African-American History

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African-American History

• Literature from an Historical Perspective

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ORAL TRADITION

• 1619-1808

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ORAL TRADITION 1619-1808

• Work Songs
• We are going down to Georgia, boys
• To see the pretty girls, boys
• Well give em a pint of brandy, boys
• And a hearty kiss, besides, boys.
• Spirituals
• Joshua fit de battle of Jericho,
• Jericho, Jericho,
• Joshua fit the battle of Jericho,
• And de walls come tumbling town.

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Oral Tradition

• Folktales--Africa
• The Elephant and the Tortoise
• Slave Folktales
• Rabbit Teaches Bear a Song

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Oral Tradition

• Phillis Wheatley (1770s)
• Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
• Taught my benighted soul to understand
• That theres a God, that theres a Savior too
• Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
• Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
• Their colour is diabolic die.
• Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
• May be refind, and join th angelic train.

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ABOLITIONISTS

• 1808-1865

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ABOLITIONISTS 1808-1865

• Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)
• One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate
  wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were
  chained together, preferring death to such a life
  of misery, somehow made through the netting and
  jumped into the seaMany a time we were near
  suffocation from the want of fresh air, which we
  were often without for whole days together.

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Slave Narratives

• Sojourner Truth (1779-?)
• Aint I A Woman?
• Frederick Douglas (1817-1895)
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• Harriet A. Jacobs (1813-1897)
• Incidents in the Life of a Salve Girl, Written
  by Herself
• William Wells Brown (1815-1884)
• Clotel The Presidents Daughter, A Narrative of
  Slave Life in the United States

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POST CIVIL WAR

• 1865-1915

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POST CIVIL WAR 1865-1915

• Charles Chesnutt (1858-1932)
• The Goophered Grapevine
• Paul Dunbar (1872-1906)
• We Wear the Mask
• Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
• Up From Slavery
• W.E. Du Bois (1868-1963)
• The Souls of Black Folks

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We Wear the Mask

• WE wear the mask that grins and lies,     It
  hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,     This
  debt we pay to human guile     With torn and
  bleeding hearts we smile,     And mouth with
  myriad subtleties.

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We Wear the Mask

• Why should the world be over-wise,     In
  counting all our tears and sighs?     Nay, let
  them only see us, while             We wear the
  mask.
• We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries     To
  thee from tortured souls arise.     We sing, but
  oh the clay is vile     Beneath our feet, and
  long the mile     But let the world dream
  otherwise,             We wear the mask!

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RENAISANNCE

• 1915-1945

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RENAISANNCE 1915-1945

• Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)
• Speech on Disarmament Conference
• Claude McKay (1889-1948)
• If We Must Die
• Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
• Harlem
• Gwendolyn Bennett (1902-1981)
• Heritage
• Richard Wright (1908-1960)
• Black Boy

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Harlem

• What happens to a dream deferred?
• Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or
  fester like a sore And then run? Does it stink
  like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over like
  a syrupy sweet?
• Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
• Or does it explode?

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PRE-CIVIL RIGHTS

• 1945-1960

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PRE-CIVIL RIGHTS 1945-1960

• Margaret Walker (1915-)
• For My People
• Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-)
• We Real Cool
• Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965)
• A Raisin in the Sun
• Ralph Ellison (1914-1994)
• Invisible Man
• James Baldwin (1924-1987)
• Sonnys Blues

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CIVIL RIGHTS TO NOW

• 1960 to Present

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CIVIL RIGHTS TO NOW1960 to Present

• Malcolm X (1925-1965)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
• Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (1950-)
• Maya Angelou (1928-)
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• Toni Morrison (1931-)
• The Bluest Eyes
• Alice Walker (1944-)
• Everyday Use
• Terry McMillan (1951-)
• How Stella God Her Groove Back