Writing Themselves Into the Movement
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20th-century youth writing movements
A01=Amy Fish
Addison Gayle
adolescent authorship in U.S. history
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
American counterculture literature
anti-racist children's literature
archives of marginalized writers
Assata Shakur
authenticity in child-authored texts
Author_Amy Fish
automatic-update
Black Arts Movement history
Black Fire
Black girlhood
Can't You Hear Me Talking to You?
Caroline Mirthes
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=CBV
Category=DSB
Category=DSRC
Category=DSY
Category=JBSP1
Category=JFF
child authorship and creative agency
class-conscious literature in the U.S.
COP=United States
cultural history of New York City writing workshops
cultural politics of juvenile literature
Delivery_Pre-order
diversity in American literary history
Ed Bullins
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=0
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
His Own Where
intersection of race and authorship
Katharine Capshaw
Kevin Quashie
Language_English
literary activism in the 1960s and 1970s
literary agency among marginalized youth
literature and social justice education
Margo Natalie Crawford
minority authorship in post-civil rights era
minority youth in American letters
multicultural literature in America
PA=Not yet available
power dynamics in youth literary production
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Forthcoming
publishing marginalized voices in the 1970s
Puerto Rican
race and literature in the late 1960s
race and representation in children's writing
Rachel Conrad
racial inequality in American publishing
radical literature in urban America
recovering forgotten literary histories
representation of minority youth in literature
Robin D.G. Kelley
scholarly analy
softlaunch
The Brownies' Book
underground literary movements
voices of young writers of color
Who Look At Me
writing as resistance for children
young authors challenging racism
youth-led literary activism
Product details
- ISBN 9781625348265
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 27 Dec 2024
- Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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Between 1967 and 1972, a previously obscure group of authors entered the US cultural spotlight. During this five-year period, at least thirty anthologies of poetry and prose by African American, Latinx, Asian American, and Native American children came out of adult-led workshops, classrooms, and sites of juvenile incarceration. Mass-market publishers, independent imprinters, and local mimeograph machines produced volumes with titles such as I Am Somebody! and The Me Nobody Knows: Children’s Voices from the Ghetto. These young writers actively participated in the Black Arts Movement, and some collaborated with well-known adult authors, most prominently June Jordan. Their anthologies gained national media coverage, occasionally became bestsellers, were quoted by James Baldwin, and even inspired a hit Broadway musical. While writings by children had long attracted adult attention, this flurry of youth writing and publishing was distinguished by the widespread belief that children of color from poor and working-class neighborhoods were uniquely able to speak truth about American racism and inequality.
Focusing on Black and Latinx youth authorship within New York City, and using deep archival research and elegant close readings, Amy Fish examines child-authored texts of this era within the context of their literary production and reception. These young writers were often supervised and edited by white adults, raising concerns about the authenticity and agency of their voices. Fish contends that young authors themselves shared these concerns and that they employed savvy rhetorical strategies of address, temporality, and trope to self-consciously interrogate the perils and possibilities of their adult-influenced work. Young writers thus contributed to the era’s important debates about the nature of authorship and readership within a racist society, while also using their writing as an intimate occasion of self-discovery.
Focusing on Black and Latinx youth authorship within New York City, and using deep archival research and elegant close readings, Amy Fish examines child-authored texts of this era within the context of their literary production and reception. These young writers were often supervised and edited by white adults, raising concerns about the authenticity and agency of their voices. Fish contends that young authors themselves shared these concerns and that they employed savvy rhetorical strategies of address, temporality, and trope to self-consciously interrogate the perils and possibilities of their adult-influenced work. Young writers thus contributed to the era’s important debates about the nature of authorship and readership within a racist society, while also using their writing as an intimate occasion of self-discovery.
Amy Fish is Assistant Director for Experiential Learning and Academic & Co-Curricular Initiatives at Boston University. Her writings have appeared in numerous publications, including The Lion and the Unicorn and Research on Diversity in Youth Literature.
