Papers at Academic and Professional Meetings

  • “Fictitious Negroes, Negro Fictions, and Sterling A. Brown’s Quest for Authenticity on the Federal Writers’ Project.” Paper in “Art, Culture, and Government: The New Deal at 75,” at the Library of Congress, 14 March 2008.
  • “Sterling A. Brown, Langston Hughes, and the Cult of Unintelligibility.” Paper in Langston Hughes Festival, at City College of New York, 26 October 2007.
  • “Langston Hughes and the Sounds of Silence.” Paper in American Literature Association, 26 May, 2007.
  • “How Can We Use Literature in History Instruction?” Invited paper in “American Rights and Race Relations: The Legacy of Brown vs. Board of Education.” Washburn University, 30 June 2005.
  • “The New Negro Renaissance of Langston Hughes and Frank Marshall Davis.” Invited paper in “Coping With Change: The U.S. and Kansas During the 1920s and 1930s.” Kansas State Historical Society, 23 June 2005.
  • “Frank Marshall Davis: An Exile in Hawaii?” Invited paper in Forging Links: Black Issues in the 21st Century Conference at University of Hawaii, 20 November 2004.
  • “Frank Marshall Davis, Kansas’s Most Famous Unknown Poet.” Paper in Kansas History Teachers Association at University of Kansas, 5 April 2003.
  • “Redeeming Kansas: Novel Approaches to Old Ideas.” Paper in Conference on New Literacies at University of Kansas, 22 February 2003.
  • “Frank Marshall Davis and the Cultural Life of Black Chicago.” Paper in Hull House Conference, University of Illinois at Chicago, 13 April 2002.
  • “Private Life, Private Lies: Frank Marshall Davis, Langston Hughes, and the Problem of Self-Representation.” Paper in “Let America Be America Again: An International Symposium on the Art, Life, and Legacy of Langston Hughes,” 8 February 2002.
  • “Jazz in the Poetry of Frank Marshall Davis.” Invited paper presented in University of Kansas Multicultural Literary Institute, 18 July 2001.
  • “Sterling A. Brown and the Black Tradition in College Education.” Invited paper presented at President’s Investiture at Bowie State University, 10 May 2001.
  • “From ‘Folk-Say’ to ‘Living People Lore’: The Folkloric Relations of Benjamin A. Botkin and Sterling A. Brown,” University of Nebraska at Lincoln Symposium on B.A. Botkin, 2 February 2001.
  • [with Mark Sanders] “Fierce Listening: Sterling A. Brown and Southern Black Voices,” Modern Language Association, 28 December 2000. Re-presented at College Language Association, 19 April 2001.
  • [convener] “Redrawing the Boundaries of Black Literature and Culture” session, Modern Language Association. 29 December 1998.
  • "Double Conscious Brother in the Veil: Toward an Intellectual Biography of Sterling A. Brown," Sterling A. Brown Conference, Howard University, 14 February 1997.
  • [convener and commentator] "The Black Arts Movement, Recuperative Strategies, and The Man Who Cried I Am" session, Midwest Modern Language Association, November 1996
  • "A Message to Michael, In Appreciation," Celebrating Harper: A Conference and Festival in Honor of Michael S. Harper, October 24-27, 1996, Bowdoin College
  • [convener and commentator] "Frank Marshall Davis and the Chicago Black Renaissance" session, Midwest Modern Language Association, November 1994.
  • "Frank Marshall Davis and 1960s Counterculture." Paper presented at the Modern Language Association, 27 December 1993.
  • "Recovering a Lost Son: Frank Marshall Davis and his Livin' the Blues." Invited paper presented in Lecturers and Readers series at University of Kansas, 11 March 1993.
  • "'The Summer of '46': Sterling A. Brown Among the Minnesotans." Paper presented at Black Heartland Conference, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 23 March 1991.
  • "Recasting Negro Life History: Sterling A. Brown and the Federal Writers' Project." Paper presented at the Modern Language Association, 29 December 1989.
  • "Racial Art or Race Relations: The Challenge of Teaching Black Literature." Invited paper presented in the Kentucky Humanities Summer Seminar at Centre College, 25 June 1987.
  • "Black Literary Criticism and the Changing Shape of Commitment." Invited Paper delivered at Vassar College, 6 February 1986.
  • "Sterling A. Brown's Negro Caravan: A Consideration." Invited paper presented at Wesleyan University, 19 November 1985.
  • "The Critical Realism of Sterling A. Brown." Invited paper presented in the Critical Theory Forum at University of Louisville, 15 February 1985.
  • "Taking Poetry to the People." Paper delivered at Association of Departments of English (ADE) meeting, 14 July 1984.
  • "Sterling Brown: Editor on Negro Affairs." Paper delivered at Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, 22 October 1982.
  • "Sterling Brown: Patron Saint of Literary Criticism." Paper delivered at Brown University, 30 April 1981.

Public Lectures

  • “Images of Affirmation in the Work of Gordon Parks.” Invited paper presented in the Second Annual Gordon Parks Celebration at Ft. Scott Community College, 7 October 2005.
  • “Gordon Parks’s Learning Tree Experience.” Invited lecture in “The Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity” at Fort Scott Community College, 8 October 2004.
  • “Frank Marshall Davis.” Paper presented in Kansas Art and Popular Culture Seminar, University of Kansas Art History Department, 4 October 2004.
  • “My Learning Tree Experience, or Lessons Learned from my Boyhood on West Pine Street.” Keynote address at Independence (KS) Homecoming, 10 July 2004.
  • “Celebrating Black History Through Gordon Parks.” Invited lecture for GEAR-UP Program, Parsons High School, Parsons, KS, 16 February 2004.
  • “Gordon Parks’s Learning Tree Experience,” Invited lecture in Black History Month Program at Hutchison (KS) Community College, 20 February 2004.
  • “Coming of Age in a Land of Uncertainty.” Invited lecture for Life Enrichment Program, Bethel College, Newton College, Newton, KS, 3 March 2004.
  • “A Blues Perspective: The Subversive Vision of Frank Marshall Davis.” Invited lecture at Emporia State University, 12 March 2003.
  • “To Thine Own Self Be True: The Quest for Self-Knowledge in Gordon Parks’s Autobiographical Narratives.” Invited Lecture in the Beach series. Kansas State University, 9 February 2003. Revised and presented at A Celebration of Gordon Parks at University of Kansas, 22 February 2003.
  • “Composite Portrait: Sterling A. Brown and the Problem of Representation on the Federal Writers’ Project.” Invited Presentation, Spencer Museum of Art. 30 October 2002.
  • “Against the Odds: Writers Growing Up Black in Kansas.” Lecture for the Speakers’ Bureau of the Kansas Humanities Council, 2000-2003.
  • “Plateaus of Uncertainty: Symposia on Legacies and the Future of the Race.” Series of Presentations as Scholar-in-Residence, Johnson County Community College. 17-19 February 1999
  • “Sterling A. Brown, His Life and Achievements.” Invited Presentation, Library of Congress. 24 October 1998.
  • "Double Conscious Brother in the Veil." Lecture, Miami University English Department Faculty Seminar Series, 25 March 1997.
  • "Weaving Jagged Words: Frank Marshall Davis and the Writing of Self-History." Invited Lecture, The Center for Biographical Research, 17 July 1996, University of Hawaii.
  • "Vision and Revisions: The Changing Shape of the Harlem Renaissance." Lecture, Miami University Art Museum Series, 22 February 1995.
  • "Social Function in the Poetry of Frank Marshall Davis." The Annual Langston Hughes Lecture, 2 March 1994, at the University of Kansas.
  • "Recovering Kansas' Lost Son: Frank Marshall Davis and his Livin' the Blues." Lecture, University of Kansas Medical Center, 28 April 1994.
  • "Recovering a Lost Son: Frank Marshall Davis and his Livin' the Blues." Lecture, Wichita State University, 22 April 1994.
  • "An Evening of Livin' the Blues." A Reading and Lecture, Terra Nova Bookstore, Lawrence, KS, 20 April 1994.
  • "Frank Marshall Davis, Ad Astra Per Aspera." Invited Kansas Day lecture, Washburn University of Topeka, 27 January 1994.
  • "The Critical Realism of Sterling A. Brown." Peale Gallery Library series, University of Kentucky, 6 February 1987.
  • "A Short History of Black Poetry," four lectures in Taking Poetry to the People series, co-sponsored by University of Kentucky English Department and city of Lexington, KY, Spring 1984.
  • "Making the World a Better Place." Keynote Address at First Independence, Kansas, Black Homecoming, 2 July 1983.