The Negro writer in United States conference — Asilomar, California — 1964

  • Gwendolyn Brooks and LeRoi Jones poetry reading (Part 2 of 2)

    This is the second reel of the session during which Gwendolyn Brooks and LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) read from their own poetry at the Negro Writers conference at Asilomar in August 1964. On this reel Jones reads his poetry for the first half of the recording, and the second half contains a lively question and…

  • Gwendolyn Brooks and LeRoi Jones poetry reading

    This is a recording of the session during which Gwendolyn Brooks and LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) read from their own poetry at the Negro Writers conference at Asilomar in August 1964. “The Negro writer in the United States” was a five-day seminar hosted by the University of California at Berkeley Extension Program, held at the…

  • What the Negro writer is not saying / Nat Hentoff.

    Jazz critic and author Nat Hentoff speaks on the contradictions in American Black writing. At the Negro writers conference at Asilomar.

  • Tell it like it is: the young Negro writer

    Poet and commentator LeRoi Jones (a.k.a. Amiri Baraka) discusses the prospects for the emerging Negro writer at the Asilomar Negro writers conference.

  • The Negro writer in America

    On the second day of the Negro writers’ conference held at Asilomar, KPFA reporters Kenneth Rexroth and Al Silbowitz asked the first three conference speakers, Saunders Redding, Harvey Swados, and LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), to join them in a discussion about the conference thus far. The panel discusses the audience at the conference so far,…

  • The New equality

    Late in the evening of the second day of the Asilomar conference, Al Silbowitz moderated this panel with no audience during which was discussed Nat Hentoff’s new book The New Equality. Panelists were Nat Hentoff, Ralph Gleason, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), and Kenneth Rexroth.

  • Ideological forces in the work of Negro writers

    Horace Cayton delivers a talk on the influence of Marxism, psychoanalysis, Negritude, and African Nationalism on Black authors. The talk was given at “The Negro writer in the United States” conference sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley, on the grounds of Asilomar State Park from August 5-9, 1964.

  • The writer in contemporary American society

    Talk by Harvey Swados on the role of Black authors in American society given at “The Negro Writer in the United States” conference, sponsored by the University of California Extension school.

  • The tradition of Negro writing

    Talk by Saunders Redding on the history of Black literature from caricature to protest to acceptance.

  • The Wonderful world of law and order

    Actor-playwright Ossie Davis at the conference “The Negro writer in the United States,” sponsored by the University of California Extension school. Davis reads from his play “Purlie Victorious” and discusses race relations in the United States and his use of literature to better the situation in a speech that he will later publish as “The…