HU Alumna, Professor Burnin' Down the House with First Book

Hampton, VA - Dr. Valerie Sweeney Prince, assistant professor of English in the School of Liberal Arts and Education at Hampton University, releases her first book, Burnin’ Down the House: Home in African American Literature, this month. Published by Columbia University Press, House explores the constant longing for home expressed through the development of blues music out of Chicago.

"It seems to me that the entire history of African America can be characterized as a quest for home," explains Prince. "Since African American identity originates in the forced displacement of a people, the idea of home takes on particular significance."

In her book, Prince examines five classic novels: Native Son by Richard Wright, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and Corregidora by Gayl Jones. All of these books are set during the time of the Great Migration, the mass relocation of African Americans from the South to Chicago in the mid-twentieth century. Prince believes these five literary pieces "sketch a picture of what ‘home’ has become for a people who have been in nearly constant motion for the past two hundred years."

Originally hailing from Maryland, Prince earned her undergraduate degree at Hampton University, majoring in English. She received her master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Michigan in English Language and Literature.

Burnin’ Down the House: Home in African American Literature is available for purchase in paperback for $24.50 and hardback for $64.50 from Columbia University Press. Burning Down the House is also available at Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Amazon.com and other major book stores.