Richard A. Yarborough (born 1951) is Professor of English and African-American literature and a Faculty Research Associate with the

Ralph J. Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

Center for African American Studies at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He is also an editor of ''The Heath Anthology of American Literature''.

Background

Yarborough received his B.A. in English from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in 1973 and his Ph.D. from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1980. He joined the English department at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1979, his teaching and research focusing on issues relating to African-American literature, including pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

African-American literature and the representation of slavery and race in American culture."All Faculty: Yarborough, Richard A."
UCLA Department of English. At the time, he taught the only course offered in that field by UCLA, but in 2014 it was noted by

King-Kok Cheung King-Kok Cheung is an American literary critic specializing in Asian American literature and is a professor in the department of English at UCLA. Cheung grew up on Hong Kong Island. Cheung received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Ca ...

, a professor of English and Asian American studies: "Our English department is now considered one of the strongest—if not the strongest—in African American literature, with the richest selection of courses in the country."Judy Lin,
"He takes top honors for a lifelong commitment to diversity , Richard Yarborough is this year's winner of the Academic Senate's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award"
UCLA Newsroom, September 16, 2014. ''The Heath Anthology of American Literature'', with Yarborough as Associate General Editor, was launched in 1990, and he was also a founder of "The Library of Black Literature" series in which books by African-American authors are reprinted. He also worked with Henry Louis Gates, Jr on ''The Norton Anthology of African American Literature''. Yarborough has been a consultant on a number of films, including ''

The Josephine Baker Story ''The Josephine Baker Story'' is an American television film that first aired on HBO on March 16, 1991. It stars Lynn Whitfield as Josephine Baker, who was an international African-American star, who was especially successful in Europe. The film w ...

'' (1991) and ''The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne'' (2013). In 2012, the Richard A. Yarborough Mentoring Award was set up by the American Studies Association's Minority Scholars' Committee to "honor a scholar who, like Richard Yarborough, demonstrates dedication to and excellence in mentoring.""More on the Richard A. Yarborough Mentoring Award"
American Studies Association. In 2016 he was awarded the Darwin T. Turner Distinguished Scholar Award from the African American Literature and Culture Society.Arianna Nolta
"English professor Richard Yarborough receives distinguished scholar award"
UCLA Newsroom, July 29, 2016.

Selected publications

Books

Heath: *Associate General Editor, with

Paul Lauter Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

(General Editor), Jackson Bryer,

, Anne Goodwyn Jones, Wendy Martin, Charles Molesworth, Raymund Paredes, Ivy Schweitzer, Linda Wagner-Martin, Andrew O. Wiget, and Sandy Zagarell. ''The Heath Anthology of American Literature''. 5th edn, rev. Boston, Mass.:

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, 2006. *Associate General Editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Juan Bruce-Novoa, Jackson Bryer, Elaine Hedges, Anne Goodwyn Jones, Amy Ling, Wendy Martin, Charles Molesworth, Carla Mulford, Raymund Paredes, Linda Wagner-Martin, and Andrew Wiget. ''The Heath Anthology of American Literature''. 3rd edn, rev. 2 vols. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. *Associate General Editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Juan Bruce-Novoa, Jackson Bryer, Elaine Hedges, Anne Goodwyn Jones, Amy Ling, Daniel Littlefield, Jr., Wendy Martin, Charles Molesworth, Carla Mulford, Raymund Paredes, Linda Wagner-Martin, and Andrew Wiget. ''The Heath Anthology of American Literature.'' 2nd edn, rev. 2 vols. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1994. *Co-editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Juan Bruce-Novoa, Jackson Bryer, Elaine Hedges, Amy Ling, Daniel Littlefield, Wendy Martin, Charles Molesworth, Carla Mulford, Raymund Paredes,

Hortense Spillers Hortense J. Spillers (born 1942) is an American literary critic, Black Feminist scholar and the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor at Vanderbilt University. A scholar of the African diaspora, Spillers is known for her essays on African-American ...

, Linda Wagner-Martin, and Andrew Wiget. ''The Heath Anthology of American Literature''. 2 vols. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1990. Norton: *Co-editor, with

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...

and Nellie Y. McKay (General Editors), William L. Andrews,

Houston A. Baker, Jr. Houston Alfred Baker Jr. (born March 22, 1943) is an American scholar specializing in African-American literature and Distinguished University Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. Baker served as president of the Modern Language Associa ...

, Barbara T. Christian,

Frances Smith Foster Frances Smith Foster (born 1944) is an American researcher and emeritus Professor of African-American studies and women's history. She has previously served as the Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Women's Studies at Emory Universit ...

Deborah E. McDowell Deborah E. McDowell (born 1951) is a scholar, author and member of the University of Virginia faculty since 1987 where she serves as the Alice Griffin professor of Literary Studies. In 2008 professor McDowell was named director of the Carter G. W ...

, Robert G. O'Meally,

Arnold Rampersad Arnold Rampersad (born 13 November 1941) is a biographer, literary critic, and academic, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to the US in 1965. The first volume (1986) of his ''Life of Langston Hughes'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer ...

, and

. ''The Norton Anthology of African American Literature''. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997. Reprint Series *General Editor, ''The Library of Black Literature reprint series'',

University Press of New England The University Press of New England (UPNE), located in Lebanon, New Hampshire and founded in 1970, was a university press consortium including Brandeis University, Dartmouth College (its host member), Tufts University, the University of New Hampsh ...

(formerly published by

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

Press), 1988–2008. Given the 2002 African American History Award by the Boston

Museum of Afro-American History The African Meeting House, also known variously as First African Baptist Church, First Independent Baptist Church and the Belknap Street Church, was built in 1806 and is now the oldest black church edifice still standing in the United States. It ...

Essays

Introductions *''

Uncle Tom's Children ''Uncle Tom's Children'' is a collection of Novella, novellas and the first book published by African-American author Richard Wright (author), Richard Wright, who went on to write ''Native Son'' (1940), ''Black Boy'' (1945), and ''The Outsider (Wri ...

'' by Richard Wright. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008. *''Sons Of Darkness, Sons Of Light: A Novel of Some Probability'' by John A. Williams. Northeastern; new edition, 1999. *''Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South'' by

Pauline Hopkins Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (1859 – August 13, 1930) was an American novelist, journalist, playwright, historian, and editor. She is considered a pioneer in her use of the romantic novel to explore social and racial themes, as demonstrated ...

. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Articles *"Race, Violence, and Manhood: The Masculine Ideal in

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

's 'The Heroic Slave'" In ''Haunted Bodies: Gender and Southern Texts.'' Anne Jones and Susan Donaldson, eds. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1997:159–84 *"Strategies of Black Characterization in Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Early Afro-American Novel." In '' Literary Influence and African-American Writers.'' Tracy Mishkin (ed.). New York: Garland, 1996: 23–64. *"Black Authors, White Readers: Early Afro-American Fiction Writers and the Problem of Audience." In ''Lire en Amérique.'' Paris, France: Institut d'Etudes Anglophones, Université Paris VII-Denis Diderot, 1993: 33–46. * "Race, Violence, and Manhood: The Masculine Ideal in Frederick Douglass's 'The Heroic Slave.'" In ''Frederick Douglass: New Literary and Historical Essays.'' Sundquist, Eric J. (ed.). Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1991: 166–88. * "The First Person in Afro-American Fiction." In ''Afro-American Literary Study in the 1990s.'' Houston A. Baker Jr. and Patricia Redmond (eds.) Chicago:

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

, 1989:105–134. *"The Crisis in Afro-American Letters." ''College English,'' vol. 43, no. 8, pp. 773–78, December 1981 *"The Quest for the American Dream in Three Afro-American Novels: If He Hollers Let Him Go, The Street, and Invisible Man." MELUS, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 33–59, January 1981.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yarborough, Richard 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics American literary critics Literary critics of English Living people Michigan State University alumni Stanford University alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty American academics of English literature 1951 births 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics