To make Negro literature : writing, literary practice & African American authorship / Elizabeth McHenry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McHenry, Elizabeth, 1965- author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--African American authors--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--African American authors.

American literature--19th century--History and criticism.

African Americans--Intellectual life--19th century.

African Americans.

African Americans--Intellectual life.

African Americans--Books and reading.

African Americans in literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xv, 295 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2021.

Summary:

"In To Make Negro Literature Elizabeth McHenry traces African American authorship in the decade following the 1896 legalization of segregation. She shifts critical focus from the published texts of acclaimed writers to unfamiliar practitioners, whose works reflect the unsettledness of African American letters in this period. Analyzing literary projects that were unpublished, unsuccessful, or only partially achieved, McHenry recovers a hidden genealogy of Black literature as having emerged tentatively, laboriously, and unevenly. She locates this history in books sold by subscription, in lists and bibliographies of African American authors and books assembled at the turn of the century, in the act of ghostwriting, and in manuscripts submitted to publishers for consideration and the letters of introduction that accompanied them. By attending to these sites and prioritizing overlooked archives, McHenry reveals a radically different literary landscape, revising concepts of Black authorship and offering a fresh account of the development of "Negro literature" focused on the never published, the barely read, and the unconventional"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

"The information contained in this book will never appear in school histories" : progress of a race and subscription bookselling at the end of the nineteenth century

Thinking bibliographically

Washington's good fortune : writing and authorship in practice

The case of Mary Church Terrell

Coda. Underground railroads of meaning.

Machine generated contents note: TO MAKE NEGRO LITERATURE

ch. One "The Information Contained in this Book Will Never Appear in School Histories"

Progress of a Race and Subscription Bookselling at the End of the Nineteenth Century

ch. Two Thinking Bibliographically

ch. Three Washington's good fortune

Writing and Authorship in Practice

ch. Four The Case of Mary Church Terrell.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: McHenry, Elizabeth, 1965- To make Negro literature.

ISBN:

9781478013594

1478013591

9781478014515

1478014512

OCLC:

1225288053

Publisher Number:

99989756501