Footsteps articles from March 2005

Footsteps archives from March 2005

Bronze Muse.(Frances Ellen Watkins Harper )
March 1, 2005... She was a slender woman with dainty hands, a musical voice, and an elegant way with words that inspired others to call her "The Bronze Muse." Yet, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was also a fierce warrior for equal rights. Through her poems,...

Contending forces.(Pauline E. Hopkins)
March 1, 2005... In the preface to her novel Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South (1900), Pauline E. Hopkins shares with the reader her belief that the book is an attempt "to do all that I can in an humble way to raise the...

Warriors and wordsmith: African American women have made valuable contributions to American literature. Lucy Terry Prince, Phillis Wheatley, and Harriet Jacobs were warriors and wordsmiths who used the pen to address a variety of diverse topics.
March 1, 2005... LUCY TERRY PRINCE Poet, storyteller, and activist, Lucy Terry Prince is most notably recognized for her ballad "Bars Fight," which describes the 1746 battle between Native Americans and white settlers in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Composed...

A master storyteller.(Virginia Hamilton)
March 1, 2005... Virginia Hamilton created literary treasures that have captured the attention of readers of all ages. Through her collection of novels, folktales, and biographies, Hamilton kept her ear close to the pulse of fantasy and reality and to the past...

Halle Berry's dream: one of the 21st century's best known actresses, Halle Berry plays the role of Janie in her latest movie, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Released in March, 2005, the story is based on the 1937 book of the same title by Zora Neale Hurston.(Interview)
March 1, 2005... Why was it important for you to act in Their Eyes Were Watching God? The character of Janie is just such a full, rich, complicated, complex, vulnerable character that the minute I read it--actually I read the book a long time ago--but when...

Zora Neale Hurston.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Zora Neale Hurston rose to critical success as a writer during the 1920s and 1930s. The first African American graduate of Barnard College, she also studied anthropology (people and their customs) at Columbia University in New York City. Her...

Reflections and memories.(Harriet E. Wilson, first black woman to publish novel in English)
March 1, 2005... I sincerely appeal to my colored brethren universally for patronage, hoping they will not condemn this attempt of their sister to be erudite, but rally around me a faithful band of supporters and defenders. --Harriet E. Wilson, 1859 ...

Leading the protest.(formation of Harlem Writers Guild)
March 1, 2005... To better themselves and their writing, four relatively unknown black writers formed a literary group in Harlem, New York, in 1951. More than 50 years later, the Harlem Writers Guild thrives and still serves its original mission: to support the...

Marketing Mama.(Terry McMillan speaks about self-marketing efforts)(Interview)
March 1, 2005... The name Terry McMillan conjures up images of million-dollar book deals and blockbuster movies. It is true that her novels--Mama, Disappearing Acts, Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and A Day Late and a Dollar Short have all...

A writer's life.
March 1, 2005... "I don't know what to write," I moaned to my good friend, Walter Dean Myers. It was a beautiful spring day in 1993, and we were sitting in front of his computer in a tiny room on the top floor of his house in Jersey City, New Jersey. We had met...

'Freedom of expression' meet Jayne Cortez.(Interview)
March 1, 2005... Through writing 10 books, making 9 recordings, performing internationally, establishing her publishing company (Bola Press), and cofounding the Organization of Women Writers of Africa, Jayne Cortez has created the freedom to express herself as...

The Caged Bird Sings: the story of Maya Angelou.
March 1, 2005... Maya Angelou is celebrated as one of the most notable contemporary American novelists. She is also a poet, actor, songwriter, journalist, playwright, historian, singer, civil rights activist, and producer. Angelou is perhaps best known for her...

Blocking the block.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Often the hardest part about writing is getting past the blank page--thinking of an idea. There's even a term for it: writer's block. Write a story by filling in the blanks in the box at the top of the page and then transferring them to the...

Words are mightier than the sword.
March 1, 2005... Can you fit the words listed below into the grid? The lengths of the boxes will help you place each word correctly. Read the articles to find out how words are mightier than swords. 4 letters poem word 5 letters class craft essay heart...

A way with words.(poet Gwendolyn Brooks)
March 1, 2005... It is a real chill out. The fall crisp comes I am aware there is winter to heed. There is no warm house That is fitted with my need. --lines from Gwendolyn Brooks" poem "A Sunset of A City" Gwendolyn Brooks liked to say that African...

Triumph of the human spirit.(Paule Marshall )
March 1, 2005... It's all about connection. The work of novelist Paule Marshall makes you think about the ways that people in the Caribbean are connected to people in the United States and how people in Europe are connected to people in Africa. And she does not...

Nobel for Morrison.(Toni Morrison)
March 1, 2005... Gwendolyn Brooks had won the Pulitzer Prize; Paule Marshall, the MacArthur Prize; and Alice Walker, the American Book Award. But, Toni Morrison's receipt of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993 was the most dramatic signal yet of the...

Learning from life.(Alice Walker)
March 1, 2005... Alice Walker overcame a serious injury at age eight and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award nearly 30 years later for her novel The Color Purple. That many of her writings explore themes of triumph over tragedy should...

The Oscar goes to ...(Rita Dove first African American "poet of the nation")
March 1, 2005... Many of you are familiar with award shows and magazine covers that honor actors and athletes as best of the year. But did you know that someone is annually named "poet of the nation"? The formal title, bestowed by the U.S. Congress and the...

Women with vision.(African American women writers)
March 1, 2005... African American women have played an important and vital role in the world of literature. Their contributions of poetry, novels, plays, and essays have expanded the vision and purpose of the art known as "letters." Since a list of these...

Crazy about writing.(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 1, 2005... Tonya Bolden loves writing, as her long list of published works shows. Born in New York City, she majored in Slavic languages and literatures, with a focus in Russian, at Princeton University and went on to earn a master's degree from Columbia...

African American Women Writers.(BOOKS)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... African American Women Writers by Brenda Wilkinson (Wiley, 1999, www.wiley.com) is one in the "Blacks Stars" series. The biographies, which are well-written and accurate, include Maya Angelou, Toni Cade Bambara, Gwendolyn Brooks, Octavia...

Black Women in America: Literature.(BOOKS)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Black Women in America: Literature edited by Darlene Clark Hine (Facts On File, 1997, www.factsonfile.com) begins with an excellent overview that traces the role of African American women in the field of literature from past to present. Clear,...

Rise Up Singing.(BOOKS)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Rise Up Singing by Marilyn K. Fullen (Open Hand, 2002, www.openhand.com) focuses on three women and three men, outlining the connection between each writer's life experience and his or her writing. Each chapter begins with a quote from a work...

Poetry from the Masters: The Pioneers.(BOOKS)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Poetry from the Masters: The Pioneers edited by Wade Hudson (Just Us, 2003, www.justusbooks.com) prefaces the great selection of poems by each of the 11 authors profiled with a biography that explores the poet's historical significance and...

A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet.(BOOKS)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet by Kathryn Lasky, (Candlewick, 2003, www.candlewick.com) thoughtfully intertwines the biography of Phillis with details of the life and times in the Colonies at the time of the...

Cobblestone Resources.(BOOKS)
March 1, 2005... The following issues of FOOTSTEPS and its sister magazine COBBLESTONE complement this issue on "Women Writers" and are available from Cobblestone Publishing: Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance (FTP0403) Harlem Renaissance...

On the net.(BOOKS)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... For a digital collection of 52 works by 19th-century black women writers in the United States, go to the Schomburg Center Web at: http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/writers_aa19/ For a great site with numerous links on African American...

Let's find out.(historical briefs )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... When a group of young men in Jacksonville, Florida, arranged to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1900, they needed a song for the occasion. James Weldon Johnson wrote the words for "Lift Every Voice and Sing," and his brother J. Rosamond...

In the know: African Americans in the news--past and present.(African American journalists)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... "The responsibility of the black newspaper is to guide, counsel, educate, and help people in trouble and through its columns suggest solutions to problems and means of correcting injustices," said Elizabeth Murphy Moss, vice president and...