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Preface THERE HAS BEEN MUCH DISCUSSION ABOUT RACE and voice in composition studies, from the emergence of “The Students’ Right to Their Own Language ” in 1974 until the present. The field of rhetoric and composition has also produced a number of significant works that explore the rich history of African American oratory and literacy, Shirley Wilson Logan’s “We Are Coming,” Jacqueline Jones Royster’s Traces of a Stream, and Bradford T. Stull’s Amid the Fall, to name just a few. In this book, I begin reexamining both the ideological and interdisciplinary relationships among literature, oratory, and composition epitomized in an explication of the metaphor of black voice. My specific contribution will be twofold. First, I will contribute to the discussion about the racialization of voice from the 1870s through the 1920s (chapters 1 and 2). Second, I will trace through representative authors the evolution of black voice from its literal use to its metaphorical use, first in literature and then, by extension, in composition (chapters 3–6). My overall purpose is to afford African American students more flexibility in constructing their own racialized ethos in writing. Many African American authors have fought for such flexibility, particularly during the 1870s through the 1920s. Many such writers and, more to the point, student writers continue to fight for this flexibility. Obviously, some of my observations could and perhaps should be applied to other peoples of color or to whites. I will leave that project to another scholar or another time. This current reflection on black voice is a starting point, a significant one, I trust. Perhaps the ulterior motive of this pursuit is more personal than scholarly . Like many other African Americans, I marvel at the number of whites and blacks who have told me that my voice either is “too black” or “not black enough.” In most cases, when time and distance have allowed me ix to more objectively reflect on these accusations, I have not always been sure what my accusers mean. And if they are like most Americans when it comes to fathoming or articulating the complexities of race and voice, my accusers don’t know what they mean either. x Preface ...

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