african americans in literature

Contains entries on the major topics, authors, and words of this period complete with reprinted full text literary criticism.

A collection of essays addressing the history and predicament of race in an attempt to envision a better future.

Contains over five hundred alphabetically arranged entries that provide information on African-American literature, covering major and minor authors, notable writings in all genres, terms, themes, historical events, movements, and other topics. Includes cross-references, a bibliography of secondary sources, and a list of major works.

Explores the life and works of Claude McKay, tracing his life, considering how a person dwells in limbo between native and adopted cultures, and discussing how this influenced McKay's writing.

Presents a biography of Jamaican poet Claude McKay, and discusses his life in the context of the struggles of black intellectuals during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 30s.

Offers an in-depth analysis of the novels of African-American writer Toni Morrison, focusing on how she conveys the double consciousness of African-American life.

Argues that an analysis of Toni Morrison's canon reveals her increasing awareness of the class exploitation of African-Americans and race and gender oppression, attempts to show how Morrison uses her novels to discover solutions, and relates Morrison's life experiences to her fiction.

Examines selections of African-American literature that feature liberation motifs, including Frederick Douglass's autobiography, fiction novels by Rebecca Jackson and Booker T. Washington, Richard Wright's "Native Son," and Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon.".

Examines four novels from Toni Morrison, "The Bluest Eye," "Tar Baby," "Jazz," and "Beloved," discussing the relationship between race, generic forms, and the dominant culture, and describing Morrison's narrative strategies and the critical claim that her novels lack resolution.

Presents an examination of the work of Zora Neale Hurston, and describes how Hurston's ethnographies, plays, and fiction paint a picture of the rural African-American South.