Research Catalog

Richard Witherspoon papers.

Title
Richard Witherspoon papers.
Author
Witherspoon, Richard
Publication
1971-2006, bulk 1980 - 1991.
Supplementary Content
Finding aid

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6 Items

StatusContainerFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
box 1Mixed materialUse in library Sc MG 791 box 1Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
box 2Mixed materialUse in library Sc MG 791 box 2Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
box 3Mixed materialUse in library Sc MG 791 box 3Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
box 4Mixed materialUse in library Sc MG 791 box 4Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
box 5Mixed materialUse in library Sc MG 791 box 5Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
oversize_folder 1Mixed materialUse in library Sc MG 791 oversize_folder 1Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives

Details

Description
2.09 linear feet (5 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Summary
  • This collection includes Witherspoon’s published and unpublished poetry, including his best known works: "An American Haiku Novel" and "On the Stair", both in his signature style of linked-haiku or renga. A travel journal kept in Africa, a critique of the Kenyan educational system, a play about the Black hijacker of a bus, an educational program report, various printed material, notebooks, and miscellaneous correspondence complete the collection.
  • Born in New York City in 1947, Richard Witherspoon (a.k.a. James R. Patton) is a poet who began publishing poetry in the 1970s and subsequently published with Black gay writing groups that produced "Yemonja: The Blackheart Collective" (1982), "Other Countries" (1988), and "The Road Before Us" (1991) as well as more generally in "Black Men/White Men" (1983), "The James White Review" (1993), "LYNX" (1989-1997), "frogpond" (1981), and "New Cicada" (1985-1997). As a gay African American poet, physically and psychically in diaspora, Witherspoon, regarding the hegemonic oppression of difference and publishing nationally and internationally in print and on the Web, transgressively opposes this oppression by creating worlds of linked-haiku (renga) wherein, sexually, all flourish. Additionally, as an educator in the NYC public school system for over twenty-five years, he views education acquisition as a transgressive act of liberation against a system intent on limiting possibilities rather than expanding possibilities for all.
Subjects
Source (note)
  • Gift of Richard Witherspoon, May 2000.
Location of Other Archival Materials (note)
  • In the Life Archive (ITLA) miscellaneous collections, Sc MG 736, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Other Countries records, Sc MG 627, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Processing Action (note)
  • Processing Information: Accessioned by Steven G. Fullwood, June 2008.
Call Number
Sc MG 791
OCLC
1202610008
Author
Witherspoon, Richard, creator.
Title
Richard Witherspoon papers.
Production
1971-2006, bulk 1980 - 1991.
Type of Content
text
still image
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
sheet
Location of Other Archival Materials
In the Life Archive (ITLA) miscellaneous collections, Sc MG 736, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Other Countries records, Sc MG 627, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Materials Separated from the Resource: Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio and moving image materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270. Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs
Processing Action
Processing Information: Accessioned by Steven G. Fullwood, June 2008.
Source
Gift of Richard Witherspoon, May 2000.
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Finding aid
Research Call Number
Sc MG 791
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