• Amazon Books Online
• African American Bookshelf Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, Videos

Tools

• African American Literature University of California at Santa Barbara: The Voice of the Shuttle
• African American Literature Syllabi Prepared by Georgetown University Crossroads Project
• An Outline of American Literature United States Information Agency
• Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age
• MLA Guide
• MLA: Citing Electronic Materials

General

• Africa: Language Areas, Regions, CountriesElectronic Journal of Africana Biliography provided by the University of Illinois
• African Americans in History Biographies prepared by the African American Institute at the University of Georgia
• African American Literature A USC library definition and link resource
• African American Women Writers: Critical and Biographical Resources Rutgers University
• African American Women Writers: Dissertation Abstracts General and Specific: Vinette Carroll, Alice Childress, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Shirley Graham (DuBois), Angela Weld Grimke, Lorraine Hansberry, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Adrienne Kennedy, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange, Anna Devere Smith
• African American Voices: A Booklist of Recent Titles By and About African-Americans New York Public Library
• Afro-American Sources in Virginia: A Guide to Manuscripts University Press of Virginia
• Alienation and Initiation as a Theme in American Literature" From Paul P. Reuben's Perspectives in American Literature: A Research and Reference Guide
• American Literature Links to most major authors on the web
• The Bible: King James Version
• "The Black Canon: Reconstructing Black Literary Criticism"
• A Clickable Map of the African Continent
• Documents of The African American Experience Online texts: letters, elegies, narratives, legal documents
• Guide to Afro-American Documentary Sources in North Carolina University Press of Virginia
• "Jazz and Literature" From Donald Kennington's book The Literature of Jazz (1971)
• Key Sites on American Literature General, colonial, contemporary
• Literary Resources: Ethnicities and Nationalities Sites that address race, ethnicity or nationality
• Literature in the American South From the Encyclopedia of Southern Literature (1989)
• "The Master's Pieces: On Canon Formation and the Afro-American Tradition" Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in Charles Moran and Elizabeth Penfield Conversations (1990), 55-57
• Minority Literatures African American, Native American, Asian American

  ---

  Bibliographies

  A Harlem Renaissance Bibliography Provided by (CEPACS) Center for Electronic Projects in American Culture Syudies
  Phillis Wheatley (c.1753-1784) A Biblography
  African American Novelists A Bibliography
  Selected Bibliography of Critical Work on Langston Hughes
  Authors and the Federal Writers' Project Arna Bontemps
  Biographical Sources on African American Novelists A Bibliography
  Documenting the History of African American Literature A Bibliography of book reviews and criticism provided by the University of Southern California
  Documenting the History of the African American Novel
  Literary Critcism and African American Literature A Bibliography provided by the University of Southern California
  Maya Angelou: A Selected Bibliography
  Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908) A Bibliography and Biography
  Richard Wright (1908-1960) A extensive bibliography of his fiction, non-fiction as well as secondary sources and critcial studies

  ---

  African American Oral Literature

  The African Oral Tradition Listen to a lecture by Herbert Woodward Martin (RealAudio)
  African American Folktales Afro-American Almanac
  "Dividing Up Souls" An African American Folktale
  "The Tar Baby"
  "The Honey-Gatherer and the Lizard" An African American Folktale
  "Baby, Patience, and Money" An African American Folktale
  Legends of the Old Plantation (1881) Joel Chandler Harris (Seven texts, analyses and contemporary reviews
  Harris and the Dialect Tradition: Introduction from Joel Chandler Harris¹ Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings A lecture by C.J. Fontenot, University of Illinois

  ---

  African American Writing

  Early African American Works (1749-1820)

  Olaudah Equiano (1745?-1797)

  Texts

  • Equiano The Life of Gustavus Vassa First slave autobiography (excerpts)
  • Excerpts from The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equino or Gustavus Vassa, the African An interactive text from the Equino Foundation
  Phillis Wheatly (1753-1784) Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) A Biography
  • Phillis Wheatley An online essay from P. Reuben's Perspectives on American Literature

  Texts

  • An elegy, sacred to the memory of the great divine, the Reverend and learned Dr. Samuel Cooper, who departed this life December 29, 1783, aetatis 59. by Phillis Peters. (1784)
  • "On Being Brought From Africa to America" (1773)

  Antebellum Works (1821-1860)

  William Wells Brown (1814-1884)
  • William Wells Brown: A Biography First American Black to write a novel: Clotel, or: The President's Daughter (1853)
  Charles Waddell Chestnutt (1858-1932)

  Texts

  • The Colonel's Dream Chestnutt (1905) Online text
  • The Marrow of Tradition Chestnutt (1901) Online text
  • The House Behind the Cedars Chestnutt (1900) Online text
  • The Wife of his Youth Chestnutt (1899) Online text
  • The Conjure Woman Chestnutt (1899) Online text

  Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906)

  • "An Ante-Bellum Sermon" (1896)

  George Moses Horton (1797-1893)

  • George Moses Horton: A Biography First black to publish a book in the South: The Hope of Liberty (1829)

  Slave Narratives (1840-1860)

  • Venture Smith: The Story of his Kidnapping
  • Slave Narratives 21 Narratives with online texts and illustartions
  • Nathan Beauchamp, Ruby Pickens Tartt Livingston, Simon Walker, Emma Crockett: Alabama WPA Slave Narrative Library of Congress
  • Elizabeth Johnson Harris: Life Story (1867-1923) Provided by Duke University Library
  • Narrative (1), Narrative (2), Narrative (3) , Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson: Slave Letters (1837-1838)
  • Narrative of Sojourner Truth, A Northern Slave (1875) Key abolitionist work
  • "Ain't I a Woman" Sojourner Truth online poem
  • Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave, Written by Himself (1949)

  Postbellum Novelists (1865-1901)

  Social Works (1890-1910)

  Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

  Texts

  • The Case of the Negro (1899)
  • Up From Slavery: An Autobiography Washington (1901)
  • The Awakening of the Negro (1896)
  • The Religious Life of the Negro (1905)
  • Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance? (1912)

    W. B. DuBois (1868-1963)

    Texts

  • Strivings of the Negro People (1897)
  • A Negro Schoolmaster in the New South (1899)
  • The Freedmen's Bureau (1901)
  • Of the Training of Black Men (1902)
  • The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

  Harlem Renaissance (1917-1935)

  • The Harlem Renaissance The time and the people
  • The Harlem Renaissance: An Introduction Excellent resource from Paul Reuben's Perspectives on American Literature
  • The Harlem Renaissance A Definition: Links include text examples of poetry and prose
  • Arna Bontemps (1902-1973) A Biography
  • Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902-1981) Online poetry
  • Countee Cullen (1903-1946) Online poetry
  • Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935) Online prose
  • Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960): A Biography and A Hurston Chronology

    Criticism

  • "In Search of Our Mother's Garden" An essay on Hurston and Walker

    Texts

  • "An Example of a Conjure Story" From "Hoodoo in America: Conjure Stories"
  • "'Member Youse a Nigger" from Zora Hurston's Mules and Men (1935) Online text
  • Mules and Men Hurston (1935) Excerpt
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston (1937) A summary of and comment on the novel
  • "Spunk" An online short story by Hurston
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) Excerpt
  • Claude McKay (1891-1948) Online poetry
  • Ann Spencer (1882-1976)Online poetry
  • Jean Toomer (1894-1967) Essays on Jean Toomer

  Growth of Naturalism (1935-1945)

  Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

  Texts

  • Langston Hughes (1902-1967): "Ballad of Booker T." (1941) A Draft
  • The Poetry of Langston Hughes Online texts: "In Time of Silver Rain", "Quiet Girl", "Walkers with the Dawn", "Dream Deferred", "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

    Criticism

  • The Growth of American NaturalismLangston Hughes: Major Themes, Historical Perspectives, Major Issues
  • Langston Hughes: Jazz Poet Biography and selected bibliography by and about Hughes

  Myth, Legend and Ritual (1945-1960)

  Ralph Ellison (1914-1994)

  Criticism

  • Invisible Man (1952) Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) A summary of and commentary on the novel
  • "A Critical Look at Ellison's Fiction..." Ernest Kaiser for Black World (1970)
  • "...A White View of Ralph Ellison" John Corry for Black World (1970)
  • "Black Boys and Native Sons" Irving Howe for Dissent (1963)

    Reviews

  • "The Deep Pit" a review of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (Lloyd Brown: in Masses & Mainstream (vol. 5, no. 6 [June 1952])
  • Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man A Saul Bellow Review
  • Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man A Ken Howe Review (1952)
  • Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man A Lloyd Brown Review (1952)
  • "Invincible Man Ralph Ellison" Time article by Richard Corliss (1994)
  • Juneteenth Reviews

    Texts

  • Letters Two letters, 1990-1992, Ralph Ellison to Lowry Ware.
  • Invisible Man Chapter 22

  Contemporary African American Literature (1960-)

  Maya Angelou (1928-)

  • Maya Angelou (1928-) A Biography
  • Maya Angelou and the African American Tradition" An essay by Byron D. Bourn
  • Maya Angelou Links: Biographical, Interviews and Critical Commentary, Poetry, Audio, Video

    Texts and Audio

  • "On the Pulse of the Morning" (1993) Online poem
  • Signifying (Sound file) Maya Angelou describes "signifying" and demonstrates with a poem
  • Angelou:"On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) (Sound file) The poet reads her poem delivered on President Clinton's inauguration: January 20, 1993
  • Angelou: "I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings" Online text
  • Angelou: "Still I Rise" Online text
  • Angelou: "Phenomenal Woman" Online text
  • Angelou: "The night has been long..." A poem read at the Million Man March
  • Angelou: "I shall not be moved" (1990) Includes online texts of: "Son to Mother", "Televised", "Glory Falls", "These yet to be United States" and "Equality"

    Interviews

  • An Interview with Maya Angelou An interview with Ken Kelley in Mother Jones

    James Baldwin (1924-1987)

  • "Stagolee" (1977) A Forward to Bobby Seale's Return to a Lonely Place

    Amiri Baraka (1934-)

  • "Minton's" An online excerpt from Amiri Baraka's (LeRoi Jones') novel Black Music (1967)

    Rita Dove (1952-)

  • Rita Dove Biography and Bibliogrpahy and poem: "Lady Freedom Among Us"
  • "Poetic Dove" 1993-1995 Poet Laureate of the United States, Rita Dove interviewed by Sean Kennedy (1995)
  • "Lives in Motion: Multiple Perspectives in Rita Dove's Poetry" An essay by Kevin Stein

    Nikki Giovanni (1943-)

  • Nikki Giovanni A Biography
  • Giovanni Poetry Six online poems

    bell hooks (1955-)

    Interviews

  • bell hooks interview Orlo Interview

    

  • bell hooks interview Interviewed by Kenneth Powell for Vibe April 15, 1995
  • A Washington Ripple Interview with bell hooks Interviewed by Marlene Smith & Julie Petrarca

    Texts

  • "Memories of Girlhood" (Chapter 8) Bone Black
  • "The Death of Patriachy in Crooklyn"
  • hooks' Teaching to Transgress (1994) Excerpts
  • Wounds of Passion Extract

    Criticism

  • bell hooks' Postmodern Blackness (1990)
  • Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (1994) Deborah Coen, Harvard
  • Outlaw Culture An essay and commentary

    Toni Morrison (1931-)

  • Toni Morrison A Biography: Quotations and Critical Reviews

    Criticism

  • Online essays on Morrison's WorksSula, Jazz, Beloved, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, The Bluest Eye
  • "The Inauthentic Tar Baby"
  • The Bluest Eye Morrison (1969)
  • Family, Gender, Race, the Supernatural: Themes in The Bluest Eye
  • Sula Morrison (1973)
  • Song of Solomon Morrison (1977)
  • Tar Baby Morrison(1981)
  • Beloved Morrison (1987)
  • Jazz Morrison (1992)

    Interview

  • A Toni Morrison Interview Interviewed by Zia Jaffrey for Salon (1998)

    Gloria Naylor (1950-)

  • Gloria Naylor A chronology
  • The Women of Brewster Place Naylor (1983) A summary of and commentary on the novel

    Ntkoze Shange (1948-)

  • An Interview with Ntokoze Shange Nell Beram for Hungry Mind Review
  • An Essay on Ntokoze Shange
  • Ntozake Shange (1949-) A biography as an American poet, dramatist and novelist
  • Ntkoze Shange Bio- Bibliography (May 1998)

    Alice Walker (1944)

    Criticism

  • Alice Walker (1944-) a timeline and Alice Walker Biography and bibliography
  • Meridian (1976) A summary and comment on the novel
  • "Everyday Use" A review
  • Personal Names and Heritage: Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" Helga Hoel, Trondheim Cathedral School, Norway
  • Quilts and Art in "Everyday Use"

    Interviews

  • An Interview with Alice Walker (1997) "A Wind Through the Heart" in Shambala Sun
  • An Interview with Alice Walker (1996) Interviewed by Ellen Kenner for ProMotion
  • An Interview with Alice Walker In Salon

    Texts

  • "Revolutionary Petunias" An online poem by Alice Walker
  • "Anything We Love Can be Saved" Alice Walker from Anything We Love Can be Saved (1997)
  • "Use"

    John Edgar Wideman (1941-)

    Criticism

  • The Cattle Killing (1997)

    Interviewss

  • An Interview with John Edgar Wideman (1997) Interviewed by Laura Miller for Salon

    Texts

  • Brothers and Keepers(1984)
  • Introduction to: Mumia Abu-Jamal, Live from Death Row (1995)

    Richard Wright (1908-1960)

  • Richard Wright (1908-1960) A Biography

  ---

  Journals, Magazines and Newspapers by and about African America

  General

  • Ebony "Over fifty years as the world's No.1 Black magazine.
  • Ebony magazine history
  • Jet Popular black culture: Music, Film Reviews, Black History
  • Vibe Magazine: 1994- Articles on contemporary African American culture
  • Black News Today

  Academic

  • The African American ReviewPromotes a lively exchange among writers and scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences who hold diverse perspectives on African American literature and culture
  • Brilliant Corners A journal of jazz and literature
  • Callaloo Original works and critical studies of black writers worldwide
  • Crisis In 1910, W.E.B. Du Bois founded The Crisis magazine as the premier, crusading voice for civil rights. In 1998, The Crisis continues his mission as the magazine of opportunities and ideas into the new millenium.
  • Interracial Voice Book Reviews and Discussion
  • The Langston Hughes Review Official publication of the Langston Hughes Society (University of Georgia)
  • The Quarterly Black Reviewand Publisher's Statement Latest news and reviews of African American non-fiction, fiction and poetry
  
  

  Return to Main Resource Menu

  [ Studies ] [ Culture ] [ Education ] [ History ]

  copyright © 1998-2002 will karkavelas. all rights reserved.