The North Carolina Roots of African American Literature: An Anthology

Front Cover
William L. Andrews
Univ of North Carolina Press, 2006 M12 8 - 328 pages


The first African American to publish a book in the South, the author of the first female slave narrative in the United States, the father of black nationalism in America--these and other founders of African American literature have a surprising connection to one another: they all hailed from the state of North Carolina.

This collection of poetry, fiction, autobiography, and essays showcases some of the best work of eight influential African American writers from North Carolina during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In his introduction, William L. Andrews explores the reasons why black North Carolinians made such a disproportionate contribution (in quantity and lasting quality) to African American literature as compared to that of other southern states with larger African American populations. The authors in this anthology parlayed both the advantages and disadvantages of their North Carolina beginnings into sophisticated perspectives on the best and the worst of which humanity, in both the South and the North, was capable. They created an African American literary tradition unrivaled by that of any other state in the South.

Writers included here are Charles W. Chesnutt, Anna Julia Cooper, David Bryant Fulton, George Moses Horton, Harriet Jacobs, Lunsford Lane, Moses Roper, and David Walker.

From inside the book

Contents

Introduction
1
Statement of Editorial Practice
41
GEORGE MOSES HORTON
43
DAVID WALKER
69
MOSES ROPER
89
LUNSFORD LANE
139
HARRIET JACOBS
171
CHARLES W CHESNUTT
217
ANNA JULIA COOPER
263
DAVID BRYANT FULTON
289
Timeline
311
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 81 - The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.
Page 283 - Man's love is of man's life a thing apart, 'Tis woman's whole existence ; man may range The court, camp, church, the vessel, and the mart, Sword, gown, gain, glory, offer in exchange Pride, fame, ambition, to fill up his heart, And few there are whom these can not estrange ; Men have all these resources, we but one, To love again, and be again undone.
Page 82 - And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.
Page 79 - And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art : thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled : only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Page 75 - ... at first? Can they get us any lower? Where can they get us? They are afraid to treat us worse, for they know well, the day they do it they are gone. But against all accusations which may or can be preferred against me, I appeal to Heaven for my motive in writing — who knows that my object is, if possible, to awaken in the breasts of my afflicted, degraded and slumbering brethren, a spirit of inquiry and investigation respecting our miseries and wretchedness in this REPUBLICAN LAND OF LIBERTY!!!!!!
Page 135 - Slaves cannot breathe in England ; * if their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free, They touch our country, and their shackles, fall.
Page 80 - And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
Page 278 - For woman is not undevelopt man, . But diverse : could we make her as the man, Sweet Love were slain: his dearest bond is this, Not like to like, but like in difference. Yet in the long years liker must they grow; The man be more of woman, she of man; He gain in sweetness and in moral height, Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world; She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care, Nor lose the childlike in the larger mind; Till at the last she set herself to man, Like perfect music unto...
Page 247 - I owe you nothing," he went on, "and expect nothing of you; and it would be no more than justice if I should avenge upon you my mother's wrongs and my own. But still I hate to shoot you; I have never yet taken human life — for I did not kill the old captain. Will you promise to give no alarm and make no attempt to capture me until morning, if I do not shoot?" So absorbed were the two men in their colloquy and their own tumultuous thoughts that neither of them had heard the door below move upon...

About the author (2006)

William L. Andrews is E. Maynard Adams Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author or editor of forty books, including North Carolina Slave Narratives: The Lives of Moses Roper, Lunsford Lane, Moses Grandy, and Thomas H. Jones.

Bibliographic information