Arkansas State press. [volume] (Little Rock, Ark.) 1941-1959, 1941-10-31
Time For American
Negro To Have Turn
In Talking About
Himself .
BY Sterling Brown

- In N ~ va tDIsSN N''l -
is high time for the American Ne
rro 70 have a turn in talking
about himself, Sterling Brown,
brilliant young @ EDUCATOR and writ
err, told a large audisnce at Allan
IA University Tuesday. A large
number of white authors haze felt
called upon to interpret the Ne
rro, he add d. bu the whole course
Of our literature shows an. utter
lack of real knowledge of the Ne
gro and his way Of living.
Speaking on the subject "The
Negro in American Literature"
Mr.. Brown declared that although
the American Negroes expression
Of his own life has been far less
in amount ard social influence
than that OF ohor writers, he
nevertheless has had q great deal
more truth in his writings. These
other authors have been sympatha-
&c at times, but they have not re-
Trained from earica.ures or from
stereotyping their Negro charac-
tors. And even thorgh Negroes
have help"d to contribute to these
types, he continued, no rece can
ha so narrowly grouped. This bad
literary practice Of stercotyping
has brought considerable wealth to
certain authors, but it also has
been the means of promulgatlng
the wrong tyne Of information
about Negro life.
Intellectual feebleness which has
been atttifrted to The race by one
w1t er was refuted by Mr.. Brown,
who declared that whether or not
the Negro has produced any uni
que literature, for nearly two cen
turtles he has haen publishing books
expressing his deepest thoughts,
his deepest aspirations, and his
experience in tho American scene,
OF great importance is the folk
expression of the American Ne
gro. Mr.. Brown stated, and al
though these people have had no
education or training, they have
produced many fine poets. Th9ir
spirituals were not SO much the
loneings or prais!ngs Of the old
days as they were the means OF
expressing a social trag dy w h
a great folk art The tragic q'all-
~ they contained told far more
of what slaves went through thar
I'D direct propaganda, the speak
or told his audience.
Mr.. Brown is a graduIe Of WI
liams College and Harvard Uni
versity. Since 1929 he has beer
associate professor Of English at
Howard University. Previous to
that time he had served on the
faculty Of Virginia Seminary and
College, and of Lincoln University
in Missouri.
In 1878, Mr.. Brown received
a Guggenheim Award for creative
work in Negro Literature. Dur
ing the next two years he was
wishing lecturer at New YORK
University. He has served as edl-
tor and consultant on Negro al
fairs on the Federal Writers Pro
ject, and as member of the
Carnegie Myrdal Staff for Study
Of the Negro.
Among Mr.. Browns published
works are "The Negro in Ameri-
can Fiction" "Negro Poetry and
Drama" and "The Southern
Road" At the preser. time he is
working on "No Hiding Place"
a book Of poems to be published
in 1912; and serving as co-editor
Of an anthology of Negro litera-
ture entitled The Negro Caravan
Many Of Mr.. Browns works have
appeared in The Crisis, The Nation,
The N W Masses, The New Repub-
lie, The Journal Of Negro Educa-
ton, The journal Of Negro His
tory, Opportunity, and The Quart
erly Review Of Higher Education
Among Negroes.