Anthologies of African American Writing

Cavalcade: Negro American Writing from 1760 to the Present

"Cavalcade: Negro American Writing from 1760 to the Present." Ed. Arthur P. Davis and J. Saunders Redding. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971. xviii+905 pp.

• Revised edition published as "The New Cavalcade: African American Writing from 1760 to the Present." Ed. Arthur P. Davis, J. Saunders Redding, and Joyce Ann Joyce. 2 vols. Washington, DC: Howard UP, 1991-92. xx+979 pp.

• An abridged version of the 2nd edition was published as "Selected African American Writing from 1760 to 1910". Ed. Arthur Paul Davis, J. Saunders Redding, and Joyce Ann Joyce. New York: Bantam, 1995. 300 pp.

(1) Pioneer writers, 1760-1830: Phillis Wheatley -- Gustavus Vassa -- George Moses Horton -- David Walker. (2) Freedom fighters, 1830-1865: William Wells Brown -- Martin R. Delany -- Sojourner Truth -- Frederick Douglass -- Frances Ellen Watkins (Harper) -- Charlotte L. Forten. (3) Accommodation and protest, 1865-1910: William Still -- Elizabeth Keckley -- George Washington Williams -- Booker Talliaferro Washington -- Sutton Elbert Griggs -- Charles Waddell Chesnutt -- James David Corrothers -- Kelly Miller -- Paul Laurence Dunbar -- William Stanley Beaumont Braithwaite. (4) The New negro renaissance and beyond, 1910-1954: William Edward Burghardt Du Bois -- James Weldon Johnson -- Anne Spencer -- Alain LeRoy Locke -- Jean Toomer -- Claude McKay -- Langston Hughes -- Countee Culle n-- Arna Bontemps -- Rudolph Fisher -- Jessie R. Fauset -- May Miller -- Melvin B. Tolson -- Waring Cuney -- William Attaway -- Robert E. Hayden -- Owen Dodson -- Sterling A. Brown -- Arthur P. Davis -- Saunders Redding -- Zora Neale Hurston -- Richard Wright -- Chester B. Himes -- William Demby -- Ann Petry -- Gwendolyn Brooks -- Margaret A. Walker -- Ralph Ellison. (5) Integration versus black nationalism, 1954 to the present: James Baldwin-- Ulysses Lee-- Paule Marshall-- Samuel W. Allen (Paul Vesey)-- Ossie Davis-- LeRoi Jones-- Ed Bullins-- John A. Williams-- William Melvin Kelley-- Ernest J. Gaines-- Claude Brown-- Malcolm X-- Faith Berry-- New Poets: Lawrence Benford-- Margaret Danner-- Mari Evans-- William J. Harris-- Lance Jeffers-- Alicia Loy Johnson-- Percy Edward Johnston-- Naomi Long Madgett-- Oliver Pitcher-- Dudley Randall-- Jon Woodson-- Don L. Lee-- Martin Luther King, Jr.-- Larry Neal-- Sonia Sanchez-- Nathan A. Scott, Jr.-- Eldridge Cleaver-- Harold Cruse.

Section 1 of the "Selective Bibliography" lists 50 "anthologies and collections" that had appeared prior to the appearance of this anthology. Section 8, on Drama, lists another two anthologies. Of these 52 anthologies prior to 1971, all but two (with a diasporic focus) are enumerated here.

• n/a

• "This invaluable anthology of black American writers from Phillis Wheatley to Sonia Sanchez and Eldridge Cleaver includes bibliographies (primary and secondary sources) of works by and about black Americans. Pages 875-897: a selected bibliography that is classified into the following sections: 1) 'Anthologies and Collections' 2) 'History, Bibliography, Criticism, and Comment' 3) 'Poetry Publications' 4) 'Fiction' 5) 'Autobiography' 6) 'Biography' 7) 'Essays' and 8) 'Drama' (anthologies, collections, and critical commentaries of printed plays)"  (Rowell 1972: 33).
• "Edited by two senior scholars in the field, Cavalcade is a handsome volume, attractively printed with striking art work. Literary merit, the editors assert, is the prime criterion for inclusion, but they also attempt 'to cover . . . Negro life in America for the past two hundred years' and to avoid unnecessary duplication of materials in other anthologies. Cogent introductory essays precede the five sections. . . . Though they maintain scholarly objectivity in their selections, Davis and Redding themselves lean toward the integrationist camp [rather than that of the black nationalists]" (Kinnamon 1997: 464).

• "Instructor's Guide to Accompany "Cavalcade: Negro American Writing from 1760 to the Present"". By Charles H. Nichols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971. 124 pp.
"Parts 1-5 of this guide follow the chronological order of Davis and Redding's anthology . . . A list of mainly secondary sources on the literature and the period in which it was written is given at the end of each part. The bibliographical information in the Appendix is invaluable. For example, it includes suggested patterns for courses in different genres of black American literature. Listed in these suggestions are primary works of black American writers. Included in this guide are black periodicals (inactive as well as active ones), newspapers, recordings, films, and documents" (Rowell 1972: 44).

Kinnamon 1997: 464]

A0156