November 5, 2007

 

Dear Jerry W. Ward Jr.,

I'm aware that you're seeking information in regard to workshops on Richard Wright's works (poetry and fiction) and group readings of his works. Therefore, I'm hoping that you're interested in knowing about our Carolina African American Writers' Collective (CAAWC) happenings as well as happenings in regard to my African American Literature class.

On Saturday, September 8th, I taught a kwansaba workshop that focused on Richard Wright's work as subject matter. I took one of my African American literature textbooks, Call & Response: The Riverside Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition, to our CAAWC Workshop/Meeting. I asked each CAAWC member to read a paragraph from the biographical information about Richard Wright on pages 1011 to 1015, though we focused mostly on the first 3 pages of the biographical information. 

After I taught the kwansaba poetic form and distributed a copy of Drumvoices Revue 15 for CAAWC Members to read samples of kwansabas for Maya Angelou and Quincy Troupe, then I instructed them to write a kwansaba about Richard Wright based on the biographical information that we read from pages 1011 to 1015. After writing our kwansabas, I asked everybody to share their kwansabas. I also took my copy of Richard Wright's Native Son (The Restored Text Established by The Library of America) with an introduction by Arnold Rampersad and "reissued by Harper Perennial Modern Classics 2005." I asked CAAWC member Patricia A. Johnson, who drove at least 3 hours (one way) from Virginia, to read pages 304, 305, and 306 from Native Son. I have a hardback edition of the book, which sells for $7.99.  It has a sticker with remainder and the price on it.  After Patricia A. Johnson read those pages in such a moving, storytelling-like voice, I instructed our CAAWC members to write another kwansaba, but based on pages 304, 305, and 306 from Native Son. After we finished writing our kwansabas, I once again asked everybody to read their kwansabas. Thus, we all read our kwansabas. For homework, I asked everybody to write another kwansaba about the novel Native Son and to e-mail their kwansabas to me. I've e-mailed all of our kwansabas to Eugene B. Redmond for the upcoming issue of Drumvoices Revue that will feature kwansabas for Richard Wright. Last month I also taught Richard Wright's short story "Long Black Song" (on pages 1015 to 1028 in Call & Response: The Anthology of the African American Literary Tradition) to my African

American literature class at Mount Olive College. After we read and discussed the story in great detail, I taught my students the kwansaba poetic form, distributed a copy of Drumvoices Revue for them to read kwansabas about Maya Angelou and Quincy Troupe. Then I instructed them to write kwansabas based on Wright's "Long Black Song" and the characters in his short story. Later, of course, I administered a test on Wright's "Long Black Song."

On another day, I took my copy of Native Son to class and asked my students to take turns reading passages from pages 304, 305, and 306. We discussed those passages; and then I instructed them to write kwansabas based on those passages, including the characters and the dialogue in them.

After I graded their kwansabas and made comments/suggestions for revising them, they e-mailed their revised versions of the kwansabas to me. This week I plan to e-mail their kwansabas to Eugene B. Redmond for the upcoming special issue of kwansabas about Richard Wright for Drumvoices Revue. Please feel free to include this information in your reports and updates about Richard Wright programs and literary events.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

 

Sincerely,

Lenard D. Moore

Founder & Executive Director

Carolina African American Writers' Collective