Archive - History of Black Writing Blog
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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 (1/23-1/29) In an interview with Meredith Maran of Barnes and Noble, Edwidge Danticat spoke on her writing craft, genres of writing, and the place where fiction and memoir intersect and diverge. .. | |
| The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Pursuit of his Dream As we enter Black History Month, I reflect on the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Almost fifty years after King’s death, we are still searching for his elusive dream. Recent events, such as those in Ferguson, last summer’s ruthless killing of a prayer group in Charleston, South Carolina, and the all-too-frequent murdering of children of color by law enforcement, have shown us that there is still much progress to be made... | |
| ICYMI: The Last Month in Black Writing and Culture Editor’s note: HBW’s ICYMI segment resumes after the holiday break. We hope that the holidays treated everyone well, and we look forward to a fruitful 2016! .. | |
| OUR BONES/OUR ASHES/OUR MINDS In his nicely crafted review essay “The Anger of Ta-Nahesi Coates” (New York Review of Books, February 11, 2016 issue), Darryl Pinckney raises the penultimate question of our day:.. | |
| ICYMI: The Last Week in Black Writing and Culture (12/11-12/18) Editor’s note: This will be our last post of 2015. The blog posts will continue the second week into the new year. We hope you enjoy this post, and we hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! .. | |
| Louis Edwards’s Second Novel If you like writing that is selective about which second-line parade it will join, you will like the work of Louis Edwards, a native of Lake Charles who probably lives in New Orleans. If you have not seen or talked to a person for several years in the Crescent City, you do best to be cautious about identifying that person’s place of residence. Let it suffice that Louis Edwards lived quietly, at one time or another, in this den of creative temptations without falling into literal or figurative disgrace. That is an achievement. .. | |
| ICYMI: The Last Week in Black Writing and Culture (12/4-12/11) bell hooks was interviewed by George Yancy of the New York Times. hooks spoke on issues of feminism, spirituality, her work, and love. The holiday season is upon us! This means you’ve probably begun constructing your holiday reading list, right? If not, see what books Michael Dirda of The New York Post suggests for this holiday season... | |
| Drawing Terrance Hayes – Book Review You could be drawn to the work of Terrance Hayes by way of Elizabeth Alexander’s advanced praise for How To Be Drawn, a statement that draws you to such words as dust, urgency, necessity, by any means necessary (the latter cluster evoking an injunction from Malcolm X).. | |
| Black Poetry after the Black Arts Movement Presents: A Webinar with Nathaniel Mackey Please join Project HBW for our last webinar of the semester as we talk with Nathaniel Mackey. All students, faculty, and members of the community are welcome to join the conversation! .. | |
| ICYMI: The Last Week in Black Writing and Culture (11/27-12/4) Charlesia McKinney, a graduate student at the University of Kansas, wrote on being a black woman who is both a student and teacher. Her post responds to the racial incidents that have persisted across college campuses. .. |