Category: paul laurence dunbar

+

The Caged Bird in “Hardware” #1

Recently on Twitter, Joseph Illidge posted the following about Hardware #1 (1993). He said, “One of the best first issues of a superhero comic book series ever produced in the American Direct Market.” As a fan of Milestone Comics and Hardware, I’d have to agree. I’ve been meaning to write about Hardware #1 for a while, and now is the time, specifically because I … Read More The Caged Bird in “Hardware” #1

+

“African American Literature and the American West” Syllabus

The photo above is of the head of Canyon de Chelly by Timothy O’Sullivan.  For my dissertation, I explored the connections between the ways that African American, Native American, and white women authors used Scottish Enlightenment rhetoric to argue for their positions within the body politic of the United States. One of the key aspects that arose from the dissertation was the ways that African American and … Read More “African American Literature and the American West” Syllabus

+

“African American Literature and the American South” Syllabus

Occasionally, I post syllabi ideas here on the blog. Today, I want to share a syllabus I have been thinking about recently entitled “African American Literature and the American South.” The South, as a geographic and imaginary space, looms large in the works of not just African American authors but in writers of all ethnic backgrounds from the United States. Maryemma Graham discusses the … Read More “African American Literature and the American South” Syllabus

+

The Black Panther and Racial Profiling in Jungle Action #20

In preparation for the February 2018 premier of the Black Panther film, I started to delve into Don McGregor’s incarnation of Black Panther in the revived Jungle Action series from 1972-1976. The reemergence of the series, and the foregrounding of T’Challa took place in correlation with Marvel’s launching of Luke Cage, a series that looked to capitalize on the rise of Blaxploitation films during the … Read More The Black Panther and Racial Profiling in Jungle Action #20

+

Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Nelse Hatton’s Vengeance” and the Plantation Tradition

In Tuesday’s post, I wrote about Charles Chesnutt’s “The Sheriff’s Children” and the plantation tradition. Today, I want to extend that conversation to include Paul Laurence Dunbar, an author who many have painted as an accomadationist that perpetuated African American stereotypes and played to the plantation tradition. However, as I argue elsewhere on this blog, Dunbar worked to subvert that tradition through his writing. … Read More Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Nelse Hatton’s Vengeance” and the Plantation Tradition