Discusses the depiction of women characters in the plays of Alice Childress. Analyzes "Wine in the Wilderness" to demonstrate Childress' skill at characterization and calls for further scholarship on this neglected playwright. (KH)

This article reveals the differences between the character Kunta Kinte and the historical record concerning African males in the preslavery period. Kunta's non-African behaviors include displays of blind anger and rage, prudishness, and actions unknown in his Mandinka culture. These represent the many misrepresentations and ambiguities in Alex…

Discusses the literary and philosophical writings of Alain Locke, focusing on his views of the relations between race, ethnicity, and art. Analyzes the tension between Locke's support for Black writers and his belief that they must strive to "universalize" their work for a non-Black audience. (KH)

In "Sula" Toni Morrison writes from an African point of view, an African aesthetic. In the book the African presence is subtly woven into Black American culture. Events in the lives of the characters Sula and Shadrack are linked with West African culture and religion. (BJV)

Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, and Ntozake Shange have in their plays created images of blacks that dispel the myths of "the contented slave,""the exotic primitive," and "the spiritual singing, toe-tapping, faithful servant." (BJV)

Religious feeling is always interdependent with racial feeling in the poetry of Langston Hughes. He views religion in the larger context of black culture, presenting it variously as a source of strength for the oppressed, an opiate of the people, the religion of slavery, and an obstacle to emancipation. (BJV)

Earlier African novels, addressed to a Western audience, defend the traditional culture of the authors and attack the hypocrisy of the West. Later novels, written after 1960, are addressed to an African audience, and present balanced appraisals of Western culture and religion. Discusses rhetorical devices and other aspects of African novels. (BJV)