Research Catalog

Title

Black ink : literary legends on the peril, power, and pleasure of reading and writing / edited by Stephanie Stokes Oliver ; foreword by Nikki Giovanni.

Publication

New York : 37 Ink/Atria, 2018.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Oliver, Stephanie Stokes
• Giovanni, Nikki

Description

xxiv, 244 pages; 24 cm

Summary

Spanning over 250 years of history, Black Ink traces black literature in America from Frederick Douglass to Ta-Nehisi Coates in this masterful collection of twenty-five illustrious and moving essays on the power of the written word. Throughout American history black people are the only group of people to have been forbidden by law to learn to read. This unique collection seeks to shed light on that injustice and subjugation, as well as the hard-won literary progress made, putting some of America's most cherished voices in a conversation in one magnificent volume that presents reading as an act of resistance. Organized into three sections, the Peril, the Power, and Pleasure, and with an array of contributors both classic and contemporary, Black Ink presents the brilliant diversity of black thought in America while solidifying the importance of these writers within the greater context of the American literary tradition. At times haunting and other times profoundly humorous, this unprecedented anthology guides you through the remarkable experiences of some of America's greatest writers and their lifelong pursuits of literacy and literature. The foreword was written by Nikki Giovanni. Contributors include: Frederick Douglass, Solomon Northup, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King, Jr., Toni Morrison, Walter Dean Myers, Stokely Carmichael [Kwame Ture], Alice Walker, Jamaica Kincaid, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Terry McMillan, Junot Diaz, Edwidge Danticat, Colson Whitehead, Marlon James, Roxane Gay, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Colson Whitehead. The anthology features a bonus in-depth interview with President Barack Obama.

Subjects

• African Americans > Social conditions
• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• African Americans > Books and reading > History
• African Americans in literature
• African Americans > Social conditions > History
• African Americans > Intellectual life
• American literature > African American authors > History and criticism
• Essays
• History
• American literature > History and criticism

Genre/Form

• Criticism, interpretation, etc.
• Essays.
• History.

Note

• Anthology.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-240).

Contents

Foreword: -- Our first stories / Nikki Giovanni ; Introduction: -- Reading matters / Stephanie Stokes Oliver -- The peril, 1800-1900. Suspected of having a book / Frederick Douglass -- Nine years deprived of a sheet of paper / Solomon Northrup -- A whole race begins to read / Booker T. Washington -- The Negro in literature and art / W.E.B. Du Bois -- The power, 1900-1968 -- Books and things / Zora Neale Hurston -- Poetry is practical / Langston Hughes -- The business of the writer / James Baldwin -- Turning point / Malcolm X -- Lessons in living / Maya Angelou -- Morehouse College / Martin Luther King Jr. -- The site of memory / Toni Morrison -- Where are the people of color in children's books? / Walter Dean Myers -- Reading for revolution / Stokely Carmichael [Kwame Ture] -- Twenty-one / Alice Walker -- A temporary library in a small place / Jamaica Kincaid -- What is an African American classic? / Henry Louis Gates Jr. -- New Black scribe / Terry McMillan -- The pleasure, 1968-2017 -- MFA vs. POC / Junot Díaz -- Create dangerously / Edwidge Danticat -- How to write / Colson Whitehead -- From Jamaica to Minnesota to myself / Marlon James -- I once was Miss America / Roxane Gay -- The mecca / Ta-Nehisi Coates -- The danger of the single story / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- Bonus feature -- What books mean to me / President Barack Obama -- an interview with Michiko Kakutani.

Call Number

Sc E 18-387

ISBN

• 9781501154287
• 1501154281

LCCN

99975114008

OCLC

989963941

Title

Black ink : literary legends on the peril, power, and pleasure of reading and writing / edited by Stephanie Stokes Oliver ; foreword by Nikki Giovanni.

Publisher

New York : 37 Ink/Atria, 2018.

Edition

First 37 Ink/Atria books hardcover edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-240).

Local Note

Schomburg copy with dust jacket.

Added Author

Oliver, Stephanie Stokes, editor.

Giovanni, Nikki, writer of foreword.

Other Standard Identifier

99975114008

Research Call Number

Sc E 18-387