Literary and Sociopolitical Writings of the Black Diaspora in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

"Kersuze Simeon-Jones' survey of the writings and philosophies of key African and diusporic writers points to the early recognition of the importance of intellectual rigor as a shaping force in such transformational ideologies and movements as Indigenisme, Negritude, the Harlem Renaissance, and African Nationalism. Through Toussaint L'Ouverture, Blyden, and Crummell; DuBois and Garvey; and Cesaire, Nkrumah, and Malcolm X, Professor Simeon-Jones effectively illuminates the importance of historical awareness in fostering moral responsibility and national pride in black communities from Haiti to Ghana."uH. Adlai Murdoch, University of Illinois

"Kersuze Simeon-Jones analyzes a wide variety of literary and political figures who engage complex issues, arguing how literary and political movements inspire, influence, and intersect. These leaders, some of whom have earned doctorates and others who are self-taught, represent different linguistic communitiesuEnglish-speaking, French-speaking, and Spanish-speaking. Yet they, as well as their ideas, crisscross geographic boundaries, traveling to and from Africa, North America, Europe, and the Caribbean. What is especially exciting is the way in which Simeon-Jones seamlessly integrates women such as Ida B. Wells, Amy Jacques-Garvey, Anna Julia Cooper, Paulette Nardal, Jane Nardal, and Zara Neale Hurston into her discussion."uRenTe Larrier, author of Autofiction and Advocacy in the Francophone Caribbean

Literary and Sociopolitical Writings of the Black Diaspora in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries traces the historiography of literary and sociopolitical movements of the Black Diaspora in the writings of key political figures. It comparatively and dialogically examines such movements as Pan-Africanism, Garveyism, Indigenisme, New Negro Renaissance, Negritude, and Afrocriollo. To study the key ideologies that emerged as collective black thought within the Diaspora, particular attention is given to the philosophies of Black Nationalism, Black Internationalism, and Universal Humanism. Each leader and writer helped establish new dimensions to evolving movements; thus, the text discerns the temporal, spatial, and conceptual development of each literary and sociopolitical movement.

To probe the comparative and transnational trajectories of the movements while concurrently examining the geopolitical distinctions, the text focuses on leaders who psychologically, culturally, and/or physically traveled throughout Africa, the Americas, and Europe and whose ideas influenced a number of contemporaries and successors. This approach dismantles geographic, language, and generational barriers for a comprehensive analysis. Indeed, it was through the works transmitted from one generation to the next that leaders learned the lessons of history, particularly the lessons of organizational strategies, which are indispensable to sustained and successful liberation movements.

Kersuze Simeon-Jones teaches Francophone and Black Diasporic studies in the World Languages Department and the Africana Studies Department at the University of South Florida.