Angelou, Maya.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
, Bantam Books, New York, 1985.
Angelou, Maya.
Gather Together In My Name
, Bantam Books, New York, 1985.
These two autobiographical novels are very popular with students and are both in the bookroom at Hillhouse High.
Black American Literature
:
Essays, Poetry, Fiction, Drama
. Edited by Darwin T. Turner. Charles Merrill Publishing Co., Columbus, Ohio, 1970.
This collection contains essays by Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Eldridge Cleaver.
Fiction by Charles Chestnut, Richard Wright, Zora Hurston, James Baldwin and many others. There is a short introduction to each piece with information on the author. It is a wonderful collection and the essays can be used to study personal thoughts of authors of poetry and fiction.
Douglass, Frederick.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
:
An American Slave
:
written by himself
. Signet Books, New York, 1968.
This is a classic piece of writing. It is beautiful, not only in its form of rhetoric and style, but in its tribute to the human spirit of courage in the face of atrocity. The whole book or excerpts from it can be used in the classroom.
DuBois, W. E. Burghardt.
The Souls of Black Folk
:
Essays and Sketches
. Fawcett Publications, Inc. Greenwich, Ct, 1961.
Any student who is interested in writing on prejudice and who wishes to gain insight from a great heart and mind should read this book. I especially recommend “Of the Quest of the Golden Fleece”.
Hellman, Lillian.
Pentimento,
Signet Books, New York, 1973.
This is an autobiography of Lillian Hellman. It is useful for classroom reference for those students interested in her drama and also because in writing her memories she reflects so often on her personal feelings. These reflections are what is truly valuable in autobiographical material and the section on “Bethe” is an excellent illustration.
Hurston, Zora Neale.
Dust Tracks on a Road
. University of Illinois Press. Urbana and Chicago, 1984.
Hurston, Zora Neale.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
. University of Illinois Press. Urbana 1976.
A work of fiction which is highly autobiographical. Used to teach this unit.
King, Jr., Martin Luther. Why
We Can’t Wait
. Signet Books, New York, 1963.
This book contains the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Chapter 5. This letter of protest against injustice-against racial prejudice has become a classic. It is also a model for rhetoric and logic to be used in writing.
Parks, Gondon.
The Learning Tree
. Fawcett Publications. Greenwich, C.T, 1963.
This is a fictionalized autobiography of Gondon Parks’ younger years. It is popular with the students and should be in the classroom for reference in this unit.
Parks, Gondon.
A Choice of Weapons
. Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. New York, 1965.
This book is a continuation of
The Learning Tree
and is also very well liked. They become useful examples of autobiography in this unit.
Rico, Gabriele Lusser.
Writing the Natural Way
:
Using Right-Brain Techniques to Release Your Creative Powers,
J. P. Tarcher, Inc. Los Angeles, 1983.
The technique of clustering is demonstrated in this book and is very useful to students in any writing assignment.
Rivera, Edward.
Family Installments
:
Memories of Growing Up Hispanic
. Penguin Books. New York, 1982.
The installments are autobiographical memories of the author,s childhood in New York. The work may be treated as short stories, as in “In Black Turf” or as a whole book.
Walker, Alice.
In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens
. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich Publishers, San Diego, 1983.
This book of essays by Alice Walker is a good reference for those students looking for her personal attitudes and feeling; see, for example “The Civil Rights Movement—What Good Was it?” There are two chapters on Zora Neale Hurston and they are an excellent “follow up” to the lessons in this unit.
Wideman, John Edgar.
Brothers and Keepers
. Penguin Books. New York, 1984.
The author writes in the voice of two men: his own and his brother’s. The voices become like a chorus for the tragedy of the lives they tell. This book, too, may be used in parts as short stories. I suggest the story of Garth; (pages 59 to 66) and the summer of 1968. (pages 111 to 120)
A World Unsuspected: Portraits of Southern Childhood
. Edited by Alex Harris. University of North Caroline Press, Chapel Hill.
I recommend “Going Up to Atlanta” by James Allan McPherson. McPherson wrote this piece about his father. He used memories and writes with feeling about how he had once expected and believed the worst things about his father and found instead great goodness and beauty of spirit in him. It is a work filled with paradox and one which students will enjoy a great deal.
Wright, William.
Lillian Hellman: The Image, The Woman
. Ballantine Books. New York, 1986.
This biography is filled with what seems to be anti-sentiment for Lillian hellman. It serves as an illustration for recognizing the place of fantasy and fiction even in so-called autobiography. In other words, perhaps Ms. Hellman was a liar at times but her story was very good.
