Written Communication Jul 2004

“The Song Is Unfinished”: The New Literate and Literary and Their Institutions

Maisha T. Fisher Emory University

Abstract

In this article, the author builds on McHenry and Heath’s study of the “literate” and the “literary” and McHenry’s research on “forgotten readers” by examining the often undocumented literacy traditions and practices of men and women of African descent. First, the author traces the legacy of blended traditions of both written and spoken words in African American writing and activism. Continuing with an examination of Black literary and social movements, the author asserts that the recent renaissance of activities around literacy, such as spoken word poetry events as well as writing collectives, contributes to a historical continuum. Ultimately, the author shows the importance of the inextricable link between history, literacy studies, and the teaching of language arts.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2004-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088304265475
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
teacher development literacy studies race and writing
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Stornaiuolo et al. (2023)
    Pocket Writing: How Adolescents’ Self-Sponsored Writing Circulates in School
    Written Communication
  2. Ríos (2020)
    Writing Oneself Into the Curriculum: Photovoice Journaling in a Secondary Ethni…
    Written Communication
  3. Muhammad (2015)
    Iqra: African American Muslim Girls Reading and Writing for Social Change
    Written Communication
  4. Duffy (2007)
    Recalling the Letter: The Uses of Oral Testimony in Historical Studies of Literacy
    Written Communication

References (32) · 1 in this index

  1. Alexander, K. (1998)
    360°?: A revolution of Black poets
  2. Andrews, W.L. (1997)
    The Oxford companion to African American literature
  3. Black and Allied Students Association of New York University. (1971)
    Imani
  4. Brown, F. P. (1999)
    Performing the word: African American poetry as vernacular culture
  5. Datcher, M. (2001)
    Raising fences: A Black man’s love story
Show all 32 →
  1. Fisher, M. T. (2003a). Choosing literacy: African diaspora participatory literacy communities. Unpublished do…
  2. Fisher, M. T. (2003)
    HarvardEducationalReview
  3. Forman, R. (1993)
    We are the young magicians
  4. Gates, H. L., Jr. (1997)
    The Norton anthology of African American literature
  5. Gutman,H. (1987)
    Power & culture: Essays on the American working class
  6. Hansberry, L. (1959)
    Araisin in thesun: Adramain three acts
  7. Holt, T. (1990)
    The right to literacy
  8. Jahn, J. (1961)
    Muntu: African Culture and the Western World
  9. Interview with Hoyt Fuller. (1971)
    Black Books Bulletin
  10. 10.2307/2295413
     ↗
  11. Lee, D. L. (1971)
    The Black aesthetic
  12. Lee, D. L. (1971)
    Black Books Bulletin
  13. Locke, A. (1925)
    The new Negro: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance
  14. McDowell, D. (1997)
    The Norton anthologyof African American literature
  15. 10.1215/9780822384144
     ↗
  16. McHENRY et al. (1994)
    The Literate and the Literary: African Americans as Writers and Readers—1830-1940
    Written Communication
  17. Morris, R. C. (1981)
    Reading, ‘riting, and reconstruction: The education of freedman in the South 1861-1870
  18. Muller, L., & the Blueprint Collective (1995)
    June Jordan’s poetry for the people: A revolutionary blueprint
  19. Neal, L. (1971)
    The Black aesthetic
  20. Peterson, C. L. (1995)
    “Doers of the word”: African-American women speakers & writers in the North (1830-1880)
  21. Rampersad,A. (1997)
    The Norton anthology of African American literature
  22. Rickford, J. R. (2000)
    Spoken soul: The story of Black English
  23. Salaam, K. (1998)
    360°: A revolution of Black poets
  24. 10.4324/9780203065419
     ↗
  25. Thompson, J. E. (1998)
    Dudley Randall, Broadside Press, and the Black arts movement in Detroit, 1960-1995
  26. Walmsley, A. (1992)
    The Caribbean artists movement 1966-1972: A literary and cultural history
  27. Wright, R. (1940)
    Native son.
CrossRef global citation count: 21 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Written Communication Feb 2026
    A Content Analysis of Five NCTE Journals ↗
    Jonathan Marine; Jason Grant; Paul Rogers
    teacher development writing program administration multilingual writers literacy studies race and writing gender and writing
  2. College Composition and Communication Feb 2026
    Research Brief: Community-Engaged Writing ↗
    Jessica Pauszek; Veronica House; Paula Mathieu
    service learning teacher development collaborative writing labor and working conditions archival research qualitative research literacy studies race and writing
  3. Composition Forum Oct 2025
    Collaborative and Equitable Assessment: Graduate Student Responses to Co-Creating Feedback Guidelines in a Graduate Composition Pedagogy Course ↗
    writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development collaborative writing assessment literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies editorial matter
  4. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy advanced composition creative writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions archival research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  5. The Peer Review Sep 2025
    The Writing Center as a Rebel Space: Stories of Tutoring and Writing with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ↗
    Ghada Seifeddine
    discourse analysis teacher development writing centers peer tutoring empirical research multimodality literacy studies race and writing disability studies editorial matter