• Dr. S. Geetha
• Evangeline Sweety

African Americans suffered a long period of socio-economic exploitation and psychological trauma at the hands of the white ruling class which established its hegemony by erasing their culture. When they were forcefully dislodged from Africa, they were deprived of their language, symbols, beliefs, traditions, religion, and institutions which were once a part and parcel of their lives. The long travail of African Americans reveal that they were subordinated by the white dominant class through a set of attitudes, beliefs and values validated by them as the dominant ideology. Snatched from their homelands, they were packed and transported in ships as human cargo living with their own excreta. As though enduring the horrendous Middle Passage was not enough, these Africans were sold as cattle on auction blocks in the New World. They had to serve the needs of the white capitalist masters and eventually became victims of racism that was born out of slavery. Music, which had been a powerful medium for the African Americans, transformed their everyday experiences, their pent up agony and frustration into something less formidable. John Edgar Wideman is a contemporary African American writer whose works focus on the deterioration of the urban environment. In his novel, Sent for You Yesterday which won the 1984 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction, Wideman asserts that creativity and imagination are important means to transcend despair in black urban communities.

African American history, African American music, blues, John Edgar Wideman, Sent for You Yesterday.

"‘Creativity in the Face of Despair’ in John Edgar Wideman’s Sent for You Yesterday.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 3, page no.262-270, March-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRAG06055.pdf

"‘Creativity in the Face of Despair’ in John Edgar Wideman’s Sent for You Yesterday.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 3, page no. pp262-270, March-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRAG06055.pdf