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Harold Courlander (September 18, 1908 - March 15, 1996) was an American novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist, an expert in the study of Haitian life. Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated Year 1908 ( MCMVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Folkloristics is the formal academic study of Folklore. What actually constitutes folklore is disputed even within the discipline but generally folklore focuses on the Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/ from Greek grc ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, "human" -λογία -logia) is the study of Haiti ( English: ˈheɪ·tiː or haɪ·ˈjiː·tiː French Haïti a·i·ti Haitian Creole: The author of 35 books and plays and numerous scholarly articles, Courlander specialized in the study of African, Caribbean, Afro-American (U. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting A Afro-American of African ancestry an African American. Word Origin Afro-American Origin 1890 Of all the peoples who migrated to the present-day United S. ), and American Indian cultures. For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. He took a special interest in oral literature, cults, and Afro-American cultural connections with Africa.

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Life and work

Courlander was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of noted American painter, David Courlander of Detroit, Michigan. Courlander received a B. A. in English from the University of Michigan in 1931. The University of Michigan Ann Arbor ( U of M, U-M, UM or simply Michigan) is a top-ranked Coeducational public research At the University of Michigan, he received three Avery Hopwood Awards (one in drama and two in literary criticism). The Hopwood Awards are a major scholarship program at the University of Michigan, founded by Avery Hopwood. He attended graduate school at the University of Michigan and Columbia University. Columbia University is a private University in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. He spent time in the 1930s on a farm in Romeo, Michigan. Romeo is a village in Macomb County in the US state of Michigan. There, he built a one-room log cabin in the woods where he would spend much of his time writing.

With the prize money from the Hopwood Awards, Courlander took his first field trip to Haiti, inspired by the writings of William Buehler Seabrook. Haiti ( English: ˈheɪ·tiː or haɪ·ˈjiː·tiː French Haïti a·i·ti Haitian Creole: William Buehler Seabrook ( February 22 1884 &ndash September 20, 1945) was an American Lost Generation Occultist In 1939, he published his first book about Haitian life entitled Haiti Singing. Over the next 30 years, he traveled to Haiti more than 20 times. His research focused on religious practices, African retentions, oral traditions, folklore, music, and dance. History The concept of folklore developed as part of the 19th century ideology of Romantic nationalism, leading to the reshaping of oral traditions to serve modern ideological Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic His book, The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore of the Haitian People, published in 1960, became a classic text for the study of Haitian culture.

Courlander also took numerous field trips to the southern United States, recording folk music in the 1940s and 1950s. The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949 Events and trends The 1940s was a period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s which also leads the period to be The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive From 1947-1960, he served as a general editor of Ethnic Folkways Library (he actually devised the label name) and recorded more than 30 albums of music from different cultures (e. g. , the cultures of Indonesia, Ethiopia, West Africa, Haiti, and Cuba). The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la In 1950, he also did field recordings in Alabama later transcribed by John Benson Brooks. Alabama (formally the State of Alabama;) is a State located in the southern region of the United States of America. John Benson Brooks (February 23 1917 Houlton Maine - November 13 1999 New York City) was an American Jazz pianist songwriter arranger and composer

In the 1960s, Courlander began a series of field trips to the American Southwest to study the oral literature and culture of the Hopi Indians. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 The Southwestern area of the United States could be defined as the states west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit such as the 37 The Hopi are Native American people who primarily live on the 12635 km² (2531 His collection of folk tales, People of the Short Blue Corn: Tales and Legends of the Hopi Indians, was issued in 1970 and was quickly recognized as an indispensable work in the study of oral literature.

From 1942-43, during World War II, Harold Courlander served as a historian for the Air Transport Command for the Douglas Aircraft Project 19 in Gura, Eritrea. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Military Air Transport Service (MATS was a command of the US Air Force from 1948-65 which superseded the Army Air Force's Air Transport Command, its The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American Aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach California. Eritrea () ( Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya) officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in Courlander then worked as a writer and editor for the Office of War Information in New York and Bombay, India, from 1943-46. The United States Office of War Information (OWI was a US government agency created during World War II to consolidate government information services New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Mumbai ( Marathi:,, IPA: formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the financial India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country From 1946 until 1956, he worked as a news writer and news analyst for the Voice of America in New York City. Voice of America ( VOA) is the official external radio and Television broadcasting service of the United States federal government. He was an information specialist and speech writer for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations from 1956-1957. The United States Ambassador to the United Nations (full title Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status He was a writer and editor for The United Nations Review from 1957-1960. From 1960 until 1974, Courlander was African specialist, Caribbean specialist, feature writer, and senior news analyst for the Voice of America in Washington, D.C.. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D

Always sympathetic to the plight of animals, Courlander, in his later years would write with his rescued, mixed German Shepherd dog, Sandy, at his side. The German Shepherd Dog ( GSD) (Deutscher Schäferhund is a breed of large-sized dog that originates from Germany. Even in the 1990s, Courlander still used the same Royal typewriter he had purchased in the 1940s. The Royal Typewriter Company was a manufacturer of Typewriters headquartered in Hartford Connecticut. Courlander never learned typing as they teach it in school and always typed his manuscripts using two fingers. Typing is the process of inputting text into a device such as a Typewriter, Computer, or a Calculator, by pressing keys on a keyboard.

Awards, grants and honors

Courlander received numerous awards, grants, and fellowships during his lifetime, including:

Courlander received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of Michigan in 1984.

Family life

Courlander married Ella Schneideman in 1939. They had only one child, Erika Courlander. Then they later divorced. Courlander married Emma Meltzer June 18, 1949. They had two children, Michael Courlander and Susan Jean Courlander.

Roots and the Issue of Plagiarism

Courlander wrote seven novels, his most famous being The African, published in 1967. The novel was the story of a slave's capture in Africa, his experiences aboard a slave ship, and his struggle to retain his native culture in a hostile, new world. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another In 1978, Courlander went to the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, charging Alex Haley of Roots with plagiarism of The African. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (S Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11 1921–February 10 1992 was an American Writer. Roots The Saga of an American Family is a Novel written by Alex Haley and first published in 1976. Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work Citing appropriation of more than 80 passages from The African, Courlander's pre-trial memorandum in the copyright infringement lawsuit stated: "Defendant Haley had access to and substantially copied from The African. 'Copyright infringement' (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by Copyright law in a manner that violates Without The African, Roots would have been a very different and less successful novel, and indeed it is doubtful that Mr. Haley could have written Roots without The African. . . . Mr. Haley copied language, thoughts, attitudes, incidents, situations, plot and character. "

In his report submitted to the court in this lawsuit, Professor of English and expert witness on plagiarism, Michael Wood of Columbia University, stated: "The evidence of copying from The African in both the novel and the television dramatization of Roots is clear and irrefutable. Copying is the duplication of Information, or an artifact based only on an instance of that information or artifact and not using the process that originally generated it The copying is significant and extensive. . . . Roots. . . plainly uses The African as a model: as something to be copied at some times, and at other times to be modified; but always, it seems, to be consulted. . . . Roots takes from The African phrases, situations, ideas, aspects of style and of plot. . . . Roots finds in The African essential elements for its depiction of such things as a slave's thoughts of escape, the psychology of an old slave, the habits of mind of the hero, and the whole sense of life on an infamous slave ship. Such things are the life of a novel; and when they appear in Roots, they are the life of someone else's novel. "

After a five-week trial in federal district court, Courlander and Haley settled the case[1], with Haley making a financial settlement and a statement that "Alex Haley acknowledges and regrets that various materials from The African by Harold Courlander found their way into his book Roots. "[2]

During the trial, presiding U. S. District Court Judge Robert J. Ward stated, "Copying there is, period. " In a later interview with BBC Television, Judge Ward stated, "Alex Haley perpetrated a hoax on the public. "

During the trial, Alex Haley had maintained that he had not read The African before writing Roots. Shortly after the trial, however, Joseph Bruchac, an instructor of black literature at Skidmore College, came forward to swear in an affidavit that in 1970 or 1971 (five or six years before the publication of Roots) he had discussed The African with Haley and had, in fact, given his "own personal copy of The African to Mr. Joseph Bruchac III (b 1942 is a writer of books relating often to Native American lives and myths Skidmore College is a private liberal arts college located in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States Haley. "

References

  1. ^ Fein, Esther B. . "Book Notes", The New York Times, March 3, 1993.  
  2. ^ Crowley, Anne S. . "Research Help Supplies Backbone for Haley's Book", Chicago Tribune, October 24, 1985. The Chicago Tribune is a major daily Newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and owned by the Tribune Company  
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