By Howard Rambsy II One reason we call what we’ve been doing “literary data work” concerns our processes of moving from literary study to the collection and organization of data to the production of data sheets, charts, visualizations, and other compositions. Our studies of literature do not always involve the uses of spreadsheets and data … The Processes of Literary Data Work
By Elizabeth Cali Pauline Hopkins – an African American woman writer, editor, and activist – took over editorial control of fiction publishing at the Black magazine The Colored American Magazine in February 1901. To that point, from May 1900 – February 1901, the magazine had published typically two fiction entries per issue, with a general … Pauline Hopkins and a Legacy of Fiction Publishing
By Howard Rambsy II 1919: The Conquest (1913) by Oscar Micheaux1951: Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright1970: Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965) by Chester Himes1974: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971) by Ernest Gaines1977: Roots by (1976) by Alex Haley1977: Black Samurai (1974) by Marc Olden1985: The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker1986: Native … 25 Novels Adapted to films and miniseries
Novels1999: The Intuitionist2001: John Henry Days2006: Apex Hides the Hurt2009: Sag Harbor2011: Zone One2016: The Underground Railroad2019: The Nickel Boys2021: Harlem Shuffle Nonfiction2003: The Colossus of New York: A City in 13 Parts2014: The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death Essays2001: “The Image”2001: “Lost and Found”2001: “I Worked at an Ill-Conceived Internet Start-Up and … A Checklist of Colson Whitehead’s works
By Howard Rambsy II Novels and short fiction1970: The Bluesy Eye1973: Sula1977: Song of Solomon1981: Tar Baby1983: “Recitatif” (short story)1987: Beloved1992: Jazz1997: Paradise2003: Love2008: A Mercy2012: Home2015: “Sweetness”2015: God Help the Child Nonfiction1992: Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination2008: What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction (edited by Carolyn C. Denard)2017: The … A Checklist of Toni Morrison’s works
By Elizabeth Cali From March 1901 – November 1903, African American woman writer Pauline Hopkins had three of her novels serialized in a major Black magazine, The Colored American Magazine. What made this possible? When The Colored American Magazine entered circulation in May 1900, Hopkins was an early contributor and she had connections to the … A Brief History on How Pauline Hopkins Published 3 Novels in 3 Years
By Howard Rambsy II As part of our Black Literature Network grant funded by the Mellon Foundation, my brother Kenton Rambsy and I created the Literary Data Gallery — a resource showcasing visualizations about black creative works, creative artists, and literary scholars. The Gallery gives us an opportunity to manifest literary data work. So far, … The Literary Data Gallery
By Howard Rambsy II 1966: Jubilee by Margaret Walker1971: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest Gaines1976: Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed1976: Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley1979: Sally Hemings by Barbara Chase-Riboud1979: Kindred by Octavia Butler1980: Wild Seed by Octavia butler1981: The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley1982: Oxherding … A Checklist of Neo-Slave Narratives
By Elizabeth Cali One of the signature characteristics of Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple is that Walker writes it as an epistolary novel, or a novel structured as a series of letters. The main character Celie’s story, develops through a series of letters, opening with many letters from Celie to God, and later unfolding … The Epistolary Structure of <em>The Color Purple</em>
By Howard Rambsy II Reading Colson Whitehead’s debut novel, The Intuitionist (1999) in 2000 was a rewarding intellectual activity for me and, in retrospect, proved foundational for my later experiences as a professor and scholar of black literature. I was then in my second year of graduate school at Pennsylvania State University. A friend … Reading The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead