Archive - History of Black Writing Blog

“All the Songs We Sing” celebrates the 25th anniversary of The Carolina African American Writers’ Collective, which began in 1995 as a group where aspiring Black authors could come to have their work peer reviewed. The history of writer’s collectives stems back decades, starting most notably with the South Side Writer’s Group, which was founded by Richard Wright in 1936 and was made up of writers such as Arna Bontemps and Margaret Walker. The South Side Writers Group helped Wright publish the “Blueprint for Negro Literature” an essay in which Wright wrote about the role of African American writers in the collective consciousness of African Americans. For decades, writer’s collectives have created a space for Black writers to share their work, build their skills, and create a community which has helped in the publication of countless Black literary works...

Simone Savannah, 2017 graduate of KU and HBW alumnus, has recently published her poetry collection, “Uses of My Body”. The book deals with the intimacy of Black womanhood and emphasizes Black women’s experience of erasure, sexual and racial violence, as well as pleasure and healing. Lauren K. Alleyne, Assistant Director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, has written a review of Savannah’s book...

Anthony Sanchez-Day was born on 21 July, 1974, in Topeka, Kansas, and died 5 March, 2021, at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. He had a number of serious health issues. He graduated from Grand River Academy in Ashtabula, Ohio, and attended Haskell University in Lawrence, Kansas. He was a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. He is buried at the Dance Ground Cemetery on the Potawatomi Reservation in Mayetta, Kansas. He leaves behind a son, Ontario, and a daughter, Ana.

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April is National Poetry Month. The sun is out, the temperature is finally above freezing, there are even some flowers in bloom. Spring is finally here! And what better way to appreciate the warming days than by finding your favorite sunspot and reading some poetry?

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Announcing the publication of The College Diaries by DeAsia Paige, former HBW Social Media Coordinator (2018-2020). Her memoir follows her journey through a predominantly white institution as she explores the intersection of race, gender and culture. This blog is an in-depth review of Paige’s book provided by Shawna Shipley-Gates.

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Among her many professional friends and colleagues, we consider Miriam DeCosta-Willis the godmother of Afro-Hispanic Literature and culture...

Tomorrow’s Tomorrow: The Black Woman by Joyce Ladner celebrates its 50th anniversary of publication this year. ..

If you ever took a class on medicine or human biology, you may have heard of the HeLa cell line...

For this Women’s History Month 2021, The Project on the History of Black Writing would like to extend her blog by adding more hidden figures, who demonstrate the many ways in which feminist activism presents itself...

The Project on the History of Black Writing staff member, Christopher Peace, recently attended the 2021 ZORA! Festival of the Arts and Humanities as a third time graduate intern. Due to COVID-19, the festival was different from past years, taking on a hybrid zoom and socially distanced format. Peace recaps his experience with the festival this year, noting the differences from past festivals, as well as what he learned from this opportunity...