Carolivia Herron
Scholarship
African American Epic Tradition
carolivia@carolivia.org
Herron’s long-term scholarly project African American Epic Tradition describes and analyses this tradition, from Phillis Wheatley’s desire to write an epic in the eighteenth century to epic strains in contemporary African American culture.
These strains include formal poetry (Melvin Tolson, Derek Walcott), blues (Leadbelly) and rap/hip hop (Chuck D, Queen Latifah).
Herron's research traces elements of African American epic back to African, Caribbean, European, Islamic and Hebraic roots. She has collected 30 brief African American epics from the nineteenth century, and these works will be published in a companion volume with her analysis.
African American Epic Tradition is contracted to Stanford University Press.
Dr. Herron is also completing a textbook, Early African American Poetry, for Vintage Press.
