“In so many ways and to so many people, Hughes was 'the Negro,' or at least 'Negro literature,' its public face, its spoken voice and cocktail-party embodiment as well as the source of its printed texts.”
Originally published June 13, 1989
1968: A Score-Settling, Ass-Kicking, Head-Whipping, Dues-Taking, Hypocrisy-Exposing, lnnocenceDestroying, Delusion-Ending Year
Originally published March 8, 1988
“Baldwin was the first of his kind, and perhaps the last we shall see for some time: the Negro writer made a celebrity and thrust into the national political dialogue.”
Originally published January 12, 1988
“Baldwin’s work opened up the world for me; it was also precisely because it did do that that it could, if not closely watched, overwhelm any perception I might eventually develop about it and the way we live now.”
Originally published January 12, 1988
The coming age of the post-nationalist black aesthetic.
Originally published December 9, 1986
Black queer women may be having a media moment, but they’re still not part of the mainstream Pride story
June 7, 2018
The Bronx has a rich cultural past, but the literary community is invested in cultivating an even richer cultural future
May 29, 2018