words like Thereare

freedom wordslike

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Viewer’s Guide

The Kentucky Network Words Like Freedom/Sturdy Black Bridges is a 1997 production of KET, The Kentucky Network: Vince Spoelker, producer-director; Mary Beth Marshall, associate producer; Nancy Carpenter, executive pro- ducer. For more information about the program and air dates, contact KET at 600 Cooper Drive, Lexington, KY 40502-2296, (606) 258-7000.

Viewer’s Guide © 1997, KET Foundation, Inc. ISBN: 881020-29-0

This viewer’s guide was prepared by Priscilla Hancock Cooper and produced with the support of the Kentucky Humanities Council through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Design/layout by Angela Lewis Photos by Dave Crawford

The Kentucky Network Contents

Introduction ...... 4 Scholar’s Commentary...... 5 About the Artists ...... 7 Program Overview Words Like Freedom ...... 8 Sturdy Black Bridges ...... 8 Program Elements: Oral Tradition, Poetry, and Music ...... 9 Suggested Activities ...... 10 Poems Included in the Program ...... 11 About the Authors ...... 12 Bibliography ...... 14 Introduction

Words Like Freedom and Sturdy Black Bridges are two 30-minute programs that celebrate the African-American legacy of both the written and the spoken word. Produced by KET, the programs feature poets and performers Priscilla Hancock Cooper and Dhana Bradley-Morton, who use oral performance to breathe life into the words of African-American writers. Words Like Freedom explores the historic struggle of black people in this country for freedom and equality. Sturdy Black Bridges highlights both the pleasant and the painful realities faced by women, through the particular experiences of African-American women. Both the subject matter and the format of this video presentation provide excellent opportunities for inter- disciplinary study in literature, theatre, history, and social studies, as well as discussions of music, philosophy, and religion. At the post-secondary level, instructors in Afri- can-American, American, and women’s studies will find relevant material for study and discussion. This program can be used to address Kentucky’s Core Content for Arts and Humanities. It shows the relationship of the arts to the humanities because the poetry becomes a vehicle for articulating complex issues and concepts about human relations and behavior. In addition to helping students respond to the video program, this guide provides suggestions for activities that will allow students to create and perform as well. In particular, the program and guide address these specific Kentucky learning goals and academic expectations: GOAL 1—Students are able to use basic communica- tion … skills for purposes and situations they will encounter throughout their lives. (objectives 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.11, 1.12) GOAL 2—Students shall develop their abilities to apply core concepts and principles from … the arts, the humanities, social studies … to what they will encounter throughout their lives. (social studies objectives 2.14, 2.17, 2.20 and arts and humanities objectives 2.23, 2.24, 2.26) GOAL 5—Students shall develop their abilities to think and solve problems in school situations and in a variety of situations they will encounter in life. (all objectives)

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“beinalive&beinawoman&bein unsilenced voices of African Americans generally, and of African-American women particularly, in the New World. coloredisametaphysicaldilemma/ Cooper and Morton’s careful selections and professional Ihaven’tconqueredyet”1 performances of canonical and original African-American literary pieces highlight the diversity and the complexity of African-American experience. A celebration of history and (her)story, rhythm, music, song, and language, their program affords both secondary school teachers and A Scholar’s Commentary on Words Like students an opportunity to explore other multilayered Freedom/Sturdy Black Bridges textures of the human condition and to witness the artis- tic, political, and individual triumphs of the human spirit. By Neal A. Lester, Ph.D., Arizona State University The video format allows teachers and students to experience the rich cadences and nuances of African- Not one African-American author is included in the American language. The video component especially dem- 1990 revised edition of Encyclopedia Britannica’s Great onstrates the centrality of performance and movement in Books of the Western World—a 37,000-page, 60-volume African-American culture evidenced in everything from collection of “great classics on topics from physics to the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s rhyming rhythms and singer Patti philosophy and everything in between.”2 Given that every- LaBelle’s physical contortions to Johnnie Cochran’s thing from aesthetics of beauty to standards regarding preacherly persona in the closing arguments of the O.J. English language is Eurocentric and Anglo-middle-class-, Simpson criminal trial. The rest of this guide further makes white-male-dominated in American society, it’s little won- the poems accessible by offering various suggested activi- der that Great Books Editor Philip Goetz would “justify” ties to excite students’ imaginations and encourage their the exclusion of black writers from this massive work, own exercises in independent critical thinking, research, insisting that “Blacks generally only write one to two item and performance. [idea] books, but we don’t consider those to be great in Cooper and Morton have assembled here in selection the sense that others are” (emphasis mine). and presentation a cultural feast, one that invites the Supporting Goetz’s philosophical and ultimately politi- participation of all. In the process of offering spiritual cal position, Editor-in-Chief Mortimer Adler offhandedly nourishment, their program not only identifies, explains, dismisses: “I think probably in the next and legitimizes a “colloquial universal,” but also challenges century there will be some Black that writes a great book, but there hasn’t been so far” (emphasis mine).3 Among the 130 authors in the collection are only four women, all white—Jane Austen, Willa Cather, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf.4 If texts written by women and minorities about their experi- ences are discovered, they are subjectively deemed “marginal” and less important than white middle-class males’ texts with their alleged “universals.” In their poetic performances Words Like Freedom and Sturdy Black Bridges, Priscilla Hancock Cooper and Dhana Bradley- Morton challenge head-on the Western imperialist notions represented by such an icon as Great Books by showcasing the

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the historical and cultural neglect and misrepresentation of African-American experiences, substantiating what 1993 Nobel Prize recipient and black female author Toni Morrison offers as personal testimonial: “Whatever I know as a Black person, and whatever my perceptions are as a woman, it is not marginal in any sense of the word. It’s an enhancement.”

Notes 1Ntozake Shange, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (New York: Bantam, 1980), p. 48. 2Michelle McCalope, “Blacks Furious Over Exclusion from New Great Books of the Western World,” Jet (19 No- vember 1990), p. 14. 3Ibid. 4Edwin McDowell, “Great Books Takes in Moderns and Women,” New York Times (25 October 1990), p. C26.

Dr. Neal A. Lester is a professor of English at Ari- zona State University, where he teaches African-American literature. He has published widely on African-American culture and on the works of such black women writers as Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ntozake Shange. His book Ntozake Shange: A Critical Study of the Plays (Gar- land, 1995) is the first comprehensive examination of the dramas of this important contemporary African-American poet-playwright.

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Priscilla Hancock A Virginia Cooper and Dhana native and gradu- Bradley-Morton are ate of Western spoken-word artists Kentucky Univer- whose creative col- sity, Dhana has laboration began in taught reading Louisville, Kentucky and English and more than 15 years served as poet-in- ago. Their first “poetic residence for concert,” I Have Been various school Hungry All My Years, was systems. She is presented at the 1981 Priscilla Dhana founder, president, National Conference Hancock Bradley- and HSIC (Head on the Black Family. In Cooper Morton Sister In Charge) 1984, they cofounded of MainStage the Theatre Workshop Productions, an of Louisville (TWL), artist manage- which built a dynamic reputation under Dhana’s guidance ment company. Dhana’s numerous honors include the as producing artistic director for ten years. With TWL, YWCA of Cincinnati Career Woman of Achievement they combined their directing and writing skills on Four Award, a Robert S. Duncanson Fellowship, and the Ken- Women (1985) and God’s Trombones (1991) and performed tucky Governor’s Award in the Arts. together in Amazing Grace (1993). Priscilla is a writer and consultant to arts and educa- The creative partnership has endured not only over tion institutions on program development and African- time but over distance. The two women have not lived in American issues. Her major clients have included the the same city since 1985, when Priscilla moved to Birming- Birmingham Public Schools, the Birmingham Museum of ham. Throughout the years, though, they have traveled to Art, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Jefferson perform their poetic concerts on a variety of themes for County (Kentucky) Public Schools, and the Lincoln Foun- schools, colleges, and national conferences in several dation (Louisville). She conducts workshops and confer- states. ences for teachers, has developed a variety of curriculum Both women are also educators, arts administrators, materials on African-American studies, and works as an and arts advocates. They both served with the Kentucky artist-in-residence. Arts Council—Dhana as director of special constituencies A graduate of Lincoln University of Missouri and The and Priscilla as a board member. They were also founding American University in Washington, D.C., she taught members of the Kentucky Coalition for Afro-American communications at the University of Montevallo (Alabama) Arts. and the University of Louisville (Kentucky). In 1993, she Since 1995, Dhana has been executive/artistic director received a fellowship from the Alabama State Council on of the Arts Consortium of Cincinnati, the Queen City’s the Arts to adapt her book of poetry for a stage perfor- respected, multidisciplinary African-American arts institu- mance, Call Me Black Woman. She has toured this one- tion. Under her leadership, the consortium has expanded woman show to dozens of colleges throughout the its community impact and arts programming. A gifted country since 1994. Thousands of Alabama schoolchildren theatrical director, she has produced more than 100 plays, and their parents have viewed her performances of Ebony including her critically acclaimed touring production of Legacy: The Oral Tradition in African-American, which also airs God’s Trombones. Her on-stage work includes My Soul Looks periodically on Alabama Public Television. Back and Wonders and her new one-woman show, Between the World and Me.

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Words Like Freedom “American Legacy” by Priscilla Hancock Cooper provides the bridge from the past to the present. The poem offers a historical frame of reference in examining Therearewordslikefreedom, the contemporary issue of violence among African-Ameri- sweetandwonderfultosay. can youths in particular, and American society in general. The program ends with the triumphant words of Naomi Onmyheartstringsfreedomsings Long Madgett in her poem “Midway”: “I’ve come this way allday,everyday. for freedom and I won’t turn back.” Therearewordslikeliberty, thatalmostmakemecry. Sturdy Black Bridges IfyouhadknownwhatIknow, youwouldknowwhy. mymother,religious-negro, —Langston Hughes proudofhavingwadedthrough thestorm,isveryobviously, Words Like Freedom is a semi-chronological journey asturdyBlackbridge through the African-American struggle for freedom and equality in this country. Beginning with the abolitionist and thatIcrossedoveron. feminist voice of Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman,” this —Carolyn Rodgers program shows the impact of the fight for black equality as a catalyst for broad social protest. “Words Like Freedom” Sturdy Black Bridges is both a tribute to and a treatise by Langston Hughes echoes with the longing of oppressed on the resilience of African-American women. The pro- people to be free. gram opens with two celebratory poems by Priscilla The civil rights movement of the 1960s is remembered Hancock Cooper, “Beautiful Black Sisters” and “Call Me in “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall and “Alabama Black Woman.” Centennial” by Naomi Long Madgett. Randall’s poem both The work of Carolyn Rodgers dominates the next two personalizes and dramatizes the bombing of the Sixteenth segments of the program. “For Sapphires” introduces the Street Baptist Church on September 13, 1963. “Alabama complexity of mother/daughter relationships as a small Centennial” celebrates the determination and courage child wonders “what lady does daddy know.” “It Is Deep” that sustained civil rights demonstrators in that state and expresses an adult daughter’s gratitude that in spite of the across the country. differences in their ages, politics, and life experiences, her “What happens to a dream deferred?” is the first line mother remains a “sturdy black bridge” in her life. The of Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem.” This poem intro- poems “how I got ovah” and “For Women (Amazing duces a new mood in the program that reflects a historical Grace)” honor the power of faith and the role of the and philosophical shift in the black freedom movement. church as a source of strength and inspiration for black Nikki Giovanni’s “Poem (No Name No. 3)” has the stri- women. “For Women” also hints at the pain and heart- dent tone and militant edge that earned her the title of break of romantic love, described in its most destructive “Princess of Black Poetry” in the 1960s. “Love Your En- form in Rodgers’ “Slave Ritual I & II,” which present a emy” by Yusef Imam uses irony to instruct African-Ameri- couple caught in domestic abuse. can people to embrace the concept of self-love that was “My House” by Nikki Giovanni and “Kinda Funny” by the underlying philosophy of the “black power” and “black Priscilla Hancock Cooper are playful works that find joy is beautiful” movements. and irony in romantic love. The program closes with Giovanni’s popular self-love poem, “Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)” and a reprise of “Beautiful Black Sisters.”

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Oralculturesareprimarilycultures Music is interwoven throughout the performance because music is also an integral part of African-American ofmemory.…Writingcanstore culture and the oral tradition. Words Like Freedom opens information,butinoralcultures, with a song from the civil rights movement, “Freedom Now,” sung to the melody of a popular rhythm and blues peopleareinformation. song. Schoolchildren and college students who marched and demonstrated found inspiration in the “freedom —African-American Literature textbook songs” that were created by giving new lyrics to familiar melodies, both spirituals and R&B tunes. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written in the early The oral tradition is a key element in African-American 1900s by two brothers, writer James Weldon Johnson and history and culture. In traditional African society, the griot composer James Rosamond Johnson. This song gained such was the oral historian. These master storytellers re- popularity that it has become known as “the black national counted the exploits, achievements, and lineage of the anthem.” family or clan through epic poems, songs, and stories. In In Sturdy Black Bridges, the performers open with a America, where Africans were forbidden to speak their jazz-based interpretation of the poem “Beautiful Black native languages, the tradition of oral communication was Sisters.” A jazz/blues/rhythm and blues-inspired pop song, the basis for the development of unique speech patterns, “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” is both introduction and language usage, and musical forms that have influenced all background for the mother/daughter segment. “Amazing of American culture. The popularity of rap music is a Grace” may be viewed as the anthem of faith for genera- contemporary example of this fusion of the oral tradition, tions of African-American women. And the roots of poetry, and music. rhythm and blues funkiness can be heard in the urban This tradition is also reflected in the performance style blues sound of “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean.” of Priscilla Hancock Cooper and Dhana Bradley-Morton. Their bodies and voices become the instruments for transforming poems into stories and transplanting the audience into the midst of the action. The speaking style referred to as the “preacher rhythm” can be heard in “Ain’t I A Woman” and “Alabama Centennial.” The slang and rhythm of urban streets is heard in “Poem (No Name No. 3)” and “Love Your Enemy.” The poems themselves present the legacy of storytelling in written form. The rhythm and use of the language brings distinctive African-American elements to a European literary form. Not only the content of the work, but also the form itself, is derived from the authors’ unique experiences as black people in the United States.

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Before viewing, please give each student a copy of Creating and Performing the list of poems and authors provided in this guide. 7. Have students discuss the meaning of “freedom.” Discuss the Bill of Rights and current news events Responding to the Program where “freedom” is an issue (e.g., gun control, youth curfews, restriction of cigarette sponsorship of 1. Using the information in the Program Overview and school athletic events, etc.). Each student then should Program Elements sections of this guide, give stu- write a poem or essay that shares a personal thought, dents specific details to watch for and take notes on. experience, or example. (For example: List the uses of music in the program.) 8. Have students do research to create and illustrate a 2. Ask students to outline the emotions they experi- timeline of significant events in the African-American ence as they watch each poem. struggle for freedom.

3. Have students create their own outlines of the 9. Ask students to research and prepare a presentation themes in the video and compare them to the on the relationship between the civil rights move- themes discussed in the Program Overview section. ment and the women’s rights movement since the Civil War. 4. After watching the video Words Like Freedom, have students write about and discuss what they learned 10. Have students create a “sturdy black bridges” booklet about the issues and attitudes that faced African that features pictures and biographical information Americans in their struggle for citizenship rights. about African-American women who have played a Ask students to explain how the video reinforced, prominent role in history or in their own lives. contradicted, or changed their previous knowledge or perception. 11. Have students research and perform role-plays about women who have been activists in the struggle for 5. After watching the video Sturdy Black Bridges, have African-American freedom, from slavery through students write about and discuss what they learned today. (Examples: Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida about the experiences of African-American women. B. Wells, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, Again, be sure they explain how the video reinforced, and many more.) contradicted, or changed their previous knowledge or perception. 12. Have students do biographical research on and study other poems by one or more of the writers in the 6. Have students select one poem of their own choice video. As a culminating event, have them prepare a and answer the following questions: performance of one of the poems that is not included • What are the theme and mood of the in the video. poem? • How does the performer convey the mood 13. Ask students to bring in and discuss a rap record that (body language, tone of voice, facial deals with one of the themes from the video (the expression)? struggle for freedom, identity, pride, anti-violence, • Summarize the overall impact of the poem abuse, religion, faith, love, etc.). and performance. 14. Have students write and perform their own poem or rap about one of the themes in the video. (Each student must be able to identify the poem/s in the video that focus on that theme.)

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15. African-American women have been writing since the 1700s. However, the 1980s have been called the decade of the African-American woman writer. Have students do research to find out why. Then assign each student to do biographical research on and read a book by one of the following writers: Maya Angelou, Toni Cade Bambara, June Jordan, Adrienne Kennedy,

Audre Lourde, Toni Morrison, or Alice Walker.

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PoemsIncludedintheProgram

Part 1: Words Like Freedom Part 2: Sturdy Black Bridges

“Ain’t I A Woman” ...... Sojourner Truth “Beautiful Black Sisters” ...... Priscilla Hancock Cooper “Words Like Freedom” ...... Langston Hughes “Call Me Black Woman” ...... Priscilla Hancock Cooper “Ballad of Birmingham” ...... Dudley Randall “For Sapphires” ...... Carolyn Rodgers “Alabama Centennial” ...... Naomi Long Madgett “It Is Deep” ...... Carolyn Rodgers “Harlem” ...... Langston Hughes “how I got ovah”...... Carolyn Rodgers “Poem (No Name No. 3)”...... Nikki Giovanni “For Women (Amazing Grace)”...... Carolyn Rodgers “Love Your Enemy”...... Yusef Imam “Slave Ritual I” ...... Carolyn Rodgers “American Legacy” ...... Priscilla Hancock Cooper “Slave Ritual II”...... Carolyn Rodgers “Midway” ...... Naomi Long Madgett “My House” ...... Nikki Giovanni “Kinda Funny” ...... Priscilla Hancock Cooper “Ego Tripping” ...... Nikki Giovanni

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Sojourner Truth (1797?–1883) Dudley Randall (b. 1914) Born enslaved in New York state, she found freedom Randall began writing poetry at the age of 4 and was and shelter with a family in 1827 and worked as a house- first published at 13. While working as reference librarian hold servant. After a religious vision, she adopted the name for Wayne County, Michigan, he also translated Russian Sojourner Truth. poetry. With the establishment of Broadside Press in 1963, Although she could not read or write, she was a he gave voice to important, emerging poets of the era, dynamic orator who became one of the nation’s best including Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Haki R. Madhubuti known abolitionists. Her famous “Ain’t I A Woman” text (formerly Don L. Lee), and Etheridge Knight. He edited the was actually an uninvited, impromptu speech at a women’s anthology The Black Poets in 1971. rights convention in 1852. Randall’s own books of poetry include Poem When slavery legally ended following the Civil War, she Counterpoem (1966), Cities Burning (1968), More To Remem- continued her work on behalf of women’s suffrage. ber: Poems of Four Decades (1971), After the Killing (1973), and A Litany of Friends: New and Selected Poems (1983). Langston Hughes (1902–1967) One of America’s most noted and prolific writers and Naomi Long Madgett (b. 1923) the poet laureate of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes was Teacher, poet, publisher, and editor Madgett champi- also a writer of fiction, drama, autobiography, and humor. oned the inclusion of African-American writers in the He published anthologies and authoritative texts on classroom and in textbooks. Her first collection of original various topics in African-American culture. Born in Joplin, poetry, published while she was a teenager, was Songs to a Missouri, he moved to New York to study at Columbia Phantom Nightingale (1941). Her other published works University and be close to Harlem. include One and the Man (1956), Pink Ladies in the Afternoon Among Hughes’ most noted works are The Weary Blues (1972), Octavia and Other Poems (1988), and Remembrance (poetry, 1926), Not Without Laughter (novel, 1930), The Ways of Spring (1993). of White Folks (1934), and Montage of a Dream Deferred Madgett worked as a reporter for the African-Ameri- (poetry, 1951). Hughes gained fame later in life with his can weekly Michigan Chronicle and taught English in Detroit humorous stories of Jesse B. Semple, a black Everyman. public schools and at Eastern Michigan University.

James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) Nikki Giovanni (b. 1943) Johnson was a leading figure of the Harlem Renais- Having first gained fame as a militant poetic voice of sance and a true “renaissance” man. In addition to being the black nationalist movement, Giovanni has established a noted author, he was a a teacher, a school principal, a herself as a respected poet, writer, and lecturer. A graduate songwriter, a diplomat, executive secretary of the National of Fisk University, she was active in the Student Nonvio- Association for the Advancement of Colored People lent Coordinating Committee. (NAACP), and the first African-American attorney to She gained widespread recognition after publication of practice in Florida after Reconstruction. her first volume of poetry, Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Johnson published his first novel, Autobiography of an Judgment, in 1968. Her popularity soared with the release Ex-Colored Man, in 1912. It was followed by Fifty Years and of the recordings Truth Is on Its Way (1971), Like a Ripple on Other Poems in 1917. In 1927, he published his best known a Pond (1973), and The Way I Feel (1974). Other publica- work, God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. He tions include Re:Creation (1970), Poem of Angela Yvonne collaborated with his brother, composer John Rosamond Davis (1970), Spin a Soft Black Song: Poems for Children Johnson, on more than 100 songs, including “Lift Every (1971), My House (1972), Ego Tripping and Other Poems for Voice and Sing.” Young People (1973), The Men (1975), Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (1978), Vacation Time: Poems for Children (1980), Those Who Ride the Night Winds (1983), Sacred Cows … and Other Edibles (1988), Knoxville, Tennessee (19??), Grand/ Mothers (ed. 19??), and Racism 101 (1994).

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Priscilla Hancock Cooper (b. 1952) This poet/performer began her writing career as a 9th-grade student working for The Louisville Defender, her hometown black weekly newspaper. While a student at Lincoln University in Missouri, she began her life’s work, performing the poetry of African-American writers to encourage students to read black literature. Her first volume of poetry, Call Me Black Woman, was published in 1993. Her work is included in The Dark Woods I Cross, an anthology of Kentucky women writers.

Carolyn M. Rodgers (b. 1945) One of the original members of the Writers Workshop at Chicago’s Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC), Rodgers found her poetic voice with black publishing houses. Third World Press issued Paper Soul (1968), Songs of a Blackbird (1969), and 2 Love Raps (1969). Broadside Press published Now Ain’t That Love (1970), For H.W. Fuller (1970), and For Flip Wilson (1971). In 1975, she was nominated for a National Book Award for how I got ovah: New and Selected Poems. Other works include The Heart as Ever Green: Poems (1978), Translation: Poems (1980), and Finite Forms: Poems (1985).

Yusef Imam Though the work of this mysterious poet appears in several anthologies that include work published in the 1960s, no biographical material is available.

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*Indicates poems performed on the video Words Black Voices. Abraham Chapman, editor. Penguin Books, Like Freedom/Sturdy Black Bridges 1968. *“Harlem” by Langston Hughes Anthologies This anthology includes fiction, autobiography, poetry, and literary criticism along with author biographies. Its primary focus is work from the Harlem Renais- African-American Literature (textbook). Holt, Rinehart and sance through the 1960s. Winston, Inc., 1992. *“Ain’t I A Woman” by Sojourner Truth, “Lift Every Black Writers of America. Richard Barksdale and Kenneth Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson, “Harlem” Kinnamon, editors. Macmillan Publishing Company, by Langston Hughes, and references on the blues 1972. This high school-level textbook may be used to teach This comprehensive anthology includes author a self-contained course in African-American literature biographies, literary criticism, and social history as or as a supplement to American literature courses. It well as selections from all genres from the 18th includes African and African-American literature in all century through the 1960s. It includes examples and genres (including the oral tradition) from pre-slavery discussion of folk literature from each period. times to the contemporary period, as well as exercises and discussion of grammar and literary New Black Voices. Abraham Chapman, editor. New American devices. It is beautifully illustrated with work by Library, 1972. African-American artists and includes photographs This volume focuses on the many African-American and biographies of the writers. writers who emerged during the civil rights era, from the 1950s through the 1960s. Afro-American Writing: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry. Richard A. Long and Eugenia W. Collier, editors. Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Henry Louis Pennsylvania State University Press, 1985. Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay, editors. W.W. Norton Company, 1997. The Black Poets. Dudley Randall, editor. Bantam Books, 1971. This latest volume in the Norton literature anthology series includes comprehensive sections on “The *“Words Like Freedom” by Langston Hughes, “Ballad Vernacular Tradition,” “The Literature of Slavery and of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall, “Alabama Centen- Freedom,” “Literature of Reconstruction and the nial” and “Midway” by Naomi Long Madgett, and New Negro Renaissance,” “Harlem Renaissance,” “Love Your Enemy” by Yusef Imam “Realism,” “Naturalism,” “Modernism,” “The Black This is a comprehensive chronological anthology of Arts Movement,” and “Literature Since 1970.” It also poetry by African-American writers from antebellum includes a timeline entitled “African-American folk poetry, including spirituals, through the late Literature in Context” and a selected bibliography. 1960s. It does not include author biographies or Because of the importance of the oral tradition, criticism. editor Henry Louis Gates supervised the creation of a companion audio recording of selected works from the anthology.

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Reference Books Rodgers, Carolyn. how I got ovah. Doubleday/Anchor, 1975. *“For Sapphires,” “It Is Deep,” “how I got ovah,” “For The Oxford Companion to African-American Literature. William Women (Amazing Grace),” “Slave Ritual I,” and “Slave L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris, Ritual II” editors. Oxford University Press, 1997. This new reference volume includes more than 400 writers with a subject index and a five-part literary References on African-American history. History

The Schomburg Center Guide to Black Literature. Roger M. African-American History: Four Centuries of Black Life. Valade III, editor. Gale Research, Thomson Publishing Scholastic Press, 1990. Company, 1996. This new reference volume includes a master Bennett, Lerone, Jr. Before the Mayflower: A History of the chronology of relevant events in history and litera- Negro in America 1619–1964, Revised Edition. Penguin ture (1701–1994); biographical essays and photo- Books, 1966. graphs; literary work synopses; essays on themes, topics, literary movements, terms, and genres; a Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of comprehensive subject index; and a descriptive essay Negro Americans, 6th Edition. McGraw-Hill, 1988. about the Schomburg Center. McKissack, Patricia and Frederick. The Civil Rights Movement in America: From 1865 to the Present, 2nd Edition. Sources for Other Poems in the Video Childrens Press, 1994. Williams, Juan. Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years Cooper, Priscilla Hancock. Call Me Black Woman. Doris (1954–1965). Penguin Books, 1988. Publications, 1993. *“American Legacy” and “Call Me Black Woman” (“Beautiful Black Sisters” is unpublished) Audio and Video Resources To order: Cooper and Associates, 1500 Celinda Lane, Birmingham, AL 35235. Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954–1965. Public Broadcasting System, 1986. Giovanni, Nikki. Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgment. Broadside Press, 1968. Black American Literature, The Harlem Renaissance and *“No Name Poem No. 3” Beyond, and From These Roots. Videocassettes available from Insight Media, 121 West 85th Street, New York, —Egotripping and Other Poems for Young People. Lawrence NY 10024, (212) 721-6316. Hill, 1973. *“Egotripping”

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