CLA, April 6, 2018 Jerry W. Ward, Jr. PHBW: Negotiating the Ideas of Seven Writers [1] Founded in 1983 by Dr. Maryemma Graham, "The Afro-American Novel Project" (AANP) had the initial goal of identifying all published novels written by African Americans from the nineteenth century to the late twentieth century. AANP became The Project on the History of Black Writing (PHBW) in 1990 to reflect an enlarged vision and a more ambitious aim. PHBW want to make a substantial contribution to what we then spoke of as our "Profession" by organizing bibliographic information and databases, sponsoring institutes and seminars, and by encouraging our colleagues to have rigorous engagements with all genres of black (African American) "writing" within frames of historical inquiry. The Project's working frame was an adaptation of the paradigm of unity in African American Studies , f
Reading Notes for September 23, 2019 Eighteen years after the tragedy of 9/11 as I re-read Amiri Baraka's "Somebody Blew Up America" (2001), two meanderings occur: 1) a chance temptation to ask what the term "pro-Semitic" can mean in the contexts of (a) Israeli and world politics and (b) to what extent the amount of foreign aid the USA donates to Israel truly matters, and 2) a more focused temptation to ask if Morrison's Playing in the Dark sheds light on the motives that govern projects devoted to discussions of slavery beginning with 1619. I suspect those projects are at once very literary and very political. Such speculations arose during a September 12 conversation with one of my former UNCF/Mellon mentees whose research on redemption now teaches me, the former mentor, a few things about the urgency of scholarship in the twenty-first century. The journey forth happens in the cognitive territory of "universal enslavement,"
Blog 12.19.2017 CHRISTMAS I have a reason for not being anxious to celebrate Advent and Christmas Day. Sixty years ago, my father died on December 25. Fifty-nine years ago, my favorite uncle died a few days before Christmas. I do want other people to be happy, but I am most at peace when Christmas has gone with the snow, the sunshine or rain, the wind. I still say "Merry Christmas." The only genuine happiness I experience, however, is listening to Handel's "The Messiah" and a few songs I've treasured since childhood, attending Midnight Mass, having home-made fruitcake after Mass, and eating a special meal with relatives on the excessively commercialized holiday. KWANZAA Umoja ---Decide with whom you should seek unity. Kujichagulia --Expand the terms of engagement for 2018. Ujima ---Cooperate on a project with people you can trust. Ujamaa --Be frugal. Shop selectively. Nia ---Remember our histories
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