Ransom Center Magazine

African American History Month

Knopf archive reveals details about Lonely Crusade author Chester Himes

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Many writers and artists through history have developed their craft, and even published, while they were imprisoned. Among them is Chester Himes, an African American author who wrote about racism, prison life, and who is best known for his Harlem Detective series.

Records related to Himes are found in the Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. archive, which documents the history of the well-known publishing house. The papers contain correspondence, publicity materials, and/or manuscripts from a number of other African American writers, including James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, John Oliver Killens, Nella Larsen, Alain Locke, Claude McKay, and Walter White. [Read more…] about Knopf archive reveals details about Lonely Crusade author Chester Himes

ABOUT MELANIE ALBERTS
Melanie Alberts works in the Office of the Director at the Harry Ransom Center. She serves on the Diversity and Inclusion committee, is a psychic artist, and writes lyric poems which have appeared in journals such as Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review.

A lost work by Langston Hughes

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In 1933, the Harlem Renaissance star wrote a powerful essay about race, unpublished in English until 2019.

It’s not every day that you come across an extraordinary unknown work by one of the nation’s greatest writers. But buried in an unrelated archive, I discovered a searing essay condemning racism in America by Langston Hughes—the moving account, published in its original form below, of an escaped prisoner he met while traveling with Zora Neale Hurston.

[Read more…] about A lost work by Langston Hughes

Powerful currents: John Wilson’s Down by the Riverside prints

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The dark male figure, head bent to the driving rain indicated by the dense lines that cover the page, lifts a slight woman into a simple rowboat. The boat’s bow is pointed through the floodwaters toward higher ground, its port side steadied by a second stooped male. [Read more…] about Powerful currents: John Wilson’s Down by the Riverside prints

Researcher publications examine black history and culture

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Each year dozens of researchers publish books based on their work at the Ransom Center. For African American History Month we compiled the following selection of recent publications informed by the Center’s collections. [Read more…] about Researcher publications examine black history and culture

Frederick Douglass and the Mass Meeting for Civil Rights

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February 20, 2017, marks the 122nd anniversary of Frederick Douglass’s death. Douglass (1818–1895), an abolitionist and activist for civil rights, was a gifted writer and orator. [Read more…] about Frederick Douglass and the Mass Meeting for Civil Rights

Claude McKay and “The White House”

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This February saw the release of a previously unpublished Claude McKay novel, Amiable with Big Teeth (Penguin Classics). [Read more…] about Claude McKay and “The White House”

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