Volume 3, Number 1 Fall/Winter 1993

From the Afterword of Wright's Forthcoming Rite of Passage by Arnold Rampersad, Princeton University Reprinted by permission of damn good cause," he confided to his HarperCollins Publishers journal, "because it is trying to reha­ bilitate broken boys, emotionally The publication ofRite of Passage smashed boys who need a chance." now is opportune, for Wright was far ahead of his time in several ways, but In Rite of Passage, his pri­ above all in illuminating the relation­ mary concern is the psychology of the ships among racism, juvenile delin­ delinquent youths. Developing the quency, violent crime, and the black plot, Wright sought to find "the seeds" urban ghettos of America. for a "good psychological study," as he wrote in his journal. More than by the Wright'sjoumals from 1945 bloody consequence of rage, he was reveal quite clearly his deep interest in fascinated by "the whole psychology the problems of Harlem, especially of anger," which he called "a terribly among its juveniles, and in the complex thing [that] ought to be gone Wiltwyck School and its assumptions into more closely." In judging the and methods. On several occasions he merits of a plot that would include the discussed his work-in-progressRiteof kidnaped black woman, Wri ght noted: Passage (then called "The Jackal") with "I have many opportunities here to a black social psychiatric caseworker deal with these boys' emotionS,-Lheir at Wiltwyck, who visited Wright at his relations to their families, their friends, home and facilitated Wright's visit to their ultimate hopes." Concerned about the school. In fact, through this case­ understanding the mentality Lhatdrove worker, and usually in his company, the delinquents to their antisocial ac ts, Wright visited, over a four-month pe­ Wright probed the possibility of unre­ riod, several schools, courts, and other solved and conflicted Oedipal fix a­ institutions concerned with juvenile tions; in his journals, he even pondered delinquency as he gathered material the possibility of a relationship be­ for his new work. Wright was even tween the most common ghetto ob­ drawn willingly into fund-raising ef­ scenity ("mother ") in the forts for Wiltwyck, and was present on mouths of young men and "the incest March 6, 1945, when Eleanor complex." Roosevelt, the wife of President Rite of Passage sets out for us Franklin D. Roosevelt, was guest of many of the principal factors involved honor at a tea organized to raise funds in the deterioration of youth culture in for the school. Wiltwyck stood in the black community of New York contrast to the growing hopelessness City in the 1940s, with an accuracy and cynicism that seemed to plague that still helps us to understand the social work among the black youth of phenomenon of similar delinquency New York, with overburdened case­ today. Although it depicts certain of workers and overwhelmed judges and the juveniles more as parodies of hu­ little official understanding, apparently, manity than as dignified individuals, it of the special circumstances in the black seeks to locate and understand the community. To Wright, Wiltwyck causes of this loss of dignity and hu­ stood as a beacon of enlightenment. manity rather than to rest in censure of ''I'm convinced that Wiltwyck is a and contempt for the young.

FalllWintel· 1993 Page 1 Film Biography of Richard Wright Abstracts from Mississippi Nearly Complete Council of Teachers of English September 24-25, 1993 According to Madison Davis Lacy interviews are expected with Constance ofFirethom Productions and The Mis­ Webb Pearlstein and Leslie Himes, "Cultural Diversity in the Capital City: sissippi Authority for Educational Tele­ wife of the late Chester Himes. Film­ Jackson and the Work of Eudora Welty, vision (METV), ~cl( Boy. the work­ ing also took place in St. Louis, Chi­ Richard Wright, and Samuel Beadle." ing title for a film biography of Rich­ cago, New York, and Europe. ard Wright, is currently in the editing Madison D. Lacy, J r., an indepen­ Mississippi's capital city is the set­ stages. As the first film biography on dent producer with over twenty-five ting of autobiographical works by two Wright, says Lacy, "Our film will re­ years work in public television, wrote, of the state's best known writers. Eudora veal him to be a complex man who produced, and directed the documen­ Welty's One Writer's Beginnings de­ long ago challenged America by show­ tary. Lacy also wrote, produced, and tails her childhood and young adulthood ing the rage, fear, and alienation that directed the fustand last films of PBS 's in what she called "a sheltered life" in every African American possesses. Our Eyes on the Prize II, an eight-program Jackson. In many ways, Richard task is to match his passion on the series which stands as the premier docu­ Wright's Black Boy presents just the screen." mentary series on the nation's civil opposite-a young African American's Scenes have been shot in Jackson, rights movement. In addition to the life of struggle against various oppres­ Natchez, and other locations in Missis­ program's receiving DuPont and sive forces, including racial discrimina­ sippi, in some cases with young actors Peabody Awards, Lacy's writing won tion and blatant injustice. During the portraying key characters in the film. him an Emmy in 1991. Other recent time seen in Welty's and Wright's books, Overtwcnty-five interviews have been projects of Lacy's include "Your Loan Samuel Beadle also lived and worked in held with Margaret Walker Alexander, is Denied" in June 1992 for PBS's Jackson as a member of the African­ Ralph Ellison, Julia Wright, John Frontline, a multimedia presentation American professional community. Henrick Clark, Joyce Ann Joyce, John for the 1992 Black Caucus Annual Born into slavery in the 1850s, he was a A. Williams, Haki R. Madhubuti,Amiri Congressional Weekend, and two films practicing attorney and a writer hav,ing Baraka, Mark Naison, Jean Fouillon, for the new Birmingham Civil Rights published three books of stories and Michel Fabre, Louis Achille, Essie Lee Institute. poems-Sketches of Life in Dixie Ward Davis, and Jerry Ward. Other (1899), Adam Shuftler(1901), and 1.yr; ics of the Underworld(1912). Making extensive use of slides, the presentation looked at the various and diverse cul­ tures seen in the lives and works of these writers. Letter from the Editors Randy Patterson, Jackson Statc I University-Professor of English

"Race and Gender in Richard Wright's Black Boy' Greetings at this holiday season. We look forward to a very good year in 1994 given the new materials, especially the publication of Traditional readings of Black Boy Ri te of Passage and the film biography. Please continue to send news in classrooms emphasize the racial con­ of Wright activities in your area and by all means, RENEW YOUR tent of the autobiography, but students may profit more from explorations that SUBSCRIPTION TODAY. We would welcome any additional raise questions about race and gender in contributions as well, which are, or course, tax deductible. Black Boy (American Hunger) When race and gender are used as catcgories of Maryemma Graham and Jerry W. Ward Jr. analysis, they serve to expose rhetorical forces embedded in the text and to ill u­ minate the continuing significance of Wright' sartistry in constructing a "self." Jerry W. Ward, Jr., Tougaloo Col­ lege-Professor of English

Page 2 Richard Wright Newsletter rio us death in December 1960 and her Julia Wright Visits Rhode Island College own pain and bafflement at the occa­ Reported by Amritjit Singh, Rhode Island College sional barbs or accusations directed at family members. A major event of Spring 1993 was to consider a career in journalism by In ,the course of her wide-ranging the visit of Julia Wright to the Rhode suggesting that she write about her ex­ and richly allusive remarks, Ms. Wright Island College campus on Friday, April periences as a student who sprained her offered valuable glimpses into her bio­ 2, 1993, at the invitation of its Arts and ankle to gain access to the crowded graphical method aimed at bringing Out Science Faculty, the Department of En- classrooms at the Sorbonne, the univer­ the psychological, artistic, and political glis h, African and Afro-American S tud­ sity in Paris. Richard Wright asked her complexity of Wright's personality and ies Program, Women's Studies Program, to "investigate the reasons why students work. She hopes to offer in her memoir 'and HARAMBEE, the Black Students are made to suffer so they can learn" a series of open-ended narratives which Organization. Ms. Wright's busy day from what he humorously called her will have the effect of removing the on campus included a variety of oppor­ "window-ledge perspective." She also "brambles" from the life of Richard tunities for students, faculty, and staff to told the audience about how her chroni­ Wright known so far. Since her child­ interact with her. She met in the morn­ call y troublesomeank1e has served since hood memories of Wright are her main ing with President John Nazarian and 1960 as a reminder to her to empower resource, she wonders where biography Vice President John Salesses; gave a her voice (a voice her father clearly had ends and autobiography begins. She is talk on Richard Wright at l1AM; met faith in) as someone who knows the concerned especially in exploring the with African American-American stu­ Richard Wright his readers know little triangular relationships among her bio­ dents for an informal conversation and abouL "My ankle will heal the day my graphical subject, herself as the writer, recorded an interview with Shorel,ine, book is finished, "she stated atone point and the still unrealized legacy of Ric h­ the creative writing magazine, in the during her prepared remarks. Ms. Wright ard Wright as a major man of letters in afternoon; and shared food and thoughts has worked on her memoir since 1987 this century. She mourned the many with faculty and community leaders at a and expects to have it ready for publica­ missing pieces that would help to com­ dinner reception in the evening. tion by Random House in 1994. plete ,the portrait. The highlight of her visit was the Ms. Wright acknowledged that a Ms. Wright gave a sensitive ac­ electrifying speech she made about her candid, complex, and contradictory Ri­ count of the phases she had gone through biography-in-progress on Richard chard Wright could not possibly be in gradually coming to grips with the W righ t to an overflowing crowd of over caught in "one single biographical net." many inner "resistances" she has faced 100 members of the college community So, her memoir by implication would in writing her memoir. To begin wilh , in the Bannister Art Gallery. She was extend and enrich the portJaitsofWright she struggled not only with the Wright introduced by Amritjit Singh, Professor available in existing biographies and biographers' neglect but also with the ofEnglish and African-American Stud­ does not aim at replacing them. But she "indexed" versions of herself in the pages ies, who is working on his own Intellec­ wondered why the Wright biographers of their biob'Taphies. She wondered tual Biography of Wright's Final Phase. had not approached her as a resource, sometimes if she would have anYlhing Dr. Singh reminded the audience of even though she was 18 at the time of her to add to the perspectives already avail­ Wright's continuing relevance and of father's death. (She mentioned that able in dozens oftheoreticaily and ideo­ Julia Wright's dedication to preserving Arnold Rampersad did attempt to con­ logically sophisticated books and ar­ and clarifying her father' s artistic legacy. tact her during the writing of his Langston ticles. And then at some point, she Ms. Wright's talk, entitled "Writing Hughes biography.) But while she won­ swung to the opposite extreme, where about Richard Wright Reflections of a dered about that omission, she was glad she felt "omnipotent" like a "drunken Daughter" focused especially on the that as a consequence, her biographical adolescent." But this was before she challenges she faces as a daughter-biog­ voice was intact for her own work now. realized the pain involved in re-visiting rapher of a famous father whose life and Quoting Sigmund Freud on Leonardo hidden memories, fingering the "jagged work remain caught up in controversies da Vinci, she regretted the tendency of grain" of old scars, and resolving the about his art and politics and whose biogrJphers to "smooth over" any ves­ many unanswered questions about death in still mired in mystery. At the tiges of human weakness in their sub­ Wright's death. Also, how would she, a end of Ms. Wright's 50-minute talk, in jects in order to idealize them as heroes. daughter separaled from her father by which she shared stories perspectives in She hopes instead to emulate the model real class differences, unlock the secret a "roundabout" way, the audience rose Satre established in his biography of doors of Wright's "maie privacy"? How to their feet and gave her a standing Flaubert by focusing on biographical could she share Wright completely with ovation. "problems." But her task as a biogra­ a reading public when she herself pos­ Ms. Wright began by telling the phex also involves coming to terms with sessed him incompletely? Such were story of how in November 1960, shortly the anger and shock of the family some of the open questions Ms. Wright before his death, Wright had advised her surounding Wright's sudden and myste- left her audience with.

FalllWinter 1993 Page 3 A Literary Debate

This article originally appeared in the who do not base their evaluations on black American writing was overdue. Inlernalional Herald Tribune on Oc­ the irrelevant factors of sex, race or And so it may be; and better late than tober 13, 1993. © 1993, Washington political identity. By them, Toni never. But the breakthrough in Ameri­ Post Writers Group. Reprinted with Morrison is regarded as a gifted writer can black fiction-defined as fiction permission. whose earlier novels showed promise written by a black--<:am more than but who has lately drifted toward what half a century ago when Richard Wright An Eccentric Selection From the one of them calls an "oracular" voice. created Bigger Thomas in "Native Nobel Folks Were she a white man rather than a Son." That Mr. Wright in his bitter­ by Edwin M. Yoder, Jr. black woman, they ask, wouldn't crit­ ness turned for a time to communism ics from Boston to Bombay be scratch­ perhaps soured his chance of larger Washington-Let's begin with an ing their heads in mystification? recognition. incontestable fact: The award of this The old-fashioned idea that race is What of the late James Baldwin? year's Nobel Prize in Literature to Toni irrelevant to judgments ofIiterary value He was, in my judgment, as powerful Morrison, the black female writer, is is now obviously passe. When you and elegant a writer of English prose as an cvent of more than lilCf'.lry impor­ combine the urge to patronize by race any of his generation-at least until he lance. And meant to be. to the perennial weakness of the Swed­ also went political. But there was no The Swedish Academy, which ish Academy for gestures of Social Nobel for him, and both he and Mr. dispenses these awards, has been ac­ Significance, what you get is eccentric Wright are dead. cused of a tin ear for languages other choices-like this one. Ralph Ellison is very much alive than Swedish. It may be more justly Two exalted explanations may be and his "invisible Man" is almost uni­ accused of an incurable inclination to­ dismissed. One is that Toni Morrison versally regarded as the most distin­ ward the grand gesture. The Nobel is the new heiress of Faulknerian ex­ guished work of "black" fiction-ever. folks ignored William Faulkner when perimentalism, that claim would be I mean no insult to Toni Morrison. he was writing imperishable works like absurd. The other is that she has for the But what does it do for a journeyman "The Sound and the Fury," then be­ first time breathed dramatic life into novelist to ascend unexpectedly to the stowed belated laurels for the didactic the memory of slavery. lofty rank of world-class novelisl'? (and nearly unreadable) "A Fable," a Those who make that claim will What's in a prize, after alI? Lord self-conscious novel of faith on the not enjoy hearing this said, but it was, Melbourne offered the definitive view World War I battlefields. in fact, William Styron, a Southern when he said of the Order of the Garter The Nobel prize committee sat on whiter male, who did, 25 years ago, that he liked it because "there's no their hands while Ernest Hemingway what Toni Morrison is said to have merit in it." That must sometimes be revolutionized fiction with "A Fare­ done recently. said of other great prizes as well. well to Arms," only to swoon more In "The Confessions of Nat that a quarter century later when a Turner," by virtue of a powerful, sym­ Reply slightly softer Hemingway verged as pathetic imagination and a deep under­ This article originally appeared in the close to sentiment as he ever came, in standing of human passion and suffer­ International /-Jerald Tribune on No­ "The Old Man and the Sea." ing, Mr. Styron rescued black people vember 4, 1993 and is reprinted by My private quarrel with theSwed­ of the slave era from stereotype and permission of the author and the New ish Academy begins with its stubborn accorded them the dignity of human York Times Syndicate. refusal to give the prize to the greatest shape and dimension. and most inventive writer of fiction in But because he declined to turn Of Writers and Rewards: As They English of the last century and a half, Nat Turner, the leader of a famous Lay Dying ... Henry James. And to James, among slave rebellion in southside Virginia, by Julia Wright the una warded, you can add, just for into a bloodless paragon of all virtue, starters, the nanles of Thomas Wolfe, he was attacked by the watchdogs of Paris-As the daughter of the au­ Ed ith Wharton, Scott Fitzgerald, James racial correctness who continue to push thor Richard Wright, I would like to Joyce, Graham Green and Evelyn the notion that a writer must be of the join the debate that Edwin M. Yoder, Waugh. same race or sex to understand them. Jr. sparked around the awarding of the Since I read too little current fic­ The real point here, no doubt, is Nobel Prize in Literature to Toni tion, I turned for an opinion of Toni that in the minds of the Swedish Acad­ Morrison ("An Eccentric Selection Morrison's work to discerning readers emy some gesture of recognition for From the Nobel Folks," Oct. 13). Mr.

Page 4 Richard Wright Newsletter Yoder, "politically correct" or not, put a dead man. for the prestigious Prix Femina his finger on a sensitive spot-the Richard Wright did not die a pau­ Etranger in France-as he lay termi­ subtle and less subtle ways in which per-but he died alone and broke, as I nally ill, and was known to be so, at our great men and women have been have documented in a forthcoming least in the Paris literary circles I was in rewarded, or not, for their works in this memoir about him. touch with. Jimmy Baldwin died within century. I am convinced, however, that he days oflearning that he had, yet again, The Nobel Prize, by its own terms, stands immeasurably enriched by a not been chosen. He had already been has to be awarded during a writer's renaissance that is returning him to the bypassed for the National Book Award lifetime; it carries a reward quantifi­ fore of his own country. The recurrent and the Pulitzer. able in dollars and cents. I can't help mention of his name in both Mr. What are we to make of all this? suspecting that Jean-Paul Satre's noto­ Yoder's column and in the letters it Nothing, or everything, depending on rious rejection of the prize was less a provoked is an ward in itself. But I whether we accord more importance refusal of the money than a criticism of can't help wondering: What would to the fiery and fragile judgement of the unexistential historical vision he prize-less but priceless writers like men or to the slow, sober verdict of felt it implied. For the slow, halting Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Richard history. recognition given by history has a pa­ Wright, or James Baldwin have said if At the risk of seeming predictable tina of its own, asserting its posthu­ they had been given the choice be­ prodomo, I see Richard Wright and mous wisdom when the sound and fury tween contemporary Nobelization and Jimmy Baldwin as wounded giants of political storms and factionalism posthumous recognition? I can almost who were arguably the first to cut their have long died down. hear outbursts of surrealistic grave­ way into the dangerous jungle of "the The poignant way Van Gogh and yard humor from those four, wherever enemy's language," uprooting the ta­ Mozart died, subsequently emiching they are now. We can only imagine boo of silence around "how it really the world not only with their genius but what their choices might have been. feels to be black" and asserting the with the awareness of the cruel price But a fact is a fact is a fact: In creati ve terrain that they thereby gai ned they had paid for it, has grown into a 1960, Richard Wright had had definite as "a language with a language," to modern myth, perhaps reflecting our echoes of his Nobel nomination-and borrow the terminology which the age-old ambivalence toward the great­ then died unexpectedly, only weeks French philosopher Gilles Deleuze ness of artists, writers and musicians in after Saint-John Perse was announced used recently about Franz Kafka. their lifetimes. There is a time for as that year's laureate. In an interest­ This is not to deny that Richard everything: portraits of the artist as a ing parallel, James Baldwin (1 knew young man and portraits of the artist as him as Jimmy) was shortlisted in 1987 continued on page 6

Publications

Writing Chicago: Modernism. Eth­ The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Conversations With Richard Wright nography. and the Novel (Columbia Double Consciousness (Harvard Uni­ (University Press of Mississippi, 1993) University Press, 1993) by Carla versity Press, 1993) by Paul Gilroy edited by Keneth Kinnamon and Cappeui Michel Fabre

Cappetti explores connections Paul Gilroy posits the existence of University Press of Mississippi bet ween the Chicago school of sociol­ a black Atlantic culture, neither spe­ has just published Conversations with ogy and three Chicago novelists,James cifically African, European, nor Ameri­ Richard Wright (1993), edited by T. Farrell, Nelson Algren, and Richard can, that is quintessentially modem. Keneth Kinnamon and Michel Fabre. Wright. The two chapters on Wright Chapter 5, "Without the Consolation Conversations speaks about Wright's survey the tendency in literary criti­ ofTears: Richard Wright, France, and life in Paris and his views on race and cism to deemphasize autobiographical the Ambivalence ofCommunity," pro­ America. Published as part of the details pertinent to interpretation and vides compelling reasons for scholars Literary Conversations Series. explore the significance of sociologi­ to make a more thorough analysis of cal theory in Wright's construction of Wright's legacy, the kinds of investi­ Black Boy (American Hunger) The gation that would demonstrate the va­ material in these chapters is presented lidity of Gilroy's claim that Wright's more pointedly in Cappetti's essay "work articulates simultaneously an "Sociology of an Existence: Wright affirmation and a negation ofthe west­ and the Chicago School" in Richard ern civilization that formed him." Wright: Critical Perspectives Past and Present edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jf. and K.A. Appiah.

FalllWinter 1993 Page 5 Wright to be Focus of 1994 Natchez Literary Celebration oA tour of three plantations in the aristocratic Kingston neighborhood, The first ever Richard Wright Lit­ oThe premiere of all or part of long associated with Anthony Hutchins er3ry Excellence A ward will be pre­ Black Boy, a Mississippi Educational oA Literary Landmark Tour of sented to an outstanding living Missis­ Television documentary about Wright numerous historic houses and sites, sippi writer by the famous writer's oA discussion of the making of the including Historic Jefferson College. daughter, Julia Wright of Paris, at the documentary by its New York pro­ Homewood, Lansdowne, Mount Re­ fifth annual Natchez Literary Celebra­ ducer, Madison Davis Lacy, Jr. pose, and Foster Mound, all associated tion June 2-4, 1994, said conference oA commentary by Julia Wright, with authors and books co-chairman Carolyn Vance Smith of based on her new biography of her oA play about Ibrahima, an Afri­ Copiah-Lincoln Community College father can prince who was a slave in 18th­ in Natchez. oAnd a Literary Landmark Tour, century Natchez, and his master, Tho­ Other activities during the award­ which includes Wrigbt'sgrandparents' mas Foster winning cOJ1rer~'ncc will also focus on Natchez neighborhood, whith the au­ oAn old-Lishionc.d "dinner on til \; Wright, the celebrated writer who was thor isitl'd as a young bJY . grounds" at Kingston Methodi st born near Natchez in 1908 and died in "We are delighted to be able to Church, preceded by a lecture on the Paris in 1960. offer so many powerful presentations influence of food on culture Theme for the en tire conference is on Richard Wright," Smith said. Work­ oA garden party at National His­ "Mississippi'sLiterary Heritage: Black ing with Smith and others at Co-Lin to toric Landmark Melrose and White and Read All Over." "Rich­ sponsor the award-winning conference oAnd a gala reception honoring ard Wright certainly fits in, since he's are the Mississippi Dcpartment of Ar­ the winner of the Richard Wright Lit­ a Mississippi writer whose works have chives 3nd History and the National erary Excellence Award. definitely been 'read all over, '" Smith Park Service. For the fifth time, the Hon. Wil­ said. "Besides the Richard Wright ac­ liam F. Winter of Jackson, Miss., will In addition to the Richard Wright tivities, the conference will also offer serve as director of proceedings for the Award, other activities focusing on other superlative lectures and events," Celebration. Former governor of Mis­ Wright include: Smith said. sissippi, he is longtime president of the ·A showing of the 1951 film ver­ Topics to be covered by interna­ board of trustees of the MDAH. sion of Wright's novel Native Son, tionally known lecturers include such Tickets are $20 for all three days which stars Richard Wright as Bigger MiSSissippi figures as Aaron Burr, of lectures and films. The play. a Thomas Anthony Hutchins, Jefferson Davis, dinner, recepLions, and tours rang fro m ·A discussion of Native Son as William Faulkner, Tennessee Wil­ $10 to $20. Total conference fce IS both novel and film by Dr. Jerry Ward, liams, Eudora Welty, Clifton Taulbert, $75. professor of English at Tougaloo Col­ Shelby Foote, and Stark Young, Smith More information is available by lege, Toug3100, Miss., and Dr. Charles said. calling Natchez Box Office (601) 445- V3hlkamp, professor of modem film "These lectures will be enhanced 0353 or 1-800-862-3259 or by Writing studies at Centre College, Danville, by special field trIpS and other activi­ Natchez Literary Celebration, P.O. Box KY. ties," she said. These include: 894, Natchez, MS 39121.

prizes may divide. And it is true that quantified? Can it, I would add, ever continued from page 5 the wounds sustained by Richard be recognized and repaired? This ques­ Wright and Jimmy Baldwin had their Wright and Jimmy Baldwin in this tiON is central to our historical assess­ dilTcrcnces, though my own percep­ invisible war of theirs have gone ment of the noble (rather than Nobel) tion of their so-called literary feud is unmedaled in the Nobel front. But stamina of Richard Wright, Jim my Lhat it was blown out of all proporLion. these two men were very real veterans, Baldwin and others: Will we every And I still see them as having cleared for they wrote against a double histori­ know what hidden springs of artistry an alien and tangles forestofthe words­ cal grain: first, the near impenetrable dried up when their privacy, so ne<.:es­ not-to-say-it, as having created a spa­ pre-civil rights language of Jim Crow sary to creativity, was being monitored cious area in which writers of Toni ethics, and second, the dominant ob­ and trespassed upon? Morrison's splendid giCledness could sessions and stricture of the Cold War. 1, for one, having lived in my gyrate freely and gracefully. In tum, As Natalie Robins asks in her re­ father's house and valued Jimmy Toni Morrison will enlarge that clear­ cent penetrating analysis of the FBI Baldwin's friendship, know that these ing for her literary sons and daughters dossiers that were amassed around a literary veterans were too seldom of­ to dance in and salute her-perhaps galaxy of this century's greatest Ameri­ fered laurels to rest upon during the even to surpass her. can writers: Can the damage to their thaw-less, thankless em of mid-cen­ However, where history connects, creativity ever be traced, assessed, tury segregation and glaciation.

Page 6 Richard Wright Newsletter [nMemoriam Southern University, North Carolina from Harvard. He was a memberofMl Dr. Richard Kenneth Barksdale Central University, Morehouse College, Oliver Baptist Church, Champaign, IL, 31 October 1915 to 28 October 1993 and Atlanta University. He joined the Phi Beta Kappa, Urbana Rotary Club, English faculty at the University ofIlli­ and Omega PSI PHI Fraternity. Dr. Richard Kenneth Barksdale, nois in August 1971 and held distin­ He was a Lieutenant in the U.S. professor emeritus of English at the guished Professorships at seven Col­ Army and served in the Philippines in University of Illinois at Urbana­ leges and Universities after his retire­ World War II. Champaign, credited with pioneering ment in 1984. To his many former Memorial contributions may be the study of African-American litera­ students, he was a master teacher and made to the United Negro College Fund ture, has died at the age of 77. friend. or the American Diabetes AssOG. Dr. Barksdale, who retired from the Dr. Barksdale was a specialist in He is survived by his wife and two University of Illinois in 1984, was an 18th Century and African-American lit­ sons. Condolences may be sent to: English Professor and College Admin­ erature. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Dr. Mildred W. Barksdale istrator for 47 years. He worked at a Degree from Bowdoin College, 2207 Wyld Drive number of Black Colleges and Univer­ Brunswick, Maine, Masters Degrees Urbana, IL 61801 sities, including Tougaloo College, from Syracuse and Harvard, and a PhD (217) 328-2995 Call For Papers New Reflections: Essays on Richard Wright's Travel Books Black Power (1954); The Color African-American, European, Pan-Af- tions, revisionist historicism, post-colo- Curtain (1956); and Pagan Spain (1957) rican, and other international experi- nialism, etc. Deadlines 2 page abstract, were produced within three years of ences. Papersareinvitedforavolumeof 15Decemberl993;manuscripts,5Janu- each other. These nonfictional "travel critical essays giving "new reflections" ary 1994. Submit to: Virginia Whatley books" function as a collective body and of autobiography and travei literature Smith, Department of English, Univer- as a distinctive genre, reflecting the di- based upon recent theoretical develop- sity of Alabama - Birmingham, Bir- vcrsity of Wright's cultural and politic all ments in light of issues of mingham, AL 3592-4 (205-934-5293). aesthetics in context of his American, multiculturalism, gender representa-

Renewal Notice

As you receive this issue of the Richard Wright Newsletter, we wantlo remind you that it is time to rcnew your membership in the Richard Wright Circle. The yearly $10 membership fee runs for one calendar year and entitles you to two issues of the Newsletter: spring/summer and falVwinter. In orderto receive the next issue, you need to fill out and send us the form on the back page (to insure that we have your latest address) along with a $10 check or money order. Please remember that your membership dues still constitute the primary funding for the Circle and Newsletter.

FalllWinter 1993 Page 7 ~I IlO VW 'uolsog HUH gru2uP42~N 08t ~[:)l1J 1l{2!JM p.IUl{J~~ ~!SJaA!Un UJalSealn.10N ~

For a one year membership to the Richard Wright Circle, send the information below and a $10 check or money order to Maryemrna Graham, Northeastern University. 406 Holmes Hall. Boston. MA 02115; (617) 373-4549; Fax (617) 373-2509

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Page 8 Richard Wright Newsletter