The African American West

by Glasrud, Bruce A.

• ISBN13: 9780870815591
• ISBN10: 0870815598
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Colorado

Summary

The distinguished body of short stories depicting African Americans in the western United States has long been overlooked for a number of reasons: black writers were historically denied publication in white journals, American publishers have shown bias towards East Coast fiction, and the short story has frequently been neglected in literary circles. In response to this lack of recognition, Bruce Glasrud and Laurie Champion have compiled THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN WEST: A CENTURY OF SHORT STORIES. The beginning of the twentieth century saw western American writers giving new meaning to the literature portraying African Americans. Rather than reproducing the racial stereotypes and condescending dialogue found in past fiction of the eastern United States, these authors portrayed black Americans seeking new lives. Ranging from early twentieth-century writers such as Charles Chesnutt to contemporary authors such as Walter Mosley, the works in The African American West demonstrate how the West, as seen through the eyes of African Americans, has evolved over the last century.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction: African Americans in the West, A Short Story Tradition	1	(14)
Bruce A. Glasrud
Laurie Champion
Turn of the Century: Establishing the Tradition	15	(44)
The Ingrate	18	(6)
Paul Laurence Dunbar
A Brief Spell by the River	24	(12)
Colleen McElroy
An Adventure in the Big Horn Mountains; Or, the Trials and Tribulations of a Recruit	36	(8)
Eugene P. Frierson
The Averted Strike	44	(8)
Charles W. Chesnutt
As the Lord Lives, He Is One of Our Mother's Children	52	(7)
Pauline E. Hopkins
Meanwhile . . . , 1920s and 1930s	59	(60)
Jesus Christ in Texas	62	(7)
W.E.B. DuBois
Jim Crow in Texas	69	(4)
William Pickens
The Little Grey House	73	(8)
Anita Scott Coleman
Children of Chance	81	(4)
Julian Elihu Bagley
Let the Church Roll On	85	(3)
Nick Aaron Ford
Why I Returned	88	(13)
Arna Bontemps
No Fools, No Fun	101	(3)
March Lacy
The Gun	104	(6)
Langston Hughes
Grazing in Good Pastures	110	(9)
Margaret Williams
Then Confront World War II and Aftermath	119	(46)
Mister Toussan	122	(7)
Ralph Ellison
Health Card	129	(8)
Frank Yerby
Stop, Thief!	137	(14)
John Wesley Groves, IV
Lunching at the Ritzmore	151	(6)
Chester Himes
God Bless America	157	(4)
John O. Killens
Keys to the City	161	(4)
Malvin Wald
We Too---Freedom and Civil Rights	165	(92)
Son in the Afternoon	168	(6)
John A. Williams
Direct Action	174	(7)
Mike Thelwell
The Coming of the Hoodlum	181	(16)
Johnie Scott
Ticket to Freedom	197	(12)
John R. Posey
Judah's a Two-Way Street Running Out	209	(9)
Jack Burris
Water Seeks Its Own Level	218	(7)
Maxine Clair
The Flashlight	225	(25)
Eldridge Cleaver
Support Your Local Police	250	(7)
Ed Bullins
Women Need Apply Here	257	(80)
Ridin' the Moon in Texas	261	(5)
Ntozake Shange
Young Reverend Zelma Lee Moses	266	(16)
Joyce Carol Thomas
Tell Me Moore	282	(12)
Aya de Leon
Quilting on the Rebound	294	(11)
Terry McMillan
Damon and Vandalia	305	(8)
Rita Dove
Tenderhead	313	(9)
Harryette Mullen
The Friday Night Shift at the Taco House Blues (Wah-Wah)	322	(11)
Wanda Coleman
Emerald City: Third & Pike	333	(4)
Charlotte Watson Sherman
And It's Called Progress???	337	(106)
Elbow Room	341	(17)
James Alan McPherson
Long Distances	358	(6)
Jewell Parker Rhodes
Now Is the Time	364	(15)
Cecil M. Brown
Cry About a Nickel	379	(7)
Percival Everett
Surfiction	386	(7)
John Edgar Wideman
The Trip Back From Whidbey	393	(8)
William Henry Lewis
Wonderful Teen	401	(10)
Carolyn Ferrell
The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas	411	(10)
Reginald McKnight
Equal Opportunity	421	(11)
Walter Mosley
Amen	432	(11)
Sunny Nash
Contributors	443	(6)
Bibliography	449	(12)
Permissions	461