{"value"=>"<p>The Writing series comprises the bulk of the collection. This series contains drafts, professional correspondence, and clippings of Clarke's written work, including her poetry, articles, essays, scholarly reviews, and speeches, as well as the organizational records of <span class=\"title\">Conditions</span> Magazine.</p> <p>The Early works subseries features a typescript copy of \"The Life and Times of Assata Shakur, 1973-1977\", written for the New Brunswick Committee for the Defense of Assata; an annotated typescript draft of the essay \"Women, Blacks, Gays...the WAR Goes on...\", and correspondence with the editor of <span class=\"title\">Chrysalis: A Magazine of Women's Culture</span>.</p> <p>The Published works subseries, includes manuscripts, drafts, correspondence, reviews, and clippings related to her four books of poetry, <span class=\"title\">Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women</span> (1982), <span class=\"title\">Living as a Lesbian</span> (1986), <span class=\"title\">Humid Pitch: Narrative Poetry</span> (1989) and <span class=\"title\">Experimental Love</span> (1993), as well as her book of criticism, <span class=\"title\">\"After Mecca\": Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement</span> (2005), and her collected works, <span class=\"title\">The Days of Good Looks: The Prose and Poetry of Cheryl Clarke, 1980-2005</span> (2006). Additionally, there is a file for general poetry manuscripts.</p> <p>The Articles and essays subseries contains twenty-seven published articles and essays, organized chronologically by date, which include drafts, correspondence, and clippings. The work focuses on Black, feminist, and LGBT themes, tackling racism, sexism and homophobia. There is also a general essay file.</p> <p>The Reviews subseries consists of Clarke's scholarly book reviews and literary criticism essays of academic and creative works by other Black, lesbian, and feminist writers, such as Alice Childress, Alexis De Veaux, Audre Lorde, Paule Marshall, Toni Morrison, Cherry Muhanji, and Ann Petry. This subseries features drafts, manuscripts, clippings, and correspondence organized chronologically by publication date.</p> <p>The Anthologies subseries features drafts and manuscripts of anthologized essays, poems, and stories as well as related correspondence and clippings organized chronologically by publication date.</p> <p>The Speeches subseries contains annotated drafts and published excerpts of speeches for various conferences, talks, and events held at institutions such as the City University of New York (CUNY), Bates College, the Henrik-Martin Institute, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Frequent topics include the Black lesbian identity, anti-Black racism, LGBT issues, feminism, activism, and academia. This subseries is organized chronologically by date and also features related correspondence.</p> <p>The Dissertation subseries includes annotated drafts and a final version of her doctorate thesis, \"'After Mecca': The Impact of Black Women on Black Poetry after 1965\", as well as degree candidacy forms and correspondence for the Graduate School-New Brunswick at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.</p> <p>The Unpublished works subseries features material for the Black Women Writers Project with Evelyn Hammond, such as interviews and correspondence with Black female writers like Becky Birtha, Carol Olivia Herron, and Barbara Smith. In addition to <span class=\"title\">Balancing the Egg: A Lesbian Conversation</span>, a conversational essay anthology coedited with Elizabeth Walber, the subseries contains three unpublished short stories, miscellaneous drafts, research material, and rejection notices, organized chronologically by date.</p> <p>The <span class=\"title\">Conditions</span> subseries consists of the editorial, financial, contractual, and publishing records of <span class=\"title\">Conditions: A Magazine of Writing by Women with an Emphasis on Writing by Lesbians</span>. Clarke served as part of the magazine's Editorial Collective from 1981 to 1990. This subseries also contains office files that include correspondence with staff, contributors, and subscribers; meeting minutes; printed material; and a photocopy of the journal, as well as grant funding applications and subscriptions.</p>"}