The militant black writer in Africa and the United States
By: [by] Mercer Cook and Stephen E. Henderson.
Contributors: Henderson, Stephen Evangelist, 1925-
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Published: 1969
Place of publication: Madison
Language: eng
Number of pages: 136
Subjects: American literature -- African American authors -- History and criticism; African literature -- Black authors -- History and criticism; African Americans -- Intellectual life; Blacks -- Africa -- Intellectual life; African Americans in literature; Blacks -- Race identity; Blacks in literature
Description: Here, two distinguished and articulate black intellectuals view the Black Revolution in terms of the black writer. Cook traces the development of black African consciousness through the works of representative black African writers, from the nineteenth century to the present. In exploring basic themes--independence, civilization, identity, African personality, and African socialism--he draws interesting parallels and notes some telling dissimilarities in the American and African movements. Henderson, choosing the phrase "survival motion" as rubric, examines the intricate interrelationship among black writers, the Black Revolution, and Black Consciousness in America--and their effects upon (and influencing by) established, white, middle-class cultural values. The responsibility of the black writer, he suggessts, is to free his people from racist mythology and stimulate their emergent self-respect into an instrumentality of wisdom. Together, these remarkable essays form some profound connections for all who seek a greater understanding, not only of the American Black Revolution, but of the larger, international Black movement which forms an illuminating context for the American experience.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 57-62. Bibliographical footnotes.
Expanded versions of 2 papers delivered at a symposium at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Aug. 8-9, 1968.