Black Hibiscus

Contributions by Simone A. James Alexander José Felipe Alvergue Valerie Babb Pamela Bordelon Taylor Hagood Joyce Marie Jackson Delia Malia Konzett Jane Landers John Wharton Lowe Gary Monroe Noelle Morrissette Paul Ortiz Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon Genevieve West and Belinda Wheeler <p/> The state of Florida has a rich literary and cultural history which has been greatly shaped by many different ethnicities races and cultures that call the Sunshine State home. Little attention has been paid however to the key role of African Americans in Floridian history and culture. The state's early population boom came from immigrants from the US South and many of them were African Americans. Interaction between the state's ethnic communities has created a unique and vibrant culture which has had and continues to have a significant impact on southern national and hemispheric life and history. <p/> <i>Black Hibiscus: African Americans and the Florida Imaginary</i> begins by exploring Florida's colonial past focusing particularly on interactions between maroons who escaped enslavement and on Albery Whitman's <i>The Rape of Florida</i> which also links Black people and Native Americans. Contributors consider film folklore and music as well as such key Black writers as Zora Neale Hurston James Weldon Johnson Gwendolyn Bennett Colson Whitehead and Edwidge Danticat. The volume features Black Floridians' role in the civil rights movement and Black contributions to the celebrated Florida Writers' Project. Contributors include literary scholars historians film critics art historians anthropologists musicologists political scientists artists and poets.