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On Freedom and the Will to Adorn: The Art of the African American Essay
Although they have written in various genres, African American writers as notable and diverse as W. E. B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, and Alice Walker have done their most influential work in the essay form. The Souls of Black Folk , The Fire Next Time , and In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens are landmarks in African American literary history. Many other writers, such as Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, and Richard Wright, are acclaimed essayists but achieved greater fame for their work in other genres; their essay work is often overlooked or studied only in the contexts of their better-known works. Here Cheryl A. Wall offers the first sustained study of the African American essay as a distinct literary genre.
Beginning with the sermons, orations, and writing of nineteenth-century men and women like Frederick Douglass who laid the foundation for the African American essay, Wall examines the genre's evolution through the Harlem Renaissance. She then turns her attention to four writers she regards as among the most influential essayists of the twentieth century: Baldwin, Ellison, June Jordan, and Alice Walker. She closes the book with a discussion of the status of the essay in the twenty-first century as it shifts its medium from print to digital in the hands of writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brittney Cooper. Wall's beautifully written and insightful book is nothing less than a redefinition of how we understand the genres of African American literature.
Beginning with the sermons, orations, and writing of nineteenth-century men and women like Frederick Douglass who laid the foundation for the African American essay, Wall examines the genre's evolution through the Harlem Renaissance. She then turns her attention to four writers she regards as among the most influential essayists of the twentieth century: Baldwin, Ellison, June Jordan, and Alice Walker. She closes the book with a discussion of the status of the essay in the twenty-first century as it shifts its medium from print to digital in the hands of writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brittney Cooper. Wall's beautifully written and insightful book is nothing less than a redefinition of how we understand the genres of African American literature.
288 pages, Paperback
First published October 26, 2018
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About the author
Cheryl A. Wall
21 books7 followersCheryl A. Wall was a Professor of English at Rutgers University, specializing in African-American women's writing of the Harlem Renaissance.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 31, 2025
im really in my essays bag lately (and reading for my qualifying exams) and i just fell in love with this book about essays. i love books about distinct literary forms so i suppose its not too surprising that i fell in love with it. it’s such a SMART book! dr. wall’s close reading skills are A-1 and her last chapter about “essaying in the digital age” is absolutely splendid and so timely. it’d be interesting to know what she thinks of micro-essays and the current substack era …
of course james baldwin is a king of the essay form and her attention to alice walker and june jordan superbly situates them as the queens. i hope i can write a book this well-researched one day. and the clarity! Ah! The clarity. i think this was an excellent book to close my 2025 reading year out with. brava brava brava.
of course james baldwin is a king of the essay form and her attention to alice walker and june jordan superbly situates them as the queens. i hope i can write a book this well-researched one day. and the clarity! Ah! The clarity. i think this was an excellent book to close my 2025 reading year out with. brava brava brava.
July 4, 2021
Absolutely, a must read!!!!!!!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews