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A Note on Aesthetic Style
Original, handwritten note; undated. Actually, I don’t have a style nor do I believe in that artificiality. I submit myself to the natural and allow the subject to emerge–to fight its way through. The shape in which it emerges is of necessity its own style. I make myself the instrument through which the message flows.…
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Until They Have Stopped
Dedicated to Paul Robeson, Sr. Until they have stopped glutting me with slop from the kitchen’s garbage to make fat profit of me like a hog, Until they have stopped slitting my throat like a defenseless animal’s in the near-Christmas time killing for the Christmas feast, Until they stop the knife which in my tenderest…
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Without Music
Originally excerpted in 1972 from the unreleased collection, Why Do I Have Corns On My Feet? This is the way it is without music Stale dishwater—untechnicolored Rich in the recommended calories And the not so recommended grease Whose stagnant inactivity Leaves a ten hour old tidal mark Around the half-emersed pile Of breakfast dishes The…
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Joe Kaye & Sarah E. Wright – Memories of Cuba [Video] | People’s Forum
Hear Joe share his & Sarah E. Wright’s beautiful memories of visiting Cuba, witnessing the early fruits of the Revolution, and welcoming Fidel Castro to Harlem in 1960. The full video discussion is available from The People’s Forum.
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The Culture & Politics of Black Literature – The Heyday of the Real Harlem Writers Guild
I must pay tribute to Grace Killens, who played a vital role in hosting us and holding the Harlem Writers Guild together for the many years that her husband John Oliver Killens presided. She was an immensely nourishing presence. In assessing the work of John Oliver Killens one needs to begin with World War II,…
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Remembering a Gross Miscarriage of Justice – The Execution of Ethel & Julius Rosenberg
The hurt was deep beyond measure We sat in stunned silence around the table piled up with newspapers filled with dire predictions of the fate descending upon the innocent young parents Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Found guilty on the perjured and patently absurd testimony of Ethel’s brother of stealing the “secret” of the atomic bomb…
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My Observations on Sarah E. Wright’s Monumental “This Child’s Gonna Live” – Endorsed by the author!
On the political level, Sarah Wright was most influenced by a strong Left tradition whose heroes and models in the black community were Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Dubois, and which had its literary representative in the 1960s in the journal Freedomways, edited by Esther Jackson. While Ms. Wright’s primary focus was on the plight of African-Americans,…
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Conversation with my daughter – About a star
Originally published in Sarah E. Wright and Lucy Smith’s Give Me a Child (1955) , now out of print. If you’d like to assist/keep up-to-date with efforts to get the book printed again, follow our Substack. “No, honey! That star didn’t just get there, But I am not at all surprised This is your first…
