Discusses William Styron's novel "The Confessions of Nat Turner." Comments on the principal charges made against William Styron by the contributors to "William Styron's Nat Turner: Ten Black Writers Respond." (Author/AM)

Asserts that Wright's importance emerges out of his literary identification with a specific sociological vision of the life and destiny of black people in particular and human kind in general. Examines this vision interpretatively as a philosophy, as a historical trend in American culture, and as a personal and ideological commitment forming the…

Analyzes the novel "Not Without Laughter" and suggests the image of the home to be a unifying theme. (AM)

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…

The story "The Biscuit Eater" and the two films made from it can be used as a paradigm of the image of blacks in works made by whites. However, unlike those of 1940, reviewers of the 1972 Disney film were critical of every racially insensitive nuance, representing progress in racial awareness. (Author/GC)

This three hundred and twenty-five page text contains one hundred brief stories intended to introduce young blacks to aspects of their culture and history. (Author)

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)

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)

Analyzes "The Great Auction Sale of Slaves, at Savannah, Georgia" (1859), a popular work by Mortimer Neal Thompson, an American humorist better known by his pseudonym, Q.K. Philander Doesticks, P.B. The book is one of the most readable, credibly authentic accounts of the abuses of slavery. (BJV)