Overview
Ever since the eighteenth century, this literature has consistently incorporated forms ranging from orature, the written word, and song, to dance, jazz, and film, effectively demonstrating its versatility as a medium of African American cultural expression. The literature has constantly documented the struggles of African Americans with race and (anti-black) racism, African heritage and Euro-American influence, slavery and freedom, constitutional enfranchisement and educational progress, political agency and social assimilation, as well as the specters of history and modernity. Finally, African Americans have also regularly wrestled with the critical and commercial expectations that guided, compromised, or contradicted their own agendas as creative writers or as proclaimed agents of social change. On the other hand, the essays in this collection also interrogate why these formal, thematic, and commercial patterns have come to determine what we consider to be the best or most emblematic texts of African American literary history.
From: Companion to African American Literature, edited by Gene Andrew Jarrett, Wiley, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bayloru/detail.action?docID=487737.
Companions to Literature
The resources listed here focus specifically on the work of African Americans in all literary forms. I have not included the standard databases for scholarly literature, the MLA International Bibliography or ABELL, since these cover all aspects of literature.
- African American studies - Oxford bibliographies This link opens in a new windowProvides introductory essays and critical, annotated bibliographies to the most important works on the topic covered. Very useful for introductions to the scholarship of a field and key critical works.
- Clotel This link opens in a new windowThe first African American novel, Clotel was published when its author was still legally a slave. This digital edition presents, for the first time together, the full extant texts of the novel's four versions, published between 1853 and 1867. Imaged and coded, the fully searchable texts may be read individually or in parallel and are accompanied by generous biographical, critical, and historical commentary as well as line-by-line annotations and textual collation.
The Cambridge Companion to African American Theatre by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9781139062107Publication Date: 2012-12-05This Companion provides a comprehensive overview of African American theatre, from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Along the way, it chronicles the evolution of African American theatre and its engagement with the wider community, including discussions of slave rebellions on the national stage, African Americans on Broadway, the Harlem Renaissance, African American women dramatists, and the 'New Negro' and 'Black Arts' movements. Leading scholars spotlight the producers, directors, playwrights and actors whose efforts helped to fashion a more accurate appearance of black life on stage, and reveal the impact of African American theatre both within the United States and further afield. Chapters also address recent theatre productions in the context of political and cultural change and ask where African American theatre is heading in the twenty-first century.
The Cambridge Companion to African American Women's Literature by Call Number: eboolISBN: 9781139002486Publication Date: 2009-07-28The Cambridge Companion to African American Women's Literature covers a period dating back to the eighteenth century. These specially commissioned essays highlight the artistry, complexity and diversity of a literary tradition that ranges from Lucy Terry to Toni Morrison. A wide range of topics are addressed, from the Harlem Renaissance to the Black Arts Movement, and from the performing arts to popular fiction. Together, the essays provide an invaluable guide to a rich, complex tradition of women writers in conversation with each other as they critique American society and influence American letters. Accessible and vibrant, with the needs of undergraduate students in mind, this Companion will be of great interest to anybody who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of this important and vital area of American literature.
The Cambridge Companion to the African American Novel by Call Number: ebookISBN: 0521016371Publication Date: 2004-04-15The Cambridge Companion to the African American Novel presents new essays covering the one hundred and fifty year history of the African American novel. Experts in the field from the US and Europe address some of the major issues in the genre: passing, the Protest novel, the Blues novel, and womanism among others. The essays are full of fresh insights for students into the symbolic, aesthetic, and political function of canonical and non-canonical fiction. Chapters examine works by Ralph Ellison, Leon Forrest, Toni Morrison, Ishmael Reed, Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman, and many others. They reflect a range of critical methods intended to prompt new and experienced readers to consider the African American novel as a cultural and literary act of extraordinary significance. This volume, including a chronology and guide to further reading, is an important resource for students and teachers alike.
The Cambridge Companion to the African American Slave Narrative by Call Number: ebookISBN: 1139001450Publication Date: 2007-07-28The slave narrative has become a crucial genre within African American literary studies and an invaluable record of the experience and history of slavery in the United States. This Companion examines the slave narrative's relation to British and American abolitionism, Anglo-American literary traditions such as autobiography and sentimental literature, and the larger African American literary tradition. Special attention is paid to leading exponents of the genre such as Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, as well as many other, less well known examples. Further essays explore the rediscovery of the slave narrative and its subsequent critical reception, as well as the uses to which the genre is put by modern authors such as Toni Morrison. With its chronology and guide to further reading, the Companion provides both an easy entry point for students new to the subject and comprehensive coverage and original insights for scholars in the field.
The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9781139001595Publication Date: 2007-07-28The Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937) was the most influential single movement in African American literary history. Its key figures include W. E. B. Du Bois, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes. The movement laid the groundwork for all later African American literature, and had an enormous impact on later black literature world-wide. With chapters by a wide range of well-known scholars, this 2007 Companion is an authoritative and engaging guide to the movement. It first discusses the historical contexts of the Harlem Renaissance, both national and international; then presents original discussions of a wide array of authors and texts; and finally treats the reputation of the movement in later years. Giving full play to the disagreements and differences that energized the renaissance, this Companion presents a set of new readings encouraging further exploration of this dynamic field.
Newspapers
The resources listed here focus specifically on the work of African Americans in all literary forms. I have not included the standard databases for scholarly literature, the MLA International Bibliography or ABELL, since these cover all aspects of literature.
- Accessible archives This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text access to several separate collections of newspapers, including African-American Newspapers (8 newspapers published by African Americans covering 1902–1927), women’s magazines, abolitionist magazines, and a variety of regional and literary magazines from across the United States. Two additional collections include the American County Histories (covering local history, businesses, schools, and social events), and The Civil War (a 6 part collection each section focusing on a specific perspective: newspapers, soldiers, Midwestern, Iowa, and the northeast regimental histories). Full-text searching of the entire collection or specific parts (with limits for dates) or browse the collection by individual title. Primary source. Accessible Archives.
- African-American newspapers : the 19th century This link opens in a new windowProvides indexing and full-text access to 8 major newspapers published by and for African Americans between 1827 - 1902. Articles include coverage of major issues, biographies of individuals, poetry, prose, and cultural concerns for the African American community. Three of the 8 titles were published in New York (including Frederick Douglass' 3 newspapers and The Colored American and Freedom's Journal), one from western Canada (Provincial Freedom), one from D.C. (The National Era), and the newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the U.S. (The Christian Recorder) from Philadelphia, PA. Vendor provides one interface for all its products, so choose as source "African American Newspapers" to search only these titles. Accessible Archives.
- ProQuest historical newspapers. Black newspapers collection This link opens in a new windowSearch the full-text of nine major African American newspapers - Chicago Defender, The Baltimore Afro-American, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Los Angeles Sentinel, Atlanta Daily World, The Norfolk Journal and Guide, The Philadelphia Tribune, and Cleveland Call and Post. Dates available vary for each newspaper based on their individual histories but collectively cover from 1893 - 2005. Track local, regional, national, and international events, arts, history, military issues, civil rights, social news, popular culture and more. Search by keyword (including personal names and titles of works or groups and movements), words in title or full-text. Limit search by dates of publication, article type (including ads), and specific newspaper within the collection. Primary Source. ProQuest.
