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john crowley - women in african american literature lyrics

in my final timeline, i sought to organize it around the recognition of women in african american literature by mainstream literary organizations. unfortunately that recognition only arrived after the 1980s, so i was forced to look at the achievements and projects completed by black woman that led up to those prize. below are 8 events, either the publishing of books, a major event in the author’s life, and one election to national office. i think it is clear to see from my timeline that the accomplishments of african american women in literature have only increased with recognition of their initial strengths. please enjoy and be informed

1959 a raisin in the sun debuted on broadway. written by lorraine hansberry, this play is one of the first to focus on african american families and, as such, to have a mainly african american cast on broadway. the play’s title is a reference the poem by langston hughes, “a dream deferred.”

walter (straightening up from her and looking off)
that’s it. there you are. man say to his woman: i got me a dream. his woman say: eat your eggs. (sadly, but gaining in power) man say: i got to take hold of this here world, baby! and a woman will say: eat your eggs and go to work. (p-ssionately now) man say: i got to change my life, i’m choking to death, baby! and his woman say – (in utter anguish as he brings his fists down on his thighs) – your eggs is getting cold!
-“a raisin in the sun” by lorraine hansberry

1960 zora neale hurston died at st. lucie welfare home of a stroke and was buried in an unmarked grave. her papers were ordered to be burnt after her death, but patrick duval, a friend of hurston’s, was p-ssing the house where she had lived and where the papers were in the process of being burnt, and intervened. this alone saved her greater literary works from obscurity
“when god had made the man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. so they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song. so they covered each one over with mud. and the lonesomeness in the sparks make them hunt for one another.”
― zora neale hurston, their eyes were watching god

1964 toni morrison took up employment with random house publishing. while there, she would work to enhance the profile and stories of muhammad ali, andrew young, toni cade bambara, and many other black authors. in her long career that continues to today she has won both the n-bel and pulitzer prizes for fiction
“of course i’m a black writer…. i’m not just a black writer, but categories like black writer, woman writer and latin american writer aren’t marginal anymore. we have to acknowledge that the thing we call “literature” is more pluralistic now, just as society ought to be. the melting pot never worked. we ought to be able to accept on equal terms everybody from the h-ssidim to walter lippmann, from the rastafarians to ralph bunche… but i do not think black women write differently from white women. this is the most marked difference of all those combinations of black and white, male and female. it’s not so much that women write differently from men, but that black women write differently from white women. black men don’t write very differently from white men. -toni morrison, in a 1981 interview with newsweek

1967 nikki giovanni’s first collection of poetry was published. “black feeling, black talk” sold ten thousand copies in its first year, quite substantial for a first-time-publishing work of poetry. since then she has been producing poetry and prose prolifically
“i wanted to write
a poem
that rhymes
but revolution doesn’t lend
itself to be-bopping

then my neighbor
who thinks i hate
asked – do you ever write
tree poems – i like trees
so i thought
i’ll write a beautiful green tree poem
peeked from my window
to check the image
noticed that the school yard was covered
with asphalt
no green – no trees grow
in manhattan

then, well, i thought the sky
i’ll do a big blue sky poem
but all the clouds have winged
low since no-d-ck was elected

so i thought again
and it occurred to me
maybe i shouldn’t write
at all
but clean my gun
and check my kerosene supply

perhaps these are not poetic
times
at all”
-nikki giovanni, “for saundra”

1968 shirley chisholm became the first black woman elected to congress
“i was the first american citizen to be elected to congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin darkened by melanin. when you put it that way, it sounds like a foolish reason for fame. in a just and free society it would be foolish. that i am a national figure because i was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black and a woman proves, i think, that our society is not yet either just or free.”
-shirley chisholm, reflecting on her election to congress

1969 i know why the caged bird sings by maya angelou was published. it was nominated for a national book award and was on the bestseller’s list for two straight years. in addition to cementing maya angelou’s legacy as a literary figure (to win a bet with james baldwin, a random house publisher), this novel hearkens back to some of the earliest works of african american narratives such as frederick dougl-ss and olaudah equiano that mixed personal experience with cultural experience
“the free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky

but a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

the caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom

the free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own

but a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

the caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.”
-maya angelou, “the caged bird”

1970 toni cade bambara published an anthology called the black woman. this anthology included selections from nikki giovanni, alice walker and other authors as well as bambara itself
“given the mutual commitment of black men and black women alike to the liberation of our people and other oppressed peoples around the world, the total involvement of each individual is necessary. a revolutionary has the responsibility of not only toppling those that are now in a position of power, but more importantly, the responsibility of creating new institutions that will eliminate all forms of oppression for all people. we must begin to re-write our understanding of traditional personal relationships between man and woman

all the resources that the black community can muster up must be channeled into the struggle. black women must take an active part in bringing about the kind of world where our children, our loved ones, and each citizen can grow up and live as decent human beings, free from the pressures of racism and capitalist exploitation.”
-double jeopardy by frances m. beal, one of the essays collected in “the black woman”

1973: alice walker and fellow researcher discovered the grave of zora neale hurston purchased a small headstone for her grave so that it would not go unmarked. this event, the recognition and remembrance of a black woman writer, was a cultural touchstone for era in which black women were entering the forefront of the literary field
“zora neale hurston
“a g*nius of the south”
novelist folklorist
1901 – 1960″
-the inscription on the headstone paid for by zora neale hurston

- john crowley lyrics

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