Research Catalog

Richard Witherspoon papers.

Title
  1. Richard Witherspoon papers.
Published by
  1. 1971-2006, bulk 1980 - 1991.
Supplementary content
  1. Finding aid
Author
  1. Witherspoon, Richard

Items in the library and off-site

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StatusContainerFormatAccessCall numberItem location
Status

Available by appointment at Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives. See the finding aid for details.

Containeroversize_folder 1FormatMixed materialAccessUse in libraryCall numberSc MG 791 oversize_folder 1Item locationSchomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
Status

Available by appointment at Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives. See the finding aid for details.

Containerbox 5FormatMixed materialAccessUse in libraryCall numberSc MG 791 box 5Item locationSchomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
Status

Available by appointment at Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives. See the finding aid for details.

Containerbox 4FormatMixed materialAccessUse in libraryCall numberSc MG 791 box 4Item locationSchomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
Status

Available by appointment at Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives. See the finding aid for details.

Containerbox 3FormatMixed materialAccessUse in libraryCall numberSc MG 791 box 3Item locationSchomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
Status

Available by appointment at Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives. See the finding aid for details.

Containerbox 2FormatMixed materialAccessUse in libraryCall numberSc MG 791 box 2Item locationSchomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives
Status

Available by appointment at Schomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives. See the finding aid for details.

Containerbox 1FormatMixed materialAccessUse in libraryCall numberSc MG 791 box 1Item locationSchomburg Center - Manuscripts & Archives

Details

Description
  1. 2.09 linear feet (5 boxes, 1 oversize folder)
Summary
  1. This collection includes Witherspoon’s published and unpublished poetry, including his best known works: "An American Haiku Novel" and "On the Stair", both in his signature style of linked-haiku or renga. A travel journal kept in Africa, a critique of the Kenyan educational system, a play about the Black hijacker of a bus, an educational program report, various printed material, notebooks, and miscellaneous correspondence complete the collection.
  2. Born in New York City in 1947, Richard Witherspoon (a.k.a. James R. Patton) is a poet who began publishing poetry in the 1970s and subsequently published with Black gay writing groups that produced "Yemonja: The Blackheart Collective" (1982), "Other Countries" (1988), and "The Road Before Us" (1991) as well as more generally in "Black Men/White Men" (1983), "The James White Review" (1993), "LYNX" (1989-1997), "frogpond" (1981), and "New Cicada" (1985-1997). As a gay African American poet, physically and psychically in diaspora, Witherspoon, regarding the hegemonic oppression of difference and publishing nationally and internationally in print and on the Web, transgressively opposes this oppression by creating worlds of linked-haiku (renga) wherein, sexually, all flourish. Additionally, as an educator in the NYC public school system for over twenty-five years, he views education acquisition as a transgressive act of liberation against a system intent on limiting possibilities rather than expanding possibilities for all.
Subject
  1. Authors, Black
  2. African American dramatists
  3. African American gays
  4. Other Countries
  5. African American poets
Call number
  1. Sc MG 791
Source (note)
  1. Gift of Richard Witherspoon, May 2000.
Location of other archival materials (note)
  1. In the Life Archive (ITLA) miscellaneous collections, Sc MG 736, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Other Countries records, Sc MG 627, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Processing action (note)
  1. Processing Information: Accessioned by Steven G. Fullwood, June 2008.
Author
  1. Witherspoon, Richard, creator.
Title
  1. Richard Witherspoon papers.
Production
  1. 1971-2006, bulk 1980 - 1991.
Type of content
  1. text
  2. still image
Type of medium
  1. unmediated
Type of carrier
  1. sheet
Location of other archival materials
  1. In the Life Archive (ITLA) miscellaneous collections, Sc MG 736, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Other Countries records, Sc MG 627, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
  2. Materials Separated from the Resource: Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio and moving image materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270. Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs
Processing action
  1. Processing Information: Accessioned by Steven G. Fullwood, June 2008.
Source
  1. Gift of Richard Witherspoon, May 2000.
Connect to:
  1. Finding aid
Research call number
  1. Sc MG 791
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