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Transcription: [00:00:21]
{SPEAKER name="Harry Jackson"}
Good afternoon. My name is Harry Jackson, I'm Curator of Education here at the National Portrait Gallery.

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I would like to welcome you to this afternoon's Teatime Lecture.

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We have with us today E. Ethelbert Miller who is a poet. He's also Director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University, and has been since 1974.

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He's also Vice President of the Association for Creative Writing Programs, Vice President of PEN/Faulkner Foundation, commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition.

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He's also the host of the weekly radio program "Maiden Voyage" on WDCU.

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Uh, today's lecture is titled "Voices in African American Literature" which features August Wilson, Ntozake Shange, John Wideman, and Alice Walker.

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So with no further ado, Ethelbert Miller. [[clapping]]

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[[sound of microphone being adjusted]]

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{SPEAKER name="Eugene Ethelbert Miller"}
First I'd like to thank the Smithsonian for, um, inviting me here this afternoon.

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I'm going to make a number of changes in my, um, talk and, um, hope that, um, those writers that I talk about

[00:01:50]
you'll find as interesting as some of the ones that were advertised. I had to do that because of the length of time. I have a tendency of talking very long, and trying to document things,

[00:02:01]
giving you examples, as well as simply giving you my opinion. I want to share with you some of my thoughts on African American literature.

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Some of which you might hear this afternoon is speculation on my part, but I enjoy looking at literature in new ways. I hope that my comments will raise questions,

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perhaps some of the authors or titles I make reference to, you will read on your own.

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Let me briefly outline what I will do this afternoon.

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One, I will-- first I will read an introductory essay that I wrote to a book that is coming out in a few weeks.

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Uh, I will follow this essay with comments on what I feel are trends in contemporary African American literature.

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My comments will include short excerpts of readings of specific texts.

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Third, I will conclude my presentation with readings of four original poems that I selected

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to show how my own work is representative of some of the new development taking place within the field of African American literature.

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And then finally, I hope that we'll have time for you to answer-- ask me questions, maybe about authors that you are currently reading or about some of the new writers. One of the jobs that I really enjoy having

[00:03:15]
is being a commentator and reviewer of new books on National Public Radio, and there's a number of new writers, people like Connie Porter who has just written All-Bright Court.

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There's a interesting book that David Nicholson just reviewed, called Bourgeois Blues by Jake Lamar— a number of titles that have come out, and I think it's very important for us to discuss these books, to see how they fit in,

[00:03:39]
in terms of African American literary tradition. I open with this essay that I wrote, which is in this book that's coming out entitled "Trials, Tribulations, and Celebrations: African American Perspectives on Health, Illness, Aging, and Loss".

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And this is a book that is edited by Dr. Marian Secundy. Dr. Secundy is a professor of Community Health and Family Practices at Howard University College of Medicine.

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And what she is doing is some very interesting things, looking at how we can use African American literature to help train doctors.

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This is a way that you know when you look at the literature, sometimes its references to folk medicine and things of that sort. And I think it's very important for those who are practitioners of medicine who are working within the African American community to know that tradition.

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There's an interesting book by Gladys-Marie Fry entitled "Night Riders" which contains a lot of interesting folklore about people who lived around Howard University Hospital, the fear they had of hospitals,

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and of the Howard boys snatching them up at night to take them into hospital, to conduct experiments. So you can see right there [[laughing]] that within the African American tradition in literature,

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that there's some very interesting things that, if you are a doctor, you need to know. And I know you probably have several relatives who, if you say, Okay, I'm gonna take you to the hospital, they don't wanna go.

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And so you have to respect their values and their beliefs. This short essay I think it'll serve as a good introduction to my comments.

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It's entitled "The Nature of African American Literature", and it's in the introduction to Dr. Secundy's book.

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Today, the interest in African American literature is flourishing. Across the United States, scholars are providing us with a number of critical and provocative texts.

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The appearance of books like Euston A. Baker Jr.'s "Blues, Ideology and Afro American literature" and "Black Literature and Literary History" edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr.,

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points us in a new and exciting direction. These books follow the renaissance in African American literature which started in the '60s and continues to the present.

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For over 25 years, the shelves of bookstores, libraries, and homes have been filled with the writings of Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, June Jordan, James Alan McPherson, Ntozake Shange, Gloria Naylor,

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Charles Johnson, Rita Dove, August Wilson, and others. The outpouring of novels, plays, and poetry does not necessarily address the material needs of the African American community.

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We are still confronted with the task of determining how literature can be used.

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The consideration of art as a resource and as a creative process to assist in social development is essential when taking into account the status of our people.

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In the introduction to his anthology, "Understanding the New Black Poetry", critic Stephen Henderson concludes that

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the theme of liberation is a principal one in African American literature, a quest that manifests itself in the public as well as in the private worlds of the African American.

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It is deeply woven into our search for identity and acceptance in America, as well as in our own hearts and minds. As much as American history has been shaped by the peculiar institution of slavery,

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so too must American literature confront the quality and nature of culture created by the descendants of slaves. It is the responsibility of our writers to restore history to memory.

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Today the audience of our literature is greater than ever before, despite the fact that educational levels in our communities do not support as large a literature-reading population as they should— a deficiency that needs to be remedied as rapidly as possible.

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The questions of readers and audiences are most important when we try to assess the impact or influence of our literature.

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For the African American in the new world, the printed word was a gift to be used in battle against enslavement and oppression.

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Frederick Douglass knew the power of his words as he composed the narrative of his life. His ability to write while others could not reinforced the preciousness of this gift.

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For truly, that which was given to Wheatley, Dunbar, Hughes, Cullen, Hurston, Brown, Wright, Ellison, Baldwin, and Morrison was a gift, containing inspiration, power, and magic.

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If the African American writer restores history to memory then our literature must be seen as a pedagogy in process and not simply as an artistic
navigation through language.

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The social function of our literature must not only be acknowledged, it must be put to use. For example, throughout our cities, our youth are trapped, addicted, and disillusioned.

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The doors of opportunity have never been open. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. Or is there?

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Richard Wright's Native Son remains a masterpiece, as well as a text to be used in understanding our young people. We question the violence in our society without attempting to find its roots or causes.

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The African American writer's ability to explore the various dimensions of the African American personality can be helpful in the liberation of our people.

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What Wright understood, as would Chester Himes, John Oliver Killens and James Baldwin who followed him, was the plight of the man-child.

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What makes African American literature of clinical importance to professionals today is the desire of writers to direct their work first to the African American community.

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This decision comes after a tradition in which many writers of color first made their literary appeals to the white audience.

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Their art was not much different from some of the legal and political statements made by leaders within their community.

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The work was a moral objection and a protest against the living conditions of the African American. It was a plea for others to acknowledge our humanity. It was a rejection of stereotypes and racial inferiority.

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At times the work seemed to be more concerned with politics and sociology than aesthetics. Critics were quick to agree or disagree with what the author said without paying attention to how it was said.

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Others simply dismissed the work if they were offended by the politics.

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To be included in the main stream or to swim alongside on one's own has always been a dilemma confronting African Americans.

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The decision of writers in the late '60s to accept the need for a black aesthetic and new criteria for judging literature should not come as a surprise.

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These decision caused an evolutionary transformation within our culture.

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The significance of this is the equivalent of a developing country first deciding to feed its own people

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before sending its wealth and resources overseas.

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The literature written during the '60s was hot. It leaped from the page in much the same manner as flames shooting from the inner cities that exploded with annual riots each summer.

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When one heard-- what one heard was angry voices and cries for redemption. Maulana Ron Karenga outlined the goals of the new art. Its purpose was to be functional, collective, and committing.

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Karenga's position pushed the writer into the struggle for social change. It was a demand that the artist recognize his or her social responsibility. Although Karenga, Amiri Baraka, Addison Gill, Jr., and others called for all artists to speak truth to the people,

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there was little critical explanation of how this was to be done. Our failure is now evident in how little the current generation of African American youth know about the Black Arts Movement.

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Our failure is one of pedagogy as well as limited resources. The recent literature written by African American women illustrates how art can assist in empowerment. The power of sisterhood has been reinforced

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by the rediscovered work of Zora Neale Hurston and the contemporary work of Ntozake Shange, Gloria Naylor, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. The energy presently behind Black study stems from Black Women’s studies and the groundwork laid by Gloria Hull, Barbara Smith, Paula Giddings, Claudia Tate, and Johnnetta Cole.

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What we witness happening across America is the lives of women being transformed and shaped by literature.

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African American literature has the power to teach our people values. The strength of imaginative fiction and good poetry is in its tendency to elevate a community to a higher moral ground.

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I have stood in front of young African American children, trying to encourage them to read Gwendolyn Brooks and Sterling Brown. I have been patient, knowing that the teaching and healing will be a slow process.

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The poems and stories discussed today are just a beginning, and all beginnings are difficult.

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We must teach our literature, not as an exercise or assignment, but as something essential to life itself.

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James Baldwin once described the writer's battle with society as being a lover's war. African American literature is a constant reminder, a testimony that we have always loved.

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This is the eternal message for all our new generations to learn. Our poetry, novels, plays, and essays are expressions of love.

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When our teachers teach our children about their beauty, then the beautiful ones will again see themselves. On that day, the killings will stop, and the land will no longer drink our blood.

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That is the introductory essay that I wanted to read from Dr. Secundy's book, which is entitled "Trials, Tribulations, and Celebrations."

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Let me now examine or comment on a few of the trends taking place in contemporary African American literature.

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This requires identifying specific writers who are making significant contribution. It also requires that we look for common themes and shared structures.

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We need to have places where we can monitor the literature. For example, the best two journals on African American literature are Callaloo, edited by Charles Rowell,

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and Black American Literature Forum, edited by Joe Weixelman.

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These publications are both scholarly journals and showcase new poetry, fiction, interviews, and critical essays.

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Two new younger magazines are Catalyst, edited by [[Pearl Klee?]], and Shooting Star Review, edited by Sandra Gould Ford. Catalyst comes out of Atlanta, and Sandra Ford is located in Pittsburgh.

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Both publications print the work of many new and younger writers. And I say this in terms — we sometimes talk about these trends and stuff — where's the literature? It's just important that you pick up these magazines, subscribe to them, because some of them really need your support.

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But this is a way you can stay abreast of who the new writers are. Sometimes these magazines have interviews with established writers and you can get a sense in terms of their creative process, why they're writing, what they're writing.

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And this, I think, is just very important for those of us who enjoy the literature, that we also have to support the uh, these publications.

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Finally, there is Essence magazine, published out of New York, a commercial journal which was started in the 1970s as a magazine for today's Black woman -- that's what they used to say, "today's Black woman".

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Which they have dropped, you know, it just says Essence. And Essence Magazine plays a key role in increasing the popularity of certain authors, and it gives many, especially women writers, a national audience.

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That is to say, you can pick up Essence in Dallas, Texas, as well as in, you know, Providence, Rhode Island.

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Consequently, some writers can become household names and not even be exceptional writers, just because they appear in Essence Magazine.

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I always tell people who are promoting certain writers that, if you can get your author in the, like, August or September, the back-to-school issue of Essence, you know with the hairstyle, you know, what to wear on campus--

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so you show up with your hair a certain way and you're Terry McMillan, you know what I mean? [[laughs]]. This is key, in terms of just knowing how literature is packaged and promoted,

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that these journals play a key role. Also, I think as we study literature, we would have to go into the editorial rooms

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at Essence and maybe document the struggle that has taken place within that journal. I think of friends like June Jordan,

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who used to battle with Essence Magazine in terms of trying to print more political or socially-conscious material, in between the hairstyles and healthcare stuff.

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And that has been a struggle, because some of the editors will tell you, we're concerned about our readership, we want a magazine that, you know, can be on the coffee table,

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and this is what our readers want. Consequently you get this certain type of literature that appears in the pages of Essence. But still, Essence is a key journal that has to be placed alongside the more academic scholarly publications, like Callaloo, and Black American Literature Forum.

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Now there is also a tendency of journals like Essence to avoid work that might be experimental, very political, or radical in terms of its use of language.

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Where the publication like Essence might discuss the issue of lesbianism in an article, it might be reluctant to print highly erotic lesbian poetry.

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I don't remember any erotic lesbian poetry in Essence Magazine, even though I've seen some articles that talk about the topic. And that, I'm almost certain, is an editorial decision.

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Any person who wishes to assess the trends in African-American literature should be familiar with the publications I have mentioned.

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There are others I could mention, but I think I have covered the key ones. One must look not only to the creatives of literature, but also to its shapers.

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For instance, it would be interesting to study Toni Morrison's contribution to literature as an editor.

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While working at Random House, she played a key role in helping the careers of such writers as June Jordan, Angela Davis, Lucille Clifton, Toni Cade Bambara, as well as keeping the memory and contributions of Henry Dumas alive. That's just Toni Morrison's contribution as an editor.

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I recall Toni Morrison really had a lot to do with trying to push Toni Cade Bambara to become a novelist. You know Toni Cade Bambara was one of our finest short story writers. But what I felt Toni Morrison was really saying is,

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hey, you could probably be packaged better if you give us the novel. Consequently the book that you find Toni Cade Bambara producing is The Salt Eaters, which many people say, well, "this is really hard to understand", you know,

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"I don't understand the plot", you know, "it jumps back and forth". And some people can say that, "OK, this is Toni Cade Bambara being very experimental". Or somebody could say "well, she can't write a novel". [[laughter]] You know. It goes either way and I recall the critic, um Arthur P. Davis was just out there wrestling with The Salt Eaters, he would say Ethelbert, what is this,

[00:18:37]
what's going on in this book. And Arthur P. Davis, who was, you know, an. astounding critic, had problems with that text. And I think, you know, we have to ask ourselves, is the writer stepping outside his or her genre? But that's looking at the contribution of Toni Morrison as editor. And I say that because sometimes as we study these individuals' lives, we forget this silent contribution.

[00:19:03]
One would also have to consider the work of Marie Brown as an editor at Double-Day almost during the same period. And Marie Brown today is considered like the Dean of African-American agents. And she has Marie Brown Associates in New York. I mention the names of Toni Morrison and Marie Brown the way one must mention the work of Jessie Fauset or Alain Locke, as midwives or godparents to literary movements.

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Individuals who promote and publish rise through contacts and what is known as literary politics. Today one would also have to view the scholar, Henry Lewis Gates Junior in much the same manner, as a shaper of our literature and even our views on literature. Gates is also a representative of a number of outstanding literary scholars that have emerged in the last ten years.

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Men and women who are quietly discovering and rediscovering our literary past, building on the work of Saunders Redding, Arthur P. Davis, George Kent, Sterling Brown, Larry Neal, and the late Addison Gayle. Now, I'm just getting started. [[laughter]] [[inaudible]]

[00:20:09]
When I look at African American literature today, I notice a number of interesting developments, and let me mention a few of them. And this is where I really just have to shorten this.

[00:20:17]
I want to read some excerpts so that you can hear how this literature sounds. Then I'm going to read some of my own work. But just to shorten this, there are four, I'm just, there's four things that I think ( -- )

Transcription Notes:
Doing so research, editor for Catalyst was indeed correct as Pearl Klee.