5] l.oi; THE BEST SHORT STORIES BY BLACK WRITERS, 1967 TO THE PRESENT Edited by GLORIA NAYLOR Little, Brown and Company BOSTON NEW YORK TORONTO LONDON Editor's Note ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Children of the Night xiii PART I: REMEMBERING . SLAVERY Samuel Delaney: The Tale ofGorgik (1979) 5 Sherley Anne Williams: Meditations on History (1980) 58 John Edgar Wideman: Damballah (1981) 100 Jewelle Gomez: Louisiana: 1850 (1991) 109 A PERSONAL PAST Alexis DeVeaux: Remember Him a Outlaw (1972) 152 Andrea Lee: Mother (1984) 163 Jewell Parker Rhodes: Long Distances (1989) 172 Howard Gordon: After Dreaming of President Johnson (1992) 180 THE CHANGING TIMES Diane Oliver: Neighbors (1967) 189 Ann Petry: The Witness (1971) 205 Maya Angelou: Steady Going Up (1972) 223 Toni Cade Bambara: The Lesson (1977) 232 Gloria Naylor: Kiswana Browne (1982) 240 PART II: AFFIRMING . THE FAMILY Rita Dove: Second-Hand Man (1985) 255 Jess Mowry: Crusader Rabbit (1988) • 262 Helen Elaine Lee: Silences (1990) 269 Carolyn Ferrell: Proper Library (1993) 280 viii Contents THE FAITH Alice Walker: Diary of an African Nun (1973) 296 Shay Youngblood: In a House of Wooden Monkeys (1989) 300 Joyce Carol Thomas: Young Reverend Zelma Lee Moses (1990) 304 THE SELF James Baldwin: Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone (1968) 324 Michael Weaver: By the Way of Morning Fire (1983) 352 Charles Johnson: China (1986) 360 PART III: REVEALING THE SELF DIVIDED . WE WHO HAVE Jamaica Kincaid: Blackness (1983) 381 Edward P. Jones: Lost in the City (1992) 385 Randall Kenan: Run, Mourner, Run (1992) 394 WE WHO HAVE NOT Sam Greenlee: Blues for Little Prez (1973) 414 Terry McMillan; Ma'Dear (1990) 423 Kelvin Christopher James: Transaction (1992) 434 THEM AND US James Alan McPherson: A Loaf of Bread (1972) 445 Ralph Ellison: Backwacking, a Plea to the Senator (1977) 464 Colleen McElroy: The Woman Who Would Eat Flowers (1990) 471 Thomas Glave: —And Love Them? (1993) 502 PART IV: MOVING ON ... BREAKING NEW GROUND Clarence Major: An Area in the Cerebral Hemisphere (1975) 523 Ntozake Shange: oh she gotta headfulla hair (1978) 529 Carolivia Herron: That Place (1987) 532 LAUNCHING THE FUTURE Edwidge Danticat: New York Day Women (1995) 562 Biographies 567.