Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A hardcover book with a coated paper dust jacket. The book has a black cloth binding and orange endpapers. The front jacket cover is black with “Black Fire” written in stylized red text with flames bordering the black letters. The flames extend toward the upper left corner. Below the title in yellow script is [An Anthology of / Afro-American / Writing / Edited by LeRoi Jones / and Larry Neal]. The jacket’s back cover has a black-and-white photograph of Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and Larry Neal, both in profile. The title page is signed in ink, “Amiri Baraka,” and has several library stamps in black ink. The book’s contents include a table of contents, a foreword by Ameer Baraha, fourteen essays, works by over fifty Black poets, selections of fiction and drama writing, an afterword by Larry Neal, and a list of contributors. The contributors are as follows:

ESSAYS: James T. Stewart, John Henrick Clarke, Leslie Alexander Lacy, Harold Cruse, Peter Labrie, Calvin C. Hernton, James Boggs, Stokely Carmichael, C.E. Wilson, William Mahoney, Lindsay Barrett, A.B. Spellman, David Llorens, Nathan Hare.

POETRY: Charles Anderson, Richard W. Thomas, Ted Wilson, James T. Stewart, Calvin C. Hernton, Sun-Ra, Lethonia Gee, K. William Kgositsile, David Henderson, A.B. Spellman, Sonia Sanchez, Q.R. Hand, Ron Welburn, Joe Goncalves, Marvin E. Jackmon, James Danner, Al Fraser, Lance Jeffers, Walt Delegall, Welton Smith, LeRoi Jones, Barbara Simmons, Larry Neal, Hart Leroi Bibbs, Rolland Snellings, Carol Freeman, Kirk Hall, Edward S. Spriggs, Henry Dumas, Reginald Lockett, S.E. Anderson, Clarence Franklin, Jay Wright, Yusuf Rahman, Rudy B. Graham, Lefty Sims, Lebert Bethune, Yusef Iman, Norman Jordan, Stanley Crouch, Frederick J. Bryant, Jr., Sam Cornish, Clarence Reed, Albert E. Haynes, Jr., Lorenzo Thomas, Gaston Neal, L. Goodwin, Ray Johnson, Bob Bennett, Ahmed Legraham Alhamisi, D.L. Graham, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Jacques Wakefield, Kuwasi Balagon, Bobb Hamilton.

FICTION: Henry Dumas, C.H. Fuller, Jr., Julia Fields, Jean Wheeler Smith, Ronald L. Fair, Larry Neal, Charlie Cobb.

DRAMA: Jimmy Garrett, Marvin E. Jackmon, Charles Patterson, Ronald Drayton, LeRoi Jones, Ben Caldwell, Ed Bullins, Joseph White, Carol Freeman.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1968
• Edited by: Amiri Baraka, American, 1934 - 2014
• Edited by: Larry Neal, American, 1937 - 1981
• Signed by: Amiri Baraka, American, 1934 - 2014
• Published by: William Morrow and Company, Inc., founded 1926
• Type: hardcover books
• Medium: color and black ink on paper with cardboard and book cloth
• Dimensions: 8 11/16 x 6 x 1 7/8 in. (22.1 x 15.2 x 4.8 cm)
• Place printed: United States, North and Central America
• Place used: Pasadena, Harris County, Texas, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: African diaspora
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Black power
• Topic: Identity
• Topic: Literature
• Topic: Poetry
• Topic: Theatre
• Object number: 2013.152.3
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Anonymous Gift
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © 1968 LeRoi Jones and Larry Neal Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.