By Kenton Rambsy
Anthologies and Black Short Fiction
The visualizations below comprehend the circulation histories of Black short fiction spanning almost 100 years.
• Locating the Big 7
• 9 Different Anthology Types Including Black Short Fiction
• Tracing Black Short Story Writers Across 100 Anthologies
The Geographies of the Big 7’s Short Stories
The following visualizations chart the geographic locations and settings that appear in the most frequently republished short stories by the Big 7.
• The Geographies of The Big 7’s Short Stories
• The Geographies of Charles Chesnutt’s Short Stories
• The Geographies of Zora Neale Hurston’s Short Stories
• The Geographies of Richard Wright’s Short Stories
• The Geographies of Ralph Ellison’s Short Stories
• The Geographies of James Baldwin’s Short Stories
• The Geographies of Toni Cade Bambara’s Short Stories
• The Geographies of Alice Walker’s Short Stories
Characters
The following visualizations highlight characters and character demographics in the most frequently republished short stories by the Big 7.
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Characters in the Big 7 Short Stories
• Characters in Charles Chesnutt’s Short Stories
• Characters in Zora Neale Hurston’s Short Stories
• Characters in Richard Wright’s Short Stories
• Characters in Ralph Ellison’s Short Stories
• Characters in James Baldwin’s Short Stories
• Characters in Toni Cade Bambara’s Short Stories
• Characters in Alice Walker’s Short Stories
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Friday, March 31, 2023
The Oracle, Ben McFall
This episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on Ben McFall, known by some as the Oracle of the Strand, the bookstore where he managed the fiction section for more than four decades.
Related:
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Three Notable Settings in Black Short Fiction
By Kenton Rambsy
Across Black short stories writers present characters across several different types of settings. Below, I’ve provided a list of notable settings that appear ins select stories by The Big 7, Edward P. Jones, and others.
Musical Settings
The following list includes stories that incorporate musical settings. These types of spaces are important locales for African American in storytelling. Settings like jazz clubs, theaters, and cabarets facilitate the gatherings for Black characters.
• Rudolph Fisher “City of Refuge” & “Miss Cynthie”
Across Black short stories writers present characters across several different types of settings. Below, I’ve provided a list of notable settings that appear ins select stories by The Big 7, Edward P. Jones, and others.
Musical Settings
The following list includes stories that incorporate musical settings. These types of spaces are important locales for African American in storytelling. Settings like jazz clubs, theaters, and cabarets facilitate the gatherings for Black characters.
• Rudolph Fisher “City of Refuge” & “Miss Cynthie”
• James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”
• Henry Dumans, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”
• Amiri Baraka, “The Screamers”
Nature
This list documents stories that incorporate descriptions of open fields, wooded areas, ponds, and front yards, demonstrating an awareness of rustic sceneries. All of the stories that depict natural landscapes are set in the South.
• Charles Chesnutt “Po Sandy”
• Zora Neale Hurston “Sweat” “The Gilded Six Bits” “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”
• Richard Wright “Long Black Song” “Bright and Morning Star” “Big Boy Leaves Home”
• Ralph Ellison “Flying Home”
• James Baldwin “Going to Meet the Man”
• Alice Walker “Everyday Use”
Prison
The following list includes stories that incorporate prison settings. Typically, depictions of prisons and prisoners fall out of the purview of most short story writers, despite the high incarceration rates of Black people in the US.
• Charles Chesnutt “The Sheriff’s Children”
Nature
This list documents stories that incorporate descriptions of open fields, wooded areas, ponds, and front yards, demonstrating an awareness of rustic sceneries. All of the stories that depict natural landscapes are set in the South.
• Charles Chesnutt “Po Sandy”
• Zora Neale Hurston “Sweat” “The Gilded Six Bits” “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”
• Richard Wright “Long Black Song” “Bright and Morning Star” “Big Boy Leaves Home”
• Ralph Ellison “Flying Home”
• James Baldwin “Going to Meet the Man”
• Alice Walker “Everyday Use”
Prison
The following list includes stories that incorporate prison settings. Typically, depictions of prisons and prisoners fall out of the purview of most short story writers, despite the high incarceration rates of Black people in the US.
• Charles Chesnutt “The Sheriff’s Children”
• James Baldwin “Going to Meet the Man”
• Edward P. Jones, “Old Boys, Old G
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Broadcasting African American literary studies
Alright, but what if, in some instances, Thorsson's work on black literature was for listeners?
That's something I've considered recently as I thought about Remarkable Receptions, a podcast project produced by Liz Cali and me. "The Sisterhood, 1977 photograph," written by Thorsson, is our most viewed heard episode. We've produced over 65 episodes.
The idea of broadcasting African American literary studies, as opposed to publishing books and articles, raises new or alternative possibilities. What happens when someone listens to an episode about Toni Morrison or Zora Neale Hurston or Colson Whitehead as opposed to reading an article about the writers and their works? How does accessing black literary history on Spotify or Apple Podcasts rather than in a literary journal affect knowledge and engagement?
These are a couple of questions that I'm now inclined to raise as a result of this project.
Related
Summaries of Short Stories by Edward P. Jones
By Kenton Rambsy
Edward P. Jones has published two short story collections, Lost in the City (1992) and All Aunt Hagar’s Children (2006) that each contain fourteen stories. Below, I have provided summaries of the stories from both collections.
Lost in the City
“The Girl Who Raised Pigeons” – Betsy Ann and her father, Robert Morgan, recall their life on Myrtle Street. They remember the time she raised pigeons, that she eventually set free.
“The First Day” – The unnamed narrator, a five-year-old girl, tells about her first day of kindergarten. Upon finding that she cannot be admitted to Seaton Elementary School. Her illiterate mother takes her back to attend another school which the girl likes.
“The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed” – Cassandra Lewis, with hopes of accompanying her friend Rhonda in pursuing a musical career, drives some friends to Anacostia. When she returns to her neighborhood, Cassandra receives news that shatters her dreams.
“Young Lions” – As Caesar Matthews plan to con a mentally disabled woman, he remembers the events that led him into the world of crime. He, failing in his endeavor, find himself alone without friends or family.
“The Store” – The young unnamed narrator starts working at Penny Jenkins store. As he grows attached to the store, having a stable job, the owner decides to sell it.
“An Orange Line Train to Ballston” – On her way to work, Marvella Watkins and her three children regularly meet a man with dreadlocks, whom the children get friendly, while she fantasizes about a romantic relationship with him.
Lost in the City
“The Girl Who Raised Pigeons” – Betsy Ann and her father, Robert Morgan, recall their life on Myrtle Street. They remember the time she raised pigeons, that she eventually set free.
“The First Day” – The unnamed narrator, a five-year-old girl, tells about her first day of kindergarten. Upon finding that she cannot be admitted to Seaton Elementary School. Her illiterate mother takes her back to attend another school which the girl likes.
“The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed” – Cassandra Lewis, with hopes of accompanying her friend Rhonda in pursuing a musical career, drives some friends to Anacostia. When she returns to her neighborhood, Cassandra receives news that shatters her dreams.
“Young Lions” – As Caesar Matthews plan to con a mentally disabled woman, he remembers the events that led him into the world of crime. He, failing in his endeavor, find himself alone without friends or family.
“The Store” – The young unnamed narrator starts working at Penny Jenkins store. As he grows attached to the store, having a stable job, the owner decides to sell it.
“An Orange Line Train to Ballston” – On her way to work, Marvella Watkins and her three children regularly meet a man with dreadlocks, whom the children get friendly, while she fantasizes about a romantic relationship with him.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Summaries of Short Stories By the Big 7
By Kenton Rambsy
Below I have provided brief summaries of stories that I cover in my book written by the Big 7.
Charles Chesnutt
“The Goophered Grapevine” (1887) is about a character named Uncle Julius who tells the story of Henry, a man who would gain and lose strength based on the seasons, due to an accidental eating of some magical grapes.
“Po’ Sandy”(1888) is told from the point of view of Julius. When John and Annie decide to use lumber from an old schoolhouse to build a kitchen, Julius tells them about Sandy who was turned into a tree, and who’s haunting spirit is embedded in the lumber.
“The Sheriff's Children” (1898) is the story of a relationship between an illegitimate, biracial son and his father, the town's Sheriff.
"The Wife of His Youth" (1898) follows Mr. Ryder, a bi-racial man and head of the "Blue Veins Society", a Ohio social organization for colored people with a high proportion of European ancestry.
"The Passing of Grandison" (1899) follows Dick Owens who concocts a plan to take an enslaved man to Canada and help him escape to freedom to impress his girlfriend Charity Lomax.
Zora Neale Hurston
“Spunk” (1925) tells the story of three characters caught in a deadly love triangle between Joe, Lena, and Spunk Banks.
“Sweat” (1926) tells the story of a hard working washer woman, Delia Jones, and her abusive husband Sykes.
“The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933) follows how the married couple, Joe and Missie May, reconcile after her infidelity.
Richard Wright
“Big Boy Leaves Home” (1938) is about the deadly consequences four teenage boys experience after taking a swim in a noted racist white man's pond.
“Bright and Morning Star,” (1938) follows Sue, a proud elderly black woman who must save her son after his local communist party is compromised.
“Long Black Song,” (1938) deals with issues of infidelity between a married couple, Silas and Sarah.
“The Man Who Was Almost a Man”(1940) follows Dave Saunders, a teenage boy who believes owning a gun will prove his manhood.
Ralph Ellison
“Flying Home” (1944) follows Todd, a black pilot, a northerner trained at Tuskegee who crash-lands in rural Alabama and is rescued from redneck medics by Jefferson, an old black man exuding rustic ways and folksy tall tales.
“King of the Bingo Game” (1944) is about a unemployed, southern transplant he has gone to a northern movie theatre to play a bingo game with the hope of winning bingo money to pay the doctor bills for his ailing wife.
“Battle Royal” (1947) follows the introspective thoughts of a very intelligent, unnamed protagoinsts who is picked to give a graduation speech by the town's prominent white businessmen, after first participating in a boxing match.
“A Party Down at the Square” (1997) is the story of a white boy who witnesses a lynching while visiting his uncle's house somewhere in the Deep South.
James Baldwin
“Sonny’s Blues” (1957) explores the relationship between an unnamed narrator and his younger brother, Sonny.
“Going to Meet the Man,” (1965) follows Jessie, a white sheriff in the racially-charged post- civil war south, who is having sexual problems with his wife and is instead sexually attracted to African American women and is seemingly aroused by violence in the jailhouse.
Toni Cade Bambara
"Gorilla, My Love" (1972) is the story of Hazel, a young girl who feels that adults do not treat children with respect and honesty.
“The Lesson” (1972) is a first-person narrative told by a young, black girl named Sylvia who is growing up in Harlem who takes a trip to Fifth Avenue.
“Raymond’s Run” (1972) follows Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker (Squeaky), a long distance runner and caregiver to her autistic brother Raymond.
Alice Walker
“Everyday Use” (1973) follows the difference between Mrs. Johnson and her shy younger daughter Maggie, and her educated, wordly daughter Dee (Wangero).
“Nineteen-Fifty-Five” (1981) is Alice Walker's fictional account of the relationship of Elvis Presley and Mama Thornton through the fictional, Gracie Mae Still and Traynor.
"Advancing Luna--and Ida. B. Wells" (1982) examines the rape of a white civil rights worker by a black civil rights worker from the point of view of the black woman who is the victim's best friend.
“To Hell with Dying” (1988) revolves around a beloved neighbor, Mr. Sweet, and the many ‘revivals’ a neighboring family participates in to bring him back from the brink of death.
Below I have provided brief summaries of stories that I cover in my book written by the Big 7.
Charles Chesnutt
“The Goophered Grapevine” (1887) is about a character named Uncle Julius who tells the story of Henry, a man who would gain and lose strength based on the seasons, due to an accidental eating of some magical grapes.
“Po’ Sandy”(1888) is told from the point of view of Julius. When John and Annie decide to use lumber from an old schoolhouse to build a kitchen, Julius tells them about Sandy who was turned into a tree, and who’s haunting spirit is embedded in the lumber.
“The Sheriff's Children” (1898) is the story of a relationship between an illegitimate, biracial son and his father, the town's Sheriff.
"The Wife of His Youth" (1898) follows Mr. Ryder, a bi-racial man and head of the "Blue Veins Society", a Ohio social organization for colored people with a high proportion of European ancestry.
"The Passing of Grandison" (1899) follows Dick Owens who concocts a plan to take an enslaved man to Canada and help him escape to freedom to impress his girlfriend Charity Lomax.
Zora Neale Hurston
“Spunk” (1925) tells the story of three characters caught in a deadly love triangle between Joe, Lena, and Spunk Banks.
“Sweat” (1926) tells the story of a hard working washer woman, Delia Jones, and her abusive husband Sykes.
“The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933) follows how the married couple, Joe and Missie May, reconcile after her infidelity.
Richard Wright
“Big Boy Leaves Home” (1938) is about the deadly consequences four teenage boys experience after taking a swim in a noted racist white man's pond.
“Bright and Morning Star,” (1938) follows Sue, a proud elderly black woman who must save her son after his local communist party is compromised.
“Long Black Song,” (1938) deals with issues of infidelity between a married couple, Silas and Sarah.
“The Man Who Was Almost a Man”(1940) follows Dave Saunders, a teenage boy who believes owning a gun will prove his manhood.
Ralph Ellison
“Flying Home” (1944) follows Todd, a black pilot, a northerner trained at Tuskegee who crash-lands in rural Alabama and is rescued from redneck medics by Jefferson, an old black man exuding rustic ways and folksy tall tales.
“King of the Bingo Game” (1944) is about a unemployed, southern transplant he has gone to a northern movie theatre to play a bingo game with the hope of winning bingo money to pay the doctor bills for his ailing wife.
“Battle Royal” (1947) follows the introspective thoughts of a very intelligent, unnamed protagoinsts who is picked to give a graduation speech by the town's prominent white businessmen, after first participating in a boxing match.
“A Party Down at the Square” (1997) is the story of a white boy who witnesses a lynching while visiting his uncle's house somewhere in the Deep South.
James Baldwin
“Sonny’s Blues” (1957) explores the relationship between an unnamed narrator and his younger brother, Sonny.
“Going to Meet the Man,” (1965) follows Jessie, a white sheriff in the racially-charged post- civil war south, who is having sexual problems with his wife and is instead sexually attracted to African American women and is seemingly aroused by violence in the jailhouse.
Toni Cade Bambara
"Gorilla, My Love" (1972) is the story of Hazel, a young girl who feels that adults do not treat children with respect and honesty.
“The Lesson” (1972) is a first-person narrative told by a young, black girl named Sylvia who is growing up in Harlem who takes a trip to Fifth Avenue.
“Raymond’s Run” (1972) follows Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker (Squeaky), a long distance runner and caregiver to her autistic brother Raymond.
Alice Walker
“Everyday Use” (1973) follows the difference between Mrs. Johnson and her shy younger daughter Maggie, and her educated, wordly daughter Dee (Wangero).
“Nineteen-Fifty-Five” (1981) is Alice Walker's fictional account of the relationship of Elvis Presley and Mama Thornton through the fictional, Gracie Mae Still and Traynor.
"Advancing Luna--and Ida. B. Wells" (1982) examines the rape of a white civil rights worker by a black civil rights worker from the point of view of the black woman who is the victim's best friend.
“To Hell with Dying” (1988) revolves around a beloved neighbor, Mr. Sweet, and the many ‘revivals’ a neighboring family participates in to bring him back from the brink of death.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Monday, March 27, 2023
Pedestrians in Edward P. Jones’s Short Fiction
By Kenton Rambsy
For Jones, pedestrians are narrative vehicles, the means of transportation to homes, neighborhoods, stores, downtown streets, and corners. The various descriptions of routes that Jones presents explain how characters directly interact with the physical landscape of the city.
In “A Butterfly on F Street,” the narrator describes the protagonist’s movements, explaining that “Mildred had crossed to the island from Morton’s, going to Woolworth’s, her eyes fixed upon a golden-yellow butterfly that fluttered about the median.” In “Bad Neighbors,” a character notices a neighbor “walking alone down 11th Street,” and decides to separate from her friends and walk home with him.
In “All Aunt Hagar’s Children,” the unnamed narrator imagines himself coming into a large sum of money after a gold hunting expedition: “I saw myself walking down M Street, strutting about New York Avenue, my pockets bulging with nuggets, big pockets, big as some boy’s pockets fat with candy.”
Perhaps no African American short story writer has been as committed to pedestrians as Jones, as his stories are filled with characters walking and encountering different types of people on the city streets.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
For Jones, pedestrians are narrative vehicles, the means of transportation to homes, neighborhoods, stores, downtown streets, and corners. The various descriptions of routes that Jones presents explain how characters directly interact with the physical landscape of the city.
In “A Butterfly on F Street,” the narrator describes the protagonist’s movements, explaining that “Mildred had crossed to the island from Morton’s, going to Woolworth’s, her eyes fixed upon a golden-yellow butterfly that fluttered about the median.” In “Bad Neighbors,” a character notices a neighbor “walking alone down 11th Street,” and decides to separate from her friends and walk home with him.
In “All Aunt Hagar’s Children,” the unnamed narrator imagines himself coming into a large sum of money after a gold hunting expedition: “I saw myself walking down M Street, strutting about New York Avenue, my pockets bulging with nuggets, big pockets, big as some boy’s pockets fat with candy.”
Perhaps no African American short story writer has been as committed to pedestrians as Jones, as his stories are filled with characters walking and encountering different types of people on the city streets.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Men in Edward P. Jones’s Short Fiction
By Kenton Rambsy
Edward P. Jones relies heavily on males as supporting characters. In Jones’s two collections, 270 of his characters are male. He presents a drug dealer, a retired mechanic, a bus driver, a homeless man, a moneylender, a drug addict, a taxi driver, and more.
Jones is committed to exploring public spaces in DC. Consequently, he shows men occupying street corners, traveling to and from different neighborhoods, working in downtown and other parts of town, and riding in cars.
Men characters are also more likely to be involved in troublesome activities. For instance, Young Lions” and “Old Boys, Old Girls,” which focus on one protagonist, Caesar Matthews, are particularly important for understanding the remarkable work that Jones does in geo-tagging and tracing the movements of a homegrown Black male character in two stories published over a decade apart.
“Young Lions” and “Old Boys, Old Girls” follow Caesar, a native of DC, as he falls into a life of crime and eventually prison. Together, the stories represent one of the most extended and detailed accounts of an African American male in short fiction.
Edward P. Jones relies heavily on males as supporting characters. In Jones’s two collections, 270 of his characters are male. He presents a drug dealer, a retired mechanic, a bus driver, a homeless man, a moneylender, a drug addict, a taxi driver, and more.
Jones is committed to exploring public spaces in DC. Consequently, he shows men occupying street corners, traveling to and from different neighborhoods, working in downtown and other parts of town, and riding in cars.
Men characters are also more likely to be involved in troublesome activities. For instance, Young Lions” and “Old Boys, Old Girls,” which focus on one protagonist, Caesar Matthews, are particularly important for understanding the remarkable work that Jones does in geo-tagging and tracing the movements of a homegrown Black male character in two stories published over a decade apart.
“Young Lions” and “Old Boys, Old Girls” follow Caesar, a native of DC, as he falls into a life of crime and eventually prison. Together, the stories represent one of the most extended and detailed accounts of an African American male in short fiction.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Saturday, March 25, 2023
A Notebook on the African American Poetry Tracker
The African American Poetry Tracker is a digital resource that highlights the circulation of poetry in anthologies produced over the course of one hundred years. The Poetry Tracker illuminates the multifaceted publishing routes of poems by black writers.
2023
• June 25: African American Poetry Tracker compositions
• March 25: Producing whiteboard animations on black poetry
2021
Producing whiteboard animations on black poetry
In October 2022, I began releasing whiteboard animations focusing on black poetry and literary history. Whiteboard animations are illustrated video narratives, and after studying some of those compositions on various topics, I thought it would be a good idea to work with voice actors and designers to produce some on African American literary studies.
I received the Stephen L. and Julia Y. Hansen Humanities Award in 2022, and I used funds from that award to begin producing the whiteboard animations.
The compositions I've produced so far trace the publication histories of popular African American poems by Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Claude McKay, and Margaret Walker. I also produced animations focusing on poet William J. Harris, literary scholar and professor Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper, and black poetry anthologies of the 1960s and 1970s.
Related:
Checklist of whiteboard animations on black poetry
Here's a list of the whiteboard animations that I produced for my African American Poetry project:
2023
• January 30: An artist who supports the arts
• January 30: The Beauty of Bareness
• January 30: William J. Harris, the poet as sketch artist
2022
• October 26: The circulation of Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son”
• October 25: The circulation of Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die”
• October 19: Hughes and Harper at Spelman
• October 17: Langston Hughes’s “new” birth year
• October 14: The circulation of Margaret Walker’s “For My People”
• October 14: The circulation of Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool”
Women in Edward P. Jones’s Short Fiction
By Kenton Rambsy
Women characters play consequential roles in Edward P. Jones’s stories and are twenty-one of the protagonists of his twenty-eight stories. Jones depicts women characters across a broad age spectrum from young, middle-aged, to elderly.
“The Girl Who Raised Pigeons,” “The First Day,” and “Spanish in the Morning” make young girls the central focus. In “Common Law,” “His Mother’s House,” and “A Butterfly on F Street,” the women characters are middle-aged. And, in “Marie,” “A Dark Night,” and “Gospel,” the women are senior citizens.
Jones’s inclination to represent women characters at different stages in life allows him to further accentuate the diversity of representations in his stories. By and large, Black women short story writers showcase female characters, while Black men short story writers cast male protagonists.
Jones does more than experiment by occasionally presenting a lead woman character. Indeed, women protagonists are the norm in his works.
Women characters play consequential roles in Edward P. Jones’s stories and are twenty-one of the protagonists of his twenty-eight stories. Jones depicts women characters across a broad age spectrum from young, middle-aged, to elderly.
“The Girl Who Raised Pigeons,” “The First Day,” and “Spanish in the Morning” make young girls the central focus. In “Common Law,” “His Mother’s House,” and “A Butterfly on F Street,” the women characters are middle-aged. And, in “Marie,” “A Dark Night,” and “Gospel,” the women are senior citizens.
Jones’s inclination to represent women characters at different stages in life allows him to further accentuate the diversity of representations in his stories. By and large, Black women short story writers showcase female characters, while Black men short story writers cast male protagonists.
Jones does more than experiment by occasionally presenting a lead woman character. Indeed, women protagonists are the norm in his works.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Friday, March 24, 2023
Children in Edward P. Jones’s Short Fiction
By Kenton Rambsy
Edward P. Jones further exemplifies his commitment to portraying a range of characters by incorporating children.
Three of his stories, “The Girl Who Raised Pigeons,” “The First Day,” and “Spanish in the Morning,” feature children as the protagonists. In “The First Day” and “Spanish in the Morning” in particular, the children are intently focused on the adults and rarely describe their personal feelings.
However, throughout other stories in his collections, children play consequential roles as background characters. For instance, in “Adam Robinson Acquires Grandparents and a Sister,” Noah and Maggie Robinson take their grandchildren in after their son falls victim to drug addiction. Although the story focuses on Noah’s perspective, Adam and his younger sister, Elsa, are also a central focus as their grandparents raise them.
In these stories, age plays a role in where a character can travel throughout DC by contrasting children and adult characters. Children are largely confined to the neighborhood, interacting with their peers who live on the same street or in close proximity. Adults tend to accompany children as they are traveling outside of their neighborhoods by walking on foot, taking public transportation, or riding in cars.
Edward P. Jones further exemplifies his commitment to portraying a range of characters by incorporating children.
Three of his stories, “The Girl Who Raised Pigeons,” “The First Day,” and “Spanish in the Morning,” feature children as the protagonists. In “The First Day” and “Spanish in the Morning” in particular, the children are intently focused on the adults and rarely describe their personal feelings.
However, throughout other stories in his collections, children play consequential roles as background characters. For instance, in “Adam Robinson Acquires Grandparents and a Sister,” Noah and Maggie Robinson take their grandchildren in after their son falls victim to drug addiction. Although the story focuses on Noah’s perspective, Adam and his younger sister, Elsa, are also a central focus as their grandparents raise them.
In these stories, age plays a role in where a character can travel throughout DC by contrasting children and adult characters. Children are largely confined to the neighborhood, interacting with their peers who live on the same street or in close proximity. Adults tend to accompany children as they are traveling outside of their neighborhoods by walking on foot, taking public transportation, or riding in cars.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Connecting Lost in the City & All Aunt Hagar’s Children
By Kenton Rambsy
A defining feature of Edward P. Jones’s short fiction has been his tendency to connect characters across collections. He presents at least one character from the first story in Lost in the City again in the first story in All Aunt Hagar’s Children, and he does so with the second story in the collections, the third, and all the additional stories.
In “Lost in the City,” the eighth story in the collection, a secondary character, Georgia, reprises her role in “Common Law,” which is the eighth story in All Aunt Hagar’s Children. In “The Store,” the fifth story in Lost in the City, Penelope “Penny” Jenkins appears in a smaller role than in “Aunt Hagar’s Children.”
One character, Anita Hughes, appears in three of Jones’s stories: “The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed” and “The Gospel” in Lost in the City and “Resurrecting Methuselah” in All Aunt Hagar’s Children. Anita is a teenager and secondary character in Lost in the City, and she is an adult protagonist when she appears in Jones’s second collection.
By returning to common characters, he reveals a commitment to them over extended periods of time. Furthermore, the characters represent a kind of continuity between his collections.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
A defining feature of Edward P. Jones’s short fiction has been his tendency to connect characters across collections. He presents at least one character from the first story in Lost in the City again in the first story in All Aunt Hagar’s Children, and he does so with the second story in the collections, the third, and all the additional stories.
In “Lost in the City,” the eighth story in the collection, a secondary character, Georgia, reprises her role in “Common Law,” which is the eighth story in All Aunt Hagar’s Children. In “The Store,” the fifth story in Lost in the City, Penelope “Penny” Jenkins appears in a smaller role than in “Aunt Hagar’s Children.”
One character, Anita Hughes, appears in three of Jones’s stories: “The Night Rhonda Ferguson Was Killed” and “The Gospel” in Lost in the City and “Resurrecting Methuselah” in All Aunt Hagar’s Children. Anita is a teenager and secondary character in Lost in the City, and she is an adult protagonist when she appears in Jones’s second collection.
By returning to common characters, he reveals a commitment to them over extended periods of time. Furthermore, the characters represent a kind of continuity between his collections.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Cultural Geo-Tagging Edward P. Jones’s Short Stories
By Kenton Rambsy
Edward P. Jones, who covers neighborhoods that are largely occupied by Black people in the nation’s capital, charts Washington, DC’s cultural geography. Through cultural geo-gagging, readers can appreciate how Jones uses DC preserves and extends the tradition of geography in African American short stories.
In his stories, Jones incorporates references to more than 250 landmarks and residences. He documents streets and travel as numerous pedestrian characters navigate the city. The abundance of place references in his stories is quite extraordinary.
The varied settings inform the story’s plot as Jones shows characters interacting with the physical terrain of the District. Whether a person walks, takes a taxi or train, or drives a car, Jones is especially attuned to navigation, demonstrating how the movements of characters in environments facilitate their experiences.
Geographic descriptions are integral to Jones’s portrayals of homegrown characters. Where his characters live, travel, and spend leisure time is linked to their depictions. Jones’s identifying several DC-specific settings in a single story signals his interest in the geographies of his city.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Edward P. Jones, who covers neighborhoods that are largely occupied by Black people in the nation’s capital, charts Washington, DC’s cultural geography. Through cultural geo-gagging, readers can appreciate how Jones uses DC preserves and extends the tradition of geography in African American short stories.
In his stories, Jones incorporates references to more than 250 landmarks and residences. He documents streets and travel as numerous pedestrian characters navigate the city. The abundance of place references in his stories is quite extraordinary.
The varied settings inform the story’s plot as Jones shows characters interacting with the physical terrain of the District. Whether a person walks, takes a taxi or train, or drives a car, Jones is especially attuned to navigation, demonstrating how the movements of characters in environments facilitate their experiences.
Geographic descriptions are integral to Jones’s portrayals of homegrown characters. Where his characters live, travel, and spend leisure time is linked to their depictions. Jones’s identifying several DC-specific settings in a single story signals his interest in the geographies of his city.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Cultural Geo-tagging Alice Walker’s short stories
By Kenton Rambsy
We should take the notion of cultural geo-tagging seriously when analyzing short stories by Alice Walker to understand how the South plays a crucial role in her artistic sensibilities. Geography contributes to the outlook of her characters.
Walker’s most well-known stories are set in the South and focus on intraracial conflicts. Those conflicts are not violent, but they do signal subtle and overt tensions that exist among groups of southern Black characters.
In this regard, Walker is extending the kinds of conflicts that Hurston introduces—conflicts among Black people. Furthermore, like Hurston and other short story writers who depict the South, Walker chooses to be vague about her rural southern settings and instead uses the characters to create a strong sense of place.
Long-held cultural beliefs from their upbringing bear on each of the women characters in Walker’s stories. Her background influences how they interact with other characters in each story. The perspectives presented in the stories offer readers considerations of lingering memories of the South and shape presentations of women in short fiction.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
We should take the notion of cultural geo-tagging seriously when analyzing short stories by Alice Walker to understand how the South plays a crucial role in her artistic sensibilities. Geography contributes to the outlook of her characters.
Walker’s most well-known stories are set in the South and focus on intraracial conflicts. Those conflicts are not violent, but they do signal subtle and overt tensions that exist among groups of southern Black characters.
In this regard, Walker is extending the kinds of conflicts that Hurston introduces—conflicts among Black people. Furthermore, like Hurston and other short story writers who depict the South, Walker chooses to be vague about her rural southern settings and instead uses the characters to create a strong sense of place.
Long-held cultural beliefs from their upbringing bear on each of the women characters in Walker’s stories. Her background influences how they interact with other characters in each story. The perspectives presented in the stories offer readers considerations of lingering memories of the South and shape presentations of women in short fiction.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Monday, March 20, 2023
Cultural Geo-tagging Toni Cade Bambara’s short stories
By Kenton Rambsy
Homegrown city dwellers serve as critical vehicles in regards to cultural geo-tagging in short fiction by Toni Cade Bambara. The protagonists navigate streets with confidence and describe locations in their immediate environment with ease. Three of her most popular stories—“Raymond’s Run,” “The Lesson,” and “Gorilla, My Love”—come from her 1972 collection, Gorilla, My Love, and feature homegrown Black girl characters as the protagonists.
Her stories do not include dramatic acts of violence like stories by Hurston, Wright, and Ellison. There are also no intense scenes of interracial or intraracial conflict. Instead, Bambara’s stories place smart and confident children at the center of unfolding events in New York City. Her narratives focus on knowledge-building events, while demonstrating the developing social consciousness of Black child characters.
She situates her compositions in a variety of settings, including street corners, public parks, taxi cabs, movie theaters, apartment homes, and a toy store. Taken together, the diversity of settings in Bambara’s northern short fiction outnumbers the locales presented in southern stories by Chesnutt, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, and Walker. New York City apparently gave her abundant sites, routes, and smaller environments within the larger environment to explore.
The sense of place and knowledge of physical environments possessed by the characters are integral to the quality and quantity of geo-tagging that takes place in the stories. The widespread circulation of Bambara’s stories contribute to the important presence of urbanites in African American literature.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Homegrown city dwellers serve as critical vehicles in regards to cultural geo-tagging in short fiction by Toni Cade Bambara. The protagonists navigate streets with confidence and describe locations in their immediate environment with ease. Three of her most popular stories—“Raymond’s Run,” “The Lesson,” and “Gorilla, My Love”—come from her 1972 collection, Gorilla, My Love, and feature homegrown Black girl characters as the protagonists.
Her stories do not include dramatic acts of violence like stories by Hurston, Wright, and Ellison. There are also no intense scenes of interracial or intraracial conflict. Instead, Bambara’s stories place smart and confident children at the center of unfolding events in New York City. Her narratives focus on knowledge-building events, while demonstrating the developing social consciousness of Black child characters.
She situates her compositions in a variety of settings, including street corners, public parks, taxi cabs, movie theaters, apartment homes, and a toy store. Taken together, the diversity of settings in Bambara’s northern short fiction outnumbers the locales presented in southern stories by Chesnutt, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, and Walker. New York City apparently gave her abundant sites, routes, and smaller environments within the larger environment to explore.
The sense of place and knowledge of physical environments possessed by the characters are integral to the quality and quantity of geo-tagging that takes place in the stories. The widespread circulation of Bambara’s stories contribute to the important presence of urbanites in African American literature.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Cultural Geo-tagging James Baldwin’s short stories
By Kenton Rambsy
What stands out when we take geo-tagging into consideration is how musical scenes showcase groups of people together. For Hurston’s southern settings, the porch serves as a key place where Black people gather. In urban environments, clubs, dance halls, bars, and cabarets offer a variety of social settings that prominently feature music.
Traveling to another environment facilitates the unnamed narrator’s ability to come to a deeper and more meaningful understanding of Sonny’s life as a musician. The narrator of “Sonny’s Blues” must take time to understand the properties of a place that is already quite familiar to his brother. Only when the narrator decides to attend a jazz club to listen to his brother perform does he understand their dissimilar experiences have shaped both of their lives in profound ways.
Overall, “Sonny’s Blues” presents worlds within worlds or subterranean, hidden environments. Through Baldwin, we gain views of Black New Yorkers who are a part of, and at times apart from, others in the city.
Stories by Rudolph Fisher, Henry Dumas, and Amiri Baraka, in addition to Baldwin’s, showcase the convergence of music and locations. These writers use New York City settings to present scenes showing the transformative power of music. Moreover, these stories reveal the gathering power of these spaces and how musical settings bring together an array of characters.
Musical environments are important locales for African American storytellers to combine several types of characters and incorporate sensory details related to the sound of instruments and even singing. These scenes are distinctive because they allow for writers to focus on the central conflict regarding a small group of characters while also emphasizing the musical performance taking place.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
What stands out when we take geo-tagging into consideration is how musical scenes showcase groups of people together. For Hurston’s southern settings, the porch serves as a key place where Black people gather. In urban environments, clubs, dance halls, bars, and cabarets offer a variety of social settings that prominently feature music.
Traveling to another environment facilitates the unnamed narrator’s ability to come to a deeper and more meaningful understanding of Sonny’s life as a musician. The narrator of “Sonny’s Blues” must take time to understand the properties of a place that is already quite familiar to his brother. Only when the narrator decides to attend a jazz club to listen to his brother perform does he understand their dissimilar experiences have shaped both of their lives in profound ways.
Overall, “Sonny’s Blues” presents worlds within worlds or subterranean, hidden environments. Through Baldwin, we gain views of Black New Yorkers who are a part of, and at times apart from, others in the city.
Stories by Rudolph Fisher, Henry Dumas, and Amiri Baraka, in addition to Baldwin’s, showcase the convergence of music and locations. These writers use New York City settings to present scenes showing the transformative power of music. Moreover, these stories reveal the gathering power of these spaces and how musical settings bring together an array of characters.
Musical environments are important locales for African American storytellers to combine several types of characters and incorporate sensory details related to the sound of instruments and even singing. These scenes are distinctive because they allow for writers to focus on the central conflict regarding a small group of characters while also emphasizing the musical performance taking place.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Saturday, March 18, 2023
Cultural Geo-tagging Ralph Ellison’s short stories
By Kenton Rambsy
An examination of Ralph Ellison’s short fiction that takes geo-tagging into account sheds light on his deep interest in depicting the experiences of Black southerners, despite the fact he himself was a relative outsider to the region. The southern region of the United States was a source of inspiration for Ellison’s short fiction.
The protagonists in Ellison’s stories are central to his representations of southern regions. The unnamed narrator of “Battle Royal,” Todd in “Flying Home,” and the unnamed protagonist in “King of the Bingo Game” are all from the South. Still, Ellison avoids naming specific towns, addresses, and geographic markers in his stories.
Ellison’s unnamed protagonists in his stories are something of an outsider. They are natives of the South, yet they grapple with whether they truly belongs there. Ellison’s own distance from the South may have further inclined him to construct such a memorable homegrown outsider.
Ellison incorporates flashbacks or dream sequences to disrupt the linear construct of time by showing how past and imagined events can intrude upon the narrator’s current thoughts, thereby influencing his relationships with other southern characters. The main action of the story occurs in a single setting, but Ellison’s incorporation of a dream sequences to allow his protagonists to transport back key scenes, usually in southern environments.
The artistry of flashbacks shines through as Ellison uses this technique to create other spaces. Moreover, Ellison incorporates the inner thoughts of his characters, and those inner thoughts become portals to alternative virtual settings.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
An examination of Ralph Ellison’s short fiction that takes geo-tagging into account sheds light on his deep interest in depicting the experiences of Black southerners, despite the fact he himself was a relative outsider to the region. The southern region of the United States was a source of inspiration for Ellison’s short fiction.
The protagonists in Ellison’s stories are central to his representations of southern regions. The unnamed narrator of “Battle Royal,” Todd in “Flying Home,” and the unnamed protagonist in “King of the Bingo Game” are all from the South. Still, Ellison avoids naming specific towns, addresses, and geographic markers in his stories.
Ellison’s unnamed protagonists in his stories are something of an outsider. They are natives of the South, yet they grapple with whether they truly belongs there. Ellison’s own distance from the South may have further inclined him to construct such a memorable homegrown outsider.
Ellison incorporates flashbacks or dream sequences to disrupt the linear construct of time by showing how past and imagined events can intrude upon the narrator’s current thoughts, thereby influencing his relationships with other southern characters. The main action of the story occurs in a single setting, but Ellison’s incorporation of a dream sequences to allow his protagonists to transport back key scenes, usually in southern environments.
The artistry of flashbacks shines through as Ellison uses this technique to create other spaces. Moreover, Ellison incorporates the inner thoughts of his characters, and those inner thoughts become portals to alternative virtual settings.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Friday, March 17, 2023
Toni Morrison's statement about writing & revision
This episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on an alternative way of understanding a popular Toni Morrison quotation.
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Related:
Cultural Geo-tagging Richard Wright’s short stories
By Kenton Rambsy
With regards to cultural geo-tagging, Richard Wright’s stories largely revolve around violent and deadly interactions. Black and white homegrown characters take center stage when engaging in confrontations with each other in southern settings. Interracial conflicts are common in his stories and usually result in a horrific death. Wright showed the explosive eruptions that could occur when racial boundaries are crossed in the South.
The Deep South and troubled interactions between white people and Black people figure prominently in Wright’s settings. Given his own background, readers can assume that Wright’s stories were inspired by his memories of the South and impressions of southern racism. Wright’s development undoubtedly stems from his harrowing experiences as a boy growing up in the Jim Crow South.
Scholarly articles on Wright’s short stories have highlighted the deadly conflicts that occur between Black and white characters. But perhaps we have not given enough attention to Wright’s vivid depictions of rural landscapes, especially in his short fiction.
His renderings of southern landscapes are notable, especially since he is so often presented as an urban writer based on Native Son. He uses rural landscapes as the backdrop in stories that are frequently anthologized, while also depicting the dangers associated with these settings. His stories incorporate descriptions of open fields, wooded areas, ponds, and front yards, demonstrating his awareness of rustic scenery.
Wright also utilizes AAVE as a way of identifying or geo-tagging the distinct cultural and social location of his southern characters. Wright’s stories depart from Chesnutt’s and Hurston’s works, however, as he presents the inner thoughts of his characters.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
With regards to cultural geo-tagging, Richard Wright’s stories largely revolve around violent and deadly interactions. Black and white homegrown characters take center stage when engaging in confrontations with each other in southern settings. Interracial conflicts are common in his stories and usually result in a horrific death. Wright showed the explosive eruptions that could occur when racial boundaries are crossed in the South.
The Deep South and troubled interactions between white people and Black people figure prominently in Wright’s settings. Given his own background, readers can assume that Wright’s stories were inspired by his memories of the South and impressions of southern racism. Wright’s development undoubtedly stems from his harrowing experiences as a boy growing up in the Jim Crow South.
Scholarly articles on Wright’s short stories have highlighted the deadly conflicts that occur between Black and white characters. But perhaps we have not given enough attention to Wright’s vivid depictions of rural landscapes, especially in his short fiction.
His renderings of southern landscapes are notable, especially since he is so often presented as an urban writer based on Native Son. He uses rural landscapes as the backdrop in stories that are frequently anthologized, while also depicting the dangers associated with these settings. His stories incorporate descriptions of open fields, wooded areas, ponds, and front yards, demonstrating his awareness of rustic scenery.
Wright also utilizes AAVE as a way of identifying or geo-tagging the distinct cultural and social location of his southern characters. Wright’s stories depart from Chesnutt’s and Hurston’s works, however, as he presents the inner thoughts of his characters.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Thursday, March 16, 2023
From Verses to Visuals on Jack Johnson -- ep. by Howard Rambsy II
This episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on the graphic novel Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century written by Adrian Matejka and drawn by Youssef Daoudi.
------------Related:
Cultural Geo-tagging Zora Neale Hurston’s short stories
By Kenton Rambsy
Zora Neale Hurston is consistent with her cultural geo-tagging. She uses the same Florida as the setting for her most famous stories, thereby underlining her interest in depicting Black communities that are outside the purview of white mainstream representations.
Hurston’s attention to geography is evident, based on her acknowledgment of key places and character types in a close-knit Florida community. She sets her stories during what is perhaps the 1900s in an unnamed town much like Eatonville, Florida, where Hurston lived until the age of thirteen.
While not urban, the settings are moderately developed and home to a predominantly Black community. Hurston does not provide specific addresses and descriptions of the places in the town; but what does stand out is that she takes readers into private spaces of Black characters.
The plots of her stories unfold through marital disputes in a bedroom, women doing domestic work in a kitchen, and conversations on the front porch at convenience stores and other social settings. Hurston’s stories were entertaining and revealed drama that took place mainly among Black people and especially in intimate conflicts between a husband and wife.
Whether set in a private home or a public communal setting, Hurston’s southern tales revolve almost exclusively around Black homegrown characters. Hurston incorporates African American Vernacular English to connect the setting to southern terrains and dramatize portrayals of characters in the region. Hurston relies heavily on her characters, not the narrator, to discuss the sequence of events in her stories and to describe their emotional responses.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Zora Neale Hurston is consistent with her cultural geo-tagging. She uses the same Florida as the setting for her most famous stories, thereby underlining her interest in depicting Black communities that are outside the purview of white mainstream representations.
Hurston’s attention to geography is evident, based on her acknowledgment of key places and character types in a close-knit Florida community. She sets her stories during what is perhaps the 1900s in an unnamed town much like Eatonville, Florida, where Hurston lived until the age of thirteen.
While not urban, the settings are moderately developed and home to a predominantly Black community. Hurston does not provide specific addresses and descriptions of the places in the town; but what does stand out is that she takes readers into private spaces of Black characters.
The plots of her stories unfold through marital disputes in a bedroom, women doing domestic work in a kitchen, and conversations on the front porch at convenience stores and other social settings. Hurston’s stories were entertaining and revealed drama that took place mainly among Black people and especially in intimate conflicts between a husband and wife.
Whether set in a private home or a public communal setting, Hurston’s southern tales revolve almost exclusively around Black homegrown characters. Hurston incorporates African American Vernacular English to connect the setting to southern terrains and dramatize portrayals of characters in the region. Hurston relies heavily on her characters, not the narrator, to discuss the sequence of events in her stories and to describe their emotional responses.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Cultural Geo-tagging Charles Chesnutt’s short fiction
By Kenton Rambsy
An approach that takes cultural geo-tagging into account reveals Charles Chesnutt’s interest in depicting various locales across the Midwest and South. His stories take place in Ohio, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Presented across a broad time frame either leading up to the Civil War or in the years immediately following known as Reconstruction, his stories feature plantations as recurring settings.
Chesnutt does not offer vivid descriptions of rustic landscapes or incorporate specific landmarks. Instead, he creates a strong sense of place by tagging these settings with cultural facets reminiscent of a plantation.
Plantations present an opportunity to combine several different types of characters—formerly enslaved characters and servants as well as white slave owners and wealthy characters. For some characters, Chesnutt establishes a sense of place through his use of phonetic spellings that resemble southern drawls. The practice of representing regional vernaculars was integral to the southern settings that Chesnutt depicted in his stories.
In particular, Chesnutt’s homegrown southern characters constitute an essential geo-tagging feature of his short fiction. Chesnutt’s homegrown southern characters constitute an essential cultural signifier in his short fiction, deploying AAVE in dialogues to create scenes of the plantation South.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
An approach that takes cultural geo-tagging into account reveals Charles Chesnutt’s interest in depicting various locales across the Midwest and South. His stories take place in Ohio, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Presented across a broad time frame either leading up to the Civil War or in the years immediately following known as Reconstruction, his stories feature plantations as recurring settings.
Chesnutt does not offer vivid descriptions of rustic landscapes or incorporate specific landmarks. Instead, he creates a strong sense of place by tagging these settings with cultural facets reminiscent of a plantation.
Plantations present an opportunity to combine several different types of characters—formerly enslaved characters and servants as well as white slave owners and wealthy characters. For some characters, Chesnutt establishes a sense of place through his use of phonetic spellings that resemble southern drawls. The practice of representing regional vernaculars was integral to the southern settings that Chesnutt depicted in his stories.
In particular, Chesnutt’s homegrown southern characters constitute an essential geo-tagging feature of his short fiction. Chesnutt’s homegrown southern characters constitute an essential cultural signifier in his short fiction, deploying AAVE in dialogues to create scenes of the plantation South.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Jonathan Majors the Conqueror -- ep. by Terrance Wellmaker
The latest episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror. The episode was written by Terrance Wellmaker. The episode is read by Kassandra Timm.
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Related:
Edward P. Jones’s Homegrown Characters
By Kenton Rambsy
Chapter five of my book The Geographies of African American Short Stories “Up South: Geo-Tagging DC and Edward P. Jones’s Homegrown Characters,” demonstrates how Jones preserves and extends the tradition of African American short fiction.
Despite the long history and dense population of Washington, DC, the predominantly Black quadrants of the District have a relatively small presence in the scholarship on African American literature. Jones depicts homegrown characters with acute knowledge about the geographies of the city.
Accordingly, his stories offer intricate portrayals of streets, intersections, apartment buildings, walking and driving routes, neighborhoods, city landmarks, and quadrants in the nation’s capital. His meticulous city narratives constitute an outstanding achievement in the production of African American short stories and warrant critical attention.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Chapter five of my book The Geographies of African American Short Stories “Up South: Geo-Tagging DC and Edward P. Jones’s Homegrown Characters,” demonstrates how Jones preserves and extends the tradition of African American short fiction.
Despite the long history and dense population of Washington, DC, the predominantly Black quadrants of the District have a relatively small presence in the scholarship on African American literature. Jones depicts homegrown characters with acute knowledge about the geographies of the city.
Accordingly, his stories offer intricate portrayals of streets, intersections, apartment buildings, walking and driving routes, neighborhoods, city landmarks, and quadrants in the nation’s capital. His meticulous city narratives constitute an outstanding achievement in the production of African American short stories and warrant critical attention.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Monday, March 13, 2023
New York Cityscapes
By Kenton Rambsy
Chapter four of my book The Geographies of African American Short Stories, “New York Cityscapes: James Baldwin and Toni Cade Bambara,” explains why New York City as a setting is integral to multifaceted short stories by Baldwin and Bambara. Their stories depict a diverse set of sights and sounds linked to one of our most famous cities. Their homegrown characters exhibit keen awareness of their environments as they navigate urban terrains.
Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” shows two brothers reconciling and gaining a deeper understanding of one another. Baldwin’s references to city landmarks and descriptions of navigation routes reveal him in the process of crafting a story that utilizes the urban environment as a dynamic background. “Sonny’s Blues,” as the title suggests, takes the transformative power of song seriously.
Baldwin, as well as Fisher, Dumas, and Baraka, demonstrates that musical gathering places can operate as captivating settings in short fiction.
For Bambara, New York City serves as a defining setting. She showcases the experiences of Black girl characters, thus shifting the conventional kind of protagonist that appeared in short fiction.
Chapter four of my book The Geographies of African American Short Stories, “New York Cityscapes: James Baldwin and Toni Cade Bambara,” explains why New York City as a setting is integral to multifaceted short stories by Baldwin and Bambara. Their stories depict a diverse set of sights and sounds linked to one of our most famous cities. Their homegrown characters exhibit keen awareness of their environments as they navigate urban terrains.
Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” shows two brothers reconciling and gaining a deeper understanding of one another. Baldwin’s references to city landmarks and descriptions of navigation routes reveal him in the process of crafting a story that utilizes the urban environment as a dynamic background. “Sonny’s Blues,” as the title suggests, takes the transformative power of song seriously.
Baldwin, as well as Fisher, Dumas, and Baraka, demonstrates that musical gathering places can operate as captivating settings in short fiction.
For Bambara, New York City serves as a defining setting. She showcases the experiences of Black girl characters, thus shifting the conventional kind of protagonist that appeared in short fiction.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Sunday, March 12, 2023
The Paradox of Homegrown Outsiders
By Kenton Rambsy
Chapter three of my book The Geographies of African American Short Stories, “The Paradox of Homegrown Outsiders: Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, and James Baldwin,” explains why southern outsider characters are vital components of short stories by Ellison, Walker, and Baldwin.
They composed short fiction that showed how social mores and local customs influenced internal thoughts of characters. Ellison’s first-person stories about Black male characters show them struggling to fit into shifting and sometimes troubling southern environments.
Ellison and Baldwin ventured into rarely charted territory for major Black writers by taking on the first-person perspectives of white male characters who witnessed the lynching of Black males. They explore the possibilities of Black storytellers passing as white narrators.
Walker’s stories illustrate the experiences of southern women homegrown characters. Her stories reflect her interest in celebrating Black culture and addressing internal conflicts.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Chapter three of my book The Geographies of African American Short Stories, “The Paradox of Homegrown Outsiders: Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, and James Baldwin,” explains why southern outsider characters are vital components of short stories by Ellison, Walker, and Baldwin.
They composed short fiction that showed how social mores and local customs influenced internal thoughts of characters. Ellison’s first-person stories about Black male characters show them struggling to fit into shifting and sometimes troubling southern environments.
Ellison and Baldwin ventured into rarely charted territory for major Black writers by taking on the first-person perspectives of white male characters who witnessed the lynching of Black males. They explore the possibilities of Black storytellers passing as white narrators.
Walker’s stories illustrate the experiences of southern women homegrown characters. Her stories reflect her interest in celebrating Black culture and addressing internal conflicts.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Saturday, March 11, 2023
Writing the South
By Kenton Rambsy
Chapter two of my book The Geographies of African American Short Stories, “Writing the South: Charles Chesnutt, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard Wright,” explains why depicting the dramas of homegrown characters in southern settings was so crucial to short fiction by Chesnutt, Hurston, and Wright.
The presentation of native southerners gave these writers’ opportunities to explore local dimensions of the region. They composed narratives that incorporate Black vernacular speech and conflicts between a variety of characters.
Telling stories that featured southern culture and locales empowered Chesnutt, Hurston, and Wright to create enriching compositions. Their stories testify to the power of homegrown characters and southern landscapes.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Chapter two of my book The Geographies of African American Short Stories, “Writing the South: Charles Chesnutt, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard Wright,” explains why depicting the dramas of homegrown characters in southern settings was so crucial to short fiction by Chesnutt, Hurston, and Wright.
The presentation of native southerners gave these writers’ opportunities to explore local dimensions of the region. They composed narratives that incorporate Black vernacular speech and conflicts between a variety of characters.
Telling stories that featured southern culture and locales empowered Chesnutt, Hurston, and Wright to create enriching compositions. Their stories testify to the power of homegrown characters and southern landscapes.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Friday, March 10, 2023
Geo-Tagging + Characters
By Kenton Rambsy
Cultural geo-tagging draws attention to the significance of positioning. How a protagonist is placed in proximity to rivals and supporting characters calls attention to a given setting.
I created a dataset that focuses solely on all of the major and minor characters in the most frequently republished stories by the Big 7. I created various categories to understand how writers use characters to accent various geographic features.
There are multiple ways to describe the protagonists who appear in fiction, though a focus on geography prompts considerations for what I refer to as homegrown, outsider, and homegrown outsider characters.
Cultural geo-tagging draws attention to the significance of positioning. How a protagonist is placed in proximity to rivals and supporting characters calls attention to a given setting.
I created a dataset that focuses solely on all of the major and minor characters in the most frequently republished stories by the Big 7. I created various categories to understand how writers use characters to accent various geographic features.
There are multiple ways to describe the protagonists who appear in fiction, though a focus on geography prompts considerations for what I refer to as homegrown, outsider, and homegrown outsider characters.
• Homegrown characters are those native to a region who are familiar with the local environment and customs.• Outsider characters are strangers or visitors to a region and its social norms.
• There are even homegrown outsiders—figures who are native to a region but, for some reason or another, are distant from those in their home environment.
The presentations of homegrown, outsider, and homegrown outsider characters in short stories constitute an element of cultural geo-tagging that further accentuates settings and ideas. Moreover, surveying several geographic factors accounts for how authors situate characters in cultural contexts and in relation to ideas.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Geotagging + Locations
Cultural geo-tagging illuminates what we are witnessing regarding positioning, location, mapping, and geographic matters in the works of Black writers. By incorporating a range of distinct places and spaces in their works, Black writers reveal that the sites where stories occur are central to the compositions.
I created a dataset that identifies the geographic locales as well as place settings in the most frequently republished stories by the Big 7. This dataset enables me to perform a comparative analysis and identify which kinds of locales are frequently utilized by these seven writers.
Works by Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Toni Bambara, and James Baldwin show characters sitting on front porches in a rural Florida town, swimming in a lake in Mississippi, running along Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan, and riding in a cab in New York City, respectively. Walker presents a family home in rural Georgia. Baldwin depicts a jazz club in Greenwich Village, and Bambara sets a story in the FAO Schwartz Toy Store on Fifth Avenue. African American short story writers have charted fairly succinct tales across numerous settings and geographic regions.
Geo-tagging or classifying a rather large body of spatial locations and information in numerous short stories makes it clear how often Black writers are utilizing landmarks and locales in the course of presenting narratives.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Signature Short Stories of Black Writers
By Kenton Rambsy
For decades now, the Big 7 have been mainstays in anthologies featuring short fiction by American and African American writers.
Certainly, these seven writers would perhaps want a more diverse selection of their works to appear. However, editors, not writers, largely dictated the circulations of hundreds of works.
Below, I’ve provided a list of the most frequently republished stories by the Big 7.
Charles Chesnutt
The Goophered Grapevine (23)
The Wife of His Youth (19)
The Passing of Grandison (13)
The Sheriff’s Children (9)
Po’ Sandy (9)
Zora Neale Hurston
The Gilded Six Bits (19)
Sweat (17)
Spunk (9)
Drenched in Light (5)
Richard Wright
The Man Who Was Almost a Man (18)
Bright and Morning Star (10)
Long Black Song (6)
The Man Who Lived Underground (4)
Big Boy Leaves Home (4)
Ralph Ellison
Battle Royal (22)
Flying Home (7)
King of the Bingo Game (4)
James Baldwin
Sonny’s Blues (34)
Going to Meet the man (4)
For decades now, the Big 7 have been mainstays in anthologies featuring short fiction by American and African American writers.
Certainly, these seven writers would perhaps want a more diverse selection of their works to appear. However, editors, not writers, largely dictated the circulations of hundreds of works.
Below, I’ve provided a list of the most frequently republished stories by the Big 7.
Charles Chesnutt
The Goophered Grapevine (23)
The Wife of His Youth (19)
The Passing of Grandison (13)
The Sheriff’s Children (9)
Po’ Sandy (9)
Zora Neale Hurston
The Gilded Six Bits (19)
Sweat (17)
Spunk (9)
Drenched in Light (5)
Richard Wright
The Man Who Was Almost a Man (18)
Bright and Morning Star (10)
Long Black Song (6)
The Man Who Lived Underground (4)
Big Boy Leaves Home (4)
Ralph Ellison
Battle Royal (22)
Flying Home (7)
King of the Bingo Game (4)
James Baldwin
Sonny’s Blues (34)
Going to Meet the man (4)
Toni Cade Bambara
The Lesson (10)
Raymond’s Run (5)
Gorilla, My Love (3)
Raymond’s Run (5)
Gorilla, My Love (3)
Alice Walker
Everyday Use (20)
Nineteen Fifty-Five (5)
To Hell with Dying (4)
Advancing Luna and Ida B. Wells (4)
Everyday Use (20)
Nineteen Fifty-Five (5)
To Hell with Dying (4)
Advancing Luna and Ida B. Wells (4)
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Recurring stories and geographic locales
The repeated inclusion of select African American short stories in anthologies established familiar geographic settings in literary discourse. Even though authors set their stories in a variety of locations, the thirty most frequently anthologized stories showcase the South and New York City.
Visions of the South presented in short fiction by Hurston and Walker highlight intraracial tensions in Florida and Georgia, while Wright dramatizes conflicts between Black and white people in Mississippi.
Ellison manages to include intraracial as well as interracial conflicts in a single story, “Battle Royal,” set in a small Alabama town, where the unnamed male narrator boxes against his Black teenaged peers for the amusement of wealthy, white businessmen. And Bambara project a range of different sights and sounds that Black people encounter in New York City.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Monday, March 6, 2023
Langston Hughes as a Short Story Writer
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| Langston Hughes as a Short Story Writer |
Langston Hughes deserves special mention in a consideration of African American short story writers frequently chosen by anthology editors. More than forty of his stories were selected by editors in the dataset, yet he is primarily known as a poet. No single story by Hughes appears frequently in anthologies.
Many anthologies include his Semple stories, but there is not one story chosen by four different editors for their collections. Furthermore, Hughes’s short stories only show up in Comprehensive African American collections while Comprehensive American and special topics collections tend to only include his poetry and occasionally his essays.
The absence of signature short stories by Hughes as well as his reputation as a poet places him at a distance from the seven most anthologized black short story writers: Charles Chesnutt, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara. Hughes and, for that matter, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Jessie Fauset, and Chester Himes were all prolific short story writers. Nevertheless, editors did not come to a consensus about works by those writers.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Sunday, March 5, 2023
Locating the Big 7
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| Locating the Big 7 |
In the first chapter of my book, I discuss the Big 7, which I conceived of after performing a quantitative analysis of a dataset in order to identify the most frequently anthologized short story writers. Those 7 writers collectively wrote 75 of the 632 unique short stories published in 100 anthologies published between 1925 and 2017. These writers—the Big 7—are outliers for four main reasons:
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
For one, their stories appear more frequently than 290 other short story writers whose works have been anthologized.
Second, they are among a relatively small number of Black writers whose stories appear in different kinds of anthologies—general short story collections, comprehensive literature anthologies, and special topics collections.
Third, each of the Big 7 has at least one signature story that has appeared in more than ten anthologies.
Finally, since 1990, each of these writers has had their stories published in more than twenty-five anthologies. The only Black short story writers who meet those four criteria are Chesnutt, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, Baldwin, Bambara, and Walker.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Saturday, March 4, 2023
Tracing Black Short Stories in 100 Anthologies
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| Tracing Black Short Stories in 100 Anthologies |
There is no shortage of Black short stories. African American literary artists have collectively written thousands of stories. Across 100 anthologies published between 1925 and 2017, there are 632 unique short stories by 297 Black writers. Still, relatively few writers are routinely republished across different types of collections.
Anthologies constitute one of the most important ways to examine the histories of Black short fiction. These collections, which contain multiple modes of writing, shape as well as reinforce views of African American and American literature.
Anthology editors provide a platform for keeping writers and literary works in circulation. At the same time, editors necessarily filter and exclude works.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Friday, March 3, 2023
A course on literary studies for collegiate black men
We cover a variety of writers/creators, including Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Black Thought, Aaron McGruder, and many more. We cover slave narratives, speeches, poems, rap lyrics, comic strips and books, and visual art. And we also have these wide-ranging conversations about what the guys are experiencing as young black men at the university and beyond.
A class just for black men?
As you might expect, some people express concerns about a class that's comprised of only black men. "Who's being left out?" "What about black women?" "Isn't that reverse segregation?" "Is a course just for black men sexist?" "The university allows that?" I've heard these questions multiple times over the last 19 years.
One of the reasons the course/program was created in the first place was because of the troubling retention and graduation rates of black men students in particular. As a group, they were struggling with classes, grades, and a host of other issues more than any other demographic.
Anyway, I let folks know that they're letting me do it for now.
So far, there aren't any major protests to the course. I think that's in part because the guys aren't receiving any extra resources or major university support, like the students in the mostly white Honors program. Also, though there are some advantages for first-year students having a Distinguished Research Professor of Literature, few people pay attention or even count that as a major advantage, so there's not much said.
Thinking with collegiate black men
You know, it's funny but relatively few people ask what it's like working with the students in the class. If folks did ask, I'd talk about how exciting and fulfilling it is overall engaging in conversations with these guys. It's really something hearing their thoughts on music, movies, literary compositions, visual art, comic books, and various other things.
It's cool too because long after guys have taken the class, they find me on campus and follow-up on discussions we had their first year. Our conversations just keep going.
So the processes of thinking, sometimes over an extended period of time, with these guys stand out about the experience.
Related:
Different Types of Anthologies
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| 9 Different Anthology Types |
A recognition of the multiple anthology types reveals the many contexts through which Black short fiction has circulated over several decades. To distinguish the various collections that publish black short stories, I identified nine types of anthologies.
• Comprehensive African American Anthologies chart the field of African American literature from “the beginnings” to present day. Examples of these collections, such as The Negro Caravan (1941), The New Cavalcade: African American Writing from 1760 to the Present (1991), and Call & Response Anthology (1997), include poetry, novel excepts, and short stories.
• Special Topics Black Literature Collections contain writings by black writers focusing on distinct genres or on special topics such as mystery, sci-fi, black identity with anthologies such as A Native Son Reader (1970), The Opportunity Reader (1999), and Gumbo: a celebration of African American writing (2002).
• Special Topics General Collections are multiple genre collections that contain both American and international writers. The Riverside Anthology of Literature (1996) and Literature Across Cultures (1998) are included in this category.
• Comprehensive African American Anthologies chart the field of African American literature from “the beginnings” to present day. Examples of these collections, such as The Negro Caravan (1941), The New Cavalcade: African American Writing from 1760 to the Present (1991), and Call & Response Anthology (1997), include poetry, novel excepts, and short stories.
• Comprehensive American collections chart the field of American literature from “the beginnings” to present day. Historically, these anthologies privileged white writers and literary traditions, though editors have diversified selections in recent decades. The Heath Anthology of American Literature (1990), Harper American Literature (1993), and The Bedford Anthology of American Literature (2014), constitute some of the anthologies in this category.
• Short Story Black Collections are exclusively devoted to short stories by black writers such as From the Roots: Short Stories by Black Americans (1970), What We Must See: Young Black Storytellers (1971), and Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African American Fiction (1990).
• Short Story General Collections contain stories by writers from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds such as The Art of the Short Story (2005), Fiction 100: an Anthology of Short Fiction (2012), and The Oxford Book of American Short Stories (2013).
• Special Topics Harlem Renaissance Collections specialize on the Harlem Renaissance era and include anthologies such as The New Negro (1925), Voices from the Harlem Renaissance (1976), and The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader (1994).
• Special Topics Black Women Writers Collections focus only on black women’s writing and include anthologies such as The Black Woman: An Anthology (1970), The Sleeper Wakes: Harlem Renaissance Stories by Women (1993), and Revolutionary Tales: African American Women's Short Stories, From the First Story to the Present (1995).
• Special Topics Black Literature Collections contain writings by black writers focusing on distinct genres or on special topics such as mystery, sci-fi, black identity with anthologies such as A Native Son Reader (1970), The Opportunity Reader (1999), and Gumbo: a celebration of African American writing (2002).
• Special topics Women Writers Collections are devoted to works by women from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds. Women Working: An Anthology of Stories and Poems and The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women (1985) are included in this category.
• Special Topics General Collections are multiple genre collections that contain both American and international writers. The Riverside Anthology of Literature (1996) and Literature Across Cultures (1998) are included in this category.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Black Short Fiction & Literary Data Work
By Kenton Rambsy
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
In my book, I draw on The Black Short Story Dataset to analyze the circulation of short stories over nearly 100 years. The dataset contains a variety of information, including story titles, original sites of publication, author birth years, and additional information about the authors. The dataset makes it possible to peruse information about 300 authors relatively quickly.
A sample of 100 anthologies is hardly exhaustive, but a dataset of this size nonetheless offers an expansive body of information on some of our most canonically significant writers and stories.
While conventional bibliographies remain important, we can further advance African American literary studies by taking advantage of datasets, which greatly assist in exploring and quantifying multifaceted publishing histories. We additionally gain an understanding of framing practices by taking a closer look at the work of editors, an important but often overlooked group of contributors to the transmission of African American literature.
This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Blogging about Poetry in February 2023
[Related content: Blogging about Poetry]
• February 27: Poetry and Bad Men
• February 12: Rappers, Creativity, and Nat Turner
• February 10: Amiri Baraka's Onslaught of Poetic Jokes and Insults
• February 5: Rebellious Ex-Slaves as Poetic Muses
• February 4: A Poetic Trilogy of Bad Men
• February 1: Blogging about poetry in January 2023
A brief description of The Geographies of African American Short Stories
The Geographies of African American Short Stories explains how the Big 7— Charles Chesnutt, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bambara, and Alice Walker— and other selected writers such as Edward P. Jones, Rudolph Fisher, Amiri Baraka, and Henry Dumas made character depictions and culturally discrete settings consequential to the production of short fiction.
The production of their stories was facilitated by anthology editors. Consequently, this book is not a comprehensive study, but instead takes into account how the most frequently republished stories by the Big 7 plotted a diverse range of characters across multiple locations—small towns, a famous metropolis, city sidewalks, a rural wooded area, apartment buildings, a pond, a general store, a prison, and more.
My book highlights how Black short story writers are also cultural cartographers. They crucially orchestrate relatively short narratives about the interplay between characters and settings.
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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.
A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories
Entries:
Day 5: Locating the Big 7
Day 9: Geotagging + Locations
Day 10: Geo-Tagging + Characters
Day 11: Writing the South
Day 13: New York Cityscapes
Collegiate Black men and problem finding
I close my book focusing on a moment in spring 2013 when guys in my class and I participated in extended discussions about what could be done to address challenges confronting black people. We raised questioned, considered various angles, and revised our own previous positions.
In short, we engaged in problem finding.
Somehow, we kept returning to two recurring topics: bad men and vulnerable black boys. In some respects, our discussions resembled the kinds of explorations exhibits by many black writers we studied. I look forward to producing more observations and writings about the many lessons I learned reading and thinking with collegiate black men.
This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.
Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site. (For February 2023 only).
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