.$ 1 which warns against applying " universal laws" toA"pains" and " chains " in America . His technical abilities are poignantly displayed in haiku " 9": Making jazz swing in Seventeen syllables AIN ' T No square poet ' s job. Knight, who was later released from prison, also edited Black Voices From Prison (1970) and in 19 73 Broadside Press published Belly Song and Other Poems . He loses his reach when he tries to over-intellectualize in his poetry . \~~ct' ~v~p -~ ~d ~y Mi' ii' 3 :ht L 1 1 3 L pea; I p I slips into polemic s. = I t 1 lJ hi And j2£ 1t1.S Belly Song . secorJd The ..._,. book has some fine moments but it sometimes However, Knight is still stretching out as a poet, currently doing research into oral literatu~e with the aid of a Guggenheim grant . 5.t,] �Belly shows him pursuing this tradition in "The Bones of My Father" which smile at the moon in Mississippi from the bottom of the Tallahatchie. Finally, a number of poets from this general region of the Midwest and South are included in a special Black Poetry issue of Negro American Literature Forum (spring, 1972) edited by Redmond. The Forum is published by Indian~ State University School of Education and edited by John Bayliss, an Englishman. It regularly reviews Black literature. Chicago is a Hidwest heart and has a long tradition of Black Arts, going back to, and before, Count Basie's opening at the Sunset Club in 1927. However, some of the more recent forces helping to shape the new poetry movement there -th-e Po.-.mtcl bL.e are: Wor--K~kof artd South Side Community Arts Center, ~ ohnson Publications, Kuumba's,1Root LM4Y4d..e't f341 ..."'" t>~~ Theater (Francis and Val Ward), the DuSable Museum of African American '1listory,\) OBAC, Institute of Positive Education and Third World Press (Nadhubi ti~ Free Black Press, Afro-Arts Theater, Malcolm X ~ g e , Oscar Brown, Jr., Muhammad Speaks, Ellis Bookstores, Chicago Defenderl\ Philip Cohran (Artistic Heritage Ensemble) • -1 J Much of the new poetry scene e}!AC~ , generates from I 5 Fi C J 1 and Gwendolyn Brooks. Fuller, Black World managing editor, is also advisor to OBAC's Writer's Workshop. .().; In" 1969 (fall) issue of Nommo, the workshop's journal, Fuller said: Black is a way of looking at the world. The poets of OBAC, in revealing their vision, celebrate their blackness. In this moment in history, what might under different circum- �stances be simply assumed must necessarily be asserted. And the OBAC poets know--if others do not--that pale men out of the West do not define for mankind the perimeters of art. This they want all black people to know. In the Journal ' s winter issue of the same year, Fuller said OBAC members were "seeking" to be "both simple and profound." They display an " imaginative re- presentation of their e1~periences ," but they also seek " to be revolutionary." In the first quote, Fuller's tone, carrying the battle-baiting phrase , "even if others do not," seemed to have been a signal for , among others , Don L. . ,nisN1. own ,.~on a 11 f rants. to continue ttac~t 0."' Lee (1942- ), cows, as Lee U ~ it, and since "others do not " know what the youthful Chicago There ~ Blacks presumably did know , Lee's assignment was to teach them. no sacred Gwendolyn Brooks concurred with most of this feeling, embracing as it were a "new" Blackness and (unfortunately) self-deprecation: engaging in " It frightens me to realize that, if I had died before the age of fifty, I would have died a ' Negro ' fraction ." Lee/ following the examples of Randall and Baraka, began Third World Press--a valuable vehicle for the new poets--and changed his name in the early seventies to Haki R. Madhubuti . He also estab- lished the Institute for Positive Education which publishes Black Books Bulletin( with himself as edito9. Sterling Plumpp (1940- ,..,., Other poets (A.-e. included in the editorial staf ~ ), Johari Amini (Jewel Latimore) (1935- ), Emanuel, Sarah Webster Fabio, the late~ lorens ( who launched Lee ' s national career in Ebony, Harch 1969) jllt an~ ~ / a 11. 1 OBAC was founded in 1967 and poets of varying temperaments were attracted to it and Gwendolyn Brooks ' workshops: Rodgers (1943- ), Walter Bradford (1937- 5 ), Carl Clark (1932- Carolyn ) ' �Mike Cook (1939- ), James Cunningham (1936- Sam Greenlee , Phillip Royster (1943- Lee, Linyatta (1947(1933- ) , Sharon Scott (1951~ ), Ronda Davis (1940- ), ), Peggy Kenner (1937- ), ) , . . . Sigemonde Wimberli (Ebon) ), and~ontinual stream of newly arriving poets. Other Chicago area poets are Stephany Fuller, Eugene Perkins, Irma McLaurin, Lucille Patterson, Jerrod, Zack Gilbert (1925- ), Alicia Johnson (1944- ) , Ruwa Chiri allll'l- 1 The work of many Chicago area poets can be found in Nommo, Black Expressions, Black World, Black Writers ' News, Huhammad Speaks, and in the anthologies A Broadside Treasury (1971) and Jump Bad: edited by Gwendolyn Brooks. A New Chicago Anthology (1971), both They can also be found in ... numerous other nationally-distributed anthologies and journals. 7 I§ QW . l3lack World, as name and concept, was~ oncession won by Chicago area artists and activists, who protested against the old nam)l'1'egro Digest) in the late sixties. Fuller continues to guide the magazine's new image through the ticklish waters of co~troversy and change. iii _ . Black World's issues, and But many readers have been critical of Some. particularized stands, 11,.l ack of "open" forum on ·rsA tendency 4 Nevu-n.eteu to circumscribe individuals and groups. I\.- the beew. journal has /tt1n indispensable aid to ;.;;- Black poets and writers, printing their work, identifying anthologif"sV noting books published, and serving as /1~~-irlit,lt:. facilitat,or for prizes and • • • • contact. ~j fJv ~o...me.. f /1 ~ ), ~W~(Jer/fit. 1 e c. h~\ltV\&e oPp.,_bdvG1'n9 4 Jo11.,.nt'-L 1°hdt ~\.'\ irtfC«d· 1it new SOJ)ht~lictTion a.~d; Among all new poets, Madhubuti is second only to Nikki Giovanni in the . , com m.,01Ty P~e,es number of accolades and the commercial attention he and his poetry have received. A sampling of critics, poets and scholars who feel he is one of the greatest of the new poets would have to include Stephen Henderson, Fuller, Gwendolyn Brooksylargaret Walker, Paula Giddings, Baraka, Mari Evans, Randall and Gayle. �he. Gwendolyn Brooks has said lf&dt1&ha5,f\ resembles Jesus Christ and her Introduction to Jump Bad hails him as "the most significant, inventive, and influential black poet in the country." P~e. ~qui.sire iJb j l\of reading + 1 Overlooking, for the moment, the " all" the poetry in the "country" before making such PA ... Ad. C,~ICO a stater.1ent, it simpm; is · L in view of the "collective" policy--and 1-0.silto'l..$ the anti-individualist,e11 ii )8a--which allegedly forn the cornerstone of the Chicago poetry scene. Mtihvfov1l ..-..1\h as published five volumes of poetry: Think !Hack! (1967), Black Pride (1968), Don ' t Cry, Scream (1969), We ifalk the Way of the New World (1970), Directionscore: (1973). Selected and New Poems (1971) and The Book of Life His Dynamite Voices, Vol. I (Broadside), published in 1971, is a study of 14 Blac;'- poets of the sixties; but\,!t reveal~ike his other \~ c,1-1•ftic,: a. Sm? njJtcN4 that h~ a hazy thinker, who lacks discretion ancf,ij: irm understanding of the Black poetry tradition. He spends an entire page, for example, illuminating and apparently advocating the use of the word "motherfucker." And any book about the sixties should not cone off the press without exami- ning the poetry of LeRoi Jones/Imamu Baraka. Madhubuti attributes the fathership d-,e~ tto't of the New Black poetry to Baraka, but • ijif!flifilntly ii ;j,111upa:S!k uf~ iscuss :a·• ..., the man ' s poetry . There are other, incredible flaws in the book, for which this young poet ' s ~ mentors must share some blame . As a critic, he did not (could not!) cultivate the "distance" of a Johnson, Brown, Redding, or Henderson, and consequently--already lacking discipline and training--could not really see the poetry. The bookl Is redeeming values, such as they are,' ,-r.s possibly reside in ~incide~tal informat-ion and .,_... bibliography. As a poet, Lee fares better, employing wit, irony, understatement and f1gri••~1, ~5 . (In the rn~N:rt o~ 8l4.c k so.L ""r,·ov-.": 'ttesv1 SAves.-S&H,reen Sio.mps!0_ · ~- · J\.But there are excellent poets in Chicago \M'ho ha.e,e. b,en dw•FU hi, �f'oLr1r r:<l l ~ age i (Plumpp, Cunningham, Rodgers, Gilbert, etc . ) l Ml!P llifr Id i His themes range from what Arthur P . Davis has called "The New Poetry of Black Hate," - through love and Black pride, to the ha ar,a pontificat ions in The Book of Life where he re-ar ranges sayings and parables stated better by Aesop, bush Afr icans , Plato, d1 Baraka♦ and Tolson . Like ikki Giovanni and others , hi s early work re-inforced t he self-love coacept, castigated whitey and encouraged Elacl- unity. Host of his 11e r. we"",e " sunnned up in the titles Think Black! ~!11111!!~ and Black Pride; his devices are everyday conversation ,( often not wellI ...~ ~• • n,t ,t,aa10., 1 wroug 1t but sometimes quite startling nd musical rhythms ("The Hall"). These he adjusts in an often effective typography which moves in parallel . ,n columns vertically or horizontally on the pages. In Introductions to his .,.,'e.sio . books an~•~ riticaJ! 1 articles Ha<lhubuti ••-,i1iAg1.ves "directions" to Black writers--as he does in much of ~.S poetry. · d..#1 "First Impressions Poet's Death," -.,.elegy for Conrad Kent Rivers, t,;~111111=1!!"~ un-talked-about ~~a h A~\'f'OV\'fQl'\ 4 ch.-.ul'lltlU s lcAthe often oP S.o1-ne cJ,e. 1111111111••• caus{iremature Black deaths . ilJll••iM!~Aof "too bv't much" sex and drink, he says1r--, "poets who poet" seldom die from overexposure. But he can unknowingly dabble with the most complex aspects of Black life as in "The Self-Hatred of Don L. Lee" wher:e, after stµdying Black history, he learns to love the "inner" person and hate (with vehemence) my light brm-m outer . �Certainly a profound and tragic dilemma is stated here: since hating one's color will not change it; and since one has to live with it for the rest of one's life. It is a good poem for studying the so-called "solution" that some Black writers claim to have "found" to the identity problem. I . ... WI I .1/one of his most fanous poems is "Don't Cry, Scream." Praised highly by Stephen Henderson, the poem paraphrases the her{ tical rantings of Ron Karenga who A tribute encouraged Illacks to renounce the Blues. 1'-t ( h I e..-.c{fLr ph u ?) to Coltrane, ,\is largely graphicf\:•1itt1 occasional areas of intelligibility. Then ti,/$ so.11en,1 there is ~ self-disgust: n i cried for billy holl iday. v the blues. we ain't blue the blues exhibited illusion., of manhood. t,4ou1c.oulo C.e,L~'1n ~~ve•~vot.ved''withoc.,Ti't'l bL.ue.s 7 Even the German Janheinz Jahn knew better. f\ And certainly, today, Hadhubuti must face the question: it"? if the blues were destructive, then l,ow did he "make Indeed, how did anyone "make it" without the totem of survivalisms necessary to "cross over"? Madhubuti ' s influence on the new poetry has been substantial, however, though in most instances the influence has been in the th e... ''.ttu,J''"~,n /\ . e 1u i 0~ J.t H VJ OLad<.. area of politics rather than poetry. vv ~ 11n ,. v he t\0-i \\el.~e.d tt \)Op1>Lo. Carolyn Rodgers ' volumes are Paper Soul (1968), Songs of a Blackbird r, ,~ f>otrru II (1969), 2 Love Raps (Broadside) (1969), Blues Gittin Up (1972) and How I Got GYII, (1975). Womanly and convincing, she writes of young women, love, revolutionaries and music. In "Phoenix" she recalls traveling "with the wind" and hearing the many voices screaming blooddrops of time. "Jazz" describes "three" at the bar, the clicking of drinking elasses, and the murmur of thick mouths •..• �"Rebolushinary x-mas/eastuh julie 4/etc . etc. etc." is a satire on "militants." And she tells us that bits of me splintered ir():o a mirror in "Look at My Face a Collage ." These ideas and themes, and many others, can also be found in the poetry of Johari Amini, Plumpp and Cunningham . Johari Amini ' s books include Images in Black (1967), A Folk Fable (broadside) (1969), Let ' s Go Somewhere (1970), and A Hip Tale in Death Style (1972) . She relies heavily upon Bl ack colloquialisms, usually achieving success. But she has other ranges as· can be seen in " Brother" whic 1 longs for the " soil" of Black poeple, where they can feel the universe shudder .... wo.. l(ja.-e Plumpp ' s,iPortable Soul (1969 ) , Half Black, Half Blacker (19 70) and Steps to Break the Circle (19 75) . A southernPr with a backr.round in psychology, he has also written a provo c ative study called Black Ritu a l•~ His interests are seen in t it l es like " From Manless Sisters to Big Bad Rappers," "Black Messages" ("believe in us " ), "Living Truth" ("black history ... a banned epic"), and 1'egypt (For Black Notherhood)": an everlasting sunrise awoke ... • One of the most perceptive, skillful and innovative poets, however, is Cunningham. His one volume is The Blue lished widely in periodicals. arratot (1974) and he has been pub- "The City Rises" as a sad stiff wooden place "St. Julien ' s Eve: For Dennis Cross" ji wonderfully mixes the senses; the •• s-tA hbQJ ..,;, narrator is l\the " ear" by Brahms, and then there follows great poetry: the wind-man tearing at the bridge as a man stands wondering �why does the river float up to the sky A Tolsonian thrust, "Rapping Along with Ronda Davis" is a delightful combination of Hoon beams & yams ~nd shows Cunningham 's ability to place disparate orderings in his poetic vise. "A Street in Kaufman-ville: or a note thrown to carolyn from rodgers place" is a study of the "fragments" of Bob Kaufman in whom the poet sees a madness unli1.e my own .... ~riving " From the Narrator 's Trance," a song thumbed-down a cruiser for a ride .... Cunningham also writes of other poets and artists. In conducting his fascinating experiments with the language, he celebrates the wide span of the hybrid Afro-American heritage. And certainly, here is a poet to be closely watched . Gilbert, My Own Among other Chicago poets who published volumes are: Hallelujahs (1971); Chiri, An Acknowledgement to Hy Afro-American Brother (1968); Perkins, TI.lack is Beautiful (1968); Wimberli (Ebon) Ghetto Scenes (1968) and Revolution (1968) ("a new Illack voice to alarm the establishment"-Perkins); Nargaret Burroughs, What Shall I Tell my Children 11.1110 are Black (1968); Greenlee, Blues for an African Princess (1971); Lucille Patterson, Hoon in Black (1974); Stephany, Hoving Deep (1970); Royster, The Black Door (1971); Kgositile , Spirits Unchained (1969) and For Melba (1970); Butler, Black Visions (1968); and Jeif d, To Paint a Black Picture (1969). Yet a newer group, not all Chicagoans, have been published in Third World Press ' New Poets series: Angela Jackson, Voodoo/Love Magic (1974); Damali (Denise Burnett), I Am that We Hay Be (1974); Fred Hord, After Hours (1974) and • �Sandra Royster, Women Talk (1974) . • w 1d.e.. These young poets deal with a ~ ariety of "~~w,\&IC!I\ subjects, though with a n 11 Il variety of forms; mostly, however, they are concerned with revolution, self-pride, heterosexual relations and Black life in urban America. Among the many good things which emerged from Chicago was the "new" Gwendolyn Brooks who, as we saw in Chapter V, has always been solid in her Blackness and won<lerfully magic in her poetry. The Brooks of In the Mecca (1968), Riot (1969), Family Pictures (1970) and Aloneness (1971) is not drastically different from her former self. In Report From Part One (1972), her autobiography, she apparently approved the use of a Madhubuti Preface which tells more about his own reading and writing problems than it does about this great woman ' s poetry . Madhubuti complains about her complex verse; but her poetry has never been " easy" to read (probably never will) and Riot continues that tradition of toughness, a poetry which yields meaning after many readings. She employs mythology, history, sarcasm and dramatic ,, dialogue to reveal white middle class pomposity even in face of a " Riot 11 • 5He. e. fl <JP Svt-vey.s Bing Crosby and Melvin Van Peebles, and MilflllD•Aof love. l'\l ater The " Black philosopher" is the thread that spines the section cal led The Th ird Se rmon on t he Warpland. There are traces of her terse earlier style, particularly her unique word-sound progressions: as her underfed haunches jerk jazz. And a white liberal, observing a riot, asks "But WHY do These People offend themselves?" adding that it is time to "help. 111/E.amily Pictures contains the snapshots of her new young heroes, the people who helped her become "Black." But despite well-meaning salutes to Kgositile, Don, Bradford, and young Africans, there is a monotony of praise. J,, owe~e,,.J Admittedly, l\no one is perfect, and she is apparently • �struggling as hard with commitment as she is with the new poetry . In Spe.etlilto Yhe f "<'&t,e~i - To ;, L,~I" "Speech to the Young , " dedicated to1i,.own children, the sensitive mother-poet gives adviCe that many another young person might cuddle and cherish: Live not for The-End-of-the-Song. Live in the along . C(,HJ"I\Ot'l Such i,.l • • comes at an important juncturewhen the world is moving right along, to use a cliche , and leaving behind those too mired in their own "self-revelations" to look, listen and learn . Yet one crowning salute to this great lady of Black letters was an impressive anthology of poetry and testimonials, To Gwen with Love: A Tribute to Gwendolyn Brooks (1971) , assembled by Madhubuti and others . Chicago poets were only a skip from places like Gary, Indianapolis, ~ allowtcl Detroit, St . Louis, Clevelandi\ Kansas City~ and the closeness ' interchanges on all levels . hi~ Motown ' s poetry output, like that of other communities, was also interwoven with related symbols and expressions of the new consciousness: Hargaret Danner ' s Boone House for the Arts, Rev. Cleage ' s Shrine of the Black 1 !adonna, Motown Records , Broadside Press, Vaughn ' s Bookstore, and area Black studies projects . The poetry hub for the late sixties anJ seventies, of course , is Randall ' s Broadside Press. Randall has changed as a poet and person, he says, in ways that perhaps parallel the changes in Gwendolyn Brooks. A "father" figure among some new Black poets, he publishes dozens of them (over 100· at this writing) , releases new books of his own poetry, serves as distributor of Breman's Heritage Series, and travels widely as a lecturer , teacher, librarian and translator of Russian poetry. A formalist by training and tempera ent, Randall described his new poetic stance in a statement in Hodern and Contemporary Afro-American Poetry �(Bell, 1972): My poetics is to try to write poetry as well as I can. I think I have said elsewhere that the function of the poet is to write poetry . }1y earlier poetry was more formal. Now I am trying to write a looser, more irregular, more colloquial and more idiomatic verse. I abhor logorrhea , and try to make my poems as concentrated as possible. Indeed, Randall has tried to do just that--moving from a traditional to a loose, conversational verse . This he attempts in volumes like Love You (19 70) and After the Killing (1973). When Randall is describing a girl in an African ,·~ village or the "Miracle" of love, he • • • • •Agenuine . . and strong . P!T._ poems like " Green Apples" and "Words Words Words" ~ him "~A• rt But Ma'ttLt his #\ · • rKe..Tc:he.s These and other pieces are merely vertical prose, appearing as 1,.il I uglied letters . Qnd UL But he is primarily a librarian, publisher, and editor whose service to 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 1argaret Burroughs, he co-edited 1alcolm : Poems on the Life and Death of Malcolm X (196 7), a foresightful and commanding work . his I P § Also to credit are Black Poetry (1969 ) and The Black Poets (1971), the latter i mbalanced and apparently quickly thr own t ogether since it has practically no Introduction and contains no bio-bibliographical material on the poets. In addition to Randall and Margaret Danner, other poet~ in this upper Midwest area are James Randall (1938Thomas (1939- ) , Richard ), William Thigpen (1948-1971), Naomi Hadgett, Hayden, Rocky Taylor (Tejumoll Ologboni) (1945Atlante;) - ), James .Thompson (1936- · (,<141 ) ), Pearl Cleage Loma\ (now living in • Halaika Wangara (1938- Ay..N(<.ko\.6.s (_'£,okc~-P.•1 f'\ot-nin': ~ ) , Ahmed Alhamisi (19L10- ftlft\t4 ~f l!(dl • ~f ), P!!!'y '!f ,Sou l).I �Reginald Wilson (1927- ), Sonebeyatta (1956- Leonead Baily (1906- ), Melba Boyd (1950- Jill Witherspoon (1947(1950- ), Carolyn Thompson (1944), Shirley Woodson (1936- ), ), ), La Donna Tolbert (1956- ), Darnell Hawkins (1946- ), Stella Crews Sor1t 0F'1'he1t" wonks ) and FrencK Hodges (1940)- 4 ~ " can be found in Ten , A Broadside Treasury, The Black Poets, and in the small An 1'rnpor't"~-r v0Lurt1e ~I'\"\ th~ a.reo.. is Fbl!l-ed'it'ar ALh~W\1Si~ .!3,LAc..k. A~: A1111i.,Log_y .eF~'"'eiw'!S(wit#i 'Nr,• individual volumes regularly published by Broadside Press. /\ For further details on Detroit and other Broadside poets see Broadside Authors and Artists (Linead Bailey, 1974). James Randall has published Don ' t Ask Me Who I Am and Cities and Other Disasterg (1973). His poetry is intense, commanding and dramatic. In "Net,mrk News, 11 we are told that For years he ' d watched the growing madness of the State. There is irony and pathos as in "Street Games" where a boy is black as the ancient curse of Africa A different kind of poetry is written by Ologboni uho intermingles drum rhythms, incantatory meditations and sharp establishment-directed barbs in Drum Song (1969), Introduced by Gwendolyn Brooks . The poet is also an artist who tells us in "Untitled" that the night contains indifferent stars •••. Hayden has been teaching at the University of Michigan, his alma mater, since the late sixties when he left Fisk, wndar pre sSJJT 91h Hournir i ime (1970) anticipat "Festivals & Funerals. " His Words in the the theme of Jayne Cortez ' • overpowering He seeks a place where man will no longer be called nigger, gook, ki t e or hunkie, but 11 man. 11 There are frightening poems and terrifying images in Words as Hayden surveys the " Sphinx" ("my joke and me"), " Soledad" .("cradled by drugs, by jazz"), 11 Kodachromes of the Island " W6rlj~I �(" fingerless hands " ) and " El-Hajj Halik El-Shabazz" ( " the waking dream" ). ~e poet~ " Zeus over Redeye" reflects on 1,.• visit to the Redstone Arsenal. It is an intense drama, joining other .great poems as a major statement on our times . ·,rwe.-'tE~ Western man ' s l\mythic totem, his depravity, his quixotic movements at the speed of a blur, the human " loom" of tension--all are staged against the 0 t'the. backdrop ~missile arsenal where death-machines bear the names of ancient Graeco-Roman mythological figures . mythologies " to "come to birth ." Such naming allows * l 1 1 · t " new Among terms associated with Hayden ' s nightmarish world of visible/invisible and anticipated violence are dragon, hydra, basilisk, tulips, corollas, Zeus, Apollo, Nike and Hercules . The missiles tower ( " stasis " ) as a sacred phallic grove ..•. Apparently the guides at the arsenal cannot satisfactorily answer questions about the missiles ' destinies and dangers: Your partial answers reassure me less than they appall . I feel as though invisible fuses were burning all around us burning all around us. Heat-quiverings twitch danger ' s hypersensitive skin . The very · sunlight here seems flammable. And shadows give us no relieving shade. Dismal and final, Hayden ' s poem adds its own particular tone, style and language to the lengthening totem of the New Black Poetry. For, despite his disagreements with the Black Aestheticians, there is no doubt that 3t �"Zeus" reaffirms a belief expressed by younger, sometimes louder, poets: that the Western world is doomed to destruction at its own hands (will " off itself, " a younger poet might say) . •■l•t■ l•jMsllli·-•1•z-.ii1t•z~s"'l!!S~C~EM!L•l•••1. In fact, the theme of an app roachin g end i s quite "American" in poetry, still being preached by white poets and spokesman: from Bob Dylan to Billy Graham. Rich contributions have also been made by poets and artists in southern Illinois and Missouri. East St. Louis and St. Louis, though located in two R''"""' different states and separated by the Nississipp \ , have a mutual history that goes back before the days of the famous Dred Scott Case. These Black communities, alternately warring and loving, worked closely together during the height of the Black Arts Movement . Poets and artists were drawn to or supported by BAG (Black Artist Group), House of Umoja, The Blacksmith Shop of Black Culture, Black Liberator project, the House of Truth, Impact House, the Experiment in Higher Education at SIU, Sophia House, Katherine Dunham's Performing Arts Training Center (EHE-SIU), Black Diver Writers, and the Southend Neighborhood Center. Fw,m 11,i's ~ ( AJute) (/141- ) Some of the poets ,en t,he area f e Bruce Rutli1AJ Rhea Sharl em G_!'rant, Sherman {!4tn. . ) Fowle~ ~,e.(A1't.,(S,.tlh"Z"'o~'t\\o.J Redmon~ ia Conley f\(who later joined OBAC) 51.A.vndw,..R~1n"td~,,(J'1Sl-) 'AArthur Dozier, Bobb ~ui-, BrCWJ1f'~47- Qcf4J- ) E11iot ~, Austin Black (1928) (who went to Los Angeles), Fred Horton, "'I (iq 3f-) Mo.~ .-.c S,mpr.ort{/<if'/-- ) Dwight Jenkins, Rome~g_:=oxx,, nonald Hend~rson, Henry Osborne, Jon lfq4, ~) Wilson, Vincent Clark, Gloria Wafke~ <i"lc,.S'.;.)1 t'en""l Herman Vincent T~rrellj . Reginald Allen Turnage, (1~'11-) O'f50- ) Qqcl(p- J '' (t.q ,a- ")J NtJi. i-o"nso'I Wayne Lofti1't) Derrick Wrigh,1' Gregory Anthon~ Katherine Dunham, and others -1 Writings by these poets are included in Sides of the River: A Mini-Anthology of Black Writinss ( ~ , Betty Lee ' s Q I Proud ·~agazine Ghic~ d ffers prizes)) The Mill Creek Intelligencer, a special issue of Sou ' wester (fall, 1968, selected by Redmond), The Black Liberator, The Creator (1969), Tambourine (1966 , iJhite and Schwartz), Collection (1968), 3,A new St. Louis lriters Workshop, guided by Shirley La Flore , . includes Marci Howell, Candalaria Silva, Patricia Williams, Wal Arnusa, Geraldine Oole and Debra Anderson. SI / �J(olume I of Poems by Blacks (1970). Dumas, who taught for a year at East St. Louis ( ~ 1967-1968), and Redmond co-sponsored writing programs in the Rap-Write Now Workshops and Black River Writers group. Collection was student-produced under Dumas' supervision, with Fowler and Linda Stennis serving as editors. Elliott writes, in "The Dream Time," about the "spirochete womb" of the mother of the universe, the Phoenix, and the death "fashioned at the end" of 500 years. Great Phoenix that she was, the mother of the universe now leaves the dreamer <If_ With only her great murky sexuality •... [[Elliott is a dreamer and Surrealist but Black ushers in a different temperament with his The Tornado in Hy Mouth (1966). He has the irreverence of the Beats, the funkiness and drive of the hard boppers, and the sexuality of one in hot pursuit. "Asexual Flight" says a man ' s last wish is to be banished to the isl~nd of remiss and lo'!se his love. dil,!MmA. Another ..._..A is presented in "Razor Mama Democracy/ the ache in 3-D" where the blue haze hurts and now the hair is turning "into an aching grey." . Black salutes "the gladiator" in "Coeval Drums for Leroi" but in the meantime he covers quite a bit of ground: "the dead arterial insanity"; "futility in jagged crags"; "Kierkegaard/Sartre"; "like dripping brine"; "over the window of my being"; and finally "Her power in howling winds" brings A DRUlfBEAT FOR LEROI. �"Black & Funky" is subtitled "a hypothetical orgasm" and there is in "DAMN YOUR god!" A·~••--- \ c.o~ oc.<..cum His "(a poem for HALCOLM X)" is subtitled "the liberated war-horse." In "Carrying a Stick," Fowler asks: Who cares, that I had yesterday's stale gum for breakfast? "Thinking" allows various imageitreatn and burst fort1} vomiting tidings only the mind can hear. in ,, ~4t iu.c.e/' Student-mother Romenetha Washington write~bout the pressures on today's wht1 Black woman ~watchG• people Scurrying from sun to sun .•• , Also pulled along, she says . I protest but still I run. vsei irony tr'> Loftin, a young poet who writes with economy and simplicity,f\8ummarizmg ~right and Baldwin Q in "Reality": out of the cotton fields and burning suns to overcrowded cities and shades of slums Redmond and Fowler founded Black River Writers publishing company which brought out Sides of t1e River. Currently under the supervision of Catherine Younge, the press has published Redmond's volumes: A Tale of Two Toms (broadside) (1968), A Tale of Time & Toilet Tissue (pamphlet) (1969), Sentry of the Four Golden Pillars (1970), River of Bones and Flesh and Blood (1971), Songs From an Afro/Phone (1972), In A Time of Rain & Desire (1973), 3,3 �and an Lp , Bloodlinks and Sacred Places (1973) . Consider Loneliness as These Things was published in 1973 by Centro Studi E Scambi Internazionali in Italy. Redmond, a native of East St. Louis, strives f l#) Black familyhood (immediate and extended) in his poetry; though he attempts to do this without forced a."c! by allowing the allegiances, without " disfigurement of perceptions, " ~ to ~low deed-shaping words , \ ~ naturally. ] iztniss]lrc His poetry ranges from humorous folk portraits l i1'e "Invasion of the Nose" : His nose was his radar, His eyes icy darts that moved faster than speed-of-sound jets. He could rap like a pneumatic drill Or croon like Smokey Bill when the occasion arose . to considerations of love under strain as in " Inside My Perimeter" : Inside my perimeter Of fears A unit of guerillas Strikes at the barbed-wire Hovels that hoard our love: That incarcerate our needs-An insurgent army Storms the bastille of pride Shells this facade of custom, Knells the collapse Of the straw men· inside us-Accepts the sun , Allows the contorted face of �Stress to smile again-To glow again! Allows Love to Live . Elsewhere in the larger area there were/are other goings-on in poetry: Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas City where Wilbur Rutledge (19lf0- ) and others associated with the Afro-American Cultural Center and the Black Writers Workshop received assistance and exposure. Among these poets are Mary Ruth Spicer, Guiou Taylor, Willesse Hester and Jackie Washington. in Anthology: Some of them are included ~vt{:ec\ge.. Black Writer ' s Horkshop (Kizna, 1970) andJYet!!hing;h@ has pub- lished Joma (1971) ~ Located at the University of Denver for the year 1974-197~where he who'iook. substituted for Hphahlele .i a ■ i.a0Aa leave of absence, Kgosi{ile (1938- ) articles, poems and interviews have been published on an international scale, and he has taught at several American colleges and universities. In addition to books already mentioned, he has published My Name Is Afri kt (1971) and edited The Word is Here: Poetry from Modern Africa (1973) . His own e1e sthetic is stated in his Introduction to the anthology: Poetry, the word at its most ex1ressive, can be a prayer, an appeal, condemnation, encouragement, affirmation--the list of endeavors is endless. And if it is authentic, as anything else expressive of a people ' s spirit, it is always social. This concept he embraces in his own poems, especially in Africa where in the Introduction, Gwendolyn Brooks writes that his Art is life worked with; •• • ' t ern poets, Bruce 4,one of the most inventive and talented of Midwes Rutlin, has not ·published widely.µeA~ his bi gly ori gi n ~l style on LPs: Ofama: Children of the Sun{l971 , with saxophoni s t Ol iver Lake) and sJ.S- �His Afro-American brothers incorporated the Africanisms into their works and, \?Lt<C Kgositsile combines his own indiginisms with a mastered fluency ofl\American L 09 ISh\S :S. ~II s _ He assays the whole of our tumultuous times (in Africa and America), intermingling an acquired Black street language with a demanding and stringent form. One cf the most able craftsmen, he W~ites excellent poems about children, women, violence, music, Malcolm X, Lumumba, Gwendolyn Brooks, African dances, --:-, Billy Hol l iday, or "The Nitty Gritty" in which the once furious songs are now v frozen on battered black lips . • . . (J,T\ G,u,t~"'"'"°'~ 4-r,d Du'Ley ~o.Mt•l<.., , ... _ I ,. • ru t.c.tosili,tt is W.:,llt-5 ~ r:rlY'" ,cwt:6« \ r \ 4 ' p..i..vw..~1iietA k • • Tl1e poets of the East, South, Midwest and near West are a bit more than a hop, skip and jump from California, but many of them were inspired by -r,./ appearances, national magazine coverage, and cross-country tours of the Watts poets. Born, as it were, between the California sun and the rebellion of 1965, the Watts Writers' Workshop was initially under the direction of Budd Schulberg. Later, as older writers left and newer ones came in, the suner- vision of the· workshop was assumec;l by Harry Dolan and Herbert Simmons. f 'I! La1"ed s there~ ur e of culture and influence included the Watts Happening Coffee House, , ,.., ,,-.. the short-lived Shrew magazine, the Watts Repertory Theater, the ~ l qu~ arian Bookstore, the Sons of Watts, the Black Panthers, Karenga's US organization, f,~~-t and Frederick Douglass Writers' House which housed thel\:fatts writers program. Among those associated with this and other writing groups were Hilton HcFarlane, Clyde Mays (1943- ), Troupe (1943- Bowen, Pamela Donegan (1943- ), Stanley Crouch (1945- ), Emmery Evans (1943- Lance Jeffers, Lino, K. C~rtis Lyle (1944- Eric Priestly (1943- ) , ), Simmons (1930- ... Ojenke (Alvin Saxon, 1947- C.K. Moreland, Jimmy Sherman (1944Hayhand, James Thomas Jackson (1927David Reese Moody (1933- ), Fanita (1943- ) , ), Vallejo Ryan Kennedy (1947- ), Leumas Sirrah (1948- Cleveland Sims (1944- ), Robert ), Johnie Scott (1948- ) ' , ), Ernest ) , Fannie Carole Brown (19L12- ), Edna Gipson (1946- ) ) , ), Jayne Cortez (1933- Poem of Gratitide(l972) . Rutlin is_ a St. Louisan. ) ) , ' �Noto. r?.cl.,;JSo"(~ Onf~).; Blossom Po.we (1929- ) , Sonora McKeller (19H- LAt'\c• w:ui ~"'"' s., Birdell Chew (1913- ), K idhiana , and others . ) , ~ arley Mims (1925- ), Their works are in two From the Ashes (1967 , Schulberg) and Watts Poets and Writers anthologies: (1968, Troupe). Other poems are scattered through such periodicals as Los Troupe~ 4n1°h<>lb~y, p1,1bH\ hecl.bytht \it,\tte. of-&spe~1j t1.e~t.eci~ o.. Angeles Magazine , Shrew, Confrontation , and West. A , · -i1I, f:', * 'the owren~ M~Joi,. .5'1•1t&•vp ~rn61\9 WAlts u,.-·, n ..s,11u 11L.7,1t9 in,..,011pe.._,,c1 ~,01eno;\Sb o e"s o.-M•n~ O· ~ Seen as a movement, the Watts group, in quality and quantity, emerge as one of the most powerful on the New Black Poetry scene (roughly resembling the magnificent Howard group) . For although the poetry is not uniformly good or 0..... or excellent, there isAcourage t!liz"'t-=IIW,j@I\V ision , , style• and theme• that one .-ttiE. looks hard to find in N>ther groups. This may be due in part to the migratory patterns of Blacks in the West--most of these poets were not born in Los Angeles--and the racial kaleidoscope of California . Whatever the reasons, there is a prismatic range in the poetry that moves from the earth- woman musicality of Jayne Cortez, across the allusory and often mystical excursions of Lyle, to the signifying blues interludes of Crouch who has also written some daring and seminal criticism in Black World and the Journal of Black Poetry . Ain ' t ~o Ambulances for no Nigguhs Tonight (1972) is the title of both his book and Lp recording which includes " rap" as well as poetry, with liner notes by Lyle . Crouch uses folk forms and them~ intertwined with music and various dramatic techniques . Many of the poems are dedicated to musicians like Parker and Coltrane; others attempt the complicated spontaneity of live jazz solos. The title poem anticipates the day of the final riot when there will not be "no " ambulances for "nigg~hs ". " got on his job" like Nat Turner. e~ ays - and others . ,\ t. o,._hJ N•nyh•--~,•rr.r, his influences are Artaud,'Octavio {DWld..Q!\.w ~ But the poem ' s hero, Monkey Junior, I Paz, Cesar Vallejo, Cesaire, His poetry is grounded in elliptical phrases and obscure information i �which he constricts into frightening, surreal images and states. "Sometimes I Go to Camarillo & Sit in the Lounge" describes how the poet stares into "an awning of spirit," viewing the world as yellow trumpets of starving blues ){et hearing a Vietnamese mother ' s "ultra-high-frequency screams." We are told that "cobalt bullets" smash the heart of the "lone ranger" in "Lacrimas or there is a need to Scream." However, Lyle's most famous poem is "I Can Get it for You iJholesale," a statement on the contemporary political-religiousracial scene One..oP"t/2t f,~QS 1 l",S tJt PD 'o/1 Lyle nA.S .-.e,ur.J ti ~ ~ m J ~ L , I ~ ,£ ~ - : 2 ; • ~~ev-,oh~l:1) "1'h ivl,.f c.lt he b A.t.Co,,.,,_ po.nit,! by-3\,U~S l4e.rt1;#t~U. ~J ~ Ojenke has an unlimited range of intellectual and social concerns as he sculpts his poetry from the diverse ingredients that produced the Afro-American. 2_eflecting his ereat knowledge of Graeco-Roman classics, "Black Power" has the lyre of "IUacl~ Orpheus" pierce the dark solitude of a Iladean world: il\Ul IIe,\wanders into ancient Greece and Nigeria in the same poem. In "Watts" there is a commotion caused by lightning and famine, assassinating tin people and whole grass-blades? Later on Diogenes, Socrates _and the Oracle of Delphi enter the poem. But these characters only come to Watts to find people escaping into a " toxicant" and fleeing from some too-true truth .••• Ojenke also wrote an Introduction to Evans ' book The Love Poet (1971). Evans ' reading ability, Ojenke said: " Emmery is crying slyly into your ear." " Roaches" depicts a -familia~ s ~ to some: two roaches dance across the room to the tune of poverty; •.. About t, �Scott is one of the more well known of the Watts poets . In " The Fish Party ," he says The fish are gathering again tonight, ... And fish- watchers , ignorant of the world ' s problems, get their charges from trying t o guess what the fish will do. During the conversation, Scott talks par~ thetically about war and poverty, but all is exclamatorily interrupted: Hey, look? Just Goldie has ~eaten Jesus up! "Watts, 1966" is a poem millions heard on national theme of Black rage and white indifference . 1V . It has the familiar But Scott closes it on memorable lines : The man named Fear has inherited half an acre, and is angry. Watts poets deal with love, violence, contemplation of freedom and music . left Watts after the late sixties. Troupe went to Ohio University ( to L.;fe.r edit <;_£~f r2ntat~u) and~published Embryo (19 73) , Ash Doors and JuJu Guitars (1975 ) , and co-edited Giant Q to New York. Talk: Third World Yoic@& (1975), a f ter moving I ri 1-"f;I t tor ~evet-ttL Xtt,J,,t 4,-f - ~ Washingt n Lyle , who has not published a volu~, ., University in St. Louis , and recently returned to Los An geles. ,,.,..,"1're,, Jayne Corte~ went to New York where she has liv ed and, wc.s«. since the late sixties. three books are Pi s t a ined Stairs and the Monke and Funerals (1971) and Sca rifications (1973). gelebrations, and ~gl j t)ldg~ (1974). 1't:1 Her Man's Wares (19t>9 ) , Festiva ls She has also recorded an Lp, Her themes a nd sty les a re broad , but mo stly ~embrace music a s aspect and fo rm. Afr ica, a s struggle and s pirit, is a lso a dominant theme in her poetry. Pis~a ined is e spec ially rich in its inter weav i ngs of musi c and strug l e . "The Road" is "where another Hank moans" 0 and is �Stoney Lonesome "Lead" describes the kind of hard life that is "cracklin hot a sunrise." Lead, of course, is Lead Belly whom the "nigguhs " desperately want to hear spit the blues out. t"Mt--e. Thc.U'l Her struggles are .-.A.simple "contrivances" as they chronicle the hardships and good times of Dinah, Bird, Ornette, Coltrane, "Fats" Navarro, Clifford Brown and others--a verifiable poetic tapestry of Black expression in defiance of death, from one who would(f-h,n<J~Y Lo\l 11 ): .•• eat mud to touch the root of you .••. Among other Southern California poets are Robert Bowen (1936Boze (194~- ) , Kinamo Hodari 19~0- ) , Arthur ), Dee Dee McNeil \1943), Arrvl.o. ... Ws:Qs c,ou"-r.,....1 ,.. ""-• LM'f ~.ti -. ...~""-- , ... , .. oFIODl'i,~o"be .., . . . Bil Thompson, and Lance Williams. I\ S•v~ .. a.C. 'PS• rt /:lecTs~f v inTeret't,s Q db ck9t-o,mds Northern California ~ also · · · 4~~ w..·,,-, ..-s of Black poets and writers. Indeed a listing of poets,\_from the general . - . a-, ~•ed a national convention: Goncalves (1937- N~<A kti. S''1~e (!'N-,-.. ),.. ) (now at B~own), /\Co yus (19 42), Angelo Lewis (1950- ) ) , ' ), L.V. Mack (ec.i L Bt--owt"I,, (1940- (1947- ) , ~l .1uhaj ir (1944- , Joyce Carol Thomas (1938- (Marvin X), Leona Welch ricNair • • - • -• David Henderson, Jon Eckels t\'ln e<;."'t Go.t"e George Barlow (1948- ) ), Joseph , Glen Ifyles (1933- o/ ) ' ) , A_Herman Brown • • • • • (Huumba), Pat Parker • - • - - • De Leon Harrison (1941- ), Sarah Webster Fabio (1928- and Maya An~elou (1928- ). ) , William Anderson Bay area activity in the arts has been heightened and enhanceJ by the San Francisco Afro-American Historical and Cultural Society, bookstores such as Mere, Harcus and New Day (Goncalves), activities of Panthers and similar groups, the Rainbow Sign cultural center in Berkeley, �Nairobi College, and numerous other cul t ur al and literary projects . "t1'le.$.e by many"bards are i nclud ed in Hiller 's Dices ... oABl ack Poems Bones (1970), Journal of Black Poetry, Yardbird Reader (a semiannual edited by Reed, Young, Brown ~ and Myles), Umbra Blackworks (Henderson, all i ssues, especially 1970-71) , and othe r nationally distributed anthologies and periodicals .StA ,;.1t0.\'\te. '-nd o~\q',ntLwt-',tet-1 Reed),tia s publi shed three volumes: catechism of d neoamerican hoodoo church (1971), Con·ure: Fou" Selected Poems, 1963-1970 (1972), Chattanooga (1973), otc,,.,., ,,, p.&J;.y Utd,...•..• l•t.fll,e •~ f#""''"""'~.S. and as••ll!lltciLit novels. A His work has drawn a curious mi)tture of adJectives from c r itics: " brilliant, " " cute, " "j umbles and puz zles," "important, " "bad comics" and so on . Indeed Reed wri tes his poet r y into his novels and his novels i nto his po ems . In this service, he employs dialects, Voodoo, t he occult, whims i cality, wit, mys ticism, satire, which he obviously enjoys, all reinforced by assorted library information and street-instincts. He violates time barriers, plac ing an ancient Greek figure in a contemporary poem, or vice v e r sa. His verse form s are experimental, roughly recalling the Beats Bvt O..(.l.oScF ~tao(nA will. ~'10111 hi,Y\ itl tl\eTw,.cf.t1df\ Ot 1>un D0.11\J T"oome~ An TuL$t1t1 • and ot her recent or pas t s t y1istic irreverencies. A.There are no sacred cows f or Reed who sometimes lambasts Black nationalists and white liberals in the same poem. Generally, his techniques work (some are astonishing); but;he often spends t oo much time a t tacking real or created antagonists and having fun at the expens e of readers. His titles alone are enough to keep you slapping your thigh or scratching your head: " Report of the Reed Commission," "I am a cowboy i n the boat of Ra," " There 's a whale in my thigh, " "The feral pioneers," "The Black Cock," " Gr i s Gris, " "And the Devil Sent a Ford Pinto, which She also Routed ." In 1973 Reed became the fi rst Black writer to be nominated for a National Book Award in two catego r ies . 5-IJ:he works of many r.r> ..1'1tftll C<lt~Porn<A wh1ii',..s - cCLn also be found in a special "Arts & Literature" issu~of '.the Black Scholar, June, 197~. 5Lf( �Goncalves (Dingane), an occasional poet, is unique in his intellectualCol'\S"ft."<176,t typographical b.. t t11~o f ideas (see Black Fire), but his service to Black poetry has been more obvious i n his work as founder- ed itor of Journal 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 runs/operates ew Day Bookstore ,in San Francisco, where The Journal and its press are headquartered. Among poets published by the press are foal and Welton Smith (Penet;rati~.ij,, 1971), a virtuoso poet who was born and raised in San Francisco. "Halcolm" ends discussing the kinds of tracks tears make and telling the reader that in my heart there are many unmarked graves. There are also word-gifts in "the danger zone , " "If I could hold You for Light," "for a sorceress" ("you keep changing me into air") and "Black Mo ther" ("an odd ecstasy moving"); these join blues , excursions through city streets, and thoughts on Africa. <,.~both"i~v~;, oest\leTr,,Uy tAl"lcl S1yt•ITi~4'-'f• Young and Harper both teach writing at Sxanford and Brown,\. Young has published Dancing (1969) and The Song Turning Back into Itself (1971) , as well as novels and articles. His poetry satirizes militants, salutes Lt h4v1~Ttl white and Third World poets, and incorporates legends into a broad"'iase • ....., t· g 1 3 lg . titles of his books. There is a consistency of interest as seen in the In "Erosong" he finds hims elf dancing "naked" though All my shores had been pulled up "Yes, the Secret Mind Whispe_r s," dedicated to Kaufman, calls po etry a "tree" forever at your door ••.. �Young ranges over the whole of the life experience , writing about s quirrels , ~Howe"e"'1 j azz musicians, Spain , Stockholm , night time and sorrow. )lis poetry is Sfy11sfit~l.ly 7 17; diff erent from that of Harper who lef t California in 1970. Harper's volumes are Dear J ohn, Dear Coltrane (197v), History is Your Own Heartbeat (1~71J, Photographs: Negatives: History as App le Tree (1972) , Song : I Want a Witness (1973,, Debridement O. .. 73) J, and Nightmare Begins Responsibility (1974). Praise for his poetry has come from a wide spectrum of eminent critics and poets, primarily academicians, i ncluding Gwendolyn Brooks and Hayden. Critic M.L. Rosenthal recently singled out Harper and Baraka as tau t examples of Black poets contributing to the new American poetry scene \The New York Times Magazine, November 2-;. , 197 -i J. Laurence Lieberman has also praised Harper who received nominations for the National Book Award as well as the Black Academy of Arts and Letters First Annual Poetry Award. has kept a consistency of tone which critics particularly Harper adfft•'N! 1 ;or,e-nd though his poetry sometimes lacks metaphorical tension ~funk? ) to ignite the important statements he makes about Black music , there is a f irm intelligence at work. His themes are illusion, pained creativity, war, racism, jazz , nature, history , death, and the my thological evolution of mankind. Much of his poetry is personal, confessional , and he interweaves a medical vocabulary into some of it. and musicians. He often includes chants , hums, and names of songs Hi s musico-poetic concerns can be seen in these lines f rom "Dear John, Dear Coltrane": Why you so bla ck? cause I am Why you so funky? cause I am �Why you so black? cause I am Why you so sweet? cause I am Why you so black? cause I am a love supreme, a love su')?rem1e: • • • \-\-o-v- f't-~J Reed, -Go.hie~ twid . young ~"'e. tr\c::lvdecl \"' 0 1 ~~1en's .J;'"n,e~v,~ws .. ~ (c. W W' ~ - iJi..,.S b 1 El Muhajir (Marvin X1 is Qn6ihe~~ ind of poet , Islam-influenced and adamantly Black: Fly to AllD,b (1969), Black Man Liste~ (19G9) , ~ - - l::1aLli., ~eQi. F,,tcpfil (19731., Each book salutes Allah and contains some occasionally well-turned poetry intermingled with proverbs, parables and songs. He ·p raises Elij ah Muhammad, Tommy Smith, and announces that "Bigger Thomas Lives!" In "The Origins of Blackne ss " he says Bl ack is not a color. but that All color$ come from Black Myles and Eckels are also at different ends of the poetic spectrum while HcNair is i n t he mi ddle. of his drawings and poems. 1yles published Down & Country in 1974 as a collage He surveys cont emporary life, his upbringing on "Bebop and blues in Phoenix," and his experiences as an artist and art s t udent. Eckels has moved from ~ poetry of _anger and protest tot "poetry written by a human being, for human beings ." His books include Black Dawn, This Time Tomorrow, Black Right On, Home is Where the Soul Is (1969), Our Business ~ in press . the Street~ (1970), and Fire Sign (1973), which gives its name to his - In his early phase Eckels wrote about "Black Is, " "Hell, Mary," �"In Memory of Marcus, " "A Responsible Neegrow Leader," and other poems...,also coining an interesting term: Western Syphilization Fire Sign " f or the free and will be," shows a thematic and cultural breadth / as he writes love poems and salutes freedom in general. McNair, a cosmic poet who bridges African spirituality and his own psychic revelations, has published Earthbook (1972) and Juba Girl (1973). Certainly the world will hear more from this gifted young writer. tht mvLt(.'f;./.enleJ Among northern California women poets,~aya Angelou is primarily a prose and script writer, but has published~i~ok of poems! •, • ~ Just Give He A Cool . , · ~ Oh &lAy at¥ Wt1>9.s Ane 6om?o. €1:f.M§. Welllll Drink of Wate~ ~.' Fore~ ~\~ (1971}Nht~was 1;om~n!1ted for the Pulitzer Prize}/\ He ~ 'PoeThr finl l'< /'I Of'lS ,tr -MOS.fCA.L °""d PoL~l.ow iT,c., \f'I Hvences ... Pat Parkers poetry can be found in an excellent little volume called Child of Hyself (1972) and Dices. J» She uses her ovm woman-feelings to assess Jw current upheaval. p st "Brother" reveals contradictions in the love-but-hurt approach some Black men take towards their women. The "system" she has just been struck with, she says, is called a fist. o~ her Other f\poems deal with humor and tragedy in husband-wife relations. In "A Moment Left behinµ" she asks ( Have you ev~r tried to catch a tear? "From Deep Within" says the way of a woman is turbulent with II).any forces and colors of feelings, but A woman ' s body must be taught to speak-- ••. Pat Parker's work searches behind the cosmetics and the vogue to the trutlfvl ?: ] ] 1 iisturbancek So does the work of Joyce Carol Thomas whose two books, �Bittersweet (1973) and Crystal Breezes (1974), were published by Fire Sign a:.}) BLe~s,h.f.\(itf15)1tvt4~~joe,q,~ PtJM. Presl\ ""Her poem? are about womens ~gds, church, Black music, children-. and love. There is a modern feel and texture in her lines which economize and without displaying abruptness or undecipherable code. Yet her strength is unmistakable as in "I Know a Lady": I know a lady A careful queen She bows to no one Her w'ill is a Fine thread of steel .••. In these poems, and the works of Pat Parker and Leona Welch, one sees a strong health and future in Bay area women poets. Welch's first book, was published in 1971. Black Gibraltar, Leona Here and there, one finds sub- dued rage and impatience before racism and ignorance; but her poetry also exalts the Black woman and speaks in low tones to men. from folk expressions to formal examinations of love. Her language ranges "Status Quo" is the study of a Black with "class" and dignity: Got my white poodle by the leash. Less able than the other women, her poetry salutes a number of heroines including women in her family and Nikki Giovanni) • Finally there is the much-traveled Sarah Fabio, instrumental in Black studies development in northern California, but who now lives in Iowa. published two volumes, A Yirror: She A Soul (1969) and Black Is a Panther Caged (1972), and then without notice, brought out seven volumes (!) all in 1973: Soul Is: Soul Ain't, Boss Soul (aiso the name of her Lp), Black Back: Back Black, Jujus & Jubilees, My Own Thing, Jujus/Alchemy of the Blues, �and ~ogether/to the Tune of Coltrane's Equinox. Her earlier poetry is more formal, reflecting her vast reading-thinking range; but the later work shows that she has joined the new poetry movement completely. Her most memorable poem is "Evil is Ho Black Thing" in which she converts all dark things traditionally associated with evil into ligp.ter colors or she allows them to be revealed in a broader context where they invariably become good. Her recent voluminous efforts deal with experimental blues poems, rap-styles, folk narratives, and attempt to reconstruct Black oral history. These things she does quite well on her albums and in live readings; but much of the work in the new books is excessively conversational loaded with contrived' hipness. Erzulie and Things(l975) is co-authored by poets Ntozake Shange and Thulani Nkabinde. And Ms. Thulani's work also appears in Jambalaya: Four Poets along with the poems of Lorenzo Thomas, Ibn Mukhtarr Mustapha(Sierra Leone) anfyn Zarco. Jambalaya is edited by Steve Cannon with an intro- duction by Cruz. Oruz writes poetry marked by brevity. Snaps{l969) and Mainland(l973) shows him relying on his Puerto Rican heritage, his relationships with other poets(often Black), New York Gity and other urban areas, and Spanish mythology. Now living in the bay area, Cruz often interpolates bi-lingual phrases into his poems. Barlow (Gabriel, 1974) has done impressive and promising work in the area of urban language and · Afro-American history. B. Rap published Revolution Is(l969) and Metamo;t-phosis of Supernigger(l973). Meanwhile, a young inmate at Vacaville Medical Facility, Herman Brown(Muumba) published Some Poems and Things(1971). Young Sacramento poet Clarence McKie Wigfall has sho-wn strengths in The Other Side(1970) and anothe~ Sacramentan, Wes Young brought out Life Today(l970) and Ramblins QL~O and 'l'hilil.gs ( 1972). 'Young Black poets . weref\..published in Gran:y High SchoolL• s Omnibus. Redmond, who has taught at California University, ~acramento, since 1970, conducts writing workshops on campus and community sites like the Oak Several poets are working and studying at Black Arts West in Seattle; and Park School of Afro-American Thought.,/\ poet Primus St . John teaches at u.,,._~~•"1"loi State University. ~ �Terms like "Armageddon," " chariots of fire," "smoking sixties," "get down on whitey" and "warrior priests" are often used by critics attempting to describe and "to be s CJt-6I ~vt ~h define the New Black poets. ■ I I J there wast,.verbal fire and brimstone·,Afew of the poets had time to stay "mounted in a chariot of fire," as Blyden Jackson has said of them. LAYl<l SC.(), pe. Indeed when the ~ i\1s viewed in its wholeness, one noTes C\t<tll that some who mounted "chariots" often were not ooet~ Even the most verbal and popular of the new poets--Nikki Giovanni, Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Madhubuti-denounced poetry as a luxury that could be ill-afforded durinp. a "Revolution," admitting in the meantime, perhaps, -that theirs was a particular brand of oratory not striving for poetry in a traditional sense. At the same time, the Black poetry tradition has these men and women, and others, to thank for snatching it from the brinks of obscurity and giving it a prominence which it had never before enjoyed. This chore alone has earned them an important "place" in the poetic scheme of 1 • • • "tL • l h£ a.~ w- ed ~y i3A,-,CA.~ 1 r Ctn tlun°B--albe1.t a "nlace" yet to be designated. 1n1S pla.c..e m~y <\ So ~ r ef\VVlC.t4'11011 of a ~,cc.w,~11dy f>o.n- A.~--,~1\1~1"' postmn Al'\d his eml,~dn o~ M~,.,~-c~spi'red 'scien1H'i SociaL,.Sj ftl a'.I y <1:'here are myriad problems and conflicts in the writings and lives of fruJ,7 YleuJ thel\?oets. Some, suffering from the "disfigurement of perceptio1'" do not always portray a correct sociological picture of Blacks, let alone a correct poetic one. Anxious to "saturate" themselves in the new Blackness, they disguise their own confusion in half-baked theories about Afro-American life; this results in ~ c:l. 4-h~t ll. ~oetry~ften ~ riddled with confusions, inaccuracies and oversimpli- fications of the Rlack Experience. A further result, and this is ghastly, is that star-makers view ·the poetry through an inverted lens so that a popular "latex brand" receives a final stamp of apnroval while the deeper, searc ing and more profound . poetry (Dumas, Patterson, Cornish, Cortez,, Jordan, Lorde, Rivers) is do,;,111played. - Such an inversion provides Black and white readers wit an extended "disfigurement," �muddying the already doubled vision rather tan clearing it up as Neal had predicted. Adding to this confusion is a cadre of Black critics who parade essentially political, parochial and ideological defenses under the banner of a Black Aesthetic. Both McKav and Rivers said "No white man can write my story," but during the contemporary --4~ neriod, some be-leaguered Black readers and teachers illlf1\asl "Where is the Black rriter who will write it?" 4 Contrary to nopular belief, it takes"'~l~ :rf"""'$ z phenomenon called the Black Experience. ll!tH•· to understand the complex And those few young writers (and spokesmen) who seemed to have mastered aspects of it often • . spen t,re&..tS \n . t ■--- •)..prison IQ (falcolm, Knight, Harold Carrington) which allowed them time ~reflect .._ , _ _...... develop- - . , and experiment Even Gwendolyn Brooks had "time" to work out ticklish questions in the area of art, politics and poetry. female poets, she did not . h er ear 1 y years. d uring Unlike Frances Harper, and other teach or go on a temperance leaeue lecture circuit That s h e cu1 tivate . d an d protecte d h er '1d istance . ,r is . evi. d ent in the super.ior quality of her work which does not shun the salient themes of the New Poetry: Black pride, Africa, Black music, self-love, Black heterosexuality, violence, mistrust of -whites, destruction of the Western world and self-determination . Yet those opposing the Black Aesthetic do not always have a clean slate, since they are often "shored up" by personal experience_s with whites. Among the opponents of the "separate" aesthetic for Blacks, Hayden and Redding are most vocal. However, both have maintained close associations with' academy-trained/oriented white critics and writers. Hayden must ask himself why Black poets should not subscribe to a Black Aesthetic if he subscribes to the aesthetic of the Baha'i Faith--"the only one," he has said, "to· which I willin~ly submit." • g] Black culture QrieTh~ possesses the possibilities and potentialities for a new feligio/A •~ould even ~e replace or modify~hristian•11•••t111•••~ force (mystique) behind Black �,s -t~d strivings and aspirations:Aa prospect which should not be too lightly dismissed. A.Yld ?.S'{C.I, <,LC1Jlllct L do That some new poets .._Awade into the intense intellectualArealm of ~lackness, however, is seen in a poem like Jayne Cortez' "Festiva.lS & Funerals." Musical, I daring, ambivalent, complex and technically dexterous, ~ t:te r I l!lftl summarizes the Like Hayden ' s "Zeus" and Gwendolyn Brooks' "Riot" uncertain world of Blac~ . ':ttif it fluently captures the suspense and hyperactivity of~ onternporary ol"ILJ The polarities--festivals and funerals--are archetypal and mythological since they at unexplored and state what is known. of the 1960s. n: The poem is also an emotional healthy ambivalence, couched in the "invisible" world and "cyclical nightmare" of the Black Experience, becomes allegorical as the poet celebrates heroes, sung and unsung, all of whom are dead in one way or another. They winged his spirit & wounded his ton~ue but deatl-t was slow coming The "slow" death is both the agony and the ecstasv, as it were, nestled somewhere between the dope needle ("rusty rims of a needle") an~"cultural vaginas" that "rushed" through streets urging men to die for shame 'T'he Doet has "lost a ,ood friend" whom she loved; but he has been shipped back '' c.o.D," to l-ter ,~wrth "thorns on his casket-J." ~ collect on death collect on death collect on death Tis "~riend" soon becomes the many dead Black spokesmen whose blood has been "consumed by vultures": Who killed Lumumba �Wha,ikilled 1-falcolm Qbo'fe. The•t\1- ines join other nuances of a frightening refrain which laments the loss of all friends; deat and dope and violence and consumption have devoured them: There are no tears we have no friends ~ is the word we are alone The world of "cadillacs and cocaine" is populated by festivals and funerals, poets that scream "kill run kill," "dashikis in the wind," "the flesh of Patrice" and "the blues. " the church. Blacks know ever~hoverinf death is as close as the juke joint or In the urban maze of mind and olace, the drivinv pace will perform its &&lt'Lb even when dope, false idol~• political oppression O-.nd ( 11 we. a.re a. LcH1 e Black girl, Black boy, aloni'\without friends in a hostile country or ecstatic operation jj ~o.i L1. ~ ,9 livin~ in one owned by foreigners. else L In Africa or America the fates of Blacks are dramatically similar: uJho dlled Lumumba uJh4t killed Malcolm It is a pressure-cooker without a backdoor or valve to let off steam. The rush of the poem's language complements the "rush" of Black life which is necessitated by OJ1 . "u'"M"'O~ onpression but which, in turn, results i l)\eriormously hig1)\~early deaths. 1,J2II per ' rJ; bat ±t d2£Uilfily fake§ ±a a great ekal of t\c BJac\ Bnpuh c: Sf •t itc. ~vS f ~fl.Sfrl)L c ~sq[ as :kagaag@ dlidAh,,Z ¼ iffiakhY tttdtk ..l!t as lam o s nd djiijaificant ?PlOPRs a It ts a 1lasl ,io1H itn ot5lk; tlrcr.tc mz,l: satjSJil hut H , ...l �£'.l nd. cu LTi:iv><l.L • a "" 2 ,• •J 8g,@E ±La.L/XJLSS& g e Or ~n c· S?: 1aaJ01 proportions . ii il~II Uixu . poe t r y s~acc the poet 1s tcthtiid! base :ts a p t1011 ht the stated etinm et2281 1 ipgpjstic OUfJSuE J of t he poem . Bat of all Ehl§ ',!.uprnot ed perf §Stjor " lrne :ua d§ the tlw Thao it enlarges die lcg&Cj e:i BJ blues . erotic lllipfovi sab .on coiii@§ die Ana lit ctt±s s@nse , clrc poet ltas navtgacetl st •n:3 and always dli f tcalt passage of tire r t clt a es t lt@LIE Wiilth trer tzaelitisn produced From among the many good poets of this era will emerge a few great ones, though ~~d such a prospect has been~retarded by the popular renunciation of "art" and "ideas . " L But it cannot be restrained too long because there is both urgency and breadth in much of the new thoueht and poetry . It is paradoxical to send Black students to ~o.1ir.hno~9y Western schools--to be trained on "heavy" philosoph~ •11d-r;;aeiuitew - -and t hen ask them to reduce '" all their knowledgel\to comp laints and focusless ra~tings. Po tr,.S.Black u"'c!4'J thought l('f and · r_ b e ca 11 e d on to f unction · · t1eAtra 1 l'il" d 1t1ona · · 1 capacit · ; 1 iterature ca1ui-ot in ~ ~.■ .-..--to train, develop and stimulate the faculties--then the "battle for the minds • h~~ of Black people" ~ beeh already A._won by the other side. ~ t:. T inally, t,hCt. X. Blacks as a people are pro f oundly tragic, comic or her~c , then their ideas and their poetry $~outd .g,._.,.,..,,aM -- ~--~""·,ro► we C:-.SC,ffllllflll5 have not always roamed Cr.df>tvt-Pt-ru; the "streets and alleys of other men ' s minds 'A and a true and honest Black poetry will ~ 1b not be afraid to be " great" al!MA stand alongside whatever else of greatness there is in this world. � 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. Text Any textual data included in the document 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_08_29to31 Title A name given to the resource First typed draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter VI. Festivals & Funerals, p. 406-552, typed with handwritten edits 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> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/1739bdc2d4df3577b4c9dd930e205905.pdf f584abca46f4e5ae18e51a3653c37988 PDF Text Text CHAPTER VII CONCLUSION: AFTERTHOUGHTS As promised in our Preface we have tried to avoid forcing our research and findings into manicured paradigms and neat frames. ,.. However, Drumvoices cf' ih~ YY1 Ot,#iert\ ~ does advance theories and theses--manyAwell known and someAoriginat ·-- ~O 11\\·:!1 s-Tvdy hqs bee ,~rm&Ja critical history;and one must take stand§. Indeed, the poets have taken their own stands, as individuals and groups, since to project an inner self to the public is to assume a stance: to work out one's systems of beliefs, perceptions, relationships and values within the function or framework of poetry and poetics. Y)().,V_e,, Such stands/\.always And e.& represent~critical choices for poets./\7or Afro-American poets they have C~ealed a unique crisis-continuum in that so many "unusual" factors attend their written "commitments." One factor was the apparent self-mockery that initially accompanied the poets' use of written English. For the early bards, there was the simple--but grave--task of "proving" their ability to employ literacy skills; this test alas, was conducted by "liberal" slave masters while many sta tes made Black literacy a crime punishible by imprisonment, beating, and, in some cases, even death. There was much confusion and misdirection of values and energies in the earlier poetry: the poets were neither encouraged nor allowed to retain an African flavor (let alone language). The Christianization of slaves had aided in the development of a ghastly "duality"--or wall between the African and himself--which cluttered the poets' self- and world-views, indeed sending S53 �most Black intellectuals into psychic chaos. This tendency, called a "veil" by W.E.B. DuBois, held Afro-American poetry in a state of moral limbo up through the beginning of the twentieth century. And though there were exceptions (Horton, Whitfield, Whitman, Frances Harper), any one with proper background study can understand the isolationism and alienation of a Phillis Wheatley or a Jupiter Hammon who refused freedom for himself, but advocated it for young Blacks. One need only read David Walker to discover the boundaries of Negro "freedom" in the "free" states of farly America. In the meantime, a folk tradition--on the plantations, among escaped slaves, out of the minstrel era--was also developing. This folk strain in the poetry (separated by Wagner from the "spiritualist" vein) has survived as a conscience, more or less, of Afro-American letters, philosophy and art. And even though critics, like Wagner, make false distinctions between the folk and the literary {or spiritualist) realms, all but a few of the J,,.f.tY.-e. "intellectual" poetsA,delved into the folk roots and origins in one way or another. This fact is not as obvious in poets like Countee Cullen, Claude McKay or Jean Toomer, as it is in, say, Paul Laurence Dunbar, James Weldon Johnson, Sterling Brown and Langston Hughes--but it iden11~,&.t At the Ca.v-,'oe,,,./t-. same time, however, the ambivalent attitude toward the Christian God and white people is as evident in the /tis folk poets asAin those steeped in book theology. Examination of the artificial boundaries established between folk (oral, gestural) poetry and literary (intellectual, book) poetry has not been pursued with enough intensity by critics and writers. Europe or larger America ,have Je.pnec,,ia1e,J Just because communal art forms does not �mean that Afro-America has to follow suit! And, as we stated Or does it? in the beginning of Chapter VI, the social-connnunal value #it of/lpoetry has yet to be viewed in the context of Black reading trends and habits. fi,.,. :: we know Blacks place great emphasis on the dramatic presentation of a poem. Witness the magnetism and charisma of poets at live readings and the development of a national Black audience for poetry via such vehicles as Ellis Haizlip's tv show, Soul. All of the foregoing statements tie in with our opening remarks about stands and positions taken by poets. For, if the trans-literation, if you will, of the thought or impulse to the page results in a reduction of poetic intensity, then the silent reading of the poem cuts a similar nerve-contact between reader and the originating idea or instinct. One has only to hear an "intellectual" poet like Robert Hayden read his own works to understand this principle. Our point, then, is that much of the a•t•r••••t straight-laced poetry of the early periods has less meaning for us when it is not delivered in its natural environments of church services, abolitionist rallies, choir-singing, dances or social activities. For example, one should avoid listening to a poor reader present dialect poems of Dunbar, Davis or CorrOthers. A number of devices and themes ~ poetry. are central to Afro-American And while there have been instances (Wheatley, Hammon, Ann Plato, the Creole Poets) when poets 1•• have been innnune to the social whirlwind, most Afro-American poets have been in that whirlwind. Hence, patterns of segregation in America turned a "curse" into a 11 blessing11 (to paraphrase Alain Locke) and provided Black poets with private languages, forms, styles and tones. From the ditties, blues, Spirituals, dozens, sermons and jokes, the �poets fashioned an endless stream of poetic forms and fusions (Tolson d~~ •the Plndaric ode in a blues form). And that same segregated pattern gave these poets their ominous themes, their grave tones and temperaments which, coupled with their crisp insight into America's contradictions t'O 1o and paradoxes, allowed them to project,/\prophes_;:,andt\refine their "duality" into one of the most powerful aesthetical tools available to any group of writers. Hence the Afro-American poet has his own private (cultural) F o v- e~AM\)LeJ symbols and themes as well as those of the larger world.~ost Black poets have written poems about lynching••••••ll)but most Euro-American poets have not. Slave~y, • Themes related to/\job discrimination, thee(ffiO\V~\,enc.e, of h o...ne Les.s r'>eS$ Qnc\ res+Less ne.ss ~ a..,, Christian God, psychic 1'vnivl't . in a white world,Apoverty reinforced / r--,vey.~ a.nd TV'~tfl.SJ. by oppression, racism, prejudice,~castration, pius the landscape of terror and fear resulting from a web of social inequities, all, in one way or another, work themselves into Afro-American poetry. O ■ r•etm?J ••••s Mo Though certain forms and themes have historically dominated AfroUhi u£ •••••*A VO..-. f,fft.b characterize The ·. se oPthem .. American poetry, and divergent approaches t --rhe Outside ofAdominating clusters, -themes I noweve~ interests and preoccupations. M<.Ln 11 oPfhese r;ends ')r-, 'f for hundreds of years--even if such a fact is obscured by a socio-media representation with all its accompanying pathological emphases. • I .. .J ,..._ ........----... c..:lT,~l (tat, ton· g be Any young Black'sAanalysis of white culture t\'\<.waes. · ~ , his own unstated or implied cultural preferences.) slim �True, Africans in the new land have lived theJl:ightmare amidst talk of an _!unerican Dream; and, understandably the darker poets' songs are full of unpleasantries and recollections of that Nightmare. Black poetry Can But the end of f\tVt.,.be self-pity, chauvinism, ideologue, rhetoric or complaint (Baraka says ''.the !nd of wan is his Beauty"). , Thus Margaret ~ Walker, amidst her sisters' use of "safe" female subjects and her brothers' trips to the altar of the white literati, is able to celebrate Black life (For My People). Robert Hayden transcends artificial barriers between (G\t\O VS) himselfAand nature and enters the flower (Night-Blooming Cereus) as does Henry Dumas in Play Ebony Play Ivory and Pinkie Gordon Lane in Wind Thoughts. Other examples of such diversity and sensitivity abound: Owen Dodson (Powerful Long Ladder), Langston Hughes (The Dream Keeper), Alice Walker (Once), Raymond Patterson (26 Ways of Looking at A Blackman), ·Joyce Carol . ~e. Thomas (Blessing), and~cross-spread of almost any anthology. We have said the poet takes a stand not inherent in, say, the musician's, when he commits his thoughts to paper. social change (:And 'I\ position\,til().?not c~e And: ove..14 The pasf-,f'<2w }/i unrest, the Black poet ,whose aesthetic or religious ALi1neJ. wftlt.,tiJat: ~ of vested interest group~ up before many a stran~court, at which times his own feelings and wel-6 tJ/:fen sensibilities · I\ - neutralized · in favor of the "popular latex brand." Serious critics and "cultural stabilizers" need to examine such "one-way" approaches to poetry/criticism, especially as they have occured over the last 10 years. We mention this "side" show of the contemporary ,, ,, poetry scene because its presence has often dirtied the waters of open thought and either crippled or destroyed many a budding talent. In a few t,,$ �cases, it has even muffled a rich or significant voice. However, it is time the critical flood gates were "opened" completely and honestly. Only in this way can Afro-American poetry continue to breathe the breath of the ancestors. Finally, as winds of change shift, speed up or slow down, and the "tradition" congeals, readers and poets must ask about ultimate designs and inherent missions. As the drum stands at the cross-roads of traditional African and Afro-American culture, so the poet should stand at the center of the drum. Most poetic principles, and the language asssociated with them, rely on the vocabulary of sound and music. Music is the most shared experience--the most vital commodity--among Afro-Americans. is music's twin. And poetry word Both the metaphysical and the metaphorical,\stem from and return to the drum: life, love, birth and death labored out in measured rumble or anxious coicophony. Between the lines are the rattle of choruses, the whine (hum) of guitars, and the shriek of tambourines, framed by rivers that will not run away. them, cross them. And the drumvoices urging us to cross � 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. Text Any textual data included in the document 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_08_32 Title A name given to the resource First typed draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter VII. Conclusion, p. 553-558, typed with handwritten edits 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> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/48079398318f5a1eb6fd6f6589714d3b.pdf 711348a2c311df0695774b166c52f6ef PDF Text Text BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INDEX This bibliography is designed to serve the needs of beginning and advanced students of Black Poetry. It is not intended to be ex- so hostt,e.-.e.beenany haustive since~many biblio graphies repeat the same items. Nor/\8-ttempt to cite the numerous single collections of poems because checklists and specialized bibliographies are available. Moreover , most anthologies, critical studies and histories, list such collections --in selected bibliographies and biographies. Since many Bla ck poets publish privately or with small and relatively unknown publishing houses, the student will want to examine regular listings and reviews in periodicals such as Black World, Journal of Black Poetry, Freedomways, Black Books Bulletin, CLA Journal, Black Creation, Obsidian: Black Literature in Review, and others. Some of the small Black publishers list titles on inside cov ers of their books; and scores of records and tapes of readings, films, breadsides(single poems), pamphlet publications and tracts can be obtained from individual poets and the small houses . Recently, larger recording companies like Folkways, Flying Dutchman and Motown, have begun to record and distribute Black poetry. However, the task of locating and developing a checklist for the myriad publications and publishing activities of Black poets still awaits some serious student of Black literature. In the meantime there are a number of important bio-bibliographical works which one can consult: Afro-American 1~riters(Turner), Living B )/ Black American ib , A Bio-~iographical Dictionary of Black Writers of the u.s.A.(Jackson and Page), Index AMer1co. n to Black Poetry(Chapman) and Black A::vJriters Past and Present: A BioBiblio grphic al Directory(Rush, Meyers and Arrata). �J :r. GENERAL RESEARCH AIDS Adams, Russell L. Great Negroes, Past and Present. The Arthur B. Spingarn Collection of Neg ro Authors. Bailey, Leaonead. Broadside Authors: Baskin, Wade and Richard rL Runes . Bontemps, Arna. Chicago, 1964. Washing ton, D.C., 1948 . A Biographical Directory. Dictionary of Black Culture. Detroit, 1971. New York, 1973. "The James Weldon Johnson Memo rial Collection of Ne gro Arts Yale University Library Gazette, XVIII (October 1943), 19-26. and Letters." ----· - "Special Collection of Negfoana." Library Quarterly, XIV Circa, (1944), 187-206. Brignano, Russell C. Black Americans in Autobiography: An Annotated Biblio- graphy of Autobiographies and Autobiographical Books Written Since the Civil War. Durham, North Carolina, 1974 . Burke, Joan Martin. and Events. Civil Rights; a Current Guide to t he People}Organization New York, 1974. Chapman, Abraham. The Negro in American Literature and a Bibliography of Literature by and about Negro Americans. Chapman, Dor othy H. , /omp. Index to Black Poetry. Boston, 1974. Great American Ne groes in Verse, 1723-1965 . Culver, Eloise _Crosby . D . C;J Stevens Point, Wis., 1966. Washington, c. 1965. Davis, Lenwood G. cals, Articles." "Pan- Africanism: A Tentative Check List of Books, Periodi- Black Wor l d, XXII (December 1972), 70-96. Deodene, Frank and William P . French . Preliminary Checklist. Black American Fiction Since 1952: A Chatham, N.J., 1970 . Black American Poetry Since 1944, A Pre--1:::11=-=a• - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---......... liminary Checklist. Chatham, 1971. Dictionary Catalog of the Jesse E. Moorland Collection of Negro Life and History. �2- 9 Vols. Boston, 1970. Dictionary Catalog of the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and History. 11 Vols. Boston, 1962, 1967. Drzick, Kathleen, John Murphy and Constance Weaver. Annotated Bibliography of Works Relating to the Negro in Literature and to Negro Dialects. Kalamazoo, Mich./ 1969. DuBois, W.E.B., and Guy B. Johnson. ___ ______... .._ Volume. Rev . Ed. Encyclopedia of the Negro: Preparatory New York, 1946. A Select Bibliography of the Negro American. 3rd ed. Atlanta, 1905. Guzman, Jessie P., ed. Negro Year Book, Tuskegee, Ala'l 1947. Houston, Helen Ruth. 11 Contributions of the American Negro to American Culture: A Selec ted Checklist." BulleJtin of Bibliography, Vol. 26, No. 3 (July - September 1969), 71-83. Index to Periodical Articles by and About Negroes (formerly A Guide to Negro Periodical Literature and Index to Selected Periodicals). International Library of Negro Life and History. 10 Vols. Washington, D.C., 1967-1969. Irvine, Keith, ed. Encyclopedia of the Negro in Africa and America. Shores, Mich., c. 1973. Jackson, Agnes .,, M. and James A. Page, comp,. tionary of Black Writers of the U.S.A. J1$in, Janheinz. A Biobibliographical Die- New York, 1975. A Bibliography of Neo-African Literature from Africa, America, and the Caribbean. New York, 1965. Johnson, Harry A. Multimedia Kaiser, Ernest. ' St. Clair aterials for Afro-American Studies. "The History of Negro History." 1968), 10-15, 64-80. New York, 1971. Negro Digest, XVII (February �Kaiser, Ernest "Recent Books." Major, Clarence. Freedomways, in each issue. Dictionary of Afro-American Slang. McPherson, James, et al, eds. Blacks in America: New York, 1970. Bibliographical Essays . New York, 1972. Miller, Elizabeth and 2nd ed. ary L. Fisher. The ~egro in America: A Bibliography. Cambridge, Mass., 1970. µurphy, Beatrice f., et al, eds. Bibliographic Survey: The Ne 0 ro in Print. Washington, D.C., Vols. 1-7 (1965-1971). Porter, Dorothy B. "Early American Negro Writings: A Bibliographical Study." Paoers of the Bibliographical Society of America, XXYIX (1945), 192-268. ----· J. ___ _ _ _ _ _ Early Negro Writing 1760-1837. Boston, 1971. • ~ North American Negro Poets: of Their Writings, 1960-1944. Hattiesburg, 1iss ., 1945. Puckett, Newbell Niles . (ed. by _urray Heller) History and eaning. Black Names in America: Boston, 1975 . Querry, Ronald and Robert E. -Plemin~. Periodicals." A Bibliographical Check List "A 1 or king Bibliography of Black Studies in Black Literature, Vol. 3, No . 2 (Summer 1972), 31-36. Rowell, Charles H. "A Bibliography of Bibliographies for the Study of Black American Literature and Folklore." Journal. Black Exper ience, A Southern University LV (June 1969) 95-111. Rush, ThereJf, Carol Meyers ad Esther Arrata, com~ s . Writers Past and Present: Black American A Bio-Bibliographical Directory. Scarecrow Press, 1975. C. Sho~kley, Ann Allen and Sue P. Chandler, eds. A Biographical Directory. New York, 1973. Living Black American Authors: �)chomburg, Arthur A. New York, 1916. A Bibliographical Checklist of American Negro Poetry. (Schomburg Collection). Smith, Jessie Camey. "Developing Collections of Black Literature." Black World. XX (June 1971), 18-29. Toppin, Edgar A. A Biogra hical Histor of Blacks in America Since 1528. New York, 1971. Turner, Darwin T. Williams, ola. Afro-American Writers. comp. New York, 1970. "A Bibliography of Works Written by American Black Women." CLA Journal Vol. XV, No. 3 (March 1972), 354-377. Work, Monroe N. A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America . Yellin, Jean Fagan . New York, 1928. "An Index of Literary Materials in The Crisis, 1910-1934: Articles, Belles-Letters, and Book Reviews . " CLA Journal, XIV (1971), 452-465. �5 J[ • PERIODICALS Amistad The Anglo-African Bandung - It! Black Academy Review Black Books Bulletin ihl llM:k-CeU•,i&n Black Creation Black Dialogue 1h~LA.c.k. t,,.t'LCbC.e. B l ; Orpheus: Te Blac A Journal of African and Afro-American Literature. Position Black Review The Black Scholar Black Theatre Black World (formerly Ne~ro Digest). 8Qf (8l.M~& 61'\ l)Q.ff ►) _g__ica~o Defender Chicory CLA Journal Confrontation: The Crisis: A Journal of Third World L/terature A Record of the Darker Races Dasein Douglass' Ebony Encore Essence onthly �Fire Freedom's Journal Freedomways Harlem Quarterly Hoodoo Black Literature Series Impressions The Journal of Black Poetry The Journal of Black Studies The Journal of Negro Education The Journal of Negro History ~ berator The Messenger b\W8MO Negro American Literature Forum Negro History Bulletin The Negro Quarterly New York Amsterdam News Nkombo Nommo Obsidian: Black Literature in Review Opportunity: Phylon: A Journal of Negro Life The Atlanta University Review of Race and Culture Players Presence Africaine: Cultural Revue of the Negro World RenA?--ssance II Roots: A Journal of Critical and Creative Expression Soulbook �7 The Southern Workman Studies in Black Literature Tuesday Ex-Umbra Umbra Yardbird Reader �I .fil.ANTHOLOGIES Abdul, Raoul, ed. The :Magic of Black Poetry. New York, 1972. Abdul, Raoul and Alan Lomax, ed: 3000 Years of Black Poetry. Adams, William, Peter Conn and Barry Slepian, eds. Poetry. New York, 1970. Afro-American Literature: Boston, 1970. Afro-Arts Anthology. Newark, 1966. u ,-... Alhamisi, Ahmed and IarAn K. Wanfgara, eds. Black Arts: An Anthology of Black .y Creations. Detroit, 1970. Ambrose, Amanda . An Anthology pf Black Poets. My Name is Black: New York, 1974. ATJO'""IVS..J l.i,_o:'4,1-d~ EtJNJCtii"-, 1-/o...,,.,..d 441a' ala.dy$ m.;f4J1.,~s,e:lf, De• f A"., v(; l-,S ,._ -1',, .. tfo/i,,, ,BO Co.11fe.mporAr1_ _§J!,sl[ /'1mcr,c4:, {!p.4 4'e-r,..,,;r, t.~f-q s l97~. ( 7<:"'~""-S Cui<le ~y #11,on,/ J,, Jl!),-g3r.,1'f'.) t doff, Arnold, ed. I Am the Darker Brother: An Anthoiogy ot Moaern Poems by ~j ( ~~t~ Black Americans. New York, 1968. J---- It Is t he Poem Singing Into Your Eyes. New York, 1971. -----· Black Out Loud: Anthology of Modern Poems by Black - - - - ~l3L<,..c.~ ~ A~egh,nin,%~!2..~~~oeTt-y. NewVo.-.K;ltf1'4-· Americans. New York, 1970. ----· The Poetry of Black America. New York, 1973. Arnold, David, Ahmos zu-Bolton and J. Shifflet, eds. The Last Cookie. Vol. I, No. 1., San Francisco, Calif. 1 1972. Baker, Houston A., Jr., ed. Black Literature in America. ".\ Barksdale, Richard and Kenteth Kinnamon, eds. lew York, 1971. Black Writers of America . ,:J New York, 1972 s Battle, 'Aol , ed . CD. Ghetto ' 68. Soul Session . Beniq, Irvinf , ed. New York, 1968. ewark, 1969 . The Children. Bell, Bernard W. , ed ~ ., ew Yor , 1971. Modern and Contemporary Afro- Amer ic an Poetr_y. The nest of 40 Acres Poetry. New York, c. 1972. Boston, 1972. �(6l.ulc. \.\,i't.--, M~e.,....) Black Poets Write On! An Anthology of Black Philadelphian Poets . Philadelphia,\ 1970. Bontemps, Arna, ed. -----, omp. ., New York, 1941. Golden Slippers. Hold Fast to Dreams . Booker, Merrel Daniel, Dr. , et . al., eds. Boyd, Sue Abbott, ed . Poems by Blacks . 1970-1972.,lqJ'/ .. Brenan, Paul, ed. New York, 1963. American Negro Poetry. New York, 1969 . Cry at Birth. Vol. 1 -lII. (st(U•lli>~ ~.tk 1/oL,lll t)\Y\k.,e You Better Believe It. Fort Smith, Arkansas, ~o...db'1 Early Negro American Writers. Brooks, Gwendolyn, ed. Jump Ba : Burning Spear: A Broadside Treasury . and Uiysses Lee, eds. Calverton, Victor F ., ed. Washington, D.C . , 1963. An Anthology. ew York, 1970. Anthology of American Negro Literature. Whispers from a Continent: New York, 1929. The Literature of Contemporary ew York, 1969. Black Africa. Chambers, Bradford and Rebecca 1-oon, eds. Literature. The Negro Caravan. Arno, 1969. The Black Woman: Cartey, Wilfred. Detroit, 1971. Detroit, 1971. An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry. Cade, Toni, ed . Chapel Hill, N.C. , 1935. A New Chicago Anthology . Brown, Sterling A., Arthur P . Davis New York, 1941: L~YlfJed.J ~nnoa.Ledt) Baltimore, Md . , 1973. 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Yale Literary Magazine (special issue), (Fall 1969), 2-40. Thurman, Wallace. 31 "Black Words." "Negro Artists and the Negro." The New Republic, LII (August 1927), 37-39. Trimmer, Joseph F. tion. Black American Literature: Notes on the Problem of Defini- ~uncie, Indiana, 1971. Turner, Darwin T. "Afro-American Literary Critics." Black World, XIX (July 1970), 54-67. In A Minor Chord. • Carbondale, Ill., 1971 • "The Teaching of Afro-American Literature." • College English, XXXI (1970), 666-670 . ) ......--.... - Experience: Jean Briqht and Richard Wright, eds. African and Afro-American Literature. Wade, Melvin and Margaret Wade. C and Spa,ite." (June 1972), 391-408. "Ellison, Gordone and Tolson: Some Notes on the Blues, Style Black World, XXII (December 1972), 4-29. Washington, Mary Helen. 1974), 10-18. Waltham, Mass., 1972. "The Black Aesthetic in the Black Novel." Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 2, No.~ Walcott, Ronald. Voices from the Black "Black Women Image Makers." Black World, XXIII (August �West, Carole Cannon and Allen Williams. in the Secondary School." "Awareness : Teaching Black Literature Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 3, No. 4 (June 1973), 445-471. Whitlow, Roger. Black American Literature. Williams, Kenny J. 1787-1930. They Also Spoke: Chicago, 1973. An Essay on Negro Literature in America, Nashville, Tenn., 1970. Williams, Sherley. Literature. Give Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study in Neo-Black New York, 1972. Wright, Bruce McM. "The Negritude Tradition in Literature." $tudies in Black Literature, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring 1972), 1-3. Yellin, Jean Fagan. 1776-1863. Black Figures in American Literature, New York, 1971 Young, James O. Baton Rouge, The Intricate Knot: Black Writers of the Thirties. 1973. I a;; i &isll!M il lil:aill19B II111t Du11aa, �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM !3.Poetry Baraka, Imamu Amiri. "Black Revolutionary Poets Should Also Be Playwrights." Black World, XXI (April 1972), 4-6. _,:? Barksdale, Richard K. "Trends in Contemporary Poetry." Phylon, XIX (1958) , 408-416. "Urban Crisis and the Black Poetic Avant-Garde." Negro American Literature Forum, III (1969), 40-44. Bell, Bernard w. The Folk Roots of Contemporary Afro-American Poetry. Detroit, 1974. "".\ Bennett, M.W. Berger, Art. "Negro Poets". "Negroes With Pens." Bland, Edward. Mainstream, XVI (July 1963), 3-6. "Racial Bias and Negro Poetry." Bone, Robert. (1965), - Negro History Bulleftin, IX (1946), 171-172, 191. "American Negro Poets! Poetry, bIII (1944), 328-333. A French View." Tri-Quarterly, No. 4 185-195. Bontemps, Arna. "American Negro Poetry." ---· "Negro Poets, then and Now." Braithwaite, William Stanley. The Crisis, bx (1963), 509. Phylon, XI (1950), 355-360. ''Some Contemporary Poets of the Negro Race." The Crisis, XVII (1919), 275-280. Brawley, Benjamin G. "Three Negro Poets: Horton, Mrs. Harper and Whitman. Journal of Negro History, Vol. 2 (Oct. 1917), 384-392. Breman, Paul. Bigsby. "Poetry Into the Sixties." Deland, Fla., 1969. Vol. II, Brooks, Gwendolyn. "Poets Who Are Negro." ------- "Introduction." ed. The Black American Writer. Ea. C.W.E. 99-109. Phylon. XI (1950), 312. ~ New York, 1973. The Poetry of Black America. Arnold Aidoff, v �-· Report From Part One. Brown, Sterling A. "The Blues." Detroit, 1972. Phylon, XIII (1952), 286-292. "Negro Folk Expression: and Songs." Phylon Spirituals, Seculars, Ballads XIV (1953), 45-61. Negro Poetry and Drama. Washington, D.C., 1937. Outline for the Study of the Poetry of American Negroes. New York, 1931. "The Blues as Folk Poetry." Folk-Say, A Regional Miscellany, (1930), 324-339. Bush, Roland E. "Negritude: A Sense of Reality." Black World, XXII (November 1972), 36-47. Carter, Lawson, Robert Hayden and Judson Phillips. How I Write I. New York, 1972. Cartey, Wilfred. "Four Shadows of Harlem." Negro Digest, XVIII (August 1969), 22-25. Chapman, Abraham. "Black Poetry Today." Arts in Society, V (1968), 401-408. Charters, Samuel B. The Poetry of the Blues. Collier, Eugenia W. "Heritage from Harlem." New York, 1963. Black World, XX (November 1970), 52-59. - • "I Do Not Marvel, Countee Cullen." CLA Journal, . XI (1967), 73-87. Davis, Arthur P. "The New Poetry of Black Hate. 1' CLA Journal, XIII (1970), 382-391. Daykin, Walter I. "Race Consciousness in Negro Poetry." Sociology and Social Research, XX (1936), 98-105. De Costa, Miriam (Sugarman). "Social Lyricism and the Caribbean Poet/Rebel." CLA Journal, Vol. XV, No. 4 (June 1972), 441-451. �Echeruo, M.J.C. "American Negro Poetry." Ellison, Martha. Poetry." Phylon, XXIV (1963), 62-68. "Velvet Voices Feefn Bitter Fruit: A Study of American Negro Poet and Critic, IV (Winter 1967-1968), 39-49. Ely, Effie Smith. "American Negro Poetry." The Christian Century, XL (1923), E~~~~!l~ ~....H l\~~~,~~a.~<. Son'1ffeft-~.'"ttA,k \.UO ... ld )JC.K\V(se,Tf'twd,t .. 11"15), , Flasch, Joy. Melvin B. Tolson. Fowler, Carolyn. 2 -l(5i ,ru New York, 1973. "A Contemporary American Genre: Pamphlet 1 Manifesto Poetry." Black World, XXIII (June 1974), 4-19. Furay, Michael. "Africa in Negro American Poetry to 1929." African Literature Today, II (1969), 32-41. Garrett, Delois. "Dream Motif in Contemporary Negro Poetry." English Journal, LIX (1970), 767-770. Garrett, Naomi M. Poetry." "Racial Motifs in Contemporary American and French Negro West Virginia University Philo~ical Papers. Gayle, Addiso1::) Jr., Claude McKay: Gibson, Donald B., ed. The Black Poet at War. Modern Black Poets: XIV ( 1963) , 80-101. Detroit, 1972. A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1973. \ Glicksberg, Charles I. "Negro Poets and the American Tradition." The Antioch Review,"VI (1946), 243-253. Good, Charles Hamlin. "The First American Negro Literary Movement." Opportunity, X (1932), 76-79. Heath, Phoebe Anne. "Negro Poetry as an Historical Record." Vassar Journal of Undergraduate Studies, III (May 1928), 34-52. Henderson, Stephen. Understanding the New Black Poetry; Black Speech Music as Poetic References. Horne, Frank S. "Black Verse." New York, 1973. Opportunity, II (1924), 330-332 • • & Black �,.. Jackson, Blyden and Louis D. Rubin Jr. Black Poetry in Americat: Two Essays -.J in Historical Interpretation. s. Johnson, Charles Baton Rouge, 1974. "Jazz Poetry and the Blues. " Carolina Magazine, LVIII (May 1928), 16-20. Johnson, James Weldon. James Weldon Johnson. Jones, Edward A. "Preface." The Book of American Negro Poetry. New York, 1931. Voices of Negritude. Kerlin, Robert T. Ed. 3-48. Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1971. "Conquest by Poetry." The Southern Workman, LVI (1927), 282-284. -----. Contemporary Poetry of the Negro. Hampton, Va,, 1921, "A Pair of Youthful Negro Poets." The Southern Workman, LIII (1924), 178-181. , ' -. 49: "Present Day Negro Poets." Southern Workman, (Dec. 1920), 543. ---- • "Singers of New Songs." Kilgore, James c. Opportunity, IV (1926), 162-164. "Toward the Dark Tower." alack World, XIX (June 1970), 14-17. Kjersmeier, Carl. Lee, Don L. "Negroes as Poets." "Black Poetry: The Crisis, XXX (1925), 186-189. Which Direction?" Negro Digest, XVII (Sept.- Oct. 1968), 27-32. _. ~ . Dynamite Voices: Locke, Alain. Black Poets of the 1960's. "The Message of the Negro Poets." Carolina Magazine, LVIII (May 1928), 5-15. ~ ._ ' Mo.l~o~. t(av-L. t~,we.~ t-l«u":l~otof Cot\,emeo ►o.ey n l'C\~W'ICA.t\ I ~c,~ Moore, Gera-r'd. Ed. eicl~o,.J<, 1173, 'l?oe1:ry in t:he Harrem Renaissance.: C.W.E. Bigsby. Morpurgo, J.E. 16-24. Deland, Fla., 1969, Vol. II, "American Negro Poetry." Detroit, 1971. ~or:.. ~; A-'+-, u0Wk£4 o•L !ID '-11..A-·a,6.I-"~ ... ~:::.,ij"'1'.I ~ , The Black American Writer. 67-76. Fortnightly, CLXVIII (July 1947), ' �Morton, Lena Beatrice. "Negro Poetry." Negro Poetry in America. Boston, 1925. Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Frank J. Warnke and O.B. Hardison. "Negro Poets, Singers in the Dawn." Ed. Alex Preminger, Princeton, N.J., 1965. fp. 558-559. The Negro History Bulletin, II (1938), 9-10, 14-15. 3J. a Pool, Rasey. NE Las tin§ i Iii€ !IC&id!ii§ st !he E!&SS "The Discovery of American Negro Poetry." M 96¥1 1556. Freedomways, III (1963), 46-51. Ramsaran, J.A. "The Twice-Born Artisrts' Silent Revolution." Black World, XX (May 1971), 58-68. Randall, Dudley. "Black Bards and White Reviewers." The Black Position, Number 1 (1971), 3, 15. Redding, J. Saunders. To Make A Poet Black. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1939. (re- print College Park, Maryland, 1968). Redmond, Eugene B. "The Black American Epic: Its Roots, Its Writers." Black Scholar, II (January 1971), ~5-22. -f4',(. - - - - • ,, F"'e Gw.Kt>oftts-."iil:,.y.~u,o:t\.O\t't. tt,..-s61•JS!' ~tll\SUS "How Many Poet's Scrub the Rivers Back?" • I The @£101m• ~l'f 15') Confrontation, (Spring, 1971), 47-53. ---- . Lance Jeffers. "Introduction." When I Know the Power of My Black Hand, by Detroit, 1975. Rodgers, Carolyn M. "Black Poetry-Where It's At." Negro Digest, XVII (Sept. 1969), 7-16. Rollins, Charlemae. Famous American Negro Poets. New York, 1965. "''3 RH'""~ I l\t\ClM&. ael'\To "~'l~s 6 f l!lw.lCtl otnel\ \n 6\h-o-t\111t.=uo.r1 e.n.(~lti~~ 1-1.I \I (sf~,'tl btt11115'J Sheffey, Ruthe. "Wit and Irony in Militant Black Poetry." XXII (June 1973), 14-21. Black World, 6 �Sherman, Joan R. Invisible Poets: Afro Americans of the Nineteenth Century. Urbana, 1974. Smitherman, Geneva. Black Poetry." "The Power of the Rap: The Black Idiom and the New Twentieth Century Literature, Forthcoming, 1973. (Also available through ERIC). Staurter, Donald Barlow. Taussig, Charlotte E. V. A Short History of American Poetry. New York, 1974. "The New Negro as Revealed in His Poetry." Opportunity, (1927) , 108-111. TeL'}lo~,cLyde~•~"'Y OvmlU! Le~o.c.yo I= o.Lon~•BIIH1k ~ira'jet\~~k.Wt'"W.1 )(XIV(Se,-..,._,,~ 'H' Thurman, Wallace. "Negro Poets and Their Poetry." The Bookman, LXVII (1928), 555-561. Tinker, Edward Larogue. Les Cenelles, Afro-French Poetry in Louisiana. New York, 1930. White, Newman I. "American Negro Poetry." South Atlantic Quarterly, XX (1921), 304-322. "The Umbra Poets . " Mainstream, XVI (July 1963), 7-13 . "The Undaunted Pursuit of Fur y . " Valenti, Suzanne. "The Black Diaspora: and Black Americans." Wagner, Jean. Time, XCV (April 6, 1970), 98-100 . Negritude in the Poetry of West Africans Phylon, XX,"CIV (December 1973), 390-398. Les poetes negres des Etas-Unis: clans la poesie de P.L . Dunbar a L. Hughes. ---· Walker, Margaret. ----• reliqieux Paris, 1963 . Black Poets of the United States: Langston Hughes . Le sentiment racial et From Paul Lawrence Dunbar to (translation by Kenneth Douglass) Urbana, Ill., 1973 . "New Poetstr.J Phylon, XI (1950), 345-354 . "Racial Feeling in Negro Poetry . " South Atlantic Quarterly, XXI (1922), 14-29 . Work, Monroe N. (1908), 73-77 . "The Spirit of Negro Poetry." The Southern iJorkman, XXXVII �~ FOLKLORE AND LANGUAGE Abrahams, Roger. Deep Down in the Jungle: Streets of Philadelphia. ---· Negro Narrative Folklore from the Hatboro, Pa., 1964. "Playing the Dozens ." Journal of American Folklore, 75 (19 62), 209-18. ---· Positively Black. Adams, E.C .L. Nigger to Nigger . Prentice-Hall, 1970. New York, 1928. Q, Allen, William Francis, Charles Pickard WAre and Lucy Mc im r,arrison. Songs o~~he United States. ~ew York, 1867. Andrews, Malachi and Paul T. Owens. Slave New editions, 1929 and 1951. Black Langu~ge . Seymour-Smith Publishers, 1973. Baratz , Joan C. and Roger W. Shuv. · Teaching Black Cli.ildren to Pead . Center for I A,ertlA'1 /./ '1 ~ro.sc.h_;Id~Wc1L~~Wa.ltef'\Matt~ i~S(~lCompl, AC4mpl'eher1c;.veA~notite..l 8t'oUOC\w.tP"'I o~lac.l( ~ s • Applied Linquistics 1969. • Brewer, J. Has on , American Negro Folklore. "American Negro Folklore ." Brown, Sterling A. "The Blues." - -. Phylon, .·rv Austin, Texas,/qs-f• ~lon, XIV (1958), 286-292. "Negro Folk Expression; Songs." Phylon, VI (1945), 354-361. Dog, Ghosts, and Other Texas Negro Folk Tales. • &ton f!.o•~f/fl'f-1 Chicago, 1968. Spirituals, Seculars, Ballads and (1953), 45-61. "Negro Folk Expression. #1. Folk Tales and Aphorisms ." Phvlon, Vol. XI, Att1-anta, Ga., 1950. '----"' Charters, Samuel B. The Country Blues, New York, 1959. Claerbaut, David, Black Jar gon in White America. Grand Rapids, 1972. Conley, Dorothy L. ,"Origin of the Negro Spirituals." The Ne ro Histor XXV (1962), 179-180. I �Corbett, Edward P.J. "Students' Right to Their Own Language." College Composi- tion and Corrnnunication, Vol. XXV (Fall 1974), 1-32. Dalby, David. "African Survivals in the Language and Traditions of the Wind- ward Maroons of Jamaica ." African Language Studies 12, 1971. Th Mui /, ---· Black ~ New World. Patterns of Communication in America African Studies Program. Davis, Ossie. the Indiana University, 1970. "The English Language Is My Enemy . " DeStefano, Jo Hanna S. English . 4.nJ 'White: American Teacher (April Language, Society and Education: 1967). A Profile of Black C.A. Jones Pub., 1973. Dillard, Joey Lee . Black English: Its History and Usage in the U.S. New York, 1972. ' Diton, Carl. Thirty-Six South Carolina Spirituals. Dorson, Richard~ - , ed. African Folklore . New York, 1972. American Negro Folktales. Dundes, Alan, ed. "Evolution in Folklore: Remus Stories. " Fisher, Miles Mark . Some West African Proto-types of the Uncle Drums and Shadows: Athens, Ga., 1940. Harris, Joel Chandler. New York, 1963. Survival Studies Among the Georgia (New ed.: New York, 1972). Treasury of the Blues. New York, 1949. Daddy Jake the Runaway, and Short Stories Told After New York, 1889. Haskins, James and Hugh F . Butts. 1973. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1973. Negro Slave Songs in the United States. Bandy, E.C. and Abbe Niles, eds. Dark. Readings in the In- Popular Science, XLVIII (November 1895), 93-104. Georgia Writers' Project. ~tal Negroes . New York, 1967. Mother Wit from the Laughing Barrel: terpretation of Afro-American Folklore. Ellis, A. B. New York, 1928. The Psychology of Blac Language. New York, �I-lug es, Langston and Arna Bontemps. Hurston, Zora Heale. Bruce, ed. The Book of ~ r o Folklore . ilules and }'fen. New York, 1958. Philadelphia, 1935. Wake Up Dead -fan: Afro-American Work.songs from Texas Jahn, Ne~ro Spirituals. Jones, LeRoi. Black 1:usic. - •. Blues People: Krebhiel, Henrv Edward. tional usic. 11 Frankfurt, Ma., 1962. New York, 1967. Negro Music in vhite America. Afro.:..American Folksongs: eu York, 1963. A Study in Racial and fa- Tew York, 1914. Labov, William !_Study of the Non-Standard English of Negro and Puerto Rican ,... Speakers in Nev York City . Cooperati,ve Research Report 3288, Vol. 2, 1969. V Language in the Inner_C_i_t_,y_: ,_ __S_t_u_d_1._·e_s_i_n_t_h_e_B_l_a_c_l_c_E_n--'__g l_i_s_h_V_e_r- • nacular. Philadelphia, 1972. Sociolinguistic Patterns . ----· Philadelphia, 1973 . The Social Stratification of English in New York City . Washington, D. C.: Center for Applied Linquistics, 1966 . The Study of • on-Standard English . Champagne, Ill . : Center for Applied Linquistics, 1970. Landeck, Beatrice . Echoes of Africa in Folk Songs of the Americas. Leffall, Delores C. and James P . Johnson, Bibliography . Loman, Bengt . New York, 1961. Black English • an Annotated Washington, D. C. , 1973 . Conversations in a Negro Dialect . Washington, D.C . : Center for Applied Linquistics, 1967. Lomax, John Avery and Alan Lomax. 1934. • York, 1936 ~ American Ballads and Folk Songs . New York, Negro Folksongs as Sung by }eadbelly, New �(~~fo><,c Lovell, John. "Reflections on the Origins of the Negro Spiritual." Negro American Literature Forum, III (1969), 91-97. . ~ . • Iii L Ha.Min•e@J - - . BL9r5ck, Sana ~'th• Fort• irtc:l-&-& Fk,n♦,1bu.!-,ofK-wh A~!"f'•ftm•"'"" ~,,.., VO. WA~ Ni ajar, Clarence. Dictionary o{ Afro-American Slang. New York, 1970. Oflt- ew '/ot-K.1 fl}'; Marsh, J.B.T. The Story of the Jubilee Singers; With Their Songs, 7th ed., London, 1877. Matthews, M.M. Some Sources of Southernisms. McGhee, Nancy B. CLA Journal, "The F'o lk Sermon: University of Alabama Press, 1948. A Facet of the Black Literary Heritage." III (1969), 57-61. Morse, J. Mitchell. "The Shuffling Speech of Slavery: Black English." College English, Vol. 34, . o. 6 (March 1973), 334-843. Odum, Howard W. and Guy B. Johnson. The Negro and His Songs. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1925. • egro Workaday Songs. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1926. Oliver, Paul. Blues Fell This Morning: The 1eaning of the Blues. L11•s. N.f~YorL ,,,_, . <•••w-e~st.Titn.1 Sandilan s, an wenty Negro Sp1rituals. New York, 1960 . Morija, Basotoland, 1951 and 1964. Scarborough, W.W. ~ "Negro Folklore and Dialect". Scarbourought, Dorothy. Arena, XVII (1897), 186-192. On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs. Cambridge, Hass. 1925. v Shirley, Kay. Shuy, Ro~er W. ---· Tlie Book of the Blues. New Yorl:, 1963. Cross-Cultural Analysis. Washington, D.C . , 1972. Discovering American Dialects., Champagne, Ill.: von<L NatA_l . Council of Teachers of English, 1967. -· Field Techniques in an Urban Language Study. -· Social Dialects and Language Learning. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1968. 1orw. NatJ\l Council of Teachers of Fn~lish, 1964. Champagne, Ill.: �, and Fasold , Ralph H. Teaching Standard English in the Inner City. Fashington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linquistics, 1970. Silverman, Jerry. One Hundred and Ten American Folk Blues, New York, 1958. f, Smith, Arthur L., Delvenia Hernandez and Anne Allen. of Other aces, Ethnic Groups and Cultures. How to Talk With People Los Angeles: Trans-Ethnic Educa- tion Communication Foundation, 1971. Language, Communication & Rhetoric in Black America. J. Smith, Arthur L. 1 ew YorJ.r, 1972 . • 4 } Transracial Communication, Englewood Cliff, N.J., 1973 . - and Andrea L. Rich. Emma Goldman, 1Kalcolm X. Samuel Adams, Durham, N.C . , 1970,. Boston, 1969 . Rhetoric of Black Revolution . • ------~ - ... Rhetoric of Revolution: and Stephan Robb. The Voice of Black Rhetoric: Selections. Bos- ton, 1971. £ (Smitherman, Geneva.'\ '-God Don ' t Never Change1 : "(~ spective." Black English from a Black Per- "'J I'#.,, College English, Vol. 34, No . 6 (March 19 73), 828-833 . - - • lllo.d~ L&11111•.t• Q.t\d$.HlT" .. C, ;$.eyNls. ~ Sov(.' Spalding, Henry D. , ed. N4.W '/ot,. Encyclopedia of Black Folklore and Humor . JC l li:s JJHiag c, New York, 1972 . Stewart, W.A. "Continuity and Change in American egro ialect." Florida Language Report 7::)(1968) . Sullivan, Philip E. "Buh Rabbit: Going Through the Changes." Studies in Black Literature, Vol . 4, No . 2 (Summer 1973), 28-32. Talley, T. W. Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise and Otherwise. Thuman, Howard . Deep River . New York - - - •1htNe~a,,o~t,i~•Tu.LSp,ea~t Turner, Lorenzo D. New York, 1922. 1955 . of:L,pe ... ~ l)Qaih. l'lew v~rk,tf/'11• Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect . Univer sity of Chicago Press, 1949; University of Michigan Press, 1974. Twiggs, Robert D. lass., 1973. Pan-African Language in the Western Hemisphefe· North Quincy, �Twining, Nary Arnold. tive . " CLA Journal, XIV (1970), 57-61. Welmers, William E. White, Newman I. A~rican Language Structures. American Negro Folk Songs. Wolfram, Walter A. -----~- ~ Cambridge , Mass., 1928. egro Speech. Center for Applied Linquistics, 1969. and Nona H. Clarke, Black-White Speech Relationships. Washington, D.C.: Work , John W. ___________ _ Univ. of Calif. Press, 1973, A Sociolinguistic Description of Detroit Washington, D.C.: .__ "An Anthropological Look at Afro-American Folk Narna- Center for Applied Linquistics, 1971. "Negro Folk Songs." Opportunity, I (1923), 292-294. S17 - - - - �- ~ . DISCOGRAPHY AND TAPE INDEX A. Collec tions (phonogra~ African Drums . Ethnic Folkways Library FE 4502 A/B. African Origins and Influences. Folkways FA 2691, Afro-American Blues and Game Sonrs. Record in~ E !~500, FE 4530, FS 384. Ed . by Alan Lor.1.ax. Library of Congress FS ll+. Afro-American ~~usic. F /Or. James. 2 Asch 702 . Afr_~_!'.merican Spirituals, Work Songs and Ballads . Ed. by Alan Lor.1.ax. Folkways FA 2650-59 . A Gathering of Great Poetry for Childr en, Vol. 2 . W/ Gwendolyn Brooks . Caedmon TC 1236. A Hand is on the Gate. Dir. by Roscoe Lee Brm-me . American Folk Songs for Children. Perf . by Bessie Jones . . ta~e Se~ es. Folkways 9040. Southern Folk Heri- Atlantic 1350 . .Al'lerican Poems of Patriotism and Prose . Incl . James Weldon Johnson . Caedmon TC 1204. Animal Tales Told in Gullah Dialect . Anthology of Music of Black Afri ca . Anthology of egro Poets . Ed . by Duncan Emrick . AAFS L44-46 . Everest 3254 / 3 . . A Ed . by Arna Bontemps . (Read by Langston Hughes, Sterli ng Brown, Cl aude McKay, Countee Cullen, Mar garet Walker Brooks . ) Ba_2-tism: Cullen . and Gwendolyn Folkways Records FL 97991. A Journey Through Our Time . Dir . by Maynard Solomon . Incl . Countee Recor ded by Hugh Tracey . Columbia KL 213 . Vanguard VSD 792 75 . Bant u Music From British East Africa . �1/1) Been in the Storm ~o Long: Spirituals and Shouts, Children's Game Songs . Folkways Records FS 3842. Belafonte at Carnegie Hall . Beyond the Blues: RCA Victor LOC 600G. American Negro Poetry . Ed . by Rosey E. Pool. Vinette Carroll, Cleo Laine, Gordon Heath, Brock Peters.) Black Scene in Prose, Poetry and Song Vol . I . (Read by ARGO RG 338. Perf. by Vinnie Burrows . Spoken Arts SA 1030. 1'1e ~ Black Perf . by ViRnie Burrows . Scene in Prose , Poetry and Song, Vol. II . Spoken Arts SA 1031 . ...,,,... ,,..,,._ Hotown/Black Forum B - 456 - L. The Black Voices: On the Streets in Watts . Classics of American Poetry . Weldon Johnson . ALA Records 1970 Stereo . ~ / Ear tha Kitt . Incl. Langston Hughes and James Caedman TC 2041. Cultural Flowering: Music and Literature. Folkways FL 9671, FL 9792 FL 9790, 1 FL 9788, FJ 2806, FL 2941, FA 2659. -- Deep South(?acred and Sinful . Perf. by Bessie Jones . Southern Journey Series. Prestige International 25005. Discovering Literature. Incl . James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes. The Sound of Literature. Drums for God . Houghton-Mifflin 2-262-18. (Recorded live in Cameroone, Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malaswi, Nigeria, Rhodesia) Epic LF 18044. Expl~ring Literature. Exquisite Yellow . W/Eartha Kitt. Houghton-Mifflin 2-26248. Incl . Paul Laurence Dunbar . Theatre Alumni Associates . Suny, Albany, New York. Famous Poens That Tell Great Stories. Incl. James Weldon Johnson. Farewell Recital (Spirituals). fAnderso~faria~ Decca DL 90lf0. RCA Victor LSC2781 �I/I Folk Hus5_c of Bt ioT)ia. Follmays FF 440L,. Fol c 'fos ic TJ. S .A., 7ol. I. Folvways Fl:: 4530. nreat Poems of the English Language: Sha espeare to Dylan Thomas. Incl . Countee Cullen CMS 554. Head Start Child Development Group of :Mississippi. Georgia Sea Islands, Vol. III . Asch 701. Perf. by Bessie Jones . Southern Journey Series. Prestige International 25002. Get On Board: Jegro Folk Songs . Perf. by Broi,mie cGhee and Sonny Terry . Folkways FP 28. The___0_l_o~f Ne_gro Histo rv. Fritten and 'farrated by Lan~ston Hughes. Folkways FC 17752 (new no. FP 752). God's Trombones and Selected 20th Century 'egro Poetry . Johnson, Alice Childress, and P. Jay Sidney. Jazz Canto - Vol. I. Poetry Jazz Album . Perf. by James WeLd oV\ Educational Audio Visual 75 R 440. Read by Lan~ston Hughes. World Paci- fie PJ 124Lf. John's Island, Its People and Songs. Folkways FS 3840 . Les Ballets Africains de Keita Fodeba, Vol . I . Disgues Vogue CLVL' 297. t:--L~ 1q4 ~~9Q,,ce-\-Wa.LKei,- OLe'f.OJldet- Reo..ds f>oems of Pa.11 avroence.. 'l)vnlu.n 4.nd..ta.Yn-es fl.l~it{r,nt-oh,uon. f=ult'wo.y.s, • 1issa Luba . Sung ~y Joachim Ngoi and Les Troubadours du Roi Ba"do~in. Phillips PCC 606. Music Down Home . Ed . by Charles Edward Smith . usic From the . South. Folkways FA 2691. Field Recordings by Frederic Ramsey Jr. Folkways FP 650-59 . Music of Equatorial Africa. National Poetry Festival . Recorded by Andre Didier. Incl . Gwendolyn Brooks an Folkways FP 4402. Langston Hughes. of Congress LWO 3868, 3869, 3870. Negro Blues and Hollars. Ed . by Marshall W. Stearns. AAFS 159 . Library �Negro Folk nusic of Africa and America. Negro Folk Rhyth,ls. Folkways FE 4500. Perf. by Ella Jenkins and Group. Folkways FA 2374 . .._/ Negro Folk Music of Alabama. Negro Folksongs and Tunes. Folkways Records P417-418 471-474. W/Elizabeth Cotten. Folkways FG 3526. Negro Folk Songs for Young People Sung By Leadbelly . (Leadbelly). Sung by Heddie Ledbetter Folkways FC 7533 #2 . Negro Folk Stories and Music. Negro Po~ts Anthology . Negro _Poets in USA . Folkways 4417/8 4471/4. Folkways 9791. Folkways 9792. egro Prison Camp Work Songs. egro Prison Songs. Folkways FE 4475. Perf . by Mississippi State Penitentiary Prisoners. Tradition Records TLP 1020 . • Negro Rel laious Sone~_~nd Services. Ed. by B.A. Botkin . Negro Songs, Stories and Poetry for Young People . AAFS LlO. -- Folkways Records FC - "\ 7110, 7114, 7312, 7003, 7103, 7104 , 7533 , 7654 . Negro l• ork Songs and Calls. The New Black Poetry. ew Jazz Poets. Ed . by B. A. Botkin . Educational Audio Visual IRR 136. Ed. by alter Lowenfels. Newport 1958, Mahalia Jackson. AR Records BR 461 (Broadside). Columbia CS 8071. Noe'l Et Saint-Sylvestre A Harlem . 26() V. AAFS L8. Do cument Herbert Pepper . Ducrltet-Thomson 69 . One, Two,_J_!lree and A Zing, Zing, Zing. Play ~n,1 Dance Son9.:s an Tunes. Ed . by Tony Sc wartz. Ed . by B .A. Bot dn . Folkways FC 7003 . Librar y of Conaress Re- cord in~ AAFS L9 . Poens and Ballads Fron 100 Plus American "Poems . D;i.r. by Paul Molloy . Scholastic ,ecords FS - 11008. Poems From Black Africa. Caedmon S 1315. Ed . by Lan~ston Hug es. Caedmon TC 1215. Read by James Earl Jones . �Poetry and Jazz, Jazz eanto, Vol. I. and Ben Wrirht. World "Pacific Perf. by John Carradine, Hoagy Carmichael ecords. ' Poetry of the Negro. Read by Sidney PoAtier and Doris Belack . Glory GLP-1. Poets for Peace. Perf. bv Owen Dodson . Spoken Arts 990 R 68-2582 . wt4rd P~_try International Incl. Braithwaite . 2 Argo MPR 262 13. E1\ Poets of \est Indies. Caedmon S. 1379. ~pin ' Black in a White World . Perf. by The Watts Prophets. ALA 1971. Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle and Other Modern Verse. ton Hughes . Incl. Langs- Scholastic Records FS 11007. Th<:.__Rhythms of the World . Written and Narrated by Langston Hughes. Folkways FC 7340 (new no. FP 740). Roots of Black America. United States.) (Traces Black Music from Africa to the Caribbean to Folkvays 9704 . Sava_pna~copators!African Retentions in the Blues . - Prod . hJc,aul Oliver . CBS 52799. Selma Freedom Songs . Documentary Recording by Carl Benkert. • Sidney Pottier Reads Poetry of the Blackman W/ Doris Belack. Folkways FH 5594 . United Artists Records UAS 6693. Singers in the Dusk . 1usic, poems read by Charles Lampkin . Ficker Recording Service XTV 25689 . Skip Rope . (Thirty three skip rope games recorded in Evanston, Ill .. ) Folk- ways FC 7029. ?ong~of American Negro Slaves . Folkways Records FD5252 . Songs _of_ the Selma 11ontgomery March . Perf . by Pete Seeger and others. Folk- ways 5595 . Snectr~~ in Black: Poems by 20th Century Black Poets . Scott, Foresman and Co. 4149. �Spirituals Et ~irituals . Folklore. Sung by Harry Belafonte. Perf. by Howard Univ . Choir . RCA 430-213. RCA Victor L f 2126. Spok'=!l_ Anthology of American Literature ; the 20th Century . Johnson and Countee Cullen . Incl. James Weldon Univ. of Arizona Press Records R63-1127. Spoken Arts Treasury of 100 1odern American Poets Reading Their Poems, V. 13. l /Gwendolyn Brooks. Spoken Arts 1052. Spoken Arts TreasuI.Y_ of 100 Modern American Poets Reading Their Poems . (Read by Jame s W. Johnson, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Owen Dodson, Gwendolyn Brooks.) SA-P-18 . The Story of Jazz. Written and Narrated by Langston Hughes . Struggle for Freedom. Folkways FC 7312. Folkways FH5717, FH5511, FD5525, FH5502, FH5522, FD5252, FH5523, FC7752. Today's Poets , Vol. IV. Incl. Robt. Hayden. Tou_Jth__!l_oems for Tough People. Scholastic Records FS11004. Incl. Don L. Lee 's , Etheridge Kni ~ht ' s Poetry. Caedmon Reco r ds, Inc. (1971). 17 alues in Literature. Incl. James Weldon Johnson. Houghton- ifflin 2-26409 . a, T-Jal ': _ Jo'.~ether Children: Sun~ by Vinnie Burrows . Th~ He_~r_y_ lue~. The Black Scene in Prose, Poetry and Song. Spo-en Arts SA 1030. Written and Nar rated by Langston Hughes . _i_osld Faflou~~Je~r9_2.nirit uals . vefe VSPS-36. Perf. ~Y Fisk Jubillee Singers. !,Single Poets (pho~o,V'<lph) Angelou, !'aya . The Poetry of ~ro.ya Angelou. Brait waite, F.d,•1 ard. - ReAd and Islands . l~asks. GWP P. ecords ST2001. Aro,o PLP 1184 / 5 . Argo PLP 1183. Folkways FA 2372. �---· Ri~hts of Passage . Brooks, Gwendolyn. ~ Don L. Lee . Brown, Elaine . Gwendolyn Brooks Reading Her Poetry: W/Introductory Poem Caedmon TC 124Li . Seize the Time . Read and Sung by Elaine Br own . Brown, Sterling and/Hughes1wLangst:;j Hughes. Ar~o PLP 1110/1 . Read by Authors . Brown, Sterling . Works of Sterling Brown and Langston Folkways FP90 . The Dixie Bel le . From Their Works . Vault 131. Sterling Brown and Langston Hughes Reading Folkways 9790 . and 16 Poems . Folkways 9794 . FL (nqo, Shall I Tell 1y Children . tJho Are Black? til..s ~ - F-oU(w~y~ B1-1<.>wn.., .> ... L,i-,CI . Burroughs, 1ar garlt Sound- A-Rama SOR 101 . Cortez, Jayne . ....... Celebr a t i ons and Solitudes . Crouch, Stanley . Stra t a - East ecords, Inc . SES-7421. ~ Ain ' t No Ambulances for No Ni ohs Tonight . Flying Dutchman FDS 105 . Cullen, Countee . Dodson, Owen . To Make A Poet Black . The Dream Awake . Caedmon S-1400 . Spoken Ar t s SA1095 . Fabio, Sar ah Web s ter . Boss Soul. --- 0 Soul Ain't • Soul Is . ____ Giovanni, :Jikki . , Hughes, Langston . Folkways FL-9710 . Like A Ripple On A Pond . Truth Is On It s Way . Black Ver se . Folkways 9711 . Niktom 4200 . .$1!--~~.Ri3ht-On R~u»Js fl_R 05001 , Buddah 2005 . Did You Ever Hear The Blues? United Ar t ists ~ Big Miller ' s Renditions of ... , 304 7. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems of Langston Hughes . Read by Langston Hughes . Folkways FC 7104 (new No. FP 104) . - J �~-----. Arts Langston Hughes Reads and Talks About His Poems. Spoken SA 1064. Poems By Langston Hughes. Read by Langston Hughes. Af!~ Records 454. The Poetry of Langston Hughes . Caedmon (1968). Rul:ry Dee and Ossie Davis Read From Selected Poems of Langston Hu~hes. VTC 1272 (Caedmon 1272). ~ - and ~ Hargare_;J. Writers of the Revolution . Black Forum BB 453 . Johnson, Weldon James. Four Readings From God ' s Trombones. By James W. Johnson . Musicraft Album #21. ---· nryce God's Trombones. Read by Bond. God's Tronbones. Read bv Harold Scott. Folkways FL 9788. United Artists TJAS 5039 . Jones, LeRoi. Black an Jones, Le~oi. §~nny ' s Time Now. The Last Poets. Beautiful. .. Soul and Madness. At Last: Ri~ht On ! Blue Thumb BTS 52. Blue T umb BTS 39. The Last Poets . , Jihad Productions Jihad 663 T11e Last Poets. Chastisenent. Jihad Productions Jihad 1001. East Wind Associates, Douglas 3. Juggernaut Records(!) J~ St. LP 8802 . This Is 1adness. The Last Poets II. Douglas Comr:i~ons Stereo 20583. b1L.e.~K ,(v\"Ti'~, 1Y\ ,e C..olle.c,ted &em Q.f ~Li\o'"\c:1. Len--.o n .:Te f ~e . ...s on . Ml:la""' PNK:IV<-Ttl1t1 Cor11pfJ.ny • ~.edmond, Eu<;ene B. Blood Links and Sacred Places. Black River Writers 110-13A Sonia. Scott-Heron, Gil. --- t Sanchez. Folkways 9793. Pre_e_H=!:_11. Flying Dutchman~l0153 . Pieces of a ~an. Flying Dutchma~ereo FD 10143. RvTUn ,BV'u~e . QPcu-nG\...·. ch·ltd~eno~The SvV\ ,Blat t A~T\·~,s <o~ovp . • Po,e rY\ Or (o ro..1ttvd e,. • l3lo.c.K ,4V't,·s-r-' Gr--oup • �1/1 Small Talk At 125th And Lenox . Flying Dutchman Prod . , Ltd . FDS- 131. Van Peebles, ____ !elvin . iff1 Ain ' t Supposed to Die A }atural Death . rp 47 ~ (:, ~ A-s ~e..-,,-ovsM-8.Jleor[l4-11acK. A <t M • Brer Soul . ~ A & SP 4223 . 1 SP 4161 . wa.l ken fY\ ~ "19ltr et. a. ~ P~/ .e.1. Mo.r<40..t--U W0;,.( ke1,, fud ..Qf Nlar>'J"- ne;t W4. Ike"'. l'o lf:w1,.y.r PL Cf 7r£ , J ( Note: Most of the educational and cultura l institutions Single Poets (tape ) w~ere Bl a ck poets have read also maintain audio and/ar video tapes of rea dings.} Brooks, Gwendolyn . Eckels, Jon. Family Pic tures . Broadside Voices . Hofile Is Where The Soul Is . Emanuel, James A. Panther Man . Broadside Voices. The Treehouse and Other Poems . ~ '40.rpe.~, Mt"c.ho.eL.S. ij,isLi.r.y~~ Hodges, Frenchy Jolene . Jeffers, Lance . Black Wisdom . Knight, Etheridge . Poems From Prison . Broadside Voices . Broadside Voices . Broadside Voices . We Walk The Way of The New World . tfurphy, Beatrice M. a n d ~ Cities Burning. Moving Deep . Walker, 1argare.:=._. X, farvin . Broadside Voices. The Rocks Cry Out. Poem Counterpoem . Broadside Voices . Ilroadside Voices. Prophets for A__}Tew Day. Black Man Listen . Broadside Voices . Broadside Voices. Broadside Voices. We A BaddDDD People . Stephany . LP-BR-1. Broadside Voices. - - - - ~ and(Dann:.::("Marg7~. Homecoming. Broadside Voices . Broadside Voices . Readin' and Rappin' . Sanchez, Sonia. ru.,..,0·1~ --p~es~. Broadside Voices . Spirits TTnchained . Don't Cry, Scream . Randall, Dudley. Broadside Voices . tfi4t'1:nPtt't." VYl\V€.~~·,;v oP My Blackness is the Beauty of This Land '. Kgositosile, Keorapetse . Lee, Don L. Broadside Voices . Broadside Voices. Broadside Voices. � 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. Text Any textual data included in the document 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_08_33to36 Title A name given to the resource First typed draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Bibliographical Index, p. 559-606 typed with handwritten edits 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> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/0318a207db970ce6b5c4f3bd6cb2cd72.pdf 46de4982032e9055b3eb577de0aa2885 PDF Text Text \1 L I /' u I\. ( 4~8 ~ IIJ 495'~ 81 ,, '-'I .3'} his <{It/_...,.__,,..• ( , w« :_.._....,__.,_cC. , 4 '} i 6.-&J u lf ':.f?' f,,v (. >IA t1 it f, t ~ J tt ~~ l/ t/J Nso 11 X- ~ fo -t" 1 {, (.J {J.1;.b - 7[3 II ~ •f " 1/V(M •-·"~ I..J cl ,( ~ " l ,-o > ~,, JT '1, ''Lt,.it ,, /I B \ \ '\ \, __ ,. ~ c1<., ~ t1r1 r ~ 5'~ 't g ~ I ( fl O"b"- I ri I/ 7r 2·? ,, a,J 6 j I/ /j r fN ll ~ l/1 H 8-r ' 7 B ~(., �f,r,u_ :? 7 1 ()o..,.flz '.JI-; 11 A ( : IJO I 7 ��114-- ;;;di ~ t'l I 1rl l l / 3?t- .,, , keu ,,d a , t !8 <! m;;J11)1 ,uwt l<!J-dl - /. ~ll- - 4;,eo<I J4",ij4 ~ 'J ii,:~ rj a - ~~~ ~ , . , uJ~ .l>t-U d:118'-17/!-bruv ~ Ebna.; ? 'x/2,{-,w ~n- /4 M - -f,) = ~~ ~ /723 . ~~ 11 ;(1/Ulb.e/-UJtt:J)wv '<5;.. ;;~1;~; 5t;f; ry!;.;J/; I '(!7ra~/ ...., �._:, - ffi~ du.,~ r ,, �kft · 1.u.L \3::-m ,,tlk i+e" tL, ~ ,,~ ,'(~ .J. � 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. Text Any textual data included in the document 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_08_37 Title A name given to the resource Handwritten notes and edits by page number for first typed draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History 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> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/fcda96e9be2086469a225e51a67b426c.pdf 25187c7fe3ae96c1e47460e6343a6bca PDF Text Text DRUMVOICES : THE MISSION OF AFRO - Ar-:ERICAN PO TRY A Cri t ical History by Eugene B. Redmond �/I . i'1 BJll, 1 ,JQG ,:AP !lf(' A:' lND~X ! 'l'r/(s n:> :i bJ :i or;ruphy is rl.AAj r;ned . to :qe rve 1 1 .. 110 ,, ds of' be Linni ng and a.d ~'~·i'ed student s of Bla ck Po e try . I t is hau:'ltive sin c e man y biblio graphies re r,ea t th <! :, B.me items . No attempt 11 ) t i1 1te'l.ded to be e x- ha s been ma d e to cite the numerous single co l J. n ct i o1 , s of poems because c he c k lists an d spe ci a1 i zed bibliographies are •• vai lab le . ivloreover , most antholo p; ies, critical studies a nd histori e s, li: ;t such c ol lections -- in sel-ected hi bl i o g ra rh ies and bio g r aph ies • .)in ce ma n y Blac k poets publish p r i v a tely or wit h small and relativ ely unknown publishing houses, th e studen t wi ll want to examine re ~ul a r list i n g s and reviews in periodicals s uch as Bla ck World, Journal. of Black Po etry , .r,reedomways, Bl a ck Rooks Bu lletin~ CLA ,Journal, Black Gre at ~ o n, Obs idian: 1 ~ shArs list ti tJes on :i.nf> i.c.e c ,.,--:1erd ,Jf' ~heir books ; r e co rds al!d t ape s of r ead.i.ng,~ , i l'ld s core s of filn!s, bre a.dsid9s ,: s 1 ngle poems), p am- phlet publica.tj o ns and tracts can be obtained from individual p oets and the smaJl houses . Recently , lar ge r r e cordi n g compani e s li k e Folkways, F lyi n g Dutchman a nd Motown, have begun to rec o rd and dis tribute Black poetry . However, the task of lo ca t ing a nd deve l oping a chec k l is t for th e myriad p ublications a nd pubJishing activi tie s of Black po e ts still awaits s ome serious stud ent of Bl a ck li te rature . In the mean ti me t h ere are a number of import a nt bio-biblio g r aphical works which one can consult: Afro-Ame rican ~-ri t e rs (Turn e r), J.i ving ~_ f\\l:JY,()r> .e.n,1 I\ •llM ,_(rr_o.; Le Black American Autnors ( ShocITey ana Chandl e r ,5~ ij, , A Bi o-~iographical Dicti onAry of Blac k Write rs of the u . s . A. (Jac ks on a nd Page), I ndex to black Poetry(Chaprnan ) nnd Bl a ck 'vJrite rs Past and P r esnnt : A Bi o'Bibl i o g rphi cal Direc_1::_? ry (Rush ., \ -~ ey .. r'f' ••nd £.-r,.,..• a~a). �I :J.. r:E NERJ\l, t FSr:'i\HC ll i\J 1, e Adams , RusRell L. r:r_~a_t Ney:;roes, Past an_d Prese..!:1._t. _!he Art_hur _l~. Spin~a_1:.1:1___colle ction of N~ro Aut li o r R_. Bailey, Leaonead . Broadside Authors: Baskin, Wad e nnd Richnr<l M. lu nes. Bontemps, Arna . , (] % /1 ) 1-Ja ~; hing ton, D.C., 1948. A 13im•ra ph ical Di r ectory. Dictionarv or Hlnck r11lture . Detroit, 1971. New York, 1973. "The James Weldon Johnson Me mor_: al Coll ~_c tion of NeBro Arts and Le tters ." C fr C 1' Ch1 ca r, o , 1964 . _y_al:_<:_ _ll n ive rsity Libra.I..Y__0nz<'t_t-.!=_ , XVII I ( Oc t.ober 1943 ) , 19-26. 1 1H 7- 20 6 , Hrir,mrno , Russel r: . _n l a c], . Ame ricans _:!. n Aut oh io ,raph y: i\n Annotated Biblio- .3..ra_pl1v_ of Autobtop.rnr1i i c~ l'lnd i\utnhi<:r_ra_phi ra J_ Book s Written Since the Civil War . Durhrun, North ~•._ Burke, Joan Martin. and Events . _c_iy 'J_~!g_b_ts ; I! Current Guide t o the People} Organization New York, 1974. Chapman , Abraham. The Negro in American Literature and a Bibliography of Literature hy and about Ne gro Americans. Chapman, Do rot hy II. , Comp . Culver, Eloi se Crosby. n.c.'.J Stevens Po~nt, Wis., 1966. Index to Black Poetry. Boston, 1974. Great American Negroes in Verse, 1723-1965. Washington, c. 1965. Davis, Le nwood G. cals, Articles." "P a n-Africanism: A Tentat i ve Check List of Books, Period i - .fila ck W ".'ld, XXII (December 1972), 70-96. Deodene, Frank and William P. French. ~reli~inary Checkli~.!_. Black American Fiction Since 1952: A Chatham, N.J., 1970. Deodene, Frank and William P. French. Black American Poetry Since 1944, A Pre- / �9 Vo ls . llosto n, 1970 . Dic tionar_y Catalog of the Sc homburg Collection o_r_JJ~,_r_o Literature and History. 11 Vols. Boston, 1962, 1967. Drz i ck, Ka thleen, John Murphy and Constance We avPr . Annotated Bihliography of Works ~el a ~ t o the Negro in Literature and to Negro Dialects . Kalamazoo, Mi ch. 1969. DuBois, W. E . n ., and r.uy IL Johnson. Volume. Rev. DuBois, W. E. B. Ed. Encyclopedi_n of the Neg ro: Preparatory New York , 1946. A Select Bibliocraphy of th e Ne gro American . 3rd ed . Atlanta, 1905 . Guzman, Jessie P., ed . Neg ro Year Boo k , Tu s k ,• gee, Al a. 1947. Houston, Hele n Ruth . "Cont rilrn i ' na of the American Negr o to Amer ica n Culture: A Sele ct ed Checklist." Ru lle~tin -~~i?li~Lr..~ _\ y_, Jol . 26, No. 3 (July - September 19G9) , 7J-J3. l_ndex to Pedodical Articles by and About Ner, roes (formerly A Guide to Negro Perio~~~a} LiteraturP and Index to Selected Periodicals) . International Library of Negro Life and llistor:y_. 10 Vols. Washington, D.C., 1967-196 9 . Irvine, Ke ith, ed. Encyclopedia of the Negro in Africa and America. St. Clair Shores, Mich., c. 1973. Jackson, Ag nes., M. and James A. Page, comp.~ tionary of Black Wr ite rs of the U.S .A. J~n, Janheinz . A Biobibliographical Dic- New York , 1975 . .!l_Bib)j.ogra ohy of Neo-African Literature from Africa, America, and th e Caribbean. New York, 1965 . Johnson, llar ry A. ~t1_l_timedia Materials for Afro-American Studiefl . Kaiser, Ernest. 968). / "'T'he Hi story o f Ne g ro l-Ust0rv." New York, 1971. Negro Dir,est, XVII (February �K1d.ser, F.rnrst "c-cent Books ." Ma1or, C arence . f' ree- rlomw:ws , in (' ;1ch iss11<' . Dictionarv of Afro-American S Lrn g . 'ew York, 1970. Blacks in America: Riblfo<'raohical Essays. ---,-------- ---- - - - ---- - ~ - - -- --- - McPherson, James, et al, eds. New Y nr 1, , 1 972 . T\-fhlirwranhlr '1 1rvrv: - WaRh i n r ton, n . c., Porer, T' or0thy n. -- - - - ~ -- - - -----'--- T\-ir ~r 0 ro in Pr1nt. - - -- _ ____,1,,,-... _ _ -- - - Vols. 1-7 (1965-1071). " Earlv American "lc"'ro I rit _fn_p5: __ A l\ihli.o_f_rA:_Phi.cal_ Study." P.o s ;: o n, 1971. Tlorter , Tio ro tl-i'/ . -P or t er, no rot~v - D. rheck List --A-H~bli - - -onraohicaJ -~----- -- - - of Th ei r F r t in7s, 19oC'-19H -PucL-.ett, '' PW1' Pl lliRtnrv t-Plrl 1-1 -;_1es . M p ,1 n1 n°. rd. hv Mu rrav He il er. ------------------ Hoci t on, 197 5 , Ouerry, P-ona 1 cl and RohPrt E . f'lemin r>; . -Periodicals." "!\lack NAMes in America: "A Workinr Hihlior-ranhv of Rlack ~~1!:1_.i eR in P.lack Literature , Vol. 3, No. 2 (Summer 1972), Jl-%. Rowell, C'1;1rlrs II. "A I"\i.blio~raphy of n-fhl-forraphies for the Studv of Rlack American Literature and Folklore ." Jourmil. Tl lack f'x'1erience, A _._~ _ ~~':_hern University T.V (June 1 %CJ) Q)-111. Rush, Theresa, Carol Mpvers and Esther Arrata, como~s. WritPrs Past and Present: Hlack American A Bio- BihliogrA_Jl111cal Tiirectory . Scarecrow Press, 975. C. Sho~l<ley , Ann Allen an r1 Sue P . Chand l e-r, ens. A ni o r>; rrln11; r_ ;:._ ~ D -cectnr · , ----- - - - - - -·--- - . - -- -- N-2., •er ,, J_,~}_n_g Black American Authors: �'f chombttr ", , /\ rthur A. New York, J 016. J\_ 1\_i__t_J_i_o i:,ra p h 1 c_;-1_] __C._h_e_~k_l;_i~ t o f Amr r ican N~ro PoP.trv . (Scromburg Collection). Smith, Jessie Camey . }0{ "Dc>veloping Collections of HL:ick literature." Black World . (June 1071), 18-29. A P,_iop.:..r_a_P.hical History of~l~c_k s_ JE_ America Since 1528 . Topp:f.n, F.c\~ar A . New York, 971 . Turnt=>r, Darwin T. .Jilliams, n n. J\fro-AmcricAn Writf"rs . 11 comp . /\ Rihliography of Worl · s l 'ritten by American Rlack Women . " fL_A_ J_o_u_r_n_a_l_ Vol. XV, No. 3 (March 1Q72), 354-377. Work, lvfonroe N. A Bihlior,r~__; of tht> NP.gro in Africa __a_nd __~~r-~~ Yel]in, .TPAn F,,r,nn. 11 New York, 1928. /\n Index of Li.tt=>rnrv Mat· P.ria]A in 'l~~e__C:_i;_isis , 1910-1934: -fO �][ , J\mistnrl l ~~_n_d_u_n_,'\ _-__l_t _' Black J\cn d Prnv Revi e w Blac k noo k s P.11Jletin Black r: r eation Rlack n1 a ] O_Qt(' !Hack nrnh0us : A .TournaJ of J\f r icrln ;incl J\ fn ,-American T. i.tc r atu r e . -·--·------"-------· - ---- - ---- ----- ·------------- -------- - - ---- -- 'T'h 0 n1 a r '· Position lllnc k RPv i 0.•.J Rlack T'watr e rI,J\ Journa l C:onfront;it i on_: A .To11rrrn 1 of Third \forlcl T/tPr .1t u_r_f'_ i sis : A Recor <l of the Da r ker Rnces -The - - -Cr -- - . - - - --- - -- - - - - - -- ----- - ---- - nasein Dour.] ass_'_ 'lonth]_y Ebony F.ncorP EssE>nce �r.1.re Frerdom' s .To11rnal Fr Aedornw;1ys lla rl elll nunrtPrlv Ho odoo Black T.ite ratur f' S0 r ie s Trrmr0ssions The Jnurn;il of P .ncl · Pnrt rv Tlie Journnl nf nln c k Stuclies Th e Rlack r.xnerience ThP Journnl nf NP~rn fdu~ntj on - - -·-- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- - - . - - - - The Lib rm tor - :,• 'C - - - - - - -- - - \Ter~ro llis torv Rulleti n New York Amsterdnm ~Pws Nkomho Nommo Obsidian: Rlack Literature in Review Opportunity:_ A Journal of Ne~ro Life P1:_ylon: _ The Atlirnta ll niversity Revi ew of Race and Culture Players E_r_e_s_e_n_c_e_ ('._f_r},_c_a_i_ry_e_:_ r:_ul:_t~_ral _R evue of theye ~-i:_o~~rlrl a., Renl\-is s_a_n_c_e_.l!_ Roots: /\ .Journa of C.rittcal and Creative F.xnression --- ·- -- --- - --- -Soulhoo k �I ThC' Snurlwrn Workman Studies in Black Liternture Ex-Umbra Umbra Yardbird ReadPr �ANT11n1.orrns III•------ - Abdul, Raoul, eel. I_l~e___J_a_g_i_c of Black r>oc~. ~le\, York, 1972 . Ahdul, Rn.ou] nnd /\]an Lomax, ed. 3000 Years of l\l;1d: Poetry . Adams, 1-1:f.lliam, PPter r,onn and Ba rry Slepian, eris. New York, 1970. J\fro-J\merican Literature: Newark, 1966. /\fro-Arts J\ntholo_ey. u r,, Alhami.Bi, Ahmed and llarAn K. Wanf P,ara, eds. R1r1.ck Arts:_ ~~_ntho~~_y of Black 01 Creations. Detroit, 19 70. Amhrose, Amanda. ~ - Nam·e is Black: An Anthology of Rlac l: Poets. New York, 1974 . ..-,. I Am the Darker Rrother : \!doff , Arnold, ed. An Anthology of ~~d_E:._~n Poems by NE>w York, 1968. RlA.ck AnlPri.cDns. "'.'\ Atdoff, Arno]d, ed . It TR the Poem Si.~inr, Into Your \:, idoff, Arnold, ed. Americans. ,., THack Out Loud: New York, 1971. Anthol~ of Modern Poems by THack New York, 1Q70 . Atdoff, Arnold, ed. The Poet1:.Y_of JHaclz America. 'I,:, New York, 1973. Arnold, Davi<l, Ahmos zu-Bolton and J. Shifflet, eds. ;i 1o. Yi~-· The Last Cookie. Vol. I, 1., San Francisco, Calif. 1972. Raker, Houston A., Jr., ed . Black Literature in America. New York, 1971. ".\ Harksdale, Richard and Kenfeth Kinnamon, eds. Rlack Writers of America. ,:.J New York, 1972 s Rattle, nol, ed . Ren. (;hetto ' 68 . 1968. ewarl(, 1969. coul Se~sion. Reni~, Irvin:-,, ed . New Yorl·, The Children. Rp]l, Rl"'rn.1rd W., eel. NeP York, 1071. '!0rl<>rn and C:ont0n:i.r_orarv .i \fro-Aric>ric1rn "Poetrv. The Rest of 4n Acres r>oPtrv. New York, c. 1Q7 2 . Bost on, 1972. �Hlnck PnPts ~rite On! Ph1.1Rclelphj a, 1CJ7n. RontPmps, Arna, ed. J\mPri cnn ''eo, ro Pnetrv. --- RontPmns, Arnn, cnmn . ~ -- - - ---'-=--- ---- - - 'lo rl rast to T\ontennc;, J\rnn, cr1 . r!Pw Yorl·. 194]. rnlrlen Slin.r._pr s . r P,1rn s. New Y0r k , ]Qfi ) . ew Yorl , , Vol. 1-lTT. P.nycl, S11P Ahhntr, Pr-1. _T>_n_<>~n_s_ _h~_B_:1:_;i_c_l·_s. 1070-107?-,lql'/. P,n~man, Pnnl, r d . Ym1 f\ptter Believr Tt. RA It 1 nronks, r.uPnrlolyn, erl . .Tum.r__Bad: Rrooks, r.wendolyn, ed . A llr oadsirle Tre;isurv . imore, Md . , 1973. :n r~y~l eJl_ro Anerican l•!riters. r:nlverton, Victor r. ., ed . lHncl· Mr-f.c.,q . eds. 'T'he Ne~ ro Caravan. Antholor,v of Ameri_c nn WhiS_!?_ers_ from a Continent: 1 rw \fashin~ton, n. C., 1963. lpw York, 1970. An Anth olo Py . 1 r>r ro titPrature . New York, 1929. The Literature of Contemporary York, 1 ()69. Chambers, Bradford anrl Rebecca Moon, eds . Literature. T.PP., Arno, l Q69. !_h_c-:_ __r._l_n_c_l{_ \-Jo!1:l;i~: Cartev, Wil free!. l)etroi.t, 1971. Detroit, 1971. An Ant_h_o l o:3y of Afro-..:.½1xon Poetr_y. Cade, Toni., e<l . C:l iapel llill, N.C ., 1935. A ~J ew C.hi.r .1_r::, Antholo:y. Rrown, Sterltn ,o, A., Art ·• ~ur P. navis~2 nd Plyss<'s Rurninp Spear: Fort Smith, ArlrnnsAs, (.STo.rtin~ ~,tk v'oL,m ~-,Y\Kie 6o~d<>t\ L~~eJed.J "-nnua,Lecl•) T\r;:1wlev, f.r nl:u'lin, ed . New York, l 041: 1971. Rirht On! Anthology of Bla ck New York, 1Q70 . Chapman, Ahraham, ed . Afro-American Slave 'Narrati ves. Chapman, Abraham, e d. 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London, 1 Cl34 . r.nney, l!ari n " , T.i=rn r, Rto n llu r, 1-ie ~ ancl Pruc:e II . Poets . few Yor k 11 rirht, eds. T.inc:o 1 n l_lniversi~ 19S4 . Danner, '1ar " aret. The P.:::-ass House. Danner, Har l'aret. B_e ~r_<2;1.2.:.. Richmon d , Vn. 19611. Pichmonr1 , v~.. , 19f.9. n:1vi c!, .T.--iy, e el. Davi!':, Art1;ur P. ancl ~n 11n .'crs P-.eddin<>, eds. inr __from l7nn _to t 11P T'resPnt. Roston, 1Cl71. navi.s, (;harles T . llf'rl nn n ti?l Walden, C'rls . nee, R11hv, Pr1 . r.1owchil rl. nreer, TJprmnn, ecl . ,...~avri_l_c_~l_r:_:_ _ ti e r ro Ar1erican Hrit- On ncin_r T'.lack: _ Wri.tin.13.s hy Afro- New Yorl · , 1Q72. · Amr-r.icc1n T.iternture by Ne"ro Autlior,=i . n,-, . F.dwardR, C:r09,ory, WavN' Loftin and r.rer,ory Ware, eds . WeelinP, _ Thinkin°, _ Reactin~ •• . . The Rlack Co1'l!11unity Circa, 1971. The F.<litors of Vant8~e Press, compilers . !\Iew York, 1972. New York, 1950 , New Voices in American Poetrr_,__19 7 2 . �T-:llmm~ Pichard an (1 Po or t n' r1air, c>cls. Thr . J\'r._r_tr,n /\1 tholo~y of ~!ocl0rn Poetry. '!0w Yor1, , 1 071. f.'.T11anuPl, JaiTtPS /\moricn. Feldman, /\. and Theoclorf' r:roqs, 0ds. ' Jew York, 19FiP,. and "U f' Cne P0rkins, Pds. F t1'.'Cll<' PoPtry n_r Prison: r-orrl, ''1rk ARron, ed . r:1ov11nni, 'Hl~H . T', l ne t . Tnsif'htg: _ s1..-.nific,1 nt· Literature h_y /\fro-Americang Nir,ht _ ( Cro,rn, ' 1n ry An i't>, eci . , 1 o ri P :,_ S0ftlv . Ne,1a r k, 1. 97] . h_; MRn..t._'"ou r-'oun c1 ··i e J\_g_ai n. Rost on, 1972. ·--:eorPf' 0 ·asha. T::mmett Williams, J ohn Rohert Colom ho and Walter Lowenfels, eds . New York, 1973. _0.P._~n-~o_Pti::y_. lasJam, C:eralcl W. , ed . Fo_r_g_~tten Pages of Ame_r_ican ~i_terature. Hayden, ~ohert, David nurrow~~nd Frederick Lapides, eds. Literature . Po0ms hy JHack r.hic<l~O (D11 S;1h le "-tuseum of Afric;:rn American History), c. 1971. Pri.irnnPrs . GrosA, Ponf11 t Dar_! _ ~"111nho11y: _ i! eP,ro Literature in Bo ston, 1970. Afro-American "Jew York, 1971 . Hayd en, Robe rt, eel. Kaleid oscope: Poems by American Nei:;ro Poets. New York, 1967. Jlende rson, Stephen . _l!_n_cler~ta nding th e New Black Poetry; Black Speech and Black Music as Poetic References . ll ill, Herbert, ed. 194()- 1%2 . New York, 1973. _So_o_n, One Morn~:_ New Writ inf' by Amr,rican Ne~r-~e_!;!_, New York, 1963 . Hollo, AnsPlm, ed. ~e'.:_r_o_ V_,:,._r_s~..:~ London, 1°r,t, �llonkin,, Lee Bennett, comp . On Our Way: _Poem~ o_r _P_r_i_,1_c:__1rnrl. Lov e_. New Yo r k , 19 74 . '.! ew Ynrl<-, 1966 . Hughes , J.ani;ston, ed . The Ro ok o f Ne~r o Humor . Hughes, Lanr,ston, ed . Lo. Pocsie Ne8ro Americain e . Paris : Editions Segher s, 1%6 . llu~hes, Lan~ston, ed . llu?,hE's, Lan re; ton nnd Arna Ron temps, cd s . Rev. ed . THoomingtnn, Ind . , 1964 . !:ew }1egr o Poets 11 . S . A. The_ P_o_r·_t_r_y__o_f__t h_e_ _N~r_o_, _1_9_4_6-19 70 . ~nrden C:ity, New York, 1970 . llunter, Paul, P,qtti Parson and Tom Parson, ed s . Revo] utiomirv Poems. .foci son, nrucc, ed . Q70. 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Blues Fe l l This Morning: Oliver, Pa ul. Conversations with the Blues. Pool, Ros e y. The Me a ning of t he Blues. New York, 1960. New York, 1965. "The Discovery of American Negro Poetry." Freedomways, III (1963), 46-5 1 . Rarnsaran , J. A. "The Twice· ;orn Artists' Si l ent Revolution." Black World, XX (May 1 971), 58 -68 . Randall, Dudley. "Black Bards and White Reviewers." The Black Position, Numbe r 1 (1971), 3, 15. Redd i ng , J . Saunders. To Make A Poet Black. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1939. (re- prin t Coll e ge Park, Maryland, 1968). Redmond , Eugene B. "The Black American Epic: Its Roots, Its Writers." The Black Scho l ar, II (January 1971), 15-2 2 . Redmond , Eugene B . I "How Many Poet's Scrub the Rivers Back?" Confrontation, (Sp ring, 1971), 47-53. Redmond , Eugene B. Lance J e ffers. "Introduction." When I Know the Power of My Black Hand, by Detroit, 1975. Rodgers, Carolyn M. "Blac k Poetry-Where It's At." Negro Digest, XVII (Sept. 1969), 7-16. Rollins, Charlemae. 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"Tlw P,lack Diaspora: and lU nc l· Ame ricans.'' / Wa gne r , .Tean . Time, XCV (April 6 , 1970). 98 -100. Ne gr i. tmle in th e Poetry of West Africans ~lon, XXXIV (ncc emhe r l Q7J), 390-3QR. Le s poPtP s~ , r e s cle s f.u1s-1Jn i s: ct a_n_s___]:.a__p ocsi e <l e P ._J~u~bar a L. Hu {' hes. Wa gner, Jean. Paris, 196 3 . Rlac k Po ets of the Un i ted Stat r s: Lan__gs ton ll u r, hes. Walker, Ma r Raret. White, Newman I. Le sentiment racial eto reliqieux From Paul Lawrence Dunbar to (translation by Kenneth Du u p,lass) Urbana, Ill., 1973. " New Poetstr.) _'Phyla~, XI (1950), 345-354. " Racial Feeling in Ner,ro Po e try." South Atlantic Quarterly, XXI (1922), 14-29. Work , J-'onro e N. ( 1908 ), 73-77. "The Spirit of Ne p. ro Poetr y ." The Southern Horkman, XXXVII �J\hraharns. Rorer. De_~-- -~i:..rn in the Jun_P_l_~:_ 1 errn ~arr at ive Fol k lore from the Streets or P1-ii]a de½2_hfa . _ Hathoro, "Pa . , 1964. n. 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"11eflections on the 0rir-jns of the> Nepro Spiriturll." Negro /\.mcricn.n_ Literature r.orum, III (l96Q) , 01-97. "aior, r.1nr.cnce. 1,farsh, J . P, . T . Dictionary of Afro-AmPricanSl_·in<; . The Storv of the Jubilee Singers:_ With ' l P'-' Yorl-, Q70 . Tl1pj r Sonrs, 7th ed ., London, 1877 . Matthew~, M 11 Sor,r> Sour.c0s of Southcrni.Ams. l'nivPrsi v of /\.Jnhama Press, 19!18 . CL/\ .Touma], YIU (1 °(,9), 5 7-61. ~fors0, .T . Hitchc>ll. "T1w Shuff]i.n<; Sncech of Slr1vC'ry: Enr.lisl:_, Vol. '34, No . n '',lc1ck f'nglish ." ColJ:.Pgi::_ (March 1q73), 334-843 . ncium, llownrr \·' . and r.uv B. Johnson . The Nepro ancl His Songs . Chapel !Jill, N. C. , J 9 25. Odum, llowa rcl 1-lashin~ton and Guy 13 . Johnson . ~! . r. Nep,ro Workaclny Songs. Chapel Hill, . , 1 n 2 n. 01 i.ver, Paul. P.luc•s r.c] 1 T,lis _Morni.n~ : _ The Meaninr, of _the Blues. Sandilnnrls, Alcxancler. /\. llund r ed and Twenty Negro Spiritu~ls . New York , 1960 . Horija, BasotoJ.1nd , 1951 rlnrl J Q(i/; . ScarhorouP,h, W. W. "N0r>,ro r.oJklore nnrl nialect" . Scar.hourouP:t1, Dorotliy. A_I_e_n3_, XVIT (18()7), 186-192 . On the Trail of Ne[\ro Folk So2:&_s . Cambridge , Has s. 1925 . v SliirlPv, 1:nv. 'T'],(, P,on 1· of thp nlu<'s. New Yorl·, 7qr-,1 . rross-Culturnl /\.nl'llvsis . Shuy, f'.on0r \.' . Wns',i.-,ptnll. 11.r ., 1972. niscovcri..nn /\.meric;in Dialects ., C:hnmnn r. ne, Ill.: 10tJiQ.., }1 ntf\l . r.ounc-i 1 nf Tel'lcl-iers of Fn~lish, l 9fi7 . Sl-iny, Rn1>0r H. T'ield_ Tcc 11n\~es in an_ 11rhnn T.:1n~t1<l_1'C' S t ~ . llashinPton, 11 . C.: C:Pnt0r for -"-rrltecl Li.n 1 uistics, 19(,8 . Sl-inv, T'o n 0r 17 • ~c;!:_c_i_:1__ ni.;ilects ;in.-1 l ,1n~ un ~e 1 _:1-1r...1_1_i:_n~ . , on~ t 1r1tf\l rnu11c-i] of 1'Pnc1 ers nf fn".1 i sh, 1061, . C:hr1mrnrn<', TJl. : �P<lshirwtnr>, "' .r,.: -of r,ontr>r for Apnli.Pcl Unnuistic c; , JC) 7n. ___ Otlv--r -P;:ir r> s, Pt1rni c r.ro1ins~ ~n rl -C111 tures. - - - - - - -- - - - -·-· _,.__ - -- - --- - - . - -- 1 1s An :;,· lP!';: Tnrns-F.thnic Educa- r t ion r,o 'TIT" unication T-'ounrlation, 1CJ71. Smith, Arth11r L. ;:i.nd J\r>r 1 roa L. Rich . S111ith, Arthur 1.. -~h_eto_r_i.c of RPvo_l__u_t:__t_o_n_:_ __ S;:unuc] Aciams, Roston, 19fiQ. RhPtoric of R]ack Rcvoluti0n. Smith, i\rt'lur L. and StPrh,m Robb. TliP Voice of nJ.;:i.ck Rhetoric: Selections. Ros- ton, ]CJ71. Smit l1erman, r.P.neva . \\ "' r.ocl Don I t Never Change I : Rl::ick rnrlish from a Rlack Per- Colle~e Enr,lish, Vol. 3L1, No. 6 (March ]_()7J), 828-8]3. specti.v c ." Spaldin<c, llenry n., ed. F.ncycloped j~c_1~f_ Rla~ 1, Folklore.' And Humor. Middle Village, }'.ew Yor k , 1()72. Stewart, 11.A. "Cont:fnuity and Ch:rngP in American Ner,ro Dialect." Florida Lanr,ua~€_ --~P..r__ort 7-:) (1 %8) . Sulliv:1 n, Philip F. . " Huh RRbbit: r.ojn ~ Throu r,,h the Chanr,es." Studies in Black Literature, Vol. t.., No . 2 (Summer 1973), 28-12. Talley, T. W. ~_ro Vol k Rhymes , Wise c1ntl Otherwise. Thurman, llowarrl. Turnf'r, J.orP.nzo D. nee_r__~iver. New York, J.922. New York, 1955. Africanisms in thP r.ullr1h Dir1lPct. llniversity of Chicago PrPss, J(l4Q: Tlniversitv of Michigan Press, J.()74. Twj_r,r,s, Rohert· }l;i.ss . , 1973. n. Pan-Afr:f.c an J.anrur1.1:£. in the WPstern llemisph~re. North Quincy, �Twini..ni'. , l!,1.ry Arnold. tive." f._T:._A_ Journal, YTV (lq]()), 57-F,l. W<'lm<'rs, Hillir1m E . White, 1 "An Anthropolorica] tool: n , Afrn-AP1<'riC"fln T'olk Nar:i.a- Pwrnan I. J\frico.n Laneuar.<' Structures. Mcri_can \lo frarn, FFtltPr A . Washinntnn, n.C .: n . C.: Work, .Tnhn W. - - - - -- -- -- - - - Foll-- SonP,s . CPntPr for Applied T.in~uistics, 196g. 1ona J--1. Clarke, rnack-l·'lti_rc Speech_ RelA tinnsh~. t.Pnt<'r for Appliecl Lin<1u I.st ics, 1 g71. ""!e~ro r.'ol]r_ Songs." - r.ar.i~1riclp,e, Hass., 1928 . A Sociolinr,u1.stic nescri..r.._t_in n of netroit "e~ro Speech . Wo] fram, !Ta 1 tPr A . ,rnci Wo.shin~ton, NpP,ro llniv. of Cr1.lif . Press , 1973, 0n_p_o_r_tunity_, T (1Q~3), 292-294. �:-~. DISC0r.RAPHY J\1\TT) TAPE I'::lf'X -----·------- - - - - - - - A.Collections (nhono~rn1~ f-'rl . hy ALrn T,or1nx . 1.ibrarv of Con r;re ss ,, 2 As ch Jr". Afro-A1;1l"' r-Jc: .~ n_ C'.n-!.ri_t11,,_ls ,_ \'ork Sonrs :1rnl 11:il_lads . Ed . 1,v Alim LoM.,x . /\ r.nthc•rinn,_ nf r.r0nt Pnctr" for r.hilclrPn,_ Vo l . _ ?. . \• 1 /rwendolvn P. roo ks . Folkm1vs CFledMon Tr: 1 7- 3A . A l!Rnc1 is on the r.;ite . f\ir . hy Rosco<' Lee Rrown0 . F'o 1 hrnys 904(). Atlantic 1350 . tA~P Senes . An1erican Poems of Pntriot:ls1:1 and Prose . /\nj_mR) Tnll"'s Told in r.uJJr1h Dialect. Anthology of ! usi.c of P.J c1ck Af rica . -----· - ----- ··----------------A 1 :',nt_~o_l_n_P_y_ _o_f_~~e-.f_Y_:?__P_o_r:._t'._3_ . Incl. James Welclon .Tohnson . I'd . hv nuncan F.mri.ck. Caedmon AAFS L4l1-46 . F.vt>rest 32511/J . Fi. by Jirna flontem f' S . (ReRd hy Langston lluRhes , Ster in r, T>,rown, Clnude McKay, Countee Cu J e• , '!a r ga ret Wa) k e ~Gwendolyn nrooks .) folkwnys R0co r ds FL 9 7') 91 . Ra~ism : __ A .J ourne_y_ Through Our Time . Cullen. V3nguard vsn nir. hy Maynard Solomon . I ncl. Countee Recorded by Hugh Tracey. Columbia KL 213. 792 75. Ran tu ' lusic From Rritish Ea st Afric a . �Reen in _t hP Stor.m so 1.onp, : _ Snirituals .:inr. _Shouts , Chi lrlren' s Came _Sonr,s . Folkways Records PS ') ~V12. RCA Victor 1,0C 6nnr . _R_e_1:'.'l_f _n_n_t_0_ l'lt __r._r1._r_n_e_g_i_P_ I0_ll_. l~yond _thP P.l nes_: Americnn NE>r,ro PoPtrv. Erl. 1 •' oscv ,v 1· • Vinette Carroll, Cleo LAine, Cordon J1Path, nroc l Peters.) P.l;:1ck _Scrn_r in_ Prose , Po e trv ancl_ Son.[:, \lo • I . Ppr Poo] . (R0acl hy ARC() RC. 338 . f . hy Vi nnl e Burrows. OJn . Snoken Arts SA P.lack Sc_<>n_0_ in Prose ,_ Poetrv and Sor~_['✓ Vo l. IT. Perf. hy ViRnie Burrows . SpokPn Ar t s SA )011 . nlack Sp_i ri.ts. lot01-m/P- ] nck r.orum B - 456 - L. The Rlac k Voices: On th 0 Streets in Watts. Classics of American Poetrv . Weldon Johnson . ALA Records 1970 Stereo. w/r.artha Kitt . Tncl. Lanr,ston lfur,hes and James Card~an TC 2041. (:u_l_t _n_rn_1_ _F_1_n1,1-r_r_i_nL :__ J1~t;ci_:1_<:_ _R_n_d_T_:._1:__t~_r:__A_t_u_!_<::._ . F'olhmys F'T. 9(171, FL 9792 FL 9790, 1 FL () 7 :1 ~ , F.T 2 8 Mi , FT. 2 C) 4 l , r. A 2 A') 9 . -- neep So11th Sc1crecl and Sinful . Perf. by Ressie Jones. Southern Journey Series. Prestipe I ntrrnat onr1.l 25005 . Discovorin" T.i ter11t11rc>. Incl •. fames 1-!e] clon .lohnson and Lanp,ston Hur.hes. Th0 So11nd of 1.Hernture. DruMs for r.ocl . Hou~hton-Mi fflin 2-262-18. (Recor d od live in Carneroone, Cnn f_ o, Ethionia, Lihrria, Malaswi, ~x_ll_l_o_r _i _nr __T._i_t _P_r_a_~u_r_!'_. ExquisitP YPl.1.ow . \.I /f :irtha Kitt. llouphton-Mif f lin 2-2()248. Incl . Paul Laurence Dunbar. Theatre Alumni Associates. Suny, J\lhany, Npw YCl r k . TzCA Victor tSr.27 il l �Prcstinc Tnternati o nn l 25n02. _TJ1_e_~ _l _o_r_v__o_f__"_P}~r_o_Jl_jc..s_t_o_r__y_. Pritten nnd ' ;nrr:1tE> cl hv T.nn '· ston Tlur,hC's . Folkways vr, 177S 2 (nrw no. FP 75 2) . r.ocl ' s_ Tnmhon_rs aric1 Sr] rc:tPcl 20th _C0nt111y ~~r o Pnct r__y . Johnso n , .t\I ·fcP Childress , ;rnd P. Jay Sidney . Jazz C:a nto_ - Vol. T •__ Poetry Jazz /\lhur1 . John ' s Ts]nnrl,_Its P~nnlP nnd SonRS . Frlncationn] Audio Visual 75 R 440 . Rearl hv LanPston HuP,hes. World Paci- Folkways FS 3A4n. Les Ral]ets_ /\f'riuli ns ,1 e Ke ita Fodeba, Vol. Missa T.uha . Perf . hy James Wendell L nisgues Vogue CLV1 .X 29 7. ~ . ~ Sunr. hy Joachi.m Nr, o i and Les Tro ubadours du Roi Ha-._clol\in . Ph illi p s PCC nnFi. Hu!=!ic nown 1io1'1c. Er1 • hy C:harles Erlw;ircl Smith. Music From the Sout l1. Folkw1:ivs FA 2691 . Fi.eld Rec ordin r s hy FrrdC'ric RRmsf'y Jr. Fo kways FP 650-59 . Music _of Jcriu,1todal A~ r i.ra . Nation!'ll Poetry Fcstivn1. Recor ded hv An<lre Didie r. Folkways FP 4402 . Incl. r.wenc1nlvn n r ooks nnrl L11n r ston Tlui;hes . of Con Pr es s IMO 386R, 3R69 , 3870 . ) Ne ~ro Plues and Hol la rs . Ed . by Marshall W. Stear ns . AAFS L59 . Library �!fo~r_o __T':_o_:!:\ ~~1_s_ic of Africa~nd America . i 1 r.r Folkways 4 r,1)0 . Perf . by Ella Jenlr.i.ns a n cl r.r oup . ef:_~_ _r:_o_l}c. _~_'.1,V_tJ:JA.s_. Folkways :-A 23 74 . -.../ Fo kwavs RPcorrls P/117-418 1171-4711. ''0P,ro r.o_llc _~u_s_-t_c:__o_f __A_l__a_l:__;~:~'1_. Ner, ro r.onson~s and Tunes . \.1/ Elizar,0th Cotten. '!er,ro "011,_ Snn?,s for Youn :> Peo£_le Su~ }Jer,ro_ Po_0ts in l'SA. _1 l,eadhC'_l ly . Sun" hy HeclcUP Ledbe tt e r T-'ol1<ways 9 7 91. Fol'.:ways 9 792 . c>g ro Prison r:a~ \lark Sn n~s . hl e~rn Prison ~on"s. 'olkway s FC 3526. Folkwavs 441 7 / :> 41, 7 1 / 4 . lle r,ro T'olk Stories an<l "usic . Jegro Pof'ts_ Antholo<>v . nv 1 Folkways FE 44 7 5 . P0 r f . hy Mississ i ppi Stat P PPnitPntiarv Prisoners . Trn(litinn RPcorcs TLP 1()20 . er,ro_ ~Pll _ious Sonrs_ancl Services . T'd. by TLA . Rotkin. AAFS J.10 . ~ 1'_ey_r _ o__S_o_n_P,_s _, _S_t_o_r_i_e_s__a_n_d_ _P_n_e_t_r__y_ f::.9_1:_ _Y_o_u_n_f ___P e_o_1J_)_e_. 1'Jer,ro \-!or'!( _Son7.s a n d_ Calls . :_r_~_e___ew__Rl_:ir._1,__P_o_E:_~ry_ . . ew .Tr1zz Po0ts . f.'.cl. Ed . by Play not kin . -, ec o r rl s FC - 7110 , AAFS 18 . 1"'.rluca t io n al Aurlie Visufll IPR 136 . hv Walte r LowPnfels . New_port _1()'3 8 , t-faha11<1 Jackson . 2.,sn n. A . Fo 1 kwa vs AR Re c ords RR 461 (B r oadside ). Co lumhia r,s 80 71. v. nr,n . rir_ '_ n :rnr _0 Son<>s an,1 'T'un0s . cord in" ,\/\f.'S T,(). Re cor cls r-s - 11nn,q , r-'.<l . hv n . A . Rot'·i n . T.i hr<1ry of Con°rPss Re- �an<l T',c>n T/ri<•ht . i.'nrl,.1 n.'lcific R.ecorrls. _f'_o!'-_t_r_v__n_f_ _t_J,_r_ tc.<>r_o_ . Poets for n0,1ce . I P,pa, 1 hy SidnPv Po;t\tier anil '•n ris 11elacJ.-. . ncrf. hv Owen Dodson. Spok0 •1 'rts 90) P_ r:Jorv r.LP-1. FiP.-25S2 . wet rd ~o_C'_t_r_" __T_n_t_C'_r_n_,-i_1:_i~_!'_fl_l _ Tncl. E ~ e . 2 Ar · o HPR. 71'.i2 l3. Poets nf ' 10c;t Tnrli.C's . R._ayn_in' CANlm0n s. .l _;i,- 7-_ i.n a ·'1ii _r-c,__\Jo_r_l_:__cl . 11 r~fl~ctinns on ;1 1:17(). PPrf. hv ThP "ntts Pronhets. r.i_ft o f \In :crmclon Pic 1· 10 Tl1e Rhvthmc; of thf' \for rl . a 1 ' Al.A 1971. ' thr-r : fod <· rr Verse . Writ ten and ::11rrn t ed hv La rr~to lncl. Lanr,s- llup,hes . Folkways FC 7340 (nrw no. FP 740). P,oots of nlnck AJllerica. Vnit0rl StatPs.) (Traces Black Music from Africa to the Caribbean to Fol~wnvs Q704. Savannah S~vncor!\tors~Afric1rn Retentions in the !Hues . _SeJ_m_;i_ _r_r_P~C'_rl_n!"_ SonP,s . ....- nocumentr1ry Rccordinr hy r.arl Ren ert . S:J.dn~_y_ Po_ttiPr RPads Po0tr.1._of the Blackman SinJlers_ in _t1ie nus]~. Procl . bJr,aul Oliver • 1 '/noris Belack . ~~usic, poems read by Charles Lampkin. Folkways FH 5594. l! nitecl Artists Ficker Reco r dinr, Servicr> XTV 25689 . (T'!-)irty three s1<ip rope p,ames rec11rdPd in r:vanston, Ill. .) SonP,s_ o_f __the_Selrn1' ' Tontromc~_Marc 11 . P <'~ r. 1 ,y "ett ''ee r, P.r anrl others 5j>cctru111 in__nl Rcl: :__ r>o0ms by 20th Centur_y~r_· PoC'ts. Folk- Folk - Scott, Foresman and Co. 4149. �Sp).ritua ls rt_ Foltlo rc. -~_i_r_i_t_u_n__ls . St1, .,~ by Harry Belafont c . Pcrf . hy P01,1rtrd Univ. Choir . RC.'\ 430 - ?13 . RCA Virtnr T '! ~126. S~ken Antholopy of J\meri.cnn Literature: the 20 t:h C.cn tu_r_y . Johnson and CounteP C11llen . (Rea,] hy Jm'1PA '.- 1 • Incl . James Weldon Univ . of Arizona nr e ss Rrco rds R63-1127 . Jolrnsnn, L;:mpston Hu{>hf'S , Co1mtee Cu .1 Pn, ()wen nod son, rwPnd nl yn n roo ks .) SA-P-18. Ster_l_:IA~. _P._r _o_\·:'_!1__P_e_<,:1_s_ ]'_i_r.; __Poetry . T~_e__S_t _0_ry_ _o_r_:1__,7__7._z_. 1-.'ri.tt Fol kw,, vs FT . 9790. rn anct Nar r :itcri hy 1.,nr,ston llur- 11c s. Foll~wc1vs FC 7 312 . Stnt~r-1.e _fnr f'rcerlorn ._ Fo]kwnys FH'i7J 7, Fll551 J, FD5525, FJl5 5 ()2, Fll5522, FD5252, FH5523, FC77 57. Toda~ PoetR, Vol . IV . Incl . Robt . Hayden . :r_o_u_".. 1 _Po_rn1_R_ _f_o_r __T..'2_'lf'._h_ _r_"..°_.!:}_e_. C:nec1 r· nn nrrn rds, Tnr . V.1 . urs -!n T.Hrraturr•. Scholastic Records FS11004 . non T.. T.rp's. fthPrfclPe Kninht 1 R Poetry. Inr (1_')71.) . Tnrl. Jamrs l'el rlon .Tnhrc;on. llo 11 r- 11ton- 1iffli.n '.'-26/1Qq , ll., 1·1al1r To :• rt110_r _ rhil rlrpn_:__ T' 1e Sun <; 1-iy 11jnni.r n urrnPs. _1Hnc 1~ Scrne__ in P rns~ Pnetrv _and _SonP,. Ref\d anJ Snoken Art s S". 1030. ~:or1,' r.,nn ,1 c; ''r<>ro Snirit,,nls. ·--- --- - - - --- - ~--- ..I>- ·------ - Pr>rf. Brait1i.wait e , f'.cl11n r c . TR .:i.n d s. Aro,o P.n1it1Pai.t0, fclwar rl . P;isks . ,-,,,, ,isle nu, l11 l•il]0p S i.n rP rA. 1184 / 5 . Ar?-,o PT .P llf1J. Folkways FA 2372. �'', rown, r.l;,inc . Sci:>:e t 11C' Tim0 . Rcarl nn ,.' Su!1" h.r Hrown, StcrJ.in". nncl nurhC's _T.anr,s t oj Rrown, srr,rl i.n ·' <1n<1 1 laine 1,rown . Vault 131. \fo r ks of Sr,,rlinl'.c_ r,_rown and Lnn~s ton ft1p}~Lani; s toj f.olkwr1vs 0 7 94 . A-"lama SCW 1 rn . r.ortez, .J;wne . C:p10hr:1tions nnrl Solit11d 0 s . Strata "'- Ea st ~ecorrls, Tn c . SES -7 421 . Crouch, S tan]ey . Flyin o Du tchm,_ a n FDS 105 . Cu llen, C::ountPe . Dorlson , OwC'n . To MaJ,0 A Poe t nlack . The Dr cnM Awake . Ca e dmon S-1'1nn . Spo ken Ar t s SAJ095 . Fahio, Sr1 r ah WE>h s ter. Hoss Sou l. Folkway s FL · 9 7 Fabio, Sarnh \•'eh s ter . Soul Ai~_'._!J ~ u l Is . Giov anni, 1''.ikld . L:lkc A _Rin.r_le On A Pond_. r.iowmni, llH:ld. . J'ru_tl1_ _T_s On I t s Way . 11 upl-ics, L,inc'.ston . T~ughes, Lan .~ ston . THack Ve r se . n. Fo lkwa y s Q7l] . Niktom L12nn . San111 (J 97] ~ R,~kt-On RQ~ {I_(< 05001 , Rudcl;:ih 20()5 . T)id You Ev e r Hea r _T_~ ~-~l~_~s_? Dig :• illn ' s Renctition s of. .• Tlnited Artists ~L 3()47 . Hughes , Lrn.o ston . ThP flreaM l<'..ecper _and nther Poems _of J.anzston ~1p,_he~ . Read hv Lan~ston Hughes . T<o]kways FC 7l04 ( new .'. o . FT' 104) . �Poe!"ls P,y L.-i.naston . Htwlws . Hughes, T,;i_n",Ston . Reel 1 hv Lin~ston 1 111r,hes . 11.fr~ Records 45L1 . Hur.hes, T,an"ston . v-rr: llunl-v,s. 1rn f.'orun 1, The Poetrv of LanP,ston Hur.h r s. Cr1edT!l C\ n (1968 ) . 1_27:_ (C;i_ ecJno n 12 72) . 5 '3 . Johnson, '.!r>l r1o n .Tm'1es. '~o ur Readtn<'.S From C:n rl ' s Tromhon •s . Johnson, .T rtmc->s \'cld on . r.or1 .Tohnson, r.orJ ' :; Tronhoncs . .Tonrs, .J.1r1Ps \.'elrlon . 'r; Poll·wa ys FL 9783 . Tromhoncs . Rea d bv 11a rol r1 Scott . Bl;icl· :1n' l\<'ri utifnl ... So11l a nd 'iacln0ss. l.<'';c,~. ny .T;imes W. John son . The T.nst Pn0r-c; . r.hns ti.s one nt . The Lnst P rw ts . T 11c l..:i.st Poets . RJ U<' l'ni ted Artists Ji.h .1r Prod1 1c ti.ons Jihnd Jno1 . Th11mh TITS 1') . Past l! jnd AssocL'.1tes, li o1 1P,l as J. The L1st Poets . ri.erlmonrl, rw•rne P, . Scott-Peron, ra 1 . Scott-Heron, C:il. n nor 1 T.i.nks and Sricrerl PL1ces . 1\lack 1?.iver \.!ri ters 110- 13 �,I Scott, ' l0rnn . ~i] . Sr1 ;1 l l J\t 12 Stl1 And Len n·: . 1';:iJl: fl vi.nP. 1, utc 1 1"lfln Prod . , Lt d . FDS-111. Van Peebles, ·:pJvin. J\in'_t S_':!. Pnosc<l _to T'\ io Vc1.n Ppohlps, '·'elvin . ",r e r Soul. /1_ ~ctt . 11r ,1J. J\ & ~1 SP /11(, 1 J_J·! SP f',-, nth. 4223. • (3 , ~ing J..0 noe t s ( tape) P,rool• r, , r.wen d o] vn. r.';:i"lil v Pictures. r.r.1anuo1, J ,1P1 os /\ . Pr1nt l-ier 1·1an . Emanu0J, .J An c s /\ . 1'11 e n ,r rlsi.d e Vo i re s. 'T'rcE'ho11se and Oth<>r PnPms . t-40.rpe.-.> Mic. h o.e L). -~fii',~et-~ ~ llod~c s , T-'roncJ.i,., Jolene . Jeffers, T.flnce. f.roadsidc · '.\1ices . Blacl -. WisdoTTJ . Knight, rtherid~e . ~_pirits 11ncha_ined . Poems From Pr ison . J.ee, non T.. Peadin '_Anrl Ra.JlT)in'. Lee, non J. . lie Walk The Wav of The New World. Randa 1, nudlev . Broad s ide Voices . ;md~ _C_.i_~i-~s r,urnin-; . Pomecomi.n 0 . Sanc11e:>:, Sonia. !'~!:___~'l_<i_d_T)nD People . X, ~arvin . LP-RR-1 . Broadside Voices . The !~ock_~_g_r v Ou':_ . 'Poem Cnun --- t Prnoe111 - ~- - . Broa,iside Voices . Br oadside Voice s. Broadside Voices. ~roadside Voices . 'roph_ets . f o r . /1. Ne\l nav. Black ~an Listen . nroadsido Voi c e s. nroar1side Voices . Sanc he "'. , Sonir1. 1 This Land_. Rr oacside Voices . Randall, nur lcv and [ n a n ~ f a r r , ~ . Walker , t1argarPt. r LLiri 0·1~ °P r, esS• Broadside Voices . ~o~~~_g_r:.y_, Scream . \! . ~ r !> ,·\y o I=' Hroadside Voices . Lee, Don L. f·lurphy, Tkatri.ce IJ Broa ,' s j de Vo i ce,. 2v__~1,_n_c:.!_~n_ess__1:_s__th~ _P,p ~ ~r- l(~ositosi.lo, l'c=>orapctsP . Hr nndc..l d e \7oj ces . -Qwr, tiiai;i;:fbw. \J n Rroadside Voice s . Broadside Voices . � 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. Text Any textual data included in the document 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_08_55 Title A name given to the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Bibliographic Index, p. 576-623, typed manuscipt with handwritten edits Description An account of the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Bibliographic Index, p. 576-623, typed manuscipt with handwritten edits. Also includes a title page. 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> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/9406075f94798cf15a6b9f6ceae69b82.pdf 0773fbb4a6615ce9668319e9ba59bbdd PDF Text Text \j I ', \ \ \ HANDBOOD TO BLACK POETRY (overview-Outline) by Eugene B. Redmond This book is designed to augment courses in Black Poetry (or Black Literature) and to complement related areas of study: American Literature, Black Studies, African Literature or Studies, American Poetry, English Poetry, Humanities, Music, History, etc. in mind: It is also prepared with community-oriented persons Those desiring to develop writing or literature clubs, Black History study groups, special workshops and seminars for community gatherings or to commemorate an important event or person. Outline I. II. III. Introduction (Problems, range, Black identity, needs, e c.) Course Anatomy and Development; Primary Texts A. Discussion of course organization and texts, including lengthy textbook lists and suggested related readings. B. A unit-by-unit breakdown/discussion of a course in Black Poetry; the six units cover Black Poetry from 1746 to the present; ecCl:::h unit includes a Literary/Social. Backgr ound and related sub-topics. Exploring Black Poetry: Classroom Dynamics A. Detailed discussion of meaning and form in Black Poetry, including comments on reading the poetry silently and aloud. B. Commentary/explication using a representative selection of poems to reinforce theories and statements already advanced. • C. IV. v. Student exercises including in-class and out-of-class reports; also, a list of recording artists and Black orators whose works can be studied in conjunction with the literary poetry. • Gloss ry of selected terms used in the study of Black Literature in general and Black Poetry in particular (optional). Brief note (warnings/suggestions) to teachers of Black Literature/Poetry • • �1 r' I .• • VI. Selected Bibliography, including a note which considers some of the specific problems of the student of Black Poetry and the Black Experience. NOTE: This handbook is not intended as an anthology since so many such compilations exist. Rather it is seen as a correlative to the study of Black Poetry and Black Literature in general. As a teacher-poet sho yearly travels throughout the country to lecture on/read Black Poetry, I have first hand knowledge of the needs of most teachers in this area. A handy guide to Black Poetry--in view of the countless anthologies and single collections, and the high interest in the subject--is the number one priority as far as teachers and students are concerned. � 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_08_01 Title A name given to the resource Handbook to Black Poetry, overview-outline, typed manuscript, second draft 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/2b961a62f2a23a95261fda8bfd5e2508.pdf 61a84f3528a089885c5e0e09b8d4f26b PDF Text Text HANDB~ b a ~ JRY by ~ugene B. Redmond This book is designed to augment courses in Black Poetry (or Black Literature) and to complement related areas of study: American Literature, Black Studies, African Literature or Studies, American Poetry, English Poetry, Humanities, Music, History, etc. It is also prepared with community-oriented persons in mind: Those desiring to develop writing or literature clubs, Black History study groups, special workshops and seminars for community gatherings or to commemo~ate an ~portant event or person. Outline I Introducti.on(Problems, range, Black identity, needs, etc.) II Course Anatemy and Development; Primary Texts A. Discussion of course organization and texts, including lengthy textbook lists and suggested related veadings. B. A unit-by-unit breakdown/discussion of a course in Black Poetry; the six units cover Black Poetry from 1746 to the present; eacnunit includes a Literary/Social Background and related sub-topics. III Exploring Black Poetry: Classroom Dynamics A. Detailed discussion of meaning and form in Black Poetry, including comments on reading the poetry silently and aloud. B. Commentary/explication using a represent~tive selection of poems 1D reinforce theories and statements already advanced. c. IV Student exercises including in-class and out-o~-class reports; also, a list of recording artists and Black orators mose works can be studieA in conjunction with the literary poetry. Glossory of selected terms used in the study of Black Literature in general and Black Poetry in particular{optional). (over) �V Brief note \warnings/suggestions) to teachers of Black Literature/ Poetry. VI Selected Bibliography, including.A. note which considers some of the specific problems of the student of Black Poetry and the Black hxperience. Note: This handbook is not intended as an anthology since so many such compilations exist. tiather it is seen as a correlative to the study of Black Poetry and Black Literature in general• yearly As a teacher-poet who/travels throughout the couatry to lecture c on/read Black Poetry, I have first hand knowledge of the needs of most teachers in this area. A handy guide to Black Poetry-- • in view of the countless anthologies and single collections• and the high interest in the subject--is the number one priority as far as teachers and students are concerned. � 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_08_02 Title A name given to the resource Handbook to Black Poetry, overview-outline, typed manuscript with handwritten edits 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 Handbook to Black Poetry, overview-outline, copy 4 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/e316df3df9a1855a717bf7c8c6542c5c.pdf 7ed964d6f5c281b4f33a3da59f30542f PDF Text Text \ II COURSE ANATOMY AND DEVELOPJ.'IE:FT: -PRIHAHY TF.XTS There are numerou s approaches to teachin13 or. studying Black Poetry. At the outset, the teacher or student must determine specific and general objectives. We have already listed several reasons why students enroll in a Black Poetry course. Additionally, there are countless reasons why churches, community organizations, poetry clubs, interdisciplinary studies programs, and students persuing t na ependent study, would want survey or unit-study approaches. In developing a prescribed course of stud:r, consideration has to be given to book costs and the classrcom environ~e nt--that is, student preparation, classification in school, racial br eakdown (all-Black and all-white cl~rn,3er.; w:i.11 be c3iffersnt), and whether or not many are English or Ethn1c Studie3 il'.ttj ors. Ideally, the survey course is the best overall approac~ --with appropriate modifications in time fratnes and historical landmarks. Most teachers of Black America n Literature, for example, usually disregard the 1865 break (in American Literature courses) and brine the first of the two-part sequence of courses up to the Harle m Renaissance of the 1920 1 s. Many begin a course in mocJer n Black writing with the Harlem period. Still others begin a general study with the first 20th century author s . Assuming that a course of study is to consider the historical range of Black Poetry, I will SURGest, first, an 25 �ideal pattern to follow. Six units ma keu p t he ide8.l c our se. However, units contain several combinations and intr a-patt erns for either specialized or generalized study. The six units are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Roots of Black Expre s sion and the Folk Tradibion Early Black American Poets (1746-1G65) Dialect Poets; Development of the Authentic Voice (1865-1910) New Trends & Defiance: Harlem Renaissance (1910-1930) The Modern Black Poets (1 930-1954) Contemporary Black Poets: Ci v:i.l Ri ghts to Black Power, Protest to Black Arts (1954 to Present) Planned economically, a book list to accompany the foregoing course could inplude, but is not limited to, the followin g : Lerone Bennett, Jr., Before The Mayflower (optional) William H. Robj_nson, ed ., Ear1yBTacTt7i:riierican Poets James Weldon Johnson, ed., The Book ofAme rican Negro Poetry Abraham Chapman, ed., Bla.ck""""Voice_s_ -· Margaret Walker, For Myl'eople ( op t ional) June Jordan, ed., Soulscript Etheridge Knight, Poems F1r o·m Prison (optional) The brief course outline and the boo k J. i.s t. a.re arbitrary. ~ So before we move to a unit-by-unit d-i-s-e-e-t-~~n of the course, some discussion of problems and implications is in order. Unit titles of courses in the Black Experience invariably politically loaded. Though not alwa.y:J de sir able, such a situation is difficult to avoid. Much Black writing (of whatever genre) occurs out of the stresses, pressur es and anxieties Blacks have felt since the days of slavery. Initial tribal decimation; ensuing physical, psychological nnd sexual exploitation; the creolization of the race; the creation of DuBois' "twoness" against the comp lex of American puritanical duality; the corruption of Black reli ~ion; the destruction of 26 �the "mother" African languages--these and countless other indignities fuel and re-fuel Black writing . One can say with some authority, then, that Black American Poetry reflects and chronicles the odyssey of Black Americans. Throughout the history of this people, its poets have recorded the pressures and conflicts from various levels of artistic intensity and sensitivity and forms, via various points of view and tones. Obviously, too, there has con- tinued to be !!quality!! distinctions in the poetry. A glance at almost any unit, syllabus or even lecture title for a Black Poetry course will indicate the political nature of the Black Experience. W'hen the poems themselves have not been political, the commentaries on them have been. ·when the poets have not consciously taken "political" stands, their work bas often been judged as being outside the nstrugglel!--a political comment in itself. Hben the poets have not intended to write or speak obsessively about politics or ideoloGies, their keen sensitivities, their humanism, and their race pride (Cullen, Hayden) have made their works formidable opponents to bigotry, social alienation and racism. Lastly, and banging like a pall 07er all of this, is the problem of gettin8 published. Publishers view Black writing against the crests, slumps and peaks of profits--and do not, for the most part, seek to develop the culturally-thirsty Black or white potential readin 0 audie nce. Course outlines and book lists often reflect the foregoing conflicts and contradictions. Adding kindling to the fire will be the newl::r a ttu r; ,:: d s tu dF.)nts and r•ea.ders who are 28 �often within the thralls of new or re v i ved i deolo gi e s- - sometimes the ideolo gy of a particular poet. Realizing all the pro blems, and the web of pain and joy out which they de veloped, the teacher will certainly want to conf ron t the political overtones headon, but will re mind student s that t he y are studying the poetry. A good example of how teachers and antholoe ists of Black Literature set up a potential course outline is found in the table of contents to Cavalcad e . The gene ral headings are as follows: Pioneer Writers: 1760-1830 Freedom Fi ghters: l GJ0-1 8 65 . Accomodation and Pro te st: 1365 -1 91 0 The New Ne gro Rena i ssanc e and Bey ond: Inte gration Versus Black Na.t i onal i s rn : The Present 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1910-1954 1954 To In his Instructor's Guide to Accompany 'Cavalcade', Charles H. Nichols, author of Many Thousand Go ne, e;i ves suggested course outlines for several component courses of t he Black Experience. Broad headings for his course in poetry are: I. II. III. IV. V. VI. The Folk Tradition : wor k sone;s, spirituals, blues and jazz Early Versifiers: A Discussion of the Relation of Ne gro Poets to t h e Engli s h Literar y Tradition The Emergence of the Orir:; ina l Black Poet The Harlem Henaiss e nce Contemporary Poet s The New Black Poe t in search of an Identity It is clear that there is less preo c cupatio n with politics in Nichols' outline for poetry than in Cavalcadets tahle of contents. Yet, re-reading Nich ols' out line, one is struck by the absence of the word "Black" until Section III. lJichols ref'ers to his outline as a suggested "Course In Ne gro American Poetry." . Many teachers and cr itics appear to use the word "Black" in reference to a certain kind or e r a of poetry. 29 �Others use all references to pe rsons of African extraction interchangeably: Black, 1fo e::ro, Afro-American, Colored, African-American, etc. Needless to say, the teacher will be pressed for answers to this seemine;ly innocuous but very perplexing aspect of classroom interaction. In the Black community, however, all terms are still e mployed--depending on age and locale. In November of 1967, Ebony conducted a poll to ascertain which of the names readers most preferred. Reporting on the poll, Lerone Bennett, .Jr., said in part: This question is at the root of a bitter national controversy over the proper desi gnation for identifiable Americans of African descent • ••• A large and vocal group is pressing an aggressive campaign for the use of the word '~fro-American" as the only historically accurate and humanly significant desi gnation of this large and pivotal portion of the Ame rican population. The group charges that the word nNe gro 11 is an inaccurate epithet which perpetuates the master-slave mentality in the minds .of both Black and white Americans. An equally lar ge, but not so vocal, group says the word "Ne gro" is as accurate and as euphonious as the words "black" and "Afro-American. 11 • • • to make things even more complicated, a !:;bird group, composed primarily of Black Power a dvocates, has adopted a new vocabulary in which the word "black II is reserved for "black br•others and sisters who are emancipating themselves. 11 Poet Dudley Randall, whose wit and irony are often on par with Tolson and Frank Marshall Davis, wr•ote "An Answer to Lerone Bennett's Questionaire On A Name for Black Americans". In the poem, Randall traces the historical uses and derivatives of' the words "black" and "Ne gro" amone; the Spanish, Anglo-Saxon and Arabian "slave-traders." Neither wor•d, Randall notes will ••• put a single bean in your belly or an inch of' steel in your spine. 30 �I Giving a new name to something will not chan ge the essential character or meaning of the renamed, says Randall, and If the white man took the name Negro and you took the name caucasian, he'd still kick your ass, as long as you let him. In the course outlines and the table of contents listed above one can detect the vastly flexible format available to the teacher or student of Black Poetry. However, since everyone will have neither time nor desire to plun~e into an historical investigation of the poetry, other types of units and outlines can be organized. (On many campuses the popu- larity of Black Poetry courses, coupled with relative teacher shortages, makes it impossible to conduct a survey course over a two-semester or three-quarter period. Hence the teacher ends up having to repeat "quickie" courses each semester or quarter in order to handle the flow of students. This is not desirable since the teacher and students need the pace accorded other courses.) There are, of course, dozens of ideas and themes around which courses or units can be developed. Teachers and students with special interests ma:y desire a.spec ts of Black Poetry as integral parts of other on- going studies programs or f'or thesis projects. Teachers working with basic skills clinics may want to e ~plore Black Poetry as a vehicle for classes in reading, writing and speech. Carefully devel- oped units can fit into courses in American Literature, American Poetry, Interdisciplinary Studies, Ethnic Studies, Humanities, Music Studies, Theatre Arts, Communication Studies and Linguistic Skills. Courses can be or ganized around 31 �individ ual uriters for upper level or s raduate work ; around significant social or poli t ical e ve ~ts; ar ound wars or social turbulence; around Black fa mily issues a nd studi.es of n a.le and female psyches, a n d ar ound Black women. Per haps it would be helpful to list some other alterna ti ves and possi b ilities in developing aspects of Black Poetry for s tudy . The following list, certainly not all-inclusive, prese nts a rich sampling of options a nd ideas: l. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. O. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18 . 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. Black Spirituals as Poetry Blues: Black Folk Poetry Black Man's Folk Poetr y The Sermon a s Poe try The Black Vers e Sermon Langston Hu 6hes and the Jazz Id i or.~ in Black Poetry Gwendolyn Brooks: Femj_ ni ne Sensib ility in Black Poetry Melvin Tolson and the Epic Poem Melvin Tolson: From ' Pindaric Ode'to' Blues' Black Poetry S inc e Wor l d TTar I Black Poetr y Si nce World TTar JI Black Poetry Fr om Pr i so ns Black Poetry as Prot es t The Blac k Poet's View of Love The Black Poet's View of Life The Black Poet's View of Death The Black Poet's View of Tii·.;.e Black Folk Poets: Langston Hughes, Sterling, Brown, Owen Dodson Contemporary Black Folk Poetry Imamu Ba.rake Amiri, Jay Wr ight and Henry Duman Contemporary Blac k Poets Contrasted: Henry Dumas and Conrad Kent Rivers Black Poet as Politician James Weldon Johnson: Poet, Lawyer, Diplomat, Social Historian "vJbi teness II as Theme e.nd I ma gery in Black Poetry "Blackness II as Theme and I ma 1~ery in Black Poetry Black Poe try and Black Music: Jay ne Cortez, David Henderson, Micha.el Ha r per Black Poet as Pan-Africanist: I mamu Amiri Baraka, William Keorapetse Kgositsile, Don L. Lee Black Poet as Visionary and Oracle: Norman Jordan, James Kil g ore, Lance Jeff ers Black Poet as Cultural Conerstone: Lance Jeffers, Robert Hayden, Owen Dodson 32 �30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. Black Poe t and the Cultural Folk Hero : Margaret Walker, Eugene Redmond, Gwe nd olyn Brooks The Hero in Black Poetry Black Poetry as Passion Political Conflic t in Black Poetry Black Poetry as Anger: Claude McKay , Austin Black, Nikki Giovanni Black Poet as Troubndor and Lover: Ted Joans, Arthur• Pfister, Lanc ston Hugh e s Black Poet as Preacher: J ames Weldo n Johnson, Folk Sermons Black Poet and the Third World: Quincy Troupe, Robert Hayden, Victor Herna ndez Cruz Black Poet as Experimentalis t : J ean Toomer, Ishmael Reed, Melv i n Tolson, Julia Fields, Russell Atkins, Robert Ka u.fn a.n Black Poet and Black La.ngua ,r.e: Lang ston Hughes, Mari Evans, Jay ne Cor t ez, Carolyn Ro gers, Rhonda Davis, Sarah Web ster Fab io Black Poet and the Ballad: Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Gwendoly n Brooks, Dudley Randall Black Poetry and the Sonnet: Claude HcKay, Countee Cullen, Gwendoly n Brooks, Margaret Walker Black Poet and Urban America: Imamu Ami r i Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Michael Harper, Quincy Troupe, Eben, David He nderson, Maya Angelou Black Acade mic Poe t s: Count ee Cullen, Melvin Tolson, Robert Hayde n Black Epic Poets: Alberry Whitman, Owen Dodson, Melvin Tolson A more detailed discussio n of in-class and out-of-class approaches to working with rela t ed t h e mes and topics will be attempted in Section III of this pamphlet. Obviously, there are several sub-titles su~gested by each item on the a½ove list. Certainly the teacher or student concerned with "areas" or "trends" in Black Poetry will want to examine available critical, historical and b i bliogre.phical sources. Again, while the aim of this pamphlet is to explore t he complete range of poetry for study possibilities, no atte mpt will be made to assess that range critically or to present a history . In using the course outline and b ookli.st such as the ones mentioned earlier, one must keep in mi nd i mmediate and long 33 �,I range goals. i .. The teacher who desi~ns a eourse in 19th Century Black Poetry will want to encourage the students to continue active interest in the later works. Likewise, the student who takes a course in modern or contemporary poetry should be directed back to the pri mary sources to the folk materials. In either case, the teacher should keep in mind the need to "introduce" the course in a manner that establishes the long tradition, beginning in Africa and with ties to Europe. My outline, then, envisions a course in one, two or three parts (or more). Six units were selected so that the course could be separated into halves or thirds. In a semester or quarter cram course, the siGnificance of individual units is called into question. A course in 1Iodern Black Poetry could conceivable begin with number four: New Trends & Defi- ance: Harlem Renaissance (1910-1930); or possi bly with number five: The Modern Black Poets (1 930-1954), in which case the introductory lectures could draw upon the 1910-30 period for background. Ideally, a two-part course, stretchinc over semesters or quarters, could neatly s eparate the six units into two groups of three units each. A year-long course in a three-quarter oriented program could separate the six units into three groups or two units each. The new inclusive anthol- ogies of American Literature are be ginning to use this idea as they '~inally" add Black writers and thinkers. For those pri- marily interested in contemporary poetry, unit number six is appropriate. However, teachers and students alike will appre- ciate the need to reach back before the poetry of the mid-Sixties. 34 �Experience shows that classrooms which emba rk o~ a study of Black Poetry before gaining proper backGr ound are pla ~ued and paralyzed by continual interruptions of a political and ideological nature. Such crises are not diminished by the presence of younger Black poe ts on campuse s. Some of' these poets, hired as the result of student-pressure on administrations, are not themselves serious students of Black Poetry or Black Culture. Thus the st udent who turns up in a consci- entious teacher's classroom quotjng the youn~ poet as an "authority" on Black life is likely to ruffle and detour the class. The sat,10 pro~~lem occu1•::-1 1-,hen a st1 :de nt quotes an ideolog ue or repeats some th ing heard on a te le v ision or live panel discus s ion. The contemporary scene in Black Poetry, however, is the most exc iting one bec a use it is here that changes take place literally ~efore the eyes. Also, students are often fa miliar with ha~its, features and life styles of nany of the poets a nd thus are ~ ot i vated to read and get in volved in the poets' i de a s. Nichols , like Hayden, has said many of the new Black writers a re "minor" voices. Miss Brooks, on t'he other hand, takes what some call a "positive'' approach in that she ha s rarely criticized the younger poets in public. Usually over-lookinc glaring technical difficulti e s and contradictions , Hiss Brooks chooses to exalt them--hoping , a pp arently , that they will keep working to become better writers. Hoy t Fuller, managing editor of the influential Black World, has taken a similar stand. · More recently, however, Miss Brooks seems to have 35 �slightly modified h8r position. In her intro,:3uction to The Poetry of Black America, she said of the new poetry: There is a growing inquisitiveness about ~echanics, about writing tools and wri tins n:ethods: a maturinr.; concern for words and their black potential. Many blacks, those who want to create one poem only, and those who want to create poetry the rest of tbetr-lives, are asking for help. Their questions are poignant. How do I make words work for ~e? Are there ways,Ts" there any way, to make English words speak blackly? Are there forms already that, with a little tampering, will encase blackness properly, or must we blacks create forms of our own? If we create fo1•ms of our own, bow shall we go about this work? Is length helpful--should blacks write epics. Or will blacks find that they need to for~e poems "bullet"-size (with bullet-precision). Many of the younger poets, feeling sure in the craft, would take offense to anyone asking if "blacks" (categorically, that is) "should II write in any f orrn. So the teacher has to know the pitfalls and risks in teaching, say a course in Contemporary Black Petery. If the course moves from the bases of World War II, Korea, and the development of urban Blues and Soul music, then all should go well. On the other hand, to leap into a study of the most recent Black poetry without rigorous examination of background could mean academic or cultural suicide. This is one reason why the booklist is headed by a history text. For a similar reason, I have included an inclusive anthology: Black Voices. It will be noted., though, that the word "optional,, appears behind at least three of the books. Such an "option" ls available to those planning the course and developing a booklist. Experi- ence shows that a history text is indespensable since study of history goes hand in Glove with poetry. 36 Also invaluable �is an i.nexpensive inclusive anthology . Hi t h out s uch, many of the students would never read general Blac k criticis m, history or biography. As stated earlier, the teacher has the option to select the history text or historian b est suited to his needs. a cursory text. Before Tl1e Mayflower is excellent as Other possib ilities are The Ne gro in the Making of America (Quarles), From Slavery to_ Fre~~-om (Franklin ) and The :Making of Black America, vols. I t: II (Meier and Rudwick), to list just a few. The for mat of a course ln Black Poetry should allow students to sarnp le t he , road range while getting some feel fo r the <lep l;h and concentra.tlon of individual poets. The indi v i.dual c oll e c t i ons , th en, our:;bt to parallel appropriate time periods. The 11 appropriate 11 places will be determined by the struc t ure a nd e mphasis of the course. Some teachers, for example, s i mply read a group of individual collections and assi g n student s out -of-class work in antholog ies, b iographies and criticis~ . Other teachers read strickly from antholog ies, holding students responsi ble for specializing in particular writers. Th er e can be much over-lapping between the antholog ies and ind i,:i<lual collections. Such a problem can be minimized, however, by a teacher who picks carefully. At the same time, when the same poets appear in two antholog ies or as a result of pairing indi vidual collections and antholog ies, cross-referencing and comparison of biographical-critical notes make for mor e class room involvement. The history of Black Poetry sup:£,;ests t hat appropriate-places to bring in individ ual collections are 37 . �during the modern and contemporary periods. Subsequently, For Hy People (1 942) appears for the peri od be tween 1930-54 and Poems From Prison (196 3 ) for the 195~ to present period. There are dozens of excellent replA.cernents for the latter book and several other good choices for the n odern period. A sample of fine collections for the modern period include: Gwendolyn Brooks, Annie Allen (Pulitzer Prize) , A Street in Bronzeville , Selected Poeins Sterling Brown, Southern Road Countee Cullen, On These I Stand Frank Harsha.11 Davis, 47th SE-~et Owen Dodson, Powerful tone Ladde1· Robert Hayden~ Heart-Shape i r17;n"e Dust Frank Horne, Haverstraw (pvLTisnea·-rn··1 963 hut represe nts pre - '~O' s work) Langston Hughes, Mont a ge of A Dream Deferred Claude McKay , Selected Poems Melvin B. Tolson, Rendezvous Hith Ane rica There a.re others, many of them (like some above) no lonr;er in print. Powerful Long Ladder and For I'Ty People, for exa:-nple, have recently been reprinted. Aga in, selection of the texts is the perogative of teacher or student. Balance is best achieved, however, when the cours e er.~ ploys the antholo ~-y individual collection pattern. For the pos t 1954 period (which witnessed not onlv a repri nting of earlier volu:nes and a renewed interest in Black writi □ s, but the advent of the independent Black publishing co:npani e s) there exists countless choices. A quick cross-section of them includes: Austin Black, Tornado in My i\Iouth Gwendolyn BrooKs, n1ot Faird ly P:i ct uren Lucille Clifton, GoodT1.mes , Good News ·Ab out The Earth Jayne Cortez, Pisss t a1.nect Stairs and the T'Ionkey Man's Wares , ~ n d Funerals �Stanley Crouch, Ain't No Ambulances For No Na.p;gubs ronr~nr;___ _ _ -----··- Victor Hernandez Cruz, Snaps Henry Dumas, Poetry For7 ~ryl5eople Mari Evans, I7tnl~1ack Homan Julia Fields, Poems Michael Harper-.;-7Tfstory is Your Own Heartbeat Robert Hayden, Se1ectea7'5oems , Woras-1.n the 1-fournin [; Ti·~ e Lance Jeffers, Ny Blackness in th e Beauty of this Land Ted Joans, Afrodisia LeRoi Jones-;-Nack Magic Sterling Plumpp, 7Ialf ETa.ck, Half Blacker Dudley Randall, CTITes BurninG Conrad Kent Ri v e ~ n --voice of Harlem Ed Roberson, When Thy King is A Boy Stephany, Moving Deep Melvin Tolson, Harlem Gallery Askia Huhammad Tour~, Songa1! Alice Walker, Revolutionary Petunias Al Young , The Song Turninr,: Back Unto Itself 1 The bibliography in Section IV will of course contain more extensive listings in all areas; but it is i nportant, in the context of the present discussion, to visualize the scope and many-threaded thematic fabric of recent Black Poetry. Just a quick glance at the titles of t his list will cause countless other associations. That glance will also e ive one keys to unlocking the the~atic differences hetween, say, the writers of the Harlem Renaissance and modern period and the poets of Black Consciousness. From Jones' ~a~~ Magic to Stephany's I"Iovinc De~p, the stated and i mplied mood of the New Black Poetry is there. We observed earlier that each topic or sub-topic has spin-outs. The lengthy sampling of ideas and options already listed can be doubled or trippled when one considers the prospect of' regional or local studies. Hence the student of' Black Poetry ought to appreciate re gional diff'erences, 39 I I I �colloquialisms, id oms, social problerri.s, styles a nd attitudes. One bas only to spend a few hours in northern and southern Black communities to understand some of the disti nctions between the two. It has become popular in soMe rhetorical quarters to disclaim the differences with the rationale that "Black folks are the same everywhere and their common problem is oppression." The sensitive and ot servins teacher, however, will reco8nize such over simplif ication of the Black Experience and precede accordingly. The next phases of this section will explore the course anatomy. The format will b e a un5t-h:r-un it breakdown of an historical course in Black American Poetry . Each unit will be examined from the standpoint of i -L s Literary /Social Background and Related Sub-Top i cs. I n Sectio n III the da.y -to- da:7 classroom sessions will ~J e disc ussed alone; with smr:.e excitinG exp er i ments for dra~atiz in: , ex plicati np and researching tbe poetr:-i~. TJ1TIT f,I. 1: ROOTS OF BLACK RXPRES2.:ron A~IT) TETI FOLK TRADITION Li terar:r/Socj_al Background : Tb e 3lo.ck Experienc e in tbe United States continues via t he African Continuum: a complex of' mythical, linc;u.istic, c estural, psycho1.osi cnl, sexual, physical and reli g ious fo rms. Tbis coc,1 plex i s e·~idenc od in the day-to-day attitudes of Blac ks, their sa cre d and secular expressions, their physical appearances, their dross patterns and their family life. Not only in the United States, hut in the Caribbean, 'the Hest Indies, -tn Latin Ar.i.erica, in a.11 areas of the dia~pora--people of African extraction exhibit �characteristics peculiar to the nature of indi ~enous Africans. General Black Expression is a product of Plack Culture; and the artistic expression--tre.di tional Black communities did not separate the life and art of the people--is a More sophisticated form honed from the c_~eneral ''storehouse. 11 No one has yet put their hands on exactl7 what n o:11ent 1.n time and where the first African sounds or movements were incorporated into "white II or Hes tern fran:es of references or vice vers~; 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 horrified by some of the observations and conclusions o.f so1;1e Black and 1-rhi.. te "researchers. In an uni'linchinc;ly brilliant ano.lysis of Black Africar, Oral Literature, presented at the First World Festival of Negro Arts (1966) in Dakar, Sene gal, Basil e -Juleat Fouda, noting that ''oral literature is as old as creation, "Archival Literature of Gesture.'' revelations, Fouda said: 11 coined the phrase Concluci.ng his i ·nportant ''Thus i n the Black Africa of tra- dition, literary art is an anonymot.:s art beca use it is a social art; it is a social art b ecause it is a functional a.re; and it is functional because it is humanist." is not bounded by color. Research Black sociolo~ist E. Franklin Frazier (Black Bourgeosis) held that there were no si f nificant carryovers from Africa to the United States. (Slavery, Frazier said, "stripped" the African of his culture and "destroyed" his personality.) White anthropoloc ist :Melville Herskovits ( The Myth of the Ne roro Past) pro·red wi thont a doubt that 11 �there were African "survival isms'' operating daily in Black Americans culture. Rudimentary Black Expression, then, and the mmerous folk forms it produced (field hollers, vendors shouts, chants, worksongs, Spirituals, Blues, Gospels, Jazz, Rhytbm 'n Blues, Soul :i:vTusic) form the bases for Black Poetry . Tl1e various early artistic fro ms were a.lmost always accompanied b y what we have come to call "drama t le ideoc;ra :1s "--or 1 three basic artistic modes w0re and still are: and Drum. aances. The Sor::is , Dance As the first means of communication over dist.a.nces, the drum played an j_mportant role in the lives of tra.di tione.l African peoples. The career drummer, like the Black musician today, went through years of ,crueling practice and preparation-learning not only drumming techniques but the lecends, the myths, the meanings and symbols of which the drum was derivative. Dance always accompanied song--Fouda refers to the "acoustical phonetic alphabet 11 --so that the complex web of oral nuances was illustrated. Obviously, when teaching or entertaining , the artist/teacher had to present his material in interesting and exciting ways so as not to bore the audience. Thus re- petition became a backbone of Black Expression--a repetition that was desi e;ned to reinforce. To gether tbe three modes--drum, song and dance--heic;htened the experience, which was ecstatic, spiritual, visceral and revelatory. Added to the intricate modal pattern already described were the various costumes, make-up, props and important subject matter. The effect was not vicarious but one of the act and symbol takin8 place at 42 �the same time. 1-Jbile such a prospect 1)or~:r:les the mind, a serious study of these for n, s and che r·: enerol tracH tion will be eye-opening for many a disbeliever. Early Black American oral and ~estural art forms in- In lancu n~e, in herited the a b ove mentioned qualities. dance, and, more i mportantly, in points of v iew toward _!;_:"i~, life and de~~l?,, the cosmolog:,r o.f Afr-ica "continued" in tbe Black Culture in the Western Hemisphere. Specifically, in- formation was conveyed by way of aphorisms, riddles, parables, tales, enigmatic dances and sounds, oblique utterances, puzzles, jokes and poetry. The pattern remains in tact today. In I"Iuntu: An Outline of the Hev1 A.f.!I~an Culture, 2"alrnhoi.nz .Jahn docu- ments many exa.mpleo of the African "carryovers" and "survivalisms" operating in the Uestern He misphere. Oi~ e can find tbe tradition in Black poets, ministers and fam5.l : r; a t l,e:r i n: ·s. 1 T11e scin- tillating Black poet Tolson operates frame when in ''An Ex-Jud r~ e at tbe Bar 11 :;e sa~JS: Bartender, ~ake it s t rai 01t a nd ma k e i t t wo One for the y ou. in me and one fo r the :·:c i..n ::-ou Tolson ends the poem wi t1: an eq uall:· e~·;i ,:;•;m tic ·· ;)c k : Ba.rtenrlor·, make it s Lrs.i1,.ht and make it tb :re e One for the ITe gr o ••• one for y ou a nd ~e In the Spirituals (the first su1Jstant~_:Jl · O!~ :':~ of Black Poetry) one finds similar deLts to the Af~ica n tradition of song, dance and drum. So too in the shouts and hollers Hbere actual African words and phrases were initially used. Hence we can say that the traditional African phonolocy and ritual, modified ~n the anvil of slavery, were operati n~ and continue �to be ma1:,ifest in various f o't'r,.s of Ela c!: American Express5.on. The African slave, forced t o acq11ire f. unct-.:!.onf!.l use of Enc lisb and to re_ject surface aspects of bis r· eli c :i. 0:1, went "underc round n so to speak and 1)ecar;1e ~-;i-lL1u:ual and b i-ps-:,rchienl. Hence, while much of the thematic material of the Black Folk tra.di tion is taken from the harsh difficulties the slRve encountered in America, the forms, spiri t and phonolo cy were essentially African. The use of poly-rl1:;th-ns and syncopation, tbe reliance on various rhythmic instrnments, the ac1~erence t o a non-European tonal scale and the emplo::,~,"1ent of th e blue tone, the development of a distinct body of folklore and a ricb langua ge to convey the lore--all represent the African's resourcefulness. Cross-cultural aspects of Black Expresston are also evident, however, in--for example--the 2,piri tuals which, :i. n many cases, were influenced by the Enp;li.sh hymn. Other consioerations include the use of European ins t ruments (Baraka points out in Black Music that the piano was the last instr um ent to be mastered by the Black musician. The reason ou7ht to be obvious.), the Black adaptation of sonr s henrd i n the house, 11 ""' i (1' ,.J - · (_.• the continual re-stylin g of Amer:ica n fads and the employri1ent of Biblical ima.e,er:::,- and lan;~uA. c;e in son[:;s and sermons. Langston Hughes noted the.t the Bl ues usual 1:- dea.l t with the theme of the rejected lover and personal depression. Hughes first volume of poems, in fact, was entitled The Weary Blues. One will observe, however, that the Blues, like the spirituals before them do not simply preach resi g nation or s~Jmissiveness. �Rather, as Jahn and Howard Thurman (Tbe 1fo1,ro Spiri tu.al Sp~aks of Life and Deatb) note, underneath the co:·r1plaint is a "plaint 11 : tbinps must get better or chang ~! For as the slave said: Freedom, oh Freedom, how I love thee! Freedom, oh Freedom, how I lov e thee! And before I'll be a slave I'll be buried in 1,1y ;_;ra"i.-e And go home to m:.r M:aker and be Free! And the Blues sins er intoned: I'd rather drink muddy water, Sleep in a hollow log , Than to stay in this town til I'm dead! Or in the words of Bluesist Jj_mmy Reed: Next time you see me things won't be the same; Next time you see me thinLis won't be the same; And if it ain't you my dahlinc you'll only have Yourself to blame. For as B.B. King asserts: When I first GOt the blues, t11ey broue;ht me over on a. ship Men was standing over me and lo t Llore with the whip And everybody wanna know why I sinp; tbe blues Well I've been around a lons time, uum, reall y paid my dues. And finally Sam Cooke: Every time I fall I know It won't last too long And sornehow ri c;bt now I feel I'm able to carry on I't been a long time coming But I know a change is gonna come. Complex, contradictory someti mes, often inexplicable, but hardly unutterable--the Black Folk tradition deri ved from the ritualistic rudiments of African Expression. From the animal tales and cycles to the wandering Blues troubador to the charisma of the Black preacher, the tradition unfolds. Related Sub-Topics For Unit ,} l 1. The Incredients of Folk Poetry 45 �2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. UNIT# 2: Black Oral ~pies The Oral Tradition in Black Poetry Tbe Anntomy of Ritualistic Expresslon Poetical Devices in Spirit.u9.ls Poetica.l Devices in Blues Audience Responses to Folk Poetry Writin~ t~e Oral Poem Philosophy of the Blues Explicating the SpirituAl Therapeutic Purposes of Folk Literature Coroparing /Cont ra s tin~ the Spiritual and Enelish Hymn EARLY BLACK AHETIICAN POETS (l 746-H'l 75) Literary/Social Backe;rounc1: Blacks ha-.::e been in the Western Hemisphere almost as l on e as whites. After 1501, most of the Spanish expeditions to the ITew World included Black explorers. By the ti me ~he 20 slaves-to-be were brought on a Dutch vessel to Jamestown 5-n 1619, the presence of Blacks had been felt fo r at least 10 0 years. Crucial to an understand,nc of early Black Poetry are the circumstances surroundinc slnvery a ~a the political and reli gious moods of Enc land and America. Britis h America did not follow the Greco-Roman tradition of tbe well informed slave. It was quite unlikely, tben, that a ":re',-o lutionary" Black poet would emer~e fron1 n soc iol and literer~ landscape so charged with self-ri Ghteousness n nd NeoclRssicism (or from the Romanticism of the l GOCJ 's). Luc:· Terry 's "Bars Fisht" (written in 1746 and published in 1393) could hardly be called "protest"; neither could the work of Phillis Wheatley, considered the finest Black talent of the colonial era, caught between contrivances of the A,r5,e of T,.;nJ. i 1::: ht en:-r;ent and the approaching r;rip of the Romantics. Born in Senegal, Africa, and brour;ht t o the !'Tew World when she was five or �six yea.rs old, Phillis 1::hea t ley was culti~rated or. the classics and the Biblical tre.dj_tio n . In comparing r)er 11 Tr'lFl.~'. i.nat:1.on" to white Anne Bradstreet's "Conte:nplatio n ," Je.mes Weldon Johnson said '~e do not think the bla ck woma n suffers ~y comparison with the white." Tl:e }foocla:J sjcal tro.c1it.j_on that reached its hei ght in the poetrJ of Alexe nd er nope, had already beg un to die out w5th the death of Pope himself in 1744. All over Colonial America, however, while poets were imitatins the stiff-collared conve~tionality of t~at period . The moral issues considered~~ nos t of the poets (Bl ack and white)--universal brotherhood of n a n, quest for reason and order , the Jeffersonian ideals of freedo m, li b er~y and represents.ti ve s overrnnent- ~wer·e removed from t 11e ever2rday brutality of slaver~ . 8ome of the no s t liberal men of the period (Jefferson, Washington, Hu~e) implicitl7 5ustified slaver y by suggesting that ~lacks were in some ways inferior. Despite Jefferson's pontificatio ns on ~umanitaria ni s rn , he was unable to reconcile the diaparit~ ~ etwe0n ½is puhlic stands and his fa.ilure to manumit his own sle:,; es. On the ge neral American scene, the ~ev olu tion ~ehind, a national literature had bes un to e .ner1_'.e. Fn.scinated with Ameri c an employment of new technolo.:.r (Fra nkll n ' s 1 i s htnine; experiments, printin~ presses, etc.) and the prospects of unexplored re g ions of the New World , writers started recording travels and observing the mixture of races and reli gi ons . Although religious fervor was s t ill hich (Cal v inis m, Weslya n ism and deiim bad run their courses), political problems dominated. �Between 1790 e.nd 1 832 tbc new American go -v·ernment was be ing consolidated and the writincs of men like Willinm Bradford, John Winthrop, Cotton Mather, Thomas 8hep 11a.rd, Ro c er 11!illia.ms, Edward Taylor and Jonathan Edwards were s ucce eded by the embryonic nationalistic wor ks of Franklin, Jefferson, William Byrd, William Cullen Bryant, Charles Brockfen Brown, Washington Irvine; , Willia.l'» Gilmore Simms and James Feni.n ore Cooper. Irving , Cooper and Bryant were to be come the early writers most taught to American scboc,l children. Often called the "New England Renaissance,n th e early decades of the l ')th Century saw increasing tensi on between Hew Br.:.i::;land p111 i tanism 1 and Southern aristocracy over the questio n of slavery . Debates over slavery were to cont inue up to the beginninc of the Civil War. The early pa.rt of the c entury al~o s aw tbe birth of many of America's greatest writers a.long with Romanticism and rugged individualism. l~st ified by t he noble savac e (Indians and sometimes Blacks) and cbal lenged b:' tbe "new frontier, 11 Americans began to romanticize t~eir situation and especially that of explorers who became the first original folk heroes. Writers who dominated the period from H~26-l'.i61 included Edgar Allan Poe (poet and short story writer, credited witb creating the first detective in American fiction), Nath aniel Hawthorne (considered the first gre at Ame rican novelist--The_ Scarlet Letter), John Greenleaf Whittier, Her1 ry 1-vndsworth Longfellow, James Russel Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holme s, Harriet Beecher Stowe (one of the first white American novelists to feature a Black protasoni.st in fiction--Uncle Tom's Cabin), Ralph 1-laldo Emerson, Henry Da::id Thoreau, 1 1+8 �Herman Melville (consid ered to bav e written one of the handful of "great" American no·,rnls--~-Toby Dick), Walt Whitman ( termed tbe "erea.test" AmericA.n poet--Le_a.vcs of Grass). Some of the non-literary writers, pr imaril~ political ~ctivists ,'{s,lt..t n,-7 or a.boli t ionists, were John G. Ca.lhouq, Davi.d '.fa.l ke~~' 'Hi 11 iam H H✓,K., Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Dour-:,lass·,. , and AhrRham Lincoln. Using their own and Black material, a numoer of white composers immortalized the ere. in sone;s--man::r of thei"l nationalistic. It was durin 6 this period that Francis Scott Ifo:r wrote "The ;;, iJ-~ i'_ ,fl Star Spangled Banner. 1 ' Stepben Foster has ,'J een accused of merely putting to music the songs that were s un;~, 'o ·:r sla·✓-es. There was little encouragement, however, for Blacks to learn to read; and many slave owners indul ged their chattel in writing exercise as personal pasttimes and hob~ies. So many of the early Black Poets, then, r:;rew up in r els.tive security. To be totally free, David Walker observed in his 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 t he only ones In addition to essa~ists, like Walker and DouGla.ss, this period of slavery and Black literary activity was highlis;hted by exciting slave narrati·,es: accounts of escaped or freed slaves. autohioe;raphical The most pupular of these narratives, and the first recorded, was 1.!?~_Interestine:; Narrative of the Life of Olaudab Equia.no, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789). Arna Bontemps includes it in his Great 49 �Slave Narratives (1969). As in ot~er cultures, Black creative literature developed fro m early diarles and journals. Hence it was the slave narrative that ~ave rise to the first Black novel, Clotelle:_~ Tale of So~tEe!E States (1853) by Hi lliam Wells Brown ( publ isheu i..n England). B~own also published the first Black play, Escape: Leap to Freedom (1857). Or A His concern for the pl! ~ht of the mulatto would occupy much of the Black fie U on up throui;h the early decades of the 20th Century. Tn addition to writing fiction an<l dra ma, Brown collec t ed Black folk and antislavery sonc;s. Nany white scholars and l.;ra 7elers throuih the south also co J1piled collection s of these s on e;s--wbich would later become important ingredi e nts in the writings of Black and white writers. Even for writers of tho narratives, ho-:-rever, there was external censorship. '.'lbi te abollti..oni sts, concerned that the over-use of Africanis ms in narr ati ves would offend potential supporters cautioned minimize such usa r~e. author □ an{ speakers to The ra~r of hope r, enerated by the first Black newspaper, Freedom's Journal (1~27 7 John '2 us~woI'm), died out witb the newspaper ir. 1829. Douc:lass, who .fonnded Frederick Douglass' Monthly (1 844) ancl. The ) Torth Star (lr147), was told: You supply the facts and we'll take cRre of the rest. Robinson (Early Black A me1 ican _Poets) neparates the 1 early Black Poetry tnto .four cate c ori e s : -I. Orator Poets Lucy Te r r:r, :'"u~j_ter Fat:1.mon, ,Jat11es t"I. 1:·Tl~itfield,etc. A. �IL For·:rin., i. st Poe ts n... ,_ l Ph1• 1.,. l i· s 1::r,Aa1, c:· , A. III. r! '",eo ·t·c,C "" .. • 0.1'1cn ,,G L~JP 1 an, . ._ ei.,c. -• Romanti ~ Poets John Boyd, Th e Cr e ole Poets, Joseph 3eame.n Cott er , etc. A. IV. Dialect Poetry A. ,Tames Ec111in Can; p 1~ell, De. ~1 iel 1t!e::ste1•, .J. r:ord Allen, etc. One would, of course, be remiss in sayinc that none of the early poets rejected slavery or ident1fied the contradictions inherent in what whites pr eache<! versus bow they of the poets, :3-..:~~~-9-. Eost in face of i r:1p-:l:ied threat s , cle al t wi th "safe" theme s and conventions or with the sent i me~tali t~ a nd local color. ::--revertheless s tirri nf:3 of pr ote s t and indi c:1ation are evident in much of the work of the per i od . abolitionists activities, the ru~)ling s a,a Slave re volts, comi~; of the Civil War, contradictions of Ch YL sti ani ty--al l la ic1 the foundations for a more co ns cientous poetry. Robinson is quick to point ou t, however, that the charitable work of literate Blacks (during th is period and the followinG one) often consumed their e ne.r'r~ i.es and thei.r passions. write. Many went about helping others learn to read and Others administered to t~e ill an~ attempted to record their experi e nces (via diaries, notes, h io praphies, texts) for coming generations. In many northern conmunities there were Black Literary Societies--usua]ly named after classical personalities or thin~s. I mportant with regar~s to many of the early poets, ~ob i nson notes, was their inwense popularity and gre at abilities to deliver their poems orally. Douglass' orator y , cer t ainly, is well �known--as is that of the early Black preachers. The ea.r•ly poets, like the preachers, apparentl: knew their audiences 7 well (often elicited audience responses) and appealed to what Johnson bas called a 11 hiD'hl v- develooed '--' . sense of sound." Roginson tells us that "Hrs. F'.E.W. He.rper's Poerns on Mis(18;i.1.) cellaneous Subjects, ••. reached lts twentieth edition as early as 1374, but this was not due to the conventional notion of poetic excellence/ Hrs. Harper was fully aware of her limitations in that kind of poetry, it was due more to the sentimental, emotion-frei ~hted popularit y that she had given the lines with her disarmin~l~ drBmatic voice and e;estures and sir:hs and tears." T11is pa.ritcular aspect of Black Poetry has yet to be examined fully. Most of the early Black poets g ive si c nificant clues, in their writings, to the reaction of the African mind coming in contact with written tradition for the first time. ti-,,"' In the work of the most skilled of these poets, ~~nslaver's ; conscience is prodded while the mastery of Enr~lish literary verse heralds a major step in the <'levelopinent of the Black American literary tradition. From the stilted poetic con- ventions and self-righteousness of Neoclassice.l and Romantic models to the rich Americanized English-Irish ballads, the early poets armed themselves with the best techniques available. Some contemporary poets and crit:i..cs, unfa.miliar with the mood and state of affairs of the times, often speak contemptuously of the e~rly writers--censurine them for being 11 o'l,lts ide II the "struggle. 52 11 Much of the cr•i t j_c ism, �however, is due to i e; nora.nce and a lack of readinp; . One popular feelin g for example, is that one should procede 3-.,,r;n~, . . Hr,,,.,me.a from Phillis ·wheatlei and George Moses Horton strai r;ht on to Dunbar. Such a surface approach to the material, however, ignores the dozens of interesting fi s ures in b etween the two periods. Related Sub-Topics For Unit # 2 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. UNIT If 3: "Black" Themes in tbe Early Poetry Black Poetry as Oratory Formalism in Early Poetry Black Romantic Poetr~ 11 Freedom 11 as a Them.e~in Early Poetry Idealism in Early Black Poetry Slavery as Viewed by Early Poets Diction, Classical and Biblical Allusions in Early Black Poetry View of Africa in Early Poetry First Generation African Writers of English nelationship of Early Poetry to Slave Narratives Occassional Verse and Sophistication in Early Black Poetry '~·Jhi terr :,1odels Used by Early Black Poets Early Black Poetry and the Enc lish Literary Tradition Protest in Early Black Poetr~ Plantation Life in Earl"': Plack Poetr:r "Africanis ms " in Early Poetr:.Religious Themes in Early Black Poetry Differences Between 1 3 th and 19th Century Black Poetry Early Black Poet as Fugitive Romanticism in Early 19th Ce ntury Black Poetry DIALECT POETS; BEGINrTII'TG OF Tlill AUTiffiNTIC VOICE (1865-1910) Literary/Social Backr,round: The period fro m l t356 to 1910 was one of contradictions, great expec t a t ions, continued literary experimentation and important beGinni ngs. On the white literary scene, Whitman, Hilliar:i Dean Howells, Henry James, Joel Chandler Harris and Irwin Russel g enerally 53 �presided over the writins. Harris had s aine d popularity for himself and Black Folklore when he pi: hlished the Uncle Remus tales in 1379. Important Black names for the period are Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douelass; Paul Lawrence Dnn';)ar, W.E.B . DuBois, Charles Chestnutt, James 1:-Teldon Johnson, Fenton Johnson, James D. Carrothers, William Still, Alexander Crun:rwell , Alberry Whitman, Benjaman Brawley, William Stanley Braithwaite, and Alain Locke. Of the men listed al)ove, Dunbar, Hhi trnan, Fenton Johnson, Carrothers and Braithwaite, ar8 the poets of interests during this reriod. J D~o~s.', socioloe;ist and editor, is chief'ly Sor19 o fth'-" :.-rvH,!'f.l etnd known as a poet for hisf..''Lita.ny nt Atlanta, the 1906 riot in Atlanta. Black writer of f'iction. by 11 wr5.tten after Chest nutt wast.he :first important Both he and Dun11ar were endorsed Howells, who presided over A'rt erican literary criticism during the last quarter of the 1 ?th Cer:t1,r:~. Howells is known for his support in launchinIT the careers of Henry James (deemed America's r.:;reatost novelist} nnd Walt Hhitman. Generally, with the exception of B.r•ai thwai.te, Fenton Johnson and Alberry t·rnitman, Black poe-ts follow ed t.1-::e dialect trRdition of the day. Robinson ~otes: The vogue was establis'Jed amon g white southern writers (who failed to appreciate their own amusing dialects) with Irwin Russell (1353-79) whose popular pieces were c ollected and published posthu::nously as !\.)ems 1::- In-:i n Russell (J.230) wit;h a lovin 0 pr·' =lface 1)y ~-;i Chandler Harris, also pupular for his Uncle Re~1s and Bror Rabbit prose tales in Ne c ro dialect. �Other dialect poets inclnr.. e o Daniel Henderson and J. Mord Allen. Uf3 )Ster, Elliot B. In the dialect mode, Dunbar surpassed all writers--Black and white, includins Russell after whom he pe.tterned bis efforts. Dunb ar also wrote poetry in literary English--the work for w~ich he wished to be remembered. Ironically, however, it was his dialect poetry, which he ca.lle<l "a j ine;le in a ·b roken tongue," that gained him notoriety. Recog nized as a skillful phone- ticist and a brilliant reader of his poe t r y , Iunh ar died in 1906 at the age of 3~. T:ost of his li tera.ry poetry deals with over-wor·ked themes of imn101°tv.lity , nature, dreams and ideal love--although he did make "social" statements in some of them (e . 1~:., ''Ere Sleep Come s Down to Soothe the ·weary Eyes" and "Ships tbat Pass in the Ni s ht"). His dialect poetry was almost always humorous and dealt with harmless, non-controversial themes such as parties, plantation love, I harvest time, the contemplation of something c ood to eat and generally what h e seenicd to se0 as a co ntented sla ve. Yet, in a poem like "Symphony," which is not in dialect, one can feel the Black poet worki n~ sensiti7el y on all levels--and using double entendre to make his point, as in this stanza: I know why the caged b ird beats bis win g Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; For be must fly back to his perch and cline ·when he fain would be on the b ough n-swing ; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars And they pulse a g ain with a keener stin~-I know why he beats his wine ! Fenton Johnson and Braithwaite are closely identified with 55 I I �the "revival'' of poetry in America. EraithwRite, antholo- gist and critic, was one of the pioneering forc e s. be bad published two collections of b-ls own poel~r~edited three antholog ies of American poe t ry. By 1~n9 anr) ,Tohnson pub- lished poetry in major Airierican rrngazines anc1 ,2 ournals. James Weldon Johnson said he "sounded a note of fatalistic despair 11 that was "so forei g n to any philosophy of life the Negro in America bad ever practiced or preacbed. 11 While Johnson dealt with Black the mes and n aterial, bowever, Brai tbwai te shunned such and was read :,:r 1i-1 0 ny wbo cHd not know bis racial identity. The bi ggest contradiction of the era was tbat "necons true tion" occurred in ng_me onl:r. The grow th of white hate and intimidation groups (2,500 Blacks we re lynched between 1885 and 1900), the development of a nee-slavery, the paradoxical plight of the "freedrr:arj" ( see 1'.Jash"lnc ton' s Up From Slavery), the cenera l disappoi. nt:nents in social "paper" programs and the disillusionMent on the parts of Blacks who fought in the Civil Har--all influenced and helped direct the Black mood of the period. While dialect poetry emerged as the most popular form in poetry and prose, James Weldon Johnson observed that it would not encase the n anifold nature of the Black Experience; white writers had initiated it. Caught up for a while in the potentials of the Emancipation Proclamation and ":Reconstruction", many Black poets also couched their lines in patriotis m and sentimentality. Others souGht to capture the rich pace of �Black idiom, the spice of re g ional color, the folklore and the solidness of Black everyday wbere~ithal. During the period, the first of a series of Black manual arts colleges was established. Hampton Institute, Fisk Uni- versity, Howard University, Morehouse Colle ge and Johnson C. Smith College were among the early ones. Tn 1871, the year of James Weldon Johnson's birth, the Fisk ~1bilee Singers made their first concert tour 11ith Spirituals. The tour was epoch- making for it marked the fj_rst time a Black indigenous American art form had been g iven such worldwide exposure. The period was cr ucial, too, for all Black folk art because the b urGeonin~ new Blac k Intelligentsia, anxious to remove the bj_tter taste of slave~ were anxious to disrobe themselves of all relics of their ante-bellum past. The Spi r ituals, the rich cadences of folk speech and freedom in dance, amon c other aspects, were g iven back seat in an atte mpt to Hesternize or "ci v ilize" newly emancipated Blacks. The Civll ·war, :Smancipation Proclamati.on A. nd the stationing of occupation troops in the south, had also left a bitter taste 0~1 the ton gues of so n tbern whites. The attempt to ncolonize" the south, as some saw :i.t, was dramatized by the arrival of ncarpei:;t,a c;gers "--white northerners preaching Black freedom or exploiting southern industry. The results were ela 1; orate and ruthleGs rise of wl-:ii te secret societies and ridicule of Blacks in the newspapers and magazines. Hany Black poets unwittingly -r:-artici. pated ln this �ridicule in their Wan t -1vO 01-J::-} dialect and sent:i 1ental ·,;erne. th.e ex t re m-"" to oro'·e ' -ir l • th- •·-- 11 . ,!'..£ 000° Others neo<~-,e, 11 a ncl nGoJ. li.ness", In the shadows of all t11ese thus becoming hypepbollcal . paradoxes, Black minstrels ar:d m1 s1.cinns g ain0d p1'0 .-r.i.ne n.-• 3, "Tiag tirne" hl9ralde<.1 anC: era ulti matel y to :ie cRlled Lhe ,Jazz i-Ieanw11.ile more serious debate over the fate of Blacks was tak:i.nc; place a mon,3 men such as Do:1c lass, 1,TD8hington o.ncl In 1 395 , at the Inter na ti onal .Atla:1ta Pixposi.tioD, DuBois . Washington delivered his f8mous "C omprcn ·.s e II speec:'17 which encourag ed Blacks and whtte to work ns close as th e finsers of the hand in n atters needing rnucua.l c onc ern ; 1) .rl; that in all social respects, the fin Rers of the ~and woule he separate . :Jashing ton , who founded Tuskegee Tnst5.tute j_n l::'<".l , played 1 dow n c 1.vi 1 conce1:·ns and t ~.te:?,Pat :!. on, ar6 urced Bl aci~s t o seek practical skills. DuBois encouraged Blacks to seek knowled g e of the arts and sciences and predictetl that a "Talented Tenth" wo uld en1err ;0- to lead the Bl nc k population . 1 In The Souls of Black Folks, Du'Ro:ts er 5. t lqued Washtn ?:t on ' s position . The contro•:ers y hehree~ :-he t i-10 nen is :1ow fa mo us as is Dudley Randall's poem "Booker T. and 1:.r . :s .B" in which the ideolo c ies of both men a r e p lecec'l 0. g ai nst the ,·1ood of the ti mes . In rich use of dialo~e in ia~bi c t etrame ter, Randal l opens with: "It seems to me," said Booker T., "It shows an n,i 1::,h ty lot of che ek To study ch em is~ry a nd Greek When Hister Charlie needs a hand To hoe tbe cotton on his land, r'O :,J U �And when Hiss Ann looks for a r;.Dok, 1.'Jby stick :.-our nose inside a ':_iook? " DuBois replies: "I don't a L;,0 ·ree• , II c,,·, id 1,r •b• '<' B. • 1 "If I should have the drive to seek Knowledge of chemi st ry or Greek, I'll do it. Charles and Miss can look Another place for band or cook. Some men re j oice in skill of hand, And some in cultivating land, But there are others who mainLain The ri gh t to cultivate the brain .,: W O.- •• Obviously , an l rna ginary conversation, the poem ends thusly: "It seems to me, "I don't a gree, Said W.E.B. 11 ;;aicl. Booker T. -·· 11 The DuBois-Was'hington controversy c r•eateu re·,erberations that are still being heard around the Black wor] c1. DuBois was to rise as the towering and defiant fi , ;ure of the per•iod while Washington was reduced to a di g nityless symbol. Despite the vigorous debates and prose writin~s, however, the social coming-of-age in t he poetry (technically and thematically) was not to see its apex until the second decade of the 20th Century. Related Sub-Topics For• Unit 10 3 1. 2. 3. 4- 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Local and Re gional Color in Black Poetry Dialect as a Vehicle for Poetry Differences Between Black and white Dialect Poetr•y Differences Between 11 Gullah 11 and other Black Dialect Poetry Africanis ms in Dialect Poetry Linli tat ions of Dialect Poetr:r Epic Poetry and the Black Literary Tradition Biblical Allusion in Late 19th Cent ury Black Poetry Be g inninc s of the Authentic or Ori c inel Black Poet 59 �10. 11. 12. 13. lli.. 15. 16. 17. l B. 19. 20. UNIT fl 4: :Music in Dialect and O·ral ?oetr:r Dance Possibilities in Dialect Poetry Tbe Blnc k Poe t and P-econstruction The Blac k Poet After the Ci. Tll ·t:rar Influence of Folklore on Black Poetr~r Influence of Minstrelsy on Black Poetry Social Le g islation end Blac k Poetr~ Plantation Lif e i~ Bl ack Poetr~ Nineteenth Century Social Life in Black Poetry Stylistic Differ ences in Late 19th Century Black Poetr~· Refi neme nt in Poetic For ms NEW TRENDS AND DE:?IA NCE; HART.EI 1 RENAISSANCE (1910 - 1930) Literary/Social Backgronnd: In 1 91 0 the population of Black America was 9, 827,763; Lan[~S ton Hur.:;hes was e. boy of ten and the NAACP ·was one :,-om" old. :s:~ 1930 , however, the Black population would have increased to ll, 8~1,143 (or 9.7 %); a major miBration of Blacks to northern industrial centers would have taken place; racial riots wo uld have scorched more than half a dozen American c ities; the country wo uld have engaged in and ended its first national war, and l y nch i ng s would continue to be amens the 8 ost fearful prospects for Black 1;:cen. Booker T. Wa3hington had chro nic led the hardships and bitter disappointme nts of Blacks in hi s Up Fro'~ Slavery. The new "freedom'' was short lived and illusi•:e, Washington observed, because the e.x -s lave bad no skill, no land and no place to g o. 11 Emancipated " Blacks were not farin g much better than their fore-parents. DuBois had b e gun to raise some of the broader, gloh al issues of Black oppression and to place the Black Experience in its proper perspective in The Souls of Black Folks. Dur ing the second and third 60 �decades of the 20th Century, Black scholars, activists nnd writers continued to record the Black Experience with telling accuracy and drar:1a. The founding of the NAACP, tbe Urban League, the Association for the Study of !'Tetro Life and History (Carter G. Woodson, 1926), The Crisis and Opportunity t~1a.gazines, the li terar:r journal Fir~; tbe flourish inc and prominence of ragtime and early jazz, the development of Black operete.s and rnusicalR--all helped estal )lish the mood and the Black trends of the times. The three publications-- Fire was sbort-l'i.ved--published so,ne of the most important Black Literature of the Awakening 8t1d offered awards e.s in- centives to writers. On the seneral American scene, science and industry were developinc rapidly. Indications of this were the radio, wireless, technolocical warfare and t he autori o~)i.le. The "new Psychology" was taking ~old and the real i s t11 of tbe previous literature was bowing out to natur~lj.s>1 . T'his new mode is seen in the works of such wr4ters as Theodore Drieser, Evelyn Scott and WilliaM Faulkner. Tnterest in local color and dialect, w1.1 ich had dor~inated the later portion of the 19th Century~ was also dyinc and the Black American was "re-discovered" b:~ whi t.e writers as a literary fiBure for realistic fiction, drama and poetry. in,ite writers sbo publ ts11ed popular accounts of Black life j_ncluded DeBose Hay11-1ard, Sherwood Anderson and Carl Van Vechten. Revolts in interests and manners characterize~ Anerican society; Black cri. tie ,TameR A. E:mr..uel po:i.r.ts ot~t (Neg~,!'°. 61 �new Freudian awareness by e scaping tnto exotic ~lack cabaret life." Hughes records this exotj_c :i.rn'l_ ul .:;011ce 1 n his auto- bioe;ra.phy, The Bic__ §~~ (1940). recorded these white ~-Tume1~cus other Black writers 1 'd i versions n: I~cKay in A Lone; Way from Home and Johnson j_n Alone; This Ha~ ( a. 11 tobiog 1,aphies). Johnson also fictionalizes this roma.nticizins of Blacks in his novel The Autogiography of An Ex-Colo ured :Ia n (publisbed under a pseudony-m in 1912 a.r:d unc"icr his own na;·. :e in 1925). In the book, Johnson also discusses .r a e;tii::ie in r;rent. deta.5.1. The drama of the period was do n inated o7er 'b :r Euce ne O' n eill--who -;-.ron Pulitzer and Hobel prizes. Two of O'neill's plays (The Emrer·or Jones an<l Tbe Hairy Ape) rd ntecJ e.t tbe psycholoe;ical involv,~menc of Blacks and wh:i. tes nnd ::,u _r.·:r•;ested, 1,1 any critics feel, tr.e mixt. ure of fear, ha tree~ n r:.rJ ::,c" 1- irat ion man:r w11i tes 1 have for Blacks. The Emp e-r•or Jone ::; Ol"id All God's Chillun Got Win::;s featured major Blac:k cr i:n-·D,::. Lcr1~; . convinced t,he ·t-101, ld, before a first-rate dra.: ,a.tist. 0 1 nc:'il.J., Anie ricEi. bar! not Lb:i.t it could pro<Jnce IronicoJ 1:·, 1:1--,·)1 :c;h, one of tbe vehicle s for O'neill's talents was a Black actor, Charles Gilpin, who starred in The En1 peror Jones. The l'Tew York Times said Gilpin was able to "invoke the pity and th e terror and the indescr:ibable fore g odinr.; wbich are part of t he secret of The Emperor Jones. The Glo'be reviewer o}, serve<1 that: Gilpin's is a sustained and splendid piece of actin g . The moment when be raises his naked boa~, ~g ai nst the Moonlit sky, beyond the ed g e of the j uns le, and preys, is such a dark lyric of Lb e flesh, such a cry of the 62 �primitive being, as I have never seen in th e theater. In the comment, of course, :i.s some sugr;estion o.f America's preoccupation, during this era, with the exotic savac e--a trend that had continued from Jack London (The Call of ~he_ Wild, The Sea-Wo].f) and tbe white write r s of local color: Thomas Nelson Page, Joel Chandler Harris, George Washington Cable and others. However, many of the writers of the period, like O'neill and Dreiser, had oegur, to shake off the r;1ystique of the American Dream and deal insteac1 with "illusion.'' Such was Dries er' s the rnc in his no,,eJ., An ~ 21e rica n Tra gedr (1925). The f oundinc:, of Poetry: A ?{a ge.zine of '1 e r se, b:r Harriet Monroe (1912) si c naled the b irth of the New Poetry movement in America. Most of the new work, including that of the Imagist poets, was showcased in Poe try. In 191.5, the antholoc y, Some Imag ist Poets, appeared to rival dissident factions which wanted to dispense with t raditional forms. Imagism owed much to Ezra Pound's theor i es and to Frencb Symbolism as well as Oriental and ancient Greek poetry. Chief spokesman for the Imas ist poets was Amy Lowell who was joined by John Gould Fletcher and Hilda Doolittle, among others. During the next t wo decades the c roup waged a successful battle aeainst the dissidents; b ut they also re-worked traditional forns and cornered a new readin g market for poetry in America and England. One of the poets of the period was Va.chael Lindsay, advocate of rhyth.11 and the reading aloud of poetry, who is credited with having 63 �ndiscovered 11 Langston Hughes. in this 11 Blac k poets who participated revi val 11 of Ame rican poetry were Penton Johnson and '1.Jilliam Stanley Braithwaite. The most si e;nificant develop1,1ent of the period, however, was the Bla.ck cultural flowe rins , principally in Harlem, which has become known as the Harlem Renaissance, the 1':e c;r o Awakening and the Negro rcenaissance. Central to tbe Renaissa.nce 11 11 (critics differ over whether it should be called such) was the migration of southern Blacks to northern urb an centers. Uith the working -class Blacks also ca::-;1 e the Black intelligentsia, artists and activists. Current Black creativity or scholarship cannot be understood unless the Harlem Renaissance is placed in proper perspective hecause the Harlem period is the most important bridee existing between slavery and the modern and/or contempor 8ry eras. During the first and second decades of thi s century, nomantic idealis m and prospects of the "Tieconstrnction 11 were beginning to loose hold on Blac k Americans just ns the American Dream was diminishin 6 among ma n:.t w'b.i tes. The declininc; influence of Dunbar (amonc poets), Booker T. Washington and submissiveness-type of Black leadership, allowed room for experiment ation and new voices. Most Black poets discarded plantation dialects and sentimental themes. Harcus Garvey, a West Indian who came to America in 1916 and who founded the Universal !Ter::;ro Improvement Association, had reached the hei~ht of hi s influence by 1922. Considered the most influential 20th Century Dlack �leader until Martin Luther Kin~, Jr., Garve7 was :ailed on a mail fraud conviction in 1925. ?,bufC1.~..-.A.l.9_n ,;, R musical by Noble S issle and Eubie Blake, played on Broadwa:- and opened the door for other rroduct5.ons 0f its kind. Jai1~es Weldon Johnson edited tbe fipst Ar.1eri.can a. n t1:olo r;y of Bl a.ck Poetry, T~e Book of American He:~r_<2__"Poetry ( 1922). Johnson's work was followed in quick s~ccesston h7 five other poetry a ,-itholor;ies--all in the 2 0 's. Tl:rn :r were: Negro Poe ts 2n~--Th€)_~.'..._ Poems_ (Eo::ert Thomas ICerl in, 1923) An Antholo[;:,- of American :Te g ro ',- erse 0 Jew-"an Ive:r White ----a. nc1-v1a1·Fere'11 ;)ton tfac'Eson, ·1"9~4) Negro Song s: An Antholo;-i;:,- ( Cle J1.e r. t ~·Jood, l ':'.2h) Caroling Dusk "'(Count.e0- Cu'fle n. , 1°2?) 'r:, :.'._OUr 11 .1. Jegro - --15-· , ( .1-1."1__ :.n•n L oc~rn, · _ 05:..::,,E ~ 1 ,.,..., ' ;. , c:.. 1 1 Of notw also was F.F. Cal7e i t o~'s An Antholop7 of American lTegro Literature ( 1929) which conta.inecl 61 pa£~es ot poetry. Cullen and Locke we re t6o of the c aj or fi ~ures of t~e HarleM Renaissance. along wi tb Claur1e :;cKay, -Tohns on, Hu r:_-bes, and Jean Toomer. Locke edit e d the antholor· y which heralded and chronicled the new Elack 1,100d a~1d acl;ievc1:1ent ri: The l:ew ~:egro: An Interpretation (1925), whicl: rer,1e.1.ns a classic today. He also wrote th e equally important A Decade of Negro Self Expression (1922 ). nhodes Scholar fro m Penn- sylvania, Locke recei.ved a :Ph.D. in 191~ fro :r_ Harvard and is still considered as the foremost interpreter of Black creativity of the Renaissance. Cullen publishec3 Color, his first book of poetry, when he was 22 and was insta~tly recognized as one of the best ~oun p poets in America. adopted _son of a I~ethod ist-r.1inister, Cullen while married to DuBols' _d e.ue;hter, Yolanda. 65 was for a TI1e short Fe also wrote �novels and drama, tra-v-eled (like inF.J. n:- or the wr iters) and wrote abroad (The Blac\c ClJrist, 102':\ Fra n 0E, ). Like :-:cKay, Cullen wrote in the more ~ormal tradition of Enslish poetry. Ct1l len' s r.1odel., in fact, was Jo1.1n Keats {see "To John Kea.ts, Poet., at Springtime''). Still cons:Ldered t }1e h est "formal" writer of the Renaissance period, Cullen was meticulous and careful in his poetic worl~1anship. He wrote in Spenzerian stanzas and, a.ccordins to e. former teach 0r, ,nFt:; he.Ye been the first poet to write "rime ro:rnls L1 Anerica. 11 Cullen, Arna Bontemps (Introduction, American ·Tee;ro Poetry) has observed, was among those Black writers of the 20's wbo went to "The Dark Tower II to ~,rood over i) e in~ called "He r;ro ff poets. Deflect in('.: today, some cr:i tics seek to dimin5-sI1 Cullen's achievement by sayine; he wan not 11 of 11 the Black :Sxperience-- but stood to the side and reported on it. Characteristic, however., of his dramatic power and flawless craft is the famous poem "Heri ta. ge 11 : What is Africa to me: Copper sun or scarlet sea, Jungle star o:..." junp;le track, Stronc bronze men or res al black Homen from whose loins I sprani·: When the birds of Eden sa.nc? Long and relentless in its use of poetic devices, nomantic homage to Africa and tropical imagery, the poe';1 probes hidden fears and questions of Black men., who if they think at all, Baldwin says, are "constantly on the verge of insanity." Cullen, however, is probably best known for his sonnet, "Yet Do I :Marvel," which has been both praised and castir;ated. Critics do not see~ to be ahJ.e to a cree as to whether Cullen 66 �is saluting, pj_t:,r in;; or r.1erel:; toleratin r; t,1-,e existence of the Black poet. Perhaps the pro'.J lem lies in t11e a ln;J:l g ni t y of the adjective "curious 11 : Yet do I marvel at this curious thins : To make a poet Black a.nd hio. bim sin:;! In addition to Cullen, other key poets of the Harle:n-Awakeninf, also published important volumes and added to the critical I I flutter. -1 I Johnson published Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917) and God's Tro:nbones (1927). i.-Jith his ~:,rother, J. Rosarnond, he edited The Book of American Jre t~ro S pirituals (192.5) and The Second Book of Am.erican Hegro Spirituals (1926). ·while in London, Iv'IcI".:ay published Sprinc; in Hew I-Iampshi_~~ (1920) and in 1922 he publisbed Harle:~1 Sba_~ow~_ i_n the U.S. He also wrote three novels and a stutl-:r of Blnc:<: "!'Tew York. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Johnson said 11cKa:r bclons ed ''to the post-wnr .r_:roup and was its most powe1~ful ·voice. rebellion. 11 Po was pre-e minentl:r the poet of Probably 1)est known for his po-werft:11, angry sonnet, "If He I'.iust Die," llcKay was also a sensitive poet of nature. Initially, h e wrote poetr~ i n his nati7e Jamaican dialect (he came to the U.S. in 1912) whicl1 earned him the title of Tiobert Burns of the island. HcKa:r clonked ':iolence in many of his poems, as in these lines from h:i.s sonnet, "The White House": Your door is shut against rny ti ;",htened face, And I am sharp as steel with discontent; But I possess the courage and the grace To bear my ang er proudly and unbent. VicKay traveled to Russia in 1922 where an atte:1pt ·was made to use him as an anti-America propa~anda in connection with the �1919 riots and Ar,1erica' s racial r r•ol·,l orn . JO' s NcKay hobnob'be c.~. w-t th s ucl~ H!"'i T· 1 1~he 2n' s and ters 8. nd ne 1.'s onal i Li. es as George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, 8incla5r Lewis, Isadora Duncan, and Max Eastman, who wr•ote a movi t 1p, his posthumous Se lee 'cec, ~ nl~oo.uction to Poer: ,s. Hughes and Cullen won nati.o,1al r e co_s nitlo:1 (ar.d poetry awards) at abou~ the sa me ti ne. parison ends. There, howe~ e r, the com- Hughes was 0~10 of the Hi.c'l. e st tra v ,::. le cl of all the nenaissanco wri t ers. and 01.ultj_-talented, He ~as also t~e ~ost pro~i c iovs 11:d. t:!n;:, success.f ully tn all ,:::: enreE_. Hughes, who Hhen he died ir:. 1 ")67 wa. 2. t·h c~ H~cfost translatefl. American author, later 1,·3 C8. .i w l:nown as the :l n t;err:a ti onal poet laureate of P.18.ck peorl e . his famous poe m 11 Bis C8.reer :) e c e. n in 1919 with Tl7e Ee e;r o Sp e aks of 'Ri ve,,,s," :t.n ·which he spiritually united t~e Blac k world. He was to ~eco me the most quoted and read Black ro e t--amon G everyday Blacks. Known for his musical quality and experi nIBntal ~lank verse in the Hbi tman-Lindsa~ -Sanc~~) U::'.'J st y le, Hus hes or-i c inated tbe 0 practice of reading poetry to jazz and was one of the foremost promoters of music-poetry lo ve affair. Black poet-critic Jay Wright (Introduction, Henr y Dumas' Poetr:,;__E.?E T-"i y People, 1970) noted that not untll th e appearance of Du ,,,as was Hup;hes' knowledge of Spiri.tuals ana Gospels was ri-v·nled, Hughes, like Du111as was to c1o later, haunted Black r01l g ious and secular concerts. DurinG the 20's, there we r e scores of concerts and Black musicians to see and bear. of experimentation and growth. 68 Black Kusic, it was a period ~as ti ~G had b een succeeded by �first Classical and then Neoclassical Jazz. The plantation minstrel tradition was dying and big bands were beginning to form. In 1927 Louis Armstrong, having organized his own band, began playing at the Sunset in Chica g o. at the Cotton in Harle m the same year. Duke Elling ton opened In a way, Hughes was more obvious successor to Dunbar in that he carried on the dialect tradition, but dissolved it of Dunhar's sentimentality and rural flavor. Hughes honed his ear on the rich, sponta- neous cadences and syncopated rhythm of the new urban Blacks, sometimes surrealistically combining them with the natural sights and sounds of the cities, as in "Jazzonia": Oh, silver tree! Oh, shining rivers of the soul! In a Harlem cabaret Six long-headed jazzers play. A dancing girl whose eyes are bold Lifts high a dress of silken g old. Oh, singinG tree! Oh, shining rivers of the soul! In 1926, Hughes published his prize-winning volume, The Weary Blues, and in 1927, Fine Clothes to the Jew. He was one of the greatest students and handlers of the Black Folk tradition-which he imbibed realistically, genuinely, alle g orically and mythically in his work. Johnson, too, was a prodigious and wide rang ing talent. Some have called him the true "renaissance" man. As a scholar, Johnson is known for his anthologies and his se minal interpretations of Black culture--music and the Spirituals in particular. Of great importance is his antholo e y, The Book of American Negro Poetry where in an illuminating Preface, he 69 �cites the four major Black artistic contrib utions to America. 1. 2. J. 4. The Uncle Remus stories, collected by Joel Chandler Harris The Spirituals ("to which the Fisk Jub ilee Singers made the public and the musicians of b oth the United States and Europe listen") The Cakewalk (which Paris called the "poetry of motion") · The Ra gtime ("American music" for which the U.S. is known all over the world) Johnson is also noted for his work with t h e U.S. diplomatic corps, his pioneering work with the NAACP and his brilliant employment of Black idioms and ps y cholo g:r in his poetry and discussions. His "Lift Every Voice and Sing , Black national anthem, was written in 1900. 11 called the Johnson's brother, J. Rosamond, composed the music for the poem. Another of Johnson's famous works is 11 0 Black and Unknown Bards," in which he i mmortalized the makers and sin gers of the early Spirituals: 0 black and unknown bards of long a go, How ca.me your lips to touch the sacred fire? How, in your darkness, did you come to know The power and the beauty of the minstrel's lyre? .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Heart of what slave poured out such melody As "Steal away to Jesus"? On its strians His spirit must have ni ghtl y floated free, Though still a.bout his hands he felt his cha.ins. Who heard great "Jordan Roll"? Whose starward e y e Saw chariot "swing low 11 ? And who was he That breathed that comforting, melodic si gh, "Nobody knows de trouble I see 11 ? One of the most unique voices of the Harlem Renaissance, however, was Jean Toomer, who along with Huehes, Cullen and McKay make up Locke's Four Negro Poets. A complex of person- alities, talents and racial mixtures, Toomer was a constant 70 �eni gma to critics and fellow writers. Althou gh he ad mitted that he was of seven racial strands, he acknowled g ed that 11 my growing need for artistic expression has pulled me deeper and deeper into the Ne e;ro group. 11 In 1924, Toomer•s Cane was published to g enerally unenthusiastic reviews. However, a number of writers of the new school--Waldo Frank, Sherwood Anderson, etc.--lauded i t . Cane, normally lumped in the cate- g ory of the novel; is an unusual and complex set of short stories interlaced with poems and at least one play . Set primarily in the deep south--in Geor g ia--it also deals with the urban impact on mi grating Blacks. Love, racial conflict~ sex, violence, reli g ion, nature and a grarian the mes are all explored directly and alle g orically. Today Cane is re g arded as a classic and is extolled b y Black intellectuals, writers and teachers as the greatest single wor k of tee Renaissance. Robert Bone, in The Nee;ro Novel in America, sa:i.d that Toomer was the "only Ne gro writer of the 1 920's who participated on equal terms in the creation of the modern idiom." Bone was, of course, comparing Toomer to "Stein and Hemingway in prose, Pound and Eliot in poetry." Most of the stories in Cane are introduced b y a single stanza prolo gue as in "Karintb a": Her skin is like dus k on the eastern horizon, 0 can't y ou see it, o can't y ou see it, Her skin is like dusk on the east e rn horizon • • • When the sun g oes down. Obsessed, it seems, with beauty and na t ure-cou pled with a passionate intellig ence and lin g uistic v irtuosit y --Toomer was just as comfortable with sonnets. "Nov emb er Cotton Flower" closes with the followin g co u plet: 71 �Brown eyes that loved without a trace of fear, Beauty so sudden for that time of y ear. Racial pride, the lower side of Clack life and a ro mantic engagement with Africa, however, were the main ingredients of the Renaissance literature; and most of the writers employed these themes directly or indirectly. musicians, scholars and activists. So too did the painters, Garvey had set up a re gal court reminiscent of ancient African Kingdoms and had infused his followers with visions of returnin c; to the "homeland". His "court" was resplendent with hierarchical titles and lavish regalia for parades. his fleet of ships. Black Star Line was the name of The prevailing spirit of the day was one of Black indul gence and many whites sought for, and got their share of, it. The Black Awakenin g was not the exclusive pro- perty of Harlem. For as Kerlin pojnts out (Preface, Ne c;ro Poets and Their Poems), the mood of change spread to other sections of the country. Some of the re gional or community anthologies published were: The Quill in Boston, Black Opals in Philadelphia and The Stylus in Washing ton, D.C. too, were the collections and studies of folk songs. Important, Kerlin's "noteworthy" collections for the period included: Negro Folk Rhymes (Thomas W. Talley, 1922) The Ne gro and His Son~s (Howard W. Odum, 1925) Ne gro Workaday SongsHoward W. Odum, 1926) Rainbow Round My-snoulder (Howard W. Odum, 1928 ) Wings on My Feet {Howard W. Odum, 1929) American Ne gro Folk Songs (Newman Ivey White, 1929) Other brilliant and exciting poets and writers shared the Renaissance scene--thougb they are normally over-shadowed by Hughes, Toomer, McKay, Johnson a.nd Cullen. 72 Some of' these �writers--most of whom did not publish volumes until the later period--were: Arna Bontemps, Waring Cuney, Robert Hayden, Sterling Brown, Owen Dodson and Melvin Tolson. Prose writers of the period included Eric Walrond and Rudolph Fisher as well as Hughes and Toomer. Bontemps, antholo ~ist, critic, poet and novelist, published in leadinG ma c azines of the period and won numerous awards for poetry. His first collection of poetry, Personals, was not published until 1963. Cuney is known for his brevity and preciseness as in his poem "No Images" wherein he laments the pli pht of a Black girl whose proud past has become muddied in the concrete and asphalt jungle of the city because: • • • there are no palm trees On the street, And dish water g ives back no ir,1a r~es. Sterlin[; Brown, like Bontemps, pursued the folk tradition while cultivatins an ear and technique that rivaled some of the best modern poetry. His debt to folk idioms and characters is ob- vious in such poems as "Odyssey of Bi c; Boy, 11 "Southern Road~ " ''Memphis Blues," and "Lon[_:, Gone "--all appeari nc; in .Johnson's anthology. Brown, who contributed to periodicals of tbe period and wrote a regular column for Opportunity, also published important critical studies. Dodson wrote verse plays and collaborated with Cullen on at least one writing project. He too won numerous awards for his plays and poetry . llayden and Tolson, both si~nificant modern poets, were to be beard from in succeeding decades as critics and outstanding teacbers. 73 �Related Suh-Topics for Unit 9 1. 2. 3. 4- 5. 6. 4 "The Harlem Renaissance" Through Poetry The Ja.zz Idiom in the New Poet-r:r Plantation Life in the New Poetr~ Changes in Dialect Usa ge in Poets Between 1910-1930 Universality and the Black Poet Ela.ck Life Seen Throuch Blnck Poetry, 1920-1930 7. The Impact of Blues and Jazz on tbe Poetry Religious Influence on Black Poetr:r, 9. Africa as Seen hy the Harlem Rennaissance Poets Divercent styles in Early 20th Centur~ Black Poets Comparison/Contrast of Blnclc and 'Hhi te Poets of the Period Major Themes i n Black Poetry , 1910-1930 8. 1910-1930 10. 11. 12. UNIT If 5: THE :MODETIH BLACK POETS (1930 - 1954) Li tera1"'y/Social Background: .-f'n en the stock market crashed 1 in 1929, white patronization of Black artists ended. Blac k creativity and scholarship, however, had grown up durin ~ the first three decades of the century, and i~portant writing and musical development continued. Mi p,ration of Blacks to northern urban centers was stepped up hefore and after World War II--with many Blacks being attracted by shipbuildin ~ and other war manufacturing industries. Afro-Americans have participated in every U.S. military conflict since Colonial days. Durinc World War II and Korea, however, they were used al~ost exclusively as fi ghting troops (between 1943-45 Jim Crow was abolished in the Armed Forces). Nevertheless, Black soldiers, returnin g home from European and Pacific war theaters, still faced unemployment and lynching; and in so me southern cities were forbidden to appear on the streets in military uniforms. 74 Baldwin is one �of many perceptive American writers to note that Black men, seeking the fruits and the realization of the A meri ca □ Dream, tried through out history to adjust and "fit" into American society. So, in face of official Ameri can contempt for his humanity and his welfare, the Blac k soldier march ed with an "equality" of death into tbe Korean "\Jar. James Weldon Johnson had opened the dismal period of the Depression with Black Manhattan, a social history of Harlem. Black Manhattan was one of t l1e dozens of studies on urban Black communities which had he0n be~un by works such as DuBois' Philadelphia Negro: A Social Stu~~! (l f'.<)9 ). Like Johnson, many of the poets and artists turned their writinc skills toward the recording of Black social problems and artistic achievements (e.g., Johnson's Black Americans, Hho.t lJow? and Charles S. Johnson's The Shadow of the Plantation, ~ oth in 193~). Some of the writers were subsidized b:r HPA c;rants while others mana g ed to obtain jobs as teachers and iournalists. like the common folk, walked the soup lines. Others, It was durin 13 the period of 1930-.54 that white schools of higher learninc started accepting more Blacks, as students and teachers. Generally, America witnessed rapid advancements in science and industry. Radio drama became a cultural mainstay and the motion picture ind us tr~ provided a new and exciting diversion for America. Baseball continued as the "national pasttime" (for Blacks, it was the era of Jackie Robinson). ,Tack Johnson had already bec;un to dazzle America with his pugilistic skills. It was the prize fighter Joe Louis 75 �(the "Brown Bomber"), however, who captur ed sports-minded America with one of the greatest records in t h e hoxin g hi story . Louis's defeat of German Max Xchmelin g (193 8 ) came at a crucial time in U.S. history--when America's rising '~'l i ght amon [; tbe world of nations was being challenged on tbe battlefield by Hitler. Two years earlier, a racist Hitler h a d refused to acknowledge the feats of Olympic tract star Jessee Owens. In prose and drama, white American writers continued to straddle a thematic path between realism and the American Dream. A distinctly 11 post-wa.r 11 group of writers e merged. Dominating the period were Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis, Willa Cather, Thomas Wolfe, O'neill, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Dos Pe.ssos, Katherine Anne Porter, Erskine Caldwell and Carson McCullers. Usinc; symbolism and alle gory to attack war, decade nce a nd the atomic bomb, American writers often took ns models s uch Russian writers as Chekov, Dostoevski and Tolstoi. T~ny employed the stream of consciousness technique--a st yle inf luenced by the "new psychologyrr and Irish writer James Joy ce--wh ich allowed for uninterrupted explorations 11 streamed 11 their references. 11 on part of characters who A similar mood prevailed in the poetry--much of which dealt wi th social decadence, war e.nd the mechanization of man. E.E. Cumrn.ings, known for his t y po graphi- cal trickery and general linguistic and syntactical experiments, was one of the most relentless critics o~ bureaucracy and war. Such themes had also concerned T.S. Eliot, considered one of the greatest modern poets, in such poems as 11 The Love Sonr; �of J'. Alfred Profrock" and "The Wa.ste Land. 11 The Imag ist poets continued their development via sucb voices as "H.D., Ezra Pound and Marianne Moore. 11 Other modern poets were Conrad Aiken, William Corlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Archibald McLeish, Hart Crane, J'ohn Crowe Ransom, Allan Tate, Richard Eberhart, Randall Jarrell, Robert Frost and Carl Sandbur ~. Crane, Eliot, Pound, W.H. Auden and Stevens have been called the major voices of the modern American Poetry. Historically, Black Music had been marked by white imitation and exploitation. There always exists the need to create a "white" musical face that can be di gested bJ Americans at large. From the minstrelsy of plantation days to tbe sophisticated operettas and musicals of the 2O's, this pattern bas continued. During the modern period, Be Bop became the musical heir to Ragtime, early Jazz a.nd Tin Pan Alley. While the bi~ band .-· and Black composers--Basis, Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, W.C. Handy, Eubie Blake, Noble Sisle, ctc.--continued their important work, different kinds of experiments were f, Oing on among other musicians. From these new formations and probings came some of the giants of modern Black Music: Miles Davis, Charlie "Yard Bird" Parker, Lester "Prez" Young , Sonny Rollins, Gene Ammons, Art Blakey (who studied drums in Africa), Ghano Pozo (Afro-Cuban), Dizzy Gillespie and Babs Gonzales (Bop poet e.nd singer: I Paid My Dues, 1967). From the musicians and their supporters emerged a.n underground "hip'' lanGuac;e. This tradition, of talking in metaphors and encoded cultural neologisms, had begun during the Renaissance. 77 Often, too, Black �vocalists were featured with the musicians. Some of these song stylists were Ella Fitz : erald, Sarah Vau gbn, Billie Holliday and Bessie Smith--wbo died in 1937. The migration t o cities also saw tbe continued rise of urbirn or bi[ city Blues. By 1954, however, the Blues bad ~one tbrou Gh several i mportant periods of development. Some names associated with the modern period were Louis Armstrong , Fats Waller, Ca h Calloway, Pops Foster, Eddie 1 ~on" House, Robert Johnson, Johnny Temple, Ro osevelt Sykes, Elmo James, B.B. Kin g , Jimmy Reed, Josh White, Sonny Boy Williams, John Lee Hooker, L5. Ghtnin 1 Hopkins and Big Joe Turner. Several notable Black literary explosions occured durinc the period between 1930-.54. Important were: the publication of Native Son (Richard Wright, 19~.0 ); the pub lication of For My People (Margaret Walker, 1942); tbe nppearance of Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison, 1952) a.nd , winnin g of the Pulitzer Prize for poetr:T (Gwendolyn Brooks, 1950 for Annie Allen). Na tive Son, a novel, featured a Black prota G;onist named Bigc;er Thomas who symbolized, and in many ways conte.i ned, the anger, ra g e and pressures felt by ur b an Blacks. The book was the first by a Black author to me.ke the best seller list and was also a book of the month club choice. Durinc the same period Wright, who died an expatriate in France in 1960, published several other novels, short stories, books of essays and miscellaneous prose. appeared. In 1945 Black Boy, bis autobiography Wright is significant for many reasons, foremost among the~ being that be was the first Black writer to deal , �accurately and on par with tbe beet fic t ion of t~e day , with the philosophical and psychological complexit y of the Black urbanite. In doing this, he opened a new ran r e of possibilities and freed Bla.ck fiction in many ways. Second, Wri ght is generally considered to be the juncture where one sho uld start a serious study of the Black novel. durine this period: There were other r ood fiction writers Rudolph Fisher, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude :McKay, Huch es, Arna. Bontemps, Ann Petr:r, DuBois, Frank Yerby, Eric Walrond, Chester Himes and Sterlinr; Brown. \•Jri ght, however, was the first to forge and sustain a maj~~ Black art piece out of mythical and racial materials in a way that no other writer had. Baldwin, who would dominate the comin3 years, indicated his rigor and genius near the end of this period (Go Tell It On the Mountain, 1953). Miss Walker, a Mississippi housewife who teaches literature at Jackson State College, was 22 years old when she wrote "For My People "--one of the most famous poems in En f:lish. Her book by the same name won the Yale Series of Youn ger Poets award in 1942. Rieb in cultural folk references, Bleck phono- logy and social history, the slim book briliantly traces the hope, humor, pathos, ra c;e, stamina. and iron dl c nity of the race. For My People lacks the daintiness, bared an ger and romantic idealism of some Renaissance Black poetry. The poems are true-grit experiences informed by the oral cadences and the religiosity of Blacks. Yet, along with these folk themes and intonations, Miss Walker presents excellent sonnets and quiet free-verse reminiscences in luscious and prismatic �imagery ("Southern Song 11 ) : I want my body bathed a gain by southern suns, my soul reclaimed a gain from southern land. I want to rest a gain in southern fields, in grass and ha y and clover bloom; to lay my hand a gain upon the clay baked by a southern sun, to touch t he r ain-soaked earth and smell the s mell of soil. Ellison, who has not published a novel since Invisible Man, remains one of the most controversial fi gures in American Literature; much of the controversy arising from what he says outside of fiction (see Introduction). Communist-oriented papers generally condemned Invisible Man when it first appeared. They held t hat it was a "dirt throwing '' rit ual for Ellison--wbo combines naturalism and complex symbolism in the book. Black novelist John Oliver Killens also gave it a ne gative review. Generally, however, the work is considered, by Black and white critics, to be a great novel--perhaps the greatest American novel. It won the National Book Award in 1952 and in a sub- sequent poll of 200 journalists and critics, it was j ud ged the most distinguished single work of fiction since World War II. The winning of the Pulitzer Prize by Gwendol y n Brooks (and Ellison's accolades) told the world that Black writers had mastered the "ultimate" English literary crafts of poetry and fiction to a degree which no longer called their abilities into question. Many Black critics feel, however, that there were excellent volumes, before Annie Allen, which should have received the Pulitzer Prize. These critics say Black artists, like the Black Experience, come periodically into fashion 80 �(e.g., Harlem Renaissance)--to be tolerated at the whims of white literary b astions, despite their proven abilities. The citation of Miss Brooks was a citation of the Black Experience, howe ve r--despite the fact that the prize was not a major announce ment in the Black communit y . caught up in the p ost-war mood, Blacks, job-searching and a quest for social equalit y , were not readin g much poetry. Miss Brooks i s universally reco g nized for her sparseness and complete control of poetic de v ices. In one interview she said she loves th e "crush" of t he lan ~ua g e. A fine example of her effecti v enes s within spatial limitations is the parents: people like our marria g e MR.Xie and Andrew from "Notes From the Childhood and th e Girlhood ": Clogged and soft and sloppy eye s Hav e lost the li ght that b ites or terrifies. But one by one They g ot thing s done : Watch for p or ches as you pass And prim low f encin g pinch in g in th e g 1 ass. 1 Pleasant custards sit b ehind The white Venetian b lind . Enflamed b y the spirit and exa mple of the Harlem Renaissance, Black poets of the pre- and post-war y ears continued exciting experiments. Miss Brooks recalls that a brief encoura g ement from the " great" Ja mes Weldon Johnson when she was a child spurred her own her way. S o~e of the poets of the Renaissance, however, quit writing alto g ether or be g an writin g in another genre. Poet Bont e mps also wrote novels--the mo s t famous of 81 �them being Black Thunder (1939, an ada ptation of t he 1 8 31 Nat Turner-led slave revolt. He edited and wrote, and some- times collaborated with others on antholo g ies and b io graphies for young read e rs. Ne gro: 1764-1949, With Hughes, he edited The P oetry of The co nsidered a b reak through in modern Black literary activity . One of the handful of Ren a issance Black writers to surv ive i nto the S e v enties, Bontemps died in 1930-54 as the a ge of Some have called the period b etween Langston Hughes in Black l e tters. 1973. Indeed, Hughes remained prominent and productive throughout the three periods-Renaissance, 1930- 54, and the Contemporary era. Durin g the pre- and post-war periods, Hu ghes continued to turn out everything from new s paper fiction columns (Jesse B. Si mple) to juvenilia to play s. period included: Hu ghes volumes of p oetry during this Dear Lovely Death (1 9 31), The Dream-Keeper (1932), Scottsboro Limited: Four Poems and a play in Verse (1932), New Song (1 938), Shakespeare in Harlem (1942) and Monta g e of A Dream Deferred, among others. Black poets and writers continued to "pr otest" in their works, carry in g on a tradition, as Hay den notes, Ne gro writers." "traditionally associated with Perhaps the period currentl y discussed is amply capsuled in these lines from Huc hes' famous poem "Dream Deferred 11 : What happens to a dream deferred? . . . . . . . . . . . . Maybe it j ust sa g s Like a heavy load. Or does it e x plode? . . . .. �Hughes in poetry, like Wri ght, Ellison and Baldwin in prose, faithfully recorded the Black mood. Like the others, he also predicted the social violence of the 60•s. poets and volumes of the period include: Other important Sterling Brown, Southern Road (1932); Tolson, Rendezvous with America (1944) and Libretto for the Republic of Liberia (1953); Naomi Long Madgett., Sonr;s to a Phantom Nightin gale (19hl); Selected Poems of Claude McKay (posthumously, 1953); Hayden, Heart-Shape in the Dust (1940) and The Lion and the Archer (1940); Cullen, The Medea and Some Poems (1935) and On These I Stand (posthumously, 1947); and Dodson, Powerful Lon g Ladder (1946). Also writing and/or translating durin g this period were Dudley Randall, Samuel Allen (Paul Vesey), Mar c aret Danner and Wri ght {who also wrote poetry). Black and white poets exchanged ideas and socialized, as Black and white intellectuals had done throughout most of the history of America. Many of the Black poets of the period., consequently., were introduced to publishers and the reading public by well-known white poets or critics. Such a practice was to come under fire, durin g the late 60•s and 70's, by some Black poets and cri-tics who felt that whites could not judge on Black writing . Reviews of the period were generally favorable to the Black writers who showed great finish in their work. Hayden, Walker, Brooks, Tolson and Dodson were among the poets who received hi gh praise for their technical virtu- , osity. Stephen Vincent Benet wrote the forward to Miss Walker's For My People., Allen Tate to Tolson's Libretto For the Republic BB �of Liberia and Hayden won Hopwood Awards twice and accolades from Poetry: A Magazine of Verse--re ga.rded as the white American olympus of poetry. One of the most important antholo gies of the period was The Negro Caravan, (1941) edited by Brown, Arthur P. Davis and Ulysses Lee. The first inclusive antholo gy of Black Literature, it re mains one of the outstandinc textbooks of Black writing. Brown also published two important works of criticism, The Negro in American Fiction and Ne gro Poetry and Drama, both in 1937. In 1954, as American soldiers prepared to return from Korea and television glared to consume the world, the Supreme Court decision of May 15 r,losed the book on one era of Black American History and opened up Pandora ts box on another. Wright's Black Power ( l 95Ld, a commentary on his experiences in Africa's Gold Coast, may have been more than just a hint at the what was to come. Related Sub-Topics for Unit# 1. 2. 5 Post Renaissance Black Women Poets Black Poets and World War II 3. Black Poets and Lynching 4. Universality in Black Poetry 5. The Coming of Age Technical of Black Poetry 6. Modern Technolo gy and Blac k Poetry ?. Music and the Black Poet 8. Blues in the Works of Modern Black Poets 9. The Influence of "Swing " on Black Poetry 10. The Influence of Be Bop on Black Poetry 11. The Inf.luence of White Modern Poetry on Black Modern Poetry 12. Distinctive Black Poetic Voices in the Modern Era 13. From Margaret Walker to Gwendolyn Brooks 14. The Folk Tradition Continued in Black Poetry 15. Black Poets VS White Literary Establishment 16. Black Poets and White Critics 17. - Langston Hughes and the Be Bop Tradition 18. Langston Hughes and the Blues Tradition �UNIT # 6: CONTEMPORARY BLACK POETS : CIVIL RIGHTS TO BLACK POWER; PROTEST TO BLAC K ARTS ( l q51t to Present) Literary/Social Background: Upheaval, violence, chan r,e, ideology, rhetoric ••• are us ed in describin g the contemporary period. world. Revolutions (of all k i nds) characterize the From Cuba to Vietnam, Harlem to Chile, Pakistan to Watts, Ni geria to Indonesia, Kenya to Berkeley, Jackson State to Kent State--the facts and s ymbols of change are dramatic and violent. By the mid-Fifties Be Bop w~s decli- ning and Jazz's greatest living interpreter, Charlie Parker, was dead. Musicians and vocalists be e;an prob ing new forms under the leadership of such forces as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Wes Mont p.;omery, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Count Basie, Ornette Col eman, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughn, Ella "B'itz gerald and Billie Holiday, who died in 1959. Miss Holiday's name and fame a gain reached a worldwide audience when, in 1972, Diana Ross, formerly of the Supremes, starred in the controversial movie, Lady Sing~ the Blues. Saxophonist Coltrane, a ma j or i nfluence on the current generation of musicians and poets, died in 196A. An innovator, he sparked new interest in music with his ''sheets of sound" approach to playing . The Fifties also witnessed the maturation of Rhythm and Blues, Popularized primarily by Black disc jockeys who developed lar ge followin gs. The DJ's employed oral dynamism in conveying their messages over the airways. Interweavin~ the records with lively ~lack social news and commentaries, 85 �the DJs anticipated the popularity of the new Black oral poetry of the S i x ties. Spin-offs fro m t h ese essentially Black broadcasting st y les were pro grams li k e Bandstand (started in the late F i fties) whick were modeled after Black record hops. White y oung sters watc h ed Blac k s dance, listened to Little Richard and Chubby Checker, and tried to imitate it all on TV and in the i r homes. This period g ave birth to the f i rst white superstar Soul artist--Elvis Presley . TV's e x plo i tation of Rhythm and Blues (later called Rock and Roll) was one of the most si g nificant social developments on t h e contemporary scene. Black critics and social historians note that the new social music, and the dances accompany ing it, freed white American y ounr; sters from the prudish and self-ri ~hteous inhi bi tions of their foreparents. For the first time, wh i te Americans b e g e.n to use their pelvises when they danced! Generally, American science and industry de veloped more rapidly than in previous periods. Russia launched Sputnick, v.r\\A:t~ a feat~was followed by an American-Russian science and space-exploration race wh i ch cont i nues today. Telestar paved the way for televised coverage of g lobal activ i ties while biochem- ical warfare and atomic research became the ni ght mares people lived daily. The American literary scene was swamped with political novels, satire, wr i ting s on the war and experi mental journalistic prose. The "underground" newspaper continues to be a major vehicle for much of this new writin g . 86 Much of the �symbolism and psychology that had been employed in writings earlier in the century is still present. Ho1'ever, the influ- ence of the writers from the Depression and war years is diminishing. Black and Jewish writers occupy the literary stage where there is talk about Jewish writers succeeding the Anglo-Saxon writers and the Black writers succeeding the Jewish and so on-- in the same upward spiralinp.; process I" sociologists said has characterized the i rri_J.r;rant cycle in the cities. Contemporary Black and white prose writers of inf'luence include: John Cheever, Ralph Ellison, Bernard Malamud, John Hersey, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, Ernest Gaines, James Baldwin, Flannery O'Connor, Albert Murray, William Styron, William Demby, John Barth, William Melvin Kelley, and Irvin Wallace. Black writers are included in the general listing because during the conte mporary period many of them achieved recognition oh par with the best writers everywhere. Accordingly, some important contem- porary poets (Black and white) are: Stanley Kunitz, Robert Hayden, Eberhart, Robert Penn Warren, Gwendolyn Brooks, Theodore Raethke, Karl Shapiro, Melvin Tolson, John Berryman, Henry Dumas, Robert Lowell, Richard Wilbur, Paul Vesey, James Dickey, Imamu Baraka, Sylvia Plath, William Bell and Ja~es Wright. Many of the Black prose writers and poets (some from the pre- and post-war schools) died during the contemporary period (Tolson, Bontemps, Hughes, Wri ght, Durem, Dumas, DuG.or~, Rivers, Toomer, Malcolm X, etc.). Indeed death, in one way or another, not only preoccupied writers (white and Black), 87 �but was romantically sought out in many cases. Kenneth Rexroth cried out: Beat poet '~Why have 30 American poets committed suicide since 1900?" Those poets not concerned with death were investi gating decadence or the deathness of man's errors and indul 8ences. The development of contemporary poetry cannot be viewed properly without understanding the 11 Bea.t" period. A hy-· product of the Be Bop era in Black music, Beat poets emulated the hip mannerisms and aped the 11 man alone" and the societal drop-out i ma ge that many associated wi t h t he musicians. Some musicians and critics a gree that Be Bop was the Blackman's way of rejecting the commercialization of h is art--and playing "Something , can't play . 11 11 in the words of Th elon i ous Mo!:1k, "they (They , mean i ng whites). I mp ortant Beat poets included Lawrence Ferhl i nghetti, Rexroth , Allan Gins b er g, Gre gory Corso, amon g the whites, and Bob Kaufman, LeRoi Jones and Ted Jones e.mone; tbe Blacks. Another Black poet writing at the time and loosely ali gned with t he Beat ima ge was Russell Atkins who founded Freelance in 1950. The Beat Movement, which nurtured occultis .n, re j ection of t h e Establishment and an existential view of life, was centered in New York's Greenwich Village and the San Francisco Bay area. The movement died in the early Sixties. Kaufman is viewed by many as the unsun g patriarch of the Beat era. Black critics say ma j or white poets of the movement enthusiastically took their cues from Kaufmants innovations, but were not so enthus i astic in their reco gnition of his avant garde work. - - -- - - - -- --- Kaufman's poetry is �recorded in anthologies and in his two voluMes: Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness (1965) and Golden Sardine (1967). As a kind of spiritual heir to Toomer, Kauf man is a complex, sometimes fragmented, but brilliantly ori ~inal poet. His work, like that of many of his contemporaries, influenced by Eastern religious thought and the occult. Stylistically, Kaufman has the "sweep" of Walt Whi t ma.n coupled with the best techniques of modern poetry. He passionately experi- ments with jazz rhythms in poetry and often invokes jazz themes, moods and musicians. Many Beat poets and enthusiasts later joined or were spawned by the Civil Ri ghts struggle which was intensified by Rev. Martin Luther King , Jr. 's Mont gomery b us boycott in 1955-56; sit-ins and other dramatizat i ons of se grepation and discrimination; the challenges of Jim Crow in travel in 1961 (CORE); the widenin~ activities of SNCC (1961-64) and the March on Washington (1963). Other si gnificant activities en.flamed and inspired the hearts and imagination of American youth especially. The Muslims (Nation of Islam) growth to 50,000 members by 1963 and the Congressional action on Civil Rights Legislation were two seemingly unrelated but strategically important events. The growing influence of the Muslims suggested that many Blacks no longer believed America was sincere in its pledges to implement changes once they became law. Abetting their distrust were the continued killings, night-ridings in the south and harra.ssment of Blacks in public places and their ~omes. 89 With the bitter taste of �Emmitt Till 1 s murder still on their tongues, Blacks reeled under the killing of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, King, the Kennedy brothers and the three Black Panthers killed by police in their sleep in a Chicago By 1966, however, Black apartment, among other activities. Power signs and slogans had be~un to replace the ''We shall overcome--Black and White To gether" exclamations. Young Black America adorned Afro ho.irdos o.nd African jewelry, attended cultural festivals, back-to-Africa rallies and poetry readings and began reading co~munity news published in revolutionary broadsides and tabloids. Rhetorical forays by H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, young SNCC officers, set off a flurry of state and national laws arainst inciting to riot and the transportation of weapons a.cross state boundaries. Large and small cities i gnitep in flames that set the stage for gun battles between police and the often "imagined" snipers. These confrontations were repeated in scores of cities after Dr. King was assinated in 1968. Poet Quincy Troupe captured the shock and horror and chronicled the official reaction in his poe:n 11 Whi te Weekend": The deployed military troops surrounded the White House and on the steps of the Senate building a soldier behind a machine gun 32,000 in Washington & Chicago 1,900 in Baltimore Maryland 76 cities in flames on the landscape and the bearer of peace still lyine in Atlanta ••• And the last stanza, ~roupe notes with curdling irony: 90 �Lamentations! Lamentations! Lamentations! Worldwide! But in New York, on Wall Street the stock market went up 18 points ..• At this writing , fallout from the Black Revolution reverberates around the globe. Black journalist Thomas Johnston reports Irish revolutionaries sin~ '~e Shall Overcome." Posters and emblems commercialize everythin g from African hairstyles to the raised clenched fist--the initial contemporary symbol of Black unity and definnce. A wave of Black movies--called Blaxploitation--beginnin p witb experimental flicks like Putney Swope (1969)continues to capture a multi-million dollar theater patronage. Black movies retrieved the crippled movie industry from the brink of disaster. Meanwhile, the murder, incarceration and poli- tical harrassment of Black men and women made them heroes and heroines in Black communities--yet ironically s ymbolized the torment and what some Black journalists called the "genocidal schemes" of America. Criss-crossed by paradoxes, political contradictions, social revolts and religious ambivalences, the Black commu- nity nevertheless continues to be re generated b y its singers and performers. Co_~temporary Black po.~ular music has not OJ.A..bi-,1\,{.(" ~ .4 0nJ wi·~ .1,~('v(:~ ,ct] ~ only reached unprecedented~mohey-making capabilities. •n Blues, said to have died about 196.5, c;ave way to 11 Rhythm Soul 11 - - "I'm a Soul Man," as Sam and Dave announced in the late Sixties. The Impressions told lovers that you "gotta have soul" and Bobby Womack reminded listeners tha.t the "Woman's Gotta Have it "--presumably _ risoul. " 91 Black recording companies �are in a boon, the two largest ones heing Mo Town (Detroit) and Watte,5tax (Memphis). The current period has been characterized by the Black superstar--sometimes called "super Ni gger"--in everything from sports to movies. Curtis Mayfield's soundtract album Super.fly (1972) sold more than 22,000,000 copies and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) set records for album sales. Literally dozens of singing groups--modeled on the quartets and ensembles of the Fifties-are releasing albums re gularly. These folk or "soul" poets have become more politically "conscious!! in recent years and many plant political messages and ex eltations of Blackness in their works. Much of this new wave came on the heels of severe criticism by Baraka who admonished Black popular singers for doting on unrequited love. Baraka said too many Black singers are preoccupied with "my baby's gone, gone" themes. Black consc i ousness activity--and creativity in general-has flourished inestimably. Related involvement has included: Development of Black acting ensembles; opening of free schoms and Black universities; establishment of Black Nationalist communes; increase in the number of Black bookstores, African boutiques; establishment of Black Studies programs on white and Black campuses and, in some cases, quota systems for enrolling Black students; the escalation of Black demand for "cream of' the crop" jobs such as TV announcing and hosting of TV variety shows; expansion and creation of new roles for Black newspapers, magazines and radio stations; 92 �formation of national and state Black Con gressional Caucuses and similar units in most professional associations and, finally and importantly, new enga gement with Africa and her problems and possibilities. Indeed, future trips to Africa-- to the "Mother country" or "Homeland"--are discussed at all age and social levels~ Much of this renewed interest is understandable in light of the emerr-,; ence during the contemI porary period of several African nation states and the I increased fraternization of Africans and Afro-Americans. Malcolm X, cannonized today by great numbers of young Blacks and Black intellectuals, did much to foster current interest in Africa. Gunned down at a rall y in Harlem in 1965, Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz) bad already been expelled from the Nation of Islam. His newly formed splinter group was known as the Organization of Afro-American Unity. His Auto- biography of Malcolm X (with Alex Haley, 1965) which (as be predicted) he did not get to see in print, chronicles the odyssey of bis various phases as Malcolm Little, hustler "Detroit Red", Malcolm X and El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Malcolm was lionized by Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Ossie Davis, Baraka and various other scholars, activists and artists. Black Poets, especially, have found Malcolm a continuing source of inspiration. A partial indication of Malcolm's impact on poets can be seen in ~or Malcolm: Poems on the Life and Death of Malcolm X (1967), edited by Dudley Randall and Margaret G. Burroughs. Shabazztt Robert Hayden noted that: 93 In "El-Hajj Malik El I I �He X'd his name, became his people's anger, exhorted them to vengence f or t h eir past; rebuked, admonished them, Their scourger who would shame them, drive them from the lush ice gardens of their servitude. At the First World Festival of Ne gro Arts, held in Dakar, Sene gal, in 1966, Hayden was awarded the Grand Prize for Poetry. A major event, the festival was attended by experts, scholars, artists and enthusiasts o.f the Blac k Arts who gathered for 24 days to hear papers a.nd discussions, v iew art exhibits and cultural performances, and give preliminary direction to the Black Arts Move ment. Pr e s i din B over the ' festival was Leopold Sedar ' Sen~hor, ' Sene galese President, , ' Damas) and one of the architects (with Aime Cesa.ire' a nd Leon of Ne gritude. Ne gritude is a philosophy o.f Black humanism and corrals, according to its ori ginators, th e Black my stique or reli giosity . The term grew out of t he associations of Black African intellectuals, French writers and artists, and Black American expatriates. African-oriented publications such as Presence Africaine and Black Orpheus have renewed their interests i n Black Ameri- I I can writers. Likewise, Black American journals and popular magazines (Black World, Journal of Black Poetry, The Black Scholar, Essence, Encore, Ebony, J e t, etc.) he can to publish more materials by and a b out Africans. The revolution in the Black Arts was si gnaled by many events includint:s the First Conference of Ne r.;ro Writers in March of- 1959. Langston Hughes was an i mportant f igure at 94 I I I -I �the conference--as he was at the Dakar p;atherin 9; seven years later. The First American Festival of Ne gro Art was held in 1965 and the Second AFNA took place in Nove mber of 1969 in Buffalo, N.Y. Interlacing these and other con- ferences, symposia and conventions were exciting developments and experiments in New York, ChicaBo, Watts, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit and Washington, D.C. During these periods of social turmoil and artistic upsurge writers and poets often al ipned themselves with ideological positions and re gional mo ve ments. Consequently, communities Black Arts communes and re r.; iona.l brands of Black Consciousness Grew concurrently. Splits between older Civil Ri ghts workers and Black Nationalists were paralleled by splits between older writers and younger practioners of "Black Arts." The splits were not alway s clear-cut, however, for many older activists and poets j oined the new mood in spirit, thematic concern and personal life st yle, while some of the younger writers retained the influence of the earlier moods. Complicating things even more were the variants on the dominant themes of each camp. Gwendolyn Brooks, Dudley Randall, Margaret Danner, Mar garet Walker and John Oliver Killens are among the older group of writers who vi gorously took up the banner of the new mood. Younger writers whose works imbibe more "tradition 11 include Henry Dumas (Poetry For My People, 1970), Conrad Kent Rivers (The Still Voice of Hariem, 1968, etc.), Julia Fields (Poems, 1968 ) Al Young 95 �(Dancing, 1 9 69 , e tc.) and Ja:sr Wri r.:ht (The Homecoming Singer, 1972) to name j us t a few. The creative promise of this period was dealt a severe blow with the untimely deaths of Dumas and Ri ver s i n 1968. These poets are deeply inf'luenced by the moods and preoccupations of the period (Black self-love, racial in j ustic e , vi olence, war, Black Consciousness and History) but the y wor k along tested lines and experiment within careful and thought-out frames of references. Most of the write rs of t h e period (their styles and ideolo 8ies notwithstand i ng ) have f ound themselves enc;ulfed at one time or another i n h eated debates over questions related to the "Black Aesthetic 11 , the relationship of writer to rea.der, appearances befor e Black and ~1ite audiences, and the part that pol i tics should play in the life and works of writers. At this writing , t h es e discussions continue in most sections I of the Black World. The flurry of ideological and aesthetical debate among the poets (and other writers) has often been precipitated or attended by critical writings, historical studies, social essays and public political statements. , I I I Some of the indi- viduals associated with initiatin~ the plethora of rhetoric I on the question of a "Black" aesthetic (and related issues) I are Ron Karenge., Gwendolyn Brooks, Baraka, Addison Gayle, Jr., I Hoyt W. Fuller (Black World), Edward Spri ggs, J. Saunders Redding, Ralph Ellison, Larry Neal, Ernest Kaiser, Mel Watkins, Ron Welburn, Dudley Randall, Lerone Bennett, Jr., James Emanuel, Toni Cade, John Henrik Clarke, Don L. Lee, 96 I �Ed Bullins, a.nd Stanley Crouch. A numb er of important studies, literary and cultural, by Black and wb i te writers, aided in whetting or prolonging the critical thirsts. Some of the important and/or controversial writinr s of the Contemporary period include: The Militant Black Writer: in Africa and the United States (1969), Cook and Henderson; Black Expression (1969) and The Black Aesthetic (1971) Gayle Jr., ed.; Muntu: The New African Culture (1961) and Neo-African Li tera.ture: A History or Black Wr_i tin g (1968 ), Jahn; Langston Hughes: Black Genius (1971), 0 1 Daniel, ed.; Black Poets of the Unit ed States: Paul Lawrence Dunbar to Langston Hughes (1963, French edition; 19 73 English trans., Douglas), Wa gner; Before the Mayflower (1962), Sha.dow and Act (1966), Bennett, Jr.; Ellison; Understanding the New Black Poetry (1973), Henderson; Colloquium on Ne gro Art: First World Festival of Ne gro Arts, 1966 (1 968 ), Editions ' Presence Africaine; The Ne gro Novel in America (1965), Bone; Mother is Gold: A Study in West African Literature (1971), Roscoe; The Crisis of' the Ne gro Intellectual (1967), Cruse; Native Song : A Critical Study of Twentieth-Century Ne gro American Authors (1968 ), Mar golies; p y na.mite Voices: Black Poets of t he 1960's, vol. I (1971), Lee; Blues People (1963), Black Music (1967), Home: Soci~l Essays (1966), and Raise Race Ways Waze (1971), Baraka; and Give Birth to Brightness (1972), Williams. A number of Black critics, artists, and activists heatedly denounce whites who research or criticize Black literature, saying that only t h ose who bave lived the 97 �Black Experience can write about it. Another croup holds that whites can report on Black writing if they are sincere and sympathetic. The Black Arts Movement, as the contemporary period has been called, took place in the shadows of what many Black social critics have called the "second Reconstruction. 11 Hence, much of the writine is a revolt a ~ainst political hypocrisy and social alienation. In the earliest Black Poetry of the period, many writers showered disdain and obscenities on the "system" and whites in r-;enerEi.l. that thew wouldn't take 11 Notin g inte gration 11 i f it were offered, younger poets derided American values and attitudes. 11 Unlike the Harlem group," Hayden noted, "they re j ected entry into the mainstream of American literature as a desirable goe.l." Of course, more than a few of the older poets were writing in the Sixties and are writing today. Many of them, however, were sometimes laid aside by yound readers who were unable to separate "poetry" from the fiery declamations of Carmichael, Brown and ennumerable local spokesmen and versifiers. Often the poets exchanged superficial indictments, indulced in name-calline and, as groups or individuals, be ~an rating each other on their "levels of Blackness'' even thou gh no criteria existed then and none exists today for such judging . Much of the dispute centered around the question of who "started" the Black Arts or New Black Poetry movements. in the Spring, 1971, issue of ConfrontatiEn: Third World Literature, I stated: 90 In an article A Journal of �While it is true that there o.r c leadinc li r hts of the Black Arts Movement, it is an emphatic lie to say one geographical re gion of the country is solely responsible for either the main (and Ma j or) writin c output or kicking off any tradition of Blacks writing about themsel ves. To take such a contemptuously arro gant stand would be to write off the Black musical past. Aggression has been the tone in much of the contemporary poetry. This is partially due to the presence of some who selected poetry as a medium of expression beca.use of its deceptive simplicity and briefness. Many of the "poets" obviously have no genuine interest in developin ~ their craftsmanship. On tbe other hand, the current period con- tinues to witness a c;rowin 0 and wide-rangin r_; concern for poetic craft and knowled f e. S ome of the t h emes t h at concern contemporary poets a re: Black History Self-love and Development Africa, including Words, Places and Customs Black Pride Community Development Hero-Worshi p : i.e., Malcolm X, Joh n Coltrane, Dr. Kine , Muhammad Ali, etc. Casti gation of White_s_ Violence Uncle Toms or submissive type Blacks War Social Injustice . Music including musicians, instruments, ori gins, , accompaniment to rea d"ings Black Langua ge, including street talk, intonation, inflection, rhythm, etc. Poverty Interracial Dating Black Middleclass Guerilla. Warfare Interracial marria ge Poetical satire Racism Black Children Eulo gies for slain activists or artists Reli gion, especially Islam Hypocris y Undisputed a s one of the giants of the New Black Poetry Mmrement.. irnd j tl'l re] ated_____nat.io__na.listic tdeolorries and appen- ·I I I �----- - - - - -- - da ges, is Imamu Amiri Baraka (I~Roi Jones). Baraka is a towering symbol and example for many of the new poets a.nd activists. He has also influenced older writers (Brooks, Randall, etc.) as well as musicians. As playwri ght, novelist, essayist, poet, and spiritual consultant, he mystified (some say terrified) America with visions and solicitations of her doom--implicitly at the hands of Black guerilla armies. Freedomways editor, Clarke, noted in a 1970 Atlanta conference, that Baraka is "one of the most talented individuals on the face of the earth." However, Clarke warned Baraka 1 is courting sultural disaster and misleading others in his "use of esoteric and remote Eastern symbolism" (a reference to Baraka's Muslim and Arabic influences. Like many Black 99 .... 't. �musicians before and durin ~ his time, Baraka took on his present Islamic name. He also divorced his white wife in I An enigmatic I man and writer, Baraka has been said to reveal a persis- I tent "death wish" in his writings. I the mid-Sixties and married a Black woman. In the prefe.ce to Black Magic (1969) be acknowledged this critical reaction to his work: The Dead Lecturer (1964) and Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (1961), volumes of poems, are Baraka's referents by his unusual life. I . I You notice the preoccupation with death, suicide, in the early works. Always my own, caught up in the deathurge of this twisted society. The work a cloud of abstraction and disjointedness, that was whiteness. European influence, etc., just as the concept of hopelessness and despair, from the dead minds the dying morality of Europe. There is a spirituality always try ing to get throu Gh, to triumph, to walk across these dead bodies like stuntin for disciples, walking the water of dead bodies Europeans call their minds. in the above passage. I Baraka's complex work is rivaled only In 1968, he received a j ail sentence on a charge of ille gally possessing a gun. P.E.N., an inter- national association of writers, voiced protest a Gainst the sentencing on grounds that Baraka 1 s ri ghts were violated. The organization and Baraka's disciples were appalled by the judge's courtroom use of the defendent's poem "Black Art 11 : • • • Fuck poems and they are useful, wd they shoot come at you, love what you are, breathe like wrestlers, or shudder strangely aft e r pissing . We want live words of the hip world live flesh & coursing blood. Hearts Brains 100 �Souls splinter i nr fire. We wan t poe ms like fists be ating ni ggers out of j oc ks or dagger poems i n t h e slimy belli es of t h e owner- j ews. Black poems t o smear on girdlemamma mulatto h itch es • • • We want "poems t hat kill." Assassin poems, Poems t h at s h oot guns. Poems that wrestle cops i nto alle y s After a short stint as director of the Black Art Repertory Theater and School in Harlem (wh ere h e was aided by Askia f Toure, William Patterson and others), Baraka moved b ack to his native Newark--which he renamed the Community for a Unified Newark. 11 New Ark"--or ganized Fro~ this position, he continues to launch numerous local and national programs including Jihad Productions (publications) and national Black political conventions. Just prior to t h e Harlem epi- sode, the near-dissolution of Umbr_E._ ma gaz i ne had occurred when the editors disa greed on the fate of n poem. Durem. by Ra.y A si gnificant development on the Conte mporary scene , ft)(J~ Umbra was founded in 1961 by ,_T om Dent, Ce.l vin Hernton a nd David Henderson. During the Sixties and into t he Se vent i es, literRlly hundreds of Black poets started writin r: and publis h in r: --in tabloids, magazines, broadsides, anthologies and indi vidual collections. Si gnificant clusters of poets occurred in geographical re gions. The atmosphere was enhanced by a number of African thinkers, artists, poets and novelists who arrived to America to teach, lecture, perform and travel. The importance of this interaction among Bla.cks from various parts of the globe cannot be overemphasized. In the Sixties Black writers and students be gan readin G African, 101 �West Indian and Afro-Latin writers. Langston Hu r:hes acquainted American audiences with African literature in his anthologies: An African Treasury : Essn. ys ,_ Stories,_ Poems By Black Africans (1960) and PC?~2Tl-~__f_!:'._o~--~1~-~-~c_ Af_!'_~ca (1963). In 1969, Trinidadian Wilfred Cortey edited Wh_tEpers from a Continent: Africa. the Literature of Co~tempora.!'XYlack Other scholars and writers also wrote critical studies or edited antholoe ies of African literature. Black writing received a si ~nificant boost when in 1971 SenGhor was nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature--thus fulfillin g James Weldon Johnson's 1922 proph ec;',r t h a t the first Blac k writer to achieve substantial i nterna tional fame would not come from America. S ome non-American Black writers now publishing or l i vinc; in the U. S . ar e Ni r,erian novelist-poet Chinua Ache be, South African poet Keorepetse Kgositsile, Ni gerian poet-playwri e;ht Wole Soyinka, Ghanaian poet Kwesi Brew, South African critic Ezekiel Mphahlele, Nigerian poet-playwri ght Ifeany i Menkiti, Martinique poet- , playwright Aime Cesa.ire and Guianese poet-scholar Leon Damas. The writers fraternize, exchange i deas and compare styles. Mphahlele, for example, has written critical studies of Black American writin8 (Voices in the Whirlwin~, 1972) while Miss Brooks has praised African writin r.; ("Introduction", in Kgositsile's My Name is Afrika, 1971). Mazisi South African poet, Kunene, wrote the introduction for Cesaire's Return ' to My Native Land (1969 translation). Many of the Black American expatriate artists and writers returned to America during· the current period for either - - -- -- - - - - 102 I 1 �temporary or permanent residency. Added to this flurr y of activities and changes were the establishment of Black publishing houses (Broadside Press, Third World Press, etc.) and hundreds of student and community newspapers and literary journals. During the contemporary period a number of important anthologies have been published. Some of the more notable ones include Beyond The Blues, Pool, 1962; Sixes and Sevens, Breman, 1962; American Negro Poetry, Bontemps, 1963; Soon One Morning: New Writing by American Negroes, 1940 - 1962, Hill, 1963; New Negro Poets, Hughes, 1964; Kaleidoscope, Hayden, 1967; Black Voices, Abrahams, 1968 ; Black Fire, Jones and Neal, 1968 ; The New Black Poetry, Major, 1969; Soulscript, Jordan, 1970; 3000 Years of Black Poetry, Raoul and Lomax, 1970; New Black Vo~ces, Abrahams, 1972; The Poetry of Black America, Adoff, 1973. In addition to these and other nationally distributed antholog ies, dozens of collections of Black Literature were compiled and published in various re gions: Watts, Watts Poets and Writers (Troupe, 1966) (Schulberg , 1969); South, Fress Southern Theater by the Free Southern Theater (Dent, et al, 1969); Chicago, Jump Bad: A New Chica go Anthology (Brooks, 1971); East St. Louis- St. Louis, Sides of the River (Redmond, 1970); New York, Three Hundred and Sixty De grees of Blackness Comin g at You (Sanchez, 1971) and Harlem: Voices from the Soul of Black America (Clarke, 1970); Philadelphia, Black Poets Write On (Black History Museum Committee); Newark, Soul Session (1972); 103 �Detroit, Ten: 1968). Antholo gy of Detroit Poets (South and West, In many re g ions several components have merred to form cultural and performing arts conglomerates. It is often at these centers that white movie and theater moguls (" \) ... ~. -~~...,. ~ ·; find new talent for the~ wave of Black movies. At this writing, the Contemporary poetry scene is embroiled in vigorous debates and conf'erences dealin r: with "directions" for Black writers, consolidatinG publishing houses, and getting published materials into schools (especially into Black school~. Caught (sometimes unknowingly) in the midst of these issues and questions are the older Black poets--some whom have remained silent in face of rhetorical provocation. Others, however, hav e b een quite vocal as in the case of Gwendolyn Brooks and Dudley Randall. Miss Brooks continues actively to support the younger writers h y w~y of' financial and moral encouragement. She supervises writers workshops, establishes poetry prizes with her own money and travels to read before conferences and classes. Recently she withdrew her af'filiation with Harper and Row and began publishing through Broadside Press. Randall established Broadside Press in Detroit in 1966 and also has set up poetry awards with his own funds. Hayden, who often shuns public displays of his allegiances, admonishes the young writers to keep hi s h standards of artistic excellence. He is recoGnized as a brilliant teacher as well as poet, and is known to work quietly with young writers and scholars. Hayden played a major role in raining recognition for Lucille Clifton (Good Times /1969J and Good News About 104 �the Earth, ' 1972~, one of the most s pl end i d of the new poets of the era. Some new and old name s closely li nked to the current period are Pinkie Gordon Lane (Wind Thou ghts), Michael Harper (Dear John, Deer Coltrane, History is Your own Heartbeat), Waring Cuney (Puzzles), Quincy Troupe (Embryo), Sterling Plump (Half Black Half Blacker), Jayne Cortez (Pisstained Stairs and the Monkey Man's Wares and Festivals and Funerals), Henry Dumas ( Poetry For My People), Conrad Kent Ri ve rs (The St i ll Vo i ce of Harlem, etc), Nikki Giovanni (Black Judgement, Black Feelinr , Blnck Thou8ht, Re :Creation), Ishmael Reed ( Catechism of A t,eoamerican "hl)Odoo ,t.hurch), David Henderson (De Mayor of Harlem, etc.), Arthur Pfister (Bullets, Beer Cans & Thini:i:s), Ima mu B~.raka (Black Ma p:ic, etc), John Echols (Home is l,ihere the Soul Is), Arna Bontemps (Personals), Robert Hayden (Selected Poems, Words in the Mourning Time, etc), Don L. Lee (Think Black, Black Pride, etc.), Sonia Sanchez (Homecoming, etc.), Dudley Randall (Cities Burning and More ~ , e r ) , Stanley Crouch (Ain•t No Ambulances for No Ni ggahs Tonight), Langston Hughes (The Panther and the Lash,etc.), Russell Atkins (Heretofore), May Miller (Into the Clearin g ), Austin Black (The Tornado in My Mouth), Mel v in Tolson (Harlem Gallery), Al Young (The SonG Turning Dac k Unto Itself), James A. Emanuel (Panther Man), Paul Vesey {Ivory Tusks), Mari Evans (I Am A Black Woman), Julia Fields ( Poem~), Stephany ( Moving Deep), Etheridge Knight ( Poems from Prison), Gwendolyn Brooks (Riot and Family Pictures, etc.), Roy Hill Ray Durem (Take No Prfso1;1.ers). 105 (g_~ Poems, etc.), This list is far from being �exhaustive but, rather, is represent~tive of the hreat poetic output dur i ng the Contemporary period. Many of these poets--Reed, Troupe, Youn g , Crouch, etc.--are also novelists and antholo~ists. Certainly the list grows and ch anges constantly, especially in view of the continual unf'oldine and the surprises of the present period. Suffice it to sa.y that the conte:npor8.ry mood of Black Poetry is multi-leveled and very complicated. There are obvious generalities; one is that man~ of the poets saturate their work with obvious Black references and cultural motifs. There is an anti-intellectual flavor in some of the poetry as some poets turn their backs on academic or Western forms. There is also a general disre ~ard for the esoteric, literary and sometimes secret allusions, employed in much of the current white poetry. There are exceptions, I 1-\ of course--nota.bly with the Muslim poets (Marvin X, Askia. ' Toure, Baraka, Sonia. Sanchez and others}. These exceptions can also be seen :Ln works of poets who explore African Ancestor Cults, Voodoo, mysticism and African lan cua ges. Evidence of this can be seen in the poetry of Ishmael Reed, , Askia Toure, Henry Dumas, Norman Jordan, Sun Ra, K. Curtis Lyle, Bob Kaufman and others. Generally, thourh, Black poets are framing their allusions, imaGes and symbols in the more concrete cultural motifs, as indicated in a line from my poem "Tune for a. Teenage Neice" where I view my neice as being "spiced as pot-liquor." 106 �Related Sub-Topics for Unit# 6 1. Black Poetry of Civil Rights Form in Contemporary Black Poetry 3. Black Poetry After the Korean War 4. Black Poet's Reaction to Vietnam 5. Black Poetry From Prisons 6. The Influence of Blues on Contemporary Black Poetry 7. Black Poetry as a Cultural Vehicle 8. Black Poetry Since 1965 9. Modifications in the Image of the Black Poet 10. Black Poet as Prophet 11. Black Poet as Revolutionary 12. Black Poet as Visionary 13. Black Poet in the Stru ggle 14. Black Poet as Preacher 15. Black Poet as Warrior 16. Africa Viewed in the New Black Poetry 17. Technolo gical Symbolism in Contemporary Black Poetry 18. The Black Woman Poet of the Sixties 19. Poetry and Black Arts 20. Music and Musicians in Black Poetry 21. Art as a Theme in Black Poetrv 22. The Black Poet and the Third World 23. Oral and Gestural Dynamics of Contemporary Black Poetry 24. New Black Poetry vs Traditional Black Poetry 25. New Black Poetry and the Western Literary Tradition 26. New Devices in Contemporary Black Poetry 27. Oral Reading of Contemporary Black Poetry. 28. Islam and the New Black Poetry 29. Langua ge in the New Black Poetry 30. , Christianity in the New Black Poetry 31. The Ima ge of America in the Hew Black Poetry 32. Major Voices of the New Black Poetry 33. Rhythm •n Blues in New Black ?oetry •n Roll in New Black Poetry 34. Rock 35. 11Soul II as Viewed by the 1,;ew Black Poets 36. Older Black Poets' themes in the Contemporary Era 37. Influence of Langston Hushes on New Black Poetry 38. Dance motifs in New Black Poetr3r 39. Influence of New Black Poetry on white writers and critics 40. Pan Africanism in New Black Poetry 41. Black Nationalism in New Black Poetry 42. Love in New Black Poetry 43. Black Poetry and Culturol Reclamation 2. 107 I I I j I I I I � 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_09 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Course Anatomy & Development: Primary Texts, p. 25-107 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 Copy of Course Anatomy & Development: Primary Texts. Page 27 is missing, two pages are labeled page 86, and a page is missing a page number between pages 98 and 99. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/3750fd412ad33a7de877a58647a136bc.pdf 4496e95c1b0c6d77c3611fded77f214f PDF Text Text III EXPLORING BLACK POETRY: A. Oral and Gestural Origins: CLASSROOM DYNAMICS Myth Development All bodies of literature--nationalistic, racial, religious, geographical--have oral and gestural beginnings for they were conceived and developed from ritual expression. earlier, "is as old as creation." 11 0ral literature," we noted Yet differences in life styles, traditions, customs, beliefs, and reactions to the impact of technology-all combine to create a rich, varied and changing fabric of contemporary international folklife. When one is hurt, happy, angry, ill, or bubbling with pride, one does not seek out a pen or typewriter to "express" the resulting spontaneous emotions. Rather, the "touched" person will react in tears, laughter, grief, pain or exhuberance. After all, man's pro- foundest statements arise from his responses to life's essential rites and ceremonies: birth, childhood, puberty, adulthood, marriage, parent- hood, old age, death, etc. Of prime importance to these atavistic cycles is the mythological world designed to explain or justify them and the ever presence of the elements: water,~, .!!E_, ~ and the quintessential element, God--whoever or whatever he/she/it may be. Through his cosmology, man attempts to develop a view of himself and time, tries to come to terms with the inevitablility of disaster, illness and death, and seeks to define and cormnunicate with his god. In these attempts, he often uses mediators such as prophets, sages, seers, poets and visionaries to probe and explain the regions of the unknown--the supernatural. Jerome Rothenberg calls these interlocutors (between God and man) Technicians of the Sacred. In traditional Black African cormnunities, myth-making and cosmological heraldry were carried from generation to generation-- essentially via drum, song, dance and, occasionally, by handwriting or hieroglyphics. When the rich storehouse of Black Ex- pression ("Archival Literature of Gesture") was brought to the Western Hemisphere, on the tongues, and in the minds and bodies of African slaves, the cosmological tree came along with it. Much was changed and much was lost, but the essentials remained in Black cormnunities up to this very day. Thus in researching, teaching or explicating Black Poetry, one must keep these important cultural items in mind. 1o8 Here, the point cannot be �over-stressed because while the Black poet English, he often Afro-American. 11 reeds 11 and 11 11 reads 11 and "writes'' in rites 1' in African or the deviative He is often--though not exclusively--concerned with sound and movement, like the members of his own community. For his community remains vigorously oral and uninhibited, even in the ear shot of missile launches, transistor radios, and helicopters that search ghetto rooftops for snipers. A good example of the 11 read 11 / 11 reed 11 duality is Robert Hayden, critically ranked as one of the best American poets. His live readings (despite his strict adherence to written craftsmanship) are overwhelming and electric. Hayden is doubtlessly an intellec- tual, and a partial product of the modern school of poetry, but his oral impact on intellectual and working-class audiences--the development of empathy--is sustained and genuine. In Hayden's presentations there is much of the spirit, force and sonority of the Black orators and poets of the past 200 years--especially of Douglass, Dunbar, Garvey, King and Ossie Davis. Hany of the poets unconsci ou sl y "rite" this spontaneity of expression into the ir works. Black poets, then, are generally better performers than their white counterparts--as far as Black audiences are concerned anyway--and this fact has more than a little to do with their persistent appeal to their community's "highly developed sense of sound. 11 Indispensable to an understandinc of t his area of Black Poetry is Stephen Henderson's 11 The Forms of Things Unknown" (Understanding the New Black Poetry, 1972) and Jean Wagner's discussions of Langston Hughes in Black Poets of the United States (1973). Professor Henderson's essay (in which he discusses theme, structure and saturation in Black poetry) has minor flaws stemming from an apparent unawareness of the full blast of contemporary Black Poetry and some premature critical assessments. Nevertheless, it is one of the best essays written on Black American Poetry in recent years and in the anthology section he includes a handfull of 11 new11 and unheard of poets as well as some folk poetry. Since initial attempts at producing poetry were oral, it is understandable that acoustically-charged poetry looses much of its power and spontaneity when it is written down or read silently. the dilema of written poetry--anywhere. Such, alas, is The phonology of the folk--no matter how faithfully represented in graphic symbols--can never appear 109 �on paper the way it is bantered about at family gatherings, athletic contests, in school yards, in churches or laundromats. agree, for example, that Dunbar's 11 Phoneticists ear 11 for dialect was practically perfect--meaning that, using the symbols of phonetic transcription, the poet accurately recorded the sounds, the tenses, the idioms. Yet many of the persons whose speech Dunbar tried to capture are unable to read his transcriptions. Even today, in Black Literature classes, students have great difficulty trying to read dialect aloud. But they must learn to read it--and to appreciate its principles and sound pockets--if they are to understand the later dialects and idioms of Hughes, Brown, Walker, Rogers, Hayden, Barake, Tolson, Cortez, Fields and Pfister and others. It is obvious by now that the study of Black Poetry traverses a field of ambiguities, frustrations, excitements, quaint surprises, intellectual brilliance and trauma, contradictions, linguistic genius, and grammatical experimentation and demands great amounts of time for research, reading and analyses. America was well into the 19th Century before Blacks could legally learn to read and write in all states. That we are today reading the works of men and women, who, a few generations ago, were forbidden by law to read and write, cannot be over-emphasized. Such a fact calls to mind many contradictions, two of them being of immediate importance. One, is that the Black Ameri- can is writing--and in many cases he is writing extremely well. The other is that while he occupies a viritual hell on earth (slavery, etc.) he has been able to master the highest symbol of correctness and intelligence in this land: The English language, including many of its derivatives and nuances, and the social amenities that accompany the use of it. Certainly the psychological implications of these contra- dictions are many and complex; and a study of Black Poetry provides many insights into this entire area. We know that in the final analysis, "important" society--even with regards to ethnic minorities--puts major emphasis on how one "presents" himself. Hence, from the employment interview to the office-hour session with the teacher, one is always cautioned to be on his linguistic P's and Q's. Yet, and psycho-linguists are beginning to bring this out in current studies, there exists in most of Black America a culturally 110 �distinct way of thinking things out, of forming abstractions, of showing approval or denial, or "putting one down" (reeding and riting). While an exploration of Black Psychology or Language is not being attempted in this pamphlet, it is important that those studying or teaching Black Literature recognize some essential cultural differences that exist between Blacks and larger America. For to invade the mind of a Black Poet or thinker is to walk through uncertain and troubled waters. The invader may risk, Baldwin notes, tampering "with the insides of a stranger." Yet, the trek is rewarding because the Black poet or novelist leads the reader--Black and white--down a human path and view (disfigured and beautiful) that is unique in American and world literature. This is so because Black Poetry is derivative of the Black Experience--which is unique to Black people. And while whites may record what they see, hear or think, they are still observers. Reacting to a question on the difference between observer and participant, Baldwin noted that An observer has no passion. It (Baldwin's journey) doesn't mean I saw it. It means that I was there. I don't have to observe the life and death of Martin Luther King. I am a witness to it. Follow me? Whether the poet in question is George Moses Horton or Alice Nelson Dunbar, Jupiter Hammon or Francis Harper, Angelina Grimke or Fenton Johnson, Gwendolyn Brooks or Quincy Troupe, Ray Durem or Melvin Tolson, there is always evidence that they have been there--to the fire and have agonized over personal and group joy or dismemberment, like the Blues singer. There is, of course, much daintiness, romantic nostalgia and nature in Black Poetry (which covers the human spectrum). However, it is not in the poling of nature and romance that the important differences can readily be found. Rather Black distinctions appear more blatantly in reflections of Black life and Black struggle. B. Music, Movement, Language: Suggestions for Special Projects One should attempt a serious study of Black Poetry before first saturating oneself in Black Music. Music is the most shared creative experience of Black people--in Africa and America. written art form closest to the musical experience. Poetry is the In their dramatic recitals, the poets reaffirm their view of themselves as songifiers of 111 �the language, as balladeering chroniclers of the tradition. evolved from the tradition of folk song. Blues Jazz developed from Blues. Blues were sung to the accompaniment of guitar, banjo, harmonica, wash tub, etc. With his instruments, the Jazz musician tries to achieve the vocal qualities of the Blues. Hughes, in The Weary Blues, works to establish the appropriate ancestral and literary links between his folk idiom and himself as poet. Johnson (God's Trombones) chose the trombone as a metaphor for evoking the old time Black preacher because it possessed 11 above all others the power to express the wide and varied range of emotions encompassed by the human voice--and with greater amplitude. 11 Before complete studio orchestras were used to accompany Black singing groups, the singers created instrumental harmony with their voices. They practiced assiduously, constantly searching for new harmonic and tonal possibilities in voice blendings--developing electrifying auditory combinations and extentions, falsettos, etc. One voice represented a bass, another a trumpet, still another a guitar, and so on. Hughes acknowledees this Black need--a deep, deep need--when in 11 Jazzonia 11 he calls the musicians "long-headed jazzers. 11 The poem makes no attempt to separate the instruments from the players. The instruments become extensions of the Jazzmen who are thus "longheaded.11 Hughes' important synthesis, similar to Johnson's, is wholly brilliant and speaks directly to the ritualized amalgamation and continuity of symbol and act--and the interdependence of Black forms of expressions. Generally, it is good to take at least a week (preferably two) to play, view and discuss various (all) kinds of Black Expression-using music as a base and moving intermingling discussions of speech, dance, social gestures, general family life, movies, funerals and church services. nator. In all aspects, music will be the common denomi- Helpful during such an introductory period are the use of slides, popular Black periodicals (Ebony, Jet, Encore, etc.) which should be leisurely examined and discussed, the examination of liner notes on albums, discussions of the most exciting and treasured Black events and things. Below are some questions and ideas students will want to probe along with general introductory material: 1. 2. Define the word "Aesthetic''• Is there a Black Aesthetic? 112 �3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. I f so, how docs one determine it? Establish tentative crit e ria f or the Black Experience. Messages in recorded Spirituals. Messages in recorded Blues. "Conversations" among Jazz instrumentalists (while playing). 11 Hessages 11 in recorded Soul Music. What is Language? Phonology? Dialect? Idiom? Slang? Jargon? Parlance?, etc. Is there a Black Language? If so, identify some of the components in its structure. Discuss such Black Metaphors as 11 dig," 11hawk," "selling wolf tickets," "main squeeze," 11 rap," "get down," 11 for real," "mellow," 11 fox, 11 etc. Define and discuss words like 11 Soul, 11 "Negritude," "Sensibility," etc. The list could go on, ad inf initum. There are so many things to cover-- so much air to clear--during the initial contact of course participants. It is in these early stages, however, that a basis for sound cormnunication, understanding and respect for the material must be established. Hence, most of the rhetorical this period. 11 bull 11 should be dispensed with during It is also at this juncture that course requirements are nonnally given: papers, tests, outside readings, mandatory attendance at readings by visiting poets, etc. Here the study of Black Poetry presents exciting challenges to students and teachers because much of the valid research is unorthodox and unprecedented. Naturally, the time-proven means of acquiring and retaining knowledge should not be abandoned in a Black Poetry course. However, because of the interdependent character nature of Black literature and a gross lack of critical study, today's students and teachers may find themselves pioneers in identifying and analyzing certain types and areas of the poetry. In view of the developing social awareness and technical virtuosity of the new Black song writers, students will want to top this meaningful source as a prospect for term papers, oral reports, group discussions, in-class performances (multi-media reports), close textual analyses or comparisons/contrasts with the literary (written) poetry. In presenting such reports, students will want to consider the possibility of using (in addition to tape recorders or turntables) overhead projectors, motion picture projectors (showing film shot in an appropriate Black cormnunity or setting), slide projectors or film 113 �strip projectors, for illustration and illumination. Numerous experi- mental research possibilities will arise from student-teacher discussions of this particular aspect of Black Expression. may want to sing and/or play an instrument. For example, a student Another student may elect to bring an individual instrument or group to class to animate examples given in the narration. In a recent Black Poetry class, two students traced the development of the Temptations up to their latest song. Here are some things the students were concerned with: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Biographies of members of the group History of the group as a singing unit History of MoTown--a Black recording company in Detroit Song writers for the Temptations Harmonic organization of the group Singing groups that influenced the Temptations Areas, Themes and Styles in lyrics and live concerts (love, protest, patroitism, etc.) Poetry in the written and sung word Development of Black Consciousness in the Temptations What the Temptations mean to Blacks White imitators of the Temptations and other Black groups The students had other concerns; in the classroom they used auditory and visual assistance to illustrate their points. On hand, for classmates to examine, they had all of the Temptations' albums plus information from magazines, newspapers, radio and TV programs and publicity releases from MoTown. Needless to say, it was a most exciting and listenable report. A freshman student in another class conducted an analysis of the lyrics and the singing style of Otis Redding. The student traced Redding back to his birth place (roots) and then came forward to the point of the singer's death. Redding, the student concluded (after viewing the Spiritual-Blues-Gospel tradition), used much Black minstrelsy in his work and was a 11 folk 11 poet. The report had been taped. After it had been heard, fellow students asked questions, made observations, raised objections and so on. In two successive semesters, a student studied Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye. The semester-length reports were called zation of Curtis Hayfield" and 11 11 The Politicali- The Politicalization of Marvin Gaye. 11 Fortunately, Mayfield was appearing in the area during the preparation of the first report and the student was able to obtain a brief interview. In each report, however, the work was detailed. 114 Emphasis was placed on �what the lyrics said (literally and figuratively), and how they were delivered. The student highlighted both singers religious character and noted that their art reflects their debts to the church and church choral groups. Following is just a sampling of individual and group recording artists and Black orators who can and ought to be examined in connection with Black Poetry: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. Babs Gonzales Clara Uard Hahalia Jackson Hartin Luther King (speeches, sermons) Malcolm X (speeches) Smokey Bill and the Miracles Marvin Gaye Curtis Mayfield Leon Thomas The Impressions The Temptations Nina Simone Roberta Flack The Stylistics The Delphonics John Lee Hooker Lightnin' Hopkins B.B. King Current and Past Black Preachers (sermons) Al Hibbler Johnny Ace Ray Charles Melvin Van Peebles (albums) Albert 11 Blues Boy" King Bobby Womack James Brown Bill Withers Barry White The Four Tops War Billie Holliday Bessie Smith Stevie Wonder Otis Redding Oscar Brown, Jr. Dozens more recording artists and speakers, who work creatively with words, are available for investigation. In such studies, students must be sure that lyrics are authored by Blacks. In many cases, it is helpful to compare/contrast the spoken word and the written word--the poet who rites and the poet who writes, or the poet who reads and a poet who reeds. Toward this end, a list of corresponding poets would probably help. 115 �Associated roughly with the themes and styles of the recording artists above, the following list is not designed to limit or 11 brand 11 poets, but simply to open up vistas and ideas for exploring and reporting on the poetry. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. Numbers correspond to those above. Bob Kaufman, Ray Durem, Ted Joans Margaret Walker, Helene Johnson Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Danner, Pinkie Gordon Lane Lance Jeffers, James Kilgore Ray Durem, Imamu Baraka, Larry Neal, Raymond Patterson Henry Dumas, Etheridge Knight, Stephany Al Young, Norman Jordan, Jay Wright Gil Scott-Heron, Robert Hayden, Al{ce Walker K. Curtis Lyle, Askia Muhamad Toure, Henry Dumas, Joe McNair James Kilgore, Margaret Walker, James Weldon Johnson, David Henderson Arthur Pfister, Don L. Lee, Karl Carter, Folk Rhymes Jayne Cortez, Lucille Clifton, Judy Simmons, Margaret Walker Alice Walker, Margaret Walker, Mari Evans, Julia Fields, June Jordan Stephany, Carolyn Rogers, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Henry Dumas Gil Scott-Heron, Nikki Giovanni, Kirk Hall Sterling Brown, OWen Dodson, Henry Dumas, Melvin Tolson Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Robert Hayden, Stanley Crouch K. Curtis Lyle, Quincy Troupe, Mari Evans, Fenton Johnson James Weldon Johnson, Owen Dodson, Folk Hymns and Stories Raymond Patterson, Ray Durem, Jayne Cortez Raymond Patterson, Norman Jordan, James Kilgore Bob Kaufman, early Imamu Baraka, Langston Hughes, Naomi Long Madgett Langston Hughes, Gil Scott-Heron, Ron Welburn, Julius Lester Stanley Crouch, Margaret Walker, Dudley Randall, Langston Hughes Arthur Pfister, David Henderson, Tom Weatherly, Tom Dent Julian Bond, Michael Harper, Calvin Hernton, Henry Dumas Lance Jeffers, Karl Carter, Judy Simmons, Nayo (Barbara Malcolm) Nikki Biovanni, Sonia Sanchez, William J. Harris David Henderson, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Zack Gilbert Sun Ra, Henry Dumas, Larry Neal, A.B. Spellman Jayne Cortez, Lucille Clifton, Mari Evans, Gwendolyn Bennett Julia Fields, Gwendolyn Brooks, Carolyn Rogers, Rhonda Davis Carl H. Greene, Ishmael Reed, Val Ferdinand, Raymond Washington Stanley Crouch, Clay Goss, Henry Dumas, Sterling Brown Robert Hayden, Countee Cullen, Dudley Randall, Etheridge Knight It must be reiterated that the pairings are only suggestions and do not attempt to place the poets within a specific tone, thematic preoccupation or style. some great. Obviously, however, there are similarities--some minor, The aggregate history and predicament of all Blacks make for general trends and attitudes while allowing for individual Black 116 �Experiences. Hence, (and any anthology or body of Black writing tell us this) one cannot stray very far from his essential Black human truth--despite his visions, his dreams, or his remanticism of his social status or the African past. The challenge for students and teachers, then, is to come up with other combinations such as the ones above. The range and number of combinations is endless and a successful development of them depends on the degree of interest of students. For example, it is possible for a music student or musician to deal with the harmony or melody of a written poem in contrast/comparison to a recorded or written piece of music--vocal or instrumental. For if the poem is regarded as a musical score or chart, which often must be assumed during in-class readings, then the researcher can come up with a loose notation of the poem which will render it singable or "musical" in the manner that 11 acappella 11 music is achieved. The poem, after all, is tight or loose meter and meter is organized rhythm. J. Rosamond Johnson wrote the music to his brother's (James') poem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing. 11 But a more specific and recent example of the singing of poetry is seen in the work of a group like The Persuasions (Acappella, Street Corner Symphony, etc.) which uses no "instrument other than the human voice. 11 Husic majors and musicians, then, may want to compare the free or controlled verse forms of poets like Al Young, Robert Hayden or Gwendolyn Brooks to an instrumentalist like John Coltrane or Miles Davis. The current period has seen an outpouring of exciting musico-poetic" 11 experiments and new experiments in recorded and live expr.essions. Jazzman Horace Silver now writes and sings lyrics and so does Les McCann. Poets (exploring the oral/written synthesis) are recording more frequently, extending on Hughes' pioneering efforts to merge the musical instrument and the human voice. For the student or general reader who wants to get off the beaten track of simply unraveling linguistic puzzles and contrivances, there are nemerous new approaches and vehicles for excavating the juices of Black Poetry. Patient listeners will discover that many song writers exhibit technical abilities that are on par with the poets. 11 Smokey Bill 11 Robinson (formerly of The Miracles) has been recognized the world over for his sensitive lyrics on the subject of love. But few students have taken the time to view him against the landscape of modern and 117 �contemporary poetry. Robinson possesses metaphorical and imagistic insights that exceed those of many of the poets writing "seriously" on paper. A close listening to any of his songs (in contrast/com- parison with written poetry) will prove this point. Robinson tremendous auditory sensitivity (which complements his writing abilities) makes him a 11 poet 11 in the most authentic sense. Students of dance, drama, philosophy, social studies, popular culture--all can carve out areas of Black Poetry that suit their specialized interests. A popular project among dance majors is to choreograph poetry and present the dance interpretations in classes, at community functions and public schools. Drama majors follow a similar pattern--selecting sequential material to support a theme--and present a program of dramatic readings, often employing built-in audience response. Students do not have to be drama or dance majors to take on such challenges. Indeed persons who 11 feel 11 what they read and want to express and share those feelings through sounds and movements, should consider these projects. All new approaches should be thoroughly discussed with the teacher so there is a clear understanding of what is expected. Group projects-- involving multi-media--are exciting and intellectually rewarding, as all projects ought to be. The dancers must explicate both the dances and poems which are read by a participants in the project or have been pre-recorded. The dramatic reader has to assume the various roles that he dramatizes and be convincing to class members. The musician ought to exhibit a knowledge of fundamentals of his craft and explain the transition between the post-mortem or 11 flat 11 word on paper and the "activated" or animated work in the air. Such considerations broaden both the student reporting and class members who share an enlightening experience rather than waste their time. Other exciting class projects can be of benefit to the college or community at large. These endeavors allow students to meet course requirements while adding to campus and community breadth and consciousness. Readers Theater, Poetry Rituals, Dramatic Readings, Counter-Readings, Dance-Poetry Repertory Programs and other state presentations make the poetry come alive--make it breathe with all the accompanying acoustical and optical ancillaries. Such programs can coincide with Black History ll8 �Week observances or special cultural workshops. They provide excellent illustrative vehicles at reading, writing and speech clinics. What is required is the combined effort of persons from different artistic affiliations--sometimes the combined efforts of several campus departments or community components. In most instances, however, the dancers, singers, readers and chorus participants can be found among students who are eager and sometimes experienced but have to be galvanized into a cast. We observed earlier that Black communities have remained highly oral environments. From birth, the average Black child is inculcated with the feel and flair for verbal dexterity, verbal alacrity, verbal gymnastics. Through childhood and adolescence, most Black youngsters are rigorously tested by peers and adults--often in game-situations-on their abilities to handle or songify the 11 language. 11 In play, they pick up the games and the oral epics ("Shine," "Signifying Monkey," 11 Stackolee, 11 stories about the 11 bue;gah man," etc.), learn to "signify" and "put down" each other in verbal war, practice and probe harmonic blends by imitating ministers, speakers, singers and their parents. In short, they acquire Johnson's 11 highly developed sense of sound. 11 It is natural, then, that the poets--even the most literary and formal of them--would consciously or unknowingly ingrain these acoustical power bases (antiphony, spontaneity, diction) in their poetry. Accord- ingly, an important aspect of the study of Black Poetry is taping these sound fields--the echoes, repetitions, moans, cries, shouts, screams, hums, whistles, sighs, heavy breathings, drum beats, horns, bells, ringings. These acoustical power bases--perception and revelation via repetition--lace all ritual forms of expression. In an important series of poems entitled The Making of the Drum, West Indian poet Edward Braithwaite (Hasks) establishes the mythological bases for African and Black American phonology. to this area is called Black Expression. 11 ) 11 (One of my own lectures in a series devoted The Musico-graphic and Mythological Bases for Braithwaite•s anthro-poetic discoveries reveal and explain the sonorous components of the ceremonial orchestra. 11 In The Skin", the goat is killed and its skin "stretched" to make the drum head. Next 11 The Barrel of the Drum" is acquired from the wood 119 �11 ofthe tweneduru tree. 11 11 womb. 11 Through this 11 The "hollow blood" of the tree creates a womb 11 the 11 wounds 11 of the land can be heard; here also is developed the "vowels" ( 11 reed-/lips 11 ) and "consonants ( 11 pebbles 11 ) . 11 tree that 11 11 The Two curved Sticks of the Drummer" come from a blossoms 11 twice a year, whose wood is 11 heat-hard as stone." The "Gourds and Rattles" are made of dried gourds and the leaves of the Calabash tree which "makes and mocks our music. 11 Finally, 11 The Gong-Gong" is the signaling device and the leader of the orchestra. "God is dumb", says the poet, up to the point of the drum's announcement. 11 Dumb 11 also is the drum "until the gong-gong leads it. 11 Together, the pieces of the rhythmic orchestra (the voices) can walk men "through the humble" ancestors. Akan) speaks." It is then that "Odomankoma (sky-god-creator, God, however, speaks through "Atumpan", the talking drum, in a series of paced and spontaneous syllabic streams that build to chants reminiscent of the most uninhibited of human ritual language. In the end, we know that God cannot be called until the entire orchestra is assembled, until the official drummer ('Kyerema se) has struck the talking drum and an appropriate amount of force has been created. The voice of the assembled, of the folk, is (after all) the voice of God. Braithwaite builds a mythological case for the origin of organized rhythm and human sound; but the similarities between God's drummer (African) and Johnson's God's Trombones (Afro-American) are clearly there. Nor do the similarities end with topical references. All along the phonic line--from Blues singer to preacher, from Jazz musician to Gospel choir, from poet to the social calling on the great 11 poeres." 11 rap 1 ' session--there is a There is a reliance on forces whose ultimate wisdom and vision are invoked through intense ritual and whose powers provide therapy and direction for the community. In this ecstatically-charged atmosphere, the thrust of ritual expression is toward the dramatization of an attitude, idea or event. Hand-carried rhythmic instruments (tambourines, etc.), foot-stomping and hand-clapping, sighing and moaning, hollering and whispering, dancing and singing, shaking and shimmering, over-laying rhythm with rhythm, clashing of rhythms--everything moves to heighten the drama and reaffirm basic faith. In some gatherings, many of the components appear, at a glance, to be missing; but as the ritual language develops, the song is joined 120 �by moving bodies: The instruments and recepticles--"sensitive vessels," as Marvin Gaye calls them--in the journey toward understanding and "coping." The key to tapping this ritualistic base in much written Black Poetry is recognition of what Johnson calls "incremental leading line and iteration" (also called antiphony or call and response): Oh, de Ribber of Jordan is deep and wide (call) One mo' ribber to cross. (response) I don't know how to get on de other side, (call) One mo' ribber to cross. (response) This early Spiritual (like much early Black oral poetry) is built on the common African song form--utilizing leading lines and response. The 11 leader 11 would sing (or 11 call 11 ) the first or ''incremental" line and the chorus or community would respond or 11 iterate. 11 The "iteration" can be set in a pattern or allowed to intermingle with the reader or leader. In the church, the field, at parties, meetings, or almost any gathering, Blacks issued forth their "sustaining" song. Though modi- fied by time and events, the practice of songifying an event is still observed today. In time the single line increased to two, three, four, five lines or more. With the increase of the lead came an increase of the response to two or three lines (Margaret Walker, James Edwin Campbell) allowing for greater spontaneity within the frame of repitition. Spiritual merged with other verse forms (stanzas). The The Blues, a structural and secular cousin of the Spiritual, also merged with other forms of verse. Many poets make great use of Blues as a literary form (Hughes, Dumas, Joans, Baraka, Hayden, etc.) Spiritual-Blues-Ballad merger. In much Black Poetry there is a This pattern is consistent with Black and oral expression since all three forms were first sung or recited before the advent of written poetry. Gwendolyn Brooks, known as a skilled writer of sonnets, invented the sonnet-ballad for a freer, more ritual and animating verse. The student will want to examine these two forms in order to understand Miss Brooks' important achievement in this area of poetry. We see the merger of all these forms in much of the early and current poetry. In preparing for modern and recent poetry, however, the reader ought to saturate himself with the Spirituals, Work Songs, Blues, Sermons, Oral Epics, Rhymes and Ditties. 121 �c. Reeding and Riting Black Poetry in the Classroom Many of the English verse forms (hymns as well as literary poetry) lend themselves to the call-and-response pattern so common in the oral corranunities. So it is as easy to do a participatory reading of, say, Phillis Wheatley 1 s work as that of Dunbar's or Walker's. poem, 11 11 Hiss Wheatley's 0n the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield 1770," Horton's Slavery," and Clark's 11 What Is a Slave?" can all be set to leader-chorus (antiphonal) movement in the classroom. The three poems, like every poem studied, should be read aloud--both by the students and teachers alone and then in class. Though stilted by the meter and language of the Neoclassical period, Miss Wheatley's poem still makes for exciting oral reading and analysis. It is an elegy which exalts the departed and celebrates the "Impartial Savior." The heroic couplet that it employs bears a rhythmic resemblance to the Spiritual "Oh, Wasn't Dat a Wide Ribber" in that there is a lead line and a chorus line: HAIL, happy saint, on thine immortal throne, (leader-reader) Possessed of glory, life and bliss unknown; (chorus-classroom) To make the reading more exciting, the response lines can alternate-between say the half-way mark and the end of each stanza. Another approach to this and similar poems is to have the chorus and leader change places. Variations of the call-and-response pattern can be found in Horton and Clark poems. Horton is known for his meditational or penitential verse and the influences of the ballad and English hymn can be seen in his poem. "Slavery'' can be sung in acappella or read in unison--as can most of the poetry of the era. Or, the chorus-- classroom or community--can arbitrarily "iterate" the third and sixth lines. One extremely effective approach is the use of an "announcer" who, in the Horton poem, could loudly shout the word "Slavery!" at the beginning of each stanza. Certainly a study of poetic conventions, devices and forms must always accompany exploration of the poems' auditory powers. This way one comes to terms with the social, tach- nical and intellectual aspects of the poets' works. Clark's 11 For example, in What Is a Slave?" the constancy of the question admonishes us to ascertain an answer. 11 A slave is--what?" Probably written to prick the con- sciences of whites, the poem chronicles the inhumane treatment of slaves and, by inference, the inhumanity of slave-holders. 122 There is an exciting �antiphony and syncopation in the way the poem exploits the dash in each stanza (especially in the first lines). The reiteration of trwhat? 11 swells to questioning indictment which pounds the ear of the listener and, like the enslaved in Dunbar's "Sympathy", allows the "caged" to fling his plea to the highest forces. "what?" anticipates the 11 I am" of DuBois, the will" of Miss Walker and the plea or 11 11 The repetition of How long" and 11 aiwa ~ " of Henry Dumas. 11 when This same cry 11 is heard in Miss Wheatley's poem when she advises Africans to accept the "Impartial Savior": 11 Take him, ye Africans, he longs for you; Indeed, the iteration--the reinforcement--is climactic for Miss Wheatley, who has exclaimed "Take him•••" at least three times before she reaches builds to the above line. This listing or cataloging of questions or data toward an emotionalintellectual build-up is a major ingredient in Black Poetry. It is, of course, a throw-back to the ancient tradition of oral narration and enumeration. This is why the universal oral poetic form, the ballad, is indi genous to all aboriginal peoples. It appears throughout the period of Wheatley, Horton and Clark and certainly it is a mainstay in the development of folk and literary forms right up through Dunbar. While the forms are literarily European, however, the themes--especially in the cases of Horton and Clark--take up social concerns or attitudes which underlie Black Poetry up to the present day. The question 11 What Is a Slave?:, for example, anticipates the syndromes developed in Nobody Knows Hy Name (Baldwin) and Invisible Man (Ellison): biguities of the Black life and struggle. the am- Herein are indications of the deep-seated turmoil in the Black psyche. Horton's wish to "hasten to the grave" foreshadows and complements the Spiritual motifs: Before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave, or Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, and I lie in de grave an' stretch out my arms. This so-called "infinite longing for peace" becomes a major theme in Black 123 �Poetry--indeed, in much Black Expression. mood that death may not be 11 Dr. Thurman observed of this life 1 s worst offering." elegy is of course lofty--as elegies usually are. Miss Wheatley's Yet, a heaven of a sort awaits Rev. Whitefield--just as heaven awaits the traveler at the end of The Weary Blues. For Miss Wheatley, 11 life divine re-animates ••• dust." So we have said, the call-and-response pattern, and residual components of the song , persists in both dialect and literary poetry. Excellent examples of these traits are found in Dunbar's 11 A Negro Love Song" and "Sympathy," in Campbell's "De Cunjah Man" and DuBois' "The Song of the Smoke. 11 While Dunbar and Campbell write two different kinds of dialect poetry, the former examines southern plantation speech and the latter West Indian or Gullah dialect, both employ the reiterative refrain. Dunbar's chorus enjoins the hip-swinging, smooth-talking narrator to Jump back, honey, jump back , while Campbell's congregation warns: De Cunjah man, de cunjah man, 0 chillen run, de cunjah man! The first reader or leader (juju man, prophet, witch doctor, priest, preacher, priestess, etc.) enthralls listeners with amorous inf ormation while the responsive congregation reinforces and maintains continuous orchestration. 11 Sympathy 11 and "The Song of the Smoke 11 are in what is called literary Eng lish but their orchestral development and ritualistic f unctions are the same as the two dialect poems. 11 De Cunjah Man 11 enum- erates the abnormal anatomy and supernatural powers of a worker of spells. A Negro Love Song" recaptures and animates the effect of a man walking 11 his 11 lady 11 home at night. Both poems attempt to deal, phonetically and culturally, with common Black Experiences. Both have elements of super- naturalism (an ingredient of Folk Poetry) and provide the social and therapeutic prescriptions for wounds caused by fear of the unknown and the need f or love. The grouphood dances, shouts, sings, screams out its anxieties; looses its tensions in sweat and drama. (which, like Dunbar's has the word 11 DuBois' poem song 11 in the title) maintains the elequence and propriety of academic English. Like "Sympathy," it (and the dialect poems), enumerates toward the development of substantial 124 �data and momemtum. imagined. The 11 smoke king" and the 11 caged bird" are real and Wit and double entendre are used in both poems. cunjah man is the folk psychologist, 11 While the caged bird 11 and "smoke king" are the guilts and consciences of white America. Both are victims of racism, economic exploitation--but, ironically, are never fully~ by their oppressors. DuBois' central figure is common enough in American history--the undaunted Black Common man who (like Fenton Johnson I s ''Tired•• man) has helped build the empire but does not get to share it; dogged strength alone keeps him from being torn asunder." the Black plight analagous to that of the caged bird. 11 whose Dunbar makes Americans habit- ually cage things and people, the poet says, but never understands that the cries of the caged are often pleas to be free. can understand why the caged bird sings. 11 11 Only the oppressed These poems are deeply psy- chological and reveal those scars of racial strife and chaos that are not always seen by the naked eye; those scars behind Dunbar's "mask. 11 The reiterative 11 1 am" reinforces both the past and present frustrations of the "smoke king"; but it also proclaims the presence of the Black man. Yet color is not inherently good nor evil, DuBois says: I white my blackmen, I becon my white, What's the hue of a hide to a man in his might! However, the poet sides with the Black man whose cause he must work for, whose condition he must improve, whose struggle he must glorify: Hail to the smoke king, Hail to the black! The phrase 11 I am. 11 11 Sympathy. 11 11 I know" in "Sympathy" performs the same function as DuBois' "I know" appears at the beginning and end of each stanza in Its purpose is to create curiosity and build confidence in the assertion of knowing which is developed throughout the poem and resolved in the final lines. This poem is best performed when the chorus reads the first and last lines of each stanza. present the poem dramatically and convincingly. The leader ought to Thematically, this poem presents a recurring concern in Dunbar and other Black poets: that of dealing poetically with racial injustice without reducing one's work to tirade and torrential protest. see 11 We Wear the Mask," 11 For other examples of this in Dunbar, Ships that Pass in the Night," and "Ere Sleep Comes Dovm to Soothe the Weary Eyes. 11 �One is always aware that the Black poet achieves great songification with or without dialect. The incremental line leading in 11 A Negro Love Song" appears, in variation, in "The Song of the Smoke. 11 Increment occurs with the fourth lines in each stanza of the love poem. The "smoke king" starts to unfurl from the beginning and, like a cloud of smoke, ascends higher and higher (incrementally). Thus the "I am" gives the reader the effect of being moved constantly upwards. 126 �Certainly these poems provide much initial fuel for discussion and poetical 11 surgery. De Cunjah Man" should provike a student round robin examination of family superstitions, folk medicine and psychology {home remedies), West Indian and Gullah dialects, and the development of imagery in poetry (e.g., the "buggah man", the Black psyche (dualism, 11 11 cunjah man," etc.). Explorations of the twoness 11 , split-consciousness, paranoia, etc.) and Black stamina or endurance should accompany "Sympathy" and "The Song of the Smoke." Certainly, discussions of Black love and social life will follow a reading of "A Negro Love Song." "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is the poem in which Langston Hughes examined Blackness globally. The voices in Hughes' poetry are often those from the vast historical/geneological web of Black antiquity. And the tired man in Fenton Johnson's "Tired" speaks with a tongue as experienced as the man who has "known rivers." Conscious of having built "up somebody else's civilization," as were many of the poets of the Harlem Renaissance, Johnson proposes some generally repulsive alternatives to his wife: alcoholics and "Throw the children into the river." they will become Hughes and Johnson announce Black contributions to the world but neither poet resolves anything. Neither poet proposes specific remedies for the inequities. The resolutions, then, must come in the dramatic reading and the internalizing of the poems. Since both poems represent the Black poet's coming-of-age in the mastery of modern poetic technique, students will want to familiarize themselves with the general poetic mood of the period. Hughes achieves musical quality and "responsive 11 power by repeating "I've" or "I" and by internalizing the rhythm and rhyme. and person. The Black aspect and the river are merged in imagery, symbolism The river motif, which runs like a spine through the Spirituals 127 �and general Black folk expression, is a favorite of Black poets. In reading Hughes' poem, the chorus can announce the past-present posture of the Black man by resoundly exclaiming "I've known rivers" whenever the phrase appears. The reading ought to be slow and deliberate suggesting the long history and endurance of African peoples. Another effective approach to reading this poem is for the chorus {class) to chant softly and repeatedly: My soul has gone deep like the rivers. When the appropriate mood or momentum has been established, the leader can then deliver the poem. The racial pride and exaltation of Hughes' poem can be compared/contrasted to "Tired" which uses cynicism and irony • .American "Civilization" is given those qualities normally associated with "primitive" cultures. Cullen exhibits a similar use of irony in "Heritage" when he notes that his "conversion" to Christianity makes him ''play a double part." I The contemporary Black poet John Echols is more blatantly sardonic in his phrase "Western Syphillization." A favorite theme of Black poets is the absence of "civilization'' in America. (Yet Johnson was to influence later Black poets in terms of style and theme. His influence on Margaret Walker, for example, can be seen in the prosaic stanzas which indent all but the first lines.) Still, the repeating of the word "tired" and "civilization" reinforces the basic assertion in the poem: that "building up somebody else's" country has robbed the builder of spirit; that stereotypes of Blacks {alcoholism, desertion of children, etc.) result from broken hopes, lack of opportunities and racial discrimination: ••• It is better to die than to grow up and find that you are colored. Yet, while Hughes' "soul has grown deep like rivers," Johnson advises: Pluck the stars out of the heavens. The stars mark our destiny. The stars marked my destiny. 128 �Here is a vague suggestion of predestination or ultimate control over one's life and future. For like Cullen's "curious thing" in "Yet Do I Marvel," the "stars 11 are there for the Black poet--yet it is not clear as to whether they work for or against him. Nevertheless the poet remains "tired 11 of a "civilization" which, according to Waring Cuney, rapes the streets of "palm trees" and :provides Black women with dishwater that "gives back no images." American :poets, Hayden has observed, have historically been critical of their society. However, it was the Black writer who carried the voice of artistic protest to its highest and most utilitarian stations. Hence, while Johnson's despair and rejection of "civilization" may have been "new" for Black poetry, such mood or attitude was not totally foreign to Black writing of the period. Certainly, if ironically, the two foregoing poems tell us much about "civilization." Hughes recounts the part he (as Black man) has played in the development of several societies. Johnson, conscious of not having received his "40 acres and a mule," drops out of a "civilization" he has helped to build. In any case, both narrators are weary from long travels and many trials and tribulations. Yet, the relentless pessimism in "Tired" is up- 1 ifted by the fact of the poem' s writing and the tentative hope in the "stars." Hughes implies that since he has been around so long, and his "soul has grown deep like rivers," he will be here a lot longer. Thematically and stylistically, "Tired" is a variation on the Blues motif, while Hughes' poem is reminiscent of the Spiritual. and the folk sermon. Many poems of the period flow from these particular styles and ideas discussed here. And readers will undoubtedly want to come to terms with Hughes' use of the word "soul." We have observed that Black Poetry makes use of folk symbols and mannerisms, exploits archetypal. symbols such as rivers and trees for religious or social 129 �use, and employs incremental leading line and iteration--which conceals other phonological and ritualistic devices that are tapped via responsive readings, etc. Such techniques are neither the sole ingredients nor the exclusive property of Black Poetry. materials. But most mack Poetry makes use of the folk Owen Dodson's "Lament" and Margaret Walker's "Since 1619 11 are testimonies to the modern mack poet's ability to place his folk forms and materials inside Western poetic techniques and idioms. Both poets have built in their own organized rhythms which allow for acoustical and inflectional nuances in the oral presentation of the poems. The words "Wake" and "How" are used to develop momentum {increment) and stage {dramatize) the intellectual discussions of the poems' respective problems or predicaments. To use the phrase "How long 11 in the presence of macks is to signal a special subject matter or a recurring theme: How long for the train? hunger last? How long for justice? How long will the dogs bark? How long is the river? and so on. How long for freedom? How long will the The title of Miss Walker's poem tells us that the wait has so far lasted "Since 1619." So we are pre- pared for the relentless hammering of "How," "When," etc., just as we are engulfed in the persistent "what?" in "What Is a Slave" and the demanding "I am" in "The Song of the Smoke." poem. "Since 1619 11 becomes a mack communal Slavery officially began in 1619 and every Black--regardless of his station--has been affected by slavery. Likewise, because Blacks did not enslave themselves nor perpetuate a dehumanizing system of judging human worth on skin color, whites are also locked into the poem. Surely, Miss Walker's debts to the Spirituals, Blues and the sermons can be seen in the organization of the rhythms and the basic, folksy appeal to the intestinally carried hopes and longings. The personal "I" ( vis-a-vis Blues) becomes a 130 �collective assault on the group problem. As stated earlier, "Wake" in "Lament" also satisfies an essential demand of residual oral expression-repetition that is cumulative in conveying information and emotion. the repetition, the image emerges--the epiphany occurs. In The power-idea concept demands that vigorous repetition, and allied acoustics and graphics, continue to the point of "understanding." In church, on stage, in the reci- tation, the priest-prophet must be acknowleged and regenerated by the responsive congregation which allows him to be the interlocutor between the Supreme Being and the flock. chant. This process takes place in "Lament" which is a eulogistic "Wake up" pushes a button that sets off associative values. "Wake up" to Blacks is to say many things. To say The phrase is used to invoke latent aggression, to shock a group into immediate political awareness or call·· "sinners" and "back sliders" to the church. I One cannot be the same or act th~ same after reading "Lament" just as one is not the same after having heard a rousing sermon or a brilliant Blues concert. We are carried by Dodson, as we are carried by Wright in "Between the World and Me," through the graphic accounts of the lynching. Wright is the tarred and feathered man--dead and recounting his own killing at the hands of a white mob. asks. "Lament" asks and Neither victim will ever rise again, however, but the cosmos is made a participant in each death. The sun stares "in yellow" surprise for Wright and Dodson gives up "mud," "grass," and "the cotton stem" before he flings his plea to the heavens: dead can wake up. "Save me!" The dead boy cannot wake up but the living "How long" and How many" and "what?" does it take before the people will wake up--before, Tolson asks, justice will become "unblinded. 11 ? The Black man's closeness to death, developed out of the circumstances of slavery, continues to inform his view of life and time in the United States. 131 �"Lament" catalogs the most repulsive aspects of dying and death to remind us that death is inevitable for all men, but too often premature and (many times) violent for Blacks. Dunbar builds "Sympathy" to a crecendo at which the higher forces are summoned to aid in the liberation effort. Dodson performs the same rite in "Lament" which ends in a request for the proverbial "sign": Tell me the acrostic, the cross, the crown or the fire ••• O, wake up, wake! Possibly, the poet says, the gods too are sleep or numb to the ill-treatment of Blacks. DuBois had already asked in Litany at Atlanta" if God too were "white"--"a pale, bolldless, heartless thing?" Black poets in the Western Hemisphere often ask if God is listening to the pleas of the oppressed or recording specific criminal offenses against Blacks. ,. The theme of God shrinking from his responsibilities to man and vice versa can be seen in most poetry that is critical of Christianity. Baraka announce~ in the contemporary period, however, that the Black man was "creating new gods." Indeed, Robert Hayden, in "Zeus Over Redeye, 11 implies that Western culture is spiritually and religiously bankrupt. This idea, an old one with Black poets in America, can also be found in Jayne Cortez's "Festival and Funerals" and Mari Evans' "I Am a Black Woman." However, the ritualistic components of Black Expression are more recessive in Hayden's poem than in Miss Evans', Miss Cortez's or Henry Dumas' "Ngoma." Nevertheless, all four of the poems depict major modes and preoccupations of contemporary Black Poetry. In his use of African words and development of the chant form, Dumas is merging the old forms with new ideas and interests in African and African-American Expression. Like Hughes nearly a half a century before her, Miss Cortez invokes a global Black spirit in "Festivals and Funerals." Typographically and orally, the latter poem approximates a "score" or musical organization of sights and sounds. 132 "I Am a Black Woman" continues the �historical. vein in Black Poetry (Hughes) and imbibes a "new" technical. defiance in a mastery of the free verse form. The poem al.so follows from tradition of announcing ("I am," etc.) as in "smoke king" and of reiteration through enumeration as in early song and poetry. The "humming in the night" recalls the vastness of the soul that has grown to encompass rivers. A humming of fragments of "Hobody Knows the Trouble I See" after the secong "humming" in the poem will vivify and stabilize the poem's underlying impact. The practice of imagining or actually singing or playing an appropriate song often helps actualize the experience and tap the hidden psychosocial. implications and acoustical. power bases. Miss Evans presents the history and the struggle in a way that is different from earlier writings--though she is still in the tradition. For the "Black Woman," the struggle has often meant a diminution of Black mal.-power. the source of all life. Yet, she is earth-mq:ther, Dumas re-affirms this in "Ngoma" by making the head of the I drum anal.agous to the belly of the pregnant woman. The "spirits of our fathers" speak "louder" from belly and drum--both life-giving forces. The child-voice in the mother is a reincarnation of the ancestors and a preservation of rhythm while the newly-dried goat skin (drum-head) celebrates all life--past and present. Using Swahili and Arabic terms coupled with biblical. words like ''thy" and "thine," the poem merges belly and drum in a ritualistic evocation of the spirits of the past. A responsive reading, with the congregation (classroom) repeating "aiwa" (yes:) and "louder", to an increasing tempo and rising momentum proves rewarding and electrifying with "Ngoma" and other similar poems. We have said that the drum, or the rhythmic instrument, is at the center of Black Expression. Hence, an array of rhythmic instruments (along with hand-clapping and foot-stomping) would be very helpful in delivering and getting maximum benefit and hidden meaning from the poem. The participants will want to 133 �Feel the skin-sound singing and know that the god-sound trembles in her belly ••• Both "Ngoma" and "I Am a Black Woman" show stylistic experiments and improvements upon time-tested Black themes and forms. "Festivals and Funerals" (a deeply psychological title, yet consistent with the ambiguities of the Black Experience) builds on the early Black African song form in use of the expanding stanze and iteration: Who killed Lumumba Who killed Malcolm and festivals & funerals festivals & funerals Miss Cortez streams references in the way that many modern and contemporary poets I do; but her associations are Black, sometimes asserted on the page and other times implied. This pattern gives the reader the effect of listening to himself and the poet at the same time. Certainly one has problems enough in trying to decipher anyone's ideas from a written work. The Black poet's work presents particular problems, however, because of his complex background, his specific brand of English, his myriad visions and his enumerable associations. Miss Cortez, Dumas, and Miss Evans, for example, dispense with punctuation and develop musical charts with complicated chordal structures and brilliant changes. the force in "Festivals & Funerals." The "word" then becomes It is a "word" that murmurs "through veins of gold" and against navels of beaten flesh walking the streets of Harlem on the rusty rims of a needly the word coming through like axes a million year lesson on solitude we are alone 134 �Alone, again, like Dodson who combs the universe for answers and for help. The comic-tragedy of everyday Black life is indeed a combustion of festivals and funerals: where the dope needle competes with the lates.t dance or police kill Blacks or Blacks kill each other. The power of Miss Cortez's chant ("the word," spirit-force) is arrayed against Larry Neal's "panorama of violence," against the chaos and nightmare webbed with bloodshed, assassinations, revolutions, mental and physical suicides. The poems have to be read over and over again--discussed, read again, sung, chanted, used as two-way mirrors to look into the Black psyche and to see the world through Black eyes. This is true of all the poems, from the new Blues efforts to the distilled intellectual genius of Hayden who warns Western man against atomic missile stock-piling. Such efforts, Hayden says, create an Enclave where new mythologies of power come to birth-where coral.led energy and power breed like prized man-eating animals. As an important modern poet, Hayden works within the critically articulated confines of modern poetic techniques. usually in theme and style. Yet he invariably emerges as a Black poet-- "Zeus Over Redeye" represents a Black poet making a significant statement on modern men who are at home in terra guarded like a sacred phallic grove. Man is "at home" among instruments of destruction. These instruments, Hayden notes, are named after western classical. and mythological figures: Nike, Zeus, Apollo, Hercules who, in personnifying war implements, lose their original purposes and accorded respect. Recessive oral components are seen in lines like question and question you, and burning all around us burning all around us. 135 �Yet, the fact that the "very light here seems flammable" speaks to more than missile sights and atomic bombs. For Hayden, 11 danger's 11 skin is "hypersensitive." But it only not only the visitors to missile arsenals who feel the around." 11 burning all Hayden, who aptly titles his book Words in the Mourning Time, reveals a crisp understanding of America's socio-political landscape in "Zeus Over Redeye. 11 He knows that the threat of destruction lurks in places other than missile arsenals. The death threat and wish lurks in all "hyper" activity--in all places where man is filled to his brim with assassinations, political conspiracies, racism, class exploitation, war, hunger and poverty. Thus mankind is "burning all around" with social ferment, suicidal tendencies, larceny, violence and myriad atrocities. In "Words in the Mourning Time 11 Hayden asked Killing people to save, to free them? With napalm light routes to the future? And in such an atmosphere--of festivals & f'unerals--Tolson finds that "infamy" is the Siamese twin of fame. For Hayden, pressed against a 11 flammable" sunlight ••• shadows give us no relieving shade. Hayden's criticism of America's war preparation is precise but laced with the prospects and fears of social explosions where "Lord Riot" reigns. So the Black poet criss-crosses a complicated psychological and physical terrain. his observations turn out to be mirages. Sometimes After all, Baldwin asserts, the Black man bought the capitalist-protestant ethic along with everybody else. The Black 11 poet, then, often anticipates violence but holds out for that ray of humanity in man. 11 Black poets reflect the assertions and ambivalences of Black people who prefer raising children and working to marching either in protest or troop lines. Many Blacks, however, unwillingly end up doing the latter two things. Historically, �this pattern of what Blacks preferred versus immediate need or demand has helped the African-American psyche and general outlook. His Africanisms are indisputably there, but the day-to-day demands often make him too "tired" to explore them. Dogged endurance carries him on in a struggle that allows room to stagger but non to halt. As artist, the Black poet distills all this desire and frenzy into usable fabrics of joy, anger, disgust, love, hatred, frustration, terror, violence and prophecy. The scope of the Black poet's complexity can be only vaguely glimpsed if one imagines that the poet often intends to dance, sing, preach, perform a play, extricate his people from oppression--all at the same time--in a poem, on paper. Some devices, techniques and attitudes one should look for in Black Poetry are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28 . Much repetition of words and sounds (polyrhythms) Symbolic and Imagistic development via sound (i.e., sound representing something) Syncopated or irregular rhythms Black Cultural Metaphors Poems or stanzas that resemble musical charts or scores Incremental Line and Iteration (call-and-response pattern) Enumeration, Cataloging, Listing Acronyms and Neologisms Folk Psychology and Medicine Superstition Irony, Cynicism in the use of "sacred" Western terms or concepts Blues as Poetic Form Spirituals as Poetic Form Ballad as Poetic Form Gaudiness of Language, Hyperpobolic Language White as a Symbol of Evil Black as a symbol of Goodness and Truth Ambivialence toward or Distrust of Christianity Reference ot Musical Instruments and Forms Use of Song titles Prophesying of Doom Rejection of Materialism Respect for but Distrust of Modern Technology Disavowal of Impersonal Relationships Employment of Sensuality Examination of Ecstasy Generally a more Gut-level Reaction to life Synonyms for Black: Ebony, Dusk, Purple, Evening, Night,~, etc. 137 �r t : \ I \ . \ 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. Praise of the CulturaJ. Folk Hero: John Henry, Stagolee, Killer Joe, etc. Lynchings, Assassinations, Police Brutality, Imprisonment Invocation of African Deities or Ancient Legends Use of African words and GeographicaJ. sites Honoring of Mother Honoring of Black Working-Class Man Honoring of Slain or Dead PoliticaJ. Activist, Musicians or War Heroes Recording of Black History and Jm:portant Achievements Comparisons/Contrasts of Urban and Rural Life Satire of Politics, Religion, SociaJ. Relations and Pretentions Much Reference to Dance and Black Social Movements and Gestures 138 � 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_11 Title A name given to the resource Exploring Black Poetry: Classroom Dynamics, typed manuscript, p. 108-138 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/7b9d80ec22e89a6bda52d73eab514158.pdf 511294144e14d34edaf79b4917970436 PDF Text Text BIBLIOGRAPHY This bibliography is designed to serve the needs of beginning and advanced students of Black Poetry. It is not intended to be exhaustive since many bibliographies repeat the same items. No attempt bas been made to cite the count- less single collections of poems because numerous checklists and specialized bibliographies are available. Moreover, most anthologies, critical studies and histories list individual collections--in selected bibliographies and biographies. Since many Black poets publish privately or with small and relatively unknown publishing houses, the student will want to examine listings and reviews in Black periodicals (Black World, Journal of Black Poetry, Freedomways, Black Books Bulletin, Black Creation, CLA Journal and others). Some Black publishing houses print title listings on the inside covers of their books. Scores of records and t pes of readings, films, broadsides (single poems), pamphlet publicati ns and tracts are also available from individuals or small publishing houses. Recently, such large recording companies as Folkways, Flying Dutchman and MoTown have begun to record and distribute Black Poetry. However, the task of locating and developing a checklist for the myriad publications and publishing activities of Black poets still awaits some serious student ot Black literature. For con- venience, a list of Black publishing companies is included at the end of this bibliography. �I BIBLIOGRAPHY GENERAL RESEARCH AIDS Adams, Russell L. Great Negroes, Past and Present. Chicago, 1964. The Arthur B. Spingarn Collection of Negro Authors. Washington, D.c., 1948. Bontemps, Arna. "The James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters." Ye.le University Library Gazette, XVIII (October 1943), 19-26. "Special Collections of Negroana. 11 Librarv Quarterly, XIV (1944), 187-206 Chapman, Abraham. The Negro in American Literature and a Bibliography of Literature by and about Negro Americans. Stevens Point, Wis., 1966. Deodene, Frank and William P. French. Black American poetry Since 1944, A Preliminary Checklist. Chatham, 1971. Dictionary Catalog of the Jesse E, Moorland Collec~ tion of Negro Life and History (at Howard University). 9 vols. Boston, 1970. Dictionary Catalog of the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature & Histor. 11 vols. Boston, 1962, 1967. Drzick, Kathleen, John Murphy, and Constance Weaver. Annotated Bibliography of Works Relating to the Negro in Literature and to Negro Dialects. Kalamazoo, Mich., 1969. Du Bois, W.E.B. A Select Bibliography of the Negro American. 3rd ed. Atlanta, 1905. , and Guy B. Johnson. Encyclopedia of the --N-e-gro: Preparatory Volume. Rev. Ed. New York, 1946. Guzman, Jessie P., ed. Negro Year Boo~, Tuskegee, Ala., 1947. Index to Periodical Articles b and About Nero s formerly A Guide to Negro Periodical Literature and Index to Selected Periodical§). International Librar of Ne o Life and Histo • 10 vols. Washington, D.C., 1967-1969. Jahn, Hanheinz. A Bibliography of Neo-African iteratu e from Africa America and h bean. New York, 196. Johnson, Harry A. Multimedia Materials for AfroAmerican Studies, New York, 1971. Kaiser, Ernest. hThe Historv of Nei:rro Histor~r. 11 Negro Digest, XVII (February 1968), 10-15, -64-80 • • "Recent Books." Freedomways, in each issue. --- �McPherson, James, et al, eds. Blacks in America: Bibliographical Essays. New York, 1972. Major, Clarence. Dictionary of Afro-American Slang. New York, 1970. Miller, Elizabeth W. and Mary L. Fisher. The Negro in America: A Bibliography. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass., 1970. The Negro in Print: Bibliographic Survey. Porter, Dorothy B. 11Early American Negro Writings: A Bibliographical Study." Papers of the Biblio~ ra hical Societ of America, XX.XIX (1945), 192-2 • • North American Negro Poets: A Biblio-=--~a-:.1::.!.:hc=i~c~a~l~C:.!.:h~e~c~k=-=L!.:::i:..:::s~t~o:::,f-,::.T:.::h~e:.;:i:.:r_..:.;W:..:!;r...::i:....::t:...::i:...:.n=s~-"l::..J....:6::..::0::...-_,,l:..£!:=• Hattiesburg, Miss., 19 • Rowell, Charles H. 11A Bibliography of Bibliographies for the Study of Black American Literature and Folklore. 11 Black Experience, A Southern University Journal, LV (June 1969) 95-111. Smith, Jessie Carney. "Developing Collections of Black Literature." Black World. XX (June 1971), 18-29 Turner. Darwin T. Afro-American Writers. _.;,, • • New York, 1970. Work, Monroe Tu. A Bibliography of the Negro in Africa and America. New York, 1928. Yellin, Jean Fagan. "An Index of Literary Materials in The Crisis, 1910-1934: Articles, Belles-Lettres, and Book Reviews." CIA Journal, XIV (1971), 452-465. - -.1;;;- PERIODICAU Amistad Black Academy Review Black Books Bulletin Black Creation Black Orpheus: A Journal of African and Afro-American . Literature The Black Position Black Review The Black Scholar Black Theatre Black World (formerly Negro Digest) CLA Journal Controntation: A Journal of Third World Literature The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races Douglass' Monthly Essence Freedomways �PERIODICALS (cont'd) The Journal of Black Poetr The Journal of Black Studies The Journal of Negro History Negro American Literature Forum Negro History Bulletin Nkombo Nommo Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life Phylon: The Atlanta University Review of Race and ,culture Presence Africaine: Cultural Revue of the Negro World Roots: A Journal of Critical and Creative Expression Soulbook Studies in Black Literature Umbra Yardbird Reader ANTHOLOGIES (NOTE: Most, but not all, of the following anthologies are devoted primarily to Black Poetry.) Adams, William, Peter Conn, and Barry Slepian, eds. Afro-American Literature: Poetry. Boston, 1970. Adoff, Arnold, ed. Black Out Loud: An Anthology of Modern Poems by Black Americans. New York, 1970. , ed. I Am the Darker Brother: An Anthology --o-r-Modern Poems by Black Americans. New York, 1968. , ed. The Poetry of Black America. New York, --19-73. Afro-Arts Anthology. Newark, 1966. Alhamisi, Ahmed and Harun K. Wangara, eds. Black Arts: An Anthology of Black Creations. Detroit, 1970. Baker, Houston A., Jr., ed. Black Literature in America. New York, 1971. Barksdale, Richard and Kenneth Kinnamon, eds. Black Writers of America. New York, 1972. BCD. Soul Session. Newark, 1969. ~lack History Museum Committee of Philadelphia. Black Poets Write On. Philadelphia, 1969 (?). Bontemps, Arna, ed. American Negro Poetry. New York, 1963. Brawley, Benjamin, ed. Early Negro American Writers. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1935. Brooks, Gwendolp., ed. A Broadside Treasury. Detroit, 1971. P-d o JV!od---.,,,n <:1nd D(")rte111p0r ' ,,,,.,,.,,.,; can P0E>t F- . O'"'to , 1 97"> . ¾rneJ l, BE;3r>r:i<:1rd ' • , �ANTHOLOGIES (cont'd) , ed. Jump Bad: A New Chicago Anthology. --n-e-troit, 1971. Brown, Sterling A., Arthur P. Davis, and Ulysses Lee, eds. The Negro Caravan. New York, 1941; Arno, 1969. Cade, Toni, ed. The Black Woman: An Anthology. New York, 1970. Calverton, Victor F., ed. Anthology of American Negro Literature. New York, 1929. Chambers, Bradford and Rebecca Moon, eds. Right On: Anthology of Black Literature. New York, 1970. Chapman, Abraham, ed. Afro-American Slave Narratives. New York, 1970. , ed. Black Voices: An~tlthology of Afro-American --L-i~terature. New York, 1968. , ed. New Black Voices. New York, 1971. ~c-1-a-r-k-e, John Henrik, ed. Harlem: Voices from the Soul of Black America. New York, 1970. Coombs, Orde, ed. We Speak as Liberators: Young Black Poets. New York, 1970. Cornish, Sam and Lucian w. Dixon. Chicor y: Young Voices From the Black Ghetto. New York, 1969. Cromwell, Oteliz, Lorenzo D. Turner, and Eva B. Dykes, , eds. Readings from Negro Authors. ·New York, 1931. , ◊~~ ~!cruise, Harold. The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual.) o--lk-1:'i! \..~· New York, 1967. Cullen, Countee, ed. Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets. New York, 1927. Cunard, Nancy, ed. Negro Anthology. London, 1934. Danner, Margaret. Regroup. Richmond, Va., 1969 • • The Brass House. Richmond, Va., 1968. •n-a-v~i-s-, Arthur P. and Saunders Redding, eds. Cavalcade: Negro American Writing from 1760 to the Present. Boston, 1971. Davis, Charles T. and Daniel Walden, eds. On Being Black: Writings by Afro-Americans from Frederick Douglass to the Present. New York, 1970. Dreer, Herman, ed. American Literature by Negro Authors. New York, 1950. Emanuel, James A. and Theodore Gross, eds. Dark Symphony: Negro Literature in America. New York, 1968. Ford, Nick Aaron, ed. Black Insights: Significant Literature by Arro-Americans-1760 to the Present. Waltham, Mass., 1971. Freedman, Frances s., ed. The Black American Experienc! A New Anthology of Black Literature. New York, 1970. Giovanni, Nikki. Night Comes Softly. Newa.J-~> '. 1971' . �ANTHOLOGIES (cont'd) Haslam, Gerald W., ed. Forgotten Pages of American Literature. Boston, 1970. Hayden, Robert, ed. Kaleidoscope: Poems by American Negro Poets. New York, 1967. , David Burrows, and Frederick Lapides, eds. ----A-r-ro-American Literature. New York, 1971. Henderson, David, ed. Umbra Blaekworks Anthology 1970-1971. New York, 1971. Henderson, Stephen. Understanding the New Black Poetry. New York, 1973. Hill, Herbert, ed. Soon, One Morning: New Writing by American Negroes, 1940-1962. New York, 1963. Hughes, Langston, ed. The Book of Negro Humor. New York, 1966. , , ..L. , ed. La Poesie N~gro-Americaine. Paris: --E!i-a-itions Seghers, 1966. ed. New Negro Poets U.S.A. Bloomington, Ind., 4 ----1-9..,..6 • and Arna Bontemps, eds. The Poetry of the NeFTQ, 171j.6-l970. Rev. ed. Garden City, N.Y., 1970. Johnson, Charles s., ed. Ebony and Topaz: A Collectanea. New York, 1927. Johnson, James Weldon, ed. The Book of American Negro Poetry. Rev. ed. New York, 1931. . , ed. The Book of American Negro Spirituals. --N-ew- York, 1925; The Second Book of Negro Spirituals. New York, 1926. Jones, LeRoi and Larry Neal, eds. Black Fire: Art Anthology of Afro-American Writing. New York, 1968. Jordan, June, ed. Soulscript: Afro-Americ n Poetry. Garden City, N.Y., 1970. Kearns, Francis E., ed. The Black Experience: An Anthology of American Literature for the 1970's. New York, 1970. Kendricks, Ralph, ed. Afro-American Voices: 1770'sl970's. New York, 1970. Kerlin, Robert T., ed. Negro Poets and Their Poems. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C., 1935. King, Woodie. Black Spirits: A Festival of New Black Poets in America. New York, 1972. Knight, Etheridge, ed. Black Voices from Prison. New York, 1970. Lanusse, Armand, ed. Creole Voices: Poems in French b Free Men of Color. Ed. Edward M. Coleman. Centennial ed. Washington, D.C., 1945. �ANTHOLOGIES (cont'd) Locke, Alaine, ed. Four Negro Poets. New York, 1927. , ed. The New Negro: An Interpretation. New - ....Y.,...o-rk, 1925. Lomax, Alan and Raoul Abdul, eds. 3000 Years of Black Poetry. New York, 1970. ~Lowen:f'els, Walter, ed. In A Time of Revolution: Poems From our Third World. New York, 1969. Major, Clarence, ed. The New Black Poetry. New York, 1969. Miller, Adam David, ed. Dices or Black Bones: Black Voices of the Seventies. Boston, 1970. Miller, Ruth, ed. Blackamerican Literature 1760-Present. Beverly Hills, Calif., 1971. Moon, Bucklin, ed. Primer for White Folks. Garden City, N.Y., 1945. Murphy, Beatrice, ed. Negro Voices. New York, 1938 • • Ebony Rhythm. New York, 1948 and 1968. - - - . Today's Negro Voices. New York, 1970. Nelson, Alice Dunbar, ed. Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence. New York, 1914. Nicholas, Xavier, ed. Poetry of Soul. New York, 1971. "-r ' . o f 0 1Danie~, Thurman, ed. Langston Hughes, Black Genius: ) ,..t:, G""' ->-\.. A Cr1 ti cal Evaluation. New York, 1971. . Osofsky, Gilbert, ed. Puttin' on Ole Massa: The Slave Narratives of Henry Bibb, William W. Brown, and Solomon Northrup. New York, 1969. Patterson, Lindsay, ed. An Introduction to Black Literature in America from l to the Present. Washington, D.C., 19 9. Perkins, Eugene, ed. Black Expressions: An Anthology of New Black Poets. Chicago, 1967. Poems by Blacks, vol. I. Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1970. , Vol. II. Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1972. - - - , Vol. III . (Pinkie Gordon Lane, ed.). Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1973. Pool, Rosey E., ed. Beyond the Blues: New Poems by American Negroes. J'.:ympne, Kent, Entland, 1962 • • Ik Ben de Nieuwe Neger. The Hague: Bert --B-a-kker, 1964. Porter, Dorothy, ed. Early Negro Writing, 1760-1837. Boston, 1971. Randall, Dudley, ed. Black Poetry: A Suoolement to Anthologies Which Exclude Black Poets. Detroit, 1969. and Margaret Burroughs, eds. For Malcolm: Poems on the Life and Deatb of Malcolm X. Detroit, 1969. , ed. The Black Poets. New York, 1971. _R_e_d_m_o-nd, Eugene. Sides of the River: A Mini Antholo gy of Black Writings. ~~,rs ,·J..o ,s;1 u,_-,-.•• , 1970. A. ~n .l!,., ,~pn · a Co 11· pr, eds & Afro - A 0ri r ~n * W~ • Richa • • An rn-1--ho orr,y ,,-f P,,..o -; ""10 Poetry . 2 v 7 ,.. . u , ,. , 7,,-- - , " �ANTHOLOGIES (cont 1 d) Reed, Ishmael, ed. 19 Necromancers from Now: An Anthology of Original American Writing for the 70s. Garden City, N.Y., 1970. Robtnson, William H., ed. Early Black American Poets. Dubuque, Iowa, 1969. Rodgers, Carolyn M., ed. For Love of Our Brothers. Chicago, 1970. Schulberg, Budd, ed. From the Ashes: Voices of Watts. New York, 1967. Shuman, R. Baird, ed. A Galaxy of Black Writing.~ ~ Durham, N. c., 1970. I , ed. Nine Black Poets. Durham, N.C., 1968. -s-o-u-1-session. Newark, 1970 (?) Stanford, Barbara Dodds, ed. I, Too, Sing America: Black Voices in American Literature. New York, 1971. Ten: An Anthology of Detroit Poets. Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1968. ' Troupe, Quincy, ed. Watts Poets and Writers. Los Angeles, 1968. Turner, Darwin T., ed. Black American Literature: Poetry. Columbus, Ohio, 1970. Watkins, Sylvester c., ed. AntholoEY of American Negro Literature. New York, 1944. White, Newman I. and Walter C. Jackson, eds. An AnthologLof Verse by American Negroes. Durham, N.C., 1924. Wilentz, Ted and Tom Weatherly, eds. Natural Process: An Anthology of New Black Poetry. New York, 1971. Woodson, Carter G., ed. Negro Orators and Their Orations. Washington, D.C., 1925. LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (General) Allen, Samuel. "Negritude and Its Relevance to the American Negro Writer. 11 The Amer.lean erro Writer and His Roots. New York, 1960. Pp. ' -20 ~he American Negro Writer and His Root~. New York, 19 o. Baraka, Imamu Amiri (LeRoi Jones). "The Black Aesthetic." Negro Digest, XVIII (September 1969), 5-6. Bontemps, Arna. "The Black Renaissance of the Twent es, 11 Black World, XX (November 1970), 5-9 • • "Famous WPA Authors. 11 Negro Digest, VIII ---r-o(J'-une 1950), 43-47 . • "The Harlem Renaissance. 11 The Saturday Review --o-r-Literature, XXX (March 22, 1947), 12-13, 44 • • "The Negro Contribution to American Letters." --Th..-e American Negro Reference Book. Ed. John P. Davis. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1966. Pp. 850-878. �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (General) • "The New Black Renaissance." Negro Digest, --x-r-(November 1961), 52-58. , ed. The Harlem Renaissance Remembered. New __ Y....o-rk, 1972. Brawley, Benjamin. "The Negro in American Literature." The Bookman, LVI (October 1922), 137-141. Bronz, Stephen H. Roots of Negro Racial Consciousness: The 1920's: Three Harlem Renaissance Author~. New York, 1964. Brooks, Russell. "The Comic Spirit and the Negro's New Look. 11 CLA Journal, VI (1962), 35-43. Brown, Lloyd W. "Black Entitles: Names as Symbols in Ai.'ro-American Literature." Studies in Black Literature, I (Spring 1970), 16-44. Brown, Sterling A. 11 The American Race Problem as Rei.'lected in American Literature." The Journal of Negro Education, VIII (1939), 275-290 • • "The New Negro in Literature (1925-1955). 11 --Th-e New Negro Thirty Years Afterward. Ed. Rayford w. Logan et al. Washington, D.C., 1955. Pp 57-72. Calverton, Victor F. The Liberation of American Literature. New York, 1932 • • "The Negro and American Culture." The Saturday --R-ev-iew of Literature, XXII (September 21, 1940), 3-4. Cayton, Horace R. "Ideological Forces in the Work of Negro Writers." Anger, and Beyond: The Negro x~riter in the United States. Ed. Herbert Hill. New York, 1966. Pp. 37-50. Chapman, Abraham. "The Harlem Renaissance in Literary History. 11 CLA Journal, XI (1967), 38-58. Clarke, John Henrik. "The Neglected Dimensions of the Harlem Renaissance." Black World, XX (November 1970) 118-129 • • "The Origin and Growth of Afro-American Litera---.-t-u-re. 11 Negro Digest, XVII (December 1967), 54-67. Clay, Eugene. "The Negro in Recent American Literature." American Writers' Congress. Ed. Henry Hart. New York, 193;-. pp": 14.5-15"3. o lo uium on Ne r Art: First World Festival of Negro W (1966. Presence Africaine Editions, 1968. Conrad, Earl. uAmerican Viewpoint: Blues School of Literature." The Chicago Defender, December 22, 1945, p. 11. Cook, Mercer and Stephen Henderson. The Militant Black Writer in Africa and the United States. Madison, ... _Wis., 1969 • ...,__-;,;;Cullen, Countee. 11The Dark Tower. 11 Opportunity, monthly column, 1926-1928. -l~ Jl"'J <"P , 'A~ nr') l • ·r " York, 196 i 0-ri ,...~ C" l')f' t.he J~r:ro I �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (General) Davis, Arthur P. "Growing up in the New Negro Renaissance: 1920-1935." Negro American Literature Forum, II (1968), 53-59. Dillard, J.L. Black English. New York. 1972. Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago, 1903. Ellison, Ralph. Shadow and Act. New York, 1964. Evans, Mari. "Contemporary Black Literature. 11 Black World, XIX (June 1970), 4, 93-94. Ford, Nick Aaron. Annual "Critical Survey of Significant Belles Lettres by and About Negroes." Phylon, XXII (1961), 119-134; XXV (1964), 123•134 • • "Black Literature and the Problem of Eval__u_a...,...tion. 11 College English, XXXII (1971), 536-54 7. _____• Black Studies: Threat or Challenge? Port "'\'/,.~O,... Washington, N.Y., 1973. , ,vr::. 1,o O~J D• Fuller, Hoyt W. "Black Images and ·white Critics. 11·1 ~e~~t!A)/~~-5 • "The Ne gro Writer in the United States. 11 e,"' ---E--b-ony, XX (November 1964), 126-134 • Negro Di gest and Black World, - -monthly - • "Perspectives." column. , ed. "A Survey: Black Writers' Views on Lit--er-ary Lions and Values," Negro Digest, XVII ( January 1968), 10-48, 81-89. Gayle, Addison, Jr., ed. The Black Aesthetic. Garden City, N.Y., 1971. , ed. Black Expression: Essays by and About --B-=--1-ack Americans in the Creative Arts. New York, 1969. Gerald, Carolyn. 11 The Black Writer and His Role." Negro Digest. XVIII (January 1969), 42-48. Haskins, Jim and Hugh F. Butts, M.D. The Psychology of Black Language. New York, 1973. Haslam, Gerald W. "The Awakening of American Negro Literature 1619-1900. 11 The Black American Writer. Ed. C.W.E. Bigsby. Deland, Fla., 1969. Vol. II, pp. 41-51. • "Two Traditions in Afro-American Literature. 11 --R-e-search Studies, A Quarterly Publication of Washington State University, XXXVII (September 1969), 183-193. Hill, Herbert. "The Negro Writer and the Creative Imagination." Arts in Society, V (1968), 244-255. Huggins, Nathan I. Harlem Renaissance. New York, 1971. Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea. New York, 1940 • • I Wonder as I Wander. New York, 19.56. - - - . "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain. " The Nation, CXXII (1926), 692-694. �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM ( General) "To Negro Writers." American Writers' Congress. Henry Hart. New York, 1935. Pp. 139-141 • • "The Twenties: Harlem and Its Ne gritude." --A---r-rican Forum, I (Spring 1 19?6), ll-20. Jackson, Blyden. Annual "Resume of Ne gro Literature." Phylon, XVI {1955), 5-12; XVII (1956), 35-40. Jahn, Janheinz. Nee-African Literature: A History of Black Writing. New York, 1968. Jeffers, Lance. "Afro-American Literature, The Conscience of Man." The Black Scholar, II (January --E-a-. • 1971), 47-53. Johnson, Charles S. "The Nee;ro Enters Literature." Carolina Magazine, LVII (May 1927), 3-9, 44-48. Johnson, James Weldon. Along This Way. New York, 1933. Jones, LeRoi (Imamu Amiri Baraka). Home: Social Essays. New York, 1966. -Keller, Joseph. "Black Writing and the ·white Critic. 11 Negro American Literature Forum, III (1969), 103-110. Kent, George E. Blackness and the Adventure of Western Culture. Chicago, 1971. Kil gore, James C. "The Case for Black Literature." Negro Di~est, XVIII (July 1969), 22-25,66-69. Killens, John Oliver. "Another Time Wh en Black Was Beautiful." Black World, XX (November 1970), 20-36. Lamming, George. "The Negro Writer and His World." Pr~sence Africaine, Nos. 8-10 (June-November 1956), pp. 324-332. Lash, John. Annual "Critical Summary of Literature by and About Negroes." Phvlon, XVIII (19~7), 7-24; XIX (1958), 143-154, 247-257; XX (1959), 115-131; XXI (1960), 111-123. Llorens, David. "What Contemporary Black Writers are Saying ." Nommo, I (Winter 1969), 24-27 . • '~ riters Converge at Fisk University." Negro - .....D.....i-gest, XV (June 1966), 54-68. Locke, Alain, ed. The New Negro: An Interpretation. New York, 1925. Loggins, Vernon. The Negro Author: His Development in America to 1900. New York, 1931. Murray, Albert. The Omni-Americans: New Perspectives on Black Experience and American Culture. New York, 1970 • • South Again to A Very Old Place. New York, ---1-9-7. Neal, Larry. "Any Day Now: Black Art and Black Liberation. 11 Ebony. XXIV (August 1969), 54-58, 62. "Our Prize Winners and What They Say of Themselves." Opportunity, IV (1926), 188-189. ~edding, Saunders. "American Negro Literature. 11 The American Scholar, XVIII (1949}, 137-148. ~ 1np11~..-. 1 T'h ~rrrn.., n, Ari ., ·V8 7 l"ti.o �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (General) • "The Negro Writer. and His Relationship to --n-i-s Roots. 11 The American Negro Writer and His Roots. New York, 1960. Pp 1-8 • • To Make a Poet Black. Chapel Hill, N.C., __1,_9..,..39. Rourke, Constance. "Tradition for a Negro Literature . " Roots of American Culture. New York, 1942. Pp. 262-274. Shapiro, Karl. "The Decolonization of' American Literature." Wilson Library Bulletin, XX.XIX {196.5), 842-853. Spingarn, Arthur B. "Books by Negro Authors." The Crisis, 1938-196.5, annual feature. Thurman, Wallace. "Negro Artists and the Negro." The New Republic, LII (August 31, 1927), 37-39. Turner, Darwin T. "Afro-American Literary Critics." Black World~ XIX (July 1970), .54-67 • • "The Teaching of Afro-American Literature." --c-o--llege English, XX.XI (1970), 666-670. A Williams, She r l~y. Gfve Birth to Brightness: ~Thematic Study in Neo-Black Literature. New YOrk, 1~72. (Poetry) Bailey, Leaonead. Broadside Authors: A Biographical Directory. Detroit, 1971. Barksdale, Richard K. "Trends in Contemporary Poetry." Phylon. XIX {19.58), 408-416 • • "Urban Crisis and the Black Poetic Avant--G-a-rde. " Nee;ro American Literature Forum, III (1969), 40-44. Bennett, M. , W. "Negro Poets. 11 Negro History Bulletin, IX (1946), 171-172, 191. Berger, Art. "Negroes with Pens." Mainstream, XVI (July 1963), 3-6. Bland, Edward. "Racial Bias and Negro Poetry." Poetry, LXIII (1944), 328-333. Bone, Robert. "American Negro Poets: A French View. 11 Tri-Quarterly, No. 4 (1965), pp 18.5-195. Bontemps, Arna. "American Negro Poetry." The Crisis, LXX • (1963), .509. "Negro Poets, Then and Now. " --(l,__950), 355-360. Phylon, XI v �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (Poetry) Braithwaite, William Stanley. "Some Contemporary Poets of the Negro Race." The Crisis, XVII (1919), 275-280. Breman, Paul. "Poetry Into the •Sixties." The Black American Writer. Ed. c.w.E. Bigsby. Deland, Fla., 1969. Vol. II, pp 99-109. Brooks, Gwendolyn. "Poets Who Are Negro. 11 Phylon, XI (1950), 312 • • Report from Part One. Detroit, 1972. 11 ---. Introduction. 11 The Poetry of Black America. Arnold Adoff, ed. New York, 1973. Brown, Sterling A. "The Blues. 11 Phylon, XIII (1952), 286-292 • • "Negro Folk Expression: Spirituals, Seculars, 11 Phylon, XIV (1953), 4.5-61 • Negro Poetry and Drama. Washington, D.C., __B_a.._llads, and Songs. • --1"""9--37 • • Outline for the Study of the Poetry of American --N-e-groes. New York, 1931. Cartey, Wilfred. "Four Shadows of Harlem." Negro Digest, XVIII (August 1969), 22-25. Chapman, Abraham. "Black Poetry Today." Arts in Society, V (1968), 401-408. Charters, Samuel B. The Poetry of the Blues. New York, 1963. Collier, Eugenia W. "Heritage from Harlem. 11 Black World, XX (November 1970), 52-59. • "I Do Not Marvel, Countee Cullen." CLA --J-o-urnal, XI (1967), 73-87. Davis, Arthur P. "The New Poetry of Black Hate. 11 CLA Journal, XIII (1970), 382-391. Daykin, Walter I. •~ace Consciousness in Negro Poetry." Sociology and Social Research, XX (1936), 98-10,5. Echeruo, M.J.C. "American Negro Poetry. 11 Phylon,, XXIV (1963), 62-68. Ellison, Martha. "Velvet Voices Feed on Bitter Fruit: A Study of American Negro Poetry." Poet and Critic, IV (Winter 1967-1968), 39-49. Ely, Effie Smith. "American Negro Poetry." The Christian Century, XL (1923), 366-367. Flasch, Joy. Melvin B, Tolson. New York, 1973. Furay, Michael. 11Africa in Negro American Poetry to 1929." African Literature Today, II (1969), 32-41. Garrett, DeLois. 1'bream Motif in Contemporary Negro Poetry." English Journal, LIX (1970), 767-770. �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (Poetry) -~--- Garrett, Naomi M. "Racial Motifs in Contemporary -~ A ~ r j . ~ ench Negro Poetry. 11 West Virginia _......Universit Phil ical Pa ers, XIV (1963), 80-101. Gibson, Donald B, ed. Modern Black Poets: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1973. Glicksberg, Charles I. 11 Negro Poets and the American Tradition." The Antioch Review, VI (1946), 243-253. Good, Charles Hamlin. "The First American Negro Literary Movement." Opportunity, X (1932), 76-79. Heath, Phoebe Anne. "Negro Poetry as an Historical Record." Vassar Journal of Undergraduate Studies, III (May 1928), 34-52. Horne, Franks. "Black Verse." Opportunity, II (1924), 330-332. Johnson, Charles S. "Jazz Poetry and Blues." Carolina Magazine, LVIII (May 1928), 16-20. Johnson, James Weldon, "Preface." The Book of American Negro Poetry. Ed. James Weldon Johnson. New York, 1931. Pp. 3-48. Kerlin, Robert T. "Conquest by Poetry." Tbe Southern Workman, LVI (1927), 282-284. _ _ _ • Contemporary Poetry of the Negro. Hampton, Va., 1921. • "A Pair of Youthful Nee;ro Poets. 11 The --g-o-uthern Workman, LIII (1924), 178-181. 11 Present-Day Negro Poets. " • The Southern --~-lo-rkman, XLIX {1920), 543-548. 11 • S i ngers of New Songs. " Op port unity. IV -.....,c...1--926>, 162-164. Kilgore, James C. "Toward the Dark Tower." Black World, XIX (June 1970), 14-17. Kjersmeier, Carl. "Negroes as Poets." The Crisis, XXX (1925), 186-189. Lee, Don L. "Black Poetry: Which Direction?" Negro Digest, XVII (September-October 1968), 27-32 • • Dynamite Voices: Black Poets of the 1960's. --.D-et.....roit, 1971 •. Locke, Alain. "The Message of the Negro Poets." Carolina Magazine, LVIII {May 1928), 5-15. Moore, Gerald. "Poetry in the Harlem Renaissance." The Black American Writer. Ed. C.W.E. Bigsby. Deland, Fla., 1969, Vol. II, pp. 67-76. Morpurgo, J.E. "American Negro Poetry. 11 Fortnightly, CLXVIII (July 1947), 16-24. Morton, Lena Beatrice. Negro Poetry in America. Boston, 1925. "Negro Poetry. 11 Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Ed. Alex Preminger, Frank J. Warnke, and O.B. Hardison. Princeton, N.J., 1965. Pp 558-559. �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (Poetry) "Negro Poets, Singers in the Dawn. 11 The Negro History Bulletin, II (1938), 9-10, 14-15. Oliver, Paul. Blues Fell This Morning: The Meaning of The Blues. New York, 1960 • • Conversation with the Blues. New York, 1965. _P,....o_o_l_,-Rosey. 11The Discovery of American Negro Poetry. 11 Freedomways, III (1963), 46-51. Ramse.ran, J .A. "The 'Twice-Bor n ' Artists' Silent Revolution." Black World, XX (May 1971), '58-68. Redmond, Eugene B. 11 The Black American Epic: Its Roots, Its Writers." The Black Scholar, II (January 1971), 15-22 • • "How Many Poets Scrub the River's Back?" --c--o-hf'rontation, I (Spring, 1971), 47-53. Rod gers, Carolyn M. 11B1Pck Poetry-W'here It's At. 11 Negro Di gest, XVII (~tember 1969), 7-16. Rollins, Charlemae. Fa"1uus American Negro Poets. New York, 1965. Taussi g, Charlotte E. "The New Ne gro as Revealed in His Poetry." Op~ortunity, V (1927), 108-111. Thurman, Wallace.Negro Poets and Their Poetry." The Bookman, LXVII {1928), 555-561. "The Umbra Poets." Mainstream, XVI (July 1963), 7-13. "Th e Undaunted Pursuit of Fury . 11 Time, XCV (April 6, 1970), 98-100. , , , Wagner, Jean. Les poete~ negres des Etats-vnis: I&. sentiment ra9ial et religiewc dans la poesie de P.L. Dunbar a L. Hughes. Paris, 1963. ~ l k e r , Margaret. "New Poets.n Phylon, XI (1950), 345-354. White, Newman I. "American Negro Poetry. 11 South Atlantic Quarterly, XX (1921), 304-322. 11 • Racial Feeling in Negro Poetry." South --A--t-lantic Quarterly, XXI (1922), 14-29. Work, Monroe N. 0The Spirit of Ne gro Poetry . 11 The Southern Workman, XXXVII (1908), 73-77. (Folklore) Abrahams, Ro ger. Deep Down in the Jungle: Ne~ro Narrative Folklore from the Street of Philadel Hatboro, Pa., 19 • Brewer, J. Mason. "American Ne gro Folklore. 11 Phylon, VI {1945), 354-361. *- �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (Folklore) • American Neijro Folklore. Chicago, 1968 • .,..B_r_o_w_n_, Sterling A.The Blues. 11 Phylon, XIII (1952), 286-292. • "Negro Folk Expression: Spirituals, Secu---1-a-rs,· Ballads, and Songs. 11 Phylon, XIV (1953), 45-61. Conley, Dorothy L. "Origin of the Negro Spirituals. 11 The Negro History Bulletin, XXV (1962), 179-180. Courlander, Harold. Negro Folk Music, U.S.A. New York, 1963. Dorson, Richard M. American Negro Folktales. New York, 1967 • • ed. African Folklore. New York, 1972. _E_l_l_i_s_, A.B. ''Evolution in Folklore: Some West African Prototypes of the Uncle Remus Stories." Popular Science, XLVIII {November 1895), 93-104. Fisher, Miles Mark. Negro Slave Songs in the United States. New York, 1963. Georgia Writers' Project. Drums and Shadows: Jil.ar,: vival Studies Amon the Geor ia Coastal Negroes. Athens, Ga., 19 O. (fle,.;.;, ' jNe fll1-/<..1l'f, Handy, W.C. and Abbe Niles, eds. Treasury of the Blues. New York, 1949. Harris, Joel Chandler. Daddy Jake the Runaway, and Short Stories Told After Dark. New York, 1889. Jones, LeRoi (Imamu Amiri Baraka). Black Music. New York, 1967 • • Blues People: Negro Music in White America. --N~ew- York, 1963. Krebhiel, Henry Edward. Afro-American Folksongs: A_ Study in Racial and National Music. New York, 1914. Lovell, John. 11Reflections on the Ori gins of the Ne gro Spiritual." Negro American Literature Forum, III (1969), 91-97. McGhee, Nancy B. 11 The Folk Sermon: A Facet of the Black Literary Heritage. 11 CLA Journ 1, XIII (1969), 57-61. Odum, Howard W. and Guy B. Johnson. The Negro and His Songs. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1925 . • Negro Workaday Songs. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1926. -0-1-i-v-er-, Paul. Blues Fell This Morning: The Meaning of the Blues. New York, 1960. Scarborough, W.W. 11 Negro Folklore and Dialect. 11 Arena, XVII (1897), 186-192. Talley, T.W. Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise and Otherwise. New York, 1922. 4 �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (Folklore) Thurman, Howard. Deep River. New York, 1955. Twining, Mary Arnold. 11An Anthropological Look at Afro-American Folk Narrative." CLA Journal, XIV (1970), 57-61. White, Newman I. American Negro Folk-Songs. Cambridge, Mass., 1928. Work, John W. 11 Negro Folk Song. 11 Opportunity, I (1923), 292-294. �BLACK PUBLISHING HOUSES AFRO-AM PUBLISHING CO. 1727 South Indiana Avenue Chicago, Illionois 60616 AL KITAB SUDAN PUBLISHING CO. P.O. Box 6,536 San Francisco, California 94101 ASSOCIATED PUBLISHERS 1538 19th Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 BLACK ACADEMY PRESS 135 University Avenue Burfalo, New York 14214 BLACK RIVER WRITERS P.O. 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