The Collection
The African American literature holdings of the Harris Collection range from rare 18th century works by Phillis Wheatley, through the abolitionist writings of William Wells Brown and the late 19th century dialect poetry and lyrics of Paul Laurence Dunbar, to extensive holdings of major 20th century figures such as Langston Hughes, Robert Hayden, Sterling Brown, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Alain Locke, Arna Bontemps, Sterling Brown, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, Robert Hayden, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry, among many others.
Contemporary authors held in strength include Ai, Gwendolyn Brooks, Michael Harper, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, and many hundreds of others. Modern small press poetry is collected heavily. There are, in addition, holdings of African American literary periodicals, including current subscriptions.
The Harris Collection and the Sheet Music Collection also include vocal music from the musical stage in the late 19th century and in the 1920s, when the African American musical stage flourished, and include works by Dunbar, J. Rosamund Johnson, Bob Cole, George Williams and Bert Walker, Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and many more. The published works of contemporary African American popular music composers and performers are acquired extensively. In addition, there are older works relating to African American folk and religious music, the abolitionist movement, and the minstrel stage.
The African American Sheet Music Digitizing Project, part of the Library’s Center for Digital Initiatives, includes digitized images of the covers and texts of 1,500 pieces of sheet music from the Library’s collections.
See Also:
» Music
» Sources for the Study of 19th and 20th Century Blackface Minstrelsy
Related Collections
In addition to the holdings of the Harris Collection, African American literary materials in the John Hay Library will be found in the Broadsides Collection and the Sheet Music Collection. Supplementary and associated materials will be found in the McLellan Lincoln Collection, the Starred Books Collection, the Richard G. Katzoff Collection, the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, and the Hall-Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda.
The Broadsides Collection includes a considerable body of finely printed modern broadsides of poetry, including those by African American authors, as well as many 19th century works relating to slavery, the Civil War, and the abolitionist movement. The Starred Books Collection, the general rare book collection at the John Hay Library, includes prose works by African Americans. The Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection includes published works relating to African American soldiers, particularly of the Civil War era, as well as a wealth of illustrative material. Similar materials are to be found in the McLellan Lincoln Collection. The Richard G. Katzoff Collection includes contemporary literary works by gay and lesbian African Americans. The Hall-Hoag Collection includes post-World War II materials on racism, politics, and the civil rights movement in America, mostly ephemeral and controversial in nature.
Related Internet Resources
Brown University Library Resources: Digital Projects
- African American Sheet Music
Center for Digital Initiatives, Brown University Library - Brown Archival and Manuscript Collections
Center for Digital Initiatives, Brown University Library
Brown University Library Resources: Resource Guides to Subject Areas
- Resource Guide: Africana Studies
- Resource Guide: American Studies
- Resource Guide American History
- Resource Guide: Race and Ethnicity
Brown University Library Resources: Subject Collections
- American Culture and Society
Holdings in Special Collections - American Literature
Holdings in Special Collections - Race and Gender Studies
Holdings in Special Collections
Brown University Library Resources: Online Exhibitions
- Celebrating Michael Harper
Brown University Library Online Exhibition - Imamu Amiri Baraka
Brown University Library Online Exhibition - Langston Hughes: The Black Bard at 100
Brown University Library Online Exhibition
Other Internet Resources
- African American Review
The official publication of the Division on Black American Literature and Culture of the Modern Language Association - African American Women Writers of the Nineteenth Century
The Digital Schomburg; New York Public Library Digital Library Collections - Archives of African American Music and Culture
Indiana University Library - Callaloo (Project Muse)
- Callaloo (JSTOR)
An African American literary journal - Center for Black Music Research
- Dubose Heyward’s Porgy. A Hypertext Edition.
University of Virginia - Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance
Poetry Foundation - Now What a Time: Blues, Gospel and the Fort Valley Music Festivals
Library of Congress American Memory - The Red Hot Jazz Archive: A History of Jazz Before 1930
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture
University of Virginia - Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color
University of Minnesota - “We’ll Sing to Abe our Song”: Sheet Music about Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Civil War
Library of Congress American Memory
Author Pages
- Ai
Poetry Foundation - Maya Angelou
Poetry Foundation - Arna Bontemps
Poetry Foundation - Gwendolyn Brooks
Poetry Foundation - Sterling A. Brown
Poetry Foundation - Countee Cullen
Poetry Foundation - Rita Dove: Lady Freedom Among Us
University of Virginia Library - Paul Laurence Dunbar
Poetry Foundation - Paul Laurence Dunbar Digital Text Archives
Wright State University Library - Cornelius Eady
Poetry Foundation - Michael S. Harper
Brown University Library - Robert Hayden
Poetry Foundation - Langston Hughes
Brown University Library - James Weldon Johnson
Poetry Foundation - Etheridge Knight
Poetry Foundation - Audre Lorde
Poetry Foundation - Claude McKay
Poetry Foundation - Jean Toomer
Poetry Foundation
Essential References
Afro-American Poetry and Drama, 1760-1975. A guide to information sources.
Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1979.
Chapman, Dorothy H.
Index to Black Poetry
Boston: G. K. Hall, 1974.
Chapman, Dorothy H., comp.
Index to Poetry by Black American Women
New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.
Dennison, Sam.
Scandalize my name: Black imagery in American popular music
New York: Garland Publishing, 1982.
Harris, Trudier & Thadious M. Davis, eds.
Afro-American Writers before the Harlem Renaissance
Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1986.
Harris, Trudier & Thadious M. Davis, eds.
Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940
Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1987.
Harris, Trudier & Thadious M. Davis, eds.
Afro-American Writers, 1940-1955
Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1988.
Harris, Trudier & Thadious M. Davis, eds.
Afro-American Poets Since 1955
Detroit: Gale Research Co., c1985.
Kellner, Bruce, ed.
The Harlem Renaissance. A Historical Dictionary for the Era
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984.
Peterson, Bernard L.
The African American theatre directory, 1816-1960 : a comprehensive guide to early Black theatre organizations, companies, theatres, and performing groups. Foreword by Errol Hill.
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1997.
Peterson, Bernard L., jr.
A Century of Musicals in Black and White. An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works by, About, or Involving African Americans
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993.
Peterson, Bernard L., jr.
Contemporary Black American Playwrights and Their Plays. A Biographical Directory and Dramatic Index
New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.
Peterson, Bernard L., jr.
Early Black American Playwrights and Dramatic Writers. A Biographical Directory and Catalog of Plays, Films, and Broadcasting Scripts
New York: Greenwood Press, 1990.
Southern, Eileen.
Biographical dictionary of Afro-American and African musicians
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982.
Southern, Eileen.
The music of Black Americans: a history 3rd ed.
New York: Norton, c1997.