Explore Black History

1978

A white plastic cassette tape with recordings of two episodes of the radio program The Literary Corner.
Side A: “Introduction to the Literary Corner—Part I”
Episode 1 of the radio show Literary Corner. The episode begins with intro music consisting of conga drums playing and a whistling sound. Host Brooks Robinson then welcomes the audience to the show and introduces his guests as the show’s regular analysts. They are Professor Sarah Fabio, Professor Edris Makward and Professor Daniel Kunene. Robinson then goes on to state that the episode will begin with a discussion of the origins of black world literature before segueing into the characteristics that distinguish black world literature from European, or non-black literature. One of the men states that writing came to Sub-Saharan Africa accidentally, through European colonization and exploitation. In response to a question about early African American literature, Professor Fabio states that it is a carryover of oral literature from Africa, such as folklore, spiritual songs, blues, shouts, hollers and work songs that Africans could hold in their heads. Professor Fabio discuss individuals who have made contributions to African American literature, such as Charles Chesnutt, who she says popularized folklore in his short stories, Lucy Terry, Phillis Wheatley, Francis Harper of the abolitionist movement, Jupiter Hammond. She also mentions that Williams Wells authored the first black novel Clotel, also known as The President’s Daughter, in London, in the mid-nineteenth century. One of the gentlemen states that the difference between black literature and European literature is in the content and the form. The “I” in African literature represents a shared experience and is not singular, while the “I” in European literature is singular.
Side B: “Introduction to the Literary Corner Part—II”
Part 2 of the radio program Literary Corner: Black Writers of the World. It begins with instrumental music with conga drums; as the music fades out, host Brooks Robinson announces: “The Literary Corner: Black Writers of the World, a series of analyses and interpretations of black world literature.” Robinson then introduces his guests. Subsequently, a recap of the previous episode is played. Some of the topics they discuss include the differences between African and African-American literature; the relationship between African American writers and European literature; similarities and differences between South Africans and African Americans; the “corruption” of the African “voice” in African American literature; subalterns’ ability to distort their “voice” in order to speak to their masters/oppressors. The episode concludes with a discussion on How to go about analyzing and defining black world literature? Professor Kunene responds to a comment by Professor Sarah Fabio by stating that “It is because we are acculturated/acclimatized into a culture in which we share as communities but together with your blackness and that’s what makes it possible for us to call it black literature because our blackness is there and it’s visual, it’s visible.”

Cassette tape with two episodes of the Literary Corner radio program

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

The Literary Corner: Black Writers of the World

Time-based Media - Audio

BAM (Black Arts Movement 1965-1976)

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Contributed in memory of Professor Sarah Webster Fabio (1928-1979), poet, educator, Black Arts Movement icon, and one of the Literary Corner's analysts.

National Museum of African American History and Culture

2010.17.1.1a

audio cassettes

© Brooks B. Robinson
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

plastic and tape

H x W: 2 3/4 × 4 1/4 × 5/8 in. (7 × 10.8 × 1.6 cm)
Duration (side a): 15 min., 6 sec.
Duration (side b): 15 min., 3 sec.

Title • The Literary Corner: Introduction to the Literary Corner—Part I (side a) / Introduction to the Literary Corner Part—II (side b)

nmaahc_2010.17.1.1a

NMAAHC

THE LITERARY CORNER: INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERARY CORNER—PART I (SIDE A) / INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERARY CORNER PART—II (SIDE B)

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

1970s

Fabio, Sarah • Kunene, Daniel • Robinson, Brooks B. • Makward, Edris • Cham, Robert

United States • North and Central America

Literature • BAM (Black Arts Movement 1965-1976) • Poetry • Radio

Country • United States • Continent • North and Central America

Sound recordings

Limited Use