-
WATTS POETS: A BOOK OF NEW POETRY & ESSAYS EDITED BY QUINCY TROUPE
Troupe, Quincy, Editor. NP (Los Angeles): The House of Respect, 1968. First Edition. 8vo. Stapled Illustrated Wrappers. Literary Anthology. Fine.. 94pp, 1 b&w cover illustration. With contributors' biographies. Born out of the ashes of Los Angeles' 1965 Watts Riots, the Watts Writers Workshop was co-founded by Budd Schulberg, and "composed primarily of young African Americans in Watts and the surrounding neighborhoods. Early on, the Workshop included a theatrical component and one of the founders was the actor Yaphet Kotto. The group expanded its facilities and activities over the next several years with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation. Government files later revealed that the Workshop had been the target of covert operations by the FBI. Writers involved in the Workshop include Quincy Troupe, Johnie Scott, Eric Priestley, Ojenke, Herbert Simmons, and Wanda Coleman, as well as the poetry group Watts Prophets." In 1968, future Miles Davis biographer Troupe edited and helped publish "Watts Poets: A Book of New Poetry & Essays" featuring Black Nationalism-inflected contributions by Elaine Browne, Robert Bowen, a nascent Stanley Crouch, Pamela Donegan, Emmery Evans, Fanita, Lance Jeffers, Lino, k. curtis lyle, Clyde Mays, Milton McFarlane, c k moreland, Ojenke (Alvin Saxon Jr.), Blossom Powe, Eric Priestley, ridhiana, Herbert Simmons, Leumas Sirrah, Cleveland Sims, and VALLEJO. A bright, most handsome example of this uncommon item. LC 68-7829 Inventory Number: 027012