Works Cited
Abrahams, Roger D. Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia. Chicago: Aldine Publishing, 1970.
Beavers, Herman. Interview by author. Personal interview. Yale University, New Haven, July 15, 2011.
Beavers, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, teaches American Literature and African American Literature.
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House, 1969.
Teachers may want to refer to Chapter 15, in which young Maya, mute from trauma, rediscovers her voice via poetry.
Brooks, Gwendolyn. A Street in Bronzeville. New York: Harper, 1945.
This now out-of-print collection contains the sonnet cycle, "Gay Chaps at the Bar," which presents poetically the experiences and emotions of African American soldiers returning from World War II to Jim Crow America.
Campbell, Kermit E. "The Signifying Monkey Revisited: Vernacular Discourse and African American Personal Narratives." JAC 14, no. 2 (2006). http://www.jacweb.org/Archived_volumes/Text_articles/V14_I2_Campbell.htm (accessed August 2, 2011).
A recent article that looks more closely at the Signifying Monkey and how signifying is a method of personal affirmation.
Chandler, Karen. "Preserving 'That Racial Memory': Figurative Language, Sonnet Sequence, and the Work of Remembrance in Marilyn Nelson's A Wreath for Emmett Till." Southern Quarterly 45, no. 4 (2008): 101+. http://databases.library.yale.edu:8331/V/A8AK6VHR5GTVS2HGCHY5S93YSQEG9Q6V8QPD6359B74MSP1SN8-58496?func=quick-2-merge (accessed May 10, 2011).
A good analysis of Nelson's book. Highly recommended reading before teaching A Wreath for Emmett Till.
Conan, Neal. "Gates Takes a New Look at 'Uncle Tom'." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7488550 (accessed August 3, 2011).
Gates discusses how the character of Uncle Tom, once noble, became a racial slur. Today, his nobility is re-emerging. A truly signifying character.
Cooke, Michael G. Afro-American Literature in the Twentieth Century: The Achievement of Intimacy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984.
Cooke's introduction and first chapter are must-reads for teachers who seek general background material for teaching African American literature.
Cummings, Melbourne S. "Manifestations of Afrocentricity in Rap Music." Howard
Journal of Communications 13, no. 1 (2002): 59 – 76. http://databases.library.yale.edu:8331/V/JBCXR6UNNTMM4N45FCRDN4BSNBSNBF38C2VHN8BMYESEEG8SL6-47478?func=quick-3&short-format=002&set_number=000662&set_entry=000001&format=999
This article discusses nommo and how it is present in not only rap music, but also preaching, public speaking, and writing by African Americans.
Cummings, Michael. "Shakespearean Sonnet." Free Study Guides for Shakespeare and Other Authors. http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xSonnets.html (accessed August 5, 2011).
A free online source for teaching students about the elements of the sonnet.
Denize, Donna, and Louisa Newlin. "The Sonnet Tradition and Claude McKay." English Journal 99, no. 1 (2009): 99-105. http://www.lomonico.com/documents/TheSonnetTraditionandClaudeMcKay.pdf (accessed April 20, 2011).
Easily accessed online, this provides excellent background for teaching McKay's as well as other African American sonnets.
Dewhurst, Beth. "Shakespeare was a Black Woman." Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare in American Life. http://www.shakespeareinamericanlife.org/teachers/lessonplans/plan8.cfm (accessed May 25, 2011).
A short lesson plan useful for fleshing out an activity focusing on Maya Angelou's admiration for Shakespeare.
Duncan, Bryan. "And I doubt all": Allegiance and Ambivalence in Gwendolyn Brooks's "Gay Chaps at the Bar." Journal of Modern Literature 34, no. 1 (2010): 36 - 57. http://databases.library.yale.edu:8331/V/A8AK6VHR5GTVS2HGCHY5S93YSQEG9Q6V8QPD6359B74MSP1SN8-54978?func=quick-3&short-format=002&set_number=000743&set_entry=000001&format=999 (accessed April 26, 2011).
If teaching Brooks, this is an invaluable aid for understanding and presenting "Gay Chaps at the Bar."
Fabre, Genevieve, and Michel Feith. Jean Toomer and the Harlem Renaissance. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
Discusses Toomer's tentative relationship with the Harlem Renaissance and the reception of his experimental writing, especially Cane.
Francini, Antonella. "Sonnet vs. Sonnet: The Fourteen Lines in African American Poetry." RSA Journal 14 (2003): n.a.. http://www.aisna.net/rsa/rsa14/14francini.pdf (accessed May 3, 2011).
A very accessible article that discusses some of the innovations made by African American poets on the sonnet and the results of these changes. Highly recommended.
Gates, Henry Louis. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
A very important work that is also quite sophisticated. All the background material is here; the trick is to make it accessible to students.
Gates, Jr., Henry Louis. "Editor's Introduction: Writing "Race" and the Difference It Makes." Chicago Journals 12, no. 1 (1985): 1 - 20. http://npproseminar.pbworks.com/f/Gates,+Writing+Race.pdf (accessed May 8, 2011).
More accessible than his theoretical book, this article discusses the effects of race on writing and the kinds of esthetic choices that face African American writers.
Howard, Sheena C. "Manifestations of Nommo: Afrocentric Analysis of President
Barack Obama." Journal of Black Studies 42, no. 5 (2011): 737 – 750.
http://databases.library.yale.edu:8331/V/K6RF6RK2S6CJK67Q9JE7KSNMHVBYPUY3792AHCXR52X1HJJDNI-53941?func=quick-3&short-format=002&set_number=000757&set_entry=000002&format=999
This article studies the use of nommo, a black rhetorical technique, by President Obama when addressing audiences of different racial makeup.
Jordan, June. "The Difficult Miracle of Black Poetry in America or Something Like a Sonnet for Phillis Wheatley." The Massachusetts Review, Inc. 27, no. 2 (1986): 252-262. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25089756 (accessed May 10, 2011).
An exciting, jazzy piece of criticism that is worth having students read just for its own sake. It opens up the possibilities for responding to poetry with passion and style.
Leonard, Keith D.. Fettered Genius: The African American Bardic Poet from Slavery to Civil Rights. Charlottesville: University of Virginia press, 2006.
A core text for anyone wanting to teach African American poetry. Don't limit yourself to the introduction and Chapter 1.
Marrouchi, Mustapha. Signifying With a Vengeance: Theories, Literatures, Storytellers. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.
Useful for the introduction and for Chapter 5, which discusses the effects of perceiving blacks as the "other."
Miller, Nelson. "Basic Sonnet Forms." Sonnet Central. http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm (accessed August 2, 2011).
A highly accessible, useful online source for teaching about the sonnet form.
Nelson, Marilyn. The Cachoeira Tales, and Other Poems . Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2005.
A book of poetry that plays with the idea of the Canterbury Tales. It could provide great inspiration for a modern set of linked tales.
Nelson, Marilyn, and Philippe Lardy. A Wreath for Emmett Till . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
In inspiration, execution, design, and every other way, an amazing "crown" of sonnets. Nelson provides glosses on each sonnet as well as other pertinent material. Designed with teachers and students in mind, but written for everyone.
Preminger, Alex, and T. V. F. Brogan. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics . Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993.
Provides general information about the sonnet form.
Scheuer, Christina. "On "Gay Chaps at the Bar"." Welcome to English " Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/brooks/gaychaps.htm (accessed August 3, 2011).
If teaching Brooks' "Gay Chaps," this offers selections from an array of critics that may provide useful background and perspective for students.
Toomer, Jean, Robert B. Jones, and Margery Toomer Latimer. The Collected Poems of
Jean Toomer . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988.
Interesting for background information about Toomer; provides a wide selection of his poetry.
Trethewey, Natasha D. Native Guard. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Contains her sonnet sequence, "Native Guard;" however, the other poems in the collection are well worth reading.
Woodson, Jon. Anthems, Sonnets, and Chants: Recovering the African American Poetry of the 1930s. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2011.
A new, useful book offering introductory material and specific discussion of Harlem Renaissance poetry.
Some recommended web sites for researching African American Civil War soldiers are:
Teaching with Documents: The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861- 1877: African American Soldiers During the Civil War
http://memory.loc.gov/learn///features/timeline/civilwar/aasoldrs/soldiers.html
Civil War Academy.com: Civil War Black Soldiers
http://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-black-soldiers.html
History of African Americans in the Civil War
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/history/aa_history.htm
KnowLA: African Americans in the Civil War, 1861 – 1864
http://www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=891
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