Second Letter from Douglas Watson (page 2 of 3)

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In the past couple of weeks, my preparation for writing the essay has intensified responses to several encounters with human oppression, both racial and political. The news of military rule in Poland, initiated since our exchange of letters, I feel more deeply for having read of the daring of a few students and teachers you knew there. The movie Ragtime (based on E. L. Doctorow's novel and released just this month), which I saw with my wife during the Christmas holidays, told a story of racial injustice, and especially the injustice of the courts regarding the rights of a Black man courageous enough to demand satisfaction, which echoes for me something of your story in the DuBroff case: it is a film which I think you could see only with considerable pain and understanding. Finally, racial attitudes of a more subtle sort haunt me as I plan a week-long study tour of several Southern states and writers which will begin next Friday. Certainly, the assumptions of my all-white class will be different from those you silently held while traveling through the South en route to Mexico, and it occurs to me that because of that difference in long-developed attitudes, their experience and mine will be incomplete, as yours was. As I look back over these rather hastily typed paragraphs, I find them more disjointed than I might wish, but I will let them stand because they may communicate to you something of the feelings with which I approach the writing of the essay. My initial letter promised more questions. Most of the ones I anticipated about particular poems have been answered by Snowflakes and Steel, by How I Write/2, and by Marvin Holdt's article on Black Man Abroad. There are, however, a few remaining about biographical matters, and there is one (the first) which is a matter of permission: 1. May I quote from Snowflakes and Steel in my essay? 2. What are the relative ages of your brothers and sister? 3. You mention Christian Science in relation to your mother and sister. Have you ever thought of yourself as affiliated with that religious persuasion? 4. Who were the most important of your teachers at Howard, Northwestern, and Columbia? 5. Did the relationship with Langston Hughes begin during or before your years at Columbia? 6. Were your choices of Broadside Press and, later, Lotus Press due to their support of Black writers or to personal relationships with Dudley Randall and Naomi Long Madgett? Will Lotus publish the anticipated 1982 volume? 7. Is there reason for me to avoid mention of the stolen literary papers in my essay? You say in Snowflakes... that you don't want DuBroff to know their value, but doesn't "Whitebelly Justice..." put the contents of the papers into the public domain? I will abide by your wishes here. 8. Am I correct to infer from your previous letter that you will be at CCNY during 1982-84? None of these, I think, should demand more than brief answer, and I hope that they will not take you from your primary work. Your help has been most generous already. Of course, I will send you a copy of the completed essay. I do not think, however, that the DLB essay will be the end of my interest in your work;

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Typed letter from Douglas Watson to James Emanuel, dated January 1, 1982. Watson writes that he enjoyed Emanuel's autobiography and claims that his poetry is revolutionary for the whole of Black writing. Watson also asks clarifying questions for his essay on Emanuel. (Page 2)

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  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpg
  • file size
    12 MB
  • container title
    James A. Emanuel Papers
  • creator
    Douglas Watson
  • issue
    Box 4 Folder 7, Watson, Douglas, 1981-1993
  • rights
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • rights holder
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • version
    1-Jan-82