Together we belonged
along with countless others
human beasts of burden
to the proud Marquesa . . .
Juan Francisco Manzano has never known any other life. Born into the household of a wealthy slaveowner in Cuba in 1797, he spent his early years by the side of a woman who made him call her Mamá, even though he had a mama of his own. Denied an education, young Juan still showed an exceptional talent for poetry. His verses reflect...

A compilation of writings by early twentieth-century African-American author Langston Hughes, including excerpts from novels and autobiographies, short stories, plays, poems, songs, and essays.

Fifteen chapters consider the political, economic, ideological, and psychological effect of the Haitian revolution. The chapters discuss influence on slave resistance and the expansion of slavery, as well as the opening of economic frontiers, and the formation of Black and white Diasporas. They also show how the Haitian revolution shaped the debates about race and slavery, and inspired plays, novels, and poetry. The contributors include historians...

"Songbooks, a critical guide to American popular music writing, unfolds chronologically, with entries on authors, artists, and topics beginning with William Billings's 1770 New-England Psalm-Singer. Outsiders proliferate in these pages: women and/or writers of color, authors displaced by sexuality, self-educated scholars, elites deviating from norms. Their work routinely took non-academic shapes: compilations of songs, memoirs and biographies, fiction...