Anthologies of African American Writing

Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women

"Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women" . Ed. Amiri Baraka and Amina Baraka. New York: Quill, 1983. 418 pp.

St. Stephen : a passion play / Janus Adams -- Tanka / Fatimah Afif -- For "Mamie" / Fayola Kamaria Ama -- There is no title : only echoes ; The promise ; Story for the remainder / Johari M. Amini -- The reunion / Maya Angelou -- Madame Bai and the taking of Stone Mountain / Toni Cade Bambara -- Soweto song ; Haiti ; I wanna make freedom ; Sortin-out / Amina Baraka -- Pretending ; Martha ; The dancer / Brenda Connor-Bey -- Primer for blacks ; To those of my sisters who kept their naturals ; Requiem before revival / Gwendolyn Brooks -- For her ; My dream about being white ; Morning mirror / Lucille Clifton -- Rape ; There it is ; You know ; Big fine woman from Ruleville ; For the brave young students in Soweto / Jayne Cortez -- --And then she said ; French doors : a vignette ; The woman who lives in the botanical gardens / Alexis De Veaux -- The welcome / Y.W. Easton -- I am a black woman ; Where have you gone ; Speak the truth to the people ; Early in the mornin / Mari Evans -- Prince Harlem / Lois Elaine Griffith -- Fragments : mousetrap ; Definition ; The takers / Nikki Grimes -- Skillet blond / Vértàmàè Smart-Gròsvènòr -- Portrait of a woman artist ; Harlem/Soweto ; Letter to my father--a solidarity long overdue / Safiya Henderson -- Lament ; August ; I. / Akua Lezli Hope -- Reports ; A using ; Solution #9 / Mariah Britton Howard -- Paraphernalia for a suicide : a revelation of life / Lateifa-Ramona Lahleet Hyman -- Loomit ; Friday the 13th candlelight march / Adrienne Ingrum -- Murderous intent with a deadly weapon ; Dialogue ; Struggle of class / Rashidah Ismaili -- For the count ; A poem for all the mens in the world ; On learning ; My last feeling this way poem / Mae Jackson -- Ensinanca / Gayl Jones -- Sweet Otis suite / Anasa Jordan -- On the real world : meditation #1 ; Blue ribbons for the baby girl ; A last dialog on the left ; Poem towards a final solution / June Jordan -- I am the weaver ; On being high ; In the middle ; A name change / Abbey Lincoln (Aminata Moseka) -- Need : a chorale of black women's voices / Audre Lorde -- Enough ; It's all in the name ; Running to gone ; For us ; Tokens for "t" / Esther Louise -- Barbados / Paule Marshall -- Lament ; Tree women quest for sun / Malkia M'buzi -- A love poem to an African freedom fighter ; Untitled ; New chapters for our history / Rosemari Mealy -- A man called Jethro / Louise Meriwether -- Recitatif / Toni Morrison -- Sugarman ; When I rite ; Inflation / Margaret Porter -- Transcendental blues ; The lady and the tramp / Aishah Rahman -- from Being my own woman / Faith Ringgold -- Mannessahs ; Touch : translation poem 4 ; Touch : poem 5 ; Aunt Dolly ; Folk ; Wimmin / Carolyn M. Rodgers -- Waiting for her man too long / Sandra Rogers -- A poem for Sterling Brown ; Just don't never give up on love ; Old words ; Present ; Kwa mama zetu waliotuzaa / Sonia Sanchez -- Minority ; Equal opportunity ; Linseed oil and dreams / Judy Dothard Simmons -- The fabulous world of Toni Morrison : tar baby / Eleanor W. Traylor -- I said to poetry ; Family of ; Each one, pull one ; I'm really very fond ; Representing the universe / Alice Walker -- My truth and my flame ; This is my century--black synthesis of time ; Five black men-- ; I hear a rumbling-- ; Fanfare, coda, and finale / Margaret Walker -- The envelope / Michele Wallace -- Asylum ; For our life is a matter of faith ; I am not my sister's keeper : I am my sister / Regina Williams -- from "The iconography of childhood" You were never Miss Brown to me ; A record for my friends ; This city-light ; The wishon line / Sherley Anne Williams -- Refugee mother ; Our children are our children / Geraldine L. Wilson -- Birds of paradise ; Long road rhythm ; What we know / Nzadi Zimele-Keita (Michelle McMichael).

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• Gural, Natasha. "Toni Morrison's 'Recitatif' , Always a Literary Triumph, Transformed by Visual Art Materiality." "Forbes" 31 July 2022.

"Now elite ephemera, you can buy Confirmation on Amazon for $761.13 in “acceptable” condition. You can’t find a copy on AbeBooks, African American Literature Book Club (aalbc.com), or other websites dedicated to used, rare and out-of-print books, or books and film by and about African-Americans and people of African descent, respectively. [Note: It's available on Amazon.com for $302.98 hardcover and $134.87 paperback; and at AbeBooks in hardcover from $138.88 and in paperback from $126.24 (2 Aug. 2022) (AY).] The anthology gains value like a limited edition print of an artwork or photograph that endures through decades or centuries of social and aesthetic change. Moreover, its curation by two towering figures in poetry, literature, performance, activism, and the Black Arts Movement, imbues it with context that speaks to the broader importance of Morrison’s work during a time when Affirmative Action began to crumble. Despite sluggish courts and lagging legislation, 1983 was a watershed year for Black Americans. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Harold Washington was elected the first Black mayor of Chicago, Guion Bluford became the first African-American sent into space by NASA, and Vanessa Williams was the first Black woman crowned Miss America"

Kinnamon 1997: 467]

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