The Norton Anthology of African American Literature - GBV

1 The Norton Anthology of African American Literature Henry Louis Gates Jr., General Editor W. E. B. Du Bois PROFESSOR OF HUMANITIES. HARVARD UNIVERSITY. Nellie Y. McKay, General Editor PROFESSOR OF American AND AFRO- American Literature . UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MADISON. W W Norton & COMPANY NewTdrfc' . U. * Hi s Contents PREFACE: TALKING BOOKS xxvii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xliii THE VERNACULAR TRADITION 1. [Entries marked * are included on the Audio Companion}. SPIRITUALS 5. Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? 7. City Called Heaven r 8. God's A-Gonna Trouble the Water 8. Walk Together Children 9. I Know Moon-Rise 9. I'm A-Rollin' 10. I Been Rebuked and I Been Scorned 10. Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel? 10. Soon I Will Be Done 11. No More Auction Block 12. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 13. Steal Away to Jesus 13. Go Down, Moses 14. Been in the Storm So Long 14. Oh, Freedom! 15. GOSPEL 16. This Little Light of Mine 17. Down by the Riverside 18.]

2 Freedom in the Air 20. Take My Hand, Precious Lord * 20. Peace Be Still 21. Stand by Me 21. THE BLUES 22. Yellow Dog Blues 23. St. Louis Blues 24. Beale Street Blues 25. Down-Hearted Blues 26. See, See Rider 27. Prove It on Me Blues 27. Gulf Coast Blues 28. Trouble in Mind 29. Backwater Blues 29. viii CONTENTS. In the House Blues 30. How Long Blues - 31. Hellhound on My Trail 31. It's a Low Down Dirty Shame 32. Good Morning, Blues 33. Sent for You Yesterday 34. Going to Chicago Blues 34. Fine and Mellow 34. Hoochie Coochie 35. Sunnyland 36. SECULAR RHYMES AND SONGS, BALLADS, AND. WORK SONGS 37. SECULAR RHYMES AND SONGS ' 38. [We raise de wheat] 38. Me and My Captain 38. Promises of Freedom 39. Jack and Dinah Want Freedom 39. Run, Nigger, Run , 40. Learn to Count 40. Another Man Done Gone 40. You May Go But This Will Bring You Back 41. BALLADS 41. Poor lazarus 41. The Signifying Monkey 42. Wild Negro Bill 44. John Henry 45.

3 Frankie and Johnny 48. Railroad Bill 49. Stackolee 50. Sinking of the Titanic 51. Shine and the Titanic 51. WORK SONGS 52. Pick a Bale of Cotton 52. Go Down, Old Hannah 53. Can't You Line It? 54. JAZZ 55. Andy Razaf: (What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue? 57. Duke Ellington: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) 58. King Pleasure: Parker's Mood 59. RAP 60. Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised 61. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: The Message 62. Public Enemy: Don't Believe the Hype 65. Queen Latifah: The Evil That Men Do 68. SERMONS 69. God 71. C. L. Franklin: The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest 71. CONTENTS ix Zora Neale Hurston: [Faith hasn't got no eyes] 78. Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream .. 80. Martin Luther King: I've Been to the Mountaintop 83. Malcolm X: The Ballot or the Bullet ..' 90. FOLKTALES 102. All God's Chillen Had Wings 103. Big Talk 105. Deer Hunting Story ' 106. How to Write a Letter 107.

4 " 'Member Youse a Nigger" 107. "Ah'll Beatcher Makin'Money" 108. Why the Sister in Black Works Hardest 111. Why Women Always Take, Advantage of Men i . , 111. "De Reason Niggers Is Working So Hard" 114. The Ventriloquist . , 114. You Talk Too Much, Anyhow . 115. The King Buzzard : , ., 116. A Flying Fool ' 117. Bur Rabbit in Red Hill Churchyard 118. Brer Rabbit Tricks Brer Fox Again ; 119. The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story .. 120. How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr: Fox 121. The Awful Fate of Mr. Wolf 123. What the Rabbit Learned 125. T H E Literature O F SLAVERY AND F R E E D O M : 1746-1865 127. LUCY TERRY (c. 1730-1821) 137. Bars Fight 137. OLAUDAH EQUIANO (c. 1745-1797) 138. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African , Written by Himself - 140. Volume 1 140. Chapter I , . :" .. ' 141. Chapter II : 151. From Chapter III 161. From Chapter IV 164. PHILLISWHEATLEY(1753?-1784) .., 164.

5 POEMS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, RELIGIOUS AND MORAL' 167. Preface .., 167. [Letter Sent by the Author's Master to the Publisher] 167. : [To the Publick] - ' 168. To Mscenas ' '' 169. To the University of Cambridge, in New-England 170. On Being Brought from Africa to America 171. On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield. 1770 171. To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth 172. CONTENTS. On Imagination 173. To S. M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works 175. To Samson Occom 176. To His Excellency General Washington 176. DAVID WALKER (1785-1830) 178. David Walker's Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World 179. Preamble 179. Article I. Our Wretchedness in Consequence of Slavery 182. GEORGE MOSES HORTON (17977-1883?) 190. The Lover's Farewell 191. On Hearing of the Intention of a Gentleman to Purchase the Poet's Freedom 192. Division of an Estate 193. The Creditor to His Proud Debtor 194.

6 George Moses Horton, Myself 195. SOJOURNER TRUTH (1797-1883) 196. Ar'n't I a Woman? Speech to the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, 1851 198. From The Anti-Slavery Bugle, June 21, 1851 198. From The Narrative of Sojoumer Truth, 1878 199. MARIA W. STEWART (1803-1879) 201. Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, the Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build 202. Introduction 202. Lecture Delivered at the Franklin Hall 204. HARRIET JACOBS (c. 1813-1897) 207. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl 209. Preface 209. I. Childhood 210. II. The New Master and Mistress 212. V. The Trials of Girlhood 216. X. A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl's Life 218. XIV. Another Link to Life 222. XVII. The Flight 224. XXI. The Loophole of Retreat 226. XXIX. Preparations for Escape 229. XXXIX. The Confession 235. XL. The Fugitive Slave Law 236. XLI. Free at Last 240. WILLIAM WELLS BROWN (18147-1884) 245. Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave 247.

7 Chapter V 247. From Chapter VI 249. Clotel; or, The President's Daughter 255. Chapter I. The Negro Sale 255. CONTENTS xi Chapter II. Going to the South 261. Chapter IV. The Quadroon's Home 265. Chapter XV. To-Day a Mistress, To-Morrow a Slave 267. Chapter XIX. Escape of Clotel 269. ADA [SARAH L. FORTEN] (1814-1898?) 277. Lines Suggested on Reading "An Appeal to Christian Women of the South," by A. E. Grimke 277. HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET (1815-1882) 279. An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America 280. VICTOR SEJOUR (1817-1874) . 286. The Mulatto 287. FREDERICK DOUGLASS (1818-1895) 299. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself 302. My Bondage and My Freedom 369. Chapter XXIII. Introduced to the Abolitionists 369. Chapter XXIV. Twenty-One Months in Great Britain 373. From What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?: An Address Delivered in Rochester, New York, on 5 July 1852 379.

8 Life and Times of Frederick Douglass 391. Second Part From Chapter XV. Weighed in the Balance ' 391. Third Part Chapter I. Later Life 397. JAMES M. WHITFIELD (1822-1871) 401. America 402. Yes! Strike Again That Sounding String 405. Self-Reliance 406. FRANCES HARPER (1825-1911) 408. Ethiopia * 412. Eliza Harris 412. The Slave Mother ' . 414. Vashti 415. Bury Me in a Free Land 417. Aunt Chloe's Politics 418. Learning to Read 418. A Double Standard . 419. Songs for the People - 421. An Appeal to My Country Women .., 422. The Two Offers . 423. Our Greatest Want 431. Fancy Etchings 432. [Enthusiasm and Lofty Aspirations] 432. [Dangerous Economies] 434. Woman's Political Future 436. xii CONTENTS. HARRIET (18287-1863?) 439. Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, in a Two-Story White House, North 441. Preface 441. Chapter I. Mag Smith, My Mother 441. Chapter II. My Father's Death 444. Chapter III. A New Home for Me 447.

9 From Chapter VIII. Visitor and Departure 452. Chapter X. ^\nother Death 455. Chapter XII. The Winding Up of the Matter 458. Literature OF THE RECONSTRUCTION T O THE N E W N E G R O. RENAISSANCE: 1865-1919 461. CHARLOTTE FORTEN GRIMKE (1837-1914) 472. A Parting Hymn 473. Journals From Journal One 474. From Journal Three 480. BOOKER (1856-1915) 488. Up From Slavery 490. Chapter I. A Slave among Slaves 490. Chapter II. Boyhood Days 498. Chapter III. The Struggle for an Education 505. Chapter XIV. The Atlanta Exposition Address 513. CHARLES W. CHESNUTT (1858-1932) 522. The Goophered Grapevine 523. The Passing of Grandison 532. The Wife of His Youth 545. ANNA JULIA COOPER (18587-1964) 553. Womanhood a Vital Element in the Regeneration and Progress of a Race 554. PAULINE E. HOPKINS (1859-1930) 569. Contending Forces 570. Chapter VIII. The Sewing-Circle 570. Chapter XV. Will Smith's Defense of His Race 577. Famous Men of the Negro Race 581.

10 Booker T. Washington 581. Famous Women of the Negro Race 588. Literary Workers (Frances E. W. Harper) 588. Letter from Cordelia A. Condict and Pauline Hopkins's Reply (March 1903) 593. IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT (1862-1931) 595. A Red Record 596. Chapter I. The Case Stated 596. Chapter X. The Remedy 602. CONTENTS xiii W. E. B. DU BOIS (1868-1963) . 606. A Litany of Atlanta 609. The Song of the Smoke 612. The Souls of Black Folk 613 <k~~. The Damnation of Women 740<N. Criteria of Negro Art 7 52 <=- Two Novels '' 759. ;. JAMES D. CORROTHERS (1869-1917) . 760. The Snapping of the Bow 762. Me 'n' Dunbar - ' 763. Paul Laurence Dunbar 764. At the Closed Gate of Justice - 764 ^. An Indignation Dinner 765. JAMES WELDON JOHNSON (1871-1938) . 766. Sence You Went Away ' 768. Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing 768. O Black and Unknown Bards 769. Fifty Years 770. Brothers 773. The Creation 775. My City - -. - - 777. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man ' 777 ~7.