Philosophy and Politics

[By Jerry Ward] HBW Board Member Prof. Jerry Ward responds to questions posed on the HBW Blog and Facebook Accounts Q:  Where can I read more about how Wright employed philosophy in his writing?  Who did he drawn on and what political experiences was he responding to? A1:  You can read Philosophical Meditations on Richard Wright (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2012), edited by James B. […]

A Lament for Ralph Ellison

[By Jerry Ward] HBW Board Member Prof. Jerry Ward responds to questions posed on the HBW Blog and Facebook Accounts QUESTION:    The Invisible Man creates a space outside of time where he indeed can begin to imagine and construct new relations between the past and present as well as art and technology.  By doing so, he creates a new black future.  How can I expand […]

Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, and Bad Blood

[By Jerry Ward] A (1):  To read Wright’s review, click here. There you will find the in-house review by Hurston’s publisher and reviews by George Stevens, Lucille Thompson, Sheila Hibben, Otis Ferguson, Sterling Brown, and Alain Locke.  Wright was not the only male who did not praise Hurston’s novel in 1937. A (2):  As one result of American cultural games, the bad blood has been […]