Richard A. Yarborough (born 1951) is Professor of English and

African-American literature African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. Phillis Wheatley was an enslaved African woman who became the first African American to publish a book of poetry, which was publis ...

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 ...

Center for African American Studies at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. 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 or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in 1973 and his Ph.D. from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

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, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

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

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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. Early life Cheung grew up on Hong Kong Island. Education Cheung received her Ph.D. in Englis ...

, 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 Henry Louis Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950), popularly known by his childhood nickname "Skip", is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of t ...

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, an international African-American star, who was especially successful in Europe. The film was gener ...

'' (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 The American Studies Association (ASA) is a scholarly organization devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture, U.S. culture and American history, history. It was founded in 1951 and claims to be the oldest scholarly organization d ...

'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: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo P ...

(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 , , "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 vocalize it as ...

, 2006. *Associate General Editor, with Paul Lauter (General Editor), Juan Bruce-Novoa, Jackson Bryer, Elaine Hedges, Anne Goodwyn Jones, Amy Ling,

Wendy Martin Wendy is a given name generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain during the English Civil War in the mid-1600s, a male Captain Wendy Oxford was identified by the Leveller John Lilburne as a spy reporting on his activitie ...

, 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 April 24, 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 Afri ...

, 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. and

Nellie Y. McKay Nellie Yvonne McKay (May 12, 1930 – January 22, 2006) was an American academic and author who was the Evjue-Bascom Professor of American and African-American Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she also taught in Englis ...

(General Editors), William L. Andrews, Houston A. Baker, Jr.,

Barbara T. Christian Barbara T. Christian (December 12, 1943 – June 25, 2000) was an American author and professor of African-American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Among several books, and more than 100 published articles, Christian was be ...

, Frances Smith Foster,

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. ...

Robert G. O'Meally Robert George O'Meally is an American scholar of African American culture and jazz. He is the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Biography O'Meally grew up in Washington, D.C., to George O� ...

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 second volume (1989) of his ''Life of Langston Hughes'' was a finalist for the Pulitze ...

, 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 or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

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

Essays

Introductions *'' Uncle Tom's Children'' by Richard Wright.

Harper Perennial Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Overview Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint foun ...

Modern Classics, 2008. *''Sons Of Darkness, Sons Of Light: A Novel of Some Probability'' by

John A. Williams John Alfred Williams (December 5, 1925 – July 3, 2015) was an African American author, journalist, and academic. His novel '' The Man Who Cried I Am'' was a bestseller in 1967. Also a poet, he won an American Book Award for his 1998 collection ...

. Northeastern; new edition, 1999. *''Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South'' by

Pauline Hopkins Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (May 23, 1859 – August 13, 1930) was an American novelist, journalist, playwright, historian, and editing, editor. She is considered a pioneer in her use of the romantic novel to explore social and racial themes, ...

. 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 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

's 'The Heroic Slave'" In ''Haunted Bodies: Gender and Southern Texts.'' Anne Jones and Susan Donaldson, eds. Charlottesville, VA:

University of Virginia Press The University of Virginia Press (or UVaP) is a university press A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. They are often an integral component of a large research university. They pu ...

, 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 was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 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 university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

, 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