understanding this collection. Issues of race and
sexual orientation inform the selections as they do
life—unexpectedly but often joyously.
The title is taken from AUDRE LORDE’s “Tar
Beach,” an excerpt from her biomythography
ZAMI: THE SPELLING OF MY NAME, that introduces
the character Afrekete. Afrekete is the mythical
lover who is born in the South but migrates north
to Harlem, where she appears in the life of young
Audre, helping her collect the “journey-woman
pieces of herself ”—the immediate intersections of
identity and experience—which allow her to chart
a life course.
Lorde’s work in this anthology—beginning
with the autobiographical “Tar Beach,” which
chronicles the arrival of Afrekete into Audre’s early
gay life, and ending with her poem “Today Is Not
the Day,” written just months before her death in
1992—offers both dynamic form and thematic
considerations to the 18 other voices speaking
their stories.
Other contributors include Michelle Cliff, Car-
olivia Herron, Alexis DeVeaux, Jacqueline Wood-
son, SAPPHIRE, the activist and publisher Barbara
Smith, Linda Villarosa (former executive editor of
ESSENCE), and the filmmaker Michelle Parkerson.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ball, M. Charlene. “Old Magic and New Fury: the
Theaphany of Afrekete in Audre Lorde’s ‘Tar
Beach.’ ” NWSA Journal 13, no. 1 (2001): 61–85.
Janet Bland
African American Review
African American Review is one of the leading
journals in African-American literary and cultural
studies. It was established in 1967 as Negro Ameri-
can Literature Forum, published by the Indiana
State University School of Education. Originally
a mimeographed newsletter, it had an initial au-
dience among teachers who were bringing black
writing into the classroom, often for the first time.
As John F. Bayliss, the founder and first editor, said
in the inaugural issue, “Perhaps one of the most
urgent features of Negro American Literature
Studies at the moment is that they be popularized
among teachers at all levels of education. At school
level, integration of material is a ‘must’; at college
level, this latter point may be debatable” (1). Since
Indiana State University was established as the
state normal school, it is surprising that the jour-
nal had a pedagogical emphasis.
What is perhaps more surprising is that the first
issue was oriented more toward an academic au-
dience than its sources and editorial stance would
suggest. In addition to a tribute to LANGSTON
HUGHES by DARWIN TURNER, it included a short
commentary by James A. Emanuel titled “The Fu-
ture of Negro Poetry,” two short articles on NATIVE
SON, a checklist of African-American periodicals
and journals, and a review by Blyden Jackson of
Seymour Gross’s Images of the Negro in American
Literature. The list of contributors suggests that
a group of scholars was already in place to help
shape the critical development of the field by
means of such a journal. Perhaps the most signifi-
cant piece in the issue was “Some Queries about
Negro American Literature” by J. S. Lowry. The
questions it posed were crucial ones for literature
that was often at that time associated with politics
and social critique: What determines the category,
the standards of evaluation, and the status within
literature generally? These, of course, continue
to be central issues for African-American literary
analysis.
As the journal developed into a large-format
publication under Bayliss and later Hannah Hed-
rick, it maintained its dual role as pedagogical re-
source and a site of professional criticism. The first
major shift came in the spring 1977 issue, when
Joseph Weixlmann became editor. He changed the
name to Black American Literature Forum, reflect-
ing a shift in perspective; moreover, all of the ar-
ticles were analytical pieces clearly designed for an
audience of literary critics. Academic book reviews
were included, and special issues were introduced
on CLARENCE MAJOR, fiction, and women writers.
In 1991, the journal received a Lila Wallace–
Reader’s Digest Foundation Grant to develop
strategies for expanding its readership. One result
was a change in name to African American Review,
designed to reflect an expansion of the emphasis to6 African American Review