Accessibility Tools

The African American West

A Century of Short Stories

edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Laurie Champion


The distinguished body of short stories depicting African Americans in the western United States has long been overlooked, and for a number of reasons: black writers were historically denied publication in white journals, American publishers have tended to show a bias towards East Coast fiction, and the short story has frequently been neglected in literary circles. In response to this lack of recognition, Bruce Glasrud and Laurie Champion have compiled The African-American West: A Century of Short Stories.

The beginning of the twentieth century saw western American writers giving new meaning to the literature portraying African Americans. Rather than reproducing the racial stereotypes and condescending dialogue found in past fiction of the eastern United States, these authors portrayed black Americans seeking new lives.

Ranging from early twentieth-century writers such as Charles Chesnutt to contemporary authors such as Walter Mosley, the works in The African American West demonstrate how the West, as seen through the eyes of African Americans, has evolved over the last century. Glasrud, a historian, and Champion, a literary scholar, combine their varying areas of expertise in The African American West, and their introductions to each chapter of the book provide both literary and historical insight into the African American experience in the West. Containing 46 short stories as well as an extensive bibliography, this volume is an excellent resource for scholars of modern literature and African American history and culture.

Contributors: Julian Elihu Bagley, Arna Bontemps, Cecil M. Brown, Ed Bullins, Jack Burris, Charles W. Chestnutt, Maxine Clair, Eldridge Cleaver, Anita Scott Coleman, Wanda Coleman, Aya de Leon, Rita Dove, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ralph Ellison, Percival Everett, Carolyn Ferrell, Nick Aaron Ford, Eugene P. Frierson, John Wesley Groves IV, Chester Himes, Pauline E. Hopkins, Langston Hughes, John O. Killens, March Lacy, William Henry Lewis, Colleen McElroy, Reginald McKnight, Terry McMillan, James Alan McPherson, Walter Mosley, Harryette Mullen, Sunny Nash, William Pickens, John R. Posey, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Johnie Scott, Ntozake Shange, Charlotte Watson Sherman, Mike Thelwell, Joyce Carol Thomas, Malvin Wald, John Edgar Wideman, John A. Williams, Margaret Williams, Frank Yerby

 

Bruce A. Glasrud is Dean of Arts and Sciences at Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas, and author of The Northwest Mosaic and African Americans in the West.

Laurie Champion is assistant professor of English at San Diego State University, Imperial Valley, and the editor of American Women Writers, 1900-1945.

University Press of Colorado Logo

Details

  • Publication Year: 2000
  • Discount Type: Trade
  • Author: edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Laurie Champion
  • ECommerce Code: 978-0-87081-559-1
  • Get Permissions: Get Permission

Related Titles

Browse Related Titles Tagged Under:

University Press of Colorado University of Alaska Press Utah State University Press University of Wyoming Press