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angela brown - broadside press lyrics

broadside press by angela brown
the broadside press, one of the most influential black presses to emerge during the black arts movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, began operation in 1965 in an attempt to secure copyright privileges to “birmingham ballad,” a song commemorating the bombing deaths of four young black children at a birmingham, alabama, church in september 1963
dudley randall was working as a librarian in detroit in 1963 when he learned of the brutal bombing of the 16th street baptist church in birmingham, alabama. randall’s poetic response was “the ballad of birmingham,” a work that became widely known after it was set to music by the folk singer jerry moore. to register his copyright, randall printed a broadside edition of the ballad, which in september 1965 became the first publication of the broadside press. over the next decade, randall grew to become a significant poet in his own right, but as his broadside press grew, it too gained prominence, becoming an important venue for writers of the black arts movement and the new poetic voices of black america
born in washington d.c. on january 14, 1914, the son of a congressional minister (arthur george clyde) and a teacher (ada viola), randall moved with his family to detroit in 1920. developing an interest in poetry at a young age, randall p-ssed through a series of jobs and war-time military service before using the gi bill to attend college. at wayne state university, from which he graduated in 1948, and while in library school at the university of michigan (1951), he continued to nurture his literary talents, but it was several years more before they began to reach full flower, fertilized both by the civil rights movement and the emerging black arts movement
although randall wrote that the broadside press “did not grow from a blueprint,” it grew “by hunches, intuitions, trial and error” into something more ambitious than a vehicle for randall’s own writing. while attending the first writers’ conference at fisk university in may 1966, randall obtained permission from robert hayden, melvin tolson, and margaret walker to republish one poem each in what he called his broadside series, which became broadsides 3, 4, and 5 during the fall 1966. shortly thereafter, gwendolyn brooks gave permission for randall to republish one of her poems, resulting in “we real cool” in december 1966 (broadside 6). collectively, these first six broadsides, known as the poems of the negro revolt, set a tone for what would follow, reflecting the culturally -ssertive and often radical voice of african america in the late 1960s. intentionally simple in design, the broadsides can be viewed through the lens of a centuries-old tradition of publication. produced and sold cheaply, typically responding directly to the social and political issues of the moment, the broadsides address subjects ranging from malcolm x, to stokely carmichael and angela davis, black power, the women’s movement, and revolutionary politics. later productions in the broadsides series are not properly broadsides at all, but simple folded sheets, resulting in four page cards, often including poems by several writers
following the suggestion of a reviewer in the small press review, randall took an important step forward in 1968 by issuing broadsides of previously unpublished work, beginning with haki madhubuti’s (then don l. lee) “-ss-ssination,” a response to the murder of martin luther king. between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, the press issued close to one hundred broadsides, generally one per month, featuring the works of some of the preeminent african american poets of that time. in addition to brooks and madhubuti, the press published works by alice walker, etheridge knight, audre lorde, amiri baraka, nikki giovanni, and sonia sanchez. after publishing such poets as gwendolyn brooks, nikki giovanni, and audre lorde, haki madhubuti, sonia sanchez, and others, broadside suffered reverses during the recession of the mid-1970s
the broadside press is one of america’s oldest african american owned presses, having published more than 200 poets and writers in broadsides, individual collections, anthologies, phonograph records, and videotapes
works cited
1. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umich-scl-broadside?view=text. special collections. university of michigan digital library. broadside press records (1968-1999, bulk 1985-1996)
2. http://scua.library.um-ss.edu/ead/mums571.html. special collections & university archives university libraries : um-ss amherst.154 hicks way : amherst, m-ss. 01003-9275 : ph. 413-545-2780

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