Eugene Redmond Timeline:1969-1977

[Compiled by Goyland Williams]  As a continuation of HBW’s Look Back Series, I wanted to outline a timeline of what seems to be Eugene Redmond’s most productive years. Although this list is not exhaustive and only captures a small part of Redmond’s career, it highlights the great success that Redmond enjoyed from publishing several volumes of poetry, editing two anthologies, and publishing the seminal academic […]

Timeline: Oprah Winfrey and African-American Literature

[By Kenton Rambsy] 1985 —  Winfrey plays the role of Sofia in the film The Color Purple based on Alice Walker’s 1982 novel. 1986 —  Winfrey plays Mrs. Thomas in the remake of the film Native Son based on Richard Wright’s 1940 novel. 1989 —  Winfrey plays Mattie Mitchell the television miniseries The Women of Brewster’s Place based on Gloria Naylor’s 1982 novel. 1996 — Winfrey […]

95 Dates of Importance in African American Novel History

[By Howard and Kenton Rambsy] 1852– The Heroic Slave, a novella by Frederick Douglass, is published in 1852 by John P. Jewett and Company. The novella resembles a slave narrative even though it is a work of fiction. 1853– William Wells Brown—escaped slave from Kentucky—publishes Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter in London. His novel is considered the first to ever be published by an African American. 1859– On […]

15 Dates of Importance, 1940 – 1970

[By Howard Rambsy] 1940 – Native Son by Richard Wright is published; the work is a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.   1941 –  Orson Welles directs stage adaption of Native Son by Richard Wright. Actor Canada Lee stars as Bigger Thomas. 1941 – Richard Wright receives the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal.  1945 – If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes is published. 1946 – The […]

15 Dates of Importance, 1912- 1939

[By Kenton Rambsy] 1913– Author and director Oscar Micheaux publishes his first novel, Conquest: The Story Of A Negro Pioneer, through The Woodruff Press. The novel is published anonymously and is based on his life as a homesteader. 1918– Hope’s Highway by Sarah Lee Brown Fleming is published by Neale Publishing Company 1923– Cane by Jean Toomer is published by Boni and Liveright. 1926-1927– Oscar […]

10 Dates of Importance, 1852 – 1912

[By Kenton Rambsy] 1852– The Heroic Slave, a novella by Frederick Douglass, is published in 1852 by John P. Jewett and Company. The novella resembles a slave narrative even though it is a work of fiction. 1853– William Wells Brown—escaped slave from Kentucky—publishes Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter in London. His novel is considered the first to ever be published by an African American. 1859– […]

25 Dates of Importance, 1996 – 2012

[By Howard Rambsy] 1996 – The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty is published.  1996 – Oprah Winfrey starts “Oprah’s Book Club,” featuring book for her viewers to read and discuss.  1996 – Oprah’s Book Club features Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (1977) in October. 1997 – Oprah’s Book Club features Ernest Gaines’s A Lesson Before Dying (1993) in September.  1997 – Paradise by Toni […]