The North Carolina Roots of African American Literature

by Andrews, William L.

• ISBN13: 9780807829943
• ISBN10: 0807829943
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-02-28
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

The first African American to publish a book in the South, the author of the first female slave narrative in the United States, the father of black nationalism in America--these and other founders of African American literature have a surprising connection to one another: they all hailed from the state of North Carolina.This collection of poetry, fiction, autobiography, and essays showcases some of the best work of eight influential African American writers from North Carolina during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In his introduction, William L. Andrews explores the reasons why black North Carolinians made such a disproportionate contribution (in quantity and lasting quality) to African American literature as compared to what other southern states with larger African American populations produced. The authors in this anthology parlayed both the advantages and disadvantages of their North Carolina beginnings into sophisticated perspectives on the best and the worst of which humanity, in the South and the North, was capable. They created an African American literary tradition unrivaled by that of any other state in the South.Writers included here are Charles W. Chesnutt, Anna Julia Cooper, David Bryant Fulton, George Moses Horton, Harriet Jacobs, Lunsford Lane, Moses Roper, and David Walker.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	VII
Introduction	1	(40)
Statement of Editorial Practice	41	(2)
GEORGE MOSES HORTON	43	(26)
Edited with an introduction by Amanda M. Page Texts by Horton	49	(20)
DAVID WALKER	69	(20)
Edited with an introduction by Jennifer Larson Text by Walker	74	(15)
MOSES ROPER	89	(50)
Edited with an introduction by Kristina Bobo Text by Roper	95	(44)
LUNSFORD LANE	139	(32)
Edited with an introduction by Cynthia A. Current Text by Lane	145	(26)
HARRIET JACOBS	171	(46)
Edited with an introduction by Sarah H. Ficke and Andreá N. Williams Text by Jacobs	178	(39)
CHARLES W. CHESNUTT	217	(46)
Edited with an introduction by Kimberly Gibbs Burnett and E. Armistead Lemon Texts by Chesnutt	225	(38)
ANNA JULIA COOPER	263	(26)
Edited with an introduction by Mary Alice Kirkpatrick Text by Cooper	269	(20)
DAVID BRYANT FULTON	289	(22)
Edited with an introduction by Jeehyun Lim Texts by Fulton	294	(17)
Timeline	311