Ebony


Book Description

EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.




A Life of Gwendolyn Brooks


Book Description

This is the first full-scale biography of Gwendolyn Brooks, one of America's major poets. George E. Kent, a longtime friend and literary associate of the poet in Chicago, was given exclusive access to Brooks' early notebooks, which she kept from the age of seven. Kent also interviewed Brooks, her mother, and other family members in Chicago and elsewhere. He scoured records and correspondence with her publishers, editors, and agent. He participated in the poet's literary enterprises and in her wide circle of literary and family friends. The study reveals intimate acquaintance with the Harlem Renaissance, with the Chicago literary scene and its leading figures from the thirties on, with historical developments in black culture and consciousness, and with the significant figures and activities that impressed the poet's life and art. It places Brooks' work in the context of the civil rights movement, the black arts movement, and black nationalism. Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950 for Annie Allen and is today widely recognized as one of the nation's leading poets, yet her work has received less than its due from mainstream critics. Kent's authoritative book has been one step in correcting that neglect.




Gwendolyn Brooks


Book Description

Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the major American poets of this century and the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry (1950). Yet far less critical attention has focused on her work than on that of her peers. In this comprehensive biocritical study, Melhem—herself a poet and critic—traces the development of Brooks's poetry over four decades, from such early works as A Street in Bronzeville, Annie Allen, and The Bean Eaters, to the more recent In the Mecca, Riot, and To Disembark. In addition to analyzing the poetic devices used, Melhem examines the biographical, historical, and literary contexts of Brooks's poetry: her upbringing and education, her political involvement in the struggle for civil rights, her efforts on behalf of young black poets, her role as a teacher, and her influence on black letters. Among the many sources examined are such revealing documents as Brooks's correspondence with her editor of twenty years and with other writers and critics. From Melhem's illuminating study emerges a picture of the poet as prophet. Brooks's work, she shows, is consciously charged with the quest for emancipation and leadership, for black unity and pride. At the same time, Brooks is seen as one of the preeminent American poets of this century, influencing both African American letters and American literature generally. This important book is an indispensable guide to the work of a consummate poet.




Writers of the Black Chicago Renaissance


Book Description

Writers of the Black Chicago Renaissance comprehensively explores the contours and content of the Black Chicago Renaissance, a creative movement that emerged from the crucible of rigid segregation in Chicago's "Black Belt" from the 1930s through the 1960s. Heavily influenced by the Harlem Renaissance and the Chicago Renaissance of white writers, its participants were invested in political activism and social change as much as literature, art, and aesthetics. The revolutionary writing of this era produced some of the first great accolades for African American literature and set up much of the important writing that came to fruition in the Black Arts Movement. The volume covers a vast collection of subjects, including many important writers such as Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Lorraine Hansberry as well as cultural products such as black newspapers, music, and theater. The book includes individual entries by experts on each subject; a discography and filmography that highlight important writers, musicians, films, and cultural presentations; and an introduction that relates the Harlem Renaissance, the White Chicago Renaissance, the Black Chicago Renaissance, and the Black Arts Movement. Contributors are Robert Butler, Robert H. Cataliotti, Maryemma Graham, James C. Hall, James L. Hill, Michael Hill, Lovalerie King, Lawrence Jackson, Angelene Jamison-Hall, Keith Leonard, Lisbeth Lipari, Bill V. Mullen, Patrick Naick, William R. Nash, Charlene Regester, Kimberly Ruffin, Elizabeth Schultz, Joyce Hope Scott, James Smethurst, Kimberly M. Stanley, Kathryn Waddell Takara, Steven C. Tracy, Zoe Trodd, Alan Wald, Jamal Eric Watson, Donyel Hobbs Williams, Stephen Caldwell Wright, and Richard Yarborough.




Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner, Grades K-5


Book Description

The strategies you need to teach common standards to diverse learners The elementary years are a critical opportunity to help students of all backgrounds meet the demands of the Common Core Standards. In this realistic, thorough book, Maria Dove and Andrea Honigsfeld show how to help every K-5 student, including English Learners, students with disabilities, speakers of nonstandard English, and other struggling learners, meet the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts (ELA). Educators will find an adaptable approach that ensures all students develop lasting language skills. This resource Familiarizes readers with each of the Common Core′s 32 ELA anchor standards Outlines the specific skills that students need to master each standard Presents a wealth of flexible teaching strategies and instructional tools aligned to each anchor standard Includes guidance on collaboration and co-teaching for student success Common Core for the Not-So-Common Learner is the standards-based ELA resource that elementary teachers have been waiting for! "Each anchor standard in all five domains is fully explained with practical, engaging activities that can add fun and learning to any classroom. Readers will feel supported and energized for the challenges ahead, with a toolkit for meeting the needs of all learners." —Elizabeth Gennosa, English/AIS Teacher Sagamore Middle School, Holtsville, NY "Here′s a resource that will make your teaching life easier and support those learners in your classroom who worry you the most." —Dolores Hennessy, Reading Specialist Hill and Plain School, New Milford, CT




The Vintage Book of African American Poetry


Book Description

In The Vintage Book of African American Poetry, editors Michael S. Harper and Anthony Walton present the definitive collection of black verse in the United States--200 years of vision, struggle, power, beauty, and triumph from 52 outstanding poets. From the neoclassical stylings of slave-born Phillis Wheatley to the wistful lyricism of Paul Lawrence Dunbar . . . the rigorous wisdom of Gwendolyn Brooks...the chiseled modernism of Robert Hayden...the extraordinary prosody of Sterling A. Brown...the breathtaking, expansive narratives of Rita Dove...the plaintive rhapsodies of an imprisoned Elderidge Knight . . . The postmodern artistry of Yusef Komunyaka. Here, too, is a landmark exploration of lesser-known artists whose efforts birthed the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts movements--and changed forever our national literature and the course of America itself. Meticulously researched, thoughtfully structured, The Vintage Book of African-American Poetry is a collection of inestimable value to students, educators, and all those interested in the ever-evolving tradition that is American poetry.




The Wicked Sisters


Book Description

This examination of the lives and poetic works of Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, Adrienne Rich and Gwendolyn Brooks focuses on the historical struggles between women writers and feminists. It traces the conflict that has taken place through the generations.




The Poetics of Enclosure


Book Description

The Poetics of Enclosure provocatively explores interconnections between Dickinson, Moore, H.D., Brooks, Bishop, and Dove in the dual context of their manipulations of the traditional lyric and use of shared images of enclosure ... With frequent reference to male as well as female influences and to poets marginalized by sexuality or race, Wheeler usefully refines what she argues is particular to these poets' shared lyric practices and concerns, and links those concerns to other poetic traditions. --Christianne Miller.




On Gwendolyn Brooks


Book Description

A reassessment of the art and achievements of the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize




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