Black American literature

Images of African Americans in change——Study of Three American novelsChapter ⅠIntroductionImages of African Americans is one of the constant theme of Black American literature, numerous novelists are dedicated to it, for example,Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly),Richard Wright( Native Son),Ralph Ellison(Invisible Man),James Baldwin(Go Tell It on the Mountain),Alice walker(The color purple),and the Noble Prize winner Toni Morrison(The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Beloved). All these great novelists and their great works profoundly helped the blacks to act for themselves, to automatically recognize for their world, their own history, their own reality, and most importantly, to fulfill their own destiny to make the whole world know they are equal and beautiful.From time to time, images of African Americans in literary works appear to be invariably different, especially in the eyes of Anglo-Saxons and African Americans. This kind of difference shows in the works of early anti-slavery novels and later novels written by black writers. For instance, images of African Americans in the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin,by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which is called the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman is so different with Toni Morrison’s novels.In this essay, I plan to study the images of African Americans in change in three literary works. They are Uncle Tom's Cabin,Invisible Man, and Song of Solomon.Previous studies on those three books are solely concentrating on some aspects. For example, Uncle Tom was illustrate as some representative of God. But in my point of view, he is more like a XXXX than Gog.Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe.Stowe, a Connecticut-born teacher at the Hartford Female Academy and an active abolitionist, featured the character of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave around whom the stories of other characters revolve. The sentimental novel depicts the reality of slavery while also asserting that Christian love can overcome something as destructive as enslavement of fellow human beings.Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible. It is credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s.In 1855, three years after it was published, it was called "the most popular novel of our day." The impact attributed to the book is great, reinforced by a story that when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe at the start of the Civil War, Lincoln declared, "So this is the little lady who started this Great War."The book and the plays it inspired helped popularize a number of stereotypes about black people. These include the affectionate, dark-skinned "mammy"; the "pick ninny" stereotype of black children; and the "Uncle Tom", or dutiful, long-suffering servant faithful to his white master or mistress. In recent years, the negative associations with Uncle Tom's Cabin have, to an extent, overshadowed the historical impact of the book as a "vital antislavery tool."Invisible Man is a 1952 novel written by Ralph Ellison. It addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans early in the twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity and Marxism, and the reformist racial policies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity. Invisible Man won the U.S. National Book A ward for Fiction in 1953.In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Invisible Man nineteenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.Song of Solomon is a 1977 novel by American author Toni Morrison. It follows the life of Macon "Milkman" Dead III, an African-American male living in Michigan, from birth to adulthood. This book won the National Books Critics A ward, was chosen for Oprah Winfrey's popular book club, and was cited by the Swedish Academy in awarding Morrison the 1993 Nobel Prize in literature.The novel has faced several challenges and bans in schools throughout the U.S. since 1993. As recently as 2010, the novel was challenged and later reinstated at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis, IN.Although all those novels cannot contain all the categories of African American images, but at least can show the gradual change of the images of African Americans.Chapter ⅡHarriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin2.1 How Blacks should behave---according to the whiteHarriet Beecher Stowe's best known novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), changed forever how Americans viewed slavery, the system that treated people as property. It demanded that the United States deliver on the promise of freedom and equality, galvanized the abolition movement and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. The book calls on us to confront the legacy of race relations in the U.S. as the title itself became a racial slur.Uncle Tom's Cabin opens on the Shelby plantation in Kentucky as two enslaved people, Tom and 4-year old Harry, are sold to pay Shelby family debts. Developing two plot lines, the story focuses on Tom, a strong, religious man living with his wife and 3 young children, and Eliza, Harry's mother.When the novel begins, Eliza's husband George Harris, unaware of Harry's danger, has already escaped, planning to later purchase his family's freedom. To protect her son, Eliza runs away, making a dramatic escape over the frozen Ohio River with Harry in her arms. Eventually the Harris family is reunited and journeys north to Canada.Tom protects his family by choosing not to run away so the others may stay together. Sold south, he meets Topsy, a young, black girl whose mischievous behavior hides her pain; Eva, the angelic, young, white girl whose death moved Victorians to tears; charming, elegant but passive St. Clare; and finally, cruel, violent Simon Legree. Tom's deep faith gives him an inner strength that frustrates his enemies as he moves toward his fate in Louisiana.The novel ends when both Tom and Eliza escape slavery: Eliza and her family reach Canada; but Tom's freedom comes with death. Simon Legree, Tom's third and final master, has Tom whipped to death for refusing to deny his faith or betray the hiding place of two fugitive women.2.2Jesus or Uncle TomUncle Tom is one of this kind of people, he is loyalty to his master, sincere to God, and entirely an honesty and kind-hearted slave.2.32.42.22.32.42.5Chapter ⅢRalph Ellison and Invisible Man 3.13.23.33.43.53.6Chapter ⅣToni Morrison and Song of Solomon 4.14.24.34.44.5Chapter Ⅴ Conclusion。

美国文学部分(American Literature)一．独立革命前后的文学（The Literature Around the Revolution of Independence）1．本章考核知识点和考核要求：1)．殖民地时期的文学的特点2)．主要的作家、其概况及其代表作品2．独立革命前后时期的主要作家本杰明·富兰克林Benjamin Franklin本杰明·富兰克林，散文家、科学家、社会活动家，曾参与起草“独立宣言”。

《穷查理历书》Poor Richard’s Almanack《致富之道》The Way to Wealth《自传》The Autobiography托马斯·潘恩Thomas Paine托马斯·潘恩，散文家、政治家、报刊撰稿人。

《税务员问题》The Case of the Officers of Excise《常识》Common Sense《美国危机》American Crisis《人的权利》Rights of Man《专制体制的崩溃》Downfall of Despotism《理性时代》The Age of Reason菲利普·弗伦诺Philip Freneau菲利普·弗伦诺，著名的“革命诗人”。

《蒸蒸日上的美洲》“The Rising Glory of America”《英国囚船》“The British Prison Ship”《纪念美国勇士》同类诗中最佳“To the Memory of the Brave Americans”《野生的金银花》“The Wild Honeysuckle”《印第安人殡葬地》“The Indian Burying Ground”二．美国浪漫主义文学（American Romanticism）1．本章考核知识点和考核要求：1)．美国浪漫主义文学产生的社会历史及文化背景2)．主要作家的创作思想、艺术特色及其代表作品的主题结构、人物刻画和语言风格3)．清教主义、超验主义、象征主义、自由诗等名词的解释2.美国浪漫主义时期的主要作家华盛顿·欧文Washington Irving华盛顿·欧文，美国著名小说家，被称为“美国文学之父”.《瑞普·凡·温可尔》Rip Van Winkle《纽约外史》A History of New York《见闻札记》The Sketch Book《睡谷的传说》The Legend of Sleepy Hollow詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀James Fenimore Cooper詹姆斯·费尼莫尔·库珀开创了以《皮裹腿故事集》为代表的边疆传奇小说，其中最为重要的一部是《最后的莫西干人》。

GRE考试长篇阅读错误干扰项如何找在许多人看来，GRE long reading是一种在最终处理过程中可能需要放弃的问题，由于花费的时间和性价比不高，下面我就和大家共享GRE考试长篇阅读错误干扰项如何找，盼望能够关心到大家，来观赏一下吧。

GRE考试长篇阅读错误干扰项如何找GRE long reading中有几种类型的错误干扰选项：一。

部分项目这种选择比较隐藏，其表现形式往往是内容本身是正确的，而不是文章的主线。

考生很简单混淆正确的选择，选择它。

与未提及的项目不同，这类选项在文章中有所涉及，因此更具哄骗性。

考生需要先把自己提出的问题弄清晰，才能避开被部分项目分散留意力。

2。

反义词有的题目比较长，加上一些否定和双重否定，考生简单理解错误，而一些特地设置的反义词，往往是等考生迷茫后才投网的。

这些选项的特点是与其他选项的含义相反。

乍一看很明显，但不是正确的答案。

编辑建议大家认真阅读问题，弄清反义词和否定词的关系，然后解决问题。

三。

放错地方的物品也有一些错误的选择，主题和装饰，或是不相关的内容放在一起，看似有点关系，但其实都是错位的选择，很简单影响考生的推断。

这种选择也有很强的干扰。

或许有些选择已经选择了文章的内容，但之后得出的结论与文章无关。

gre考试介绍,gre考试培训它也是一个干扰项，测试每个人记住文章细节的力量。

最好的方法是在阅读过程中多做标记和定位，解决问题时适当参考，可以避开错位和混乱。

四。

极端项目实际上，极值项是一个明显的误差干扰选项。

一些代表主观推断的顶级词汇，如best/most/least、unique词汇，如only、alone或comparative词汇，如better、word等，常常被使用。

这些选择显示了一种极端和不行否认的态度。

这好像是合理的，但不是。

由于这些选项的明显迹象，当您熟识这些程序时很简单发觉。

考生也会主动留意那些偏激的词语，稍有留意就不会得逞。

5个。

未提及这种错误的选择陷阱也很常见。

● 1. Realistic Fiction (Sherwood Anderson, John Steinbeck, John DosPassos)● 2. Lost Generation (F.S. Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway)● 3. Southern Literature (William Faulkner, Katherine Anne Porter )● 4. Modern Poetry (Ezra Pound , Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot )● 5. African American Literature (Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, AliceWalker/ Harlem Renaissance)● 6. The Rise of Modern American Drama (Eugene O‟Neil)●7. Black Humor Literature (Joseph Heller, Kurt V onnegut)●8. Realistic Fiction (J.D. Salinger, John Updike )●9. Chinese American Literature(Amy Tan)名词解释：1.The Lost GenerationThe phrase was coined by Gertrude Stein (spoken to Hemingway): “You are all a lost generation.”Group of American writers in the Post-World War One era who were:Displeased with American social values, sexual and aesthetic conventions, and established morality.First fled to cities such as Chicago and San Francisco; then to Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome (in particular, Montparnasse蒙帕纳斯).All pioneered new ways of writing, rebelling against the traditional Victorian literary style.Writers such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, and Gertrude Stein.2.Jazz AgeThe Jazz Age describes the period of the 1920s and 1930s, the years between World War I and World War II, particularly in North America; with the rise of the Great Depression, the values of this age saw much decline. Perhaps the most representative literary work of the age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald‟s The Great Gatsby, highlighting what some describe as the decadence and hedonism, as well as the growth of individualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term “The Jazz Age”.3.Imagism:Ezra Pound defines an image as that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time.An image was “ a virtex or cluster of fused ideas …endowed with energy”.It was a rebellion against the traditional poetics which failed to reflect the new life of the new country.It offered a new way of writingIt influenced lots of modern poetsIn a Station of the Metro 在一个地铁车站（Ezra Pound）The apparition of these faces in the crowd; 人群中这些面孔幽灵一般显现；Petals on a wet, black bough. 湿漉漉的黑色枝条上的许多花瓣.4.Harlem RenaissanceThe Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. It was known as the "New Negro Movement", The Harlem Renaissance is unofficially recognized, representatives are Langston Hughes, Richard Wright(Native Son (1940) 《土生子》) and so on.Theme: to search for their own lives and values, to get the same attention as well as the whites5.Black humorBlack humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world, Joseph Heller 约瑟夫・海勒Catch-22(1961) 《第二十二条军规》Kurt V onnegut 库尔特・冯内古特Slaughterhouse Five（1969）《五号屠宰场》Thomas Pynchon 托马斯・品钦Gravity…s Rainbow(1973) 《万有引力之虹》I. Realistic FictionSherwood Anderson：Sherwood Anderson was an American writer, mainly of short stories, most notably the collection Winesburg, Ohio.That work's influence on American fiction was profound, and its literary voice can be heard in Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, John Steinbeck, Erskine Caldwell and others.Novels:Windy McPherson‟s Son 《饶舌的麦克弗森的儿子》1916Marching Men 《前进的人们》1917Winesburg, Ohio 《小镇畸人》1919Poor White 《穷白人》1920Many Marriages 《多种婚姻》1923Dark Daughter 《黑暗的笑声》1925Short Stories:The Triumph of the Egg《鸡蛋的胜利》1921Horses and Men 《马与人》1923Death in the Woods《林中之死》1933John Steinbeck P234 The Wrath of Grapes16 novels; 6 non-fiction books;5 collections of short storiesIn the 1930s:Of Mice and Men (1937)《人与鼠》: migrant workers, a best sellerThe Grapes of Wrath (1939)《愤怒的葡萄》In the 1940s:The Moon Is Down (1942)《月亮下去了》The Pearl (1947)《珍珠》After 1950s:East of Eden (1952)《伊甸园之东》:the most ambitious work of hisThe Winter of Our Discontent (1961) 《烦恼的冬天》1940: Pulitzer Prize --The Grapes of Wrath (1939)1962: Nobel Prize for LiteratureWriting Style:“realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.”通过现实主义的、富于想象的创作，表现出富于同情的幽默和对社会的敏感的观察John Dos Passos U.S.A (His trilogy)The U.S.A trilogy:《美利坚》三部曲：The 42nd Parallel 《北纬42度》1919 《1919》The Big Money 《赚大钱》Dos Passos used experimental techniques in these novels, incorporating newspaper clippings, autobiography, biography and fictional realism to paint a vast landscape of American culture during the first decades of the 20th century.In the fictional narrative sections, the U.S.A. trilogy relates the lives of twelve characters as they struggle to find a place in American society during the early part of the twentieth century. Each character is presented to the reader from their childhood on and in free indirect speechhis experimental device:Newsreels 新闻短片Camera Eye 摄影机眼Biographies 人物肖像II. The Lost Generation 迷惘的一代Francis Scott FitzgeraldHe had been regarded as the representative figure of the …Jazz Age‟;the spokesman of the “Roaring Twenties”This Side of Paradise《人间天堂》(1920) (an immediate success; the first American novel depicting the cas ual dissipations of “flaming youth”; also reflects the new norms of the 1920s which also known as the “roaring 20s”, “Jazz Age”, and “Dollar Decade” )The Beautiful and Damned (1922) (sold extremely well)The Great Gatsby (1925) (his best novel)Tender Is the Night (1934) (deeper and more tragic)The Last Tycoon (1940)(published posthumously)Fitzgerald is largely credited with coming the term "Jazz Age," which he used in such books as his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age.His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), also deals with the era and its effect on a young married couple.Fitzgerald's last completed novel, Tender Is the Night(1934) takes place in the same decade but is set in France and Switzerland not New York, and consequently is not widely considered a Jazz Age novel.Hemingway, Ernest Miller1899-1961)Nobel Prize WinnerHemingway's writings and his personal life exerted a profound influence on American writers of his time.Many of his works are regarded as classics of American literature, and some have been made into motion pictures(1)“The Sun Also Rises”1926 (Deep illusion of the whole generation after the WWI; the characters indulged themselves in depraved life to make themselves numb)(2)“A Farewell to Arms” 1928 (a tragic story about war and love) (Hero and heroine: Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley)(3)“For Whom the Bell Tolls” 1940 (Spanish civil war) (also a story about war and love) (the title o f the novel: from John Donne‟s sermons )(4)"The Old Man and the Sea” 1952 (In 1954, Hemingway got the Nobel Prize)a quite special novel in all his novelssymbolismSantiago – mankind;sea – nature and environment;marlin – purpose of life;shark – the evil force which control human’s fatetheme: the importance of life lies in the process of searching and resistance Major Themes of Hemingway’s work:*The “Nada” Concept*Grace under pressure*Code Hero*Grace under pressure:However, though life is but a losing battle, it is a struggle man can dominate in such a way that loss becomes dignity; man can be physically destroyed but never defeated spiritually.*Code Hero:a Hemingway character who lives correctly, following certain principles of honor, courage, and endurance which in a life of tension and pain make a man a man. Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory:There is seven-eights of it under water for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg. It is the part that doesn’t show.”展现在人们面前的每一处冰山都有八分之七藏在水面以下。

•Anne Bradstreet ————American Puritanism•Edward Taylor————American Puritanism•Philip Freneau————American Puritanism•Benjamin Franklin——Poor Richard’s Almanac; The Autobiography——American Puritanism, The Enlightenment and Revolution Period•Jonathan Edwards ————The Enlightenment and Revolution Period•Thomas Paine——Common Sense——The Enlightenment and Revolution Period•Thomas Jefferson——Declaration of Independence——The Enlightenment and Revolution Period •Washington Irving——The Sketch Book：The Legend of Sleepy Hollow；Rip Van Winkle——American Romanticism•James Fenimore Cooper——The Leather-Stocking Tales——American Romanticism•William Cullen Bryant——To a Waterfowl；The Yellow Violet——American Romanticism•Ralph Waldo Emerson——Nature；Self-Reliance——New England Transcendentalism；American Romanticism•Henry David Thoreau——Walden；On the Duty of Civil Disobedience——New England Transcendentalism；American Romanticism●Henry Wadsworth Longfellow——The Song of Hiawatha——American Romanticism●Walt Whitman——Leaves of Grass——American Romanticism●Nathaniel Hawthorne——The Scarlet Letter；The House of the Seven Gables; Young Goodman Brown——American Romanticism•Herman Melville——Moby Dick——American Romanticism•Edgar Allan Poe——The Raven；Ligeia；The Fall of the House of Usher；The Poetic Principal——American Romanticism•Emily Dickinson————American Romanticism●William Dean Howells——The Rise of Silas Lapman ；Criticism and Fiction——The Age of Realism ●Mark Twain——The Gilded Age；The Adventures of Tom Sawyer；The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn——humor and local colorism；The Age of Realism●Henry James——The Portrait of a Lady；Daisy Miller——Psychological Realism ；The Age ofRealism●Stephen Crane——A Girl of the Streets；The Red Badge of Courage——The Age of Realism；AmericanNaturalism●Theodore Dreiser——Sister Carrie；An American Tragedy——social Darwinism；The Age ofRealism；American Naturalism●Upton Sinclair——The Jungle●Ernest Hemingway——The Sun Also Rises；A Farewell to Arms；For Whom the Bell Tolls; The OldMan and the Sea——The Lost Generation，Modernism and Post-Modernism●F. Scott Fitzgerald——The Great Gatsby——The Lost Generation，Modernism and Post-Modernism ●John Dos Passos——Three Soldiers——The Lost Generation，Modernism and Post-Modernism●William Faulkner ——The Sound and the Fury ——南方文艺复兴时期；Modernism andPost-Modernism●Ezra Pound ——The Cantos；Hugh Selwyn Mauberley ——imagism；Modernism and Post-Modernism●Langston Hughes——The Weary Blues——Harlem Renaissance；Modernism and Post-Modernism⏹Frederick Douglass——My Bondage and My Freedom——Black American Literature⏹Richard Wright——Native Son——Black American Literature⏹Ralph Ellison:——Invisible Man——Black American Literature⏹James Baldwin:——Go Tell It on the Mountain——Black American Literature ⏹Alex Haley:——Roots——Black American Literature⏹Toni Morrison:——The Bluest Eye——Black American Literature●Jack Kerouac——On the Road——The Beat Generation,当代文学●Allen Ginsberg——Howl——The Beat Generation●William S. Burroughs——Naked Lunch——The Beat Generation●Joseph Heller——Catch-22——Black Humor●J.D. Salinger——Catcher in the Rye。

Black American LiteratureThe Black American Literature can also called African-American literature, is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18th-century writers as Phillis Wheatley(菲莉斯·惠特莉)and Olaudah Equiano(阿罗德·爱克伊诺), reaching early high points with slave narratives of the nineteenth century. The Harlem Renaissance（哈莱姆文艺复兴）of the 1920s was a time of flowering of literature and the arts. Writers of African-American literature have been recognized by the highest awards, including the Nobel Prize to Toni Morrison（托尼·莫里森）. Among the themes and issues explored in this literature are the role of African Americans within the larger American society, African-American culture, racism, slavery, and equality. African-American writing has tended to incorporate oral forms, such as spirituals, sermons, gospel music, blues and rap.As African Americans' place in American society has changed over the centuries, so, has the focus of African-American literature. Before the American Civil War, the literature primarily consisted of memoirs by people who had escaped from slavery; the genre of slave narratives included accounts of life under slavery and the path of justice and redemption（救赎）to freedom. At the turn of the 20th century, non-fiction works by authors such as W. E. B. Du Bois（杜波依斯William Edward Burghardt Du Bois）and Booker T. Washington（布克·华盛顿）debated whether to confront or appease racist attitudes in the United States. During the American Civil Rights movement, authors such as Richard Wright（理查德·怀特）and Gwendolyn Brooks（格温多琳·布鲁克斯）wrote about issues of racial segregation and black nationalism. Today, African-American literature has become accepted as an integral part of American literature, with books such as Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley（亚历克斯·哈利）, The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker（艾丽斯· 沃克）, which won the Pulitzer Prize（普利策奖）; and Beloved by Toni Morrison achieving both best-selling and award-winning status.In broad terms, African-American literature can be defined as writings by people of African descent living in the United States. It is highly varied. African-American literature has generally focused on the role of African Americans within the larger American society and what it means to be an American. As Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）professor Albert J. Raboteau has said, all African-American study "speaks to the deeper meaning of the African-American presence in this nation. This presence has always been a test case of the nation's claims to freedom, democracy, equality, the inclusiveness of all." African-American literature explores the issues of freedom and equality long denied to Blacks in the United States, along with further themes such as African-American culture, racism, religion, slavery, a sense of home，and more.Characteristics and themesAfrican-American literature has been created within the larger realm(领域) of post-colonial literature （后殖民文学）, although scholars distinguish between the two, saying that "African American literature differs from most post-colonial literature in that it is written by members of a minority community who reside within a nation of vast wealth and economic power."African-American oral culture is rich in poetry, including spirituals, gospel music（福音音乐）, blues and rap. This oral poetry also appears in the African-American tradition of Christian sermons, which make use of deliberate repetition, cadence（节奏）and alliteration. African-American literature—especially written poetry, but also prose—has a strong tradition of incorporating all of these forms of oral poetry. These characteristics do not occur in all works by African-American writers.Some scholars resist using Western literary theory to analyze African-American literature. As the Harvard literary scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.（小亨利‧路易斯‧盖茨）said, "My desire has been to allow the black tradition to speak for itself about its nature and various functions, rather than to read it, or analyze it, in terms of literary theories borrowed whole from other traditions, appropriated from without." One trope common to African-American literature is Signification. Gates claims that signifying ―is a trope in which are subsumed several other rhetorical tropes（修辞比喻）, including metaphor, metonymy（转喻）, synecdoche （提喻）, and irony, and also hyperbole（夸张法）an litotes（曲言法）, and metalepsis（进一步转喻法）.‖ Signification also refers to the way in which African-American ―authors read and critique other African American texts in an act of rhetorical self-definition‖HistoryEarly African American literatureAfrican American history predates the emergence of the United States as an independent country, and African-American literature has similarly deep roots.Lucy Terry（路西特里）is the author of the oldest known piece of African-American literature: "Bars Fight". Although written in 1746, the poem was not published until 1855, when it was included in Josiah Holland's History of Western Massachusetts（马萨诸塞州）.The poet Phillis Wheatley(菲莉斯·惠特莉) (1753–84) published her book Poems on Various Subjects in 1773, three years before American independence. Born in Senegal（塞内加尔）, Wheatley was captured and sold into slavery at the age of seven. Brought to America, she was owned by a Boston merchant. By the time she was sixteen, she had mastered her new language of English. Her poetry was praised by many of the leading figures of the American Revolution, including George Washington, who thanked her for a poem written in his honor. Some whites found it hard to believe that a Black woman could write such refinedpoetry. Wheatley had to defend herself in court to prove that she had written her work. Some critics cite Wheatley's successful defense as the first recognition of African-American literature.Phillis Wheatley William Wells Brow Our NigAnother early African-American author was Jupiter Hammon (1711–1806). Hammon, considered the first published Black writer in America, published his poem "An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries" as a broadside in early 1761. In 1778 he wrote an ode to Phillis Wheatley, in which he discussed their shared humanity and common bonds. In 1786, Hammon gave his "Address to the Negroes of the State of New York". Writing at the age of 76 after a lifetime of slavery, Hammon said, "If we should ever get to Heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or for being slaves." He also promoted the idea of a gradual emancipation（释放）as a way to end slavery. Hammon is thought to have been a slave until his death. His speech was later reprinted by several abolitionist groups（废奴组织）.William Wells Brown (1814–84) and Victor Séjour (1817–74) produced the earliest works of fiction by African-American writers. Séjour was born free in New Orleans（新奥尔良）and moved to France at the age of 19. There he published his short story "Le Mulâtre" ("The Mulatto"黑白混血儿) in 1837. It is the first known fiction by an African American, but as it was written in French and published in a French journal, it had apparently no influence on later American literature. Séjour never returned to African-American themes in his subsequent works. Brown, on the other hand, was a prominent abolitionist, lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian in the United States. Born into slavery in the South, Brown escaped to the North, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer. Brown wrote Clotel; or, The President's Daughter (1853), considered to be the first novel written by an African American. It was based on the persistent rumor that president Thomas Jefferson had fathered a daughter with his slave Sally Hemings（塞利·海明斯）. The novel was first published in England.The first African-American novel published in the United States was Harriet Wilson's Our Nig (1859). It expressed the difficulties of lives of northern free Blacks.。