Found 48 collections related to African American authors

Charles Anthony Frye (1946-1994) was an early proponent of Black studies and taught philosophy, religion, and literature, and he was a published novelist and poet. The Charles A. Frye papers, 1964-1995, reflect the teaching and writer career of this professor of African and African American philosophy, religion, and literature. less

The New Heritage Theatre Group records consists of playbills, broadsides, flyers, playscripts, correspondence and printed matter relating to the organization's productions and events from 1965-2015. Of particular note are original playscripts and production materials for the South African musical "Sarafina!" (1988-1991) and flyers and announcements for a play reading series entitled "Voices of Griots" (1991-1996). There is also a biographical file for Roger Furman. less

The collection documents Julian Mayfield's career as a writer, educator and actor, and his activities as a political expatriate in West Africa and Guyana. Significant correspondents include fellow African-American expatriates and friends Maya Angelou, Herman Kofi Bailey, Sylvia Boone, William Branch, Tom Feelings, David DuBois, Preston King, Jim Lacy, Calvin and Elinor Sinnette, and Alice Windom. Other correspondents are John Henrik Clarke, Jules Dassin, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, James Forman, Richard Gibson, Gloria Joseph, Woodie King, Paul Mann, William Marshall, Truman Nelson, and Conor Cruise O'Brien. less

Ted Poston was the first full-time African-American reporter for the New York Post, where he worked from 1936 covering many major black-oriented news stories, until his retirement in 1972. The Ted Poston Research Collection consists of biographical information about Poston and a transcript of an interview that Professor Luther P. Jackson did with Ted Poston on "interracial reporting" in October 1968. Most of the collection consists of typescripts of articles and columns written by Poston (1927-1971) collected and prepared by the donor, Kathleen Hauke. less

Writings consisting of manuscripts for his book, GARVEY: THE STORY OF A PIONEER BLACK NATIONALIST; miscellaneous typescript essays and printed articles, 1946-1974; numerous examples of Fax's art such as magazine illustrations and book jackets, 1936-1962; and photocopies of some correspondence. Also, programs, invitations, broadsides, book reviews, and news clippings concerning Fax's career. less

The T. Thomas Fortune Scrapbook consists primarily of clippings of Fortune's articles from the "New York Age," 1890-1898, in which he discussed events and issues affecting African Americans nationwide as well as overseas. There are also articles from other newspapers such as the "Evening Telegram, the "New York Sun," the "Texas Morning News, the "Galveston Daily" and the "Brooklyn Daily Eagle," some of which he authored, and articles written about him by fellow journalists, 1889-1904. less

An African American career soldier, Jesse J. Johnson authored eight books and several plays about the military service of black men and women. The Jesse J. Johnson military collection consists primarily of secondary sources and printed material, along with typescripts of his plays and one of his books. less

This collection consists of typescripts of novels, biographies, essays, and poems on historical, sociological, and educational issues, and conference papers. Some of the typescripts appear as final drafts, others as working drafts with author's annotations and corrections. Manuscripts included are "A Talk to Teachers: The Negro Child, His Self Image" by James Baldwin; "Slavery and Capitalism" by Eric Williams; "Life in a Haitian Valley" by Melville J. Herskovits; "American Dilemma" by Gunnar Myrdal; and poems by Waring Cuney, among others. Other authors represented are Arna Bontemps, Horace Mann Bond, Lloyd Brown, Helen Buckler, Henrietta Buckmaster, John H. Clark, Benjamin Davis, Ralph Ellison, Arthur Huff Fauset, and E. Franklin Frazier. Conference material includes Melville J. Herskovits and the Future of Africana Studies (Schomburg Center, May 1988); Marcus Garvey Centennial Conference (Jamaica, November 1987); and the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (Nigeria, 1977). less

C. L. R. James was a West Indian scholar, political activist, and writer. Born in Trinidad in 1901, James began his career as a writer and sports journalist. He migrated to Great Britain in 1932, where he published his first major work, The Black Jacobins, in 1938. He became acquainted with Marxism and Trotskyism in 1934, meeting with Leon Trotsky in Mexico in 1938. In New York during the 1940s, he led a small faction of left-wing Communists opposed to the policies of the Communist Party-USA, as well as to some of the main tenets of Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism. Following his expulsion from the United States in 1953, during the Cold War, James relocated to London, residing at times in Trinidad, where he launched an opposition party against the government of Eric Williams, and in the United States, where he lectured periodically. James died in 1989. The C. L. R. James letters consist mainly of letters written by James to his former wife and political associate, Constance Webb. James's letters discuss a wide variety of subjects including love, politics (especially Marxism), art, history, sports, literature, and popular culture. Also included are miscellaneous letters and organizational materials documenting James's political activities in the United States, 1938-1953; and letters written to Webb, regarding her writings on Richard Wright, from Arna Bontemps, Lawrence Reddick, and Ellen Wright. Numerous letters also discuss the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a faction led by C. L. R. James, under the pseudonym of J. R. Johnson, and Raya Dunayevskaya (also known as Freddie Forest) within the Socialist Workers Party, which later evolved into the group Facing Reality. The letters are voluminous, averaging 20 pages on loose leaf paper; handwritten; undated; and either signed with a majuscule N (first letter of his nickname and political pseudonym Nello) or unsigned. They were transcribed and annotated by Webb. less

The Edward Boatner papers reflect his activities as composer, choral conductor, music professor and author of music textbooks. The music in the collection consists of scores for "Freedom Suite," his musical comedy "Julius Sees Her in Rome, Georgia," and his opera "Troubled in Mind." There are also scores for four gospel songs written by Boatner, and voice parts for selections from his musical play, "He Will Answer.". less

The Nella Larsen Letters consist of two letters written by this author to Edward Wasserman and deal with the most spectacular African American social event of the decade, the 1928 wedding of Countee Cullen and W.E.B. DuBois' daughter, Yolande. The incompatible couple was divorced in 1930. less

Personal and professional papers, writings, office files and printed matter documenting Preston Wilcox's dual career as an educator and community organizer. Included are biographical and autobiographical narratives; some correspondence and organization files; an extensive writings series; proposals, minutes, reports and other documents dating from 1958 to 1965 pertaining to the East Harlem Project, the East Harlem Summer Festival, and the Massive Economic Neighborhood Development (MEND); confidential files from the 1964 Princeton Summer Studies Program, the pilot project for the pre-college Upward Bound program; compilations of material on public schools, decentralization and community control; and Afram's surviving records. Some of the main themes explored in the writings are: decentralization and parental decision-making, community organization and economic development, Black Power versus integration, social policy and white racism, empowering the poor, and black studies and black schools. The Afram files comprise the following subseries: Administrative, Publications, Parent Participation in Follow Through, Malcolm X Lovers Network and Vertical Files. The latter two categories are compilations of articles and other printed matter, with editorial notes by Wilcox, on Malcolm X, and on selected topics and personalities, including education, community control, reparations, Harlem, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr., Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael) and Leonard Jeffries. less

Clarence LeRoy Holte (1909-1993) is principally known as an African American bibliophile who collected books pertaining to Africa and the African diaspora. He was also an advertising executive and for twenty years worked as an ethnic market specialist for a general market advertising firm. The Clarence L. Holte papers reflect Holte's desire to educate people about Black history and culture, and his attempts to assist with the economic development of Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia through the advertising company he represented. less

Henry Thorpe Bradley was an African American book collector and writer of verses and short stories. Bradley was born in Enfield, N.C., and moved to Brooklyn (N.Y.) during the 1920s. His published and unpublished works include: "Love and Mystery, a Tale in Rhyme" (1907), "A Printer's Dream" (n.d.), "Effusions of the Soul" (1917), "Marching to Berlin" (1918), "Ethiopian Women's Society of the Moon" (1926), "Out of the Depths" (1928), "In Defense, a Sketch for Broadcasting" (n.d.), and "A Catalog of Books of Modern First Editions and Old, Rare Editions", 1936. Thic collection consists of correspondence, writing, and printed matter documenting Henry Thorpe Bradley's activities as an African American book collector and self-published author during the first half of the twentieth century. Included are letters to the editors of several New York daily newspapers on racial biases in media reporting and the invasion of Ethiopia by Mussolini's Italian troops; typescripts of poems; short stories and essays; and a radioscript entitled "In Defense.". less

The Owen Dodson collection consists principally of printed matter describing Dodson's career as a poet, playwright, and novelist. There are programs, obituaries and a memorial, a few of his poems, and an extensive bibliography. Additionally, the collection contains a handwritten poem (ca. 1940s), postcards written to his friend Sol Gordon, court documents, and correspondence regarding Dodson's estate and his will. less

The Ann Petry papers document the professional, social, and family life of writer Ann Petry (1908-1997). With the publication of her 1946 debut novel titled, The Street, Petry became the first US black woman author to sell over a million copies. The collection consists of personal and professional correspondence, manuscripts, clippings and printed matter, and personal memorabilia. less

The Helen Brown scrapbook contains programs and reviews of plays and concerts that took place in New York City between 1926 and 1941. Included are articles and reviews of musicians, singers, actors, writers, such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, and artists, such as Jacob Lawrence, Augusta Savage and James L. Allen. The programs represent a variety of performances, among them those by the Negro Opera Company and Hall Johnson's groups (the Hall Johnson Singers, Hall Johnson Jubilee Singers, and Hall Johnson Negro Choir). Also included are programs for Roland Hayes, Richard B. Harrison, Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Hazel Harrison, Abbie Mitchell, Jules Beldsoe, and the Eva Jessye Choir. The lyrics to some songs can also be found in the scrapbook.. less

James Weldon Johnson was a publisher, educator, lawyer, composer, artist, diplomat, and civil rights leader. Together with his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, he wrote the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing", which came to be known as the "Negro National Anthem", as well as a large number of popular songs for the musical stage of the early twentieth century. Johnson also served as consul of the United States to Venezuela and Nicaragua. He wrote several books and served as editor of the New York Age. From 1920-1931, Johnson was field secretary, then secretary, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1930, he became chair of Creative Literature and Writing at Fisk University. The James Weldon Johnson collection consists primarily of programs honoring Johnson following his death in 1938, including those sponsored by the NAACP, Yale University Library, Virginia Union University, and Hampton Institute. Two programs printed during his lifetime provide information about subjects for his lectures and work with students at Fisk University. News clippings discuss a marker erected, in 1972, at the site of his home in Jacksonville, Florida. An obituary marks the passing of his widow, Grace Nail Johnson, in 1976, and two towels with their embroidered initials complete the collection. less

Tom Feelings (1933-2003) was an American children's book illustrator and author, cartoonist, teacher, and activist who sought to educate people of color through his artwork, books, and lectures. The Tom Feelings photographs largely chronicle Feelings' professional projects and formal events he attended during the 1990s and early 2000s. The collection also features many photographs of his mother's family from the 1910s. less

Zora Neale Hurston (1901?-1960) author of several novels, short stories, poetry and an autobiography, was a trained anthropologist who also wrote ethnographic studies. The Zora Neale Hurston collection consists of nine poems, a short story entitled "The Conversion of Sam," and correspondence with William Clifford and Lawrence Jordan. All material is photocopied. less

The Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections (HAJMTC) were formed by over two hundred file-folder level collections (one-three file folders per personality or event). The collections contain information dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century, and they document early dramatic actors, minstrel shows, vaudeville, musical revues, Broadway productions, and protest dramas, among others. In addition to actors, playwrights, singers, musicians, and dancers and the productions in which they appeared, there are collections for poets and visual artists. less

Henry Lee and Mollie Moon were civil rights activists and public relations executives. Henry Lee Moon also was a journalist and editor, while Mollie Moon founded the National Urban League Guild. The Henry Lee and Mollie Moon papers consist of personal and professional materials related to their activism, careers, and volunteer activities. less

Writings and research files, along with personal papers, and corrrespondence documenting Davis' multifaceted career, 1923-1972. Includes material on the AMERICAN NEGRO REFERENCE BOOK, 1966, edited by Davis; papers relating to Frederick Douglass, including letters to Douglass from his sons, Lewis and Frederick; historical novel about a frontier family in Louisville, Kentucky; compilation of biographies of black athletes called "Jump High;" short stories and poetry; and manuscript about Liberia entitled "Bitter Canaan," by Charles S. Johnson. Correspondents include Mary M. Bethune, Ralph J. Bunche, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. less

Clergyman, author and educator. Steward became a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1861 and served congregations in Macon, Georgia, Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware, Washington, D. C., and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was also the chaplain for the 25th Infantry where he served in the Philippine Islands and Cuba. In 1907 he joined the faculty of Wilberforce University, with which he was associated until his death, serving as vice-president, chaplain and professor of history, French and logic. Correspondence, writings, deeds, documents related to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and journals. The journals constitute the largest section of the papers and cover his early years in the ministry in Georgia (1868-71), Haiti (1873), where he established a church in Port-au-Prince, and Philadelphia (1880s); his chaplaincy in Ft. Missoula and the Philippine Islands (1890s); and his years at Wilberforce University (1907-24). The journals contain a variety of items and are not arranged chronologically: drafts of sermons, essays, speeches; accounting notes; lecture notes and course notes. Two journals record marriages, baptisms and funerals performed by him in the Philippines. The correspondence includes letters to Steward from his children, Frank, Charles, Theophilus Bolden, Gustavus, his brother William and a letter from John W. Cromwell. less