Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 16.8 lin. ft.

Summary

1. The Larry Neal Papers document his role as a writer/editor and seminal figure in the Black Arts Movement, and consists principally of Neal's diverse forms of writings, including essays, scripts, screenplays, poems, short stories and anthologies. Published copies of some of his writings are included in the collection, as are writings by colleagues and publishers.
2. Personal Papers include biographical information; letters of condolence and memorials concern his early death of a heart attack. The professional papers series include letters from significant correspondents such as Amiri Baraka, Hoyt Fuller, Max Roach, and Chiz Schultz. Topics discussed in the correspondence include Neal's plans for projects involving music, writing, filming, and the production of plays he wrote as well as for the "Journal of Black Poetry." As an instructor at various universities, the teaching materials and student papers reflect this aspect of Neal's career.
3. The largest series in this collection is Neal's writing and is divided into the genres in which he wrote: essays, scripts, screenplays, poems, anthologies and other publication projects, short stories, and interviews. Included are published and unpublished manuscripts, notes, outlines, and reviews.
4. The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities series provides a limited view of Neal's role as Executive Director of this agency. The scope of the material includes an incomplete set of minutes of Board of Directors' meetings, memoranda, transcripts of an interview with Neal, and several proposals.
5. The Reference Material series is divided into three subseries: the Subject File reflects Neal's broad range of interests in contemporary black related issues of the time such as: Black Panther Party, Black Power, Congress of African Peoples, Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), and the 1965 and 1967 riots/rebellions that took place in Detroit, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, and New Haven. The Subject Files contain news clippings, articles, printed and typed reports, leaflets, and other printed material, in addition to several papers prepared for the Primer Congreso de la Cultura Negra de las Americas held in Columbia, South America (1977), including papers by Abdias do Nacimento and Antonio de Silva. The card file subseries consists of notes Neal prepared on jazz and blues musicians and Richard Wright. The Annotated Books subseries consists of photocopies of annotated pages from books in Neal's library. Topics encompass literature, language, music, politics, and history. The series Writings by Other Authors consists of essays, short stories, poems, novels and scripts focusing on African-American and African themes by Charles Fuller, Ishmael Reed, Howard Sackler, Douglas Turner Ward and others.

Donor/Sponsor

1. Schomburg NEH Archival Resources for the Study of the Post-Civil Rights Movements Project.

Subject

1. Neal, Larry, 1937- - [Browse in index]
2. Baraka, Amiri, 1934-2014. - [Browse in index]
3. Fuller, Charles. - [Browse in index]
4. Fuller, Hoyt, 1923-1981. - [Browse in index]
5. Ellison, Ralph. - [Browse in index]
6. Reed, Ishmael, 1938- - [Browse in index]
7. Roach, Max, 1924-2007. - [Browse in index]
8. Sackler, Howard. - [Browse in index]
9. Schultz, Charles H. - [Browse in index]
10. Ward, Douglas Turner. - [Browse in index]
11. Wright, Richard, 1908-1960. - [Browse in index]
12. Nascimento, Abdias do, 1924- - [Browse in index]
13. Viera de Silva, Antonio. - [Browse in index]
14. Hurston, Zora Neale. - [Browse in index]
15. Parker, Charlie, 1920-1955. - [Browse in index]
16. Neal, Larry, 1937- Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing. - [Browse in index]
17. Neal, Larry, 1937- Hoodoo Hollerin' Bebop Ghosts. - [Browse in index]
18. Neal, Larry, 1937- The Glorious Monster in the Bell of the Horn. - [Browse in index]
19. Neal, Larry, 1937- In an Upstate Motel. - [Browse in index]
20. D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. - [Browse in index]
21. Black Panther Party. - [Browse in index]
22. Congreso de la Cultura Negra de las America (1977): Columbia, South America) - [Browse in index]
23. World Festival of Negro Arts. - [Browse in index]
24. Congress of African Peoples. - [Browse in index]
25. American literature -- African American authors. - [Browse in index]
26. American drama -- African American authors. - [Browse in index]
27. American poetry -- African American authors. - [Browse in index]
28. African American authors. - [Browse in index]
29. African American dramatists. - [Browse in index]
30. African American musicians. - [Browse in index]
31. African American poets. - [Browse in index]
32. African Americans -- Intellectual life. - [Browse in index]
33. African Americans -- Music. - [Browse in index]
34. African Americans -- Race identity. - [Browse in index]
35. Black Arts Movement. - [Browse in index]
36. Revolutionary poetry. - [Browse in index]
37. Riots. - [Browse in index]
38. Riots -- New York (State) -- New York. - [Browse in index]
39. Riots -- California (Los Angeles). - [Browse in index]
40. Riots -- Michigan (Detroit). - [Browse in index]
41. Riots -- New Jersey (Newark). - [Browse in index]
42. Riots -- Connecticut (New Haven). - [Browse in index]

Genre/Form

1. Manuscripts.
2. Scripts.
3. Poems.

Call number

1. Sc MG 344

Language

1. English

Note

1. Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.
2. Audiotapes transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.
3. Art cards and posters transferred to Art and Artifacts Division.

Source (note)

1. Neal, Evelyn L.

Biography (note)

1. Larry Neal, writer, literary and music critic, and major catalyst for the Black Arts Movement of the 1960's and 1970's. Born in 1937 in Atlanta, Georgia, he was raised in Philadelphia, and in 1961 received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and English from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He taught writing and other English courses at several universities, including Drexel Institute of Technology (Philadelphia), City College of New York, Case Western Reserve, and Yale University.
2. Neal became associated with radical politics in the 1960's, and served as the education director of the Black Panther Party, arts editor of the progressive journal, "Liberator," and wrote for "Cricket," a publication devoted to African-American music, which espoused a black nationalistic philosophy. A long association with Amiri Baraka led the two writers, together with Askia Toure to found the Black Arts Repertory Theater School in Harlem in 1964. This theater became the impetus for the Black Arts Movement, which was led by young black artists in the 1960's and which sought to create art forms that would advance black people's liberation. Neal explained that the Black Arts Movement led by black writers, plastic artists and musicians should speak directly to the needs and aspirations of black America, and should not fuse their ideas with the mainstream white culture. In 1968 Neal and Baraka co-edited "Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing," a significant publication for the Black Arts Movement, and Neal wrote two groundbreaking essays that sought to define the movement. Still the seminal anthology of that period, "Black Fire" contains works by well-known social critics, poets and playwrights.
3. In addition to writing essays concerning the arts and artists, and Harlem, Neal also served as a literary and music critic, writing essays about the works of Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Charlie Parker, among others. Neal also published two books of poetry: "Black Boogaloo (Notes on Black Liberation)" (1969) and "Hoodoo Hollerin' Bebop Ghosts" (1974). His dramatic works include "The Glorious Monster in the Bell of the Horn" and "In an Upstate Motel." He also wrote screenplays such as "Holy Days," worked on several film projects, and wrote numerous short stories. Lesser known as an arts administrator, Neal held the position of Executive Director for the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities (1976-1979), a city agency that made grants to artists and organizations promoting the arts.

Processing action (note)

1. Accessioned
2. Cataloging updated
3. Processed

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid