Date of Award
Fall 12-2019
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
History
Department
History
Major Professor
Mary N. Mitchell
Second Advisor
Connie Z. Atkinson
Third Advisor
James Mokhiber
Abstract
Poet and professor Sterling A. Brown (1901-1989) played a significant role in the birth of black literary and cultural studies through his literary and academic careers. Brown helped to establish a new wave of black cultural and folklore studies during his time as the “Director of Negro Affairs” for the Federal Writers’ Project. As a professor at Howard University, Brown influenced black literary studies through his literary criticisms and seminars and his role as a mentor to literary figures of the next generations. Through letters to and from Sterling Brown and manuscripts, this thesis argues that Brown’s poetry, publications and folk studies in the nineteen twenties and thirties where the groundwork for his most prolific role of teacher-mentor.
Recommended Citation
Zu-Bolton, Amber E., "All Trails Lead to Sterling: How Sterling Brown Fathered the Field of Black Literary and Cultural Studies, 1936-1969" (2019). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2711.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2711
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.