The Project on the History of Black Writing mourns the passing of Ernest J. Gaines. Gaines died from cardiac arrest in his Louisiana home on Tuesday. He was 86. Gaines was born the eldest son of sharecroppers and raised on a plantation in Pointe Coupée Parish, Louisiana. The rural South would become a permanent fixture in his writing because it was not only home […]
[By Shelia Bonner] Florence Onyebuchi “Buchi” Emecheta was born July 21, 1944 in Lagos, Nigeria, to Igbo parents, Jeremy and Alice Nwabudinke. Her childhood was spent in Ibusa, the birthplace of her parents. In the 1950s she met her future husband Sylvester Onwordi. Between 1960 through 1966, the young couple bore five kids, two boys and three girls. Emecheta and her husband raised their family in […]
[By Dr. Giselle L. Anatol] Around the year 2000, the University of Kansas hosted the African Studies Association International Conference, and I was delighted to be able to chat for a few moments with Derek Walcott, Nobel Laureate, MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellow, Guinness Poetry Award winner, Royal Society of Literature Awardee, Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, etc., etc. etc. Walcott was a keynote speaker at the conference […]
Famed Chicago Defender photographer Robert “Bobby” Sengstacke passed away March 7, 2017. His photos of Black life and culture are widely revered, collected, and published. We celebrate his life and work: The History Makers: Robert Sengstacke Prominent Photojournalist and Former Chicago Defender Editor, Robert A. Sengstacke Dies At 73 National Association of Black Journalists (Chicago Chapter): Remembering Famed Photographer Robert “Bobby” A. Sengstacke Images of Black Chicago, The Robert Sengstacke Archive […]
Over two days in March 2013, the Project on the History of Black Writing conducted what would become the last formal interview Mari Evans gave. Alysha Griffin (former HBW Special Projects Coordinator) and Shayn Guillemette (former Graduate Assistant) visited Mari Evans at her residence in Indianapolis, IN. This interview was later transcribed by the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas. This unpublished interview served as […]
[Shelia Bonner] Derek Walcott 23 January 1930-17 March 2017 Derek Walcott’s poetry explores the African diaspora and the many ways chattel slavery impacted his identity as a young man growing up on the British, colonized, island-nation of Castries, Saint Lucia. His “A Far Cry from Africa” is one of several poems that addresses the complexities of identity. As Dr. Dance so eloquently writes, Walcott’s poetry […]
The HBW Family is deeply saddened by the passing of poet Mari Evans (July 16, 1923 – March 10, 2017). We had the honor of interviewing her about her works and legacy in 2014. Here’s our tribute: