Black Ink: Literary Legends on the Peril, Power, and Pleasure of Reading and Writing

by Stephanie Stokes Oliver (Editor), Nikki Giovanni (Foreword by)

Overview

Over 250 years of black American literature in a “breathtaking anthology celebrating the power of the written word to forge change” (O, The Oprah Magazine).

Throughout American history, black people are the only group to have been forbidden by law to learn to read. This expansive collection seeks to shed light on that injustice, putting some of America’s most cherished voices in a conversation in one magnificent volume that presents reading as an act of resistance.

Organized into three sections—the Peril, the Power, and the Pleasure—and featuring a vast array of contributors both classic and contemporary, Black Ink presents the brilliant diversity of black thought in America while solidifying the importance of these writers within the greater context of the American literary tradition.

“This electric and electrifying collection of voices serves to open a much-needed window onto the freedom struggle of black literature. It’s a marvel, and a genuine gift for readers everywhere.” —Wil Haygood, author of The Butler: A Witness to History

“A well-chosen selection . . . Revelatory, often moving essays by impressive writers.” —Kirkus Reviews

Contributors include: Frederick Douglass * Solomon Northup * Booker T. Washington * W.E.B. Du Bois * Zora Neale Hurston * Langston Hughes * James Baldwin * Malcolm X * Maya Angelou * Martin Luther King, Jr. * Toni Morrison * Walter Dean Myers * Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) * Alice Walker * Jamaica Kincaid * Henry Louis Gates, Jr. * Terry McMillan * Junot Diaz * Edwidge Danticat * Marlon James * Roxane Gay * Ta-Nehisi Coates * Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie * Colson Whitehead

Includes a bonus in-depth interview with President Barack Obama

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501154300
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	02/13/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	273
Sales rank:	48,768
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Stephanie Stokes Oliver is the author of Daily Cornbread: 365 Secrets for a Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit; Seven Soulful Secrets for Finding Your Purpose & Minding Your Mission;and Song for My Father: Memoir of an All-American Family. Formerly the editor of Essence, and founding editor-in-chief of Heart & Soul, she started her magazine career at Glamour. For more information, see StephanieStokesOliver.com.

Read an Excerpt

Black Ink
NIKKI GIOVANNI

Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and spent her summers with her grandparents in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she was born in 1943. Giovanni graduated with honors from her grandfather’s alma mater, Fisk University. A world-renowned poet, author, commentator, activist, and educator, Giovanni has published volumes of poetry, nonfiction, essays, and children’s books.

She gained initial fame in the 1960s, as a leading voice of the Black Arts Movement, in the time of the civil rights and Black Power struggles. Awarded seven NAACP Image Awards, she has been nominated for a Grammy and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Since 1987, she has served on the faculty of Virginia Tech, where she is a university distinguished professor.

Giovanni’s literary greatness is on par with the twenty-five legendary writers included in this anthology. In the following foreword, she has graciously shared her own experiences in the tradition of the narrative of the book. She also sets the stage for what precedes the era of these writers in America—the horrific journey of the Middle Passage. While few of us ever think of it, overcoming language differences among the captured enslaved and then subsequently learning American English were among the first miracles along the path toward Black authorship as we know it today—from the peril of education to the power of literacy and then the pleasure of literature. First a moan, then a song, now a book.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Our First Stories Nikki Giovanni xiii

Introduction: Reading Matters Stephanie Stokes Oliver xvii

The Peril 1800-1900

Suspected of Having a Book Frederick Douglass 3

Nine Years Deprived of a Sheet of Paper Solomon Northup 13

A Whole Race Begins to Read Booker T. Washington 25

The Negro in Literature and Art W. E. B. Du Bois 41

The Power 1900-1968

Books and Things Zora Neale Hurston 49

Poetry Is Practical Langston Hughes 57

The Business of the Writer James Baldwin 57

Turning Point Malcolm X 73

Lessons in Living Maya Angelou 81

Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. 93

The Site of Memory Toni Morrison 99

Where Are the People of Color in Children's Books? Walter Dean Myers 111

Reading for Revolution Stokely Carmichael [Kwame Tore] 117

Twenty-One Alice Walker 127

A Temporary Library in a Small Place Jamaica Kincaid 135

What Is an African American Classic? Henry Louis Gates Jr. 143

New Black Scribe Terry McMillan 155

The Pleasure 1968-2017

Mfa vs. Poc Junot Díaz 163

Create Dangerously Edwidge Danticat 173

How to Write Colson Whitehead 187

From Jamaica to Minnesota to Myself Marlon James 193

I Once Was Miss America Roxane Gay 199

The Mecca TA-Nehisi Coates 207

The Danger of the Single Story Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 215

Bonus Feature What Books Mean to Me President Barack Obama An Interview With Michino Kakutani 225

Permissions and Credits 237

Acknowledgments 241

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/01/2017
This collection brings together excerpts, essays, and interviews by 25 black authors, including legends in the canon and newer writers such as Edwidge Danticat, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Roxane Gay, Colson Whitehead, and Marlon James. Written between 1845 and 2017, the works range from memoirs on the power of reading during slavery and emancipation to narratives of how certain books and authors shaped these writers' lives and straightforward advice on composition; all address the centrality of literacy to black liberation, both personally and politically. Many of these pieces, such as those by Maya Angelou, Frederick Douglass, and Malcolm X, will be familiar to those steeped in black history and literature. In an effort to be a tight and fast-moving read, some samples feel disjointed excerpted from their original books, and the very brief introductions to each piece are at times lacking in necessary historical context. But taken as a whole, this survey of what it means to be a black reader and writer is an important and long overdue project. VERDICT An essential collection for readers and students of black history and literature.—Kate Stewart, Arizona Historical Soc., Tucson

Library Journal

10/30/2017
A passion for books pervades every page of this anthology of black writers’ reflections on reading and writing. Without the weight of a hefty textbook, this anthology acts as an enticing introduction to African-American writing from the 19th century to the present. Oliver’s approach is kaleidoscopic, encompassing Solomon Northrup clandestinely making ink by “boiling white maple bark,” Frederick Douglass swapping bread with poor white children for reading lessons from them, Martin Luther King discovering Thoreau and Gandhi, and Stokely Carmichael discovering African history. Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Zora Neale Hurston are here, along with such non-U.S.-born writers as Edwidge Danticat and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Oliver (Song for My Father) keeps the focus sharply on matters literary: Jamaica Kincaid mourns the loss of her childhood library to a storm, Terry McMillan finds an Afro-American-literature class in his first-year college course catalogue, and Ta-Nehisi Coates gorges himself on Howard University’s library. Additionally, Junot Díaz describes seeking, and then creating, “a safe supportive environment” for writers of color, and Colson Whitehead issues witty and practical writing rules. This work of discovery, recovery, and uncovering is, for any reader, an eye-opener. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Imagine an intimate, fiery conversation between Frederick Douglass, Roxane Gay, and Barack Obama, in which reading is extolled as among 'the first miracles along the path to Black authorship.' A breathtaking anthology celebrating the power of the written word to forge change."

the Oprah Magazine O

A tantalizing sampler of 25 brilliant black U.S. writers from 1845 to the present... Black Ink is the sort of book that opens doors to other books...a first-rate introduction to some of the best in African American literary culture.

Starred Review Shelf Awareness

"...an inspiring anthology of excerpts from books and essays by 25 black icons on the dangers and joys of education."

The Star

"...a collection of great literary essays."

Nylon - Glory Edim

This electric and electrifying collection of voices serves to open a much needed window onto the freedom struggle of black literature. It’s a marvel and a genuine gift for readers everywhere.

Wil Haygood

"An important anthology of writings by black luminaries on the influence of the written language on their, and our, political, social and cultural experience."

The Root

Black writers have used writing and reading to create, find and sometimes save their lives. Stephanie Stokes Oliver invites the reader into a black magic circle of incendiary, replenishing and inspiring ideas, memories and meditations on the power of literacy and imagination by the writers we treasure. It was a pleasure to re-read established classics and discover new classic arguments for the power of the written and read word.”

Living Out Loud: A Writer’s Journey - Marita Golden

"Stephanie Stokes Oliver pulls together African American literary giants who seem to make literacy something that should be in bold neon letters. Indeed, the essays you’ll find in here will make bookworms want to stand up and cheer."

The Miami Times

"If you have loved ones that cherish words, get them a copy of Black Ink...Stephanie Stokes Oliver gathers the thoughts of the greatest African-American thinkers from Booker T. Washington to Ta-Nehisi Coates. Their insight is priceless."

Essence

"Just the title of Booker T. Washington's piece: 'A Whole Race Begins to Read' about the eagerness with which former enslaved persons strove to educate themselves, after the Civil War, well, just the thought of it, might bring us to our knees. We were liberated by literacy! And always will be. If Douglass and Washington and others had neglected to learn to read we might still be enslaved. Which should remind us today that television isn't the same as reading. Reading demands the inner work that true liberation requires."

Alice Walker

"Black Ink presents the brilliant diversity of black thought in America while solidifying the importance of these writers within the greater context of the American literary tradition."

Bustle

"If you have loved ones that cherish words, get them a copy of Black Ink...Stephanie Stokes Oliver gathers the thoughts of the greatest African-American thinkers from Booker T. Washington to Ta-Nehisi Coates. Their insight is priceless."

Essence

2017-10-09
Writers testify to the significance of reading and writing in their lives.In a well-chosen selection of essays by black writers from Frederick Douglass to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and including a candid interview with book-lover and author Barack Obama, former Essence editor Oliver (Song for My Father: Memoir of an All-American Family, 2004, etc.) offers ample testimony to the power of the written word. For slaves coming from disparate African countries, it is likely, writes poet Nikki Giovanni in her foreword, that the first word they had in common was "sold." Stories, many told through song, evolved from a need to form a community: "We write because we are lonely and scared and we need to keep our hearts open." Oliver divides the essays, most excerpted from longer works, into three sections: "The Peril, 1800-1900," represented by Douglass, Solomon Northrup, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Du Bois; "The Power, 1900-1968," which includes Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, stars of the Harlem Renaissance; James Baldwin; Malcolm X; and important contemporary writers, such as Nobel Prize-winning Toni Morrison, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.; Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker; and prolific bestseller Maya Angelou; and "The Pleasure, 1968-2018," which features acclaimed, multiple award-winning writers (several have been awarded MacArthur Fellowships) such as Junot Díaz, Roxane Gay, Colson Whitehead, and Ta-Nehisi Coates. Walker reveals that poetry lifted her from suicidal depression. Morrison sees her work as an extension of and "complement" to slave narratives. Gay writes about her love of the Sweet Valley High series of young-adult novels, whose "blond and thin and perfect" characters were models of all she wanted to be. Díaz writes of his despair in Cornell's MFA program, where lack of diversity among the faculty and "the students' lack of awareness of the lens of race" threatened to silence him. Oliver's cogent author introductions contextualize each piece, making the anthology an informative overview of African-American literature.Revelatory, often moving essays by impressive writers.

Kirkus Reviews