Writing Themselves into the Movement: Child Authors of the Black Arts Era - Couverture souple

Fish, Amy

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1625348266 ISBN 13 : 9781625348265

Editeur : University of Massachusetts Press, 2024

Synopsis

Between 1967 and 1972, a previously obscure group of authors entered the US cultural spotlight. During this five-year period, at least thirty anthologies of poetry and prose by African American, Latinx, Asian American, and Native American children came out of adult-led workshops, classrooms, and sites of juvenile incarceration. Mass-market publishers, independent imprinters, and local mimeograph machines produced volumes with titles such as I Am Somebody! and The Me Nobody Knows: Children's Voices from the Ghetto. These young writers actively participated in the Black Arts Movement, and some collaborated with well-known adult authors, most prominently June Jordan. Their anthologies gained national media coverage, occasionally became bestsellers, were quoted by James Baldwin, and even inspired a hit Broadway musical. While writings by children had long attracted adult attention, this flurry of youth writing and publishing was distinguished by the widespread belief that children of color from poor and working-class neighborhoods were uniquely able to speak truth about American racism and inequality.

Focusing on Black and Latinx youth authorship within New York City, and using deep archival research and elegant close readings, Amy Fish examines child-authored texts of this era within the context of their literary production and reception. These young writers were often supervised and edited by white adults, raising concerns about the authenticity and agency of their voices. Fish contends that young authors themselves shared these concerns and that they employed savvy rhetorical strategies of address, temporality, and trope to self-consciously interrogate the perils and possibilities of their adult-influenced work. Young writers thus contributed to the era's important debates about the nature of authorship and readership within a racist society, while also using their writing as an intimate occasion of self-discovery.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Amy Fish is Assistant Director for Experiential Learning and Academic & Co-Curricular Initiatives at Boston University. Her writings have appeared in numerous publications, including The Lion and the Unicorn and Research on Diversity in Youth Literature.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Massachusetts Press
• Date d'édition: 2024
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1625348266
• ISBN 13: 9781625348265
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 216
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible