SOURCE: "Some Art for Blacks' Sake," in The New York Times, July 8, 1972, p. 23.

Watkins is an American editor, journalist, and writer of children's books. In the following excerpt, he offers a generally favorable assessment of Give Birth to Brightness, commenting in particular on Williams's theories regarding "neo-black" writing.

During the last few years, questions concerning the pertinence of black literature to the black community have been hotly debated, along with the possibility of establishing a viable criterion for judging literature. Various writers and critics have suggested theories of a "black esthetic," but generally these theories have eschewed aspects of form and have focused on the themes and subject matter treated by black authors. Consequently, rather than providing strictly esthetic guidelines, they have usually offered what might more properly be termed a theory of black sensibility—a significant accomplishment in itself. As it is further refined, this theory may...