Sergeon Collection of African American Literature

Biography

Glen Sergeon C'72 was born in Vauxhall, N.J. in 1949. While at Drew, Sergeon participated in the London and Washington semesters, and became president of Hyera, the black student association. He attended the London School of Economics and received a Master in Public Policy degree from the University of Wisconsin. A successful businessman and philanthropist, he spent nearly fifteen years in various roles at Citicorp, before joining Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. Sergeon retired from Merrill in 2006, and continued to work as a consultant until 2012. He held board positions at Phipps House, The Spence School and New York State Teachers’ Retirement System.

Summary

The Glen Sergeon (CLA class of 1972) collection of African American literature comprises 75 volumes in a range of genres by leading black writers of the 20^th century. Major figures of the Harlem Renaissance include Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Ethel Waters and Richard Wright. Among the many novelists and poets represented are James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Paule Marshall, James Alan McPherson, Ishmael Reed, Sapphire, Derek Walcott, Charles Wright and Al Young, often with signed copies of their works. There are memoirs, biographies, interviews, anthologies of black writers (some signed by their contributors), and studies of black culture. The collection also includes nearly thirty works of fiction and non-fiction (with uncorrected proofs for four novels) by John Alfred Williams, who became a personal friend of Sergeon, as did poet Lucille Clifton. Twenty-nine volumes are inscribed to Burt Britton, co-founder of Books & Company in Manhattan, and collector of self-portraits by authors, artists, actors and musicians.

Two works in the collection are not by African American authors: Helen Bannerman’s children’s book, The Story of Little Black Mingo, and George Bernard Shaw’s short story, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God.

	Author/Editor	Title	Pub. Year	Call Number
1	Andrews, Raymond	Appalachee Red : a novel	1978	PS3551 .N452 A6 1978
2	Baldwin, James, 1924-1987	Devil finds work : an essay	1976	PS3552 .A45 Z515 1976
3	Bannerman, Helen, 1862-1946	Story of Little Black Mingo. [First edition]	1901	PR6003 .A544 S7 1901
4	Cash, Earl A.	John A. Williams : the evolution of a black writer	1975	PS3573 .I4495 Z63 1975
5	Clifton, Lucille, 1936-2010	Good times; poems	1969	PS3553 .L45 G6 1969
6	Cullen, Countee, 1903-1946	Ballad of the brown girl : an old ballad retold. First edition	1927	PS3505 .U287 B3 1927
7	Cullen, Countee, 1903-1946	Black Christ & other poems. First edition [limited]	1929	PS3505 .U287 B6 1929
8	Cullen, Countee, 1903-1946	Color	1925	PS3503 .U287 C6 1925
9	Cullen, Countee, 1903-1946	Copper sun. First edition	1927	PS3505 .U287 C65 1927
10	Cullen, Countee, 1903-1946	Medea and some poems. First edition	1935	PS3505 .U287 M4 1935
11	Ellison, Ralph	Invisible man	1952	PS3555 .L625 I5 1952
12	Haley, Alex	Roots. 1st ed.	1976	E185.97 .H24 A33 1976
13	Hall, Susan T., 1940-	Gentleman of leisure : a year in the life of a pimp	1972	HQ144 .H25 1972
14	Himes, Chester B., 1909-1984	My life of absurdity : the autobiography of Chester Himes. 1st ed.	1976	PS3515 .I713 Z5 1976
15	Holt, Rackham	George Washington Carver : an American biography	1943	S417 .C3 H6 1943
16	Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967	Fine clothes to the Jew	1927	PS3515 .U274 F5 1927
17	Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967	Langston Hughes reader. [1st ed.]	1958	PS3515 .U274 A6 1968
18	Hurston, Zora Neale	Their eyes were watching God : a novel. [First ed.]	1937	PS3515 .U789 T5 1937
19	Johnson, Charles Richard, 1948-	Middle passage	1990	PS3560 .O3735 M5 1990
20	Kelley, William Melvin, 1937-	Different drummer. [1st ed.]	1962	PS3561 .E392 D5 1962
21	King, Woodie	Black short story anthology	1972	PS 647 .A35 B3 1972
22	Marshall, Paule, 1929-	Brown girl, brownstones	1959	PS3563 .A7223 B7 1959
23	Marshall, Paule, 1929-	Chosen place, the timeless people. [1st ed.]	1969	PS3563 .A7223 C5 1969
24	Marshall, Paule, 1929-	Chosen place, the timeless people	1969	PS3563 .A7223 C5 1969a
25	Marshall, Paule, 1929-	Soul clap hands and sing. [1st ed.]	1961	PS3563 .A7223 S6 1961
26	McKay, Claude, 1890-1948	Banana Bottom	1970, 1933	PS3525 .A24785 B3 1970
27	McPherson, James Alan, 1943-	Elbow room : stories. 1st ed.	1977	PS3563 .A325 E4 1977
28	McPherson, James Alan, 1943-	Hue and cry; short stories. [1st ed.]	1969	PS3563 .A325 H8 1969
29	Oates, Stephen B.	Fires of jubilee : Nat Turner's fierce rebellion. 1st ed.	1975	F232 .S7 O22 1975
30	O'Brien, John	Interviews with Black writers	1973	PS 153 .N5 O2 1973
31	O'Brien, John	Interviews with Black writers : advance proofs (uncorrected)	1973	PS 153 .N5 O2 1973p
32	Reed, Ishmael, 1938-	19 necromancers from now. [1st ed.]	1970	PS 508 .N3 R4 1970b
33	Robinson, William Henry, 1922-	Nommo: an anthology of modern Black African and Black American literature	1972	PS 508 .N3 R63
34	Sapphire, 1950-	Push : a novel. 1st ed.	1996	PS3569 .A63 P87 1996
35	Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950	Adventures of the black girl in her search for God. First edition	1932	PR5365 .A4 1932
36	Smitherman, Geneva, 1940-	Talkin and testifyin : the language of Black America	1977	PE3102 .N42 S5 1977
37	Theroux, Joseph	Black coconuts, brown magic	1983	PS3570 .H39 B5 1983
38	Walcott, Derek	Joker of Seville & O Babylon! : two plays	1978	PR9272.9 .W3 J6 1978
39	Waters, Ethel, 1900-1977	His eye is on the sparrow : an autobiography	1951	ML420 .W24 A3 1951
40	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Africa : her history, lands and people, told with pictures. First ed.	1962	DT21 .W5 1962
41	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Africa : her history, lands and people, told with pictures. 4th ed., rev.	1973	DT21 .W5 1973
42	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Amistad (2 volumes)	1970-1971	E185.5 .A57 vol.1-2
43	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Amistad (2 volumes)	1970-1971	E185.5 .A57 1970 vol.1-2
44	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Angry black	1962	PS3573 .I4495 A52 1962
45	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Angry ones	1970	PS3573 .I4495 A82 1970
46	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Beyond the angry black. [2d ed.]	1966	PS 509 .N4 B4 1966
47	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Captain Blackman; a novel. [1st ed.] (2 copies)	1972	PS3573 .I4495 C3 1972
48	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Captain Blackman : a novel : uncorrected proof	1972	PS3573 .I4495 C3 1971
49	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Flashbacks; a twenty-year diary of article writing. [1st ed.]	1973	PS3573 .I4495 F5 1973
50	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Flashbacks : a twenty-year diary of article writing	1974, 1973	PS3573 .I4495 F5 1974
51	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Junior Bachelor Society : uncorrected proof	1976	PS3573 .I4495 J8 1976p
52	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Junior Bachelor Society. 1st ed.	1976	PS3573 .I4495 J8 1976
53	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	King God didn't save; reflections on the life and death of Martin Luther King, Jr.	1970	E185.97 .K5 W5 1970
54	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	King God didn't save : reflections on the life and death of Martin Luther King, Jr. : uncorrected proof	1970	E185.97 .K5 W5 1970p
55	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Man who cried I am; a novel. [1st ed.] (3 copies)	1967	PS3573 .I4495 M3 1967
56	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Most native of sons; a biography of Richard Wright. [1st ed.]	1970	PS3545 .R815 Z93 1970
57	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Mothersill and the foxes : uncorrected proof. 1st ed.	1975	PS3573 .I4495 M6 1975p
58	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Night song	1961	PS3573 .I4495 N5 1961
59	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Sissie	1963	PS3573 .I4495 S57 1963
60	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Sissie	1963	PS3573 .I4495 S57 1963p
61	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Sissie	1969	PS3573 .I4495 S57 1969
62	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	Sons of darkness, sons of light; a novel of some probability. [1st ed.]	1969	PS3573 .I4495 S6 1969
63	Williams, John Alfred, 1925-	This is my country too	1965	E185.61 .W734 1965
64	Wright, Charles, 1932-2008	Wig, a mirror image	1966	PS3573 .R532 W5 1966
65	Wright, Richard, 1908-1960	American hunger. 1st ed. (2 copies)	1977	PS3545 .R815 Z498 1977
66	Young, Al, 1939-	Sitting Pretty : a novel	1976	PS3575 .O683 S58 1976
67	Young, Al, 1939-	Snakes; a novel. [1st ed.]	1970	PS3575 .O683 S63 1970
68	Young, Al, 1939-	Who is Angelina? A novel. [1st ed.]	1975	PS3575 .O683 W46 1975

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