Portland Observer, Apnl Ö, M Ü F«fle 11
Literature changes with times
Grassroot New t. N . IF. — Black
History Month. 1983, is technically
over, but the desire to place people
o f African descent in their rightful
place historically remains a full-time
job. One procedure to keep track of
black achievements is through black
literature.
Black literature o f the 1980s d if­
fers in content and volume from
what was published years ago. Joyce
H arris, manager o f the Talking
Drum Bookstore, talks about the
current titles in the Black Books cat­
egory. “ In 1981 and 1982 one title
birth of black publishing houses and
companies. Third World Press. I PE
and Broadside Press all developed
out of a need to publish and support
our talents."
According to Ms. Harris the liter­
ary trend o f 1982-83 is historical
books. We can relate this literary
trend to what is happening in Port­
land. We had an explosion of infor­
mation brought in by consultants to
the Portland School District. People
like Asa H illia rd . John H . Clarke
and Hunter Adams all have had an
impact on what the Afro-American
A few of the many offering* of the Talking Drum Bookstore.
that came out was, Z Sought M y
Brother. This is a photo-essay re­
cording about two brothers who
spent some time in an African rain
forest with people who had retained
their traditional culture. Another is
Bod Blood, a documentation of the
Tuskegee Study where black men
were given syphilis to see how the
disease worked on their bodies."
W hat evolutionary process has
black literature gone through?
“ Maya Angelou's first title, I Know
Why The Caged Bird Sings, differs
vastly from her last novel. Heart o f
a W oman," Harris answers. "This
is just a reflection of the changes
we’ve witnessed in the world. Black
writers started to expand their con­
sciousness beyond the United States
of America. They realized the 1 turd
World's actions and reactions affect
the total A frican community. An
example is, Z Sought M y Brother.
They didn't go to Harlem or Alas­
ka, but Africa. So, black literature
o f today tends to reflect a world
consciousness."
Is this renewed Pan-Africanist
perspective a reincarnation o f the
1920s Harlem Renaissance? “ No,
not quite. In the *20s we saw a great
deal o f a Pan-Africanist theme in
our literature. 1 like to compare the
period of the Harlem Renaissance to
the 1960s—our second renaissance.
During these two periods we had a
proliferation of writers and poets.
The main difference between the
'20s and the '60s is that in the '20s
you had a lot more whites support­
ing and sponsoring black artists and
writers. But in the 1960s something
more significant happened— the
community wants to read. A t the
Talking Drum we sell more non-fic­
tion historical books than we do
fiction. For the most part it boils
down to black people in Portland
wanting to know more about them­
selves as a people."
Currently, black publishers find
themselves in a bind. “ W ell, even
the major white publishing compan­
ies are struggling. With high interest
rates, unemployment and a de­
pressed economic situation there is
no choice between a loaf of bread
and a book."
This creates a lopsided depen­
dency on white publishing com­
panies. I f these few giant companies
decline to print black books, then
no black books get published. Also
created by this situation is an extra­
ord in arily pow erful influence by
publishing companies over the writ­
er. An example Ms. Harris gives is
Ivan Van Sertima's They Came Be­
fore Columbus. "For years Dr. Van
Sertima approached many publish­
ers about his book. But it wasn't un­
til he gained the attention of Toni
Morresson that his book was
brought to publication. It took Ran­
dom House over a year to consider
publishing it and it wasn't until Dr.
Van Sertima rewrote it. When he
first presented his book it was writ­
ten as straight history. Random
House felt it would sell better if
w ritten as historical fictio n . The
book is w ritten in narrative form
and reads like a story. To the public,
a question is raised regarding the au­
thenticity o f the facts presented.
When Random House published
They Came Before Columbus, they
didn't promote it. Now this is not
just unique to Random House but
to all major publishers."
Another trend in black books is
the easy route to publication o f
books written by black women who
negatively cast the black man. “ The
publisher o f Black Macho and the
Myth o f the Superwoman, as well as
its author. Michell W allace, went
through an unusually small amount
o f effort to publicize the book. The
message in her book is that black
men were to root o f our problem.
But in reading her book a lot o f
information was not totally accur­
ate, historically. So if you know the
historical inform ation was wrong
then it is reasonable to assume the
analysis drawn from it is distorted."
Among the other variables creat­
ing a crisis in black literature is the
“ O ut o f P rin t” label which puls
many Afro-American classics out of
reach of this generation. “ One book
that fell into the out-of-print cate­
gory was The Choice, by Samuel
Y e tt. It dealt with concentration
camps for blacks in case of an emer­
gency. This is a valuable perspective
to have. Another way to bury black
classics is to keep them available
only in hardbound copies.
“ You have to be realistic about
publishing trends and recognize the
possibility of some books not being
available. Il is worth your while to
start those collections. Used book­
stores are a source and we at the
Talking Drum Bookstore have start­
ed a Used Books section. Other ex­
cellent sources are yard and ru m ­
mage sales to locate masterpieces in
black literature."
Could we compare these trends in
the publishing companies to George
Orwell's Z984? This is where histori­
cal information was cither altered or
deleted. " I f you look at the process
of taking black books out of circula­
tion, there is no reason to take out
black literature a chapter at a time
when they are removing the whole
book. T ell me when was the last
time you saw George Redmore's
Pan-Africanism or Communism! It
is another classic removed for years
under ‘Out O f P rin t.’ A brother in
D .C . was telling me o f a new addi­
tional tax levied on bookstores for
their inventories. So they are taxed
on books that aren’ t moving. And
they are not moving because the
bookstore is not promoting it." Ms.
Harris sees this development as an
insidious political move. “ I t ’s very
planned. They are keeping informa­
tion away from the masses."
A nother factor adding to this
conspiracy is the conspicuous ab­
sence o f A frican women from our
history books. "The role of African
women is not recorded and I know
there were some sisters doing many
things. Black historians such as J.A.
Rogers or Carter G . Woodson pro­
vide some information but there it
still not as much inform ation as I
know there must be. You constantly
see the same names over and over
again."
For aspiring young authors Joyce
Harris advises learning English in­
side out. “ You must be very realistic
about the market. I f you write any­
thing having to deal with black peo­
ple you might as well prepare to pro­
mote it yourself. From a ll that is
said and done that is the only way
your information will get o ut."
IT TAKES MORE
THAN G O O D GRADES
TO G O TO COLLEGE.
It you plan to go to college, you ’ll
not only need good grades, you’ll
need good financing A nd joining
today s Army can help you get it.
If you qualify for the Army
College Fund, you can learn a skill
while you accumulate u p to $20,100
tor college in just three years. It
works like a savings plan. For every
$1 you contribute, Uncle Sam adds
$5 or more.
To find out why so many students are m aking today’s Army
a prerequisite for college, call 800- U SA -A R M Y and ask for a copy
ot the Army College Fund booklet.
ARMY.
BE ALLYOU CAN BE.
HOW MANY CANS OF
ELECTRICITY CAN YOU GET
FOR A DOLLAR?
W W W ,
Obituaries
JACK FRYSON
M r. Jack Fryson o f 923 N .E .
Failing St., brother Mrs. Lalle W il­
liams, passed on March 30, 1983.
M r. Fryson was also retired from
the railroad. His funeral was held
A pril 4th , 1983, at Vann A Vann
Funeral Directors and interment
was at Riverview Cemetery.
SAMUEL O. WHITNEY. SR.
Mr. Samuel C. Whitney, Sr., died
March 29, 1983 at the age of 77. His
funeral was held at Vancouver Ave.
First Baptist Church April 2, 1983,
and was officiated by Rev. John H.
Jackson. M r. Whitney had been an
electrician and most recently self-
employed at the Whitney Real Es­
tate Com . He is survived by his
wife, Louise Whitney; sons, Sam­
uel, George, James, Harry T ., and
Kenneth; daughters Fannie Mae
Fair, Louise Perrin, Alice Whitney,
and M ary Lee Evans. There is one
sister, Mrs. Alice Hines; 24 grand-
childen and 5 great-grandchildren.
M r. W hitney was buried at Rose
City Cemetery.
HOURS MOM THRU FRI
I) AM TILL S RM
AFTti
Portland
2 0 0 5 N.E. Union 2 8 1 -2 8 4 5
C o rn a r o t S a n R e to o l » H F f U nio n
m 4 \n
About 25 cans, give or
take a few. That amounts to
around 4* a can for one
kilowatt hour of electricity.
What’s electricity doing in a can? It’s a
way of thinking about electricity that
makes it easier to understand just how
powerful it really is.
For a little more than a dollar a day, an
average household can cook meals, refrig­
erate food, heat water, entertain, wash and
dry clothes, and do a hundred other chores.
Not bad for something that costs a
lot less than the average item on vour
shopping list.
If you had to buy cans of electricity
every time you went shopping, you’d prob­
ably keep a close watch on your monthly
energy budget.
One way to do
that, is to watch your
electric meter and
monthly electric bill.
In fact, your electric meter is a kind
of cash register that records the power you
buy each time you plug in an appliance or
flip a switch.
And your monthly bill becomes a kind
of cash register receipt that shows you just
how much electricity your dollar buys.
Knowing that gives you the power to
decide to buy only as much electricity as
you need.
Because you only pay for the electric­
ity you use.
So when you add up the number of
cans of electricity it takes to run a home,
you can see just how far a dollar goes.
THE PEOPLE AT MCIFIC POWER