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 |
|---|---|
| The Coverage of… Tupac Shakur and the Celebration of his Birthday June 16 marks the birthday of legendary rapper and street poet Tupac Shakur. Today, he would have been 40 years old. The songs and interviews recorded by Tupac during his lifetime provide audiences with a wealth of information to better understand the personality (or, personalities) of the late rapper. We are able to gain a better sense as to what diverse influences—namely those of the Black Power and Black Arts Movement—motivated the rapper and contributed to complex oral and literary legacy. The HBW has compiled a collection of his music videos and interviews to celebrate his life and legacy. .. | |
| The Poetry of Tupac Shakur Celebrating the birthday and literary legacy of Tupac Shakur, the HBW has selected a few of his poems to present to our viewing audience. His poems reveal the influences—ranging from his mother’s involvement with the Black Panther Party and his boyhood/teenage friendship with actress Jada Pinkett-Smith—that weighed heavily on his life and creative vices. Tupac’s poetry stands as a testament revealing the literary connections to hip-hop and black poetics. .. | |
| Provocative Fictions QUESTION: When you read the title “YOU A BaddDDD SISTAH” in the table of contents for James E. Cherry’s Honoring the Ancestors (Third World Press, 2008), what enables you to know the poem is about Sonia Sanchez? ANSWER: Cultural literacy and ability to read visual allusions... | |
| Literary Vantage Points: Kevin Reeves Book Launch and Interview In our fifth installment of Literary Vantage Points, the HBW staff has covered the book launch of Kevin Reeves. Reeves is the author of s.m.i.l.e., his debut novel—a love story painted against a Chicago cityscape. .. | |
| Death and Life of Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) Death takes you to an unfamiliar place, to narrative knowing and the science of the human. A man’s death is an algorithm for inquiry. Is it an accident that James Cherry sent you his most recent book, Still A Man and Other Stories, from Jackson, TN? Gil Scott-Heron sang “I need to go home and slow down in Jackson, Tennessee” on the cut “New York Is Killing Me (I’m New Here: Gil Scott-Herron). Howard Rambsy, who is from Jackson, TN, wrote a blurb for Cherry’s second collection of poems, Honoring the Ancestors (2008) which includes “Homecoming (for Gil Scott-Heron) and a history-informed blog “Gil Scott’s Role in Untelevised Revolution” at SIUE Blog... | |
| The Coverage Of…The “Live” Performances of Gil Scott-Heron Honoring the legacy of Gil Scott-Heron, the HBW has compiled videos of Heron’s live performances. These videos display Heron’s versatility as a musician and lyrical poet. .. | |
| The Coverage Of…GIl Scott Heron’s Video Interviews Over the past eight years, Gil Scott-Heron has given interviews ranging on a variety of subjects from his musical inspirations to his boyhood experiences in the South. The HBW has compiled a list of video interviews by Gil Scott-Heron over the last ten years to honor his legacy. .. | |
| The Coverage Of…The Passing of Gil Scott-Heron To honor the legacy of Gil Scott-Heron and track the extensive online coverage of his life and work, the HBW has compiled a list of the most popular websites which feature information on the late poet/musician/scholar. .. | |
| Entering Another World Just as Camille T. Dungy’s Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry (2009) invites us to be more attentive to how black poets have reflected on ecological spaces, The Other World of Richard Wright: Perspectives on His Haiku, edited by Jianqing Zheng, invites us to reassess Wright’s “fascination with haiku and Zen Buddhism” as a sign of his “global mindshift that reflects a significant aspect of his reception of and sensibility to other cultures” (ix). Zheng’s phrase “global mindshift” is critical for any understanding of the totality of Wright’s aesthetic imagination. .. | |
| A Recap of Entries by Kenton Rambsy Kenton Rambsy serves as the editor and lead contributor for the HBW Blog. Over the course of the semester, he has provided entries ranging on black migration and educational development in African American novels. Below are a collection of his entries for the past semester: .. |