It was a Black literature lover's deam. At the First Conference of Negro Writers, sponsored by the American Society of African Culture, John O. Killens, William Branch, John Henrik Clarke, Loften Mitchell, Sarah E. Wright and Julian Mayfield were the presenters. Though Julian Mayfield is not as widely known as some of these other literary figures, he is critically acclaimed for his novels, such as The Long Night and The Grand Parade; his autobiography, Which Way Does the Blood Red River Run? and the plays 413 and Fire. Mayfield's most famous novel, The Hit, describes the efforts of an African-American apartment building superintendent to live out his version of the American Dream by winning the lottery. Besides writing, Mayfield acted, produced and directed in theaters in Harlem and Off-Broadway and founded The African Review while working in the office of President Nkrumah of Ghana from 1961 to 1966. Mayfield was also a member of the Harlem Writers' Guild and the Committee of the Negro in the Arts. About his status as an African-

" The advantage of the Negro writer, the factor that may keep his work above the vacuity of the American mainstream, is that for him the facade of the American way is always transparent. He sings the national athem sotto oce and has trouble reconciling the dream to the reality he knows."American man writing in America, he states:

Mayfield was born in 1928 in Greer, South Carolina. In 1933, he moved with his parents to Washington , D.C. After graduation from high school, Mayfield enlisted in the United States Army and served until 1947. He later studied at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. Though Mayfield performed many jobs--dishwasher, shipping clerk, house painter, radio announcer and newspaperman--his first love was always writing and directing. Howard University, in the late 1970's and early 1980's, was privileged to have Mayfield as the Writer-in-Residence for the Department of English. Sadly, in 1984, Mayfield died, leaving a void in Black literature that no one can fill.

Essay by Naijean Bernard of Howard University