The Sidney Lanier Cottage House Museum is the birthplace of noted poet, musician, and soldier Sidney Lanier (18421881). Among the objects on view at the Cottage are one of Sidney Lanier's flutes (a silver, alto flute made by the Badger Flute Company), Mary Day's wedding dress of 1867, and several portraits and first editions.
The museum offers exhibits and tours (include tours specifically designed for schoolchildren).
This Italianate turn-of-the-century structure was the final home of the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. It exhibits his literary treasures, many of his personal items and his family's furnishings. During his short lifetime Dunbar became known as the poet laureate of African Americans. Drawing on his observations of society and the experience of his parents—both former slaves—he gave voice to the social dilemma of disenfranchised people of his day and became a proclaimer of black dignity.
The site offers exhibits and tours.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, born in 1872 in Dayton, OH, to a former slave and a veteran of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, was a poet and novelist known for his innovative use of dialect and colorful language, and is widely-recognized as the first African American poet to gain widespread international attention. This website makes available more than 200 of his poems, transcribed, listed alphabetically by title, and keyword searchable.
It also presents a fully browseable collection of more than 10 of his books, ranging in date from Oak and Ivy (1893) through Joggin' Erlong (1906,) and also including Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896), which includes the famous "Ode to Ethiopia," for which he gained national recognition. The website also contains the sheet music and transcribed libretto for three songs for which Dunbar wrote the words.
These works are accompanied by a selection of 11 photographs of Dunbar, his friends, and family, as well as 20 images of the covers of his books.
Annotated versions of most of the material published by Poe during his lifetime (18091849) are presented on these two websites, including at least one example of all surviving poems and tales and in many cases multiple versions. Materials include selections of Poe's literary reviews and essays on a variety of subjects, including aesthetics, dreams, etiquette, and American literature. Also available are autobiographical writings, hundreds of letters, and miscellaneous documents, including a bill of sale for a slave. Bibliographies and an annotated chronology are available.
The complete facsimile and transcript versions of the March 1925 Survey Graphic special "Harlem Number," edited by Alain Locke, is presented here. Locke later republished and expanded the contents as the famous New Negro anthology. The effort constituted "the first of several attempts to formulate a political and cultural representation of the New Negro and the Harlem community" of the 1920s.
The journal is divided into three sections: "The Greatest Negro Community in the World," "The Negro Expresses Himself," and "Black and White—Studies in Race Contacts." The site also includes essays by Locke, W.E.B. DuBois, and James Weldon Johnson; poems by Countee Cullen, Anne Spencer, Angelina Grimke, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Langston Hughes; and quotations from reviews of the issue.
The lives and works of 13 renowned American poets are interpreted through dramatic readings, archival photographs, dance, performances, and interviews in this inspiring series. Illustrative poems in each program are accompanied by insights into their historical and cultural connections. The series covers the terminology of poetry and the larger role of poets in American and world literature studies. Poets include Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Elizabeth Bishop. This video instructional series on American poetry is appropriate for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; it consists of 13 one-hour video programs and coordinated books.
"American Passages: A Literary Survey" is a 16-part American literature course. The video programs, print guides, and website place literary movements and authors within the context of history and culture. The course takes an expanded view of American literary movements, bringing in a diversity of voices and tracing the continuity among them. The materials, which are coordinated with the Norton Anthology of American Literature, can be used as the basis of a one- or two-semester college-level course or for teacher professional development.
Professor Diana Schaub reviews the life and views of W.E.B. Du Bois, looking particularly at Du Bois's views on education and his debate and disagreements with Booker T. Washington. This lecture continues from the lecture "W.E.B. Du Bois, Part One."
To listen to this lecture, scroll to the Tuesday, August third, 4:30 pm-6:00 pm session; and select the corresponding RealAudio link to the left.
An older version of this lecture can be found here.
Professor Lucas E. Morel reviews the life and views of W.E.B. Du Bois, looking at the solutions he proposed to the problem of race relations in the U.S. and the implications of those solutions. Morel also looks at Du Bois's debate and disagreements with Booker T. Washington.
To listen to this lecture, scroll to the Tuesday, August third, 10:50 am-12:15 pm session; and select the corresponding RealAudio link to the left.
An older version of this lecture can be found here.
Dr. Raymond Wolters examines the life of W.E.B. Du Bois and his roles as both scholar and activist.
To listen to this lecture, scroll to the Tuesday, August fifth, guest lecture; and select the corresponding RealAudio link to the left.