Trading Eights, the Keepsake of Two Exhibitions: Two Hundred Years of Black American Literature and the Afro-American Experience.

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First edition, limited to 2500 copies. This exhibition guide explores Afro-American literature through the lens of jazz, particularly Ralph Ellison’s concept of transforming chaos into form via collective improvisation. It highlights a “call and response” tradition, where writers engage themes of literacy, freedom, and identity much like jazz musicians “trading eights.” The guide is structured in three sections, tracing the origins, shared references, and evolving directions of Afro-American literary expression. Poems by Gerarld Barrax, Joseph A. Brown, S.J., Rita Dove, Charles H. Rowell are reprinted throughout

Price: $25.00