91直播视频professor delivers article on legacy of early 20th-century Black author
Jennifer Tuttle, Ph.D., Dorothy M. Healy Professor of Literature and Health in the 91直播视频 School of Arts and Humanities and 2021-2022 Ludcke Chair of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has published a journal article based on her recent sabbatical research.
The publication, titled 鈥�,鈥� is an analytical profile of an author who is almost entirely unknown but whose life story and diverse creative output shed substantial light on Black women鈥檚 writing in early twentieth-century Los Angeles.
The profile, which introduces Mitchell to the world, is accompanied by a reprint, edited by Tuttle, of Mitchell鈥檚 courtroom murder mystery, 鈥�,鈥� which appeared serially in LA鈥檚 premiere Black newspaper, the California Eagle, in the summer of 1923; this month鈥檚 re-publication thus celebrates the story鈥檚 centenary. This work appears in Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, but both the profile and the reprint are being offered free without a subscription by the University of Nebraska Press at the above links.
Mitchell and her ancestors are nearly invisible in the historical record, and most traces of her life, along with a portion of her work, have crumbled into dust. Yet, Tuttle argues that 鈥渢heir lives mattered: the experiences of Mitchell and her family are an important part of American history, Black history, women鈥檚 history, and the history of the US West.鈥�
Moreover, Tuttle explains that recovering Mitchell鈥檚 creative work (which appeared in silent films, newspaper inserts, pulp magazines, and local theater 鈥� all ephemeral venues) 鈥渉elps substantially to expand researchers鈥� expectations about what constitutes Black women writers鈥� historical archive.鈥�
That is, Tuttle said, 鈥渋t prods us to rethink where to look, and what to look for, when seeking out Black women鈥檚 lives and work in the West before 1930.鈥�
Tuttle spoke about the research process for this project in her earlier this year.