JERRY W. WARD, JR. is Professor of English and African American Studies at Dillard University and was previously the Lawrence Durgin Professor of Literature at Tougaloo College. His previous books include Redefining American Literary History (1990), Black Southern Voices (1992), and Trouble the Water: 250 Years of African-American Poetry (1997). His work has also appeared in such journals as Southern Quarterly, Obsidian, and Callaloo.