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A renaissance in Harlem : lost voices of an American community / edited by Lionel C. Bascom.
- Format:
- Book
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- American literature--African American authors.
- American literature.
- African Americans--Literary collections.
- African Americans.
- Harlem Renaissance.
- New York (State)--New York.
- American literature--New York (State)--New York.
- Harlem (New York, N.Y.)--Literary collections.
- Harlem (New York, N.Y.).
- Harlem Renaissance--Literary collections.
- American literature--20th century.
- Harlem Renaissance--Sources.
- Genre:
- Literary collections.
- Sources.
- Literature.
- Physical Description:
- xi, 302 pages ; 22 cm
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Bard, [1999]
- Summary:
- The celebrated era of the Harlem Renaissance is traditionally held by academics to have stretched from 1924-29 and to include a specific canon of writers. But this tradition is wrong. The era was much longer and deserves to include the rich, varied voices of everyday Harlemites. Lionel C. Bascom collects more than fifty pieces written for the WPA Writer's Project which record these voices: fish vendors and war veterans, Pullman porters and prostitutes, fly-by-night preachers and the black "trail-breaker" who was the first American to plant the US flag at the North Pole. In addition, several of these pieces are by then-unknown literary giants of the Renaissance: Ralph Ellison (whose portraits eventually found their way into Invisible Man) and Dorothy West, as well as by undiscovered laureates such as Vivian Morris. This is a revolutionary work on a important time featuring fascinating material that has languished unseen in the Library of Congress since 1939.
- Contents:
- Introduction: History from the Ground Up 1
- Part 1 Two Harlems
- Minstrel Show 21
- Whites Invade Harlem / Levi Hurbert 24
- Part 2 Lost Manuscripts
- Visible Men 33
- Eddie's Bar / Ralph Ellison 36
- Colonial Park / Ralph Ellison 39
- Sweet the Monkey / Ralph Ellison 44
- The Street / Ralph Ellison 46
- My People / Ralph Ellison, Clarence Weinstock 50
- Pluto / Dorothy West 54
- Rent Parties / Frank Byrd 59
- Buffet Flat / Frank Byrd 68
- Slick Reynolds / Frank Byrd 72
- Laundry Workers / Vivian Morris 75
- Negro Laundry Workers / Vivian Morris 78
- Part 3 Pushcarts, Thursday Girls, and Other Workers
- Afternoon in a Pushcart Peddlers' Colony / Frank Byrd 85
- Street Cries and Criers / Frank Byrd, Terry Roth 90
- Homey the Vegetable Man / Frank Byrd 95
- Kingfish / Marion Charles Hatch 97
- Life in the Harlem Markets / Frank Byrd 109
- The Harlem Market / Frank Byrd 112
- Fatso the Slickster, Pullman Porters', and Dining Car Folklore / Frank Byrd 120
- Fatso's Mistake / Frank Byrd 125
- Chef Watkins's Alibi / Frank Byrd 128
- Chef Sampson's Icebox / Frank Byrd 130
- West Indies / Ellis Williams 132
- Worker's Alliance / Vivian Morris 135
- Laundry Worker's Choir / Vivian Morris 137
- Thursday Girls / Vivian Morris 141
- Slave Market / Vivian Morris 146
- Domestic Workers Union / Vivian Morris 153
- Domestic Price Wars / Vivian Morris 157
- Private Life of Big Bess / Frank Byrd 161
- Betty / Frank Byrd 172
- Commercial Enterprise / Vivian Morris 175
- Dancing Girls / Vivian Morris 178
- Finger Waves and Nu Life Pomades / Vivian Morris 180
- Part 4 Uptown Gods, Kings, and Other Spiritual Entities
- God Was Happy / Vivian Morris 189
- Peace in the Kingdom / Frank Byrd 198
- Father Divine Comes to Harlem / Levi Hurbert 204
- Emancipation / Frank Byrd 210
- Divine Is Gawd / Herman Spector 214
- Temple of Grace / Dorothy West 218
- Deities and Their Duesenbergs / Vivian Morris 226
- Holy and Sanctified / Vivian Morris 228
- Obeah / Ellis Williams 233
- Conjure Man / Vivian Morris 240
- Ghost Story / Dorothy West 244
- Part 5 People, Places, and Things
- Amateur Night at the Apollo / Dorothy West 253
- Almost Made King / Vivian Morris 260
- Cocktail Party / Dorothy West 271
- Cliff Webb and Billie Day / Frank Byrd 280
- Matt Henson Retires / Theodore Poston 283
- Race Horse Row / Vivian Morris 287
- Harlem Hospital / Vivian Morris 292
- Angelo Herndon / Theodore Poston 295
- Swing Clubs / Vivian Morris 299.
- Notes:
- Compiled with manuscripts from the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Writer's Project Collection, 1936-1940.
- "An Avon Book."
- ISBN:
- 0380976641
- OCLC:
- 41628154
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