Afro-American Literature from 1850 to the present

FAIN: FB-10452-70

Mary V. Jackson
University of Missouri, St. Louis (St. Louis, MO 63121)

Scholarly investigation of Afro-American literature focusing on its beginnings and its relation to major trends in American literature in general. ABSTRACT: Scholarly investigation of Afro-American literature focusing on 1) its beginning--particularly its roots in folklore and folksong by black Americans--and its development as a unique body of literature; and 2) its relation to major trends in American literature in general. By its very nature the literature is both profoundly humanistic and uniquely relevant to some of the nation's social crises. It can recreate--and thus to many who have no other means of access--a world, a life, as lived by black people, with aspirations, frustrations and satisfactions like--and yet unlike--those of other citizens.