7.5" x 11" • 384 pp.
20 black-and-white images
ISBN 978-0-917860-79-9
As the United States descended into civil war, the influential community of French-speaking free people of color in New Orleans struck back against racial hostility by founding newspapers: L’Union: mémorial politique, littéraire et progressiste appeared in 1862, succeeded by La Tribune de la Nouvelle-Orléans in 1864. Collected here for the first time, the poetry printed in these papers unveils hidden verse conversations among a network of activist authors.
The original French poems appear alongside Clint Bruce’s sensitive English translations. A comprehensive introduction, biographies of the poets, and extensive annotations immerse readers in Civil War–era Louisiana. New evidence of a poetic hoax debuts in the volume, along with long-lost, recently discovered issues of La Tribune that report on the 1866 Mechanics’ Institute massacre.
Awards and Honors
- Winner of the 2021 Lois Roth Award, recognizing outstanding efforts in translation by the Modern Language Association
- Winner of a 2021 Vindie Award by the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Alliance
- Longlist selection for the National Translation Award in Poetry, American Literary Translators Association
- Honorable Mention: Leadership in History Awards, American Association for State and Local History
- Honorable Mention: American Alliance of Museums Competition, Publication Design
“[A]dds significantly to the corpus of French-language poetry published in 19th-century Louisiana. . . . Bruce’s translations, annotated and placed alongside the original verse, are masterful. . . . His extensive historical and contextual introduction and the biographies of the poets are invaluable resources. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.”
—A. J. Guillaume Jr., CHOICE Magazine
“Bruce’s archival excavations [demonstrate] a remarkable achievement for several fields of historical, cultural, and literary studies. [The volume] is to be praised for bringing to full light courageous voices who channeled and amplified the energy needed in the present for changing the future.”
—Caterina Bernardini, Scholarly Editing
“[A] stellar edition and translation. . . . significantly enhances our knowledge of Black writing and print culture in the nineteenth-century US.”
—Nicholas T. Rinehart, ALH Online Review
7.5" x 11" • 384 pp.
20 black-and-white images
ISBN 978-0-917860-79-9
As the United States descended into civil war, the influential community of French-speaking free people of color in New Orleans struck back against racial hostility by founding newspapers: L’Union: mémorial politique, littéraire et progressiste appeared in 1862, succeeded by La Tribune de la Nouvelle-Orléans in 1864. Collected here for the first time, the poetry printed in these papers unveils hidden verse conversations among a network of activist authors.
The original French poems appear alongside Clint Bruce’s sensitive English translations. A comprehensive introduction, biographies of the poets, and extensive annotations immerse readers in Civil War–era Louisiana. New evidence of a poetic hoax debuts in the volume, along with long-lost, recently discovered issues of La Tribune that report on the 1866 Mechanics’ Institute massacre.
Awards and Honors
- Winner of the 2021 Lois Roth Award, recognizing outstanding efforts in translation by the Modern Language Association
- Winner of a 2021 Vindie Award by the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Alliance
- Longlist selection for the National Translation Award in Poetry, American Literary Translators Association
- Honorable Mention: Leadership in History Awards, American Association for State and Local History
- Honorable Mention: American Alliance of Museums Competition, Publication Design
“[A]dds significantly to the corpus of French-language poetry published in 19th-century Louisiana. . . . Bruce’s translations, annotated and placed alongside the original verse, are masterful. . . . His extensive historical and contextual introduction and the biographies of the poets are invaluable resources. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.”
—A. J. Guillaume Jr., CHOICE Magazine
“Bruce’s archival excavations [demonstrate] a remarkable achievement for several fields of historical, cultural, and literary studies. [The volume] is to be praised for bringing to full light courageous voices who channeled and amplified the energy needed in the present for changing the future.”
—Caterina Bernardini, Scholarly Editing
“[A] stellar edition and translation. . . . significantly enhances our knowledge of Black writing and print culture in the nineteenth-century US.”
—Nicholas T. Rinehart, ALH Online Review