John Edgar Wideman
In this vital and inspiring volume, John Edgar Wideman has brought together the first truly representative sampling of literature by African-American writers in the early centuries of our history. Reaching across periods, styles, and regional borders, Wideman has selected twelve works of geniusâ€“some of them celebrated literary icons, others neglected or forgotten masterpiecesâ€“ and reprinted them in their entirety. The result is a book as thrilling in its passion as it is vast in scope.,Though these selections come from a range of genres (verse, memoir, historical, and personal narrative), they are all, fundamentally, stories of strength and survival. Frederick Douglassâ€™s frank narrative of escape from slavery and Paul Laurence Dunbarâ€™s classic verse take their place beside lesser-known works like Nat Loveâ€™s stirring account of life as a black cowboy, Ida B. Wellsâ€™s haunting descriptions of lynchings, and the crisp, compelling adventures of Olaudah Equiano. Wideman prefaces each selection with an illuminating biographical essay.,The fruit of a lifetimeâ€™s devotion to the best American writing, ,My Soul Has Grown Deep ,will stand as an enduring monument to the depth and beauty of African-American literature.
American,African American Literature
My Soul Has Grown Deep: Classics of Early African-American Literature