Black Writers of America [antikvár]

Preface This book is a comprehensive collection of Afro-American literature from the eighteenth-century beginnings to the present time. Recognizing the limitations of a narrowly esthetic approach to a body of writing of great social import, we have provided generous selections of autobiographies, essays, speeches, letters, political pamphlets, histories, journals, and folk literature as well as poems, plays, and stories. Our criteria for inclusion were both artistic and social; indeed, facile or rigid separation of the two seems to us misguided. For this reason, our anthology serves as an introduction not only to the literature of Black people in America, but to their intellectual and social history as well. The introductions to the six chronological periods examine the literature and relate it closely to the life and circumstances out of which it grew. Headnotes provide critical assessments as well as biographical facts. The extensive suggestions for further reading to be found at the end of each headnote, together with the Bibliography at the end of the book, will enable the reader, whether freshman or mature scholar, to pursue his individual interests. The scope and diversity of the selections make this anthology suitable to a variety of approaches. It is inclusive enough to satisfy the needs of a two-semester survey course, but its selections from nineteen major Black writers alone could constitute a semester's or a quarter's work. Organization by topic, theme, or genre is also feasible. Wherever feasible we have presented complete works rather than fragments. The very few exceptions to this practice include extracts from novels by Claude McKay and Ralph Ellison. However, both of these can be considered complete works in themselves, the selection from Ellison having been separately published, indeed, while the whole work was in progress. In any case, the teacher may wish to supplement our text with longer works by Douglass, Du Bois, Wright, Ellison, and others. It is also important to state here the editorial policy that we have followed in this anthology. Whenever an author uses a spelling or employs a grammatical construction at variance with current practice, we have not changed that author's spelling or grammar. Our purpose has been to preserve each author's text in its original version except when there were obvious typographical errors. Finally, we wish to acknowledge our indebtedness to the many xi