Brown, Sterling A. [Selector and Editor]; Davis, Arthur P. [Selector and Editor]; Lee, Ulysses Grant [Selector and Editor]

THE NEGRO CARAVAN [Inscribed by Sterling Brown]

New York: The Dryden Press, 1941. First Edition. Octavo, 1082 pages. In Very Good minus condition. Newly rebound in full brown cloth with black label with silver lettering to spine. Majority of publisher's light brown cloth preserved and pasted onto new boards, dark blue row with silver titling to front board. Mild age toning to pages, Scattered pencil, colored pencil, and ink marginalia throughout. Inscribed by Sterling Brown on the title page dated August 2, 1973 'For one of my favorite sons, who helped in my recovery from rocking chair to front line Sterling A. Brown (Old Negro Slim Greer)'; Inscribed on the verso of the half-title page: 'June 24, 1922 For Fletcher Robinson With respect and high esteem. Vivian Hill Lee (Mrs. Ulysses G. Lee, Jr.)'. Ink ownership name on original front free end paper of Fletcher Robinson. With Christmas card inscribed 'Dear Nadine, Fletcher and family With love to loyal friends, Daisy and Sterling'. Measuring 20 cm. high, this copy is 2 cm shorter than the more commonly seen issue with blue boards and gilt titling. JR Consignment. Shelved in Case 1.

1364971

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NOTES

Ulysses Grant Lee, Jr attended Howard University where he earned his B.A. in 1935 and M.A. in 1936 before his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. From 1936-1939 Lee wrote for the Federal Writers' Project under the immediate supervision of Sterling A. Brown, where he worked on Washington: City and Capital and The Negro in Virginia.

In 1941 Ulysses Lee edited The Negro Caravan with Sterling A. Brown and Arthur P. Davis. The anthology was a seminal collection of writing by African American authors of the era. Soon after publication Lee served as a historian in the Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army from 1946 to 1952 and was a specialist on the African-American's connection and influence on the US Army. His second major work, The Employment of Negro Troops, was published in 1966 and served as a comprehensive analysis of the US Army's policies and practices. He worked concurrently with the US Army and his academic positions at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) and Lincoln University (Missouri).; Ulysses Lee passed away in 1969, and so the direct connection between Brown's inscription in 1973 and Vivian Hill Lee's in 1993 is unknown.

Sterling Allen Brown was an American professor, folklorist, poet, and literary critic who was a professor at Howard University for most of his career. Brown was the first Poet Laureate of the District of Columbia. Brown references his literary character and his series of satiric poems in referring to himself as Slim Greer.

Contains sections on Short Stories, Novels (Selections), Poetry, Folk Literature, Drama, Speeches, Pamphlets, and Letters, Biography, and Essays. From the Preface: "This anthology of the writings of American Negroes has three purposes: (1) to present a body of artistically valid writings by American Negro authors, (2) to present a truthful mosaic of Negro character and experience in America, and (3) to collect in one volume certain key literary works that have greatly influenced the thinking of American Negroes, and to a lesser degree, that of Americans as a whole."