100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance
  • Blog: Now Observing the Harlem Renaissance Centennial
  • 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance
    • About the Harlem Renaissance Centennial
    • The Harlem Renaissance and the Year 2020 (continued) >
      • Call for 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance Papers
      • The Harlem Renaissance Pinterest Project: It's What a Widget's For
  • Text and Meaning in Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
  • Harlem Renaissance Notebook for National History Day and Black History Month

The Librarian and the Encyclopedia

1/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
PowerPoint slide from presentation on Harlem Renaissance by Sandra L. West. Pictured from left to right are: musician Billie Holiday, author Langston Hughes, and author Claude McKay. (courtesy of Bright Skylark Literary Productions Archives ©2023)
​What do authors generally hope for the most after years of researching, typing, re-typing, staying up too late and then getting up too early to complete a book and see it through to publication? It is that the book shall be warmly received by the reading public and treated kindly by the critical literary powers that be. The anxiety is not very different from that of a parent sending a child off to school alone for the first time. 
​
​
​Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance was not my first published book but it was the first produced and distributed by a major traditional publisher: Facts On File, now Infobase Publishing. Communication with different scholars, prior to the encyclopedia’s release in September of 2003, revealed they were glad to learn my co-author Sandra and I had taken on the challenge of writing it. They gave me reason to feel optimistic. 

A S/heroic Librarian

​“As the Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance will broaden the context for students studying the visual arts, it will do the same for students studying any discipline...”   
 
What Ms. Hoaas wrote and shared with us was part of an official request to her facility’s director to make it part of their “Resources in the Humanities.” The kind of technical writing she employed to make the full recommendation came to almost 2,000 words and is something by which I remain impressed. Below is a brief excerpt:  
“A recently published resource has come to my attention that will fill a need in this library efficiently and rather inexpensively. It is a source that is unique in that it draws together the many facets of an important and oft studied period in American history, the Harlem Renaissance...
 
“This encyclopedia is unique because it illustrates the breadth of the time period, and all aspects, not just art and literature. Places and events, architecture and daily life all are drawn together for easy cross-referencing and browsing. After the appendices in this volume, there is a section in which all entries are grouped by subject. In browsing a few pages, the reader can gain a picture of the many aspects of the Harlem Renaissance. For example, a student who associates this time period with the Apollo theatre and big band music can view the headings for all the musical venues of the time and quickly see that politics and visual artists are equally significant to the movement.  I am imagining this to be a boon for students who are browsing the source and choosing their paper topics...”
​


​​It is because Sandra and I could not have asked for a better welcome from a professional librarian that I am happy to acknowledge Ms. Hoaas’s contribution to the book’s success. The same way a parent might note the positive influence of an early teacher on their child’s growth into an accomplished adult. While I was unable to locate or contact her for this post, I am grateful she recognized what we had worked so hard to do and became one of the project’s valued champions.
 
Why is all this important during the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance? Because it demonstrates how the work both honored the legacies of pioneering historians like W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, and Arturo Schomburg, as well as expanded it. Too much African-American history had been on the brink of erasure just as many discovering the need to access to its lessons on resilience, faith, and creative adaptation. Instead of being lost, it has now been preserved and secured in libraries across the globe. 

Aberjhani
Author/Editor of The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah


    Contact Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Submit
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Aberjhani

    Winner of Choice Academic Title Award, Best History Book Award, and Notable Book of the Year Award for Encyclopedia of the Harlem Remaisssance.

    Archives

    July 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    July 2021
    May 2021
    February 2018
    January 2018

    Categories

    All
    100th Anniversary Of The Harlem Renaissance
    1920s Jazz Age
    21st Century's Most Important Books
    Aberjhani On The Harlem Renaissance
    Academic Texts
    Actress Jasmine Guy
    Advanced Placement African American Studies
    Advanced Placement African-American Studies
    African American Artists
    African-American Artists
    African American Authors
    African-American Authors
    African American Communities
    African American Creatives
    African American History Month
    African-American Holidays
    African American Leaders
    African-American Leaders
    African Americans
    African American's Greatest Generation
    African Americans In Savannah
    African American Writers
    African-American Writers
    African America's Greatest Generation
    America In Crisis
    American Libraries
    Anti Racism
    Anti-Racism
    AP African American Studies
    AP African-American Studies
    Art By Aberjhani
    Artist Kevin Pullen
    Arturo Schomburg
    Author Poet Aberjhani
    Author-Poet Aberjhani
    Award Winning Books
    Award-Winning Books
    Barack Obama
    Best History Book Award Winner
    Black Arts Movement
    Black Creatives
    Black History Month
    Black History Month 2023
    Black History Month Reading List
    Black Journalists
    Black Leaders
    Black Lives Matter
    Black People In America
    Black People In The USA
    Blogs By Aberjhani
    Books By Aberjhani
    Books By Black Authors
    Books By Sandra L. West
    Boris Vian
    Calhoun Square In Savannah GA
    Carlos Fuentes
    Carter Woodson
    ChatGPt Blogs
    Chicago Defender
    Choice Academic Title Award Winner
    Classic Poetry
    Claude McKay
    Clement Alexander Price
    Compassion
    Contemporary Classics
    Creative Artists
    Creatives
    Creativity
    Cultural Arts
    Dallas Texas
    David Thoreau
    Democracy In Action
    Diversity
    Dreams Of The Immortal City Savannah
    Edgar Allen Poe
    Editorial
    Education Week
    El
    El Boom Literary Movement
    Emily Dickinson
    Encyclopedia Authors
    Encyclopedia Of The Harlem Renaissance
    Encyclopedias
    Encyclopedists
    Eric Holder
    Ernest Hemingway
    Essays By Aberjhani
    Essays On The Harlem Renaissance
    Facts On File
    Film Industry In Savannah Georgia
    Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    Georgia Day
    Georgia Historical Society
    Gertrude Stein
    Greatest Generation Of African Americans
    Greatest Generation Of Black Americans
    Greatest Generation Of Black People
    Great Northern Migration
    Guerrilla Decontextualization
    Gullah Geechee Heritage
    Harlem Renaissance Artists And Poets
    Harlem Renaissance Centennial
    Harlem Renaissance Historians
    Harlem Renaissance Leadership
    Harlem Renaissance Musicians
    Harlem Renaissance Silent Parade
    Herschel Walker
    Historian Of The Harlem Renaissance
    Historic Photograph
    History Day
    History Making Poems
    History-making Poems
    History Making Poets
    History-making Poets
    History Of African Americans
    History Of Harlem New York City
    History Of Literary Movements
    History Of The Harlem Renaissance
    History Week
    Humanities
    Human Sexuality
    If We Must Die By Claude McKay
    Ilan Stavans
    Important Books Of The 21st Century
    Influential Books
    Influential Books Of The 21st Century
    Influential Poems
    Influential Poets
    Infobase Publishing
    International Authors
    Isabel Allende
    Jean Paul Sartre
    Julio Cortazar
    Juneteenth
    Leadership
    Leadership Strategies
    Libraries
    Life Expectancy Of African-American Men
    Literary Activism
    Literary Milestones
    Literary Resources
    Loretta Lynch
    Luther E. Vann
    Marijuana Legislation
    Mark Twain
    Max Eastman
    Maya Angelou
    Michelle Obama
    Multiculturalism
    National History Days Topics
    Nella Larsen
    Nobel Prize In Literature
    Notable Book Of The Year Award Winners
    Occupy Movement
    Official Harlem Renaissance Website Of Author Poet Aberjhani
    Official Harlem Renaissance Website Of Author-Poet Aberjhani
    Omniculturalism
    Op-ed
    Poems By Claude McKay
    Police Reform
    Political Activism
    Political Dissent
    Practicing Democracy
    President Obama
    Public Protests
    Publishing
    Quotation Art
    Quotes By Aberjhani
    Quotes By W.E.B. Du Bois
    Quotes On The Harlem Renaissance
    Racial Crisis
    Racial Protests
    Racism And Antiracism
    Reading Lists
    Robert S. Abbott
    Robert Sengstacke Abbott
    Sandra L. West
    Savannah Day
    Savannah Georgia
    Savannahians
    Sen. Ralph G. Warnock
    Sexual Identity
    Simone De Beauvior
    Social Activism
    Social Media
    Social Unrest
    Stop And Frisk Laws
    St. Simon's Island Georgia
    The Lost Generation
    Tourism In Savannah Georgia
    Walt Whitman
    W.E.B. Du Bois
    W.O.K.E. And ChatGPT
    Women Artists
    World AI Week
    W.W. Law
    YouTube Video

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog: Now Observing the Harlem Renaissance Centennial
  • 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance
    • About the Harlem Renaissance Centennial
    • The Harlem Renaissance and the Year 2020 (continued) >
      • Call for 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance Papers
      • The Harlem Renaissance Pinterest Project: It's What a Widget's For
  • Text and Meaning in Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
  • Harlem Renaissance Notebook for National History Day and Black History Month