#African American writers

[uwmspeccoll]

The Ballad of the Brown Girl

The Ballad of the Brown Girl was Harlem Renaissance writer Countee Cullen's (1903-1946) first major poem, and this is the first edition of only 500 copies, published in New York and London by Harper & Brothers in 1927, with illustrations and page decorations by the unrelated Art Deco artist Charles Cullen (1887-?). Brown Girl is Countee Cullen's revision of a 17th-century English ballad based on a folk tale featuring two women with different color hair. Cullen's revision alters the descriptions to suggest they are of different races, establishing tensions between romance, segregation, and social hierarchy.

The white Charles Cullen grew up in Brooklyn and was living and working in Manhattan when he met the Black Countee Cullen around 1926 and illustrated four books for the writer: Copper Sun (1927), The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927), an illustrated second edition of Color (1928), and The Black Christ and Other Poems (1929). It seems a significant coincidence that the two would share a last name, but the stars seem to have been aligned. For example, Countee Cullen's birth name was Countee LeRoy Porter and Charles Cullen was born in LeRoy, New York. Coincidence? We don't think so.

View another work by Countee Cullen.

View another book illustrated by Charles Cullen.

View other Black History Month posts.

#Black History Month #Countee Cullen #The Ballad of the Brown Girl #Harper & Brothers #Charles Cullen #poems #African Amerricans #African American writers #illustrated books #Art Deco

[blkice64-blog]

James Baldwin

photographer unknown

#james baldwin #historic photo #race in america #african american writers

[originalbydondria]

...like the omen

I am not here

I am clearly not

I could cry

Fill a mug

And it would empty

To you

But the age would strip cup

Alchemize it to glass

I am not here

I am clearly not

The crawl over my skin

The deep rooted knots

An illusion of the worst kind

Pain so crippling

But you dont believe it

I am not here

I am clearly not

Unless I leave for good

Now you have these thoughts

Lies I suspect

Because I cant reply back

To remind you of your silence

And your lack

The empty responses

"You'll be alright"

But all of the sudden

You knew something wasnt right

Oh now you care

Or you wish you were there

Or I'd come to you

Like I wasnt right there

I am not here

Clearly I am not

In the dark I drown

In the brown I rot

I lacked the desire to mask

You feign fear to ask

I reached out my hand

The side you can see

Funny how seen the unseen

Can be

Until seeing is noticing

Humanity

I am not here

I am clearly not

D. Ondria

03022024

#ecosystem of creatives #african american writers #blackgirlmagic #african american authors #originalbydondria #black writers #creative writing #black creatives #black women writers #original by d ondria

[amarrymeinbostonwriter]

#banned books #lgbt books #banned book week #writing #authors #teen lit #libraries and schools #lgbt literature #vice news #youtube #books #all boys aren't blue #flamer #this book is gay #we are the ants #reblog #african american writers #hood feminism #racism #homophobia

[dyke-a-saur-writes]

They Cloned Tyrone Review

They Cloned Tyrone is one of my favorite visual works of the past year, and I wish my favorite movie review/analyst channels covered it. There's still time but its unlikely.

The use of blaxploitation aesthetics alongside deceptively in-depth character writing was what really grabbed me and drew me in, alongside the soundtrack and audio mixing, which had just the perfect vibes I was looking for to influence Gore Gambit. Obviously, there is some concerning themes in it.

Anything that encourages hotep speculation automatically gives me bad vibes. While this could be a hyperbolic interpretation of how systemic racism functions, I'm uneasy with the "conspiracy" undertones of the text. To paint every systemic injustice and fallout of what African-Americans currently experience, alongside the social control and denigration of black bodies, as a singular government experiment rather than an intricate and centuries long system, felt misguided at best, and dangerous at worse.

The casual misogyny wasn't addressed or reprimanded by the text, rather placing its redress on the central female character as an "exceptional woman moment". There was no real commentary spared to how misogynoir (both a function of white supremacy and a community issue) feeds into black sex work and prostitution. The pimp was played as a silly but lovable character, with no thought spared to how dangerous, violent, and abusive these men are towards black women, not to mention how those men are often family members or boyfriends.

Overall, it was a strong movie, competently wirtten with ambitious themes that got away from it. I was originally going to post appreciation for its aesthetics onto my art blog, but after giving this a read-through, it's much more suited here.

#bandaid-writes #on matters of representation #writeblr #filmblr #text analysis #they cloned tyrone #blaxploitation #african american writers #african american filmography

[louandlillie]

So glad to see the #New York Times mention my new book on #Zora Neale Hurston in Honduras yesterday! See this page to see if I am reading or signing in an area near you:

#Zora Neale Hurston #newbooks #African American writers #New York Times books #new release

[sceneztheseries]

Meet Tre’ — The Problem-maker

Full Name: Tre’Jour Jermaine Hopkins

Age: 14 (May 5th, 2000)

Classification : Freshman

Meet Tre’.

The main character and new kid who arguably faces the most adversity throughout his first year of high school. Will he let tough times get to him or will it allow him understand different perspectives?

He loves to put himself out there whether it’s dressing in latest sneakers or showing off his talents at hooping. These are good things but he tends to let his need for attention and materialistic ways gear him into bad situations. He’s learning all this it’s just a matter of how many times he goes through the same cycles.

#creative #creation #urban writer #african american writers #under construction #literacy #literature #Spotify #taurus #aries rising #gemini moon

[sbrown82]

Marsha Hunt, circa 1970.

#marsha hunt #singer #model #writer #actress #brown sugar #mick jagger #the rolling stones #karis jagger #black is beautiful #1960s #1970s #black beauty #afro #black culture #black woman #black women #black actress #african american #rock & roll #music #vintage #photo #happy birthday #sbrown82

[darealprisonart]

Why Black August is a Month-long Event

Why Black August is a Month-long Event

On the 50th in memoriam anniversary to George Jackson, The King of Prison Hip Hop smartly explains why Black August is a month-long event. August 21, 1971, George Lester Jackson, aka George Jackson, was martyred. His slain blood represents the price he was willing to pay in the cause for freedom against oppression. I approach this 50th in memoriam anniversary of his passing by looking back from…

View On WordPress

#African American writers #Attica #Black August #black authors #black conscious thought #Black Culture #Elderly Prisoners #George Jackson #mental health #mprisondthotz #Parole #Parole Board #Prison #Prison Health Care #prison literature genre #prison literature in America #prison literature project #Prison Mental Health #San Quentin #sensitive needs yard #SNY #The King of Prison Hip Hop

[twixnmix]

James Baldwin photographed by Dave Pickoff in Harlem, June 1963. 

#james baldwin #lord of the flies 1963 #african american #harlen #nyc #1960s #writer

[uwmspeccoll]

Copper Sun

Last week we brought you Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen's (1903-1946) first major poem The Ballad of the Brown Girl. Today we present Cullen's second collected book of poetry, Copper Sun, published in New York by Harper & Brothers in 1927, with illustrations by the same artist who illustrated Ballad, the unrelated Art Deco artist Charles Cullen (1887-?). Copper Sun is a collection of over fifty poems that explore race, religion, and sexuality in Jazz Age America, and particularly the possibility of unity between white and black people, as exemplified in the two Cullens, one black, the other white.

View more work by Countee Cullen.

View other books illustrated by Charles Cullen.

View other Black History Month posts.

#Black History Month #Countee Cullen #Charles Cullen #Copper Sun #Harper & Brothers #harlem renaissance #Art Deco #African Americans #Black writers #Black poets #African American writers #illustrated books

[yourdailyqueer]

Mary P. Burrill (deceased)

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: August 1881 

RIP: 13 March 1946

Ethnicity: African American

Occupation: Writer, playwright, professor, director, activist

#Mary P. Burrill #Mary P Burrill #lgbt history #female #lesbian #1881 #rip #historical #black #poc #african american #writer #playwright #teacher #director #activist #popular #popular post #old hollywood

[pagansphinx]

Black History Month

Maya Angelou (American, 1928-2014)

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit

a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woma

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

from And Still I Rise • Copyright © 1978

#american women #maya anjelou #poet #essayist #black woman wrirer #american writer #african american woman of letters #poetry #contemporary poetry #american poetry #still i rise

[originalbydondria]

Still here and also

Very much so

Not.

D. Ondria

#ecosystem of creatives #african american writers #blackgirlmagic #african american authors #originalbydondria #creative writing #black creatives #black women writers #black writers #original by d ondria

[amarrymeinbostonwriter]

2023 Pinterest 50 Book Reading Challenge

10. Book with a One Word Title

Quicksand by Nella Larsen

#quicksand #nella larsen #I don't have a copy of this because it was an online audiobook which is why this doesn't match the rest of these #I've only taken pictures of the ones that I have finished #most of the books haven't been read yet #I'm currently reading two and both count towards the challenge #audiobooks #classics #librivox #african american writers #american lit #1920s #early 20th century #read in 2023 #books #bookblr

[kcyars520]

#Black pride #black community #i love being black #black memes #black folks #black history month #black history #malcom x #global black on black love #black liberation #black power #african history #black history facts #black history is american history #black history matters #black history 365 #black representation #self post #tumblelog #poc writer #black excellence #black reader #Black panthers #civil rights movement #turtle island #native americans #black panther party #malcolm x #black culture #black love