prince who comes of age and is captured into
slavery at the end of the novel. The sequel to The
Dahomean, A Darkness at Ingraham’s Crest (1979),
which chronicles Hwesu’s adventures in America,
is a powerful indictment of American slavery. In
the sequel, however, Yerby returned to the histori-
cal romance and his favorite subject, the American
South; he continued to debunk the myths of the
South until his death on November 29, 1991.
There is little doubt that Frank Yerby effected a
compromise, however large or small, in becoming
a popular fiction writer in America, but this com-
promise was obviously one he was willing to make.
His continued success in popular fiction depended
on his adhering to the fictional persona and for-
mula he first established in The Foxes of Harrow.
While Yerby’s auspicious and unprecedented inva-
sion of American popular fiction significantly ex-
panded the literary canvas for African Americans,
it simultaneously raised questions about Yerby’s
racial consciousness and commitment. Yerby,
however, chose to maintain his artistic detach-
ment, opting instead to write antiromantic novels
that debunked the myths, legends, and historical
inaccuracies of the past.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fuller, Muriel. Letter to James Hill, January 28, 1974.
Graham, Maryemma. “Frank Yerby, King of the Cos-
tume Novel.” Essence, October 1975, pp. 70–71,
88–92.
Hill, James L. “Between Philosophy and Race: Images
of Blacks in the Fiction of Frank Yerby.” Umoja
(1981): 5–16.
———. “An Interview with Frank Yerby.” Resources
for American Literary Study (Fall 1995): 206–239.
Richardson, Josephine. Personal interview. Augusta,
Ga. January 23, 1974.
Rothe, Anne, ed. “Frank Yerby.” In Current Biography,
672–674. New York: Wilson Company, 1947.
Turner, Darwin T. “Frank Yerby as Debunker.” Mas-
sachusetts Review 20 (Summer 1968): 569–577.
Yerby, Frank. “How and Why I Write the Costume
N o v e l. ” Harper’s, October 1959, p. 146.
James L. HillYoung, Al (1939– )
A musician, teacher, screenwriter, novelist, and
poet, Al Young was born in Ocean Springs, Mis-
sissippi, near Biloxi, the son of Albert James and
Mary Campbell Young. In his own words, he
“spent childhood shuttling between southern &
northern U.S. Started writing westerns, detectives
& science fiction in notebooks around the age
of 10. Began a 2-finger type in the 6th grade &
turned out my own hectographed coming weekly
mag The Krazy Krazette in jr. high” (quoted in
Miller, 137). While living in Detroit from 1957 to
1960, Young attended the University of Michigan
on a trial basis, but after earning a living play-
ing his guitar and singing in local coffeehouses,
he left to explore the “sad world,” ebullient with
war and civil strife. Before settling on the West
Coast, Young was the coeditor of a small magazine
named Generations and the founder of Loveletter;
in northern California he became a co–founding
editor with ISHMAEL REED of Yardbird Reader and
attended Stanford University as a fellow in cre-
ative writing before receiving a bachelor of art
degree in Spanish in 1969 from the University of
California at Berkeley.
His collections of poetry include Dancing
(1969), The Song Turning Back into Itself (1971),
Earth Air Fire and Water (1971), Geography of the
Near Past (1976), The Blues Don’t Change New and
Selected Poems (1982), Heaven: Collected Poems
(1988), and Straight No Chaser (1994). Young’s
novels include Snakes (1970), Sitting Pretty (1976),
Who Is Angelina? (1975), Ask Me Now (1980), and
Seduction by Light (1988). His screenwriting cred-
its include Sparkle (1976) and Bustin’ Loose (1981).
Young is equally well known for his memoirs of
black musicians: Bodies and Soul (1981), Kinds of
Blue (1984), Things Ain’t What They Used to Be
(1987), and Mingus/Mingus: Two Memoirs (1989),
written with Janet Coleman.
To enter Young’s world of poetry is to enter a
world of music, dance, feelings, transcendence,
and self-discovery, a declaration of the existen-
tial. These are venues for change, personal and
communal. Many of these themes are central to
“Dancing All Alone,” rich with intertextual refer-572 Young, Al