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Celebrating Black History Month
Literary Traveler is excited to announce its February theme: Black History Month. Celebrating the community and spirit of Black/African Americans, we have added some insightful new content including a book review of Faith Ringgold's black children's classic Tar Beach as well as a visit to The Studio Museum in Harlem which features world renowned artists of African descent. Perhaps the most intriguing of our content is a revealing interview with Terrell Dempsey, the author of Searching for Jim: Slavery in Sam Clemens's World. In this candid interview, Dempsey discusses his findings of slavery in Hannibal, Clemens's hometown (and Dempsey's long time residence) and Mark Twain's change of heart toward this racial injustice. Dempsey also adds an article of his own giving readers a glimpse into modern day Hannibal, which is also the main stop on our July 2007 Mark Twain Steamboat Tour presented by the National Trust. Join us as we honor African Americans who have inspired the literary travels of today.
A New Kind of Renaissance: Touring Harlem
As I ventured out into the freezing cold this past Saturday, I almost ran back inside, put off by the wind gusts of 15-20 mph. Yet this deemed to be a special occasion, since this was the start of Black History Month and I was to take a walking tour of Harlem, focusing on the 1920s Renaissance period.
Posted on Tue, Feb 06, 2007
The Studio Museum in Harlem Presents Africa Comics
Days of the Harlem Renaissance still haunt West 125th Street with sites such as the Apollo Theater; however, another landmark goes virtually unknown amidst the pharmacies and discount shops of today. The Studio Museum in Harlem has spanned nearly four generations, featuring world famous artists from the American and international black/African-descent community.
Posted on Wed, Jan 31, 2007
Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach: A Literary Review
Author: Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold, foremost famous for her status as a highly influential black female artist, accomplishes capturing the power of a child's imagination in her now children's classic, Tar Beach. Ringgold, who wrote Tar Beach in 1991, was initially renowned for her art, particularly how she portrayed the black female in America, through a series of quilts she called "Woman on a Bridge," which debuted at the Guggenheim.
Posted on Wed, Jan 31, 2007
A Revealing Interview with Terrell Dempsey, Author of Searching for Jim: Slavery in Sam Clemens's World
Author: Terrell Dempsey
Mark Twain expert Terrell Dempsey uncovers the truths of African American slavery in Hannibal, Missouri, Sam Clemens's hometown, in Searching for Jim: Slavery in Sam Clemens's World (University of Missouri Press 2003). The existence of slavery in Hannibal during Twain's childhood and adolescence was rarely discussed until Dempsey revealed his compelling findings in Searching for Jim.
Posted on Wed, Jan 31, 2007
Zora's Immortal South
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
Eatonville, Florida has one main street, with dusty sidewalks, drooping Spanish moss, and sad, tin-roofed houses of faded stucco. Blink and you may miss it: the total land area is just about a mile. Yet for admirers of Zora Neale Hurston and her classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Eatonville is the home of tall tales, true love, and a vibrant culture that seeps from real-life onto the page.
Posted on Wed, Jan 31, 2007
The Helen of the West Indies: Derek Walcott's St. Lucia
Author: Derek Walcott
The prone island of St. Lucia (pronounced LOO-sha) in the Caribbean has been the source of inspiration for Nobel laureate Derek Walcott from the time he wrote the lines above at the age of 18. This small island (only 27 miles by 14 miles) has inspired a lifetime of poetry, including Omeros (1990), Walcott's book-length poem consisting of sixty-four chapters in seven books, each filled with three-line stanzas.
Posted on Mon, Oct 02, 2006
Jamaica Kincaid and Annie John: A Childhood Cut Short
Author: Jamaica Kincaid
One author in particular has dominated the West Indian literary scene for years: Jamaica Kincaid. She was born Elaine Potter Richardson on the tiny island of Antigua in 1949. Located in the Lesser Antilles island chain, Antigua is a small, tourist destination made up of light pink sand beaches. Its cultural traditions are derived from both African and British societies; for example, music and dance stem from their ancestral roots, while at school, children learn from the British English school system, even taking the life-altering A-levels (tests that determine if a student is admitted to the university of their choice).
Posted on Wed, Sep 20, 2006
The Harlem Renaissance, Washington, DC
And the Rise of Langston Hughes
Author: Langston Hughes
It's something of an oddity to mention writers and Washington, DC, in the same sentence; one traditionally associates the city with the federal government and policy-making. But in the years immediately following World War I, one of the most significant social and cultural movements of the 20th century, the Harlem Renaissance, received substantial support from an artistic cadre within Washington, including the young poet Langston Hughes.
Posted on Wed, Jan 01, 2003
Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Life
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston was the fifth of eight children born to John Hurston, a carpenter, and Lucy Potts Hurston, a former schoolteacher. Hurston grew up in Eatonville, a small town 10 miles northeast of Orlando, Florida. Hurston frequently fudged her birthdate as 1901, but most scholars believe she was born in 1891.
Posted on Wed, Nov 01, 2000
Nella Larsen - Discovering Parallels to Nella Larsen
Author: Nella Larsen
Nella Larsen was a Harlem Renaissance novelist, a triumph in a day and age that neither supported her gender nor humanized her race. For contemporary writers, her life and times represent an age when African American female artists are looking for a safe haven. Larsen is an anchor to calm the stormy seas of a new literary renaissance.
Posted on Sat, Aug 01, 1998
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