Professor Theo Theoharis is back for an in-person lecture series on Black American Literature, featuring titles by James Baldwin and poetry by Rita Dove.

The books are Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, and The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry, and they are available for pickup at the Public Services Desk.

The experience of Black Americans in our history, politics, economy and arts defines America as no other single group living here has. James Baldwin, most famous as a polemicist, is the most enduring of the mid-twentieth century Black writers, and so we start with him. Giovanni’s Room, however, is a novel of gay love, set in Paris, with a white-American and an Italian emigre as protagonists. How this relates to Baldwin’s part in the struggle for black liberation at home will be a central part of the discussion. Rita Dove is the first Black American and the first women to edit any of Penguin’s prestigious anthologies of American poetry. The selection from that text will span the 20th century, concentrating on Black poets, with some comparisons to their white contemporaries , to discover what is “black” about the African-American poets she has included, what cultural experience and what stylistic contributions these poets add to our literature. 

***Please note the following required COVID-19 safety protocols that apply to this space, all per the Peabody Board of Health***

1. Masks covering the nose and mouth must be worn at all times while in the Library and Library spaces.

2. 3 feet of distancing must be kept between all attendees. *Room capacities have been decreased to allow for safe distancing.*