The Cambridge History of African American Literature

The first major twenty-first century history of four hundred years of black writing, The Cambridge History of African American Literature presents a comprehensive overview of the literary traditions, oral and print, of African-descended peoples in the United States. Expert contributors, drawn from the United States and beyond, emphasise the dual nature of each text discussed as a work of art created by an individual and as a response to unfolding events in American cultural, political, and social history. Unprecedented in scope, sophistication and accessibility, the volume draws together current scholarship in the field. It also looks ahead to suggest new approaches, new areas of study, and as yet undervalued writers and works. The Cambridge History of African American Literature is a major achievement both as a work of reference and as a compelling narrative and will remain essential reading for scholars and students in years to come.

Maryemma Graham is professor of English at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. She founded the Project on the History of Black Writing and has directed it for over twenty-five years. Her eight books include The Cambridge Companion to the African American Novel (2004) and Fields Watered with Blood (2001). She is currently completing The House Where My Soul Lives: The Life of Margaret Walker (forthcoming). A former John Hope Franklin Fellow at the National Humanities Center (2005-6) and recipient of numerous awards and federal program grants, Graham has held previous fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Ford and Mellon Foundations, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Smithsonian Institution, and the American Antiquarian Society.
Jerry W. Ward, Jr. is professor of English at Dillard University, New Orleans. His recent published work includes The Katrina Papers: A Journal of Trauma and Recovery (2008) and (as co-editor) The Richard Wright Encyclopedia (2008). Among his awards are a Kent Fellowship (1975-77), Mississippi Humanities Council Public Humanities Scholar Award (1997), Fellowship at the National Humanities Center (1999-2000), the Darwin T. Turner Award of Excellence (2000), and induction into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent (2001).