Saga of Shine collection
Scope and Contents
A collection of six typescript poems with a title page "Saga of Shine: Various Folk Versions of a Rhymed Negro Folk Poem as Collected by Langston Hughes, 1952-1955." Variously known as "Shine and the Titanic," "Shine on the Titanic," "Shine and the Great Titanic," or simply "Shine," this African American vernacular poem or toast, typically rhymed and often bawdy, involves a Black deckhand who swims to safety amidst the sinking of the Titanic. The collected versions here are attributed to the Embassy Bar (October 1955), Alvin Cooper (New York, 1953), Jerry (Bronx, 1952), Charlie McCoy (April 14, 1953), Guy Powell (Baby Grand, NY, January 1953), and a version compiled from several for a column in the Defender. This latter version is cited in the 1958 publication The Book of Negro Folklore as "Sinking of the Titanic," where it is attributed as "a Harlem variant of his story as heard by Langston Hughes on Eighth Avenue in 1956." This version begins with "It was 1912 when the news got around / That the great Titanic was going down." It ends with the couplet "When all them white folks went to heaven / Shine was in Sugar Ray's in Harlem drinking Seagrams Seven."
Dates
- Created: circa 1955
- Other: Date acquired: 09/14/1971
Creator
- Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright to these papers has not been assigned to the Amistad Research Center. It is the responsibility of an author to secure permission for publication from the holder of the copyright to any material contained in this collection.
Extent
1.00 folders
Language of Materials
English
Source of Acquisition
unknown
Processing Information
Processed October 2016.
Creator
- Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967 (Person)
- Title
- Saga of Shine collection
- Author
- Andrew Salinas
- Date
- 10/11/2016
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- eng
Repository Details
Part of the Amistad Research Center Repository
6823 Saint Charles Avenue
Tilton Hall, Tulane University
New Orleans LA 70118 US
(504) 862-3222
research@amistadresearchcenter.org