Originally published in 1930 and now back in print with an introduction by Zadie Smith, Black Manhattan traces the Black experience in New York City from its origins in the seventeenth century, through the Revolutionary and Civil War periods, to the triumphant achievements of the Harlem Renaissance. Written by one of the leading Black scholars and activists of the first half of the twentieth century, this timeless book also illuminates Black literature,...

In Part One I examine the literary, historical, and social contexts within which the emerging Black literature took root. Conditions encouraged certain qualities in the literature, qualities which have persisted as racism has persisted: 1) a collective point of view; 2) the mimetic mode; 3) a sensitivity to the play of power; 4) a consciousness of the fragility of the self; 5) a predilection for the moral imperative; and 6) a recurrence of the tactic...

"Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, and was raised by his grandmother, who told him many stories of the Black American experience and taught him to be proud of his race from a young age. With her guidance, Langston became a talented writer in high school, creating dramatic plays, poetry, and articles for the school paper. His career as a writer would continue to blossom. Langston pioneered jazz poetry and published nearly twenty poetry...

Introduction. 1. "Laffin fit ter kill:" Black Humor in the Fiction of William Wells Brown and Charles W. Chesnutt. 2. The Conjurer Recoils: Slavery in Richard Pryor and Chappelle's Show. 3. Conjuring the Mysteries of Slavery: Voodoo, Fetishism, and Stereotype in Ishmael Reed's Flight to Canada. 4. "A Comedy of the Grotesque": Robert Colescott, Kara Walker and the Iconography of Slavery. 5. The Tragicomedy of Slavery in Suzan-Lori Parks' Early Plays....

"A magnificent, foundational reckoning with how Black Americans have used the written word to define and redefine themselves, in resistance to the lies of racism and often in heated disagreement with each other, over the course of the country's history. Distilled over many years from Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s legendary Harvard introductory course in African American Studies, The Black Box: Writing the Race, is the story of Black self-definition in...

"A pillar of African American literature, Richard Wright is one of the most celebrated and controversial authors in American history. His work championed intellectual freedom amid social and political chaos. Despite the popular and critical success of books such as Uncle Tom's Children (1938), Black Boy (1945), and Native Son (1941), Wright faced staunch criticism and even censorship throughout his career for the graphic sexuality, intense violence,...