In 1975, the year the African Literature Association (ALA) was founded and held its inaugural conference at the Austin campus of the University of Texas, Dennis Brutus was elected its first chair. That first beginning is of interest to me in the present enterprise for a number of reasons. The theme of that conference was simply contemporary black South African literature. Apparently, this is a far cry from what we had in 2011 when this paper was first conceived, the conference theme was: African literature, visual arts, and film in local and transnational spaces. The broad spectrum of the field now covered is in itself reflective of the growth and progress of the association. At that time also, about two hundred and fifty participants were in attendance but now we have multiples of that initial figure attending. Records show too that even as early as that, major exponents and practitioners in the discipline of African literary studies as well as others who were budding scholars at the time, graced that occasion.