Books by Etheridge Knight
Poems from Prison /
Black Voices from Prison
/
Belly Song and Other Poems
Born of a Woman
/
Essential Etheridge Knight
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A
Conversation with Myself
By Etheridge Knight
What am I
doing here
in these
missouri hills
hitch / hiking
these hi / ways
where farmers
fondle their
guns
and eye my back
the cars zoom
by
zoom zoom zoom
and disappear
around the bend
I sit
on the abutment
of a small bridge
and wait
reading mari evans’ book
below me a brook
gurgles along
a field of corn,
green waving in the wind
five cows stand
swishing their tails
in the shade
of three cedars
a hi / way cop
passes
and
slows down
peering in his
rear / view mirror
I clutch
I am a Black Woman
like
a security
blanket
I turn and
show my teeth
and
the book
the cop gasses
the engine
and disappears
I scramble
down
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Source: Callaloo. 19.4 (Fall 1996): 940–46 |
posted 18 December 2005Etheridge Knight, born in
Corinth, Mississippi, perhaps will be remembered for his
excellence in blending oral and poetic traditions as he
tried to create works that confronted personal and
social dimensions with relentless honesty. Some critics
praised him on his ability to render the genre of the
toast as high art. He began writing poetry in 1963 while
he was incarcerated at Indiana prison. His books include
Poems from Prison,
Black Voices from Prison,
Belly Song and Other Poems,
Born of a Woman,
and the
Essential Etheridge Knight. Knight
received NEA grants in 1972 and 1980 and won a
Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974. His work is included in
such anthologies as Dices and Black Bones,
Norton Anthology of American Poets, New Black
Voices, and Black Poets. Etheridge died in
1991.
Source:
Black Southern Voices, Edited
by John Oliver Killens and Jerry W. Ward, Jr.
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Guide to the Etheridge Knight
Collection
Special Collections
and Rare Books, Irwin Library, Butler University
Etheridge Knight was born on April
19, 1931, in Corinth, Mississippi. In 1947, two years
after dropping out of school in the eighth grade, Knight
joined the army. He saw active duty in the Korean War,
during which he received a shrapnel wound. By the time
he was discharged from the army in 1957, Knight was
suffering from addictions to drugs and alcohol. He
turned to crime to support his habit, and in 1960 was
arrested for robbery. While serving an eight-year prison
term in the Indiana State Prison Knight wrote poetry.
Renowned poet Gwendolyn Brooks met Knight during a
prison visit and encouraged his writing. In 1968 Knight
saw his first book published, Poems from Prison
(Broadside Press).
Knight entered into a successful
period during the early 1970s, enjoying Popularity and
recognition. He led Free People’s Poetry Workshops
(including one in Indianapolis), gave numerous readings,
and was a poet in residence at the University of
Pittsburgh, the University of Hartford, and Lincoln
University. His critical acclaim included a grant from
the National Endowment for the Arts (1972) and a
fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation (1974). He
continued to be plagued, however, by his addictions, and
periodically sought treatment from veterans' hospitals.
The next decade saw the publication
of two volumes of poetry, including The Essential
Etheridge Knight (1986), which brought together pieces
from his five volumes of poetry. In 1989 Knight once
again led a Free People’s Poetry Workshop in
Indianapolis, which ran until his death. He worked with
Butler University’s Writer’s Studio in 1990, the same
year that he earned a bachelor’s degree in American
poetry and criminal justice from Martin Center
University in Indianapolis. On March 10, 1991, Knight
died from lung cancer. The Etheridge Knight Festival of
the Arts was held in Indianapolis in 1992 and 1993, and
in 1993 the Indiana Arts Commission posthumously awarded
Knight the Governor’s Arts Award.
Scope and Content
This collection contains the
personal and literary papers in Etheridge Knight’s
possession upon his death. Some items date as far back
as 1965, but most fall into the period from 1982 to
1991. A collection of Knight’s earlier literary and
personal papers is housed at the Ward M. Canaday Center
at the University of Toledo. The bulk of this collection
is received correspondence, although there is a series
of letters written by Etheridge Knight. The received
correspondence has been subdivided into two categories:
personal and professional.
http://www.butler.edu/library/PDF/rare/knight.pdf
Contact Information: Special
Collections and Rare Books / Irwin Library / Butler
University / 4600 Sunset Avenue / Indianapolis, Indiana
46208-3485 USA / Phone: 317.940.9265 / Fax: 317.940.8039
/
schildsh@butler.edu /
http://www.butler.edu/library/libinfo/rare/
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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update 3 January 2009
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