African American Review

A publication of Johns Hopkins University Press

African American Review is a scholarly aggregation of insightful essays on African American literature, theatre, film, the visual arts, and culture; interviews; poetry; fiction; and book reviews. Published quarterly, AAR has featured renowned writers and cultural critics including Trudier Harris, Arnold Rampersad, Hortense Spillers, Amiri Baraka, Cyrus Cassells, Rita Dove, Charles Johnson, Cheryl Wall, and Toni Morrison. The official publication of LLC African American of the Modern Language Association, AAR fosters a vigorous conversation among writers and scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

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Notice to Our Readers, Authors, and Subscribers:


African American Review has deleted its account on Twitter. We reach this decision having no doubt that Twitter's new chief of executive operations cherishes free speech. We do regret keenly, however, the wanton disregard he demonstrates for that which is also responsible speech. We also regret his decision to fire cavalierly many thousands of workers in what is, and will likely be for the foreseeable future, a critically unstable economy.

The site's now more bald contempt not only for workers, but also for the kind of thoughtful and generative discourse suitable for a broader marketplace of ideas, only fuels an already noxious political and social climate. We will not consent to be a party to such naked irresponsibility, either now or at any time to come.

Please check out our new page on Mastodon, a decentralized, nonprofit social network, at https://masto.ai/@afamreview. And continue to visit this page for further updates.

--The Editors


Job Postings


African-American Studies Instructor (Temporary, Part-Time Pool), San Francisco Community College District


Part-Time African-American studies instructor would be responsible for the instruction of one or more of the following African-American studies (AFAM) courses: AFAM 30: African-American Consciousness, AFAM 40: The Black Experience in CA, AFAM 42: Theories History of Race and Ethnicity, AFAM 55: From Funk to Hip-Hop, & AFAM 60: African American Women in the U.S. during the fall and spring semesters.

To apply, and for details on salary, duties, qualifications, and benefits, visit: https://apptrkr.com/6667790. Job close date is October 21, 2026.


News


Zafar Edits African American Review Special Issue


Rafia Zafar, professor of English, African and African American studies and American culture studies at Washington University in St. Louis, has coedited a special issue of African American Review dedicated to pioneering writer, historian and activist Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (1874-1938). Read more here.


Howard University Receives Transformative Gift from Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott


A former pupil of Howard alumna Toni Morrison, Scott's gift marks the largest gift from a single donor in school history. Read more here.





In Memoriam

Gerald Barrax


Camille Billops


James Coleman


Nikki Giovanni


Randall Kenan


Paule Marshall


Sidney Poitier


Greg Tate


Maurice Berger


Kamau Brathwaite


Stanley Crouch


James Hatch


John Lewis


Charles Mills


Gloria Richardson


Desmond Tutu


Cheryl Wall


Lauren Berlant


Ed Bullins


Ernest Gaines


bell hooks


John Wharton Lowe


Leith Mullings


Julius Scott


Melvin Van Peebles