African American Authors, 1745-1945: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook

by Emmanuel S. Nelson

Overview

There has been a dramatic resurgence of interest in early African American writing. Since the accidental rediscovery and republication of Harriet Wilson's Our Nig in 1983, the works of dozens of 19th and early 20th century black writers have been recovered and reprinted. There is now a significant revival of interest in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s; and in the last decade alone, several major assessments of 18th and 19th century African American literature have been published. Early African American literature builds on a strong oral tradition of songs, folktales, and sermons. Slave narratives began to appear during the late 18th and early 19th century, and later writers began to engage a variety of themes in diverse genres.

A central objective of this reference book is to provide a wide-ranging introduction to the first 200 years of African American literature. Included are alphabetically arranged entries for 78 black writers active between 1745 and 1945. Among these writers are essayists, novelists, short story writers, poets, playwrights, and autobiographers. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and provides a biography, a discussion of major works and themes, an overview of the author's critical reception, and primary and secondary bibliographies. The volume concludes with a selected, general bibliography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313309106
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/30/2000
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.38(d)
Lexile:	1360L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

EMMANUEL S. NELSON is Professor of English at the State University of New York College at Cortland. He is the author of more than 30 articles, and his previous books include Contemporary African American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook (1999), Contemporary Gay American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook (1993), Writers of the Indian Diaspora: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook (1993), and Reworlding: The Literature of the Indian Diaspora (1992), all available from Greenwood Press.

Table of Contents

Preface
Elizabeth Laura Adams by Joyce Russell-Robinson
Octavia Victoria Rogers Albert by Geetha Ravi
James Madison Bell by Robert L. Milde
Gwendolyn Bennett by Gwendolyn S. Jones
Henry Walton Bibb by Jesse G. Swan
Marita Bonner by Heather E. Spahr
Arna Bontemps by Jacqueline C. Jones
William Stanley Braithwaite by Kirk Nuss
Claude Brown by Robin Lucy
Sterling A. Brown by Leela Kapai
William Wells Brown by Loretta G. Woodard
Charles Waddell Chestnutt by Tracie Church Guzzio
Anna Julia Cooper by Vivian M. May
Countee Cullen by Gilbert N.M.O. Morris
Lucy A. Delaney by Verner D. Mitchell
Martin Robinson Delany by Adenike Marie Davidson
Frederick Douglass by Harish Chander
W.E.B. Du. Bois by David L. Dudley
Paul Laurence Dunbar-Nelson by Lori Leathers Single
Olaudah Equiano by Gilbert N.M.O Morris
Jessie Redmon Fauset by Emmanuel S. Nelson
Rudolph Fisher by Harish Chander
Sarah Lee Brown Fleming by Jacquelyn Y. Mclendon
Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. by Peggy Stevenson Ratliff and Roosevelt Ratliff, Jr.
Edythe Mae Gordon by Russell Jay Nurick
Sutton E. Griggs by Roy Kay
Angelina Weld Grimke by Ynitri Jayasundera
Charlotte Lottie Forten Grimke by Karen M. Davis
Briton Hammon by Harish Chander
Jupiter Hammon by Lonnell Johnson
Francis Ellen Watkins Harper by Terry Novak
Juanita Harrison by Debra J. Rosenthal
George Wylie Henderson by Peter G. Christensen
Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins by Adenike Marie Davidson
George Moses Horton by Lonnell Johnson
James H. W. Howard by Ronald A. Tyson
Langston Hughes by Emmanuel S. Nelson
Zora Neale Hurston by Laurie Champion and Bruce A. Glasrud
Rebecca Cox Jackson by Joyce L. Cherry
Harriet Ann Jacobs by Terry Novak
Amelia E. Johnson by Elaine Saino
Georgia Douglas Johnson by Gwendolyn S. Jones
Helene Johnson by Barbara L.J. Griffin
James Weldon Johnson by Louis Hill Pratt
Elizabeth Keckley by Lynn Domina
Emma Dunham Kelley-Hawkins by Julie L. Williams
Nella Larsen by Emmanuel S. Nelson
Jarena Lee by Riche Richardson
Alain Locke by Emmanuel S. Nelson
John Marrant by Roland L. Williams, Jr.
Claude Mckay by Sarala Krishnamurthy
Richard Bruce Nugent by Maxine J. Simple
Eliza C. Potter by Nikolas Huot
Mary Prince by Nanette Morton
Nancy Prince by Loretta G. Woodard
Henrietta Cordelia Ray by Marva O. Banks
Mary Seacole by Laura L. Moakler
Maria W. Stewart by Barbara Ryan
Mary Church Terrell by Shara McCallum
Lucy Terry by Paula C. Jones
Wallace Thurman by Linda M. Carter
Katherine Davis Chapman Tilman by Kristen Saunders
Melvin Beaunorur Tolson by Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure
Eugene (Jean) Pinchback by Emma Waters Dawson
Sojourbaner Truth by Suzanne Hotte Massa
David Walker by Montye P. Fuse
Eric Walrond by Cora Agatucci
Booker T. Washington by Ted Olson
Frank Webb by Rennie Simson
Ida B. Wells-Barnett by Loretta Woodard
Phyllis Wheatley by Mona M. Choucair
Walter White by Emmanuel S. Nelson
James Monroe Whitfield by James L. Hill
Alberry Allson Whitman by Bettye J. Williams
Harriet E. Wilson by Emmanuel S. Nelson
Richard Wright by Eberhard Alsen
Zara Wright by Loretta G. Woodard
Selected Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Scholars of English contribute to the resurgence of interest in African American literature by profiling the lives and works of 78 writers from the first 200 years of the tradition. Among the writers are essayists, novelists, short story writers, poets, playwrights, and autobiographers. Among the better known are Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard Wright. The collection celebrates the creation of one of the world's great literatures by victims of slavery and statutory segregation who were long denied access to literacy and even rudimentary civil rights. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews