Category Archives: Writing
The Long 18th Century
Readers of this site know its focus on Black, World, and Chicago writing, as well as on issues of inequality and poverty, the wealth gap, imperialism and colonialism, race and racism, and the like. My courses carry a contemporary or … Continue reading
Black Writers Picture Themselves – Part 2
Burt Britton’s 1976 book Self-Portrait: Book People Picture Themselves contains nearly 750 self-portraits of writers and actors, from Edward Abbey (A) to Paul Zweig (Z). It all started when Britton, then tending bar in New York, tried to get a … Continue reading
James Alan McPherson: Junior and John Doe
James Alan McPherson wrote “Junior and John Doe” for Gerald Early’s 1993 essay collection Lure and Loathing: Essays on Race, Identity, and the Ambivalence of Assimilation. It’s a great essay in a great and important collection. Twenty writers—on a spectrum … Continue reading