This volume includes essays and discussions about the African American authors most commonly assigned in classrooms.

African-American authors have consistently explored the political dimensions of literature and its ability to affect social change. African-American literature has also provided an essential framework for shaping cultural identity and solidarity. From the early slave narratives to the folklore and dialect verse of the Harlem Renaissance to the modern novels of today

With African Americans writing and buying books in record numbers, the time is ripe for a comprehensive publishing guide tailored expressly to the needs of this vibrant, creative community. The African American Writers Handbook meets this challenge perfectly. Written by veteran journalist and published author Robert Fleming, this book gives writers the heart, the determination, and above all the crucial information to publish successfully in this highly competitive field. Knowing the inner workings of the publishing industry provides any writer, novice or veteran, with a much needed advantage in the quest to get into print. Inside you'll find - A complete, step-by-step guide to every aspect of the publishing process, from the germination of a winning idea to the nuts and bolts of book production - Tips on submitting proposals, query letters, and preparing manuscripts for submission - Advice on negotiating contracts that extend careers - How to use on-line resources for research and profit - Interviews with top editors, agents, publishing executives, and bookstore owners - Updated information on copyrights, subsidiary rights, sales and marketing - The trials and triumphs of self-publishing - The art of promoting your work and yourself to a wider audience - An insider's look at the economic realities of the book business - And much more! Here, too, are scores of inspiring interviews and capsule biographies of leading African American writers both past and present. How did Richard Wright become America's first bestselling black writer? How did Zora Neale Hurston break through the artistic boundaries of the Harlem Renaissance long after her death? What was Toni Cade Bambara doing before she sold her first book? Why should Ann Petry, William Gardner Smith, Nella Larson, and William Melvin Kelley be revered wherever African American literature is read? Blending practical information and fascinating anecdotes with a mini literary history of African American writing, this upbeat, savvy, essential guide is a publishing primer with soul.

Featuring the work of the most distinguished scholars in the field, this volume assesses the state of Afro-American literary study and projects a vision of that study for the 1990s. "A rich and rewarding collection."—Choice. "This diverse and inspired collection . . . testifies to the Afro-Am academy's extraordinary vitality."—Voice Literary Supplement

First published in 1996. This volume includes a collection of essays that where collected after the inspiration of finding positive interactions between African-American and Irish Writers during the Harlem Renaissance, a time when these two groups were hardly on good terms. The essays look at theories and realities of literary influence that especially affect African-American writers.

This essential volume provides an overview of and introduction to African American writers and literary periods from their beginnings through the 21st century. This compact encyclopedia, aimed at students, selects the most important authors, literary movements, and key topics for them to know. Entries cover the most influential and highly regarded African American writers, including novelists, playwrights, poets, and nonfiction writers. The book covers key periods of African American literature—such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and the Civil Rights Era—and touches on the influence of the vernacular, including blues and hip hop. The volume provides historical context for critical viewpoints including feminism, social class, and racial politics. Entries are organized A to Z and provide biographies that focus on the contributions of key literary figures as well as overviews, background information, and definitions for key subjects.

Fifty-one essays by writers such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, and Zora Neale Hurston, as well as critics and academics such as Henry Louis Gates, Jr. examine the central texts and arguments in African American literary theory from the 1920s through the present. Contributions are organized chronologically beginning with the rise of a black aesthetic criticism, through the Black Arts Movement, feminism, structuralism and poststructuralism, queer theory, and cultural studies. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

This book is written by teachers interested in bringing African American literature into the classroom. Documented here is the learning process that these educators experienced themselves as they read and discussed the stories & pedagogical.

Learn how to successfully develop diverse programming through reading books by African American authors and how to build strong partnerships among libraries, public organizations, and academic departments for multicultural outreach. Promoting African American Writers is written for librarians and others who are committed to developing programming that promotes reading of books by African American authors and books with multicultural themes. It is an outreach guide to be used by librarians, other educators, and community service advocates to develop educational programming that helps young people find their voices. It supports creativity and teaching of critical thinking skills to youth through literature. Grace Jackson-Brown is an academic librarian with more than 25 years of professional experience and a personal passion for developing educational cultural library programming. Over the years, her efforts forged mutual working bonds between institutions of higher learning with community organizations in the spirit of community engagement and for the goals of promoting diversity and reading to K-16 youth. In this book, she teaches readers how to duplicate her efforts and build fruitful partnerships of their own.

A breathtaking achievement, this Concise Companion is a suitable crown to the astonishing production in African American literature and criticism that has swept over American literary studies in the last two decades. It offers an enormous range of writers-from Sojourner Truth to Frederick Douglass, from Zora Neale Hurston to Ralph Ellison, and from Toni Morrison to August Wilson. It contains entries on major works (including synopses of novels), such as Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Richard Wright's Native Son, and Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. It also incorporates information on literary characters such as Bigger Thomas, Coffin Ed Johnson, Kunta Kinte, Sula Peace, as well as on character types such as Aunt Jemima, Brer Rabbit, John Henry, Stackolee, and the trickster. Icons of black culture are addressed, including vivid details about the lives of Muhammad Ali, John Coltrane, Marcus Garvey, Jackie Robinson, John Brown, and Harriet Tubman. Here, too, are general articles on poetry, fiction, and drama; on autobiography, slave narratives, Sunday School literature, and oratory; as well as on a wide spectrum of related topics. Compact yet thorough, this handy volume gathers works from a vast array of sources--from the black periodical press to women's clubs--making it one of the most substantial guides available on the growing, exciting world of African American literature.