https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/cb4023140eb6f7fc36e3e86fc858f284.pdf 06d4ad6a2055d7ce98d661c472904121 PDF Text Text INTRODUCTION \ During the last decade, Black American Poetry emerged ·). t rcm its assi gned position as an ille gitimate--and sometimes . ' eml:ja,rrssing --child of American literature to an official flower in the gar•den of' world writing . Everywhere, on all the continents, Black Poetry is vigorously read, studied and sometimes imitated. "Often i mitated but never dupli- cated," quip tbe disc jockeys on Black-oriented radio stations--assuring their l i steners that the "soul" or "Heirloom" of th e ir ancient tradition is still alive, well, and locked in Black safe-deposit boxes. Yet, while a silent reading of that cas ually delivered quip belies the charismatic power and verbal d ex t erousness in "how" it is sa:td, the internal rhyme and r hy thm a.re obvious. The "how" is always important in Bl ac k Poe t r7,r; a "how II that wi 11 be one of the corner stone s in tb e discussions that will follow. To say that Black Poetry is read all over the world, is not to say that it i s studied in equitabl e proportion to other kinds of poe try . Indeed the curr e nt rash of anthologi e s, indivi dual collections, and the re-issuin~ of previously published volumes, suggest that a literary vacuum of criminal proportions has been allowed to exist. The new publishing flood, coupled with the appearance of new Black publishing hous e s, makes the 3OO-year-old vacuum glaringly, paradoxically obvious. The absence of Black Poetry (or ., Black Literature) courses from English departments at l �predominantly white colleses is 1gnomjnously aided and abetted by the culpable neligence st most predominantly Black colleges--which have religiously placed Walt Whitman over Paul Lawrence Dunbar, H.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot over Jean Toomer and Melvin B. Tolson, Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg over Owen Dodson and Robert Hayden, and Marianne I•-foore and Edi th Sitwell over Gwendolyn Brooks and Margaret Walker. One could go on, of course, reciting the cultural and litera1..y negligence so officially a part of the academic and grants-in-aid scenes. The purpose here, however, is to explore with teacher and student the vast richness of Black poetical and mythical life. The study and teachj_nrr, of Black Poetry presents many frustrations, challenges Bnd problems. Teachers preparing themselves to teach the subject must b e aware of the many pitfalls, not least among them heing the tendency of teacher and student alike to stray from the study of the poetry into political and rhetorical catharses. ''Black" is a political word in the United States--and in most of the world--a.nd to study or teach anything "Black" is to take a political position. The thin line between the ideological implications of a poem and the diatribes or ha:r•J};ues so many classrooms find themselves victims of is a line walked by all teachers and students of the Black Experience. Classroom teachers, then, must "se t " the a.t.mospbere by dealing from the beginning with subs t antive hackground materials. By "substantive" I mean the deepest philoso- 2 �pbical, reli gious, ethical, artistic a nd cos molog ical tenets (1 of Black Expression. Thusifurther purpose of this pamphlet is to examine the scope and range of Black Poetry via folk origins, methods of delivery, language, phonolOGY, reli giosity, racial character, recurring themes, indi vidual and group identity, and poetical devices as they are developed in Q. ~, Black Poetry or borrowed from other poetic~strains in the 1:testern world and elsewhere. Like all bodies of writing, Black literature stems from a folkloristic trunk, making the job of the teacher twofold: one) to deal with the great storehouse of folk materials and themes; and two) to explore the chrono lo gical development of Black Poetry--from rou ghly l 7l~6 to the present. There are some harmless differences among scholars over just where to start the study of Black written poetry . For example, in The Poetry of the Neg!o, Hughes and Bo nte ~ ps be gin with Lucy Terry's "Bars Fight," the account of an Indian ma.ssacre in Deerfield, Mass., in 1746. The Ne gro Carava_~ (an inclusive anthology edited by Brown, Davis and Le e) omits tbe Terry poem. Caravan was first issued in 1941 while the poetry anthology was published in 1949. The former be p.:ins its poetry section with Phillis Wheatley who firs t published poetry in 1770. Omitted also from Caravan is the work of ,Jupiter Hammon whose poetry was publised in broadside in 1760. In Calvacade (Negro American Writing from 1760 to the Present~ published in 1970 and edit e d by Davis and Redding, neither Terry nor Hammon appear and the poetry 3 �section ber-;5..ns with Phillis Wheatle y . :g:~_!l_y_~_1-ack America~ Poets (Robinson) opens with Terry ana Johnson's The Book of American Negro Poetry, with Dunbar. Tt seems that many teachers of Black Poetry be g in with Phillis Wheatley despite the fact that at least two Black poets were writing before her. All three of the earlier poets were slaves, pri vi ler-,:ed by their masters and t anp;ht to read and write. For the most part they were Spo t' • ,.;. bv I the sustained hardships ~pe,,.~eJK£~ the majority of their brothers and sisters of color; in short, the horrors of slavery--though certai nl~r known to thern--rarely touched them intimately. In preparing this pamphlet, T have as~umed that the teacher will want to cover the full history and range of Black Poetry. I have assumed, also, that the teacher will want to move systematically throu~h the wor ks--and establish some sense of historic~l development and tradition in Black History, Black Music, and Black Culture in general. Hence one of the main ingredients of the course - -as we move from unit to unit--will be the study of relateJ for ms of expression such as Folksongs, Spiri t uals, Blues, Jazz, Rhythm & Blues and what today is commo nly called ~0111 mllsic. earlier, however, the Black Experience is frustrating. As stated complex and At each juncture in the study of the Poetry, for example, ~ teacher will meet difficulties which may seem insurmountable. Some of these difficulties will be manifest in queutions such as "Is a poet considered �nwbit e " ex pe r ienc e ?," "C an a Bl Rck poet r e a ll:r r ecord Bla c k experience s a nd f ee l in? s i n E ngli s 'h''," "Ca n a wl1 ite poet wr it e a Bl a.c k· poen,. nf , II ( 1 1.• k e ·t h e WhL. 1• ve -I- mu si• c i. e.n w,h o h.as d eve 1 - oped a Hfeel Tl fo r Blac.k r1.us ic a rid ha s l e ar•nec1 t o rnas t er the technical vocabulary of tha t music ? ) "Ca n whi te people nundersta.nd" Black Po e Lry ? Tl, "Sh ould wb i. t e c.r i t ics of Black Poe t r y b e take n ser ious l y ?,'' "Is Bla ck Poe try primarily e motion and lacking in int e llect;?, 11 TI T.s the r·e a Black Aesth etic?, 11 "Can a whi te pr•ofes sor t each Bla c k Poe try?," !!How does Black Lang uage diff er fr om whi t e lanf-~U a ? e or E ng lish?" and ''D oes Black Poetry expr es s the nn j vers al h uma.n condition? 11 Blac k and whi t e st u/lents wi.1 1 ask tbes e qu e s t i ons, indicating in th e ir q u eries th a t t he y wan t; .-:·.ore realis t ic a..nJ direct answers to some of t he i n -h ous e is s ue s which ha ve consumed Black a et i v i s ts, ~r t i s t s, a cademi cians, and white scholars of the Black Experience. Th e Bla~ k and white teacher con.frontin~ a racia. l l y - t.,, i x ed class, an all-Black class or an all whit e clas s, will 11 ave t o work a p;ainst a. distre s sing pan orama of a nr;:er, re .i ec tion, f e ar, condescension, anti- i ntellec tualis m, i nte l lec t ua l sn c, 1,b ish nes s , re.cis rn , distrust--and any number of ot her c ombust i ons of the student personality . Tb e Black p oets do not make burdens li r,bter in that they, critically and thematically , a r c ois persed along a seemingly boundles s spectrum of opinio ns, attit udes, creative approaches, ideologies, tech nique s a nd li t er ary philosophies. The t e acher, preparing for eithe r a se me s t er or y ear-long course (or for a un i t t o be inte g:r·at e d into 5 11 Humanities �course, an Aneri.can literature course, or· a Black interdisciplinary project), will ha ve to s te ep hiri:self in the literature of the Black past in order to give tentative answers and carry on adeqcm t '3 discussions wben such questions as those listed arise. Having been exposed to Black poets of national stature--via television pro~rams such as Soul and Black Journal and at conferences, Black Arts festivals and community book parties--many st nD0 nts (es:_:,ec :i. ally Black students) may be informed, at th o popular le vel, about the opinions and reading styles of the poe t.; s. However, the teacher n1ust not--and this point has to he stre s sed a ~ain and again--must not succu -r,b to the temptr.i.tion to poetry up until 1965. ,, in True, there iP ,yrec.d <>-nd 11 skip all 'il""~wtw-.3 infes-"( Sf the Black Poetry produccJ out of what bas been called the Black Consciousness/Black Power/Black Nationalist/Black Arts/Nee-Pan-African Movement. Yet the te~.cher who defies the Blac:k tradition (or any tradition) will find himself engulfed in a maelstrom of conjecture and ideological hysteria; and the class, whose posture will be anti-historical, will be riddled with soap opern-type rhetorical drama about revolution and liberation and will smack, again, of anti-intellectualis n . Harold Cruse (The Crisis of The Negro Intellectual_) points out that ench generation of Black artists and activists suffers from a lack of historical/cultural continuity. That is, they fail to study (or for some l'eason are unaware of) the mistakes and the pitfalls of past struggles and consequently find I' 0 �themselves in predicaments not diss imilar to t~ose of their predecessors. As observed earlier, t he poets are not unanimous on what Black Poetr:r is supposed to do, wh y i l, whether whites can write or criticize it. di ve1~se be liefs and posit lons are nu111ero us: is written or Reasons for the the situation attending the birth and upbringin g of the poet; his reli gious affiliation (Robe rt Hayden is of the Baha'i faith; Askia rr,uhammad TourJ is a Sunni Muslim; El-Mub a jir [Jfarvin X] is a member of the Nation of Islarr1 [ :::ornmon called Black I'.tuslim~]; K. Curtis Lyle was re.i:_:N1 in the ·J8.tholi c church ); his polit- ical l e aning (which, ir. the cas e of ma ny writers, is also reli g ious); his preparation for po e try (did he go to a well-known wri te rs scho ol, pick his t al ent up ·,ia. individual study or apprentice under another writer); his associations with other noets (man:• Black poets, for ext:1,mple, hobno b with writers of other ra ci al extra.ctions; I met one Black poet in 1970 who had two masters der;rees ~rnt hat~ not beard of Melvin Bea.unorus To] son~' --a Plack poet pre.lsed by the white literary establishment as havine be sted Eliot, Po und, Stevens and company in his technical v i!•tuosi ty); his current personal · situation (does he live in the inner c i ty? teach? write full time? play a musical instr1m1e nt? write in other genres? read primarily Black poAts?), ana his feelings on the question: "Are you a poet first and t~en Black; or are you Black first and then a poet?" Harmless as it may seet,, thitf rhetorl~al utter has entrapped 7 �ideolo '-;ical and political prison}from which Sonic would like to extricate themselves by askin g simply: 11 1:Jbat difference does it make?" For the many poet s , however, it matters a great deal and they have written profusely _on the implications of this question and the several other-s listed earlier. The teacher must sample opinions of writers and students, sharing with students the diversity of opinions on the creative process just as the diverse creative works are shared. Such parity allows for a continual classroom balance in criticism, social undercurrents and the poe~s themsel~es. here would be illustrati ve. Perhaps some examples Novelist Ralph Ellison has suggested that he is a writer first and t~at his racial ideny(·-tr tity is subordinate t o thaL fact. ~Robert Hayden has taken a , . ' similar stand (see introductio~ to Kaleidoscope, Poems b~ American ~re,;ro Pc~_!E_, 1967). The sa.me position had been taken several decades earlier by poet Countee Cullen. In his critical-biocraphical introduction to Cullen's poetry (The Book of American Ne gro P_?etry, 1922, 1931) James Weldon Johnson observed that: Some critics have vent ured to state that Cullen is not an authentic Negro poet. This statement, of necessity, involves a definition of 11 a Negro poet II and of "Ne c~ro Poetry." There might be several definitions framed, but the question raised is pure irrelevance. Also there is in it a faint flare-up of the old taboo which would object to the use of "white" material by the NeGro artist, or at least re gard it with indulgent condescension. Cullen himself has decla~ed that, in the sense of wishin~ for consideration or allowances on account of race or or of reco gnizin~ for hi mself any limitation to G �"racial II the'1es and forms, he has no desire or intention of being a 1'Je gro poet. I n this be is not only within his ri ght; be is ri :'h t. . (italics mine) Johnson went on to note that hecause Cullen '1revolts against" racial enclosures, the ''best of his poetry is r;1otivated by race. II One could make a similar comment today about Ellison or Hayden. The works for which both are internationally acclaimed delve into the deepest regions of the Black man's psyche and feelings. Heanwhile some younp,er poer.s--those birthed in the 1960's--and several poets and critics that out, sometjmes not so straddle both generations lash Otf; ,•r,· diplomatically, at what they see as compensator y ,,and unnecessary self-deprecation by the older poets. Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks said in a preface to Poerns From Prison that Etheridge Knight was not the "stifled artiste. 11 The comment represented an implied rebuttal to Black and white 11 acader:1ic II poets. Elsewhere Niss Brooks had referred to the "inelegance" of some Black Poetry as beinr; consistent with the bleak, drab landscape of hoplessness and despair felt by some inner-city dwellers. During the late Sixtl~s, she became a kind or matriarch of the New Black Poetr::r Hovement (at least in Chicago), ceased publishing with Harper and Row, and began to release her writings throu 0h Broadside Press--a new Detroit-based Black publishing house under the supervision of Dudley Randall, a poet, librarian, critic and translator. Miss Brooks' new consciousness, she declares, was achieved as a result of ha.vine attended a Bl~ck writers conference in 1968 at Fisk University where she heard poets Imamu Amiri Baraka 9 �(LeTioi Jones), Don L. Lee, Nikki Gi o?an ~i, no 7elist John Oliver Killens, a nd n host of other writers , ac t ivists end artists. The violent social explosions in Lhe cities, the Vietnam Har that took so many Black li ves and crippled so many otbers, the persistent ~ mer: ;ence of Afd.ca--e.11, Hiss 1 Brooks said, aided in the development of her new consciousness. She has written t;hat it 11 fri p:btens" her to think tbat if she had died before she reached fifty, "T would ba ve died a 'I'Tegro' fraction." Hayden, disclaimlng the Gwend ol:n1 Brooks' posj_tion, assumes he has been 'Black' all alon r: o.nd c ontinues to reject any singular, unarg uabl e position on the Black Aesthetic, or the poet-first, Black-secona_/:3lack-fi r st, poel:,-second controversy. Assessing Baraka, Hayden ad1n its thnt he recognizes the younger poet's power b ut deplores ''his Black nazis!':1 ." J. Saunders Redding , a dean of t he Black critical establishment, feels there is no such thi nr~~ as a ''Black Aesthetic If; Poet Paul Vese y (fo1~nerly Samuel Alle~) calls it ~a voya~e of discovery- -I Lhi nk i. t wi 11 y ield re t ur n not as r-Teetly as in mus :i.c, perhaps, · where the black aesthetic 6.01dna.tes an entire cultural area of the west.'' : iany poets and critics, on the other hand, ignore questions dealing with aesthetics, the level of Blackness in their work, to whom they direct their poems, and out of 1-1bat mood or spirit they urite. At the same time there are trends, some r e ~ional and some national, c(r)t\ tbat tl\JJui; l:;eacberslan id enlify . Needles s to say , identifyinrs and exploring these trends is i nwensel y rewardin g . 10 Essential to �a.n uncle-rs tandin;-:: c:i trends ano 9.tt i tudes :_., , ::1_ • :st.em fro rn the thej_r own an well as ':;he f~cneral litey,ar:· tradition, is a stud~r of slaver:, as it was :i.nstituterJ. ':,~- Europe and refined in the United 8 tates, a s tnc1y of Blo.1".k soc i~ 1_ West African anr ll.fro-A;:-1erican Folklo:..,., e. 1·,i story Rnd of- The tl10pouc:h teacher of Black Poetr:r will want to steep l:·i_ n self in the history of Western Civilization; he will 3 lso develop an appreciation for the cor:1p1.ex web o::' I31P..r..:k--:1hi te interrelationships in Ar.1erica., and prepn.-re hir.:scl:f to :': nide the studento througli the ofter, Gens e -filleo dI:1c 1.-<s s i.o ns. Slavery is not a pleasa ut th:I ~1:·: to rec a 11; and the teacher will soon notice that prac t ically (~1· c r ~:' pc e t writes about c;I f, ,, ('I \ ' ~ ~ i f,r ( / i f '-,\ / ~-.-~ <f r()«· lynching s--es?ecially poets writin ~ afte r" who do not deal with actual lynch-t:1 c s_, o.s k n ow or :i.nterpret them, dea] A v! c • Those poets have come to with balf-J.::·:1cl:t.1Ys, defile- r, ent and the l7i.ental and ph:rsical destn.: c.tion of Plack hm~n;1ity. Jf a discussion of slaver; is unpleasant, the 11, a consideration of lynchtne is horrorfy in J . The s~illed teRcher will man- euver judiciously throu e h t he rouch waters of such sessions-keeping cr::otiona.l deluges to a rri inii~ium ty presentinr:; facts ov·e r-pass-iona. te-, a·ccusa:tions or tear-drenched con:fe-s,s·iomh During such occasions, less the focus of the course becomes ~lurred and the classroom becomes a courtroom. At the same t:h1e, -the :-: eacher who cannot 11 �preside over v i p,orous a nd t.h orou;:h cHsc :rns:! o i-:s of t hese painful events and de tails may finC hi mself , a t l ater junctures, t rying t o br i d p;e eve n wi6er ~ulfs of d ou1; t, fru s tration, mistrust and al i enation . As ain, t he t eaching of Black Poetry ( or any aspect of t he Bl ac k Fxr:ieri e nce) assumes the complexit i e s of th e Black Ex pe r ie r,c e i t self. Ne vertheless, the st udy of Bla ck poe t r y t s i af i nitely rewarding because it is a vehicle wh i ch dis bi lls Lh e particular insights and pers pe ctives of Blac k Arr, e rica. ;1s 5_n t;o concise and authentic f orms: Ge r ~inc the ri ch r ural-Bi blical-urban idioms wi th colorful ly l uscious i ma gery and ( in ma ny cases) peerless technical proficie ncy i n t h e us e of l it erary En~lish and We stern poetical for ,r_s. 'Hhe n st udent s s pe confronted with the various poems on l ynchin ~s, f or exaMple, t he t eacher can lead them into an examination of posture, poetical toolery and overall ach ie vement or e ffectiveness of the poe ms. In 1.'l ri gh t 1 s "De tween the Horld e.nd He 11 the poet becomes t h e persona; the oak t r· ee na r rates in Dunbar's "The Haunted Oak~ Culle n speak s as ''I" in "Scottsboro, Too, Is 'Horth Its S onp, 11 which admoni s hes whit e American poets for remaining silent over unj us t t rea tme nt of Black men while they sing: ••• sharp and pr etty Tunes for Sacc o and u[m zetti, I said: He r e too's a cause de v inely spun For t ho se whos e ey es nr:-c on t b e sun, Here in epitome I s all di s c:rac e And e pic wr ong , Li ke wine t o br a c e The minstrel h e art, and b le.r c it into song . 12 �- .- ·-------· ___ ,. __ ' ._ -- .•IcKay's "The L~· ncbing " the k~.lli. nr; of the Black .nan .... ::; 111ade a.nalag ous to the crucifixi.o n ; a sonnet, and aweso'ne throughout, the poem c1csc-ends to 5.ts rh:rni :·lr~ couplet with a final irony: And little lnds, lynchers that were to ~e, Danced round the dreadful th:t nc; in fie ndis11 c;lee. Certainly in these poe ms-- and the dozens of others that employ the lynchine theme--there is rr1ll.cb f uel for papers, classroom discussion and teacher pr eperation, In the four poems mentioned, the poets span snch di verse forms as the sonnet, the ballad a nd free verse, Helpful in this area will be the additional inquir:r, by teacher and student, into the development of white hn te :,ro i1ps st~ e h as tbe Ku IQu.x (lflO tue ' h istor~ • r In an/.. o...f' race ., ~ Ot,S ~ s · ..• • I 1.1 ~ D;~o t s i• n a t rtrn.erica. 1<. • least a dozen A11erican co mmunities :in lc:'19, for example, caused McKay to write "If 1·!e :-::us t Die", a poi r:nan t sonnet with an even more poi g na n t: end :l nE; co u ple t -- Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying , but fi [-:;hti ng back! -- W (1)'f{, t l --a poem which ,.,C lrnrcbill read before tbe F.o use of Coo1mons, during l"Jorld Har II, to spark his co t~ntryme n in the dim hours; during the 1972 prison re b elli on !n Attica, N.Y., j ournalis {found the poem scrj_ bb led on the wal 1 of n eel 1 Oi-- i'i{J.Jt,,+·~J,.t4ftt,H-~c/t;; and th0 national press attri b uted it t o a prisoner! . . . oJe «"<tric:hr'\C\ o Ftl I e r .. •\'\u r- . ,.__his'tory of slave revolts ( rr1 any :Slack poets write about them) and the patterns of v iolence i ~ America. Attuned teachers and student s will want t o co nsult so urces such as lCO Yee.rs of L:rnchj:E_G. ( 0 :i. n zberg ), 13 1 ~aek iss ues of Black �and liberal white news :ournals a~e pap e rs and e specially pa.st issues of The Cris ·is, the o.ffi c: ; al L ews and ori nj or: arm of the !Tationnl Assoc.:i.ation For 'l'he Ac1,ra t ic:ernenJ..; Of Colored People. ri _ ing the first a Crisis for over 2C years 1 Pr.. n., in 1910. f1•o m its he c ir..nir;._:; further reading , the teacher can refer to ~dited The ~r For bi b liography in section IV and appropriate sections of any of the numerous antholo s ies, text 1 ·, ooks and '..'! i', lio r;·raphical sources available. While I must adrait tha t information and opinions contained in this pa1nphlet reflect my own ;)iases as a teacher, critic, activist, and poe -f.. , tl1e patt.e:r-n for teachin e; is one qe•ir.- r•tr u.y adhered to across th.e country. Tbe organization of any cour•se is ccrtai n to mir1·or at least a minimum amount of the teacher's own political and critical Consequently, ·whe:n lee turi n:r, on or prepar:i. ng curricula for Black Poetry, I normally allow fore flexible outline, including opt!ons in both textb ook emphasis. t1se and period The same bolds true for- concentration or satu- ration of stuC:y with re ::;ards to indj_vidua.l poets. will have personal preferences; in fact, like the students, teachers may even have developed attachments to specific poets, attitudes about the poets or prejudices tollard poets who do not reflect what they feel is a. correct posture for Black Poetry. Just as there is great and health) diversit~ in the poetry and the poe t s, there will be 14 �diverc;cnt at titudes and crU:ical p.::- ~:, 1 .s o.f ··5.ew a.r:1on1; b e due to a e,e dlffere nces (the rr:;e:1e,rati.on ('8.p"?), a.s is t he case with the poets, and so;.1 e 1-r~:1 oc e tn·· re :-=;arcHess of a g e. The Blac.k 01• white tc ach e1· shonld e.r,;;1 hinself to the bes t of his a1)ili b:· with tbe tools of cr·i.. tic ism a nd a know- ledge of Black Cul t..ure~ He r:rns t; ha.ve sorne idea of wcat part "duali ty " plays in the lives of Blacks and how such "twoness" is manifest in Bl ac k Poetry; 110 should recognize the key issues be ing raised ;)y a.nd deb a ted amon g Black artists, scholars and activists--and have some feel for the historical c ircums tances out wb-:.ch thes e i_ssues and debates grew; he ought to unders l:o.n 1l Ba roka' s :reference to some Black po ets as "inte::,;ra.tionis ts" e.na irar·t.y poets"; he will have to know wh a t inan:r of t1 c :'.'Tew Bl~.ck Poets mean when they say they rejec t Hes tern "forms rr s.nd refuse to b e j ud 6 ed by wl:i_.!_~_ standards (Baralrn, for P-Xan;.ple, talks about post-American forms); be wi l l also want t o reco r.: nize Black in-honse humour a nd i nt:r·A i::.ommtmal dispara12:: ement in words and phrases like 11 n i 0 ger , '' 11 ne r;ro, 11 "Uncle Tom," 11 ore o, 11 11 co 1 ored, " "the r1a.n , 11 rra i ct;:;,.· , " ''bad mouth , " ''b ust a nut," "brother,'' ''c rurnb c rushers, '' "main squee ze, 11 and "Hr. Charley" (for further indica ti on of this dictiona.l richness and the b readth of T'.la.c k La:-: -:na r·:e se-e The Dictionarv ' . --··- - -·- --- ~- of American Slang, l~j or 's ~icti onary of Afro-A~erican Slang , the "Glossory of Selected Terms'' in The __Psycholop;y of Black Languag e (Haskins and Butts) and Abraha•.11 's Dee p _Down in the 15 �~Tungle. Additionally tlle teacher will wa:·, t tc1 knoH t:1e motivation of some o.f the po e ts. All poe ts , for exa:'!ple, do not rate being called "poet s'' in tbe traditional wl1 itc (or Bl ack) sense. Redding, in a recent :Mu1?arr:rr:ad Spea.10_ interview, 8.ccused some of the new Black writers of lacking ' more l and esthetic' integrity' and called them '1 i terar s· hns t l~ rs '. Observ ing that Baraka recently si gned a 10-year ccnLr act with Random House, Redding said such an act is inconsiRtent with --fu('._~ ~~ts nationalistic assertions and position. In a recent Black World article, novelist and poet Ish mael Reed spoke disparagingly of some of the new Black cri tics ("13lac-kopa.ths," be called them) and poets ( ''nationtime poet s," was the reference). Poet-essayist Lee bas chided poet Nikki Giovanni for being an "individual II who lacks technical abilities; anc1 in a recent issue of Jet ma gazine a reader irately aske d if Miss Giovanni deserved respect after accepting a Woman-of-the-Year award from a national white wo men's or p;an i za t ion. :·t ss Giovanni and Reed were nominated for Pulitzer Prizes in 1973. Hayden, a member of the older group of poet s , who was only 17 years old when the Harlem Renaissance bur ne d out, Lee ( praised by Gwendolyn Brooks, Hoy t Fuller of Black 1.'!orld, Randall and Baraka) has potential as a poet bu t lacks discipline and seems unable to separate po eti c technique from ideological ranting . On the other hand Stephen Henderson, author-editor of Understa_nd The IJew Elack_ Po~_~_!':' and a for mer English department chair~nn, praises Lee relen tlessly and 16 �says his populari t y is ''tan tan;onn t to ::; tar c'h ·::.''. Render s on, who holds a Ph. D., is ~ur i' ently chail"11 a r c f th e new Hur;ia ni ties divi s ion at Howard Univ er si t y- wh ere l iee is R u r i t er-in-residence. Miss Brooks g ives Lee credi. L (in her i n t ro<3ucti on t. o Th~_Pe:etry of Black America) for spawni nr: much of t h e c on l, e ,np orar:r Black consc i ousnesG writing . Older poets and c Y.· ·i t 5. c s, y o une: er poets and critics, old e r and youn Ger reade r s --a re a ll assuminG positions for whatever and h ow many rea son s. Th e teacher, uhile dealin g with the de velo pment of Black ~o e t r y a s a ~ od y of wri t i ng , must be aware of t hese i nte nse f ,~ o l i n r~s and po sitions. di·ver g ent Be rnust also or p:anize ord erly d i s c uss i oos -ar o un d t he views; in this way the clas s roo m s .:iss io nu <:, o not 1)ecoli e me lees 1 and students r e t a c omplete pic t ur e of t he richness a nd vastness of Bleck Poetry and the poli t i c al, so cial a nd historical tensions /1 out of which t h e poe tr:- is ;•;enerat ed . rt! Hr i t; i n 1•:. on the f\tew Black 11 [.. __ - - Poetry in an ar ti cl e 8 nt i tl ec1 "A:ner i c an Poetry Touay 1 (The United State s -:n Literatu r e , : :il lcr, 1fa7der; and 0 1 neal), Hayden says: The e ~erge~ce of a s o-cal l ed school of Bl ack Poe t r y l n i':. :-i1erica has 1, 00 n on~ .: :,f +:l1e s i;,.nif i.c ant literary develop me nt s of t h e modern peri ; d . Al t hough the Harle m Renai ss a nc e o:' t ~rn ic:·2') ' s 1·) rO'l.1 n:ht c ert a-tn Afro-Ame rican poets i nt o pr omi nenc e , i t va s n o t until the intensificat io n ot th e c5.v t1. r i c hts s t.r u r:r:le during the 19E-0 1 s t hat n separ a te 12;ro up of hlac k poets he t1;an to take shape. A·,·0we-c1l:,r r; a.t i onalistic (that is, racially pr oud) and scor ~'l.7-'ul of western aesthetics, th e se poe t s continued the nrotest tradition , historically a ss ocia t ed wi t h Ne gr o writers. But they were more rad ical i n outl ook t han their predecessor s. Unli ke t he Ha .r•l cm r:r o ,1;:; , Lhey re j ec tea entry into t h e mains tr e am of Av er i c a n literature as a deo!rahle goal. The y i nsi sted th a t th~i r poetry could not be judi ed by whit e s ta nda~as, ur r tn ~ its inportance a. .s a n ex pres s i on of h lack co:-;s e1.0us ness. 17 - - - -- ------ - �LeBoi. Jones--the most 1_:·,f1.~1.e, nti.B.l o: tl:e ~roung activist poet3--Don L. Lee, ITi. kk i Cio ~Rnni, Sonia Sanchez, Tla.ri E v ans, Ether id ,r; c 1:ni. :'.h' , and :)avi <1 Henderson attune t 11eir lyres t o t he l ~lack esthetic.' Not yet satisfactorily def~_ned, tb:!.s ter•:·,1, ori r~ inatinp; in the six ties, may be inter pr ~tec1. as a sense of the spiritua l and artistic 7 aJ. u0 s of blackness. It is, T?erhaps, a log ical ( so me 1:10 u.ld s a:· 'chauvi- nistic') reaction to nep~ti ~e Ar1erican r acial attitudes. Perhaps the concept is oes t sun:.r-:a1°ized b:,~ tbe slor; an 'Black is beautiful. 1 Those wh o accept this point of view re r:ard Ne 1-:;ro su1)_ject 1-1a tt er as their exclusive domain, feeling t h2.t only thos e W'"} O bav e shared ' black expe r ience' can arti.culat c 7_t. Older poets whose work sbows so:ne ali p,nment w:. th the }~ew Black Poetry include Ifar r-:aret v!al k er and G-wandoly n Brooks, winner of th e Pulitz er in 1 9 50. l:Thether poetry should b e v al ue d primarily for the unique inner experi (' nce i_t, Ga .i provi d e or for its effectiveness as political or s ocial statement is a question that often recurs in discussions of true function of ar t t oday . Hayden's opening comments, then, corrobora1,e the opening sentence to this introduction--that Black Poetry, re ~ardless of one's position on it, is one of the n os t i mportant movements on the l _iterary scene todA.y. Yet-, whlle it is exciting to study this "poetry in process" ( if y ou plca.se), the teacher must be on guard not to skip the tradition (the folk precedents) in favor of plunc in~ into a Black poe m that heaps wrath on Watergate conspirators, or urban police,nen who shoot rioters and looters. Swirling around and through the whole range of Black Poetry, then, is the complex and multi-leveled nature of the Black Experienc e . Many of the "literary hur:,tlers" which Redding refers to have capitalized on the topical and e pisod~c issues--with little or no training in the Black tradition. Hence, the teacher cannot assume that ~ust because a statement is lS �"relevant," it is poetry! The Black or wr1ite t,e acher will "di g ••• deeper to the g old ''--in the words of ,Tac:i es David Corruthers--and ''establish" a sound trad:i tion a r-; ainst which to measure the Black Poetry of t,oday. If the Black poet in question fails, he fails because he collapses from the wei ~ht of the past--ins tea.d of beinp; ~, :1oyed up 11y it. 1n estab- lishing this sound tracHtion, the teacbe1· ,)'J ust realize, first, that the Black Experienc" is not .-i1onoli tr.it; --al though recurring trends and b1~oad implieations do exis r. in the areas of language, relie;ion, humor, dance, mu.sic and p:eneral life Oddly enough, hoi:,:ever, there is often .1Q1''e consistency &. · · ~~14 i!J 1ut~'L/!, in what Blacks know about popular "Ar1e·ric an '' cn1 ture,f There style. are several reasons for such a paradoxical i mb ala nc e. Ellison observed in the 19Lt0's that if Black leaders ever unraveled the puzzle of the zoot suit and the dark ~lasses (~eaninf Black urban ''stylinr;" 1-ia'o i ts), they co u ld, perhaps, take the political and psycholo p; ical rei r-~ ns of the Black r~_asses fro m whites. Ellison's ob servation was accurat'3. Jar ,es Baldwin has written that, in Europe, he loo~rnd at the g reat. Renaissance masterpieces and felt ashamed that his race had not produced d such work. Balwin was not aware that the ~reat Italian t,.. p~inter, Pablo Picasso, had borrowed heavily fro m Afrlcan motil; nor that the architect, Corbous ier, was " greatly influenced by thatched-roof huts used in Africa by Baldwin's ancestors. The implications of this par t of my discussion are many and far-reaching because central to the idea of teaching and of being taught is what the teacher - - - -- -- - - 19 - - - - - - �expects from the s tudent and vic e v~r sa. Baldwin's observations are i mpor t a rit. Elli so n's and Th e y su r~est to us that many, if not most, of the st ud e nt s wh o are in Black Poetry (Black Studies) class e s do not have a workin 6 knowledge of the tradition out of which t he poetry ~rew. It has become popular, in some quar t ers, t o i s nore the fact that Ellison so painfull~~ and poi r; na ntl y exp r essed. The teacher who assumes that a class of Blac k ( or· white) students is knowled geable about the Black lite r ar y tr aditio n is in for real trouble and many disapp o i n t ment s . Tbe fore r-; oinc point cannot b e s t resse d too often o:r too e n:pi--,.aticall y . It is also safe to say t ha t MdnV 3lacks d o no t come into a classroom with a readi ns prepara t ion on par with whites. The reaso ns for s uch a d:!..s pari L:- our h t; to be obvious; and the teacher w~o wa nts t 0 d o ~ore than preach will neither assume laziness nor conde sc e nd and pa t r o~ !ze t~ e political -r~~ d « f:tci ,e;,fJ~ ,. 'ffl If' ........... ' · whims,._of students. Hence, keepins in r:-1ind the ob .;ce tives LI ... ,.,.,.. . ... ,d "V,'r he has set for himself and the st ude nts, th ,J t:ea.cher will may find that he has to b e se veral t each ers in o~e. Such a r equirement exist because of the vario us r- 0adj_ ng and perception level s , a nd political perspecti ves, repres c ~t ed among the students. In additio n , L~e re a re t he num~erless reasons why Black and white st ude nts t a.1-:,~ a c ourse in Black Poetry (or the Blac k Ex per ience). 2() The t ee cher will discover �that students who would ne ver ~rack or Ar,nold want to study Black Poetry. told 8. a boo\-:. 'uy Shakespeare A white stuc.ent recently visiti.n:-r, poet that rhe harl n ot liked. poetry at all until she began to read Black poets. On anotter occasion, a Black student said she could not "relate" to Shakespeare or Pound or Ginzhere . Both coli!ments could ~) e sli e;htl:r loaded , but the point is well taken: neaders ar·e i)~int~ draw1.1 t;o the r.1agnetic "''it.ho Loft " l. power e.nd t-.acl eptness of Black "Poet:,:,:-. Jt mi <l'"'t help to list some reasons wh:~ students enroll ~n a Black Poetry course. Following are sorne reason s r; i v~n 1' 7{ ",lack students: 1. 2. 3- Desire to know more about themse1ves . As an option in the Gene~el S Ludies requirements. Read or heard or met a Black poet ancl want to know more. 4- Working toward a major in Eng lish. Hork:tng toward a rw.jor in Black or Etl::nic Studies. 6. A desire to write poe t r y . 5. 7. 9. 10. 11. A desire to convert teach er or s t udents towara his/her wa7 of tbinkin g . Interests in i:,he "!Tew Plavk Poetry'' r.1 0\/ement. A Black or whi t. e couns elor r cco,,;n ended it. Wants to learn how to present Black Poetry orally. Turned off b7 traditional white poetry and literature courses. White students give the followin r reasons for enrolling in the courses: 1. Lovers of poetry . 2. Want to understand a Black 1·,oyfri.end or c; irlfriend 3. Desire to broaden oneself culturally. An interest in writin~ poetry and desire to learn Blacl{ forms. Specializing in Black Experience or Black Poetry. (at one university there are at least four white students completinB masters de gree requirements in Black Literature or Black Poetry) Working toward a major in En~lish. Intend to g o into the Blac k or wh ite communities and teach (out of a sort of ~ issio~ary fervor). Grew up around Black pe ople. 4. S. 6. 7. 8. better. 21 L �9. 10. Have been collecting Black mus~ c a ~d hooks and now want more f orrr1D 1 s tud~, . Turned off by tradit:i.onal- "acarJ e-·1ic'' l}OetrJ . The numbers do not sucgest order of preferer:.ce on the parts of students. Yet one can see that while there are similarities in the lists, there are also differences. ~:ore i ~portantly, though, is the fact that tho maj ori t:~ of the students are not preoccupied with the craft of poetry--1-:i t'.1 t "1e hows and whys of poetry. Rather the students, Bl acl: and write, seem to be more lntore3tod i::1 the sociolo[r, -Lcal (sorri e teachers say ,,pathological") aspects of the poetr;:,r . The sit ua L5.o D varies, of course, from campus to campus, from at mosphere to atmosphere, and from Black to whlte to interraclRl classroom settings. Here a ~ain the teacher ha s to dr aw the line and keep the course "tight" in terms of the discinl1.1e /-,e -'~ff Mrtnd !; af·f1 ,,., Another problem t}Je teacher confronts is ~1ow to control a run-away se 2:rn ent when a n appreciatior. of t:1e nater:1.al is wha.t is sought. Tl:e "apprectation" appro a c1" c oulcl. be the result of the teacher's i nitial concep t io~ of the course or dictated by the preparedness of the s tudents. An all freshman class, for exar.1ple, woulrl not stud:r t }1e same poems with the same intensity as woul d a se n i or or ~raduate-level group of Ent~lish majors. !Je-v-c1•theless, th e teacher must bear in mind that he is teachin c D\ack Poetr7 and not some literary i mitation of traditional Wester n poetry--even thoush the two conver;;e r.i me and ti. 1e ari:aj n. 1-Iere, too, the point cannot b e over-en phasized b ecause inn class wbcre i ',fl f �there are racial 011 intellectual r 5.x t. ur cs, t,i,~ "'~ cltinr~ pot is a.11 too ofteD likely to :, 011 o,;e r. 1:•n~ite s t.c1c~ents, well crounded in their own li terar:· t.rad i'L i. on anc1 11a ·,c 5.n.r · a skeletal knowled 0 e of Black Culture, will want to sur r·e al1Aad. ::rot (ft'l4,''i recognizing that ,.,_Black ( anc1 :wme whi tc) students Jo not know the meanin~ s of simple poetical de~ices @:le~ as meLaphors, similes, alliteration and onomatopoei~; the insensitive teacl1er and "ar:;1:ressi ve" students cculd press on to the point of destroyinc class pa~ticipation earl7 in the semester. Such a situation occur& over and take for ~ranted that every student hn s been drilled in the u::;e of .f i p ,ra bi ·-: e la nr;u a ; .e. ically, many of the ::;tudents he.·Je 'been "dr:! l le c~" -i Tr on- r: the students, in the whir of words in t h e clR.8sroo ,n , w-tll not ..rt.A•le ,.;,:• :if they happen to be .. Blae"i.c,;n~r ,t ,, nxpects them to oe experts on the Blac~ ~xperioncc. On Lhe other hand, tbe intellect ual st: 01) 1, ery tlw. t o:' t e!1 a.ccon panies the development of student ''clj_cks '' m11.st nei~. ~)e allowed to prev2.il in a course ~. ::i Plack Poe tr•:·. and student, the c ur:es and crests Luc ;,_:: ly, f o r teacher /lnu r 08.ks 1 n the stud:; of Black Poetry keep brine; in t; all as~ecLs of full circle. >n nr; nature Experience shows that in a n inter r acial classroom, a frustratin r.:; '.rnt exci tin:·,; o:-1 e-11ps n ansh-!.p pattern prevails. 23 �7rom uhe1·e th o auth or sits, illustrate s01;~e i l'."'i. o i ."1 Lrocl 1-1c t j on brn l1een of the obsorn~tions and warn-t n c s nliiear3y voiced; the sect 4.o~s will also deal wit~ the full historical ranr;e and scope of Black Poctr:,-, -Lnclt,Ciri , · t.:-1e tilechanics readinr; ; t ( sile ntl:- a nd aloud). T11e relationship of for n and ('.ont e nt, dra :·:·i atizat.ion of the poetry, issues and questions for r e search a~J fis~ussions, ideal course titles and outlines, the tle~elopDe n t of sections or units--all uill ;.:ie e:xar::.in e 6. as t11e a ·n.:dla1··,le n!atc1: ·'..als nro 0 cy•oss-ref ere need and co~1n ented upon. 24 � 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_53 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Introduction 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.