Awards

• Winner of Winner of the 2016 Research Society for American Periodicals Book Prize.

Overview

Black Print Unbound explores the development of the Christian Recorder during and just after the American Civil War. As a study of the African Methodist Episcopal Church newspaper and so of a periodical with national reach among free African Americans, Black Print Unbound is at once a massive recovery effort of a publication by African Americans for African Americans, a consideration of the nexus of African Americanist inquiry and print culture studies, and an intervention in the study of literatures of the Civil War, faith communities, and periodicals.

Full Product Details

9780190237080

Table of Contents

Reviews

The Christian Recorder was the most important and influential forum for African American writing in the nineteenth century, and Eric Gardner is the best scholar on the subject. A comprehensive study, deeply grounded in archival research, that considers the Christian Recorder as both institution and fluid text, this will be one of those rare books about which one can honestly say, 'This changes everything.' --John Ernest, author of Chaotic Justice: Rethinking African American Literary History Black Print Unbound far exceeds the pages of the printed word. Gardner has meticulously reconstituted a textured history of the Christian Recorder that provides deep insight into nineteenth-century African American literary culture-writers and readers, authorship, literary form and genre-yet also opens a wide window onto black society and activism nationwide. His scholarship is impeccable, the book richly rewarding. --Carla L. Peterson, author of Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City Eric Gardner's detailed analysis of the Christian Recorder during the Civil War era demonstrates that scholars must reexamine their assumptions about 19th century African American print culture. This carefully researched volume provides an essential resource for both historians and literary scholars examining print culture or the AME Church in the Civil War era. -Mitch Kachun, author of Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808-1915 Black Print Unbound is an exemplary work of recovery; it not only draws attention to the neglected archive of the Recorder, but it highlights the ways in which its editors, contributors and readers, against the odds, formed extensive textual communities. -- The Times Literary Supplement

The Christian Recorder was the most important and influential forum for African American writing in the nineteenth century, and Eric Gardner is the best scholar on the subject. A comprehensive study, deeply grounded in archival research, that considers the Christian Recorder as both institution and fluid text, this will be one of those rare books about which one can honestly say, 'This changes everything.' --John Ernest, author of Chaotic Justice: Rethinking African American Literary History Black Print Unbound far exceeds the pages of the printed word. Gardner has meticulously reconstituted a textured history of the Christian Recorder that provides deep insight into nineteenth-century African American literary culture-writers and readers, authorship, literary form and genre-yet also opens a wide window onto black society and activism nationwide. His scholarship is impeccable, the book richly rewarding. --Carla L. Peterson, author of Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City Eric Gardner's detailed analysis of the Christian Recorder during the Civil War era demonstrates that scholars must reexamine their assumptions about 19th century African American print culture. This carefully researched volume provides an essential resource for both historians and literary scholars examining print culture or the AME Church in the Civil War era. -Mitch Kachun, author of Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808-1915

Author Information

Eric Gardner is Professor of English at Saginaw Valley State University. He is the author of Unexpected Places: Relocating Nineteenth-Century African American Literature.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available