Sterling Notes
Volume 5, Issue I
“Harlem Renaissance and the New Renaissance: Then and Now” by Kia Brown, editor
The Sterling Allen Brown English Society is pleased to present the fall 2009 issue of Sterling Notes. In this edi tion, articles are focused upon the Harlem Renaissance of the twenties and the current renaissance (the Hip-Hop gen eration and the current academy), to which this issue in tends to contribute. Howard University students and faculty have composed book, music, and movie reviews, as well as critical articles and original creative works to capture the spirit of the past and the present. It is our hope that after you enjoy our newsletter, you are inspired to make your own contribution to the New Renaissance.
Sterling Allen Brown Society Officers: President: Catherine Saunders Recording Secretary: Brandon Gordon Vice President: Landria Buckley Corresponding Secretary: Najj a Quail Treasurer: Zahra Gordon Editor and Layout: Kia Brown
Inside this issue: “The New Vision for the Depart ment of English” Dr. Dana Williams
2
‘From Southern Road to the Harlem Renaissance” Britney Wilson
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“Professor Jennifer Jordan on Hurstonb Their Eyes” T. Winston
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“Film Review of Harlem Renais 12 sance: The Black Poets” Brandon M. Graham
Romare Bearden, Jammin’ at the Savoy, The Studio Museum in Harlem
‘The New Music The Composi tion of a Renaissance” Shayla Monroe
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“The Debate over The Decline of the English Department”
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“Play Review of Langeton Hughess Mulatto” Darnell Almanzar
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Sterling Notes
The New Vision for the Department of English Dr. Dana Williams In the last issue of Sterliag Notes, we reported on the process that the Department of English was undertaking to select a new chair. In this issue, the new chair, Dr. Dana Williams, shares with us her vision for the Department.
One of the tasks I assigned myself this summer in my new role as Chair of the Department of English was to begin revising the “Common Syllabus” for the first semester Freshman English course. As I began to try to streamline the sylla bus’s introductory narrative, I was struck by three sentences from the “Course Overview” section. The first sen tence—”The eloquence of the spoken word and the devotion to writing (the art of language by line) are two of the most highly valued skills manifest in African American culture”—left me thinking what a wonderfully worded expression of the truth of the dual primacy of the spo ken and written word in African Ameri can culture. The second sentence—”You are heirs of a long tradition of peoples who equate reading and writing with the expression of self-identity, selfpossession, self-empowerment, and self esteem”—quite simply, made me proud. It also reminded that, indeed, I, along with each of the students who pass through the Department, am an heir to the tradition of using texts to inscribe meaning, a tradition as old as The In structions of Ptah Hotep (the oldest known book, found in ancient Kemet or Egypt) and as modern as Toni Morri son’s A Mercy, a tradition of both known and unknown bards. The third sentence that gave me pause read: “It is the mis sion of all writing courses in the Depart-
Dr. Dana Williams Chair, Department of English
ment of English at Howard University to carry forward and transmit to you a liberating tradition in reading and writing skills; you may then emulate these skills in your and the world’s best interest.” What each statement reinforced for me was the love of language that drives our faculty and students alike; the understanding of language’s capac ity to liberate, to heal, to change lives; and the commitment we all share to communicate to others this love and understanding in ways and for reasons that are sometimes (and ironically) in effably meaningful. At the heart of the Department, undeniably, is its faculty, one that is uniquely committed equally to teach ing and to research and publishing. Leading scholars in a variety of liter ary fields and on a variety of literary authors occupy offices in Locke Hall; and on any day of the week, these same scholars can be seen positioned at the front of a classroom or sitting among their pupils in a semi-circle bearing witness to and about the liter ary traditions that they breathe life into and that have breathed life into them. Indeed, ours is an extraordinary
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Sterling Notes
The New Vision for the Department of English Dr. Dana Williams In the last issue of Sterliag Notes, we reported on the process that the Department of English was undertaking to select a new chair. In this issue, the new chair, Dr. Dana Williams, shares with us her vision for the Department.
One of the tasks I assigned myself this summer in my new role as Chair of the Department of English was to begin revising the “Common Syllabus” for the first semester Freshman English course. As I began to try to streamline the sylla bus’s introductory narrative, I was struck by three sentences from the “Course Overview” section. The first sen tence—”The eloquence of the spoken word and the devotion to writing (the art of language by line) are two of the most highly valued skills manifest in African American culture”—left me thinking what a wonderfully worded expression of the truth of the dual primacy of the spo ken and written word in African Ameri can culture. The second sentence—”You are heirs of a long tradition of peoples who equate reading and writing with the expression of self-identity, selfpossession, self-empowerment, and self esteem”—quite simply, made me proud. It also reminded that, indeed, I, along with each of the students who pass through the Department, am an heir to the tradition of using texts to inscribe meaning, a tradition as old as The In structions of Ptah Hotep (the oldest known book, found in ancient Kemet or Egypt) and as modern as Toni Morri son’s A Mercy, a tradition of both known and unknown bards. The third sentence that gave me pause read: “It is the mis sion of all writing courses in the Depart-
Dr. Dana Williams Chair, Department of English
ment of English at Howard University to carry forward and transmit to you a liberating tradition in reading and writing skills; you may then emulate these skills in your and the world’s best interest.” What each statement reinforced for me was the love of language that drives our faculty and students alike; the understanding of language’s capac ity to liberate, to heal, to change lives; and the commitment we all share to communicate to others this love and understanding in ways and for reasons that are sometimes (and ironically) in effably meaningful. At the heart of the Department, undeniably, is its faculty, one that is uniquely committed equally to teach ing and to research and publishing. Leading scholars in a variety of liter ary fields and on a variety of literary authors occupy offices in Locke Hall; and on any day of the week, these same scholars can be seen positioned at the front of a classroom or sitting among their pupils in a semi-circle bearing witness to and about the liter ary traditions that they breathe life into and that have breathed life into them. Indeed, ours is an extraordinary
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faculty, one like no other in its willingness to teach solidly and to publish promi nently. Our current students at the under graduate level, yet another strength of the Department, range from your traditional lover of literature to the soon-to-be, wellprepared law student to the future Ful bright scholar to the hopeful public school teacher. Whatever their career aspira tions, they join the ranks of luminary alumni like literary critics Houston A. Baker, Jr. and Cheryl Wall or published authors Lucille Clifton and Toni Morrison. The student-exemplars in the graduate program leave us prepared to pursue professional careers in academia, publishing, and writing/research fields. Irrefutably, Graduate Studies in English at Howard is one of kind. Specializing in teaching and research of literature of the African Diaspora, the program’s course offerings are as varied as are African peoples. During any given semester, students have the option of studying African Ameri can, American, British, and Carib bean literatures as traditional survey courses or of taking special topics in literary theory and stud ies courses on Black British literature or Literature across Cultures. With a Department as able and gifted as ours, it would be easy for us to rest on our laurels, to continue to feed off a legacy unparalleled in so many ways. But what good is a potentially great novel Lhat goes unfinished, a would-be superior poem left unrevised and thus fine, an un usual quantity of sterling undeniably valuable but left unpolished? The task before us now is to make superlative that which has long evinced traces of the su perb. The Creative Writing Program Enust blossom, providing reading audi-
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ences fresh, new texts and literary schol ars unexplored discourses about which to write. With awareness of our potential to facilitate the development of the next generation of poets, fictionists, essayists, and the like; with rememories of days of old that brought us Stylus and the How ard Poets; and with a renewed commit ment to student publications like this one and Amistad, the Department’s es tablishment of a Creative Writing con centration for the Major can only further reveal our love of language and our be lief that literature really can empower the writer and the reader. Similarly, the Graduate Program must strengthen its awareness of and simultaneously convey realities about the unbroken genealogy of inscription systems that influenced the world and her corresponding litera tures. The comparativist approach to Di asporic African literatures that gives special meaning to our Department, then, must pursue unflinchingly new ways of reading and thinking about what we have come to know as modern literary tra ditions. In both programs, our course offerings must be fresh and relevant, revealing and inven tive. The literary and cultural revolu tion is ours for the making. As heirs to an uninterrupted (though sometimes displaced) tradition of peoples who, in deed, value the eloquence of the scribe and the meaning (s)he produces, our task now—equally exciting and daunting though it may be—is to find new ways to enter and to engage this liberating tradi tion and to use all that we (re)discover to read, to write, and to think brilliantly, thereby equipping ourselves and others with the skills needed to imagine and to make manifest a better world.
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Sterling Notes
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imPERFECTION by Laneta J. Hill
The blemishes of an untouched petal. Rouge is its taint of beauty Green sprouts its life; bountiful Sweet ivory bursts forth out of its soul Mahogany savors the pleasure of its wilting fate As purple stands boldly and triumphantly in the face of its perfect adver sity A lively canvas, this bunch, daring its viewer to avert her gaze Gaping open in the vulnerability of an unkind atmosphere, it shall never part from here It challenges even its Creator’s vast spectrum of paints on His pallet Never stffling its creativity for the likes of one It only blooms for its own satisfaction Loving everything perceived as its faults The blemishes of an untouched petal.
Aaron Douglas (1899-1979). The Creation, 1935. Oil on Masonite, 48 x 36 in (121.9 x 91.4 cm). How ard University Gallery of Art
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)Iume 5, Issue I
faculty, one like no other in its willingness to teach solidly and to publish promi nently. Our current students at the under graduate level, yet another strength of the Department, range from your traditional lover of literature to the soon-to-be, wellprepared law student to the future Ful bright scholar to the hopeful public school teacher. Whatever their career aspira tions, they join the ranks of luminary alumni like literary critics Houston A. Baker, Jr. and Cheryl Wall or published authors Lucille Clifton and Toni Morrison. The student-exemplars in the graduate program leave us prepared to pursue professional careers in academia, publishing, and writing/research fields. Irrefutably, Graduate Studies in English at Howard is one of kind. Specializing in teaching and research of literature of the African Diaspora, the program’s course offerings are as varied as are African peoples. During any given semester, students have the option of studying African Ameri can, American, British, and Carib bean literatures as traditional survey courses or of taking special topics in literary theory and stud ies courses on Black British literature or Literature across Cultures. With a Department as able and gifted as ours, it would be easy for us to rest on our laurels, to continue to feed off a legacy unparalleled in so many ways. But what good is a potentially great novel Lhat goes unfinished, a would-be superior poem left unrevised and thus fine, an un usual quantity of sterling undeniably valuable but left unpolished? The task before us now is to make superlative that which has long evinced traces of the su perb. The Creative Writing Program Enust blossom, providing reading audi-
Page 3
ences fresh, new texts and literary schol ars unexplored discourses about which to write. With awareness of our potential to facilitate the development of the next generation of poets, fictionists, essayists, and the like; with rememories of days of old that brought us Stylus and the How ard Poets; and with a renewed commit ment to student publications like this one and Amistad, the Department’s es tablishment of a Creative Writing con centration for the Major can only further reveal our love of language and our be lief that literature really can empower the writer and the reader. Similarly, the Graduate Program must strengthen its awareness of and simultaneously convey realities about the unbroken genealogy of inscription systems that influenced the world and her corresponding litera tures. The comparativist approach to Di asporic African literatures that gives special meaning to our Department, then, must pursue unflinchingly new ways of reading and thinking about what we have come to know as modern literary tra ditions. In both programs, our course offerings must be fresh and relevant, revealing and inven tive. The literary and cultural revolu tion is ours for the making. As heirs to an uninterrupted (though sometimes displaced) tradition of peoples who, in deed, value the eloquence of the scribe and the meaning (s)he produces, our task now—equally exciting and daunting though it may be—is to find new ways to enter and to engage this liberating tradi tion and to use all that we (re)discover to read, to write, and to think brilliantly, thereby equipping ourselves and others with the skills needed to imagine and to make manifest a better world.
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Sterling Notes
Page 4
imPERFECTION by Laneta J. Hill
The blemishes of an untouched petal. Rouge is its taint of beauty Green sprouts its life; bountiful Sweet ivory bursts forth out of its soul Mahogany savors the pleasure of its wilting fate As purple stands boldly and triumphantly in the face of its perfect adver sity A lively canvas, this bunch, daring its viewer to avert her gaze Gaping open in the vulnerability of an unkind atmosphere, it shall never part from here It challenges even its Creator’s vast spectrum of paints on His pallet Never stffling its creativity for the likes of one It only blooms for its own satisfaction Loving everything perceived as its faults The blemishes of an untouched petal.
Aaron Douglas (1899-1979). The Creation, 1935. Oil on Masonite, 48 x 36 in (121.9 x 91.4 cm). How ard University Gallery of Art
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Page 5
Haphazard Encounters: A Short Story Cycle (Chapter 1: Wilson)
by Laneta J. Hill nse, but I didn’t show it. I just peered into ie green-grey cesspools that were his eyes nd stood limply, praying the bus would me trampling around the corner in the Today, I met this man in a wheel Eiair, and he asked my name. I politely uid, “Lydia.” He looked up and over his battered lasses at me, and his eyes bore into my jul. He replied, “Lydia, eh? You look more ke a Michelle to me.” I took offense, but I didn’t show it. I ist peered into the green-grey cesspools iat were his eyes and stood limply, praying ie bus would come trampling around the wner in the next few seconds. When it did ‘t, the man rolled closer, and I averted my aze, suddenly aware of my throbbing un )mfortability. The man calmly offered his grubby and, “Well, Lydia-Michelle, my name’s Tilson. Pleased to meet your acquaintrice.. .1, I mean make your acquaintance, jung lady.” My eyes lingered at his hands for a w seconds, calculating the potential Balth risks involved with even grazing his ithy digits. Then my compassionate right and extended itself to meet his and shook artily. Funny, I thought, that’s how a lot things worked in my life—sympathy over Jwering rationale. Wilson grinned toothlessly and re ased our grip. My rationale looked at my right hand ien at my sympathy and shook its head, nking back into the depths of me. Right ien I knew that this wouldn’t just be a one me disease-exchanging encounter with rilson “Oh no,” my sympathy said, “You
just wait and see. Wilson will be as kind as can be.” My rationale stared at me, raging at my sympathy’s Seussical manner about the matter. It jerked my body away from the man, sending my feet stumbling hap hazardly over the horrendous gashes that consumed our city’s sidewalks and crash ing into the pay phone pole, almost sever ing what was left of a phone line that was already holding onto for dear life. After I’d recovered from the colli sion and composed myself, I turned around to see the bus stop deserted. My rationale sighed, comforted by the absence of Wilson’s grim frame. My sympathy was saddened, but she giggled, knowing wholeheartedly she’d get her chance at redemption soon enough.
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Sterling Notes
From Southern Road to the Harlem Renaissance: The Life and Works of Sterling Allen Brown by Britney Wilson Howard University students are often bombarded with stories about the legacy and history of this institution and its contributions to African American culture. Buildings like Douglass, Locke, and Just—all named after prominent African American figures—remind us of the magnitude of our past and the expec tations for our future. There is no doubt that former Howard students had this fact in mind when they elected to name the Howard University Libraries’ Online Public Access Catalog “Sterling” in 1991, after the writer and educator Sterling Allen Brown, also the person for whom the English Society and this newsletter were named. In doing so, they paid hom age to a man who contributed much to the world of literature and to Howard University. Born on Howard’s campus on May 1, 1901, Sterling Brown had a somewhat privileged upbringing in comparison to many other blacks growing up at that time. His father, Sterling Nelson Brown, was a professor at Howard, and as a re sult, young Sterling Allen Brown em braced his parents’ commitment to edu cation, earning a bachelor’s degree from Williams College in Massachusetts and a master’s degree from Harvard. Brown went on to teach at Virginia Seminary, Fisk University, Lincoln University in Missouri, and of course, Howard Univer sity, where he taught for forty years. Some of Brown’s notable students in clude Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka, and Kwame Ture. Brown was considered to be one of two major folk poets of the Harlem Ren aissance, Langston Hughes being the
other. He became known for his emphasis on the common man and his use of African American dialect and everyday speech in his work. He described life in the South with a combination of authenticity and ap preciation. Some of his famous works that demonstrate this are “Southern Road,” “Ma Rainey,” and “Tin Roof Blues.” Brown also incorporated into his poetry his love for blues and jazz music, which was character istic of poets of the Harlem Renaissance. In this way, he embraced the free spirit and pride in African American culture that be came a staple of the “New Negro” during this time period. However, Brown’s poetry was largely underrated for most of his life time. Brown also focused his attention on literary criticism, and as a literary critic, he argued that African American writers were best suited to describe the African American experience in order to avoid the misrepre sentations and stereotypical images that often resulted from outside analysis of the African American way of life. One of his most popular and influential works is an anthology entitled Negro Caravan: Writings by American Negroes.
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Page 5
Haphazard Encounters: A Short Story Cycle (Chapter 1: Wilson)
by Laneta J. Hill nse, but I didn’t show it. I just peered into ie green-grey cesspools that were his eyes nd stood limply, praying the bus would me trampling around the corner in the Today, I met this man in a wheel Eiair, and he asked my name. I politely uid, “Lydia.” He looked up and over his battered lasses at me, and his eyes bore into my jul. He replied, “Lydia, eh? You look more ke a Michelle to me.” I took offense, but I didn’t show it. I ist peered into the green-grey cesspools iat were his eyes and stood limply, praying ie bus would come trampling around the wner in the next few seconds. When it did ‘t, the man rolled closer, and I averted my aze, suddenly aware of my throbbing un )mfortability. The man calmly offered his grubby and, “Well, Lydia-Michelle, my name’s Tilson. Pleased to meet your acquaintrice.. .1, I mean make your acquaintance, jung lady.” My eyes lingered at his hands for a w seconds, calculating the potential Balth risks involved with even grazing his ithy digits. Then my compassionate right and extended itself to meet his and shook artily. Funny, I thought, that’s how a lot things worked in my life—sympathy over Jwering rationale. Wilson grinned toothlessly and re ased our grip. My rationale looked at my right hand ien at my sympathy and shook its head, nking back into the depths of me. Right ien I knew that this wouldn’t just be a one me disease-exchanging encounter with rilson “Oh no,” my sympathy said, “You
just wait and see. Wilson will be as kind as can be.” My rationale stared at me, raging at my sympathy’s Seussical manner about the matter. It jerked my body away from the man, sending my feet stumbling hap hazardly over the horrendous gashes that consumed our city’s sidewalks and crash ing into the pay phone pole, almost sever ing what was left of a phone line that was already holding onto for dear life. After I’d recovered from the colli sion and composed myself, I turned around to see the bus stop deserted. My rationale sighed, comforted by the absence of Wilson’s grim frame. My sympathy was saddened, but she giggled, knowing wholeheartedly she’d get her chance at redemption soon enough.
Page 6
Sterling Notes
From Southern Road to the Harlem Renaissance: The Life and Works of Sterling Allen Brown by Britney Wilson Howard University students are often bombarded with stories about the legacy and history of this institution and its contributions to African American culture. Buildings like Douglass, Locke, and Just—all named after prominent African American figures—remind us of the magnitude of our past and the expec tations for our future. There is no doubt that former Howard students had this fact in mind when they elected to name the Howard University Libraries’ Online Public Access Catalog “Sterling” in 1991, after the writer and educator Sterling Allen Brown, also the person for whom the English Society and this newsletter were named. In doing so, they paid hom age to a man who contributed much to the world of literature and to Howard University. Born on Howard’s campus on May 1, 1901, Sterling Brown had a somewhat privileged upbringing in comparison to many other blacks growing up at that time. His father, Sterling Nelson Brown, was a professor at Howard, and as a re sult, young Sterling Allen Brown em braced his parents’ commitment to edu cation, earning a bachelor’s degree from Williams College in Massachusetts and a master’s degree from Harvard. Brown went on to teach at Virginia Seminary, Fisk University, Lincoln University in Missouri, and of course, Howard Univer sity, where he taught for forty years. Some of Brown’s notable students in clude Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka, and Kwame Ture. Brown was considered to be one of two major folk poets of the Harlem Ren aissance, Langston Hughes being the
other. He became known for his emphasis on the common man and his use of African American dialect and everyday speech in his work. He described life in the South with a combination of authenticity and ap preciation. Some of his famous works that demonstrate this are “Southern Road,” “Ma Rainey,” and “Tin Roof Blues.” Brown also incorporated into his poetry his love for blues and jazz music, which was character istic of poets of the Harlem Renaissance. In this way, he embraced the free spirit and pride in African American culture that be came a staple of the “New Negro” during this time period. However, Brown’s poetry was largely underrated for most of his life time. Brown also focused his attention on literary criticism, and as a literary critic, he argued that African American writers were best suited to describe the African American experience in order to avoid the misrepre sentations and stereotypical images that often resulted from outside analysis of the African American way of life. One of his most popular and influential works is an anthology entitled Negro Caravan: Writings by American Negroes.
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Although much of Brown’s work was underappreciated by mainstream society for a great deal of his lifetime, there was a renewal of interest in and scholarly appreciation of his work in the later years of his life. In 1979, the Washington, D. C. City Council de clared May 1st, Brown’s birthday, Ster ling A. Brown Day. Finally recognizing this native son’s contributions to his hometown and to the field of literature, five years before his death, he was named the first poet laureate of the District of Columbia (1984).
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Sources Gates Jr., Henry Louis, and Nellie Y. McKay, eds. The Norton An thology of African American Litera ture. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2004. Tidwell, John Edgar. “Sterling A. Brown’s Life and Career.” Modern American Poetry. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. <http ://www.english.illinois. edul maps/poets/a_ffbrownllife .htm>. “A Literary Tribute to Sterling A. Brown.” Howard University Library System. Web. 12 Oct 2009. <http://www.howard.edu/library reference/guides Sterling Brown.htm>.
Poetry Contest: The Sterling Allen Brown English Society is holding a poetry con test for a poem celebrating the life and works of poet, scholar and activ ist Sterling Allen Brown. To enter, submit your poem to Mrs. Tanya Hardy in the main English office, Locke 248, by Monday, November Poems should be no more than two pages in length and should be, typed, dou ble spaced, and accompanied by a cover letter with your name, email address, and telephone number. Prize: $25.00 and Publication in Sterling Notes
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Sterling Notes
Short Fiction Contest: Palmer Hayden, Christmas, c. 1939
Are you inspired by this image?
Can you imagine life in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance?
The Sterling Allen Brown English Society is holding a short fiction context. To enter, create a story inspired by this image and the Harlem Renaissance, and submit it to Mrs. Tanya Hardy in the main English office, Locke 248, by Mon day, November 3 0th. Entries should be between 750 and 1,000 words in length, typed, double
spaced, and accompanied by a cover let ter with your name, email address, and telephone number. The award for the winning entry will go to the short story that best cap tures the image and some facet of the Harlem Renaissance. Prize: $25.00 and Publication in Sterling Notes
The Common Text Project—Activities to Enjoy by Professor Patricia Elam The Common Text Project Committee has es tablished several activities for the Freshman Writing Program’s department-wide study of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. The first event was a viewing of “Jump at the Sun,” a bio graphical video about Hurston, held on September 29th in Locke 105 to much success. The second video showing is scheduled for Oc tober 29th at 6:00 p.m. in Locke 105, when students will be shown a dramatization of Hurston’s works fea turing Ruby Dee. Finally, a two-day student conference will be held on November 18th and 19th. For the conference, students are asked to submit papers written about the novel for presentation. The Common Text Project will culminate in a final event (yet to be scheduled) at which an award will be given for the best conference paper and the best conference presentation.
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Although much of Brown’s work was underappreciated by mainstream society for a great deal of his lifetime, there was a renewal of interest in and scholarly appreciation of his work in the later years of his life. In 1979, the Washington, D. C. City Council de clared May 1st, Brown’s birthday, Ster ling A. Brown Day. Finally recognizing this native son’s contributions to his hometown and to the field of literature, five years before his death, he was named the first poet laureate of the District of Columbia (1984).
Page 7
Sources Gates Jr., Henry Louis, and Nellie Y. McKay, eds. The Norton An thology of African American Litera ture. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2004. Tidwell, John Edgar. “Sterling A. Brown’s Life and Career.” Modern American Poetry. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. <http ://www.english.illinois. edul maps/poets/a_ffbrownllife .htm>. “A Literary Tribute to Sterling A. Brown.” Howard University Library System. Web. 12 Oct 2009. <http://www.howard.edu/library reference/guides Sterling Brown.htm>.
Poetry Contest: The Sterling Allen Brown English Society is holding a poetry con test for a poem celebrating the life and works of poet, scholar and activ ist Sterling Allen Brown. To enter, submit your poem to Mrs. Tanya Hardy in the main English office, Locke 248, by Monday, November Poems should be no more than two pages in length and should be, typed, dou ble spaced, and accompanied by a cover letter with your name, email address, and telephone number. Prize: $25.00 and Publication in Sterling Notes
Page 8
Sterling Notes
Short Fiction Contest: Palmer Hayden, Christmas, c. 1939
Are you inspired by this image?
Can you imagine life in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance?
The Sterling Allen Brown English Society is holding a short fiction context. To enter, create a story inspired by this image and the Harlem Renaissance, and submit it to Mrs. Tanya Hardy in the main English office, Locke 248, by Mon day, November 3 0th. Entries should be between 750 and 1,000 words in length, typed, double
spaced, and accompanied by a cover let ter with your name, email address, and telephone number. The award for the winning entry will go to the short story that best cap tures the image and some facet of the Harlem Renaissance. Prize: $25.00 and Publication in Sterling Notes
The Common Text Project—Activities to Enjoy by Professor Patricia Elam The Common Text Project Committee has es tablished several activities for the Freshman Writing Program’s department-wide study of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. The first event was a viewing of “Jump at the Sun,” a bio graphical video about Hurston, held on September 29th in Locke 105 to much success. The second video showing is scheduled for Oc tober 29th at 6:00 p.m. in Locke 105, when students will be shown a dramatization of Hurston’s works fea turing Ruby Dee. Finally, a two-day student conference will be held on November 18th and 19th. For the conference, students are asked to submit papers written about the novel for presentation. The Common Text Project will culminate in a final event (yet to be scheduled) at which an award will be given for the best conference paper and the best conference presentation.
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Page 9
Review of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Ten Winston
In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the dialect used to convey the story, placing emphasis on the era which it depicts, may be off-putting for some readers. However, once this language is absorbed, the meaning comes through, and readers can see the picture the words create. Only then will readers discover the beauty of a novel whose themes still resonate today. Janie is the novel’s protagonist, and early in the story, she is married off by her well-meaning grandmother to a farmer with substantial plot of land. However, though Logan Kellicks could provide for her physical and material needs, he could not provide for the needs of Janie’s heart. Enchanted by a suave, debonair, and confident stranger passing through town, she abandons her husband and her life of security for a chance at happiness and adventure. Although her second husband, Jody Starks, makes good on his plans, becoming a successful businessman and politician, he is not successful at keeping the heart he had won and does not love Janie forever, as she had hoped. When he dies, she finds herself alone anisen chanted but free; widowed at the age of forty, Janie is left to finally live her life. It is not until Janie meets her much younger third husband, whose name sounds like a tasty treat, that she savors the sweet taste of love. Tea Cake, Janie’s least successful and less than financially stable partner, captures her heart and shows her true love. Though criticized by others, for trusting a younger man with a taste for the drink and a gambler by trade, Janie has the strength to live her life on her own terms, and this is the first time she chooses with her heart. Having had to leave her childhood home, having run away from a loveless marriage, and having outlasted her second husband, Janie lives every adventure that comes with this choice. After surviving a hurricane and losing the love it took her so long to find, she emerges strong and fulfilled. How wonderful it is to enjoy the way Zora Neale Hurston constructs this tale of Black people—ones who are not caricatures or minstrels but positive everyday people. From farmers and family members to gossips and gamblers, these charac ers are believable and complete the picture of grown woman coming into her age remarkably well.
Photograph of Zora Neale Hurston by Carl Van Vechten
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Sterllng Notes
Professor Jennifer Jordan on Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God As Told to T. Winston
As an undergraduate at Howard, the only African-American text I read was Ellison’s Invisible Man. I first read Their Eyes Were Watching God as a master’s student at Howard. My professor in the graduate class in African-American litera ture was Dr. Arthur Davis, who, along with Sterling Brown, was instrumental in creating a canon for African-American lit erature. At the time most of the AfricanAmerican novels were not in print, so we had to sit in the Moorland Spingarn li brary and read the texts. Hurston captures the vibrant, at tractive parts of Southern culture. I’m from Alabama, so I always felt that there was more to the South than the racial nightmares described in Richard Wright’s Black Boy. Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God as what Henry Louis Gates, Jr. calls a “speakerly text.” She un derstood the humor and poetry of Black speech. Along with that, Hurston took a worn-out form like the romance novel and did something interesting with it. It’s possible that writers like Alice Walker found Hurston rather liberating because she provided a model for writing about people that other writers had ig nored or patronized. Hurston and other Harlem Renaissance women writers like Jessie Fauset felt free for the first time to write about black women’s sexuality in a natural way. Before the Renaissance, black women writers avoided sexualizing black women characters because black women were stereotyped by white society as oversexed and devilishly seductive. In the 19th century, women in fic tion written by black women writers like
Dr. Jennifer Jordan, Department of English
Ellen Watkins Harper and Pauline Hopkins, the sisters, could only be victims of rape or blue stocking types who married men so that the two of them could uplift the race. Claudia Tate’s study “Psychoanalysis and Black Novels” points out how 19thicentury black women writers sublimated sexual ity in lavish descriptions of clothes and over-the-top religious fer vor. Of course the sexual references
in Their Eyes Were Watching God are fairly tame compared to some contemporary novels. Hurston was a complex char acter who could be both equally in spiring and annoying. Read Robert Hemenway’s biography and Hurston’s own autobiography, Dust Tracks, and you’ll know what I mean. If we learn anything from Their Eyes, it is that a woman should never marry a man who steals her money to gamble and who slaps her around when he gets jealous; otherwise you might have to shoot him one day. Seriously, Their Eyes Were Watching God is a great work of art.
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Review of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Ten Winston
In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the dialect used to convey the story, placing emphasis on the era which it depicts, may be off-putting for some readers. However, once this language is absorbed, the meaning comes through, and readers can see the picture the words create. Only then will readers discover the beauty of a novel whose themes still resonate today. Janie is the novel’s protagonist, and early in the story, she is married off by her well-meaning grandmother to a farmer with substantial plot of land. However, though Logan Kellicks could provide for her physical and material needs, he could not provide for the needs of Janie’s heart. Enchanted by a suave, debonair, and confident stranger passing through town, she abandons her husband and her life of security for a chance at happiness and adventure. Although her second husband, Jody Starks, makes good on his plans, becoming a successful businessman and politician, he is not successful at keeping the heart he had won and does not love Janie forever, as she had hoped. When he dies, she finds herself alone anisen chanted but free; widowed at the age of forty, Janie is left to finally live her life. It is not until Janie meets her much younger third husband, whose name sounds like a tasty treat, that she savors the sweet taste of love. Tea Cake, Janie’s least successful and less than financially stable partner, captures her heart and shows her true love. Though criticized by others, for trusting a younger man with a taste for the drink and a gambler by trade, Janie has the strength to live her life on her own terms, and this is the first time she chooses with her heart. Having had to leave her childhood home, having run away from a loveless marriage, and having outlasted her second husband, Janie lives every adventure that comes with this choice. After surviving a hurricane and losing the love it took her so long to find, she emerges strong and fulfilled. How wonderful it is to enjoy the way Zora Neale Hurston constructs this tale of Black people—ones who are not caricatures or minstrels but positive everyday people. From farmers and family members to gossips and gamblers, these charac ers are believable and complete the picture of grown woman coming into her age remarkably well.
Photograph of Zora Neale Hurston by Carl Van Vechten
Page 10
Sterllng Notes
Professor Jennifer Jordan on Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God As Told to T. Winston
As an undergraduate at Howard, the only African-American text I read was Ellison’s Invisible Man. I first read Their Eyes Were Watching God as a master’s student at Howard. My professor in the graduate class in African-American litera ture was Dr. Arthur Davis, who, along with Sterling Brown, was instrumental in creating a canon for African-American lit erature. At the time most of the AfricanAmerican novels were not in print, so we had to sit in the Moorland Spingarn li brary and read the texts. Hurston captures the vibrant, at tractive parts of Southern culture. I’m from Alabama, so I always felt that there was more to the South than the racial nightmares described in Richard Wright’s Black Boy. Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God as what Henry Louis Gates, Jr. calls a “speakerly text.” She un derstood the humor and poetry of Black speech. Along with that, Hurston took a worn-out form like the romance novel and did something interesting with it. It’s possible that writers like Alice Walker found Hurston rather liberating because she provided a model for writing about people that other writers had ig nored or patronized. Hurston and other Harlem Renaissance women writers like Jessie Fauset felt free for the first time to write about black women’s sexuality in a natural way. Before the Renaissance, black women writers avoided sexualizing black women characters because black women were stereotyped by white society as oversexed and devilishly seductive. In the 19th century, women in fic tion written by black women writers like
Dr. Jennifer Jordan, Department of English
Ellen Watkins Harper and Pauline Hopkins, the sisters, could only be victims of rape or blue stocking types who married men so that the two of them could uplift the race. Claudia Tate’s study “Psychoanalysis and Black Novels” points out how 19thicentury black women writers sublimated sexual ity in lavish descriptions of clothes and over-the-top religious fer vor. Of course the sexual references
in Their Eyes Were Watching God are fairly tame compared to some contemporary novels. Hurston was a complex char acter who could be both equally in spiring and annoying. Read Robert Hemenway’s biography and Hurston’s own autobiography, Dust Tracks, and you’ll know what I mean. If we learn anything from Their Eyes, it is that a woman should never marry a man who steals her money to gamble and who slaps her around when he gets jealous; otherwise you might have to shoot him one day. Seriously, Their Eyes Were Watching God is a great work of art.
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I iterature Review of the New Renaissance J. California Cooper: The Renaissance Woman By Kia Brown Author J. California Cooper’s first collection of short stories was pub lished in 1984, and she has written 12 books, 7 of which are collections of short stories, as well as 17 plays. Coo per’s style of writing is very reminis cent of Zora Neale Hurston; it is raw, unapologetic, and beautifully written. The actual language used is simple, yet the lessons on which she speaks are as complex as life. Though Cooper has written nov els, her most notable works are her short stories, in which she paints very familiar tales of real life, infusing them with important life lessons. The vast : majority of her stories are empowering to women, and they tell of the many obstacles that women go through, while illustrating how to surpass them. While all of these stories have positive endings, they are far from fairytales; however, any woman could put Coo per’s lessons into practice and gain the same happiness illustrated in her char acters. One of the most notable stories comes from Cooper’s highly acclaimed collection and her first book, Piece of Mine. In the very first story, “100 Dol lars and Nothing,” Cooper depicts a successful woman in a marriage with a good-for-nothing man who only criti cizes her and cheats on her. For in stance, the man criticizes her business, saying he could take “100 dollars and nothing” and make more money than her in a year. The woman falls ill and dies very suddenly, and after her
Page 12
Sterling Notes
A Film Review of Harlem Renaissance: The Black Poets by Brandon M. Graham Harlem Renaissance: The Black Poets is an alluring film directed by Dick D’anjolell, pro duced by Janet Hirschfeld, and presented by Carousel Films. It is one of many installments of the late black history series Tell It Like It Was, a youth-friendly television program that origi nally aired on Philadelphia-based WCAU-TV during the late 1960s. Despite its resemblance to a twenty minute after school program, the film does an astonishing job at displaying the works of world renowned African American poets, presenting them in a way that allows people of all ages and backgrounds to comprehend their unique message.
death, he find that she has left her husband little notes and objects, re turning those negative things that he had said to her. For example, he would say that he would rather sleep with a boulder than her, so she filled the bed with rocks. In the end, all she left him with was the “100 dollars and nothing.” This is the nature of most of Cooper’s stories, which often involve women overcoming their circumstances and achieving their dreams. In this way, Cooper is a New Renaissance woman, inciting other women to be come greater than they are and to re fuse to take no for an answer. Unlike other female novelists, however, Coo per does not depict men as demons; on the contrary, many of her stories illus trate positive men. J. California Cooper continues to alter the state of literature with her amazing storytelling. Her latest novel, Life Is Short but Wide, came out in March of 2009, and she is currently in the process of writing another book, this one to be called God Does Not Shoot Dice.
The production opens with a beautiful singing number performed by the ifim’s hostess, Daffie, who is also a singer and actress. This number serves as the introduction to the broad cast and sets the mood for the history lesson that follows. The viewers are quickly set at ease as Dallie introduces the topic of the week in the most cheerful manner possible. Talking di rectly to her audience, Dallie presents herself as a cherished friend rather than the unknown host. Maintaining this friendly aura, she goes on to recite the last few lines of Langston Hughes’ highly regarded essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” a passage she con siders to be the emancipation proclamation of the Harlem Renaissance poets. The next couple of scenes that follow brffliantly portray the poems “Incident” by Countee Cullen and “Merry-Go-Round” by Langston Hughes in short skits performed by children, mas-; terfully highlighting the childlike personas of each poem. The first skit opens up with a small group of young black girls jump ing rope in the Baltimore sun. One of the girls, however, becomes distracted when she hears the sound of someone bouncing a ball nearby, and when she goes to see about it, she discovers a young white boy about her age. While she watches the boy, “Incident” is recited from the perspective of the little girl as her feelings become hurt by the little “Baltimorean” boy after he sticks out his tongue at her and calls her a “nigger.” As she walks sadly away, her scene fades out, and the next scene fades in. In this scene, we are introduced to another little black girl, but unlike the first, she is not jumping rope. Instead, she stands sadly in front of a merry-go-round and recites the poem “Merry-Go-Round” by Langston Hughes, in which she asks where the Jim Crow section is on the ride. She explains that where she comes from, blacks and whites are not allowed to sit side by side, and on busses, blacks are required to sit in the back. However, as she states, “There aint no back to a merry-go-round.” Therefore, where are the black people suppose to sit?
James Van Der Zee, Dancing Girls
Following the two skits, the viewers are rejoined with Daihe who sings the song “Turmng Pomt” by Nina Simone It is through this song that the audience receives a sense of closure to the skillfully depicted street skits. The song is presented from the perspective of a little white girl who tells her mother that she has become friends with “a little brown girl.” She expresses to her mother how much she would like for the little
I
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I iterature Review of the New Renaissance J. California Cooper: The Renaissance Woman By Kia Brown Author J. California Cooper’s first collection of short stories was pub lished in 1984, and she has written 12 books, 7 of which are collections of short stories, as well as 17 plays. Coo per’s style of writing is very reminis cent of Zora Neale Hurston; it is raw, unapologetic, and beautifully written. The actual language used is simple, yet the lessons on which she speaks are as complex as life. Though Cooper has written nov els, her most notable works are her short stories, in which she paints very familiar tales of real life, infusing them with important life lessons. The vast : majority of her stories are empowering to women, and they tell of the many obstacles that women go through, while illustrating how to surpass them. While all of these stories have positive endings, they are far from fairytales; however, any woman could put Coo per’s lessons into practice and gain the same happiness illustrated in her char acters. One of the most notable stories comes from Cooper’s highly acclaimed collection and her first book, Piece of Mine. In the very first story, “100 Dol lars and Nothing,” Cooper depicts a successful woman in a marriage with a good-for-nothing man who only criti cizes her and cheats on her. For in stance, the man criticizes her business, saying he could take “100 dollars and nothing” and make more money than her in a year. The woman falls ill and dies very suddenly, and after her
Page 12
Sterling Notes
A Film Review of Harlem Renaissance: The Black Poets by Brandon M. Graham Harlem Renaissance: The Black Poets is an alluring film directed by Dick D’anjolell, pro duced by Janet Hirschfeld, and presented by Carousel Films. It is one of many installments of the late black history series Tell It Like It Was, a youth-friendly television program that origi nally aired on Philadelphia-based WCAU-TV during the late 1960s. Despite its resemblance to a twenty minute after school program, the film does an astonishing job at displaying the works of world renowned African American poets, presenting them in a way that allows people of all ages and backgrounds to comprehend their unique message.
death, he find that she has left her husband little notes and objects, re turning those negative things that he had said to her. For example, he would say that he would rather sleep with a boulder than her, so she filled the bed with rocks. In the end, all she left him with was the “100 dollars and nothing.” This is the nature of most of Cooper’s stories, which often involve women overcoming their circumstances and achieving their dreams. In this way, Cooper is a New Renaissance woman, inciting other women to be come greater than they are and to re fuse to take no for an answer. Unlike other female novelists, however, Coo per does not depict men as demons; on the contrary, many of her stories illus trate positive men. J. California Cooper continues to alter the state of literature with her amazing storytelling. Her latest novel, Life Is Short but Wide, came out in March of 2009, and she is currently in the process of writing another book, this one to be called God Does Not Shoot Dice.
The production opens with a beautiful singing number performed by the ifim’s hostess, Daffie, who is also a singer and actress. This number serves as the introduction to the broad cast and sets the mood for the history lesson that follows. The viewers are quickly set at ease as Dallie introduces the topic of the week in the most cheerful manner possible. Talking di rectly to her audience, Dallie presents herself as a cherished friend rather than the unknown host. Maintaining this friendly aura, she goes on to recite the last few lines of Langston Hughes’ highly regarded essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” a passage she con siders to be the emancipation proclamation of the Harlem Renaissance poets. The next couple of scenes that follow brffliantly portray the poems “Incident” by Countee Cullen and “Merry-Go-Round” by Langston Hughes in short skits performed by children, mas-; terfully highlighting the childlike personas of each poem. The first skit opens up with a small group of young black girls jump ing rope in the Baltimore sun. One of the girls, however, becomes distracted when she hears the sound of someone bouncing a ball nearby, and when she goes to see about it, she discovers a young white boy about her age. While she watches the boy, “Incident” is recited from the perspective of the little girl as her feelings become hurt by the little “Baltimorean” boy after he sticks out his tongue at her and calls her a “nigger.” As she walks sadly away, her scene fades out, and the next scene fades in. In this scene, we are introduced to another little black girl, but unlike the first, she is not jumping rope. Instead, she stands sadly in front of a merry-go-round and recites the poem “Merry-Go-Round” by Langston Hughes, in which she asks where the Jim Crow section is on the ride. She explains that where she comes from, blacks and whites are not allowed to sit side by side, and on busses, blacks are required to sit in the back. However, as she states, “There aint no back to a merry-go-round.” Therefore, where are the black people suppose to sit?
James Van Der Zee, Dancing Girls
Following the two skits, the viewers are rejoined with Daihe who sings the song “Turmng Pomt” by Nina Simone It is through this song that the audience receives a sense of closure to the skillfully depicted street skits. The song is presented from the perspective of a little white girl who tells her mother that she has become friends with “a little brown girl.” She expresses to her mother how much she would like for the little
I
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rown girl to come over to her house. Unfortunately, it becomes clear to the viewers that the vhite girl’s mother is against this because the little brown girl is black. The song ends with the vhite girl saying in a melancholy tone, “Oh, I see.” The film then moves from Harlem Renaissance poetry told from the perspective of chil Iren to Harlem Renaissance poetry conveyed through the perspective of adults as they express heir need for a better society. Such poems include Georgia Douglas / [ohnson’s “Old Black Men” and Langston Hughes’ “Little Green Tree,” nd both poems are recited over different pictures of black people of the ra. Other poems include Fenton Johnson’s “Rulers,” which is recited y Dallie, and the poem “Tired,” which was also written by Johnson.
/
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I
Next, the viewer is confronted with another “skit scene” in which mother, played by Dallie, explains to her son that her life “aint been o crystal stair.” The poem is Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son,” and LS Dallie sits in front of her son with an apron tied around her waist nd her hair hidden behind a scarf, the viewer is given the impression of a woman who has ex erienced a great deal of strife throughout her lifetime. Despite all that she has gone through, iowever, the mother not only encourages her son to never give up hope, but the viewers are lso encouraged due to the realistic depiction of the skit. This heartfelt scene is followed by another grouping of poems. The first is Langston Hughes’s “Dream Variations,” which is recited over a black and white clip of a black boy looking out his window into a jumbled maze of urban dwellings. Halfway through the poem, there is a dramatic pause as clips of a soothing river scene are shown while the rhythm of solemn music plays. This is followed by calming prairie scenes as the poem comes to a close. Other poems during this segment include Hughes’s “The Negro peaks of Rivers,” Countee Cullen’s “A Song of Praise,” and Fenton Johnson’s “Aunt Jane Al n.” A moving depiction of “No Images” by Waring Cuney is also a part of this grouping. This articular poem is recited over a black and white clip which shows an attractive black woman ho is left oblivious to her own beauty while she washes dishes in dish water that gives back o reflection. As the film comes to a close, the viewers are rejoined with Dal e, who sings “Let’s Get Together,” a classic song from the 1960s that as originally recorded by the Kingston Trio and was written by Chet owers. The song’s heartrending message about how people should try get together and love one another is the perfect closing song for this im and speaks to one of the main goals that the poets of the Harlem enaissance had hoped to accomplish through their works. As a whole, ie film does an extraordinary job at creating in little time interest in ad insight into the Harlem Renaissance poets, a fact that would not possible without the friendly and intimate aura that Dallie success tily creates and maintains throughout the film’s entirety.
Page 14
Sterling Notes
Opportunities The Luard Junior Year Abroad Scholarship, November 16th Deadline: The Luard Scholarship Program provides students the opportunity to study abroad at a British University in their junior year. The deadline for applying is November 16, 2009. Students who are US citizens in good aca demic standing and who will be rising juniors at the completion of the spring 2010 term are eligi ble. For more information, contact Ms. Betty J. Aikens, Director of the Study Abroad Program, at the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center. Fall Test Preparation Courses on Campus: The College of Arts and Sciences’ Center for Prepro fessional Education is offering students weekly GRE, LSAT and GMAT test preparation courses at discounted rates. Courses are offered this fall semester at a convenient campus location, and course fees include computer adaptive tests and course materials. Class sizes are limited, and registration is on a first come, first served basis. Please visit their web site at http://www.coas.howard.edu/ preprofessionaleducation!. For more information and the registration form, please call the Center for Preprofessional Education at 202-238-2363 or visit them in room 518 of the Howard Center. The class schedule is as follows: GRE beginning September 22 November 10, Tuesdays, 7 p.m.10 p.m.; GMAT beginning September23 —November 18, Wednesdays, 7 p.m.-10 p.m.; LSAT be ginning October 31 December 2, Mondays and Wednesdays, 7 p.m.-10 p.m. —
—
The McNair Program, A Paid Research Opportunity for Undergraduate Students at Howard University, November 20th Deadline: The McNair Program is currently recruiting twenty (20) un der-graduate students for the 2009-20 10 academic year to participate in an undergraduate research experience. The program offers a number of opportunities to prepare students for graduate school while getting paid. Benefits ($6,000 value) include a $2,800 summer stipend, spring semester workshops, a 6-week summer research experience, summer room and board, workshops, mentor ing, GRE training, and social and cultural events. It takes about 10 minutes to complete the pre application to determine if the McNair Program will be beneficial for you. Although applications will be accepted until all slots are filled, you are strongly encouraged to complete and return the pre -application ASAP to allow ample time to complete the full application that is due by November 20, 2009. For information, send an e-mail to mcnairprogram(howard.edu, with the subject line: Application Request. Eligibility Requirements: will have at least 48 credits by end of this fall se mester, will graduate after August 2010, minimum 2.8 GPA (some exceptions are made), U.S. Citi zen or Permanent Resident, plan to pursue the PhD., and are either underrepresented or both firstgeneration and low-income. (This program is not open to students who plan to pursue a JD, MD, DDS, etc. unless they plan to pursue a dual degree—JD/PhD or MD/PhD.) The August Wilson Society—Student Members Welcome: The August Wilson Society will be sponsoring events this year to commemo rate African-American playwright August Wilson and to celebrate his play The Piano Lesson. The Society welcomes interested student members and gener ally meets on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons. It is currently planning for a November symposium on The Piano Lesson and invites the input from the stu dent body. For more information, contact Professor Sandra Shannon at sshan non(howard.edu.
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Page 13
rown girl to come over to her house. Unfortunately, it becomes clear to the viewers that the vhite girl’s mother is against this because the little brown girl is black. The song ends with the vhite girl saying in a melancholy tone, “Oh, I see.” The film then moves from Harlem Renaissance poetry told from the perspective of chil Iren to Harlem Renaissance poetry conveyed through the perspective of adults as they express heir need for a better society. Such poems include Georgia Douglas / [ohnson’s “Old Black Men” and Langston Hughes’ “Little Green Tree,” nd both poems are recited over different pictures of black people of the ra. Other poems include Fenton Johnson’s “Rulers,” which is recited y Dallie, and the poem “Tired,” which was also written by Johnson.
/
-
I
Next, the viewer is confronted with another “skit scene” in which mother, played by Dallie, explains to her son that her life “aint been o crystal stair.” The poem is Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son,” and LS Dallie sits in front of her son with an apron tied around her waist nd her hair hidden behind a scarf, the viewer is given the impression of a woman who has ex erienced a great deal of strife throughout her lifetime. Despite all that she has gone through, iowever, the mother not only encourages her son to never give up hope, but the viewers are lso encouraged due to the realistic depiction of the skit. This heartfelt scene is followed by another grouping of poems. The first is Langston Hughes’s “Dream Variations,” which is recited over a black and white clip of a black boy looking out his window into a jumbled maze of urban dwellings. Halfway through the poem, there is a dramatic pause as clips of a soothing river scene are shown while the rhythm of solemn music plays. This is followed by calming prairie scenes as the poem comes to a close. Other poems during this segment include Hughes’s “The Negro peaks of Rivers,” Countee Cullen’s “A Song of Praise,” and Fenton Johnson’s “Aunt Jane Al n.” A moving depiction of “No Images” by Waring Cuney is also a part of this grouping. This articular poem is recited over a black and white clip which shows an attractive black woman ho is left oblivious to her own beauty while she washes dishes in dish water that gives back o reflection. As the film comes to a close, the viewers are rejoined with Dal e, who sings “Let’s Get Together,” a classic song from the 1960s that as originally recorded by the Kingston Trio and was written by Chet owers. The song’s heartrending message about how people should try get together and love one another is the perfect closing song for this im and speaks to one of the main goals that the poets of the Harlem enaissance had hoped to accomplish through their works. As a whole, ie film does an extraordinary job at creating in little time interest in ad insight into the Harlem Renaissance poets, a fact that would not possible without the friendly and intimate aura that Dallie success tily creates and maintains throughout the film’s entirety.
Page 14
Sterling Notes
Opportunities The Luard Junior Year Abroad Scholarship, November 16th Deadline: The Luard Scholarship Program provides students the opportunity to study abroad at a British University in their junior year. The deadline for applying is November 16, 2009. Students who are US citizens in good aca demic standing and who will be rising juniors at the completion of the spring 2010 term are eligi ble. For more information, contact Ms. Betty J. Aikens, Director of the Study Abroad Program, at the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center. Fall Test Preparation Courses on Campus: The College of Arts and Sciences’ Center for Prepro fessional Education is offering students weekly GRE, LSAT and GMAT test preparation courses at discounted rates. Courses are offered this fall semester at a convenient campus location, and course fees include computer adaptive tests and course materials. Class sizes are limited, and registration is on a first come, first served basis. Please visit their web site at http://www.coas.howard.edu/ preprofessionaleducation!. For more information and the registration form, please call the Center for Preprofessional Education at 202-238-2363 or visit them in room 518 of the Howard Center. The class schedule is as follows: GRE beginning September 22 November 10, Tuesdays, 7 p.m.10 p.m.; GMAT beginning September23 —November 18, Wednesdays, 7 p.m.-10 p.m.; LSAT be ginning October 31 December 2, Mondays and Wednesdays, 7 p.m.-10 p.m. —
—
The McNair Program, A Paid Research Opportunity for Undergraduate Students at Howard University, November 20th Deadline: The McNair Program is currently recruiting twenty (20) un der-graduate students for the 2009-20 10 academic year to participate in an undergraduate research experience. The program offers a number of opportunities to prepare students for graduate school while getting paid. Benefits ($6,000 value) include a $2,800 summer stipend, spring semester workshops, a 6-week summer research experience, summer room and board, workshops, mentor ing, GRE training, and social and cultural events. It takes about 10 minutes to complete the pre application to determine if the McNair Program will be beneficial for you. Although applications will be accepted until all slots are filled, you are strongly encouraged to complete and return the pre -application ASAP to allow ample time to complete the full application that is due by November 20, 2009. For information, send an e-mail to mcnairprogram(howard.edu, with the subject line: Application Request. Eligibility Requirements: will have at least 48 credits by end of this fall se mester, will graduate after August 2010, minimum 2.8 GPA (some exceptions are made), U.S. Citi zen or Permanent Resident, plan to pursue the PhD., and are either underrepresented or both firstgeneration and low-income. (This program is not open to students who plan to pursue a JD, MD, DDS, etc. unless they plan to pursue a dual degree—JD/PhD or MD/PhD.) The August Wilson Society—Student Members Welcome: The August Wilson Society will be sponsoring events this year to commemo rate African-American playwright August Wilson and to celebrate his play The Piano Lesson. The Society welcomes interested student members and gener ally meets on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons. It is currently planning for a November symposium on The Piano Lesson and invites the input from the stu dent body. For more information, contact Professor Sandra Shannon at sshan non(howard.edu.
I
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Page 16
The New Music: The Composition of a Renaissance by Shayla Monroe
New Start for the Amistad Literary Journal: If you are interested in working on the Amistad literary journal, contact its new faculty advisor, Dr Tony Medina, who can be reached via email at tmedina@howard.edu. For those with serious interest, Dr. Medina will soon be setting up an initial meeting to discuss the journal and how students wish to (re)shape it. Internship in Editing Business (Unpaid): Gresham Harkless, a recent Howard graduate, is the founder and president of a business called Exemplary Editing, which is seeking to hire students for an unpaid internship. Exemplary Editing is a new edit ing and proofreading business based in the Washington, D.C. area. It provides profes sional editing and proofreading services to meet the needs of writers, organizations, corporations, and businesses. If you would like more information, please visit Gresham Harkiess at www.exediting.com; send him an e-mail at edit@exediting.com; or give him a phone call at (703) 489-0516. The Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society: The Sigma Tau Delta Interna tional English Honor Society would like to invite you to find out more about member ship requirements for Howard’s Theta Theta Chapter as well as general information about Sigma Tau Delta and the various opportunities it offers to its members. To find out more about how to become a member of Sigma Tau Delta at Howard University, contact the organization’s president at husigtd@gmail.com. Ongoing Opportunity for Future Teachers (Early Childhood Education): Jumpstart, a non-profit AmeriCorps Program, partners students with preschool chil dren to help those children develop school readiness skills. Participating students re ceive $1,000 after 300 hours of service and also receive ongoing developmental train ing as future teachers. Additional information and applications are available at www.jumpstart.org, and you can also contact Ms. Kyieda Rogers, the Howard site manager, at (202) 806-7748 or via email at iumpstart@howard.edu. Ongoing Opportunity for Pre-Law Students: The Council on Legal Education op portunity (CLEO), committed to diversifying the legal profession, offers a range of support programs for pre-law students from diverse backgrounds. Its offerings in clude The CLEO/Thurgood Marshall College Scholars Program, The Sophomore Sum mer Institute, The CLEO Ambassadors Program, The CLEO Six-Week Summer Insti tute, The Attitude is Essential Program, The Academic Enrichment Seminar, The Mid-Simmer Professional Development Seminar and Career Fair, and The Bar Prepa ration Seminar. Most of these programs are free. More information and program ap plications are available at www.cleoscholars.org.
Sterling Notes
I I
Dr. E. Ethelbert Miller of Howard’s Afro-American Studies Department says we are not in the midst of a new Renaissance, and he is not afraid to say why. According to him Charlie Parker said, “I can hear the new music in my head; I just can’t play it yet.” If this is going to work at all, then I have to be completely honest. My interview with Dr. Ethelbert Miller, acclaimed poet and Howard professor, did not exactly go as planned. I sat down thinking in 4/4 time, but Dr. Miller is on a whole other level. I went to ask about the state of African-American scholarship today in comparison to the New Negro Scholars of the Pre-Renaissance and Renaissance eras—those such ass Dubois, Locke, Woodson, and Garvey. Dr. Mifier starts rifling about Ellington’s invitation to Strayhorn via the “A-Train” and Strayhorn’s slim degree of separation from Martin Luther King. He talks about an era of scholarship at Howard following Martin Luther King’s death that he feels produced black thought superior to that of both the Harlem Renaissa’nce and the Black Arts Movement. He points at his computer, and says, “We have to learn how to use this.” He then speaks briefly of what he wants to see from the Black intellectual; he wants to see a Black scholar arise who, like Parker, could hear the “new music.” It was all a blur, but I left with a list of names that I had to go and Google and that quote by Charlie Parker about new music. That night, I could not sleep. Parker had said, “I can hear the new music in my head...” My mind was racing with the thought, and perhaps because I am a Memphian, I thought of W.C. Handy. W. C. Handy had a house at 4th and Beale Street in downtown Mem phis, four blocks from the main dock of the Mississippi River. He could hear the new music from his window as young men coming in from the cotton fields put variations of their work music to piano, guitar and drums. He wrote the new music down into sheet music form, ex changed it with other composers, and a new genre was published and disseminated. Not only did Handy hear the “new music,” he knew exactly what to do with it. Now we come back to the theme of this issue—the New Renaissance. For Black Amer ica to usher in a new renaissance, it would require one of us to hear “new music” and then know what to do with it. The next day I sit down with Dr. Miller for round two. I accuse him of making me think about stuff, and thus, depriving me of precious sleep. He apologizes for nothing, says that I deprived myself of sleep, and mentions that he slept just fine. Touche. So we begin, me with my orderly list of questions sitting across from DC’s Poet Laureate, who is DC’s Poet Laureate because his intellect and soul meet in jazz. He talks like jazz. Trying to get him to stay on topic is like trying to get Charlie Parker to play “Hot Cross Buns” on a recorder. I mention to him my thoughts on Handy, called the Father of the Blues. Handy heard the new music, which Dr. Miller calls the sounds of Migration, and he recorded and distrib uted the sound using the prevalent technology of the day. Dr. Miller mentions that Muddy Waters, who Migrated from Mississippi to Chicago, exchanged ideas and got plugged up and signed up. Migration, exchange, technology, distribution—I offer this template to Dr. Miller, who says the migration we begin with is a global society in transition. W.E.B. Dubois founded the modern field of sociology. He took the proto-fleld of arm chair sociology and formed it into an active science. I ask Dr. Miller if we, as Black
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(olume 5, Issue I
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Page 16
The New Music: The Composition of a Renaissance by Shayla Monroe
New Start for the Amistad Literary Journal: If you are interested in working on the Amistad literary journal, contact its new faculty advisor, Dr Tony Medina, who can be reached via email at tmedina@howard.edu. For those with serious interest, Dr. Medina will soon be setting up an initial meeting to discuss the journal and how students wish to (re)shape it. Internship in Editing Business (Unpaid): Gresham Harkless, a recent Howard graduate, is the founder and president of a business called Exemplary Editing, which is seeking to hire students for an unpaid internship. Exemplary Editing is a new edit ing and proofreading business based in the Washington, D.C. area. It provides profes sional editing and proofreading services to meet the needs of writers, organizations, corporations, and businesses. If you would like more information, please visit Gresham Harkiess at www.exediting.com; send him an e-mail at edit@exediting.com; or give him a phone call at (703) 489-0516. The Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society: The Sigma Tau Delta Interna tional English Honor Society would like to invite you to find out more about member ship requirements for Howard’s Theta Theta Chapter as well as general information about Sigma Tau Delta and the various opportunities it offers to its members. To find out more about how to become a member of Sigma Tau Delta at Howard University, contact the organization’s president at husigtd@gmail.com. Ongoing Opportunity for Future Teachers (Early Childhood Education): Jumpstart, a non-profit AmeriCorps Program, partners students with preschool chil dren to help those children develop school readiness skills. Participating students re ceive $1,000 after 300 hours of service and also receive ongoing developmental train ing as future teachers. Additional information and applications are available at www.jumpstart.org, and you can also contact Ms. Kyieda Rogers, the Howard site manager, at (202) 806-7748 or via email at iumpstart@howard.edu. Ongoing Opportunity for Pre-Law Students: The Council on Legal Education op portunity (CLEO), committed to diversifying the legal profession, offers a range of support programs for pre-law students from diverse backgrounds. Its offerings in clude The CLEO/Thurgood Marshall College Scholars Program, The Sophomore Sum mer Institute, The CLEO Ambassadors Program, The CLEO Six-Week Summer Insti tute, The Attitude is Essential Program, The Academic Enrichment Seminar, The Mid-Simmer Professional Development Seminar and Career Fair, and The Bar Prepa ration Seminar. Most of these programs are free. More information and program ap plications are available at www.cleoscholars.org.
Sterling Notes
I I
Dr. E. Ethelbert Miller of Howard’s Afro-American Studies Department says we are not in the midst of a new Renaissance, and he is not afraid to say why. According to him Charlie Parker said, “I can hear the new music in my head; I just can’t play it yet.” If this is going to work at all, then I have to be completely honest. My interview with Dr. Ethelbert Miller, acclaimed poet and Howard professor, did not exactly go as planned. I sat down thinking in 4/4 time, but Dr. Miller is on a whole other level. I went to ask about the state of African-American scholarship today in comparison to the New Negro Scholars of the Pre-Renaissance and Renaissance eras—those such ass Dubois, Locke, Woodson, and Garvey. Dr. Mifier starts rifling about Ellington’s invitation to Strayhorn via the “A-Train” and Strayhorn’s slim degree of separation from Martin Luther King. He talks about an era of scholarship at Howard following Martin Luther King’s death that he feels produced black thought superior to that of both the Harlem Renaissa’nce and the Black Arts Movement. He points at his computer, and says, “We have to learn how to use this.” He then speaks briefly of what he wants to see from the Black intellectual; he wants to see a Black scholar arise who, like Parker, could hear the “new music.” It was all a blur, but I left with a list of names that I had to go and Google and that quote by Charlie Parker about new music. That night, I could not sleep. Parker had said, “I can hear the new music in my head...” My mind was racing with the thought, and perhaps because I am a Memphian, I thought of W.C. Handy. W. C. Handy had a house at 4th and Beale Street in downtown Mem phis, four blocks from the main dock of the Mississippi River. He could hear the new music from his window as young men coming in from the cotton fields put variations of their work music to piano, guitar and drums. He wrote the new music down into sheet music form, ex changed it with other composers, and a new genre was published and disseminated. Not only did Handy hear the “new music,” he knew exactly what to do with it. Now we come back to the theme of this issue—the New Renaissance. For Black Amer ica to usher in a new renaissance, it would require one of us to hear “new music” and then know what to do with it. The next day I sit down with Dr. Miller for round two. I accuse him of making me think about stuff, and thus, depriving me of precious sleep. He apologizes for nothing, says that I deprived myself of sleep, and mentions that he slept just fine. Touche. So we begin, me with my orderly list of questions sitting across from DC’s Poet Laureate, who is DC’s Poet Laureate because his intellect and soul meet in jazz. He talks like jazz. Trying to get him to stay on topic is like trying to get Charlie Parker to play “Hot Cross Buns” on a recorder. I mention to him my thoughts on Handy, called the Father of the Blues. Handy heard the new music, which Dr. Miller calls the sounds of Migration, and he recorded and distrib uted the sound using the prevalent technology of the day. Dr. Miller mentions that Muddy Waters, who Migrated from Mississippi to Chicago, exchanged ideas and got plugged up and signed up. Migration, exchange, technology, distribution—I offer this template to Dr. Miller, who says the migration we begin with is a global society in transition. W.E.B. Dubois founded the modern field of sociology. He took the proto-fleld of arm chair sociology and formed it into an active science. I ask Dr. Miller if we, as Black
I
oIume 5, Issue I
Page 17
academia, are in a position to create new fields of study. He mentions a field of tudy that Black intellectuals started to pick up on but then stopped. The next intellectual rontier, according to Dr. Miller, is Islam. America must navigate a relationship with Isam around the world, and to do so, a new scholarly focus must arise. A major thinker and cholar on Islam must emerge, and Dr. Miller believes this person will be African .merican. What exactly is the scholar’s job? I always thought that the scholar walked out from onfusion and ignorance into the unknown and then returned to the masses with the an wers. For Dr. Miller, it is important for the intellectual to have courage and moral vision, elevate the discourse and offer clarity. The Black intellectual in particular must critiqu e he poisonous ideas disseminated within Black America. Unlike the intellectuals of the Tew Negro era, the failure of modern African-American intellectuals is their refusal to cri Lque the destruction. They won’t criticize the social impact of hip-hop culture, because, ccording to Dr. Miller, they are on the payroll. Cornel West went and put an album out. r. Miller says that he’d love to gather the soldiers in Gabon who have committed mass pe and other atrocities, ask them to pull out their radios and ipods and take stock of ‘hat they are listening to in order to gear themselves up for war. Dr. Miller would bet ioney that many of them are listening to American rap music. This makes me think about the lack of discourse on hip-hop culture. We all know om our classes about how the discourse between Washington and Dubois and Garvey and Ioodson went on, went public, went back and forth. Two, three, four, even more sides of a iscourse were offered in an attempt to move in a collective direction of some sort. Nowa ays, I do not see a true discourse on hip-hop culture’s social consequences. I see preach ers ject to hip-hop music on moral grounds, and they are deftly ignored, but when a schola r any public figure even poses the question of the possibilities of hip-hop music’s negativ e )cial impact, the defenders of hip-hop culture get so belligerent, they go into this place in Leir heads where hip-hop is the most perfect musical form ever created; it can do no rong, and it has never had any negative impact ever, on anything or anybody. When prah criticized hip-hop music, some of my friends wanted to kill her. Bill Cosby criticiz es .p-hop culture, and Michael Eric Dyson basically called him a crazy old man. Discou rse n be ugly, but is this discourse? Is this what the conversation has come to? Speaking of Dr. Cornel West, I naturally ask Dr. Miller about Race Matters. He says that it is a fabrication, a simple attempt by Beacon Press to make money from the aftermath of the LA riots. Dr. Miller points out the startling lack of essays that, in his opinion, pro voke black thought (though he does cite a few exceptions in Charles Johnson, Stanley Crouch and Alice Walker.) When I ask him about Tavis Smiley, he shakes his head no. “Tavis Smiley,” Dr. Miller says, “is one step above Arsenio Hall” So far, in the composition of a Renaissance, we have spoken out migration and about the state of the exchange of ideas, but what of technology and tribution. According to Dr. Miller, these tools of rebirth are both our greatest blessin g our greatest curse.
:-)
Sterling Notes
Page 18
“The Negro, as we know it, is becoming obsolete,” he says. He gestures to his com puter again. “He can’t interface with the current workforce. ‘What’s my job?’ he says. ‘My job is mugging you.’ We have third generation criminals out there. Alain Locke’s New Ne gro was actually new. You could not put him back on the plantation, but us? We have not been repackaged for the future. Part of the public intellectual’s job is having the courage to identify who can and cannot be saved.” Dr. Miller also brought up a good point about how we listen to intellectual discourse. We, as Black people, are much more concerned about whether the voice is coming from the right or the left than what the voice is actually say ing. The sum of the results is that our good ideas are stifled, while our bad ideas travel around the globe. Woodson, Garvey, Locke, DuBois—where are their counterparts in this new genera tion? Where are the ones who know what to do? I have omitted some of Dr. Miller’s stronger opinions according to my own judgment. Call me a punk if you want to, but Sterling Notes will live to publish another day. Most im portantly, you can find Dr. Miller and his strong opirions right where I found him on the third floor of Founders. Go sit with him a while, let him make you think. If you know how to listen to jazz, he might open your ears to melodies you’ve never heard and maybe, at some point, you might catch a strain of the new music.
The Color of Music by Qiana Walker The color of music fills the air with the excitment of anticipation. We wait for those great contributors whose words allow us to escape to another world. Splash, a note here. Splash, a note there. We are immersed in the dawn of a new era. Dance, sing, write, and paint the music without inhibition. This is our time to shine and to live. The color of music fills the air. Can you hear it? Can you see it? We are not primitive.. We are avant-garde, moving with the times. The color of music fills the air! See the rythym; hear the notes brushed one stroke at a time. The color of music fills the air.
I
oIume 5, Issue I
Page 17
academia, are in a position to create new fields of study. He mentions a field of tudy that Black intellectuals started to pick up on but then stopped. The next intellectual rontier, according to Dr. Miller, is Islam. America must navigate a relationship with Isam around the world, and to do so, a new scholarly focus must arise. A major thinker and cholar on Islam must emerge, and Dr. Miller believes this person will be African .merican. What exactly is the scholar’s job? I always thought that the scholar walked out from onfusion and ignorance into the unknown and then returned to the masses with the an wers. For Dr. Miller, it is important for the intellectual to have courage and moral vision, elevate the discourse and offer clarity. The Black intellectual in particular must critiqu e he poisonous ideas disseminated within Black America. Unlike the intellectuals of the Tew Negro era, the failure of modern African-American intellectuals is their refusal to cri Lque the destruction. They won’t criticize the social impact of hip-hop culture, because, ccording to Dr. Miller, they are on the payroll. Cornel West went and put an album out. r. Miller says that he’d love to gather the soldiers in Gabon who have committed mass pe and other atrocities, ask them to pull out their radios and ipods and take stock of ‘hat they are listening to in order to gear themselves up for war. Dr. Miller would bet ioney that many of them are listening to American rap music. This makes me think about the lack of discourse on hip-hop culture. We all know om our classes about how the discourse between Washington and Dubois and Garvey and Ioodson went on, went public, went back and forth. Two, three, four, even more sides of a iscourse were offered in an attempt to move in a collective direction of some sort. Nowa ays, I do not see a true discourse on hip-hop culture’s social consequences. I see preach ers ject to hip-hop music on moral grounds, and they are deftly ignored, but when a schola r any public figure even poses the question of the possibilities of hip-hop music’s negativ e )cial impact, the defenders of hip-hop culture get so belligerent, they go into this place in Leir heads where hip-hop is the most perfect musical form ever created; it can do no rong, and it has never had any negative impact ever, on anything or anybody. When prah criticized hip-hop music, some of my friends wanted to kill her. Bill Cosby criticiz es .p-hop culture, and Michael Eric Dyson basically called him a crazy old man. Discou rse n be ugly, but is this discourse? Is this what the conversation has come to? Speaking of Dr. Cornel West, I naturally ask Dr. Miller about Race Matters. He says that it is a fabrication, a simple attempt by Beacon Press to make money from the aftermath of the LA riots. Dr. Miller points out the startling lack of essays that, in his opinion, pro voke black thought (though he does cite a few exceptions in Charles Johnson, Stanley Crouch and Alice Walker.) When I ask him about Tavis Smiley, he shakes his head no. “Tavis Smiley,” Dr. Miller says, “is one step above Arsenio Hall” So far, in the composition of a Renaissance, we have spoken out migration and about the state of the exchange of ideas, but what of technology and tribution. According to Dr. Miller, these tools of rebirth are both our greatest blessin g our greatest curse.
:-)
Sterling Notes
Page 18
“The Negro, as we know it, is becoming obsolete,” he says. He gestures to his com puter again. “He can’t interface with the current workforce. ‘What’s my job?’ he says. ‘My job is mugging you.’ We have third generation criminals out there. Alain Locke’s New Ne gro was actually new. You could not put him back on the plantation, but us? We have not been repackaged for the future. Part of the public intellectual’s job is having the courage to identify who can and cannot be saved.” Dr. Miller also brought up a good point about how we listen to intellectual discourse. We, as Black people, are much more concerned about whether the voice is coming from the right or the left than what the voice is actually say ing. The sum of the results is that our good ideas are stifled, while our bad ideas travel around the globe. Woodson, Garvey, Locke, DuBois—where are their counterparts in this new genera tion? Where are the ones who know what to do? I have omitted some of Dr. Miller’s stronger opinions according to my own judgment. Call me a punk if you want to, but Sterling Notes will live to publish another day. Most im portantly, you can find Dr. Miller and his strong opirions right where I found him on the third floor of Founders. Go sit with him a while, let him make you think. If you know how to listen to jazz, he might open your ears to melodies you’ve never heard and maybe, at some point, you might catch a strain of the new music.
The Color of Music by Qiana Walker The color of music fills the air with the excitment of anticipation. We wait for those great contributors whose words allow us to escape to another world. Splash, a note here. Splash, a note there. We are immersed in the dawn of a new era. Dance, sing, write, and paint the music without inhibition. This is our time to shine and to live. The color of music fills the air. Can you hear it? Can you see it? We are not primitive.. We are avant-garde, moving with the times. The color of music fills the air! See the rythym; hear the notes brushed one stroke at a time. The color of music fills the air.
I
olume 5, Issue I
PageI9
“Southern Road”
—
—
I
—Sterling Allen Brown
The Debate over “The Decline of the English Department”
Doubleshackled—hunh— Guard behin’; Doubleshackled—hunh— Guard behin’; Ball an’ chain, bebby, On my mm’. White man tells me—hunh— Damn yo’ soul; White man tells me—hunh— Damn yo’ soul; Got not need, bebby, To be tole. terling Allen Brown. Photograph from The Ann rbor Poetry Forum, 1996-1997. Photo by Roy Lewis.
wing dat hammer—hunh-— teady, ho’; wing dat hammer—hunh— teady, bo’; in’t no rush, bebby, ong ways to go. urner tore his—hunh— lack heart away; urner tore his—hunh— lack heart away; Fot me life, bebby, a day.
Chain gang nevah—hunh— Let me go; Chain gang nevah—hunh— Let me go; Po’ los’ boy, bebby, Evahmo’.... Southern Road. 1932. Rpt. The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown. Chicago: TnQuarterly, 1980. 52-53.
Fal’s on Fifth Street—hunh— on done gone; Fal’s on Fifth Street—hunh— on done gone; life’s in de ward, bebby, abe’s not bo’n. ly ole man died—hunh— ussin’ me; ly ole man died—hunh— ussin’ me; le lady rocks, bebby, [uh misery.
Wi]iiam Johnson, Chain Gang
Sterling Notes
Page2O
This semester, students of Professor R. Victoria Arana responded to a New York Times article by William M. Chace entitled “The De cline of the English Department: How It Hap pened and What Could Be Done to Reverse It.” In the following pages, read their responses, as well as some of the statements made by Chace in the article (rpt TheAmericanScholar.org, Atumn 2009).
I
“The number of young men and women majoring in English has dropped dra matically; the same is true of philosophy, foreign languages, art history, and kin dred fields, including history. As some one who has taught in four university English departments over the last 40 years, I am dismayed by this shift, as are my colleagues here and there across the land.” —William M. Chace
On “The Decline of the English Department” by Krystal C. Johnson professional education over the value of more Being an English major is time con philosophical academic pursuits. suming, labor intensive, and often frustrating. It prepares you for no job in particular. Chace seems to be pining for an English department that does not and cannot exist in a Unless an English major has been blessed modern (or, more accurately, postmodern) with an extraordinary propensity for writing world. He suggests that the prevalence of liter or theorizing, she wifi likely attain little money, less fame, and, in some cases, even ary theory and criticism has diluted the knowl less of the bliss that accompanies ignorance. edge base of English majors. I would argue that Societies and economic structures such as the expansion of the literary canon necessarily ours encourage decisions that consider earn calls for consideration of subjects such as gen ing potential first, rendering passion and in der, race, sexuality, and imperialism, which tellectual rigor victims of capitalistic “First the facts: while the study might be uncomfortable for or irrele ambition. So, those of us with the of English has become less vant to more traditional observers. courage to choose English as a major popular among undergradu Chace acknowledges that “[ajs the ates, the study of business has do it because it is the most natural risen to become the most campus reflects the cultural, racial, extension of who we have been our popular major in the nation’s and religious complexities of the and universities. With whole lives—readers, writers, learn- colleges world around it, reading British and more than twice the majors of ers. any other course of study, busi American literature looks more and In his article “The Decline of ness has become the concen more marginal. From a global per tration of more than one in five the English Department,” William American undergraduates.” spective, the book looks smaller.” I —William M. chace Chace asserts that the number of stu agree with that assertion, and I dents who major in the humanities would posit that the prevalence of has steadily declined over the past thirty theory and the added perspectives from which years. That same period has seen an equally literature may now be read are assets to mod steady increase in the number of business ma ern English departments. Cultural, racial, and jors. I view those trends as indicators of the religious diversity rightfully influences the cul values of the interceding generations of col ture of a university. If there were a similar di lege students. But I also sense in the author’s versity of ambition and values, departments of position an attitude that is as responsible for English and other humanities might claim more the decline of the English department as is majors. our society’s elevation of the value of a pre
I
olume 5, Issue I
PageI9
“Southern Road”
—
—
I
—Sterling Allen Brown
The Debate over “The Decline of the English Department”
Doubleshackled—hunh— Guard behin’; Doubleshackled—hunh— Guard behin’; Ball an’ chain, bebby, On my mm’. White man tells me—hunh— Damn yo’ soul; White man tells me—hunh— Damn yo’ soul; Got not need, bebby, To be tole. terling Allen Brown. Photograph from The Ann rbor Poetry Forum, 1996-1997. Photo by Roy Lewis.
wing dat hammer—hunh-— teady, ho’; wing dat hammer—hunh— teady, bo’; in’t no rush, bebby, ong ways to go. urner tore his—hunh— lack heart away; urner tore his—hunh— lack heart away; Fot me life, bebby, a day.
Chain gang nevah—hunh— Let me go; Chain gang nevah—hunh— Let me go; Po’ los’ boy, bebby, Evahmo’.... Southern Road. 1932. Rpt. The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown. Chicago: TnQuarterly, 1980. 52-53.
Fal’s on Fifth Street—hunh— on done gone; Fal’s on Fifth Street—hunh— on done gone; life’s in de ward, bebby, abe’s not bo’n. ly ole man died—hunh— ussin’ me; ly ole man died—hunh— ussin’ me; le lady rocks, bebby, [uh misery.
Wi]iiam Johnson, Chain Gang
Sterling Notes
Page2O
This semester, students of Professor R. Victoria Arana responded to a New York Times article by William M. Chace entitled “The De cline of the English Department: How It Hap pened and What Could Be Done to Reverse It.” In the following pages, read their responses, as well as some of the statements made by Chace in the article (rpt TheAmericanScholar.org, Atumn 2009).
I
“The number of young men and women majoring in English has dropped dra matically; the same is true of philosophy, foreign languages, art history, and kin dred fields, including history. As some one who has taught in four university English departments over the last 40 years, I am dismayed by this shift, as are my colleagues here and there across the land.” —William M. Chace
On “The Decline of the English Department” by Krystal C. Johnson professional education over the value of more Being an English major is time con philosophical academic pursuits. suming, labor intensive, and often frustrating. It prepares you for no job in particular. Chace seems to be pining for an English department that does not and cannot exist in a Unless an English major has been blessed modern (or, more accurately, postmodern) with an extraordinary propensity for writing world. He suggests that the prevalence of liter or theorizing, she wifi likely attain little money, less fame, and, in some cases, even ary theory and criticism has diluted the knowl less of the bliss that accompanies ignorance. edge base of English majors. I would argue that Societies and economic structures such as the expansion of the literary canon necessarily ours encourage decisions that consider earn calls for consideration of subjects such as gen ing potential first, rendering passion and in der, race, sexuality, and imperialism, which tellectual rigor victims of capitalistic “First the facts: while the study might be uncomfortable for or irrele ambition. So, those of us with the of English has become less vant to more traditional observers. courage to choose English as a major popular among undergradu Chace acknowledges that “[ajs the ates, the study of business has do it because it is the most natural risen to become the most campus reflects the cultural, racial, extension of who we have been our popular major in the nation’s and religious complexities of the and universities. With whole lives—readers, writers, learn- colleges world around it, reading British and more than twice the majors of ers. any other course of study, busi American literature looks more and In his article “The Decline of ness has become the concen more marginal. From a global per tration of more than one in five the English Department,” William American undergraduates.” spective, the book looks smaller.” I —William M. chace Chace asserts that the number of stu agree with that assertion, and I dents who major in the humanities would posit that the prevalence of has steadily declined over the past thirty theory and the added perspectives from which years. That same period has seen an equally literature may now be read are assets to mod steady increase in the number of business ma ern English departments. Cultural, racial, and jors. I view those trends as indicators of the religious diversity rightfully influences the cul values of the interceding generations of col ture of a university. If there were a similar di lege students. But I also sense in the author’s versity of ambition and values, departments of position an attitude that is as responsible for English and other humanities might claim more the decline of the English department as is majors. our society’s elevation of the value of a pre
I
lume 5, Issue I
Page 21
Response to “The Decline of the English Department” by Ashley L. Newman In the article entitled “The Decline of the English Department” by Wiffiam Chace, e author makes many valid points when speaking about the decline of the English partment in the university. By listing the facts of the decline among undergraduates, iace shows the audience the seriousness of the matter. At Howard University, these atistics hold true due to the low numbers of English majors and the increasing number of ajors in the business school. I agree with Chace when he asserts that “[s]tudying English taught us how to write d think better, and to make articulate many of the inchoate impulses and confusions of r post-adolescent minds.” I can also say that by making English my primary study of us, I have seen not only the improvement of my communication and writing style but so the expansion of my knowledge of various works. One reason that I decided to study iglish at Howard was because it allowed me to keep my options open for possible career portunities, and one possible career opportunity that I have considered has been public licy. Although majoring in political science would have been ideal, that department eks one of the principle focuses of English—teaching the pupil how to form effective ntences when writing effective policy or legislation. Fastweb.com recently sent out emails that listed the top-paying degrees—all of Erich were in applied sciences or business. The absence of a humanities degree in that list pports the argument that Chace presents in the article. Due to the unstable economy Ld the rise of tuition, English departments are expected to suffer. However, I feel that it the duty of the university to support these departments by promoting the many scholars io teach in the classrooms today and the knowledge that will be abundant to students io cross their paths in any humanities department.
“In one generation, then,
e Shift in Numbers of Ski nts in Different Majors:
nglish: from 7.6 percent of e majors to 3.9 percent reign languages and litera res: from 2.5 percent to 1.3 rcent Lilosophy and religious idies: from 0.9 percent to 7 percent story: from 18.5 percent to .7 percent siness: from 13.7 percent 21.9 percent” —William M. Chace
the numbers of those ma joring in the humanities
dropped from a total of 30 percent to a total of less
than i6 percent; during that same generation, busi ness majors climbed from 14 percent to 22 percent.
Despite last year’s debacle
Aaron Douglas, Aspiration
on Wall Street, the humani ties have not benefited; stu dents are still wagering that business jobs will be there when the economy recov ers.” —William M. Chace
—
—
Page 22
Sterling Notes
Empty: A Response to “The Decline of the English Department” by Jarrid Reed I am thirsty. I never want to stop learning. I never want to stop reading. I do not seek satisfaction when I drink the waters of knowledge. The end of my hunger will be the end of me and my art. So I remain thirsty. I read “The Decline of the English Department” by William M. Chase, and I am filled with shame. I feel as though I am not capable of saving English scholarship. I am a film major, and its structure and form is also dying. The art of image narrative is losing its scholarship, what little it has, and I must challenge that. I just want to keep reading excellent books and interpreting powerful stories that connect us with each other. As a Howard University student, I feel weak in my knowledge of literature. When I read Chase’s thoughts and the subsequent responses, I feel disconnected from the passion of literary scholarship. I am a terrible scholar. Who am I to get passionate about a topic I malaise through? I am an English minor because I want to learn about the structure of intellectual story and the way it can be used to express the human experience. When I hear that humanities scholarship is dying, I am not surprised. I am not invested in it, and I can only assume that other students feel similarly. I have my own goals. I hope to spark wonder in the eyes of my fellow humans, spark a new coming of intellectual expression; however, this article makes me feel empty, scared. I am in part to blame. My study of English is only a vehicle to the mastery of my craft. I realize this, and I wonder if I should change my path. “What are the causes for this decline? There are several, but at the root is the failure of departments of English across the country to champion, with passion, the books they teach and to make a strong case to undergraduates that the knowledge of those books and the tradition in which they exist is a human good in and of itself. What departments have done instead is dis member the curriculum, drift away from the notion that historical chro nology is important, and substitute for the books themselves a scattered array of secondary considerations (identity studies, abstruse theory, sexuality, film and popular culture). In so doing, they have distanced themselves from the young people interested in good books.” —William M. Chace
I
lume 5, Issue I
Page 21
Response to “The Decline of the English Department” by Ashley L. Newman In the article entitled “The Decline of the English Department” by Wiffiam Chace, e author makes many valid points when speaking about the decline of the English partment in the university. By listing the facts of the decline among undergraduates, iace shows the audience the seriousness of the matter. At Howard University, these atistics hold true due to the low numbers of English majors and the increasing number of ajors in the business school. I agree with Chace when he asserts that “[s]tudying English taught us how to write d think better, and to make articulate many of the inchoate impulses and confusions of r post-adolescent minds.” I can also say that by making English my primary study of us, I have seen not only the improvement of my communication and writing style but so the expansion of my knowledge of various works. One reason that I decided to study iglish at Howard was because it allowed me to keep my options open for possible career portunities, and one possible career opportunity that I have considered has been public licy. Although majoring in political science would have been ideal, that department eks one of the principle focuses of English—teaching the pupil how to form effective ntences when writing effective policy or legislation. Fastweb.com recently sent out emails that listed the top-paying degrees—all of Erich were in applied sciences or business. The absence of a humanities degree in that list pports the argument that Chace presents in the article. Due to the unstable economy Ld the rise of tuition, English departments are expected to suffer. However, I feel that it the duty of the university to support these departments by promoting the many scholars io teach in the classrooms today and the knowledge that will be abundant to students io cross their paths in any humanities department.
“In one generation, then,
e Shift in Numbers of Ski nts in Different Majors:
nglish: from 7.6 percent of e majors to 3.9 percent reign languages and litera res: from 2.5 percent to 1.3 rcent Lilosophy and religious idies: from 0.9 percent to 7 percent story: from 18.5 percent to .7 percent siness: from 13.7 percent 21.9 percent” —William M. Chace
the numbers of those ma joring in the humanities
dropped from a total of 30 percent to a total of less
than i6 percent; during that same generation, busi ness majors climbed from 14 percent to 22 percent.
Despite last year’s debacle
Aaron Douglas, Aspiration
on Wall Street, the humani ties have not benefited; stu dents are still wagering that business jobs will be there when the economy recov ers.” —William M. Chace
—
—
Page 22
Sterling Notes
Empty: A Response to “The Decline of the English Department” by Jarrid Reed I am thirsty. I never want to stop learning. I never want to stop reading. I do not seek satisfaction when I drink the waters of knowledge. The end of my hunger will be the end of me and my art. So I remain thirsty. I read “The Decline of the English Department” by William M. Chase, and I am filled with shame. I feel as though I am not capable of saving English scholarship. I am a film major, and its structure and form is also dying. The art of image narrative is losing its scholarship, what little it has, and I must challenge that. I just want to keep reading excellent books and interpreting powerful stories that connect us with each other. As a Howard University student, I feel weak in my knowledge of literature. When I read Chase’s thoughts and the subsequent responses, I feel disconnected from the passion of literary scholarship. I am a terrible scholar. Who am I to get passionate about a topic I malaise through? I am an English minor because I want to learn about the structure of intellectual story and the way it can be used to express the human experience. When I hear that humanities scholarship is dying, I am not surprised. I am not invested in it, and I can only assume that other students feel similarly. I have my own goals. I hope to spark wonder in the eyes of my fellow humans, spark a new coming of intellectual expression; however, this article makes me feel empty, scared. I am in part to blame. My study of English is only a vehicle to the mastery of my craft. I realize this, and I wonder if I should change my path. “What are the causes for this decline? There are several, but at the root is the failure of departments of English across the country to champion, with passion, the books they teach and to make a strong case to undergraduates that the knowledge of those books and the tradition in which they exist is a human good in and of itself. What departments have done instead is dis member the curriculum, drift away from the notion that historical chro nology is important, and substitute for the books themselves a scattered array of secondary considerations (identity studies, abstruse theory, sexuality, film and popular culture). In so doing, they have distanced themselves from the young people interested in good books.” —William M. Chace
I
__________
Inltattio
5, luo I
Page 23
Page 24
The Practicality of the English Department: A Response to “The Decline of the English Department” by Kassandra Powell Smce first applying to college my senior year of high school, I knew that I wanted to major in psychology. This decision never had anything to do with what my “favorite subject” was, however. Although I am extremely interested in the human mind and be havior, I have always had a passion for English. As a child, I read books constantly, wrote poems on an almost daily basis, and even had dreams of publishing short stories. This and other similar dreams were short lived. I soon discovered that I would have to set my sights on something else if I wanted to be successful. In Wffliam M. Chace’s article “The Decline of the English Department,” this very concern is addressed. According to Alexander W. Astin’s research, in the mid- 1960s, more than 80 percent of entering college freshmen reported that nothing was more important than “developing a meaningful philosophy of life,” but by the year 2001, “more than 70 percent of undergraduate students had their eyes trained on financial realities, while only 40 percent were still wrestling with meaningful philosophies.” The harsh reality is that as important as these philosophies may be, students are aware that there is not much money to be gained in pursuing them. When I was younger, I considered studying English when I became a college student, but then people started asking the inevitable: “What are you going to do with that?” Unfortunately, I never had an answer. Even if I had wanted to be come a teacher, which I did not, I would have been met with the cold, hard fact that there is not much money iii teaching. Once I decided that I could not justify majoring in English, I decided on something Jacob Lawrence, The Library that was more practical. I decided that I would set my sights on becoming a therapist, clinical or otherwise, rather than fantasizing about poetry and short stories. Although my experience is personal, there are many other students and parents of students who share my sentiments. Parents want to be sure that they are getting their money’s worth for the children’s education, and students want to be sure that whatever they are studying is going to pay off In a perfect world, the most important thing about the college experience really would be “developing a meaningful philosophy of life,” but the world as we know it is not perfect, and the most important thing about the college ex perience is to major in fields such as business, engineering, or psychology, which are more likely than English to offer substantial pay and opportunities for success. In my experience, English has been taught with passion, appreciation, and under standing. I believe that my professors have made the sincerest efforts to help students develop “a meaningful philosophy of life” through the exploration of literature, but these efforts seem to be overshadowed by the rise of the more practical departments. Perhaps, then, the issue at hand is not necessarily the so-called decline of the English department. The issue, in fact, is that education is seldom sought for a meaningful experience and of ten only sought as the key to future success and financial stability.
Sterling Notes
Did Absent Fathers Really Start with Blacks?: Play Review of Langston Hughes’s Mulatto by Darnell Almanzar The question which consistently arises when asking about parenthood in our com munities is this: Where are our black fathers? We look at our society now, and we notice the absence of fathers in many African American households. This sometimes leads to our children being raised without the proper guidance needed and that sometimes only males can provide for a child. Women have done an outstanding job of the tough and ever -changing task of raising children on their own, and their job is tough without the assis tance of a male figure; therefore, it is a necessity for our men to step up to the undertak ing of providing care and guidance for our next generation. Although this is a major prob lem which exists in our communities, history shows us, by way of our great African American authors, that the absent father did not begin with the African American race. Many African American literary works provide us with evidence we can use to conclude that the slave master and whites are the initial absent fathers. Langston Hughes’s Mu latto is a play which describes the absence of a father in a sense which may be different from that of other works that are published by black writers. Hughes, the popular and influen tial author, poet, and playwright, is predominantly known for his popular poems, such as “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “A Dream Deferred.” The play, written in 1930, is Hughes’s first full-length play and describes the father-son conflict be tween Robert Lewis, a mulatto child, and Colonel Thomas Norwood, slave master and father of Robert. Hughes uses this play to expose the practices of the slave masters and whites dur ing slavery and afterward. Slave masters often had sexual relationships with their fe male slaves, although blacks were not considered to be human but rather property. This often led to the birth of children who were mulatto: half white and half black. This ulti mately affected many of the children because there were instances li-IF in which they could not fit in with either race. At times, they were either to light to be accepted into the black culture, or they were too dark (with too much “black blood” in them) to be accepted by the whites. Although Robert knows who his father is, Hughes displays the first absent father as the slave master. This is shown through Hughes’s characterization of Colonel Norwood and Norwood’s bas tardization of his mulatto children—children conceived by Cora, his black mistress and houseworker. Hughes displays the aban donment in Act 1, in which Cora and her eldest son, William, are reminiscing about when Robert attempted to greet Colonel Norwood as his father. Cora says, “He went runnin’ up and grabbed a-
CRISI
I
__________
Inltattio
5, luo I
Page 23
Page 24
The Practicality of the English Department: A Response to “The Decline of the English Department” by Kassandra Powell Smce first applying to college my senior year of high school, I knew that I wanted to major in psychology. This decision never had anything to do with what my “favorite subject” was, however. Although I am extremely interested in the human mind and be havior, I have always had a passion for English. As a child, I read books constantly, wrote poems on an almost daily basis, and even had dreams of publishing short stories. This and other similar dreams were short lived. I soon discovered that I would have to set my sights on something else if I wanted to be successful. In Wffliam M. Chace’s article “The Decline of the English Department,” this very concern is addressed. According to Alexander W. Astin’s research, in the mid- 1960s, more than 80 percent of entering college freshmen reported that nothing was more important than “developing a meaningful philosophy of life,” but by the year 2001, “more than 70 percent of undergraduate students had their eyes trained on financial realities, while only 40 percent were still wrestling with meaningful philosophies.” The harsh reality is that as important as these philosophies may be, students are aware that there is not much money to be gained in pursuing them. When I was younger, I considered studying English when I became a college student, but then people started asking the inevitable: “What are you going to do with that?” Unfortunately, I never had an answer. Even if I had wanted to be come a teacher, which I did not, I would have been met with the cold, hard fact that there is not much money iii teaching. Once I decided that I could not justify majoring in English, I decided on something Jacob Lawrence, The Library that was more practical. I decided that I would set my sights on becoming a therapist, clinical or otherwise, rather than fantasizing about poetry and short stories. Although my experience is personal, there are many other students and parents of students who share my sentiments. Parents want to be sure that they are getting their money’s worth for the children’s education, and students want to be sure that whatever they are studying is going to pay off In a perfect world, the most important thing about the college experience really would be “developing a meaningful philosophy of life,” but the world as we know it is not perfect, and the most important thing about the college ex perience is to major in fields such as business, engineering, or psychology, which are more likely than English to offer substantial pay and opportunities for success. In my experience, English has been taught with passion, appreciation, and under standing. I believe that my professors have made the sincerest efforts to help students develop “a meaningful philosophy of life” through the exploration of literature, but these efforts seem to be overshadowed by the rise of the more practical departments. Perhaps, then, the issue at hand is not necessarily the so-called decline of the English department. The issue, in fact, is that education is seldom sought for a meaningful experience and of ten only sought as the key to future success and financial stability.
Sterling Notes
Did Absent Fathers Really Start with Blacks?: Play Review of Langston Hughes’s Mulatto by Darnell Almanzar The question which consistently arises when asking about parenthood in our com munities is this: Where are our black fathers? We look at our society now, and we notice the absence of fathers in many African American households. This sometimes leads to our children being raised without the proper guidance needed and that sometimes only males can provide for a child. Women have done an outstanding job of the tough and ever -changing task of raising children on their own, and their job is tough without the assis tance of a male figure; therefore, it is a necessity for our men to step up to the undertak ing of providing care and guidance for our next generation. Although this is a major prob lem which exists in our communities, history shows us, by way of our great African American authors, that the absent father did not begin with the African American race. Many African American literary works provide us with evidence we can use to conclude that the slave master and whites are the initial absent fathers. Langston Hughes’s Mu latto is a play which describes the absence of a father in a sense which may be different from that of other works that are published by black writers. Hughes, the popular and influen tial author, poet, and playwright, is predominantly known for his popular poems, such as “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “A Dream Deferred.” The play, written in 1930, is Hughes’s first full-length play and describes the father-son conflict be tween Robert Lewis, a mulatto child, and Colonel Thomas Norwood, slave master and father of Robert. Hughes uses this play to expose the practices of the slave masters and whites dur ing slavery and afterward. Slave masters often had sexual relationships with their fe male slaves, although blacks were not considered to be human but rather property. This often led to the birth of children who were mulatto: half white and half black. This ulti mately affected many of the children because there were instances li-IF in which they could not fit in with either race. At times, they were either to light to be accepted into the black culture, or they were too dark (with too much “black blood” in them) to be accepted by the whites. Although Robert knows who his father is, Hughes displays the first absent father as the slave master. This is shown through Hughes’s characterization of Colonel Norwood and Norwood’s bas tardization of his mulatto children—children conceived by Cora, his black mistress and houseworker. Hughes displays the aban donment in Act 1, in which Cora and her eldest son, William, are reminiscing about when Robert attempted to greet Colonel Norwood as his father. Cora says, “He went runnin’ up and grabbed a-
CRISI
I
____________ _____ _______
folume 5, Issue 1
Page 25
holt de Colonel and yelled right in front of de white folks’ faces, ‘0 papa, Cora say de dinner ready, papa.’ Ain’t never called him papa before, and I don’t know where he got it from. And Colonel Tom knocked him right backwards under de horse’s feet.” Colonel Norwood’s disavowal of his son clearly weakened their relationship, and since then, Robert has been in rebellion to prove himself worthy of respect, especially since he has white lineage in him. Such disconnection occurs in our families too often, with too many black fathers abandoning their parental duties. Although Robert knows who his father is, the rela tionship, or lack there of, negatively affects his psyche, and his destructive actions are the result of it. In our communities, child support and visits are sometimes not enough for our children to become positive citizens in society. Although the children may know and see their fa thers occasionally, the presence of a male is needed to help nurture and care for the children. This is evi denced as well through Colonel Norwood, who gives his financial support for his mulatto children to at tend college. Although they are appreciative of his fi nancial support, his children, especially Robert, seek confirmation of love from their biological father. Hughes displays the need for a father figure in the play through depiction of Robert, who is por trayed as a menace. He is improperly guided because his “father,” Colonel Norwood, does not believe a per son with black blood in him should have the respect or privilege of receiving special attention. This leads Robert to become destructive in the community. In Act 2, Mr. Higgins, a close friend of Colonel Norwood, describes an incident which happened earlier in the day in which Robert had an argument with a white woman at the post office; because of the alterca tion, he is violently escorted out. Robert also drives recklessly while returning home and causes dirt to fly into the window of Mr. Higgins. Although the times and circumstances are different, the issue of fatherless chil dren has negatively affected our race. Many of our people are in this world without guidance and proper upbringing due to the lack of parental stability. As men, there is a need for us to discontinue this negative behavior. Although many of us were raised without fathers or do not have a substantial relationship with them, we need to make it of high importance to break the cycle which was caused by our former oppressors. Au thors compose works not to disgrace the race but to bring attention to the issues which exist. Hughes’s dramatization of the initial absent father is one which introduces the white male as a father who disowns and alienates his mu-: latto children. This ultimately leads to a reoc currence of fatherless children, but unfortu-. nately, it is our black males who are now to often abandoning their children. -
Sterling Notes
Page 26
The SABES Puzzle: Harlem Renaissance Authors and Titles
To solve the SABES Puzzle, fill in the answers to the clues on the consecutively numbered blanks. Then transfer the clued to the lines below to expose a quote from a Harlem Renaissance poem. Work back and forth until the entire puzzle is solved. Author of “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”: 1234567
Poem by Ama Bontemps: 16171819202122
89101112131415 Author of Cane: 23242526 272829303132 Poem by Sterling Brown often quoted by SABES:
33 3435 363738
394041
Author Angelina Weld: 424344454647 Langston Hughes poem: 48495051 525354
5556575859
6061 62
Author of Passing: 636465666768 With the first clue, author of The Common Text Project novel for this term: 697071 72 7374757677 Author of “Dunbar” and “The Wife-Woman,” Anne: 78798081 828384 According to the author of Cane, her lips were made of this: 85 8687888990 The author of this puzzle’s quotation wrote a poem Keats, Poet, at Spring Time”: entitled “To 91 929394 One of Claude McKay’s sonnets: Man Talks o f Reaping”:
Another poem by Bontemps, “A Another poem by Sterling Brown:
106107 94109 1101111824 It was edited by DuBois and then Fauset for the NAACP: 112 113 11411520116
—
L
i
&
E
0 F
K
i
-
I E
C
E
S
I
____________ _____ _______
folume 5, Issue 1
Page 25
holt de Colonel and yelled right in front of de white folks’ faces, ‘0 papa, Cora say de dinner ready, papa.’ Ain’t never called him papa before, and I don’t know where he got it from. And Colonel Tom knocked him right backwards under de horse’s feet.” Colonel Norwood’s disavowal of his son clearly weakened their relationship, and since then, Robert has been in rebellion to prove himself worthy of respect, especially since he has white lineage in him. Such disconnection occurs in our families too often, with too many black fathers abandoning their parental duties. Although Robert knows who his father is, the rela tionship, or lack there of, negatively affects his psyche, and his destructive actions are the result of it. In our communities, child support and visits are sometimes not enough for our children to become positive citizens in society. Although the children may know and see their fa thers occasionally, the presence of a male is needed to help nurture and care for the children. This is evi denced as well through Colonel Norwood, who gives his financial support for his mulatto children to at tend college. Although they are appreciative of his fi nancial support, his children, especially Robert, seek confirmation of love from their biological father. Hughes displays the need for a father figure in the play through depiction of Robert, who is por trayed as a menace. He is improperly guided because his “father,” Colonel Norwood, does not believe a per son with black blood in him should have the respect or privilege of receiving special attention. This leads Robert to become destructive in the community. In Act 2, Mr. Higgins, a close friend of Colonel Norwood, describes an incident which happened earlier in the day in which Robert had an argument with a white woman at the post office; because of the alterca tion, he is violently escorted out. Robert also drives recklessly while returning home and causes dirt to fly into the window of Mr. Higgins. Although the times and circumstances are different, the issue of fatherless chil dren has negatively affected our race. Many of our people are in this world without guidance and proper upbringing due to the lack of parental stability. As men, there is a need for us to discontinue this negative behavior. Although many of us were raised without fathers or do not have a substantial relationship with them, we need to make it of high importance to break the cycle which was caused by our former oppressors. Au thors compose works not to disgrace the race but to bring attention to the issues which exist. Hughes’s dramatization of the initial absent father is one which introduces the white male as a father who disowns and alienates his mu-: latto children. This ultimately leads to a reoc currence of fatherless children, but unfortu-. nately, it is our black males who are now to often abandoning their children. -
Sterling Notes
Page 26
The SABES Puzzle: Harlem Renaissance Authors and Titles
To solve the SABES Puzzle, fill in the answers to the clues on the consecutively numbered blanks. Then transfer the clued to the lines below to expose a quote from a Harlem Renaissance poem. Work back and forth until the entire puzzle is solved. Author of “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”: 1234567
Poem by Ama Bontemps: 16171819202122
89101112131415 Author of Cane: 23242526 272829303132 Poem by Sterling Brown often quoted by SABES:
33 3435 363738
394041
Author Angelina Weld: 424344454647 Langston Hughes poem: 48495051 525354
5556575859
6061 62
Author of Passing: 636465666768 With the first clue, author of The Common Text Project novel for this term: 697071 72 7374757677 Author of “Dunbar” and “The Wife-Woman,” Anne: 78798081 828384 According to the author of Cane, her lips were made of this: 85 8687888990 The author of this puzzle’s quotation wrote a poem Keats, Poet, at Spring Time”: entitled “To 91 929394 One of Claude McKay’s sonnets: Man Talks o f Reaping”:
Another poem by Bontemps, “A Another poem by Sterling Brown:
106107 94109 1101111824 It was edited by DuBois and then Fauset for the NAACP: 112 113 11411520116
—
L
i
&
E
0 F
K
i
-
I E
C
E
S
I
Page 27
lume 5, Issue I
Enter
512725
2078
p21877950 113 53181097667
25964311411264 349
4 1015 2971 33 5 1714
3931
5210457971024027
82464’
the Sterling Allen Brown English Society Sterling Notes Contests! Poetry Contest—See Page 7 Short Fiction Contest—See Page 8 Puzzle Contest: See Pages 26-27
Can you name the photographers and artists who created of the following images?
11190 232374210677 11601008546
11352168110 101652881696162
165494’
6 43 8413387576
101 63 103 82 105 86305673 96583645 55 1 10711547 102709851116
114
668832 957 110
498941 279380 10144 362 33
9296
74628322 596426109 The photographer of this image had works fea tured in a 1969 exhibit entitled Harlem on My Mind.
The photographer of this image of Langston Hughes is also a cinematographer known for the film Shaft (1971).
—
he SABES Puzzle Contest: enter the SABES Puzzle contest, fill in the blanks below and submit the entire cor ctly answered puzzle to Mrs. Hardy in the main English Office, Locke 248 by Monday, ovember 30th. )
ame: ione Number:________ uthor of Puzzle Quote: Ltle of Puzzle Poem: rrectly answered puzzle blanks will be raffled for a prize of $25.00.
Unlike other Harlem Renaissance painters, this one never lived in Harlem.
..
Work by the Harlem Renaissance artist responsible for this image appears more than once in this issue of Sterling Notes.
Upcoming Events of the Sterling Allen Brown English Society: The Sterling Allen Brown English Society is planning a number of events for the end of this semester and for next term. In November, in addition to hosting Game Day: The English MajorMinor Pre-Registration Info-Social, the Society will be holding a poetry reading, currently planned for the middle of the month. In December, the Society plans to hold a film screening and lecture / discus sion in which Dr. Gregory Hampton will apply literary theory to cinema. Next semester, the Society will hold a fundraismg event and will assist the Department of English with its annual Heart’s Day Conference and Gala. The Society also plans to host a week of events celebrating the Harlem Renaissance—events mcluding a film screening, a poetry reading, and a lecture. Before the end of next term, the Society also pans to host a lecture on lynching narratives and to produce another issue of Sterling Notes. All Howard University students are invited to join the Sterling Allen Brown English Society and to participate in its events. To be added to our email list, send an email to yasminhu@aol.com.
I
Page 27
lume 5, Issue I
Enter
512725
2078
p21877950 113 53181097667
25964311411264 349
4 1015 2971 33 5 1714
3931
5210457971024027
82464’
the Sterling Allen Brown English Society Sterling Notes Contests! Poetry Contest—See Page 7 Short Fiction Contest—See Page 8 Puzzle Contest: See Pages 26-27
Can you name the photographers and artists who created of the following images?
11190 232374210677 11601008546
11352168110 101652881696162
165494’
6 43 8413387576
101 63 103 82 105 86305673 96583645 55 1 10711547 102709851116
114
668832 957 110
498941 279380 10144 362 33
9296
74628322 596426109 The photographer of this image had works fea tured in a 1969 exhibit entitled Harlem on My Mind.
The photographer of this image of Langston Hughes is also a cinematographer known for the film Shaft (1971).
—
he SABES Puzzle Contest: enter the SABES Puzzle contest, fill in the blanks below and submit the entire cor ctly answered puzzle to Mrs. Hardy in the main English Office, Locke 248 by Monday, ovember 30th. )
ame: ione Number:________ uthor of Puzzle Quote: Ltle of Puzzle Poem: rrectly answered puzzle blanks will be raffled for a prize of $25.00.
Unlike other Harlem Renaissance painters, this one never lived in Harlem.
..
Work by the Harlem Renaissance artist responsible for this image appears more than once in this issue of Sterling Notes.
Upcoming Events of the Sterling Allen Brown English Society: The Sterling Allen Brown English Society is planning a number of events for the end of this semester and for next term. In November, in addition to hosting Game Day: The English MajorMinor Pre-Registration Info-Social, the Society will be holding a poetry reading, currently planned for the middle of the month. In December, the Society plans to hold a film screening and lecture / discus sion in which Dr. Gregory Hampton will apply literary theory to cinema. Next semester, the Society will hold a fundraismg event and will assist the Department of English with its annual Heart’s Day Conference and Gala. The Society also plans to host a week of events celebrating the Harlem Renaissance—events mcluding a film screening, a poetry reading, and a lecture. Before the end of next term, the Society also pans to host a lecture on lynching narratives and to produce another issue of Sterling Notes. All Howard University students are invited to join the Sterling Allen Brown English Society and to participate in its events. To be added to our email list, send an email to yasminhu@aol.com.
I