A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories - Hardcover

by Bettye Collier-Thomas (Author)

An Esquire "Best Christmas Book to Read During the Holidays"

A collection of Christmas stories written by African-American journalists, activists, and writers from the late 19th century to the modern civil rights movement.

Back in print for the first time in over a decade, this landmark collection features writings from well-known black writers, activists, and visionaries such as Pauline Hopkins, Langston Hughes, and John Henrik Clarke along with literary gems from rediscovered writers. Originally published in African American newspapers, periodicals, and journals between 1880 and 1953, these enchanting Christmas tales are part of the black literary tradition that flourished after the Civil War.

Edited and assembled by esteemed historian Dr. Bettye Collier-Thomas, the short stories and poems in this collection reflect the Christmas experiences of everyday African Americans and explore familial and romantic love, faith, and more serious topics such as racism, violence, poverty, and racial identity. Featuring the best stories and poems from previous editions along with new material including "The Sermon in the Cradle" by W. E. B. Du Bois, A Treasury of African American Christmas Stories celebrates a rich storytelling tradition and will be cherished by readers for years to come.

Front Jacket

Bettye Collier-Thomas's acclaimed A Treasury of African-American Christmas Stories introduced modern readers to long-lost Christmas classics from the turn of the century. Now this second collection of stories extends our knowledge of the African-American literary tradition as it resurrects the writings of once well known black writers, journalists, and political activists such as Pauline Hopkins, Augustus Hodges, and John Henrik Clarke, as well as obscure figures such as Lelia Plummer, J. B. Howard, and Bruce Reynolds.

With stories dating from the late nineteenth century through the Depression era, this collection reflects the Christmas experiences of everyday African-Americans and demonstrates the changing values and social issues that concerned the African-American community during World War I and the Depression, particularly the re-emergence of the KKK after the war. The stories told here address universal themes of love, religion, and the existence of Santa Claus as well as more somber topics such as racial injustice, violence, poverty, and racial identity.

In Carrie Jane Thomas's 1885 piece "A Christmas Story", Santa Claus is a force for good. Fifty years later, Langston Hughes's story "One Christmas Eve" and John Henrik Clarke's "Santa Claus Is a White Man" break down traditional Christmas themes by stripping away the veneer of jolly old Saint Nicholas to expose the racist and un-Christian views that predominated in the white South during the 1930s. Reflecting another view altogether, in Mary Jenness's 1927 poem "A Carol of Color", Jesus is a black man.

This second volume of A treasury of African-American Christmas Stories is a perfect companion to the well-received firstcollection of stories.

Author Biography

Bettye Collier-Thomas is professor of American history at Temple University. Her scholarship includes American social and cultural history, African American women's history, religion, civil rights, and electoral politics. Dr. Collier-Thomas is the author of numerous award-winning books. Her most recent, Jesus, Jobs, and Justice: African American Women and Religion, was reviewed and cited in the New York Times as an Editor's Choice, won a National Women's Political Caucus's EMMA award for excellence in elevating the civil discourse on issues affecting women, and received awards from the Organization of American Historians and the Association of Black Women Historians. Her previous award-winning books include Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement (as coeditor) and Daughters of Thunder: Black Women Preachers and Their Sermons. She has received multiple fellowships and grants from the Lilly Endowment, Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Humanities Center, and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.