Bennett, Lerone JR.,
Before the Mayflower A History of Black America
. Chicago: Johnson Pub., 1982.
An excellent prose account of black history from 1619-1981. Also lists by month and year the achievements and accomplishments by and affecting blacks over a 360 year period.
An edited collection: Chapman, Abraham, ed.,
Black Voices
, New York, The New American Library, Inc., 1968.
A varied collection of poetry, fiction, literary criticism and autobiographies provides you with a rounded perspective of Negro writing.
Current, Williams & Freidel,
American History: A Survey
. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1971.
A general history of America containing some good articles concerning events effecting black America.
Elbow, Peter,
Writing with Power Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process
. New York: Oxford, 1981. Contains various techniques for motivating the writer, for focusing on mainpoints and for completing writing tasks, to name a few areas.
A Selected Collection: Hopkins, Bennett Lee,
Don’t Your Turn Back
, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.
A children’s book with poetry by Langston Hughes on black pride, dreams and struggles.
A Selected Collection: Hopkins, Bennett Lee,
On Our Way Poems of Pride and Love
, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1974.
A book geared towards children containing poems on Blackness, feelings, remembrances and love.
Hughes, Langston,
A Pictorial History of Black Americans
. New York: Crown Publishers, 1973.
An excellent visual aid containing documents, sketches, written description and photographs depicting black history from 1619 to the beginning of the 1970’s.
An edited collection: Hughes & Bontemps, eds.,
The Poetry of the Negro 1746-1970
, New York, Doubleday & Co., 1970.
A good comprehensive collection of well-known Negro poets.
Kerber & Jett,
The Teaching of Creative Poetry
. New York: The Waldemar Press, 1956.
Good book stressing the connectedness of writing, speaking, and reading.
Koch, Kenneth:
Wishes, Lies and Dreams Teaching Children to Write Poetry
. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.
Contains many examples of children’s poetry as directed by Koch’s motivating activities.
Meier & Rudwick:
From Plantation to Ghetto
. New York: Hill & Wang, 1976.
A Historical account of the Negro movement from Africa to the mid-70’s. Many bibliographical suggestions.
Ravenel III, William B.:
English Reference Book
. Charleston Walker, Evans & Cogswell Co., 1974.
Contains grammatical and compositional rules and exercises, a dictionary of literary terms and outlines of study from short stories to poems.
Rico, Garielelusser:
Writing the Natural Way
. New York: J.P. Tarcher, Inc., 1983.
Contains step by step instructions for writing poetry creatively.
Shaughnessy, Mina P.:
Errors and Expectations A Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing
: Oxford Press, 1979.
Contains various activities for reducing errors in vocabulary, punctuation, spelling, and syntax.