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 Neal wrote two important essays that attempted to define the Black Arts Movement

   

Books by Larry Neal

Black Fire  / Hoodoo Hollerin Bebop Ghosts

 

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Larry Neal Chronology

(3 September 1937 -- 6 January 1981) 

1937 -- Lawrence P. Neal was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Woodie and Maggie Neal. The family moved to Philadelphia that Larry and his four brothers grew up

1956 -- Graduated from Roman Catholic High School with an academic degree.

1961 -- Graduated from Lincoln University, a predominantly black school in Pennsylvania that, at the the time of enrollment was all male.

1963 --  Received an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

1963 --1976 -- Taught at six universities, including City College of New York (1968-1969) and Yale University (1970-1975); writer in residence at Wesleyan University (1969-1970)

1964 -- Married Evelyn Rodgers of Fairfield, Alabama.

1964 -- Worked as copywriter for John Wiley and Sons. Wrote for Liberator magazine, a publication for which he became arts editor. During Liberator period (1964-1966), Neal wrote journalistic accounts of cultural events and conducted interviews with writers, artists, and musicians. A principal mover with LeRoi Jones in a group that created the Black Arts Repertory Theatre.

1964 --1970 -- Made five television appearances, usually as a moderator on Soul, Like It Is, Time for America,; guests included Harry belafonte, Lena Horne, Clayton Riley, and Nikki Giovanni.

1964 -- "The Negro in the Theatre," Drama Critque, 7 (Spring 1964).

1965 -- "Cultural front," Liberator, 5 (June 1965): 26.

1965 -- Shot by someone who disliked his politics upon leaving the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

1966 and 1967 -- Published a number of essays in Negro Digest that explored the centrality of black music and black musicians to a black aesthetic. Neal possessed some talent as a pianist and flutist.

1966 -- "Lenox Avenue Sunday," Television, Repertory Workshop.

1966 -- "The Black Writer's Role -- James Baldwin," Liberator, 6 (April 1966): 10.

1968 -- Neal and Baraka edited Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing; Neal wrote two important essays that attempted to define the Black Arts Movement. Just as Alain Locke's New Negro captured the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance, Black Fire captured the spirit of the Black Arts Movement. Contains works by Harold Cruse, Stokely Carmichael, Sonia Sanchez, and Ed Bullins; William Mahoney, Lindsey Barrett, Marvin Jackmon (Marvin X), and Charles Fuller.

1968 -- "Black Writer's Views on Literary Lions and Values," Negro Digest, 17 (January 1968): 35.

1968 -- "Cultural Nationalism and Black Theatre," Black Theatre, no. 1 (1968): 8-10.

1968 -- "The Black Arts Movement," Drama Review, 12 (Summer 1968): 29-39.

1968 -- Guest Editor, The Journal of Black Poetry (Summer, 1968)

1969 -- Black Boogaloo: Notes on Black Liberation (first book of poetry) published by Journal of Black Poetry Press. Trippin': A Need for Change by Neal, Amiri Baraka, and A.B. Spellman (Newark: New Ark).

1969 -- "Any Day Now: Black Art and Black Liberation," Ebony, 24 (August 1969): 54-58, 62.

1969 -- "Toward a Relevant Black Theatre," Black Theatre, no. 4 (1969): 14-15.

1970 -- "Politics as Ritual: Ellison's Zoo Suit," Black World, 20 (December 1970): 31-52.

1970 -- "Free Southern Theatre, the Conquest of the South," Drama Review, 14 (1970): 169-174

1971 --  Evelyn and Larry adopted son Avatar. Hoodoo Hollerin Bebop Ghosts (second volume of poetry).

1971 -- Holler S.O.S., Screenplay, Johns Hopkins University, 1971.

1972 -- "Into Nationalism Out of Parochialism," Performance, no. 2 (April 1972): 32-40.

1972 -- "The Ethos of the Blues," Black Scholar, 3 (Summer 1972); 42-48.

1972 -- Uncle Rufus Raps on the Squared Circle," Partisan Review, 39 (1972): 44-62.

1973 -- Moving On Up, Screenplay, A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1973

1976 -- The Glorious Monster in the Bell of the Horn, New York, Frank Silvera's Writers Workshop.

1976 -- "The Black Contribution to American Letters: Part II, The Writer as Activist -- 1960 and After." in The Black American Reference Book, by Mabel M. Smythe (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.) Prentice-Hall, 1976), pp. 767-790.

1976-1979 -- Worked as executive director of the Commission on the Arts and Humanities in Washington, D.C.

Source: Dictionary f Literary Biography. Afro-American Writers After 1955: Dramatists and Prose Writers (Volume 38)

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posted 5 November 2006

 

 

Home    Amiri Baraka Table  Black Arts and Black Power Figures

Related Files:  Neal Interview in Omowe   Larry Neal Chronology  The Black Arts Movement  (Larry Neal)  “Don’t Say Goodbye to the Pork Pie Hat  Larry Neal Bio 

  Larry Neal Speaks  Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing