Re: Sun Ra 171 Required Booklist

hi saturnites, i am also new to the list. thanks rlc for helping me get on. as for the list for sun ra's class, the henry dumas is available in his collected stories volume, "goodbye sweetwater"(thunder's mouth press) and the poems in "knees of a natural man"(thunder's mouth press). i'm near certain they're still inprint, but they've both been remaindered. thunder's mouth address is 93-99 greene street NY, NY 10012. the jones/neal volume "black fire" is long out of print. it includes a couple of sun ra's poems, the titles of which i can't recall (and my books are pcked away for now). as for the other titles, some are familiar but not in my field. others are locatable probably in volume 2 of Martin Bernal's great "Black Athena" from U of Chicago Press, i think. actually i think ive got the press wrong, but bernal's second volume is all source stuff and will include some anyway. the ouspensky isn't rare and should reside in any number of good used bookstore. ciao, andy bartlett (bartlaw@u.washington.edu)

On Tue, 25 Oct 1994, Jim Johnson wrote:

Fellow Saturnites: In my recent conversation with Arkestra drummer Samurai Celestial, I mentioned an interest in the required reading list that Sun Ra issued to his students when he taught his class at Cal Berkeley in the 1970s. I have personally been interested in this list for some time, as I have always wondered what Ra would recommend book- wise. Well, thanks to Samurai's kindness, he was able to supply me with a copy of the list to share with everyone. The course was listed as "Sun Ra 171", in Afro-American Studies. Supposedly, many students could not find a lot of the titles. Samurai has read many of the books but also can't find some of them. Before I delve into the list below, Samurai is looking for a video of Sun Ra's funeral- it would mean a great deal to him if someone could help him out in obtaining a copy. If you can, please email me privately. Gracias.

SUN RA 171 REFERENCE LIST

1. Albums...Saturn Records (Chicago)
2. My Brother the Wind (Vol. 1 and 2)
3. The Night of the Purple Moon
4. Magic City...the Nubians of Pluto
5. Atlantis
6. Fate in a Pleasant Mood
7. Monorails and Satellites
8. Strange Strings
9. ESP...Nothing Is, Heliocentric (Vol. 1 and 2) BOOKS

10. Jazz Where it Came From, Where It's At by John S. Wilson, published by the United States Information Agency

11. Black Man of the Nile by Yoseph Ben Jochannan, published by Alkibu Ian Books

12. Stylus (Spring 1971) vol. 13, #1 published by the student staff at Temple U., Philly

13. Ark of Bones by Henry Dumas

14. Poetry for my People by Henry Dumas
15. Black Fire by LeRoy Jones and Larry Neal
16. The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop
17. Missonary Travels by Livingston
18. Radix by Bill Looney
19. God Wills the Negro by Theodore P. Ford
20. God's Children by Archibald Rutledge
21. Ruins of Empire by Volney
22. The Source Book of Man's Life and Death God (K.J. Version)
23. A New Model of the Universe by P.D. Ouspensky
24. The Loom of Language by Frederick Bodmer
25. Blackiesetymology published in London, England

Can anyone familiar with any of these works provide any additional information (besides #13)?

Space, JJ Jim Johnson/jjohnson@alston.cba.ua.edu