author

William B. Jackson

A little-known poet whose work surfaced through the Black Arts world of the early 1970s, writing with urgency about Black pride, racism, and addiction. The surviving record is sparse, but his chapbook suggests a voice shaped by political struggle and community performance culture.

1 Audiobook

Seventeen Species of Bats Recorded from Barro Colorado Island, Panama Canal Zone

Seventeen Species of Bats Recorded from Barro Colorado Island, Panama Canal Zone

by E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond) Hall, William B. Jackson

About the author

Published in 1971 by Rannick Playwrights Company in New York, Book I is the clearest trace of William B. Jackson's writing career that could be confirmed from available sources. Booksellers and bibliographic listings consistently describe it as a poetry collection, and several note that the press was connected to Jeremy Randolph and to dramatic poetry readings.

Descriptions of Book I say the poems deal with Black pride, white oppression, Black nationalism, and drug addiction. That places Jackson's work close to the energy of the Black Arts era, even though detailed biographical information about his life has proven hard to verify.

Because so little reliable background is readily available, Jackson is best introduced through the work itself: a scarce, politically charged poetry chapbook from 1971 that appears to have circulated in a small but meaningful literary network.