Girlhood in African American Literature, 1827-1949

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Girlhood in African American Literature, 1827-1949 ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: GIRLHOOD IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1827-1949 Nazera Sadiq Wright, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Dissertation directed by: Professor Carla L. Peterson Professor Mary Helen Washington Department of English This dissertation examines African American literature through the social construction and the allegorical function of girlhood. By exploring the figure of the black girl between 1827—when the nation’s first black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, was published and slavery was abolished in New York—and 1949—the publication date of Annie Allen, Gwendolyn Brooks’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection poems, I argue that representations of the girl in African American literature are based on behavioral codes that acquired political meaning in print culture before and after Emancipation. In the canonical and rarely-read texts I examine, the varied images of the black girl as orphaned and unruly, educated and mothered, functioned as models for black citizenship. The Introduction argues that Lucy Terry and Phillis Wheatley become foundational models of intellectual achievement through their growth from slave girl to poet. Chapter One, “Antebellum Girlhood in African American Literature” argues that articles selected by black male editors of Freedom’s Journal and Colored American, and works by black women writers, such as Maria Stewart’s “The First Stage of Life” (1861), Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig (1859) and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) adopted the black girl from the LucyTerry/ Phillis Wheatley paradigm and appropriated her image to represent their own, specific citizenship pursuits. In Chapter Two, “Black Girlhood Post-Emancipation,” the racially-indeterminate girl figure in Christian Recorder stories, Mrs. N. F. Mossell’s advice columns published in the New York Freeman, and Frances Harper’s depiction of Annette in Trial and Triumph (1888-1889) represented the newly emancipated black girl figure and her grooming for racial uplift efforts. Chapter Three, “Race Girls in Floyd’s Flowers,” argues that in Silas X. Floyd’s conduct book, Floyd’s Flowers; or Duty and Beauty for Colored Children (1905), black girl figures return to the domestic sphere and defer to black male leadership due to an increase in violence at the turn of the century. Chapter Four, “Black Girlhood in Gwendolyn Brooks’s Annie Allen (1949),” argues that Gwendolyn Brooks’s modernist poems offer an alternative to the conduct manual by privileging the black girl’s interiority and freeing her from an instructive role. GIRLHOOD IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1827-1949 by Nazera Sadiq Wright Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Carla L. Peterson, Chair/Advisor Mary Helen Washington, Chair/Advisor Robert S. Levine Zita Nunes Elsa Barkely-Brown, Dean’s Representative ©Copyright by Nazera Sadiq Wright 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 Defining Childhood ....................................................................................... 6 Defining Girlhood......................................................................................... 11 The White Woman as Civilizing Agent......................................................... 14 The Black Woman as Civilizing Agent ......................................................... 17 The Black Girl as Civilizing Agent ............................................................... 19 A Tale of Two Black Girls: Lucy Terry and Phillis Wheatley...................... 22 Chapter Outline.............................................................................................. 27 CHAPTER ONE: ANTEBELLUM GIRLHOOD IN AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE........................................................................................... 36 Freedom’s Journal......................................................................................... 40 The Orphaned Black Girl............................................................................... 44 The Marriageable Black Girl ......................................................................... 49 The Little Black Girl...................................................................................... 51 Orphanhood........................................................................................... 53 Surrogate Motherhood .......................................................................... 54 Education .............................................................................................. 55 Colored American.......................................................................................... 57 The Educated Black Girl....................................................................... 61 African American Women Authors and Models of Racial Progress............. 62 Maria Stewart’s “The First Stage of Life”............................................ 62 Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig...................................................................... 65 Harriet Jacobs’s Linda; or Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl ........... 74 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER TWO: BLACK GIRLHOOD POST-EMANCIPATION ............................ 85 Fairy Tales in the Christian Recorder ........................................................... 88 The Post-Reconstruction Era ................................................................ 96 Mrs. N. F. Mossell’s “The Women’s Department” ....................................... 98 Serialization and the Black Girl.....................................................................108 Frances E.W. Harper’s Trial and Triumph ....................................................112 Beyond the Racially-Indeterminate Girl Figure ...................................115 Destabilizing the Grand/mother as Sole Nurturing Figure ...................117 Community as Nurturer ........................................................................120 Annette’s Education..............................................................................123 Conclusion .....................................................................................................127 ii CHAPTER THREE: RACE GIRLS IN FLOYD’S FLOWERS ......................................129 Conduct Book Discourse ...............................................................................132 Floyd’s “Dutiful” Girls ..................................................................................139 “True Little Ladies”: Floyd’s Beautiful Girls................................................149 Interrelationships of Text and Image in Floyd’s Flowers..............................157 Conclusion .....................................................................................................162 CHAPTER FOUR: BLACK GIRLHOOD IN GWENDOLYN BROOKS’S ANNIE ALLEN ...............................................................................................................167 Structure of “Notes”.......................................................................................170 Imagination and the Black Girl......................................................................175 Critiquing Tradition .......................................................................................180 Rejecting Parental Guidance..........................................................................188 Critiquing Conformism..................................................................................197 Advocating Active Participation....................................................................201 Conclusion .....................................................................................................208 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................213 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my dissertation advisors, Carla L. Peterson and Mary Helen Washington. Their advice and constructive critique have resulted in a stronger project. Robert Levine, Zita Nunes, and Theresa Coletti have provided me feedback, support and encouragement over the years, for which I am grateful. As I completed my graduate work, I have had the opportunity to gain fabulous friends whose support of me and my work has been invaluable. You all shaped my work in significant ways, and I am honored that you are a part of my life. They are Christopher Cozier, Marlene Daut, Kevin Gould, Daniel Hartley, Paul Haynes, Yvette Green Pittman, Quintus Jett, Wayne Lewis, Rocio Magana, Opher Mansour, Trimiko Melancon, Ana Merino, Lareine-Marie Mosely, Steven Thurston Oliver, Shana Redmond, and Jenny Tone-Pah-Hote. I have found mentorship in colleagues who have contributed to and encouraged my successes. They are Victoria Arana, Herman Beavers, Michael Chaney, Ann DuCille, Michelle Elam, Dayleanne English, Gretchen Gerzina, Gene Andrew Jarrett, Deborah McDowell, Joanne Melish, Alan Nadel, Donald Pease, Ashraf Rushdy, Marion Rust, Ivy Wilson, Jon Woodson, and Clyde Woods. I thank my new colleagues at the University of Kentucky for their encouragement during my last few months of writing. Your confidence in me and support helped make my first year at Kentucky truly rewarding. I am the fortunate
Recommended publications
  • The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry
    0/-*/&4637&: *ODPMMBCPSBUJPOXJUI6OHMVFJU XFIBWFTFUVQBTVSWFZ POMZUFORVFTUJPOT UP MFBSONPSFBCPVUIPXPQFOBDDFTTFCPPLTBSFEJTDPWFSFEBOEVTFE 8FSFBMMZWBMVFZPVSQBSUJDJQBUJPOQMFBTFUBLFQBSU $-*$,)&3& "OFMFDUSPOJDWFSTJPOPGUIJTCPPLJTGSFFMZBWBJMBCMF UIBOLTUP UIFTVQQPSUPGMJCSBSJFTXPSLJOHXJUI,OPXMFEHF6OMBUDIFE ,6JTBDPMMBCPSBUJWFJOJUJBUJWFEFTJHOFEUPNBLFIJHIRVBMJUZ CPPLT0QFO"DDFTTGPSUIFQVCMJDHPPE The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry The Black Arts Enterprise and the Production of African American Poetry Howard Rambsy II The University of Michigan Press • Ann Arbor First paperback edition 2013 Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2011 All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid-free paper 2016 2015 2014 2013 5432 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rambsy, Howard. The black arts enterprise and the production of African American poetry / Howard Rambsy, II. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-472-11733-8 (cloth : acid-free paper) 1. American poetry—African American authors—History and criticism. 2. Poetry—Publishing—United States—History—20th century. 3. African Americans—Intellectual life—20th century. 4. African Americans in literature. I. Title. PS310.N4R35 2011 811'.509896073—dc22 2010043190 ISBN 978-0-472-03568-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-472-12005-5 (e-book) Cover illustrations: photos of writers (1) Haki Madhubuti and (2) Askia M. Touré, Mari Evans, and Kalamu ya Salaam by Eugene B. Redmond; other images from Shutterstock.com: jazz player by Ian Tragen; African mask by Michael Wesemann; fist by Brad Collett.
    [Show full text]
  • HARLEM in SHAKESPEARE and SHAKESPEARE in HARLEM: the SONNETS of CLAUDE MCKAY, COUNTEE CULLEN, LANGSTON HUGHES, and GWENDOLYN BROOKS David J
    Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 5-1-2015 HARLEM IN SHAKESPEARE AND SHAKESPEARE IN HARLEM: THE SONNETS OF CLAUDE MCKAY, COUNTEE CULLEN, LANGSTON HUGHES, AND GWENDOLYN BROOKS David J. Leitner Southern Illinois University Carbondale, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Leitner, David J., "HARLEM IN SHAKESPEARE AND SHAKESPEARE IN HARLEM: THE SONNETS OF CLAUDE MCKAY, COUNTEE CULLEN, LANGSTON HUGHES, AND GWENDOLYN BROOKS" (2015). Dissertations. Paper 1012. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HARLEM IN SHAKESPEARE AND SHAKESPEARE IN HARLEM: THE SONNETS OF CLAUDE MCKAY, COUNTEE CULLEN, LANGSTON HUGHES, AND GWENDOLYN BROOKS by David Leitner B.A., University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, 1999 M.A., Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2005 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Department of English in the Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale May 2015 DISSERTATION APPROVAL HARLEM IN SHAKESPEARE AND SHAKESPEARE IN HARLEM: THE SONNETS OF CLAUDE MCKAY, COUNTEE CULLEN, LANGSTON HUGHES, AND GWENDOLYN BROOKS By David Leitner A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of English Approved by: Edward Brunner, Chair Robert Fox Mary Ellen Lamb Novotny Lawrence Ryan Netzley Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale April 10, 2015 AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF DAVID LEITNER, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in ENGLISH, presented on April 10, 2015, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
    [Show full text]
  • Selected Highlights of Women's History
    Selected Highlights of Women’s History United States & Connecticut 1773 to 2015 The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women omen have made many contributions, large and Wsmall, to the history of our state and our nation. Although their accomplishments are too often left un- recorded, women deserve to take their rightful place in the annals of achievement in politics, science and inven- Our tion, medicine, the armed forces, the arts, athletics, and h philanthropy. 40t While this is by no means a complete history, this book attempts to remedy the obscurity to which too many Year women have been relegated. It presents highlights of Connecticut women’s achievements since 1773, and in- cludes entries from notable moments in women’s history nationally. With this edition, as the PCSW celebrates the 40th anniversary of its founding in 1973, we invite you to explore the many ways women have shaped, and continue to shape, our state. Edited and designed by Christine Palm, Communications Director This project was originally created under the direction of Barbara Potopowitz with assistance from Christa Allard. It was updated on the following dates by PCSW’s interns: January, 2003 by Melissa Griswold, Salem College February, 2004 by Nicole Graf, University of Connecticut February, 2005 by Sarah Hoyle, Trinity College November, 2005 by Elizabeth Silverio, St. Joseph’s College July, 2006 by Allison Bloom, Vassar College August, 2007 by Michelle Hodge, Smith College January, 2013 by Andrea Sanders, University of Connecticut Information contained in this book was culled from many sources, including (but not limited to): The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Weekly Anglo-African the Pine and Palm
    Weekly Anglo-African and The Pine and Palm Excerpts from 1861–1862 Edited and Introduction by Brigitte Fielder, Cassander Smith, and Derrick R. Spires for Just Teach One–Early African American Print Introduction subscription agents) coalesce against a common enemy: James Brigitte Fielder, Cassander Smith, and Derrick R. Spires Redpath (1833-1891) and Haitian emigration. At the same time, this transition speaks to the precariousness of newspaper funding, as Thomas Hamilton (1823-1865) was forced to sell Resolved, That we firmly, flatly, uncompromisingly the Weekly Anglo-African to James Redpath, who then oppose, condemn and denounce as unfair and unjust, as unwise rebranded the Weekly for a new purpose. It speaks to the and as unchristian, the fleeing, colonizing efforts urged by interracial and international character of the newspaper James Redpath, the white, seconded by George Lawrence, Jr., business more broadly and the importance of tracing financing. the black, who is employed by him. Hamilton, for instance sought funding for the Weekly Anglo- Resolved, That we do not deny the right of Mr. James African from a wide range of sources: white abolitionist Redpath and a Boston firm of white gentlemen to give eleven supporters such as John Jay, Jr, black activists such as James hundred dollars for the “Anglo-African,” and for Mr. Redpath McCune Smith, selling books out of his offices, and borrowing to bind Mr. Thomas Hamilton, the late proprietor thereof, not against a life insurance policy he took out on himself for that 1 to issue another paper for circulation among the colored purpose. Throughout these efforts, no one questioned people; but we do declare that he is not justified in the Hamilton’s status as the paper’s proprietor or the paper’s status deceptive policy of placing at the head of the paper, like the as a black newspaper.
    [Show full text]
  • Publishing Blackness: Textual Constructions of Race Since 1850
    0/-*/&4637&: *ODPMMBCPSBUJPOXJUI6OHMVFJU XFIBWFTFUVQBTVSWFZ POMZUFORVFTUJPOT UP MFBSONPSFBCPVUIPXPQFOBDDFTTFCPPLTBSFEJTDPWFSFEBOEVTFE 8FSFBMMZWBMVFZPVSQBSUJDJQBUJPOQMFBTFUBLFQBSU $-*$,)&3& "OFMFDUSPOJDWFSTJPOPGUIJTCPPLJTGSFFMZBWBJMBCMF UIBOLTUP UIFTVQQPSUPGMJCSBSJFTXPSLJOHXJUI,OPXMFEHF6OMBUDIFE ,6JTBDPMMBCPSBUJWFJOJUJBUJWFEFTJHOFEUPNBLFIJHIRVBMJUZ CPPLT0QFO"DDFTTGPSUIFQVCMJDHPPE publishing blackness publishing blackness Textual Constructions of Race Since 1850 George Hutchinson and John K. Young, editors The University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2013 All rights reserved This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher. Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid- free paper 2016 2015 2014 2013 4 3 2 1 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Publishing blackness : textual constructions of race since 1850 / George Hutchinson and John Young, editiors. pages cm — (Editorial theory and literary criticism) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 472- 11863- 2 (hardback) — ISBN (invalid) 978- 0- 472- 02892- 4 (e- book) 1. American literature— African American authors— History and criticism— Theory, etc. 2. Criticism, Textual. 3. American literature— African American authors— Publishing— History. 4. Literature publishing— Political aspects— United States— History. 5. African Americans— Intellectual life. 6. African Americans in literature. I. Hutchinson, George, 1953– editor of compilation. II. Young, John K. (John Kevin), 1968– editor of compilation PS153.N5P83 2012 810.9'896073— dc23 2012042607 acknowledgments Publishing Blackness has passed through several potential versions before settling in its current form.
    [Show full text]
  • "Citizens in the Making": Black Philadelphians, the Republican Party and Urban Reform, 1885-1913
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2017 "Citizens In The Making": Black Philadelphians, The Republican Party And Urban Reform, 1885-1913 Julie Davidow University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Davidow, Julie, ""Citizens In The Making": Black Philadelphians, The Republican Party And Urban Reform, 1885-1913" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2247. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2247 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2247 For more information, please contact [email protected]. "Citizens In The Making": Black Philadelphians, The Republican Party And Urban Reform, 1885-1913 Abstract “Citizens in the Making” broadens the scope of historical treatments of black politics at the end of the nineteenth century by shifting the focus of electoral battles away from the South, where states wrote disfranchisement into their constitutions. Philadelphia offers a municipal-level perspective on the relationship between African Americans, the Republican Party, and political and social reformers, but the implications of this study reach beyond one city to shed light on a nationwide effort to degrade and diminish black citizenship. I argue that black citizenship was constructed as alien and foreign in the urban North in the last decades of the nineteenth century and that this process operated in tension with and undermined the efforts of black Philadelphians to gain traction on their exercise of the franchise. For black Philadelphians at the end of the nineteenth century, the franchise did not seem doomed or secure anywhere in the nation.
    [Show full text]
  • American Women Writers, Visual Vocabularies, and the Lives of Literary Regionalism Katherine Mary Bloomquist Washington University in St
    Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) Winter 1-1-2012 American Women Writers, Visual Vocabularies, and the Lives of Literary Regionalism Katherine Mary Bloomquist Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd Recommended Citation Bloomquist, Katherine Mary, "American Women Writers, Visual Vocabularies, and the Lives of Literary Regionalism" (2012). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 997. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/997 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Department of English Dissertation Examination Committee: Vivian Pollak, Chair Ruth Bohan Anca Parvulescu Daniel Shea Akiko Tsuchiya Rafia Zafar American Women Writers, Visual Vocabularies, and the Lives of Literary Regionalism by Katherine Mary Bloomquist A dissertation presented to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2012 Saint Louis, Missouri © Copyright 2012 by Katherine Mary Bloomquist All rights reserved. Table of Contents List of Figures iii Acknowledgements iv Dissertation Abstract v Introduction: 1 Of Maps and Memoirs Chapter 1: 30 Self and Other Portraits: Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron” as Human Documents Chapter 2: 79 As If They Had a History: Documenting the Things Named in Willa Cather’s Regional Fiction Chapter 3: 137 In Place of Picture-Postcards: “Some Measure of Privacy” in Ann Petry’s Wheeling Chapter 4: 190 “Some Kind of a Writin’ Person”: Regionalism’s Unfinished Women Writers Bibliography 245 ii List of Figures Figure 1: 29 Cover Image of The Local Colorists: American Short Stories 1857-1900, ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Archival Expert Assignment Sheet
    Melissa Range Lawrence University [email protected] Archival expert assignment sheet This term, you will be in charge of leading one class as the “archival expert.” Your assignment is simple: I want you to read nineteenth century newspapers published by African American editors. Using two of the library’s electronic databases—African American Newspapers and/or Accessible Archives—you will make use of digital archives to provide historical context for the day’s reading. Here’s what to do for prep work, step by step: • On the date you’re signed up to be the archival expert, look at when the writer published their works. (So, for example: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper published Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects in 1855.) • Determine a location that is relevant to the writer, if possible. For Harper, this could be Baltimore (where she grew up), Philadelphia (where she lived and worked as an adult), or Boston (where she frequently lectured). • Now choose a newspaper that is relevant to the date and the location of the poet. If you want to get even more specific, you can (for example, you could look at an abolitionist newspaper for Harper). If you can find one, you can also choose a newspaper where the writer published. • Select an issue of the newspaper and read the whole thing: news, editorials, poetry, even the advertisements. (Be forewarned, the print is tiny and there’s a lot of text.) As you read, make note of anything at all—newspaper poems, news items, even weather—that you feel gives interesting context to the work the class will be discussing.
    [Show full text]
  • In 1848 the Slave-Turned-Abolitionist Frederick Douglass Wrote In
    The Union LeagUe, BLack Leaders, and The recrUiTmenT of PhiLadeLPhia’s african american civiL War regimenTs Andrew T. Tremel n 1848 the slave-turned-abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote in Ithe National Anti-Slavery Standard newspaper that Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “more than any other [city] in our land, holds the destiny of our people.”1 Yet Douglass was also one of the biggest critics of the city’s treatment of its black citizens. He penned a censure in 1862: “There is not perhaps anywhere to be found a city in which prejudice against color is more rampant than Philadelphia.”2 There were a number of other critics. On March 4, 1863, the Christian Recorder, the official organ of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, commented after race riots in Detroit, “Even here, in the city of Philadelphia, in many places it is almost impossible for a respectable colored per- son to walk the streets without being assaulted.”3 To be sure, Philadelphia’s early residents showed some mod- erate sympathy with black citizens, especially through the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, but as the nineteenth century progressed, Philadelphia witnessed increased racial tension and a number of riots. In 1848 Douglass wrote in response to these pennsylvania history: a journal of mid-atlantic studies, vol. 80, no. 1, 2013. Copyright © 2013 The Pennsylvania Historical Association This content downloaded from 128.118.152.206 on Wed, 09 Jan 2019 20:56:18 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms pennsylvania history attitudes, “The Philadelphians were apathetic and neglectful of their duty to the black community as a whole.” The 1850s became a period of adjustment for the antislavery movement.
    [Show full text]
  • Finding Aid to the Historymakers ® Video Oral History with Eugenia Collier
    Finding Aid to The HistoryMakers ® Video Oral History with Eugenia Collier Overview of the Collection Repository: The HistoryMakers®1900 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60616 [email protected] www.thehistorymakers.com Creator: Collier, Eugenia W. Title: The HistoryMakers® Video Oral History Interview with Eugenia Collier, Dates: August 7, 2013 and May 20, 2014 Bulk Dates: 2013 and 2014 Physical 12 uncompressed MOV digital video files (5:24:45). Description: Abstract: English professor Eugenia Collier (1928 - ) was best known for her 1969 short story “Marigolds.” She also taught English for forty-one years at several colleges and universities. Collier was interviewed by The HistoryMakers® on August 7, 2013 and May 20, 2014, in Catonsville, Maryland. This collection is comprised of the original video footage of the interview. Identification: A2013_223 Language: The interview and records are in English. Biographical Note by The HistoryMakers® Author and professor Eugenia Collier was born on April 6, 1928 in Baltimore, Maryland to Harry Maceo, a physician, and Eugenia Williams, an educator. She received her B.A. degree from Howard University (magna cum laude) in 1948. In 1950, she received her M.A. degree from Columbia University and in 1976, her Ph. D. degree from the University of Maryland. Collier’s dissertation was “Steps Toward a Black Aesthetic: A Study of Black American Literary Criticism,” which was published by the University of Maryland. After graduating from Columbia University, she worked as a caseworker from After graduating from Columbia University, she worked as a caseworker from 1950 to 1955 with the Baltimore Department of Public Welfare. In 1955, she joined the faculty at Morgan State College (now Morgan State University) as an English instructor.
    [Show full text]
  • Roads Lead to San Francisco: Black Californian Networks of Community and the Struggle for Equality, 1849-1877
    All Roads Lead to San Francisco: Black Californian Networks of Community and the Struggle for Equality, 1849-1877 By Eunsun Celeste Han B. A., Seoul National University, 2009 M. A., Brown University, 2010 Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History at Brown University PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND MAY 2015 © Copyright 2015 by Eunsun Celeste Han This dissertation by Eunsun Celeste Han is accepted in its present form by the Department of History as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Michael Vorenberg, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date Françoise Hamlin, Reader Date Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date Peter M. Weber, Dean of the Graduate School iii CURRICULUM VITAE Date of Birth: April 11, 1986, Junjoo, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea EDUCATION Ph.D., History, May, 2015 Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island M.A., History, May, 2010 Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island B.A., Western History, Feb., 2009 summa cum laude, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea QUALIFYING FIELDS Nineteenth-Century U. S. History African American History Colonial Latin American History PUBLICATIONS Eunsun Celeste Han, “Making a Black Pacific: Black Californians and Transpacific Community Networks in the Mid-Nineteenth Century,” under review at The Journal of African American History (2015). HONORS AND FELLOWSHIPS W. M. Keck Foundation Fellow at the Huntington, July-August, 2013 The Huntington Library, San Marino, California William G. McLoughlin Travel Fund, October, 2012 Brown University Department of History fund for research and conference travels William G.
    [Show full text]
  • Legislation Especially for the Negro?
    Wycoff: LEGISLATION ESPECIALLY FOR THE NEGRO? THE BLACK PRESS RESPONDS TO LEGISLATION ESPECIALLY FOR THE NEGRO? THE BLACK PRESS RESPONDS TO EARLY SUPREME COURT CIVIL RIGHTS DECISIONS David Wycofft I. INTRODUCTION ....................... 2. We object to being put on a level with II. THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH them ............................. 68 AMENDMENTS BECOME BUT HIDEOUS VII. CONCLUSION .......................... 71 M O CKERIES ............................ III. EARNESTLY DISCUSSING THE I. INTRODUCTION DECISIO NS ............................. The years 1873-1883 form perhaps the most im- IV. FEDERALISM ........................... portant decade in United States constitutional history.' A. PRESERVING THE MAIN FEATURES OF In the course of deciding a steady stream of cases in- THE GENERAL SYSTEM ................ volving the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth B. THE CAUSE OF ALL OUR WOES ....... amendments, 2 the Supreme Court laid the basis for the V. CLASS LEGISLATION ................... next century of the constitutional law of civil rights and VI. CLASS LEGISLATION IN THE BLACK civil liberties. Unfortunately, it was a "dreadful dec- PR E SS .................................. ade." In decision after decision, the Court struck down A. THE BANE OF THE NEGRO Is federal laws designed to protect civil rights and civil lib- LEGISLATION ESPECIALLY FOR THE erties, and devitalized the new amendments. N EGRO .............................. These early civil rights decisions of the United B. The Negro Is A Citizen And Must Be States Supreme Court provoked a significant response Protected ............................ in the African American community. Discussion of the 1. The same rights as are enjoyed by other decisions, especially the Civil Rights Cases (1883), was 4a people ............................ major theme in the African American press of the time. t Law Clerk, Honorable James T.
    [Show full text]