And the Beat Goes On….New Direction on the HBW Blog

[By Kenton Rambsy]

On February 22, 2011, I founded the HBW blog in the attempt to fill a void—that void being a no central online resource dedicated to writing about African American novels and its history. Two years later, with nearly 300 entries and over 200,000 hits, the blog has grown and serves as an online representation of the Project on the History of Black Writing (HBW). The initial blogging project to provide a few entries on 100 of the Project’s novels has certainly surpassed my imagination for what could be possible in terms of presenting research findings to an online audience.

The growth and sustainability of the blog requires new voices and ideas in order for the site to continue to meet its goals of being an outpost for African American novel history. Therefore, as my graduate career begins to pivot in other directions, I must step down as editor-in-chief in order to devote my attention to other areas and ensure the future of this website. While I will still occasionally blog, the day-to-day responsibilities of the site will now be headed by Goyland Williams as he expands the focus of the blog and continues to cultivate an online community interested in exploring content related to black novels, black popular culture, and digital humanities.

The HBW blog has served as an online outpost where I could focus on advancing the Project’s goal of literary recovery work in black studies; professional development, curriculum change and innovation; and, public literacy programming. As editor, I have had the opportunity to write nearly 100 entries, recruit a regular blogging staff dedicated to writing about black novels and culture, cultivate an impressive roster of guest bloggers, and develop a series of online timelines and various resources geared towards the study of African American literature. Below, I have catalogued a series of entries I have done over the past two years and arranged the various blogs by content and theme.

As the song says, “And, the beat goes on” as the HBW blog continues to work on filling a major void and serving as an online reservoir for  content pertaining to black artistic culture in novels, music, and digital culture. 

Blogging About African American Literature—Various Topics related to Black Novels and Autobiographies 

♦100 Novels: Trend Analyses Project—February 22, 2011

♦The Great Migration—March 1, 2011

♦Men and Migration—Revisited—March 15, 2011

♦Black Men, Education, and Political Activism—March 29, 2011

♦Literary Traditions: Education and Political Activism—April 5, 2011

♦Black Men and Informal Educational Networks—April 12, 2011

♦Education and Revolution: Reading the novels of Sutton E.Griggs and Toni Morrison—April 19, 2011

♦How Richard Wright’s Mother and Grandmother Taught him to Revere the Imaginative—May 3, 2011

♦Richard Wright’s Formal and Informal Networks—May 10, 2011

♦Struggles for Freedom: Kanye West and Toni Morrison’s Artistic Renderings of Flight—August 29, 2011

♦The Race for Theory: Black Women’s Literary Contributions—September 12, 2011

♦Musical Influences on Black Writing— October 24, 2011

♦100 Novels Project Revisited—November 7, 2011

♦Occupy Wall Street and Ralph Ellison: African American Novels and Organized Resistance—November 8, 2011

♦Protest and Organized Resistance in 5 Black Novels—November 9, 2011

♦The Function of Voice: Narrating in the Third Person—November 13, 2012

30 Days of 100 Novels

♦30 Days of 100 Novels—January 23, 2012

Various Entries on Black Literature and Rap Genius

♦Rap Genius and Black Literature—March 25, 2013

♦7 Ways that Rap Genius Assists Digital African American Literary Scholarship—April 2, 2013

♦Follow Up: 7 Links That Demonstrate Rap Genius's Connection To Digital African American Literary Scholarship—April 3, 2013

♦Jay-Z, Zora Neale Hurston, and Rap Genius: African American Expressive Culture and "Swag"—April 15, 2013

♦What Literary Scholars Can Learn from Rap Genius—October 16,2012

Digital Humanities

♦Mixtapes, Digital Humanities, and Black Studies—October 17,2012

♦Black Studies and Digital Humanities: A Growing List of Online Resources—October 18, 2012

♦Text Mining: Two Short Stories By Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright—November 12, 2012

♦Access Stunts Digital Studies in Black Literature—October 15, 2012

♦Digital Humanities: Blogging About Black Culture—September 26, 2011

♦Digital Perspective—March 28, 2011

African American Literary History—Timelines and Resources

♦The Evolution of Novel Covers—December 1, 2011

♦The Growing Importance of Authors Awarded Fellowships—December 2, 2011

♦49 African American Novels on Wikipedia—December 5, 2011

♦The Growing Importance of Formal Education—December 6, 2011

♦The Prominence of NYC, Chicago, and California—December 7,2011

♦The Significance of Novel Time Period—December 8, 2011

♦Literary Vantage Points: Multiple Perspectives of James Baldwin—May 2, 2011

♦Literary Vantage Points: Multiple Perspectives of Zora Neale Hurston—May 9, 2011

♦Literary Vantage Points: Multiple Perspectives of Richard Wright—May 16, 2011

♦Literary Vantage Points: Kevin Reeves Book Launch and Interview—June 13, 2011

♦Timeline Series—African American Novel History—May 21, 2012

♦95 Dates of Importance in African American Novel History—May 29, 2012

♦Black Literary Images (1)—March 18, 2013

♦Black Literary Images (2)—April 22, 2013

Oprah Winfrey and African American Literature

♦Oprah Winfrey and Black Literature—March 8, 2011

♦Timeline: Oprah Winfrey and African-American Literature—May 29, 2012

♦Oprah Winfrey: A Sponsor of African American Novelists—May 29, 2012

♦Oprah’s Book Club and Toni Morrison—May 30, 2012

♦Oprah Winfrey and The Color Purple—May 31, 2012

♦Oprah Winfrey--A Sponsor of Black Artistic Culture—June 20,2012

The Coverage Of…Various Subjects in Black Culture and Literature

♦The Coverage of... Manning Marable and Malcolm X—April 19,2011

♦The Coverage Of...The Passing of Gil Scott-Heron—June 6,2011

♦The Coverage Of...GIl Scott Heron's Video Interviews—June 7,2011

♦The Coverage Of...The "Live" Performances of Gil Scott-Heron— June 8, 2011

♦The Coverage of... Tupac Shakur and the Celebration of his Birthday—June 16, 2011

♦The Poetry of Tupac Shakur—June 16, 2011

♦The Coverage Of...Daniel Rasmussen’s—American Uprising—September 6, 2011

♦Nikky Finney: 2011 National Book Award for Poetry Recipient—November 21, 2011

♦The Coverage of…Nikky Finney—National Book Award for Poetry—November 22, 2011

♦The Coverage Of... The Radical Martin Luther King—January 16, 2012

Break It Down—Explaining Black Novels

♦Break It Down: Song of Solomon—June 4, 2012

♦Break It Down: Invisible Man—June 5, 2012

♦Break It Down: Go Tell It on the Mountain—June 6, 2012

♦Break It Down: Apex Hides the Hurt—June 7, 2012

Public Events with HBW and the University of Kansas

♦Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself—April 18, 2011

♦The KU Organizer—Professor Tony Bolden—January 19, 2012

♦Make It Funky III—Professor Adam Bradley—January 19, 2012

♦The Black Arts Enterprise—Professor Howard Rambsy—January 19, 2012

♦Nikky Finney: The Role of the Writer and Critic—September 12, 2012