ERIC Number: ED082180
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1972
Pages: 222
Abstractor: N/A
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A Study of the Afro-American Content of the Most Widely-Used Collegiate American Literature Anthologies, Copyrighted Between 1953 and 1970.
Kelly, Ernece Beverly
This study examined the image of Afro-American characters and of the Afro-American writer in American literature anthologies widely used in higher education. The study concludes that in these anthologies materials are selected which (1) depict the Afro-American in a limited number of roles and largely as minor characters or as references; (2) treat the Afro-American outside of a real or imagined social-political situation; or (3) in the case of writings by Afro-Americans, have no explicit racial dimension. The study suggests that American literature anthologies contribute to a distorted image of the Afro-American as real or imaginary character and to an apolitical image of the Afro-American as writer. In the light of theories of social constructionists such as Thomas Luckmann and Peter Berger, a skewed notion of reality is reinforced for the student and the instructor through use of such materials. (Author/DI)
Descriptors: Anthologies, Black Culture, Black Literature, Black Studies, College Curriculum, Cultural Images, Educational Research, Literary Criticism, Literary History, Racial Attitudes, Racial Discrimination, Social Attitudes, Stereotypes, United States Literature
University Microfilms, A Xerox Company, Dissertation Copies, Post Office Box 1764, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 (Order No. 73-10,242, MFilm $4.00, Xerography $10.00)
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Note: Ph.D. Dissertation, Northwestern University