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Unsung: Unheralded Narratives of American Slavery & Abolition
A new historical anthology from transatlantic slavery to Reconstruction, curated by the Schomburg Center. Unsung makes the case for focusing on the histories of Black people as agents and architects of their own lives and ultimate liberation, with a foreword by Kevin Young and introduction by Michelle D. Commander
This is the first Penguin Classics anthology published in partnership with the Schomburg Center, a world-renowned cultural institution documenting black life in America and worldwide. A historic branch of NYPL located in Harlem, the Schomburg holds one of the world's premiere collections of slavery material within the Lapidus Center for Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery. Unsung will place well-known documents by abolitionists alongside lesser-known life stories and overlooked or previously uncelebrated accounts of the everyday lives and activism that were central in the slavery era, but that are mostly excised from today's master accounts. Unsung will also highlight related titles from founder Arturo Schomburg's initial rare histories and first-person narratives about slavery that assisted his generation in understanding the roots of their contemporary social struggles. Unsung will draw from the Schomburg's rich holdings in order to lead a dynamic discussion of slavery, rebellion, resistance, and anti-slavery protest in the United States.
This is the first Penguin Classics anthology published in partnership with the Schomburg Center, a world-renowned cultural institution documenting black life in America and worldwide. A historic branch of NYPL located in Harlem, the Schomburg holds one of the world's premiere collections of slavery material within the Lapidus Center for Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery. Unsung will place well-known documents by abolitionists alongside lesser-known life stories and overlooked or previously uncelebrated accounts of the everyday lives and activism that were central in the slavery era, but that are mostly excised from today's master accounts. Unsung will also highlight related titles from founder Arturo Schomburg's initial rare histories and first-person narratives about slavery that assisted his generation in understanding the roots of their contemporary social struggles. Unsung will draw from the Schomburg's rich holdings in order to lead a dynamic discussion of slavery, rebellion, resistance, and anti-slavery protest in the United States.
656 pages, Paperback
First published February 9, 2021
12 people are currently reading
438 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Young
87 books373 followersKevin Young is an American poet heavily influenced by the poet Langston Hughes and the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Young graduated from Harvard College in 1992, was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University (1992-1994), and received his MFA from Brown University. While in Boston and Providence, he was part of the African-American poetry group, The Dark Room Collective.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Young is the author of Most Way Home, To Repel Ghosts, Jelly Roll, Black Maria, For The Confederate Dead, Dear Darkness, and editor of Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Writers; Blues Poems; Jazz Poems and John Berryman's Selected Poems.
His Black Cat Blues, originally published in The Virginia Quarterly Review, was included in The Best American Poetry 2005. Young's poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and other literary magazines. In 2007, he served as guest editor for an issue of Ploughshares. He has written on art and artists for museums in Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
His 2003 book of poems Jelly Roll was a finalist for the National Book Award.
After stints at the University of Georgia and Indiana University, Young now teaches writing at Emory University, where he is the Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing, as well as the curator of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, a large collection of first and rare editions of poetry in English.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Young is the author of Most Way Home, To Repel Ghosts, Jelly Roll, Black Maria, For The Confederate Dead, Dear Darkness, and editor of Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Writers; Blues Poems; Jazz Poems and John Berryman's Selected Poems.
His Black Cat Blues, originally published in The Virginia Quarterly Review, was included in The Best American Poetry 2005. Young's poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and other literary magazines. In 2007, he served as guest editor for an issue of Ploughshares. He has written on art and artists for museums in Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
His 2003 book of poems Jelly Roll was a finalist for the National Book Award.
After stints at the University of Georgia and Indiana University, Young now teaches writing at Emory University, where he is the Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing, as well as the curator of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, a large collection of first and rare editions of poetry in English.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 7, 2024
A great anthology, they really did well with this one. Not every section is captivating and certainly some were not the easiest to read, both in content as well as style, but the ground covered here is really impressive. It’s not simple to know where to start or what to look for when reading primary sources, but to have so many spanning an era in American history put briefly into historical context is incredible. Articles, court documents, poems, plays, abolitionist propaganda, media for kids, fictional stories, speeches, and many personal accounts create this broader web of understanding of a shameful history.
I am not sure that I was really learning a lot of new historical data on each page like one might with a more traditional book of history told by one author, but there was certainly a special kind of magic hearing from the folks involved themselves, and how their stories were told, and that is its own kind of knowledge.
I am not sure that I was really learning a lot of new historical data on each page like one might with a more traditional book of history told by one author, but there was certainly a special kind of magic hearing from the folks involved themselves, and how their stories were told, and that is its own kind of knowledge.
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June 9, 2021Dipped into this rather than read cover to-cover.
A collection of lesser-know primary sources from NYPL's Schomburg Center.
Recollection of John Brown's raid compelling, especially since I was there about 5 years ago and since I read McBride's Good Lord Bird within the last year.
Poem "Jefferson's Daughter," by William Wells Brown (1815-1884), and published in 1849 is a paradigm-changer.
A collection of lesser-know primary sources from NYPL's Schomburg Center.
Recollection of John Brown's raid compelling, especially since I was there about 5 years ago and since I read McBride's Good Lord Bird within the last year.
Poem "Jefferson's Daughter," by William Wells Brown (1815-1884), and published in 1849 is a paradigm-changer.
March 25, 2021
A truly remarkable collection of Americana from the viewpoint of slaves and abolitionists that succeeds in making you both laugh and cry as you bask in the stories of these cultural heroes.
May 21, 2021
A great introduction to the Schomburg Center's collection of black voices.
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August 6, 2021326.80922 U59 2021
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August 4, 2023DNF 2%
February 22, 2021
Read my full review here: https://savoryourreads.com/2021/02/un...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews