Research Catalog

Title

Before Harlem : an anthology of African American literature from the long nineteenth century / edited by Ajuan Maria Mance.

Publication

Knoxville : The University of Tennessee Press, [2016]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Mance, Ajuan Maria

Description

xlviii, 704 pages; 23 cm

Summary

• "Despite important recovery and authentication efforts during the last twenty-five years, the vast majority of nineteenth-century African American writers and their work remain unknown to today's readers. Moreover, the most widely used anthologies of black writing have established a canon based largely on current interests and priorities. Seeking to establish a broader perspective, this collection brings together a wealth of autobiographical writings, fiction, poetry, speeches, sermons, essays, and journalism that better portrays the intellectual and cultural debates, social and political struggles, and community publications and institutions that nurtured black writers from the early 1800s to the eve of the Harlem Renaissance. As editor Ajuan Mance notes, previous collections have focused mainly on writing that found a significant audience among white readers. Consequently, authors whose work appeared in African American-owned publications for a primarily black audience--such as Solomon G. Brown, Henrietta Cordelia Ray, and T. Thomas Fortune--have faded from memory. Even figures as celebrated as Frederick Douglass and Paul Laurence Dunbar are today much better known for their "cross-racial" writings than for the larger bodies of work they produced for a mostly African American readership. There has also been a tendency in modern canon making, especially in the genre of autobiography, to stress antebellum writing rather than writings produced after the Civil War and Reconstruction. Similarly, religious writings--despite the centrality of the church in the everyday lives of black readers and the interconnectedness of black spiritual and intellectual life--have not received the emphasis they deserve. Filling those critical gaps with a selection of 143 works by 65 writers, Before Harlem presents as never before an in-depth picture of the literary, aesthetic, and intellectual landscape of nineteenth-century African America and will be a valuable resource for a new generation of readers."--
• "This anthology presents underappreciated works by African Americans active throughout the nineteenth century. Readers will find familiar names in this anthology, such as Douglass, Wells Brown, Jacobs, and Du Bois, but readers will also be introduced to lesser known and even unknown African Americans worthy of discussion, such as Solomon G. Brown, H. Cordelia Ray, and T. Thomas Fortune. Mance's intention for this volume is to offer an alternative to the Norton and Houghton Mifflin anthologies that emphasize only the canonical works of African American literature in the 19th century and to introduce students--and even professors--to a variety of writings, from poetry to journalism, by African Americans who have yet to receive their due"--

Subjects

• American literature > African American authors
• African Americans
• Slavery in literature
• African American poets > 19th century
• African Americans > Literary collections
• American literature > African American authors > 19th century > History and criticism
• American literature > African American authors > 19th century > Literary collections
• Literary collections
• 1800 - 1899
• American literature > 19th century

Genre/Form

Literary collections.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Call Number

Sc E 16-510

ISBN

• 9781621902027
• 1621902021

LCCN

2015035900

OCLC

910294514

Title

Before Harlem : an anthology of African American literature from the long nineteenth century / edited by Ajuan Maria Mance.

Publisher

Knoxville : The University of Tennessee Press, [2016]

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1800 - 1899

Added Author

Mance, Ajuan Maria, editor.

Research Call Number

Sc E 16-510