Archive - History of Black Writing Blog
The Banner image for the HBW Blog, which was published from 2011-2021.
Black Literary History Making
The HBW Blog published regularly for ten years from 2011-2021 at the URL https://projecthbw.ku.edu. During that time, it served as a major forum for the exchange of information and ideas, as well as a robust network for scholars, teachers, and students from different disciplines around the world.
Guest contributors include leading scholars and writers, but most of the posts were conceived of, researched, and written by HBW's staff of undergraduate and graduate students. Its content consists of feature editorials, book reviews, memorials, and coverage of HBW programming. Altogether, 95 writers contributed more than 750 posts.
The HBW Blog Archive is searchable by topic, month and year, and contributor name.
| Blog Post/Link | Date |
|---|---|
| ICYMI: The Last Week in Black Writing and Culture (5/6-5/13) As the academic semester comes to an end, Project HBW gives many thanks to all of our contributors and followers. .. | |
| My English Journey When I first traveled internationally to Costa Rica in 2014, I told myself to savor the moment. Because my checkbook wouldn’t be ready to handle another big trip for a while... | |
| In Memory of Michael S. Harper (1938-2016) Michael S. Harper was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 13, 1938. He attended what is now California State University, earning a Bachelor’s degree, and then went on to earn a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa. .. | |
| Awards, Legibility, and Contemporary African American Poets In the age of social media, National Poetry Month spawns a proliferation of catalogs to the effect of this sample: “30 Poets You Should Be Reading.” Recent years have seen these lists become more diverse and reflective of the range of incredible contemporary American poets... | |
| Who’s Afraid of George Walker George “Nash” Walker (1872-1911) was born in the aftermath of The Civil War in Lawrence, Kansas, the launching point of John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in the fall of 1859 and site of Quantril’s Raid in the summer of 1863... | |
| GOOD OMENS FOR SCHOLARSHIP The MLA Handbook, Eighth Edition (2016), bids us to consider the probability of having a single “set of guidelines, which writers can apply to any type of source” (Handbook, rear cover). This new edition may be less intimidating than the Seventh or the Sixth, and it may minimize anxiety about scrupulous documentation in the age of the digital. Nevertheless, we should not put older editions of the Handbook out to pasture, because the new one seems more a supplement than a replacement. It lacks the solid advice about research and writing we found in Chapter 1 of the Seventh, and not all of us want to visit The MLA Style Center, the open access online companion. Neither in documentation nor in the vast range of scholarship is it prudent to drift with the wind. .. | |
| African American Poetry and Contemporary Book History The production of so many volumes of poetry by African American poets between 2000 and 2016 makes it difficult to keep track. .. | |
| Rereading Poems from Prison When Etheridge Knight autographed my copy of Poems from Prison (1968; 1st edition, fifth printing, March 1971), he wrote “Keep On! We gonna win.” and signed his name “Imamu Etheridge Knight.” By designating himself a spiritual leader , he positioned himself to remind me that some poets believe what they do pertains to mind, body, and spirit... | |
| ICYMI: The Last Week in Black Writing and Culture (4/16-4/22) Harriet Tubman is to replace Andrew Jackson on the 20 dollar bill. The abolitionist will be the first African American to appear on paper currency... | |
| Conference Report: College Language Association, 2016 This year’s 76th College Language Association convention was held in Houston, TX at the Hyatt Regency, April 6-9. Hosted by Texas Southern University, the University of Houston and Prairie View, the theme for this year, “Dialogues between Africa and African Diaspora in Languages, Literatures, and Films” brought hundreds to present papers and engage in discussions. CLA was founded in 1937 to provide faculty from HBCU’s with a professional outlet since they were excluded from MLA and other professional organizations. CLA also affords HBW the opportunity to convene its annual board meeting. .. |