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Jean Toomer's Cane As a Swan Song Heiner
Journal of American Studies of Turkey 11 (2000) : 21-29 Jean Toomer’s Cane as a Swan Song Heiner Bus In his autobiographical writings and letters Toomer characterized Cane as “a swan song ... the song of an end.“1 And recalling his visit to Georgia in 1921 he observed: “With Negroes also the trend was towards the small town and then towards the city- and industry and commerce and machines. The folk-spirit was walking in to die on the modern desert“ (142). In a letter Toomer was even more prophetic: Don’t let us fool ourselves, brother: the Negro of the folk-song has all but passed away: the Negro of the emotional church is fading. A hundred years from now these Negroes, if they exist at all will live in art ...(Likewise the Indian) America needs these elements. They are passing. Let us grab and hold them while there is still time (151). The central poem of the first part of Cane, “Song of the Son“, takes the son back to the land of red soil “in time...just before an epoch’s sun declines ...to catch thy plaintive soul, leaving, gone“ (14). From a cluster of images of ripeness and decline the son derives his function as a recorder of songs who can transform the nearly bare tree into a “singing tree“, creating “an everlasting song ...Caroling softly souls of slavery.“ The central poetic act of cultural retrieval is characterized as a private and a public effort. Reading this poem in the light of Toomer’s statements on the fate of Black folk-culture, we have to concede that the son is able to transform a ‘parting song’ into an ‘everlasting song’ through his sensitiveness, personal involvement, and his creative talents. -
Unreading Modernism: Richard Wright's Literary Journalism
59 Unreading Modernism: Richard Wright’s Literary Journalism William Dow American University of Paris, France Université Paris-Est Richard Wright’s journalism has been largely unexamined by Wright scholars. He has never been studied as a literary journalist nor placed in an African American tradition of journalism or literary journalism. And yet his journalism is infused with qualities that put him firmly in line with other African Americans who are remembered today primarily as writers of fiction, poetry, or plays but who nevertheless wrote liter- ary journalism. Like most of those writers, Wright produced a kind of African American literary journalism that has as its primary objective a change of social policy or order while it also clearly demonstrates new expressive and stylistic forms. This essay focuses on works that best re- veal Wright as a heretofore unrecognized literary journalist: 12 Million Black Voices (1940) and a selection of his exile writings: Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of Pathos, (1954), The Color Cur- tain: A Report on the Bandung Conference (1956), and Pagan Spain (1957). It demonstrates the usefulness of literary journalistic forms to Wright as an African American writer and global humanitarian and also shows how Wright, while advancing his aesthetic aims, repurposed traditional journalism through what I’m calling his “transnational mod- ernism” in order to promote a political solidarity with oppressed people around the world. Literary Journalism Studies Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 2013 60 Literary Journalism -
Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison: Conflicting Masculinities
W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1994 Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison: Conflicting Masculinities H. Alexander Nejako College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons Recommended Citation Nejako, H. Alexander, "Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison: Conflicting Masculinities" (1994). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625892. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-nehz-v842 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RICHARD WRIGHT AND RALPH ELLISON: CONFLICTING MASCULINITIES A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of English The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by H. Alexander Nejako 1994 ProQuest Number: 10629319 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10629319 Published by ProQuest LLC (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. -
Historical Background
DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit: The Representation of Segregation In The House behind the Cedars, Cane and Black Boy Verfasserin: Carina Mazzucato, BA angestrebter akademischer Grad: Magistra der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, Jänner 2013 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 343 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuer: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Waldemar Zacharasiewicz Contents 1 Acknowledgements ......................................................................... 1 2 Abbreviations ................................................................................... 2 3 Introduction ...................................................................................... 3 4 Historical Background .................................................................... 6 5 Segregation Narrative ................................................................... 12 6 Categories ...................................................................................... 14 6.1 Racial Cartography ......................................................................... 14 6.2 Fear and Violence ........................................................................... 15 6.2.1 Intimate Violence ......................................................................................... 15 6.2.2 Disciplinary Violence ................................................................................... 16 6.3 Folklore ............................................................................................ 18 6.4 Language and Education -
Jackie Robinson's 1946 Spring Training in Jim Crow Florida
The Unconquerable Doing the Impossible: Jackie Robinson's 1946 Spring Training in Jim Crow Florida To the student: As you read this accounting of Jackie Robinson's Jim Crow experience, ponder the following: • The role individuals played such as Rachel Robinson, Branch Rickey, Mary McLeod Bethune, Joe Davis and David Brock, Mayor William Perry, Clay Hopper, Johnny Wright, Wendell Smith, and Billy Rowe in shaping Robinson's response to the discrimination heaped upon him? • What factors, internal or external, enabled Jackie Robinson to succeed in his quest to cross baseball's color line? • The influence of ideas, human interests, such as the popularity of baseball and sport in American life, and the American consciousness • The impact of press coverage on human behavior and beliefs • The impact of World War II in reducing regionalism and replacing it with patriotic nationalism, civil rights organizations, enfranchisement and voting leverage, economic need and greed Los Angeles, February, 1946 On the late afternoon of February 28, 1946, Jack Roosevelt Robinson and his new bride, the former Rachel Isum, waited for their American Airlines flight from the Lockheed Terminal at the airport in Los Angeles, destined for Daytona Beach, Florida. Jack's attire was very proper, a gray business suit, while Rachel was splendidly outfitted in her new husband's wedding gifts, a three-quarter length ermine coat with matching hat and an alligator handbag. Although they had originally thought to travel by train, the Robinsons had decided to fly to New Orleans, then to Pensacola, and finally to Daytona Beach. There, Jack was to report by noon on March 1 to the training camp of the Montreal Royals, the top triple-A minor league farm team of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. -
Don't Let It Happen Again: Let's Keep Blacks in American Literature
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 133 746 CS 203 153 AUTHOR Hill, Mildred A. TITLE Don't Let It Happen Again: Let's Keep Blacks in American Literature. PUB DATE 76 NOTE 12p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English (66th, Chicago, November 25-27, 1976) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 HC-$1.67 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS African American Studies; *American Literature; Authors; *English Instruction; Higher Education; *Literature Appreciation; Negro Culture; Negro History; *Negro Literature IDENTIFIERS *Toomer (Jean) ; *Wright (Richard) ABSTRACT The study--and appreciation--of Black literature should not be allowed to decline, as it did in the period between the Harlem renaissance of the 1920s and the reemphasis of Black literature in the 1960s. In order to assure the continuing study of Black authors, the course in major American fiction writers, taught in most universities, should include Black American writers, especially those after 1900. Two of the many works by Black Americans deserving study are "Cane" by Jean Toomer, which reflects the struggle for identity of the man and the artist, and "Native Son" by Richard Wright, which provides a fictional account of the racial situation in America through the voice of the oppressed--a Black, urban youth. (JM) *********************************************************************** * Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * *materials not available from other sources. ERIC makesevery effort* *to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * *reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * *of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * *via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * *responsible for the quality of the original document. -
The Lynching of Cleo Wright
University of Kentucky UKnowledge United States History History 1998 The Lynching of Cleo Wright Dominic J. Capeci Jr. Missouri State University Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Capeci, Dominic J. Jr., "The Lynching of Cleo Wright" (1998). United States History. 95. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/95 The Lynching of Cleo Wright The Lynching of Cleo Wright DOMINIC J. CAPECI JR. THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright © 1998 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Club Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 02 01 00 99 98 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Capeci, Dominic J. The lynching of Cleo Wright / Dominic J. Capeci, Jr. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. -
Mary White Ovington Papers
Mary White Ovington Collection Papers, 1854-1948 6.25 linear feet Accession # 323 OCLC# The papers of Mary White Ovington were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs by Mrs. Carrie Burton Overton, Miss Ovington's secretary, in 1969, 1971 and 1973 and were opened for research in 1973. Mary White Ovington was born in Brooklyn in 1865.In 1895, after education in private schools and at Radcliffe College, she began a career as asocial worker. From 1904 on, she devoted herself to the particular problems of Negro populations in New York and other cities. In 1909 she participated in the founding of the NAACP. She remained an officer and prominent figure in the organization until her retirement in 1947. Miss Ovington was the author of several books and numerous articles. Her history of the NAACP, The Walls Came Tumbling Down, is in both the Archives Library and the Wayne State Purdy Library collections. Miss Ovington died in New York in 1951. Important subjects covered in the collection are: Unpublished autobiographical material by Miss Ovington Living conditions of the poor in New York City in the early 1900s Negroes in the American South in the early 1900s Foundation and growth of the NAACP The Civil Rights Movement, in general, up to 1947 Ovington family history, 1800-1948 Among the important correspondents are: (an index to the location of these letters will be found on the last page of the guide) Jane Addams Herbert Lehman Arna Bontemps Claude McKay Benjamin Cardozo Elmer Rice John White Chadwick Robert H. Schauffler LorenzaCole A. -
Jean Toomer, Mulatid and Modern,Ist
JEAN TOOMER, MULATID AND MODERN,IST: THE FUSED RACE AND FUSED FORM OF CANE By RHONDA LEA MCCLELLAN Master of Education University of Central Oklahoma Edmond, Oklahoma 1992 Bachelor of Arts Northeastern State University Tahlequah, Oklahoma 1989 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS May, 1997 JEAN TOOMER, MULATTO AND MODERNIST: THE FUSED RACE AND FUSED FORM OF CANE Thesis Approved: /. /' ~/J. Yul,11I' __r ll _ Thesis Advise ~~4~== ~/aru a?(~dd Dean of the Graduate College PREFACE In the fall of 1993, I enrolled in Dr. Leavell's modern/contemporary literature course that examined familiar "novels" under a different form, the short story cycle. We discussed how famili:ar texts, like Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, Faulkner's Go Down Moses, and Hemingway's In Our Time, labeled by critics as novels, could be viewed under the definitions of a different genre. As we analyzed this genre, I thought how vulnerable art and artists are at the hands of critics who define pieces based on literary traditions. Chagrined, I thought of the pieces of literature that I could have misread. When we finally turned the pages of Jean Toomer's Cane and examined the pioneering strategies of this modern writer, the consequences of misleading critiques became apparent to me. Rarely do we read of the Harlem Renaissance without seeing the name Jean Toomer. Accordingly, scholars contend that Toomer contributed to the awakening of the African-American experlience in the 1920s and that his Cane secured his place in the African American canon. -
Richard Wright's and Chester Himes's Treatment of the Concept of Emerging Black Masculinity in the 20Th Century
City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations and Theses City College of New York 2017 Richard Wright's and Chester Himes's Treatment of the Concept of Emerging Black Masculinity in the 20th Century Peter M. Brown CUNY City College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/696 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Richard Wright's and Chester Himes's Treatment of the Concept of Emerging Black Masculinity in the 20th Century By Peter M. Brown A Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts of the City College of the City University of New York May 2017 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Native Son 9 Chapter 3: Finding Bigger Thomas 19 Chapter 4: Black Literature Leading to the Rage and Honesty of Chester Himes 30 Chapter 5: If He Hollers 52 Chapter 1: Introduction In order to do justice to their subject matter, in order to depict Negro life in all of its manifold and intricate relationships, a deep, informed and complex consciousness is necessary, a consciousness which draws for its strength upon the fluid lore of a great people, and moulds this lore with concepts that move and direct the forces of history today. Every short story, novel, poem, and play should carry within its lines, implied or explicit, a sense of the oppression of the Negro people, the danger of war, of fascism, of the threatened destruction of culture and civilization; and, too, the faith and necessity to build a new world. -
Running with the Reds: African American Women and The
Running with the Reds: African American Women and the Communist Party during the Great Depression Author(s): Lashawn Harris Source: The Journal of African American History, Vol. 94, No. 1 (Winter, 2009), pp. 21-43 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Association for the Study of African American Life and History Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25610047 Accessed: 14-01-2019 00:31 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25610047?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Association for the Study of African American Life and History, The University of Chicago Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of African American History This content downloaded from 140.103.6.225 on Mon, 14 Jan 2019 00:31:23 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms RUNNING WITH THE REDS: AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN AND THE COMMUNIST PARTY DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION Lashawn Harris In a 1931 article in the Daily Worker, NAACP leader Walter White proclaimed that African American women who joined the ranks of the Communist Party (CP) were "ignorant and uncouth victims who were being led to the slaughter by dangerously bold radicals."1 While all African American leaders did not share White's sentiments and did not openly criticize African American participation in the CP during the first half of the 20th century, a significant group of black leaders and intellectuals, including A. -
FRAMING RICHARD WRIGHT Author(S): HAZEL ROWLEY Source: the Yale University Library Gazette, Vol
Yale University Library Yale University FRAMING RICHARD WRIGHT Author(s): HAZEL ROWLEY Source: The Yale University Library Gazette, Vol. 73, No. 1/2 (October 1998), pp. 56-63 Published by: Yale University, acting through the Yale University Library Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40859805 Accessed: 24-04-2020 20:32 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Yale University Library, Yale University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Yale University Library Gazette This content downloaded from 171.79.2.89 on Fri, 24 Apr 2020 20:32:31 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms <%> FRAMING RICHARD WRIGHT* BY HAZEL ROWLEY Lives are turned into stories every day, long before they are trans- formed into written versions, and the imaginative inventiveness with which we add color to the stories is part of the delight of living. But what is striking about Richard Wright's life is that the opposite seems to have happened. His life was as bizarre, colorful, and inter- esting as fiction, and yet, during his life and since, others constantly made the man and his life into a statement.