Resources for African American Literature and Culture

Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK"s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is at:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf

and at http://www.africanamericans.com/MLKJrBirminghamJailLetter.htm

MLK Research and Education Institute at Stanford
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/

The King Center (official website: good audio file at the homepage)
http://www.thekingcenter.org/

Poetry

For poetry and other e-texts, visit:
African American Writers: Online E-Texts
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/afroonline.htm

Some suggested poets:
       [Maya Angelou] [Gwendolyn Brooks] [Sterling Brown] [Countee Cullen] [Rita Dove] [Paul Laurence Dunbar] [Robert Hayden]
        [Langston Hughes] [James Weldon Johnson] [Yusef Komunyakaa] [Claude McKay]
            [Anne Spencer] [Jean Toomer] [Margaret Walker] [Phillis Wheatley]

and

<>The University of Virginia Electronic Text Center
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/African-American.html
for Maya Angelou. This site includes fiction and letters than poetry; it also has 19th century African American newspapers.

Nikki Giovanni, http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/poetry/giovanni_nikki.html

Audio files of a few poets at Virtual Poetry Reading: http://www.aalbc.com/authors/virtualpoetryreading.htm

Keele University "Writing Black" http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/as/Literature/amlit-black.html

(for Maya Angelou, Sonja Sanchez, Rita Dove.)

Modern American Poetry : A Multimedia Companion to Anthology of Modern American Poetry. Oxford UP, 2000.

Includes the following African American poets:

Amiri Baraka 1934-
Gwendolyn Bennet 1902-1981
Arna Bontemps 1902-1973
Gwendolyn Brooks 1917-
Lucille Clifton 1936 -
Rita Dove 1952 -
Countee Cullen 1903-1946

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872-1906
Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson 1875-1935
Angelina Weld Grimke 1880-1958
Robert Hayden 1913-1980
Langston Hughes 1902 - 1967
Georgia Douglas Johnson 1880 - 1966
James Weldon Johnson 1871 - 1938

Audre Lorde 1934 - 1992
Claude McKay 1890 - 1948
Thylias Moss 1954 -
Harryette Mullin
Ishmael Reed 1938 -
Anne Spencer 1882 -1975
Jean Toomer 1894 - 1967
Margaret Walker 1915 - 19

At the Academy of American Poets:
Brown, Sterling A.
Derricotte, Toi
Dunbar, Paul Laurence
Hayden, Robert

Amiri Baraka
Knight, Etheridge

The Emancipator

"Elihu Embree was not the first printer in Jonesboro, only the most important. Embree, who was a Quaker, established what is probably the country's first anti-slavery paper in 1819, the Manumission Intelligencer, of which only one copy exists. This was followed, by the Emancipator in 1820, a complete run of which exists at the Tennessee State Library. (The Emancipator is more of a journal than a newspaper and is, therefore, not within the scope of this project.) It is common knowledge that East Tennessee was unionist during the Civil War, but few realize that the area's sympathies began so early."

From the Tennessee Newspaper Project.

Harlem Renaissance

The Negro Artist

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/mountain.htm

The Negro Speaks
http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=84

Survey graphic and Cullen's poem
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/harlem/contents.html

Illustration from Copper Sun: Countee Cullen
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cullen/color.htm

Countee Cullen Exhibit
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cullen/exhibit.htm

James Weldon Johnson exhibit
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/johnson/exhibit.htm

Johnson reading "Creation"
http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=73

Schromberg

http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/index.html
http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/text/adouglas.html
march, lynching
http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/text/silentprotest.html

Timeline by year
http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/timex/timeline.html

PAL: Perspectives on American Literature
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/CHAP9.HTML?Submit=9.+The+Harlem+Renaissance

Other Resources

The ISLMC (Internet School Library Media Center) has a page on early American lit. "American Literature (1700-1800): Reason and Revolution"

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/amlitfirst.htm#C

Du Bois Souls of Black Folk (e-text) http://www.bartleby.com/114/index.html
"Black Power Points"

http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/as/tebogo.html

"Bright Moments: African American History Challenge"

http://www.brightmoments.com/blackhistory/

"Race"; a page of links on race and racism in general, with some specifically African American links.

http://eserver.org/race/

Another site that presents a mix of historical information and current topics is UCLA's Center for African American Studies, particularly its Diaspora site with links to research (includes literature, hip hop, and divas).

http://diaspora.sscnet.ucla.edu/

They also have an "African American Websites" page. These links include geneological resources and a page on Ebonics.
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/caas/projects/aawebsites.html

Created and maintained by Dr. Taimi Olsen, English Program, Tusculum College. Updated 01/05/06