The collection ranges from 1927 to 1972 and consists of correspondence, manuscripts and printed matter. Gordon's writings, the bulk of the collection, are organized into three categories: Autobiographical, Fiction and Nonfiction. The...
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The collection ranges from 1927 to 1972 and consists of correspondence, manuscripts and printed matter. Gordon's writings, the bulk of the collection, are organized into three categories: Autobiographical, Fiction and Nonfiction. The autobiographical narratives range from stories of growing up black in New Orleans and rural Georgia to an enemy encounter during World War I in France. There is also a detailed diary of a writing retreat in the New Hampshire White Mountains in 1933. His fiction work includes a compilation of short stories and a complete draft of his novel "Picnic in Court House Square." The nonfiction work ranges from his 1920s articles on the black press and a series of travel articles written in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, to later articles and essays on integration, the columnist George Schuyler and the civil rights movement. "Black Women's Long Tough Course: from 'dat gal' Carline to This Woman Angela," written in defense of Angela Davis in 1972 was his last major essay.
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