African American Literature Guide

• The Digital Librarian is a Web site that provides collections of links to other Web sites on a subject. The collection on this page contains a wider scope than the class covers, but there are many interesting resources presented:

  http://www.digital-librarian.com/africanamerican.html

• Yale Open Courses provides access to lecture series from Yale University. The relevant video segments begin around section 11:

  http://oyc.yale.edu/african-american-studies/afam-162

• The Hathi Trust is an online depository for full text materials, open to the public. Search around to see what you can find:

  http://www.hathitrust.org/

• Voice of the Shuttle is a Web site that provides links to other site. It is hosted by University of California, Santa Barbara.  The African American Literature page is similar to the Digital Librarian, but more succinct and focused:

  http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=153



• A collection of Black Gospel Music has been digitized and is available from the Baylor University Digital Library. Check out the Electronic Library section.

  http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm

• Interested in the poetics of Rap? Check out the HipHop Archive.

  www.hiphoparchive.org

PBS provides many informative film series on a wide variety of topics. Here are two that are related to the Vernacular Tradition:

• PBS: The Blues Film Series Website

  http://www.pbs.org/theblues/

• PBS: American Roots Music: Into the Classroom

  https://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_itc_historical_background.html

• Behind the Veil from Duke University presents "[a] selection of 410 recorded oral history interviews chronicling African-American life during the age of legal segregation in the American South, from the 1890s to the 1950s." - from Duke's Web site.

  http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/behindtheveil/

• The Library of Congress has a collection of primary sources called Jim Crow and Segregation. This collection features images and newspaper articles related to the topic.

  http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/civil-rights/

• New York Times Historical is a database available under the Reference Shelf heading in LINCCWeb. This database provides full text to all of the New York Times publications from 1851 to current. You can access it here.

• The Choices Program from Brown University presents a wide array of controversial topic from multiple points of view. It is intended to engage and challenge students. One of the Scholars Online Videos sections is on Civil Rights. The portion of this section related to this course is Part II: The Freedom Movement.

  http://www.choices.edu/resources/scholars_civilrights.php

• The Library of Congress has a collection called Civil Rights History Project. This collection features videos of people who were either involved in the Civil Rights Movement, or whose lives were touched by it.

  https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/

Dorothy West

• American National Biography Online provides an article about her life:

  http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-03513.html

Richard Wright

• A small collection of materials about Wright’s life and work from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign:

  http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/r_wright/r_wright.htm

• Several sources of criticism and biography from the Internet Public Library:

  http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=wri-236

Ralph Ellison

• A collection of materials on Ellison’s life and works, produced by PBS:

  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/ellison_r_homepage.html

• An interview with Ellison from the summer of 1954, presented by the Paris Review:

  http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5053/the-art-of-fiction-no-8-ralph-ellison

• Several sources of criticism and biography from the Internet Public Library:

  http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=ell-229

Margaret Walker

• A small collection of materials about Walker’s life and work from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign:

  http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/walker/walker.htm

• A biography on Walker that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/margaret-walker

• The Margaret Walker Center at the Jackson State University includes a digital archive of Walker’s writings, plus other materials about the African-American experience:

  http://www.jsums.edu/margaretwalkercenter/

Gwendolyn Brooks

• A small collection of materials about Brooks’ life and work from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign:

  http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/brooks/brooks.htm

• Library of Congress Web Guide on Brooks’ life and work, includes links to biography and criticism:

  http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/brooks/

• A biography on Brooks that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gwendolyn-brooks

• Several sources of criticism and biography from the Internet Public Library:

  http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=bro-862

Bob Kaufman

• A brief biography on Kaufman that includes a few full text poems from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/bob-kaufman

• A small collection of materials about Kaufman’s life and work from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign:

  http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/kaufman/kaufman.htm

James Baldwin

• American Masters Series provides information on his life and works:

  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/james-baldwin-about-the-author/59/

• A 1984 interview from The Paris Review titled "James Baldwin, The Art of Fiction No. 78.":

  http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2994/the-art-of-fiction-no-78-james-baldwin

• A 1962 article written by Mr. Baldwin for the New Yorker entitiled "Letter from a Region in My Mind.":

  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/11/17/letter-from-a-region-in-my-mind

• Article of criticism from Texas Studies in Literature and Language titled "Three Lean Cats in a Hall of Mirrors: James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, and Elderidge Cleaver on Race and Masculinity.":

  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/texas_studies_in_literature_and_language/v052/52.1.taylor.html

• Several sources of criticism and biography from the Internet Public Library:

  http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=bal-776

Lorraine Hansberry

• A brief biography from University of Minnesota’s project Voices from the Gap:

  http://hdl.handle.net/11299/166179

• American Public Media provides a biographical article, which accompanies the transcript of a speech given by Hansberry in New York in 1964, titled “The Black Revolution and the White Backlash":

  http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/blackspeech/lhansberry.html

• Several sources of criticism and biography from the Internet Public Library:

  http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=han-789

Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz)

• The Malcolm X Project, presented by Columbia University:

  http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/mxp/multimedia.html

• Produced through the Estate of Malcolm X, this site provides biography, photos, and video clips:

  http://www.malcolmx.com

Martin Luther King Jr.

• The King Center provides a biography of King, as well as a digital archive of his writings:

  http://www.thekingcenter.org/about-dr-king

Etheridge Knight

• A biography on Knight that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/etheridge-knight

• A small collection of materials about Knight’s life and work from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign:

  http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/knight/knight.htm

• Audio and video files of readings of Knight’s works from the University of Pennsylvania:

  http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Knight.php

Audre Lorde

• A biography on Lorde that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/audre-lorde

• A small collection of materials about Lorde's life and work from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign:

  http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/lorde/lorde.htm

• An article about Lorde’s work from Project Muse, an online initiative from The Johns Hopkins University Press and The Milton S. Eisenhower Library:

  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mer/summary/v004/4.1bowen.html

Amiri Baraka

• Baraka’s Web site, provides biography, gallery of images, writings, etc.:

  http://www.amiribaraka.com/

• A biography on Baraka that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/amiri-baraka

• A small collection of materials about Baraka’s life and work from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign:

  http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/baraka/baraka.htm

Sonia Sanchez

• Sanchez’ Web site, provides biography, gallery of images, writings, etc.:

  http://soniasanchez.net/

• A biography on Sanchez that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sonia-sanchez

June Jordan

• Jordan’s Web site, provides biography, videos, writings, etc.:

  http://www.junejordan.com/

• A biography on Jordan that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/june-jordan

• Audio files of readings of Jordan’s works from the University of Pennsylvania:

  http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Jordan.php

Nikki Giovanni

• Giovanni’s Web site, provides biography, videos, writings, etc.:

  http://www.nikki-giovanni.com/

• A biography on Giovanni that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/nikki-giovanni

Amus Mor

• A recording of Amus Mor reading some of his work on H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences Online), hosted be the History Department at Michigan State University:

  http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-afro-am&month=0406&week=e&msg=8NOhue8ZQG8Xh9cPu4hNJQ&user=&pw=

Ernest J. Gaines

• Gaines on Facebook:

  https://www.facebook.com/ErnestGaines

• Interview with Gaines, written interview interspersed with video clips:

  http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gai0int-1

• Ernest Gaines Center at the University of Louisiana at Layfayette:

  http://ernestgaines.louisiana.edu/collection/digital-archive

• Article of criticism from the Mississippi Quarterly, produced by the Mississippi State University:

  http://alessonbeforedyingalfonzo.weebly.com/literary-criticism.html

Alice Walker

• A biography on Walker that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/alice-walker#poet

• A collection of biographical materials and a list of peer-reviewed articles of criticism from Literary History.com:

  http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Walker.htm

• Several sources of criticism and biography from the Internet Public Library:

  http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=wal-79

• A page of multi-media materials about Walker from the Alice Walker Literary Society:

  http://www.emory.edu/alicewalker/sub-multimedia.htm

Essex Hemphill

• A brief biography on Hemphill from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/essex-hemphill#poet

• An article about Hemphill from the online journal Lodestar Quarterly:

  http://lodestarquarterly.com/work/233/

Barack Obama

• An article of criticism from the journal Rhetoric Society Quarterly:

  http://www.academia.edu/10182355/Coming_Home_to_Roost_Jeremiah_Wright_Barack_Obama_and_the_Re_Signing_of_Post_Racial_Rhetoric

Sherley Anne Williams

• A biography on Williams that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sherley-anne-williams

• An article of criticism by Williams, from Callaloo. Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press:

  http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/marilynm/Theorizing_Black_America_Syllabus_files/Some_Implications_of_Womanist_Theory.pdf

Ntozake Shange

• A biography on Shange that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/ntozake-shange

• Interview article with Shange, from Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism:

  https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/jdtc/article/viewFile/1820/1783

Gloria Naylor

• A page from Voices from the Gap on Naylor, produced by University of Minnesota:

  http://hdl.handle.net/11299/166287

• An interview with Naylor from the National Book Foundation Archives:

  http://www.nationalbook.org/authorsguide_gnaylor.html

• Article of Criticism on Naylor’s works from Journal of Social Science:

  http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JSS/JSS-26-0-000-11-Web/JSS-26-2-000-11-Abst-PDF/JSS-26-2-131-11-1053-Khaleghi-M/JSS-26-2-131-11-1053-Khaleghi-M-Tt.pdf

• Several sources of criticism and biography from the Internet Public Library:

  http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=nay-121

Rita Dove

• A biography on Dove that includes a list of further readings from the Poetry Foundation:

  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/rita-dove

• A small collection of materials about Dove’s life and work from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign:

  http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/dove/dove.htm

• Dove’s homepage at the University of Virginia, includes biography, works, videos, audio clips, etc.:

  http://people.virginia.edu/~rfd4b/

• Several sources of criticism and biography from the Internet Public Library:

  http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=dov-661

Octavia Butler

• An interview with Butler by Stephen W. Potts from Science Fiction Studies, "Bloodchild" is discussed:

  http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/interviews/potts70interview.htm

• Butler’s homepage includes biography, works, etc.:

  http://octaviabutler.org/

• An entry from Voices from the Gap, includes author biography and an extensive bibliography of articles written about Butler:

  http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/166109

Toni Morrison

• A 1993 from The Paris Review titled "Toni Morrison, The Art of Fiction No. 134.":

  https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1888/toni-morrison-the-art-of-fiction-no-134-toni-morrison

• Several sources of criticism and biography from the Internet Public Library:

  http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?au=mor-80