1. Beginnings and Endings

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. List of Illustrations ix
4. Acknowledgments xi
5. Introduction. Wrestling with the Muse 1
6. 1. Beginnings and Endings 18
7. 2. The Fertile Black Bottom of Paradise Valley 31
8. 3. Poets of Black Bottom: Dudley Randall Meets Robert Hayden 43
9. 4. War at Home and Abroad 54
10. 5. The Return: Poetry and Prophecy 68
11. 6. Sojourn and Return 85
12. 7. The Emergence of the Second Renaissance in Detroit 98
13. 8. “Ballad of Birmingham”: The Founding of Broadside Press and the Black Arts Movement 123
14. 9. “Ya Vas Lyubil”: Alexander Pushkin, Dudley Randall, and the Black Russian Connection 135
15. 10. Cultural Wars and Civil Wars 143
16. 11. “Prophets for a New Day”: Diversity and Heritage 153
17. 12. The New Black Poets 172
18. 13. Dudley Randall’s Poetic Dialectics and the Black Arts Movement 191
19. 14. “After the Killing”: Dudley Randall’s Black Arts Poetry 210
20. 15. Poetry as Industry 230
21. 16. “Shape of the Invisible”: The Rise and Fall of Broadside Press 245
22. 17. “In the Mourning Time”: The Return 264
23. 18. A Poet Is Not a Jukebox 277
24. 19. At Peace with the Muse 298
25. 20. “The Ascent” 310
26. Epilogue 320
27. Appendix I: Translating Poetry into Film: The Black Unicorn: Dudley Randall and the Broadside Press 323
28. Appendix II: Worksheets for “Frederick Douglass and the Slave Breaker” 342
29. Notes 347
30. Bibliography 363
31. Index 371
32. Backmatter 387