Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A 1930s African-American View of Liberia: George S. Schuyer
Author:Lawson, Benjamin S.ISNI
Year:1995
Periodical:Liberian Studies Journal
Volume:20
Issue:2
Pages:247-262
Language:English
Geographic term:Liberia
Subjects:images
African Americans
literature
history
1930-1939
History and Exploration
international relations
About person:George Samuel Schuyler (1895-1977)
Abstract:During the 1930s, one of the most notable African-American writers concerned with the domestic affairs and international image of Liberia was novelist-journalist-social critic George S. Schuyler. So intrigued by Liberia was Schuyler that he wrote several essays and editorials about the land, and the whole or the part of two novels. Schuyler focused in his writings on both the fate and the fable of Liberia, on what the nation was for West Africans and on what it meant, symbolized, for African Americans. In this paper, for the most part, Schuyler's thoroughly-calculated views in his full-length books are discussed: his autobiography, 'Black and conservative' (1966), and the two novels, 'Slaves today: a story of Liberia' (1931), and 'Black Empire', originally serialized in the 'Pittsburgh Courier' from 1936 to 1938. The present author concludes that the key to assessing Schuyler's views on Liberia lies not so much in his texts per se as in his attitudes toward his texts. What he says is clear enough; how the reader is to take it often is not. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
Views