0004-22

THIS VOICS Of TFffl N3&H0

12?

Ai,rS8ICAN LIT8RATURS.

by

Lola Stopiienson.

Wt.4p»M. tvl^fc-V1 1 . . fc - *-** *--+•w * *-**'„ „ t sy

Submitted la partial fulfillment of tho requirements for tho degree of lister of Arts In tho Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa. M&rek, 1950. UMI Number: EC55603

INFORMATION TO USERS

The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

UMI®

UMI Microform EC55603 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 i

Th& Voioa of the No«ro In Aaerloan iltaraturo.

FOREWORD.

This research is not intended to be a critical analysis of Kegro literature. Mo attempt has been laade to aak© it compre­ hensive, no effort to compare it, save occasionally in passing, with a whit® contemporary. It is laoraLy tho voice of the ;egro presenting himself, his problfsns, his substance; tho history of a race, struggling in slavery - fighting for freedom. It is the atory of a growth in literature from the simple expression of an uneducated past to the hi£h intellectual artistry of present a- ehiavemant. "Riore is no claim to coiaplotoRess of any kind; its aole aim is to create a recognition of tho Negro challenge; a realization that culturally, as in all else whan civQ& opportu­ nity, he "crossed the line":3-

I, too, slag America I axa the darker brother I, too, asa America.2

1. aright, Hi©hard. 12 Million Black voicoa, p. 14?. Zm m$m»* jyftngatoa, *1, Too", Gullea, Counteo, ©d, paroll^ Duak. p. 14S. 11

Preface. —IMP m mm imiwiiii •

As a aubjeot for thosls writing, no pro literature presents perplexing problems. It has a twofold Interest. Its importan­ ce lias, first, as an insight Into the history, character, de­ termination of its people; secondly, as the artistic, intellec­ tual development of a ne%r American, ut necessity, one thread has run throughout it an - the thread of race, ihe i«egro ,'joe- riean, denied the vote, has had tmt two possible jgedlu£i3 through which he aight seek justice; through oratory and through the press* As a result he has been forced to forego a universality of subject and courine slaaelf to the primary concern which do­ minates his life. In the analysis of his litsmry record he sought, first to disarm, secondly to lure, and lastly to reveal himself as he is, regardless of corseauenee. with this In Kind, I have proceeded, fo understand the i&~ grc, Is to penetrate into his sociological background, his pre­ sent situation, tgy sympathy eestpelled me to present for yon the product or ay • plucking'; for this reason 1 Inserted trie "Intro- 4 due t ion ^ The Spirituals followed; for no resuoe of i^egro lite­ rature would seen complete without them. Jupiter riaamon repre­ sents the initial writer. He is of interest, because even as a slave, he oust have been superior In a Ufa of slaves and roas­ ters. HHUis wheatley is unique* ah® did not attempt to pro- Jest her cause; she wove Intellectual patterns into the poetry of hmr ape and proved that given opportunity, the negro could co&parw favorably with white contemporaries, tfrsdorlek ^wouglasa Is the torch Fhleh lit the race and started It toward freedom. ill

Eka biographies possess a vigour which incltaa belief, a lyricism which oonveys a future promise. i!he persuasive quality of uoug- lass lies active in nis prose, it is his Life and Timsa which swept 3a from a more formal analysis of his work to a biographi­ cal presentation. For the transition period I aeleeted Paul Dunbar because he was the first «egro poet to be nationally claimed by white «meri- ca. .Booker aaahington moves in this group as one who, governed by the traditions of the bouth, accepted the Immediate, during recent years his policy has been disparaged by most ftegro think­ ers; but at the turn of tne century, hia positive, even though conciliatory platform, wielded a tremendous influence throughout the north and South, upon both black and white, culturally, a. 8. a. Xftt£olB stands supreme. His artistry of style nay vie with any writer, AS left wing, he too, turned the century - gathering followers from the "Talented Tenth" to storm the strength of Washington in his march toward Industrial education. i'he iienaissanae waa an outgrowth of the first Great Mar. It was the period of expansion and experiiHent. Into this era writers tumbled, spreading their racial muse without restraint into Ame­ rica's ersoJcs and crevices. Bourgeoisie, passing, chauvinism, became the themes, and lyricism flavoured them. Though Countee CuHen, Lsngston Hughes, were leading stars, the others contri­ buted too greatly toward the mosaic to neglect them, out of this pot-pourri of writing, there developed the fiew Negro. As repre­ sentatives of this last, I have selected Arna ijontemps and Ri­ chard aright because they form sueh contrasts. Bontemps is at heart a poet; but he has not emphasized his lyric muse, of lata, iv he has identified himself as anthologist, a writer for youth, and a reviewer, rtich&rd aright exploded into Hhe public eye'. vitl1 ifetlve oon he hurled his violent style and nade both Black and «hite unite in talking of it. Finally, I boheld theso other men, each contributing vastly toverd cultural development. I grouped them into a conclusion; ror in all feirncsa, I could not do otherwise. The numerous excerpts perhaps need explanation. In Canada, even In the united otates, there is a dearth in books written by the Kegro. Public ignorance, indifference, prejudice toward him has not made it profitable for booksellers, publishers, to keep Negro work in stock, ihey rapidly go out of print, therefore this research has been literally a •aqueezli^* process; buying where possible, using both Canadian and American libraries, del­ ving into excerpts, culling anthologies, analyzing reviews, haunting bookstands, and bookshops, ior a white vimrpoint, I have found support in Vernon Loggine, Instructor in i&iglish at Columbia University, through his book negro Author. Uy Hegro critical authorities have been nainly: Benjamin israwley, Kogro Genius; Sterling lirown, Arthur P. Davi6, Ulysses Lee. fiegro ca­ ravan; Hugh Morris Gloster, ste^ro Vojoea in American Fiction; J. Saunders wedding, To laake a i-oet alack; also critical studies in essay form, by Sterling iirown, James rteldon Johnson, Alain Locke, Accessible, and vastly interesting to rae, have been the ifogro an­ thologies: H-3f

FOKISSORI) i PHSFAC3 il ABBRSYlAtlOMS vii IKTHGDUCTOHY QUOTATION viii CHAJrTSH I. Introduction 1 CHArTSR II. Folk Tales and Spirituals 10 CHAPTER III. The Dawn. Jupiter Kammon Phillls ^heatley 31 CHAFTSR IV. The Struggle For Freedom Frederick Douglass ...... 45 CHAPTSH V. The Transition Paul Lawrence Dunbar 62 CHAjeT^R VI. Leadership Booker T. Washington 75 OUlTsa VII. Protest William Mward Burghardt DuBois .... 77 CU&fTKR VIIL The Bagro Renaissance 97 CliAiTEB IX. The $ew Hagro. Arna Bontemps ai chard bright 128 CEAP73H X. Conclusion 141 BIBLIOGtlAHnr 156 T r ".*' •' *~ W*A»

UST Of ABJ8RKV1ATI0IKJ.

Book Heviesr Digest. falter. 4 ?laoa Iocs tart. lasdM abbreviation mas used sparing­ ly and appears only whan It lias within four ei- , tatlo&s. Users author, sfork cited. . Used sparingly as In ease of Loo. elt. Saturday iteviaw of Literature. White author. viii

The differences between black folk and white folk are not blood or colour, and the tlos that bind us are deeper than those that sepa­ rate us. The aommon road of hope which we all have travelled has brought us into a stronger kinship than any words, laws, or le­ gal claims. Look at us and know us and you will know yourselves, for we are you, looking back at you from the darTTmlrTGr of our lives2 whet do we black folk want? sse want what others have, the right to share in the upward march of American life, the only life we remember or have ever known. The Lords of the Land say: "de will not grant this!** we answer: "We ask you to grant us no­ thing, ne are winning our heritage, though our toll in suffering is greatsM The Bosses of the buildings say: "Your problem is beyond solution!" »e answer: °uur problem is being solved, we are crossing the line you dared us to eross, tnaugh we pay In the coin of death!" The Seasons of the plantation no longer dictate the Uvea of many of us; hundreds of thousands of us are moving Into the sphere of conscious history. we are with the new tide. we stand at the crossroads, «e watoh each new prooesslon. The hot wires earry ttrgent appeals. Print compels us. Voloes are speaking. Men are moving1 And we shall be with then.,.nS

Rlohard aright.

3. aright, op. elt. p. 147. 1

CHAPTER I.

immwiimm

This study has not been happy reading. Penetrating the sub­ ject, in darkness and shadow, cognisant of the aerious problem, seeking yet laekisg a solution, the words of the Breton fishermen have some to ay mind: "... The sea is so wide and my boat is so small".* That the American jfegro Is a problem, we are fully aware. From the United states* "i)eclaretion of Independence'* came these words: we hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men* are created equal; that they are endowed by their Cre­ ator with eartain Inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Later the words of Abraham Lincoln rang out in deepening se­ riousness: A house divided against itself cannot stand. I belie­ ve that this government cannot exist permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect this Union to be dissolved; I do not expaet the house to fall, but X do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.8 And now we face in almost ominous warning, the words of James «eldon Johnson, Negro writer: If American wishes to make democratic institutions se­ cure, she mast deal with this question right and right­ eously. For it is In the nature of a truism to say that this country can have no more democracy than it ac-

4. Author not located. 5. From Abraham Lincoln's nomination apeech, June 16, 1858. £

corda and guaranteed to the humblest and weakest citizen... And it cannot be met and answered by the mere mouthings of the worn platitudes of hu- manitarienism, of formal religion, or of abstract democracy. For the Negroes directly eonoemed are not inftfar-off Africa; they are in and within our midst.6 Thus the fundamental problem of the United states is the fu­ ture of its thirteen million Negroes. Considering the short time the race has been free, and the almost insuperable obstacles of racial prejudice, progress has been phenomenal. An Illiteracy of ninety percent in 1865, fell to forty-four percent in 1900, to sixteen percent in 1950. By 1940, ninety percent of the American #egro population had beco­ me literate. Yet, despite this outstanding progress, the lis— gro's educational facilities have been deplorable. In seven- 4 teen states and the District of Columbia, the law requires ne­ gro children to attend separate schools. These buildings are, for the most part rudely constructed, with an equipment which is out of date. The salaries are too low to attract able men and woman; as a result many of the ehildren are poorly trained, negardless of the fact that advantages have improved during the last twenty or thirty years, the typical Negro's opportunities for education fall far below the level of his white contempora­ ry. Few have sufficient money to attend college. Those who do, have difficulty in securing entrance. The South denies them admission to the state universities or private white colleges; the northern state universities accept enrollment, but the so-

6. Johnson, James weldon. Along Thin way, p. 412. 3

olal attitude frequently results in unhappinoss and acute despair. Many of the smaller Northern colleges deny entrance, or at least restrict admission; oven throughout wartii^to Tfecroos encountered difficulty in securing vocational training for sicilled work, with a need greater than that of any other group, they constitu­ ted less than five percent of the persons accepted in the pre- employment or 'refresher* courses by the United ,'jtatss Office of Education and %n?loyment Service up to way, 194H. In soms of the 3outhern states, their native ground, Kegroes were excluded from the benefits of the entire war training programme. According to the 1930 census, only 254,000 Hegross were list­ ed as white collar employees, business or professional men. In comparison with a ratio of too out of five axaoac whites, "Negro figures levelled at one out of every fifteen workers, there was a decline in Hegro figures between 1910 and 1930. The chief Ilegro profession has boon school teaching. But although the load has been usually heavy, &rith its strue&les a- gainst ignorance, aggrosslon and repression, the salaries havo been inadequately low. During 1935-1936, tho average uerxo teacher in .Southern elementary schools received 510 dollars as compared to 835 dollars amongst tho Bouthern vahites. A large proportion of Ifegroas have entered the clergy, but tho salaries in most cases havo been so Inadequate, as to neces­ sitate an accompanying trade to supplement their living. The medical profession has raised formidable h&r&. ;hlte medical schools have evinced reluctance in admitting Negroos aad very few hospitals have admitted thorn on a basis of complete a- 4 quality with white. The opportunity to specialize, is a compa­ ratively closed one. Because their clientele constitutes, in the main part, an Impoverished group, their Income is far below that of white physicians possessing similar training and ability. Law, as a ;arofesslon, offers oven woro restrictions. Theo­ retically, a good Segro lasryer should be the eligible spokesman to defend his race, but In practice s r*egro has more chance at court with a capable white lawyer tt»n with the best of itexro lawyers. Therefore, few Hegroea are attracted to the law pro­ fession. In 1950 t;iere wera only 1S00 lawyers in the entire country. In ilabaaa, only six out of six htti-i^r.-d *ere Ka^ross. 7 Artists, actors, and musicians have realised an increment; but even in this field white auperiority has ained to control or to exploit achievement; to scintillate or dim the $egro glow according to the momentary whim. The finest ffegro is open to the Insult of an inferior white man. Marlon Anderson, whose singing voice had charmed the world, met with humiliation when, ia rfaehington, saster, 1939, const!tutioral Hall would not grant her a recital. A grave obstruction to the bettorment of the race lies in the housing conditions, white landlords have exploited jfegroes, forcing them to pay high rents for foul and shocking habitations. Sometimes five or six people live in a ime-rocrc, Kitchenette, rat- Infested and loathsome, paying almost twice the sun etscted from

7. Stewart, Maxwell, gfegyo in America. (Public Affairs pamph-' let Mo. 95) p. 12-18. This pamphlet is a study of the Ne­ gro Problem and iiodern democracy by Gunner s^yrdal (1944). 5 a white. That rooms are ghettos of desperate and unhappy people, living in an unbearable closeness with each other, producing a situation taut with crime. Those situations blight the person­ alities of growing children, throw girls still in their teens, into rooms with rest leas man. The boys become the prey of rest- leanness and its resultant gangs, pressure, tension, and inces­ sant bedlam break up marriages, inject cruelty, fear, or shlft- lesaneas into a race brought up in despair.6 At the root of economic and cultural limitation has lain denial of political rights, especially in the south, to vote. Following tho civil war, the Federal Parlianaat, by amendments to the American Constitution, conferred on the Negroes full ci­ tizenship of tho United states and passed a measure to secure them the full enjoyment of their rights. Three amendments de­ fined their legal status. The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in 1865, which made the uegro legally free. In 1866, the fourteenth amendment granted full citizenship to all parsons born or naturalized in the United States. The fifteenth amendment, 1870, declared specifically that no citizens would bs debarred the right to vote "on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude".9 in spite of this the Southern statea proceeded to enact regulations to defeat the fcegro. AS a result, in 1867 the Northern states pas­ sed the "^construction Act", which gave them direct control of

&. wright. 18 million Black Voioss. p. 147. (Wright indicts land- lords.). 9. Gregory, J.«. Menace of Colour, p. 44. quotation from the 15th amendment. 6 the South. So accomplish their ends, they sent officials from the North, built up ftegro majorities in the legislatures, and saintained garrisons of Fedsral troops. These Northern politi­ cal adventuress, spoken of contemptuously by the south as car­ pet-baggers, behaved with such alarming greod that they incited even the North to disapproval. In 1876, the Southern whites we­ re allowed to establish an effective organisation and retain con trol of their country. 1077 brought removal of the federal troops. The negroes had not been without guilt in the corrup­ tion and with the restricting barriers removed, the whites took rapid measures to dismiss them. From that time the numerical majority of tfegroes disappeared by corrupt ssanipulation of e- leetlona. At first, the power and veto of the President of the Republic prevented any serious change in the law, but the ©lee- tion of a Democrat in 1084, removed it. when the Presidency re­ turned to the Republicans again in LB90, a Federal iOection Bill was introduced to suppress the most sedulous electioneering frauds; but it was never passed. That year the &outa began the legal disfranohisement of the aegro. These acts were cleverly worded. Wot mentioning colour, they were nominally consistent with the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments; at the same time they practically dismissed them, in 1890, tho atate of Missis­ sippi passed the first disfranchisement act. it limited suf­ frage by demanding an education test, which excluded those who could not read various clauses of the constitution. Officials in charge manipulated the tests in such manner that practically §11 white persons received the vote, while practically all Ive- 7 gro voters lost it. In 1098, Louisiana devised nthe grandfather clause* which granted suffrage to anyone whose father or grand­ father had been a voter previous to 1867; this conceded the whi­ tes the vote but struck out all the Negroes, south Carolina in 1695, North Carolina in 1900, Alabama and Virginia in 1901, Geor­ gia in 1907, adopted similar restrictions. In 1910, Oklahoma re­ cognised any mala descendant of anyone who in 1666 had been eli­ gible for franchise, or who then resided in another country. This admitted all white foreigners and their descendants, but debarred the Negro. Another restriction devised was the impo­ sition of a poll tax. The receipt of this isast be presented be­ fore voting and by not collecting the tax, the Megro was bribed to non-registration and ultimate disfranchisement. Thus in all the southern states the negroes became politically impotent...10 The "grandfather clause" has passed away; the poll tax has been repealed in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida; ether states are following. One of the greatest obstacles has lain wit&in the Democratic primary. In his essay "The Disfranchise­ ment of the Magro", Ralph Bunehe places 'Exclusion from the De­ mocratic primary* as one of the most effective means to give Ke- gro political power its * black out'. He adds: This is in ac­ tuality a •white' rather than a 'Democratic* primary, for all whites, whether Democratic or Kcpublloan, are frewuently admit­ ted to it, while all Negroes are be.rred".11 The action has been

10* Ibid. 45-46. "Political Changes in the Status of the l&gro". IX. Bunohe, 3alph. "The Disfranchisement of the Negro". Brown, sterling ... eds. Hagro Caravan, p. 925-927. 6

enforced on the theory that the Democratic party is a voluntary organization entitled to determine its own membership. «s the Ltemooratie party is tho only party that counts in the oouth, its primary really determines who is to bo elected. *lth:>uch the supreme court ana om by ono outlawed tho prohibiting clau­ ses, has pronounced it illegal to deprive the ;»e^ro of his vote in the primary, several of the Southern states still continued to bar them in the 1944 primer lea .18 The denial of the vote to the iiegro has handicapped tiiO e- ven administration of justice ana seriously impeded his progress. 2he defective administration of the law has be on the chief cause and excuse for lynching, which has boon one of the most haunting terrors in iiegro life, the source of an insidious hatred. Still existing, as a degrading injustice, is the social restriction placed upon the fiogro. tie is not £ 11 owed the res­ taurants, hotels, thaatr&s, churches, public libraries, and the schools frequented by the whites. william i*dw&rd iaxrghardt Luijols, whoso private library was one of the gems of Allanta, Georgia, could not enter tho public library nor stet*p his spirit with dx-ama or muaic, save under the most humiliating tanas. ..aahiagton carver, inviteu to address tiio United i'oanut -associations, was ao.it around to tho back, door, lugging his bag of specimens, and hustled up the iYoitjlit eleva- tor to the asseubiy room.4"*- italph jtfunche, top mnkine director

12. Stewart. Negro in maerioa. p. 19. IS. ISabree, Bdwin J*. 15 Against the odds, p. 109. 9 of the United itfatioas department of trustooshlp affairs, refu­ sed in port, at least the invitation to return to the ^tate ;.o- partsent in Aashin&ton, because of his unwillingness to rc-ox- pose his family to uati-i\egro condition tho re. i'hese man, or others like thorn, are tho subject of this thesis. It is to givo them th3 opportunity to sx/ouk for thei»- selvea, taut they ore hero. i»oiae c^ue as orators, virile and strong in race eonscicusnocs, others coise disillusioned, or in lonslinsss, singing in lyrio form their song of desolation, e- ven death. It is not cy purpose to assucss that i;ogroeo are worthier than thay are. uMle an increasing number are excellent and deserving citizens, the «egro masses are still far belova the average American standard in learning, in eeonos&c and in so- ci&l status - in almost every vital phase of life. But in the words of isdwin *£. iaabree, modern shite proMilgator of Ke^ro betterment: It is not surprising that this race, only three genera­ tions out of slavery and still discriminated against at ©very turn, has not yet COCK tc fell developtient. ihe surprising thing Is that in so short a time and against such heavy odds so many have risen to the very top in achievement and in fame .1*

14. Ibid. p. 7. "1 lie in de grave and stretch out my arras".

£ever, it seems to me, since man first lived and suffered, was his infinite longing for peace uttered more plaint­ ively than in that line.

¥.>?. Migglnson. "Atlantic Monthly**, June 11

gas agiKi-fUALa.

The Negro's beginning in America and the circumstances un­ der which he lived shed a psychological significance upon his li­ terary tempereraent. His entrance into the country had but one purpose - labour. Following the arrival of twenty Africans, on a Dutch man of car in 1619 at Jamestown, shipments continued o- ver a period of two centuries. They were not a single people but cams from tribes as different as the several nations of Eu­ rope. Contrary to popular belief, many of these tribes were not the crude savages we tend to picture, but were far removed from barbarism. Groups which would not have met for centuries were thrown together as fellow slaves; thus, even had there been no white or Indian blood, the mingling of these people would have produced a new race different from any single tribe in Africa. Added to this, there was the rapid fusion of a white and Indian blood. This unusual blending is the heritage of the Negro Ame­ rican. fhe adjustment to this new life must have wrought shock, intensive suffering. Torn from their own social settings, ne­ groes found themselves mixed with other blacks whose customs and IS language differed widely, it was necessary to drop the native tongues and establish a medium of conversation not only between their aestars and themselves but between slave and slave. A dialect developed, in which the harsh and difficult sounds were elided, with secondary moods and tenses eliminated; so the ori­ ginal African languages became absolutely lost. Accustomed to the colourful life of African plains and jun­ gles, the Negroes were now thrust into the degradation, the drudgery of slave life. They had to adjust themselves to a new continent, a new climate. On the high seas the African capti­ ves had already endured agony, torture, without room enough to stead, they had lain for weeks in filthy holds, deprived of sun­ light and sanitation, Through lack of decent food, shortage of water, little or no exercise, they became infected with disease. From the first shlpiasnt, twenty out of one hundred survived. The survivors, therefore, from these slave ships, became the background of a rugged race. This strength which gave him the will to live Is a dominant note throughout the jiegro's litera­ ture. Although harsh treatment forced the Negroes to forget their native traditions, or to remsmber them but subconsciously, it intensified emotional traits, dsveloped characteristics. To en­ dure, they had to seek an outlet; through this outlet came their culture, AS the primitive inhabitants had gathered round the campflre in the African jungles to tell stories, so the i&groes gathered round the cabin to tell tales of the earth, imaginati­ ve and superstitious fancies. It has been a controversial dis- 13

oussion as to whether African culture patterns can be found in America. Professor Kewbell N. Rickett18 who has done conside­ rable Investigation on the subject, traces certain words which are common in the £>outa, to their African origin; even though the wide scattering of the enslaved tribes meant that native languages must be abandoned* Willis D. ^featherford and Charles 16 s. Johnson in their book aace delations speak of the simila­ rity between the groups of African folk tales given by Robert H. Massau, John a. feeotka and Hichard F. Burton, and those Negro folk tales of the old .;outh. Although they recognise that si­ milarity does not necessarily indicate ecmraon origin, research students have traced saany of the stories of Uncle aemus. Wea- therford and Johnson reveal the narkei resemblance between Joel Chandler Harris* tar baby and an African folk story given by 17 geeks in his Congo Life and Jungle stories. Folk stories were the first form of literary expression which the Negro contributed to America. They contained elements of philosophy, tinctures of symbolism, and revealed along with sturdy stoicism, a pithy wisdom which foretold an Inherent abi­ lity to survive, some of their compressed but compact proverbs were: uMgger dot gets hurt wukkin oughter show de shyers".18 "Hails split-fo breakftts'll seaaon de dinner**: "Hits a mighty deaf nigger dat don't hear de dinner-ho*nM. These simple exam-

US. ,veathorford, Willis, Johnson, diaries. Race relations, p. 459. 16. Ibid. p. 489. 17. Issd. p. 460. 18. Ibid. p. 461. 14 plea were but the embyro of a culture but they contained a tart pungency which is tickling to the palate, and an astute­ ness which brought colour into writing. the best known examples of the folk tales of slavery are those written by Noel chandler Harris. The editors of iiegro Caravan commend this white man's stories as "friendly to plan­ tation Negroes and artistically sensitive". *2hey consider his handling of southern Negro speech, superior to that of any writer preceding him. itiey grant him great credit for recogni­ zing the worth of tho Negro fablea about Brer KQbbit, Brer Ter­ rapin,... but they agree with Alain Locke, .Negro critic, who calls him, "a kindly ajaamuensis for the illiterate riegro pea- ssut*. They also quote jtrthur Huff ^"auset, ttegro writer and collector of folklore both in wove scotia and the ikSiaaisaippi Delta: "in true folk tales, the story teller himself was inconsequential.•• The Uncle nemua stories break this tradition, however: Instead the story teller plays an important, a too important role. By this very fact, this type of story ceases to ba a folk tale and becomes in reality a product of the ima­ gination of the author.•• These atorlea cannot present iiegro folk and feeling aeen and felt on its own level. Jtnough has been said, perhaps, to show, without in any way detracting from the true service and real charm of the Harris stories, that there are enough incongruous elements insinuated into the si­ tuation to make it impossible to accept t hem-as a final rendering of American Hegro folklore". Kegro critics claim that Harris lost the traditional folk

19. Brown... eds. flegro caravan, p. 430. 20. Ibid. p. 450. SI. Ibid. p. 451. 15

tale origin \>y assuming to interpret Negro character Instead of confining himself to the acre telling of the stories. Uncle Remus in telling the stcvios far the entertainment of his lit­ tle wlilte master, east a winning vote for the contented slave and made tha pioturo of plantation life seem warm and xaellow. As a result of Uncle riouua, there arose a whole school of "faithful aunties and uncles"**^ relating stories to their mas­ ters* children. •1111am -ells Brown was the first Kegro to publish folk a- necdotes. He published thorn under i& southern Boas (1800). writing of experiences close to him, he blended humour, pathos, sense and nonsense, in a manner that osde "tbe warmth and sun­ shine of the south glow over his pages".23 in 1033, Charles •;,. Chesnutt gained distinction with his folk tale stories. Four of the seven stories in The Conjure woman appeared in "The At­ lantic tsonthly*. It was the first contribution by a Kegro to be accepted by this periodical. The plan of the book was simi­ lar to that of Uncle iiemus. Reviewers compared it favourably with Harris and welter Page. Uncle Julius tells the seven folk tales to a prosperous white couple who have hired hi" nfter set­ tling in itorth Carolina to engage in grape culture. This Negro, a mulatto, is not the virtuous, humble uncle of -alter page of Harris; he is an individual, with an adroit sense of self-pro­ tection. Uncle Momus is a product of what the white man had

22. Ibid. p. 431. 23. Ibid. p. 431. 16 trained himself to look for; Uncle Julius exposes the sordid si­ de of the plantation tradition but he himself is never tragic. His shrewdness, kindness and sly cunning, his ability to look out for himself, give him a realistic flavour and his folk tales a meaning. Bedding, Negro critic, describes it aa "the fundamen­ tal stuff of life translsted into the folk terms of a people who knew true tragedyw.2* Chesnutt admitted the similarity to the Harris tales, but he insisted upon his own originality. He claimed that although the name of the story-teller, the locale, as well as the cover design, were suggestive of Uncle Ramus, the tales were entirely different. It was some time before the public was aware that the stories had been written by a Negro. Negroes, for seme reason, have been alow in the gathering of their folk tales. Even Chesnutt*s were for the most part, tales of the imagination rather than stories collected from the past. It is easy to conclude that in the early struggle for recognition they did not think of them as worthy of recognition, of literary effort. They saw in them, perhaps, illiteracy and not a treasure in American folklore. There is now a slight mo­ ve in that direction. &ora Neale Hurston, Negro anthropologist, has contributed to the field. Negra Caravan describes her vo­ lume Mules and Men (1935) as the first substantial collection of folk tales by a Negro scholar.25 Clever in mind and inde- fatigible in effort, she has done much research in Negro folk-

24. Bedding, J. Saunders. To Make a Poet Black, p. 69. 25. Brown... eds. Negro Caravan, p. 433. 17 lore. &he posseses a naive attraction which enables her to go about measuring Negro heads and listening to slde-spllttir/: a- neodotas. All critics share the opinion that she writes with great charm and that her forte is the recording of folk-speech. "Nation" in appraising her work apeaka of it as "choc! full of earthy end touching poetryM.a6 Her terse beginning is inclined to detract from the book, but its pages shine with humour which is rae How and delightful. "During slavery tl&e two ole niggers wuz talkin' an' one said tun de other one, "Ole ssassa made me so mad yistiddy till Ah give *im uh good cussin* out. «an, Ah called *im everything wid uh handle on it". Be other one says, "You didn't cuss ole ^assa, did- ja? Good God I '.hat did he do tuh you?" "Ha didn't do nothin*, an* nan, Ah laid one cussin' on *im! Ah*m uh man lak dis, Ah won't stan' no nun- chin'. Ah betcha he won't bother me no mo*". "well, if you cussed *im and he didn't do nothin' tuh you, de nex* time he aake me mad Ah*m /rein' tuh lay uh hearin' on him". Bex* day de nigger did somethin*. Ole Biassa got in behind 'im and he turnt 'round an' give ule Mass a 0210' good cussin' an* Ole seassa had *im took down and whip*- ped nearly tuh death. i*ex» tiiae he saw dat other nig­ ger he says tuh Aim. "thought you tole mt you cussed Ole ;«sassa out and he never opened his meuf". "Ah did". "«ell, how come he oarer did nothin' tuh yuh? Ah did it an* he come nigh uh killin* me". "dan, you didn't go cuss 'ir, tuh his face, didja?" "&to* Ah did. Ain't dat wbut you tole mo you done"? "Haw, Ah didn't say Ah cussed *im tuh his faoe. You aho is crazy. Ah thought you had mo' sense than dat. when Ah cussed Ole yaasa he wuz settin' on de front porch an* Ah wus down at de big gate". 27 Males end Men. But coming back to the new race and the old plantation - they did not always spend their evenings spinning yarns. They

So. "ilafciofi". Oct. 16, 1937. Book Kovlew. ulr,cat. 1937. p.510. S7. Buretoit, £ora. Mules and Men, p. 107-108. 18

danced, they sang, and from plantation cabins t'wr; ringing flout­ ed through the suxxaor night enchanting nil its list^ners. The rhythm they had brought with them from Africa; the /.jolody and harmony was their own. The rhythm was the torn torn of tho ne­ gro's memory; tho x&lody, hie raceptiveness to what ix heard and felt in the new land. His harmony vms oj.d is, his victory. This endowment is the great gift which the intellectual Ameri­ can Negro is turning into poetry, the uaisic of the literary world. One element of survival in the negro wns his emotional re­ ceptivity to gaiety. Kven in the midst of suffering and hard­ ship there wee leisure and the more optimistic Nocro found his outlet ir. dancing and ingenious subtle song. Into this he put the strong syncopated beat of the African jungle, based on the patting of the hands and feet. Pleasure, humour, hilarity, lo­ ve, all echoed in this syncopation. The strong secant or down beat was never lost; one foot Eelntained the evenness -while the 26 hands clapped out intricate and varying rhythmic patterns. The rhythms were the keynote of the secular songs; the basic patterns of the cakewalk, ragtime, blues, out of which jaz2 grew as progeny. James #eldon Johnson, in his ^r3fo.ee to The book of Amerl- can Negro Poetry £9 gives a detailed account of tho growth of g8. Johnson, Jams veldon. "The History of the Spiritual". watkins, Sylvestre, ed. Anthology of American Negro Li­ terature, p. 135. 29. Johnson, James Weldon, ed. jjook of American Negro Poetry. Preface to 1st. edition, p. 10. ' ""'' ""* 19

ragtime, with its chief charm net in melody but in rhythm. These songs began in Negro dialect and wore about iiojroes in the cabin, the cotton field, the lovee, or in s jubilee or ball so­ metimes upon Sixth Avenue. To what oxtout the negro may olnim ownership to jazz has been a controversial question. Alain Locke, Negro critic, describes it as "not a pure negro folk thing, but a hybrid product of the elements of Negro folk song and dance upon popular end general elements of contemporary Ame­ rican life. Jazz is one-third Negro folk Idiom, one-third ordinary middle-class Acerloan idea end sentiment, and one third spirit of the 'aaohine- age* tfhleh, more and marc, becoxies not n^ierican but ueeldental. Because the basic colour of the mixture is ?Iegro, we attribute Jazx, more largely than we should, to Hegro life. Rather we should think of it this way - jass represents .-tagro life in its technical elements, American life in gene­ ral in its intellectual content".30

«t tne close of the nineteenth ientury a controversy arose as to whether the rtmerican >,egro*a auaic was Africar or Europe­ an, whether they were original or imitnti_?us of nn-tiier culture. In 3B93, a German misioaloglst Richard rjnllaschek, criticised the songs as being "overrated", "mere imitations of suropean compositions'*, "ignorantly borrows 1". *. vzave of jealousy sprang up against them. In 191S, Henry J\ Krohbiol, f. valued :ns44 critic of the l»"ew York Herald Tribune, answered .iallnsoiie«c*a charges and "set out to prove, in o discriminating analysis, that the Negro songs were the only in-H^enous body of folk songs in iimericn, and that these songs were the Nogro*s own".3*

30. Locke, "lain. "The Negro in Aiserican Culture", catkins. sylvestre, ed. Anthology of American Negro Literature, p. 153. 31. Brown, ... eas. ifcrro caravan, p. 414-415. so

James .foldon Johnson, £tegro interpreter of artistic achievo- isent, who with his brother tfoaaound, did Much reseurca ia this field, believed it was inconceivable that the groat xauaa of fi­ ve or six hundred songs could have sprung from limitation.32 Close study of «mariean-^egro literature substantiate** txus sta­ tement and leads one to believe the folk songs and spirituals were the American **egro*a. In time a number of itegroes began to transcribe the old songs and write original ones. J. Hosamund Johnson, in colla­ boration with his brotner, J'euaas iscldon Johnson muL a follow worker Bob uole, did a g*eat deal toward a beginning in this field. Of later years taero have developed the "blues'. *ncse had their origin in ieaaphie, and the toons along the Mississip­ pi. **any of teem are now adulterated. J. ..olden Johnson wri­ tes: "Toe original 'Memphis Blues' so fttr as cfen be cr&ditod to a composer, must he credited to i&r. 4. 0. uanay, & uolour&a i^u- sic ion of ^iempiucl*.," a© further quotes a verse of a genuine nag time song which, although the lines are crude, contain an e- lement of poetry. Man mammy's lyin* in her grave, s?ah. daddy TO. away, isaah sister's xaarrieu a gaiablin* man, An* I've done pone astray. Yes, I»ve done gone astray, po' boy, An* I've done gone astray, liah sister's married a gambiin' man, _. An* I*ve done gone astray, po* boy.°*

32. Johnson. "Tba History of the spiritual", lo©. cit. p.lsi. 33. Johnson, eded.. .Book of Acerican Negro roetry. Preface to lat. edition"editic: , p. 14. 34. Ibid. p. 14. zx

Inis song became very popular during the First Great »ftr among the coloured soldiers in rranoe. The mood of the blues Is generally a sorrowful one, of un­ happy love or melancholy. Moat of them follow a fairly strict form, fhey use a leading line and repeat it, quite often with slight variations, dometiidas they repeat the first line twice; the third line generally rhymes, although in the less developed blues, it does not. xhis type of poetry goes far back to the early days of slavery - to what is called "the hollers", when a man or woman bonding over his work emitted his soul longing in mournful and haunting repetition, or gave outlet to hia pent emotion by the sometimes weird repetition of: Oh I ain*t gonna stay here no moJ easy of the so called "Blues" coming from Broadway scarce­ ly warrant the term. £he editors of Negro caravan give an ade­ quate summing up when they say: "... in the blues by rin Pan Alley composers the grief Is feigned, but in genuine Negro blues the gaiety is feigned, The musical influence upon jazz of the genuine blues is great; the 'blue no­ te* is one of the most significant developments in jazz, and It is entering * serious* American music... Sat they are still, almost entirely, of Uegro origin, and at their best are close to folk sources".«5 Again quoting Negro Caravan: "Honest, elemental, sometimes to the point of stark- ness, the bluea are welcome to many because of their contrast to the saccharine and insincere lyrics too often produced in Tin Pan Alley. The blues are va-

35. Brown ... ads. Negro Caravan, p. 428. Ce*5

luable, also, as shedding s great deal of light„- on the social experiences of the Negro masses". The poetic Imagery of the blues, as Greyhound, Greyhound, I heard you when you blowed yo* horn, Well, I knew it was yo* warning that my baby was long gone.557 has been developed to a marked, degree by Langston Hughes, con­ sidered the American Negro*s moat provocative poet. The Lomaxes, Lawrence Gellert, and Joshua »*hite have done work on collecting songs of strong social protest. They have been difficult songs to collect as they have been found in prl- son construction camps and on chain gangs; they have been dis­ covered only by collectors who have won the confidence of the singers. The songs contain a bitterness, which, though not new to the Negro, are fairly new in song collections. Lawrence Gellert has assembled the richest yield of this type of song in ffegro Songs of Protest and saa and My Captain.

3&andin* on de Corner. Standin' on de corner, weren't doin* no harm, Up come a 'licensen an' he grab me by de aha. Blow a little whistle an* ring a little bell Heah oojae patrol wagon runnin* like hell. Judge he calls me up an* est mah name, Ah tole him fo* sho* Ah weren't to blame, fie wink at *liceman, 'lice 12an wink too; Judge say, "Nigger, you get some work to do".

36. Ibid. p. 430. 37. Ibid. p. 430. as

iorkin* on ol» road bank, shackle boun*. Long, long time *fo* six months roll aroun*. Mlserin* fo» my honey, she mleerln* fo* me, „A But, Lawd, white folks won't let go holdin* me.'5" atandln* on da Corner belongs to Gellert*s collection. The words do not burn with resentment, nor personify pathos, ra­ ther they are adroitly meaningful. The earliest collectors of Negro folk songs were New En­ gland era, of abolitionist ancestry. Their primary interest was for the purpoae of developing race pride; they therefore, Intro­ duced few aecular slave songs. Although J. A. &aoon and Joel Chandler Harris made collections, they standardized the rerae and consequently lost SOBS of the true Negro flavour. Negro /oik rtbyaes (1922) by Thomas w. Talley was the first collection of secular songs of the Negro. John snd Alan Lomax, ijewaan *hite, Carl Sandburg (white benefactor), and £ora Burs- ton are recent collectors. Many of them, however, have been lost beyond recovery. The following one is contained in igy Bondage and a& freedom (1653) by Frederick Douglass. »e raise de wheat, we sift de meal, Day gib us de corn: uey gib us de huss; kte hake de bread, We peel do meat, Vof gib us de crust; Day gib us de skin; And dat*s de way Day take us in; we skim ds pot, Dey gib us de liquor And say dat's good enough for nigger." In connection with the songs great use was mads of the

SB. Ibid. p. 430. 39. Ibid. p. 444. M

"Juba" beater. The perforsier improvised as lie beat, making the words fall pat with the movement of his hands. Much work has been done by the Lomaxes in uncovering the Stegr© folk ballads. 'They follow the pattern of most folk bal­ lads, celebrating outlawa, fugitives, strong heroes, in such ballads as "Poor Lazarus", "Hailroed Bill" and "John Henry". In the modern Negro school, Sterling Brown and Langston liughes have done much to recapture the folk ballad. James tseldoa Johnson wrote of Brown: "More than any other American poet he has made the­ matic use of the Negro folk epics and ballads, and because he has done this so sincerely, a falsa no­ te is rarely heard in his work".*© Listen to the tale Of Ole Slim Greer, aaitlinos* devil ftaltln* here .41 But the most loved of Negro folk literature are the reli­ gious songs. These, more than any of the traditional folklore, reflect the spiritual achievement of the Negro people. They are a legacy from the souls of those who perhaps suffered most - the very sensitive, the lyrically imaginative. «ith Christianity cams the kop& of better life to coma and out of this hope came song, in poignancy of beauty, practically une­ qualled. iatrlng the Civil ear, Thoiaas r.entsorth Sigginson was so moved by the Hack soldiers of his regicfint as they sang about

40. Johnson, ed. Boole of American Negro Poetry, p. 247. 41. ibid. p. m. £5

the eaop-fire in the evening, that h/3 recorded several of the simple slave songs and published them in the "Atlantic &onth- ly**, 1867* la 1871, a group of Fiok university students under the leadership of George white, set out on what became a tri­ umphal tour. »nen they left fisk the school was in need of funds; upon their return there was sufficient money to £-luu a new building, Jubilee Hall. The Jubilee singers had moved the world sc greatly by the beauty of harmony In their slave songs that they never could be wholly forgotten. It has been a Batter of discussion as to whether tho spi­ rituals are of iadividupl or group authorship. r/iUla l. «ea- therford and Charles s. Johnson, refer to them as "the sponta­ neous creation of groups"42 but James tfeldon Johnson believed that though "some of them may be the spontaneous creation of the group, that the far greater part of them is the work of ta­ lented individuals influenced by the pressure and reaction of the group".*0 us thinks however, that the responses may b© mo­ re largely the work of the group in action; "it is likely that they simply burst forth1*.4* The editors of iaep^o Caravan support Johnson's opinion. It Is unlikely that any group of worshippers and sing­ ers, as a group, composed spirituals. Single indivi­ duals with poetic ingenuity, a rhyming gift, or a good memory 'composed' or 'remembered' lines, couplets, or even quatrains out of a common storehouse. The group mould join in with the refrain or the longer chorus.

42. weatherford, ... Haca relations, p. 462. 43. Johnson* "History of the spiritual", loc. cit. p. 126. 44. Ibid. p. 126. 36

When one leader's in^envity or rwnory wns < rhaus*- ted, another might teke up the •composition*, A- bout two raattera of origin, however, there is mo­ re certainty than about rwtbod of composition. The first is that stories purportinf; to toll the circumstances and dated of individual spirituals are mar? fanciful than accurate. This is true of c all folk song... The second la that the spiritu­ als are genuinely folk produota, regardless of the fact gifted individuals may have played leading role© in tl^eir composition. From the folk store­ house came the ideaa, the vocabulary, the idioms^ the images. The folk approved tbe sonr or rejec­ ted it, as it squared with folk knowledge, memory, end vision. The folk changed lines that were not easily understood, inserted new stanzas, sometimes bringing the conga up to date, and transmitted them orally to the next generation. In the long journey, stanzas wero lost or imperfectly rer.eribe- red: and new and often incoherent interpolations took their places. But the folk kept a very larce number of tho songs alive and in a rather sound condition".*^

*hite hymns and Negro spirituals show an occasional resem­ blance between words and ideas. It is a natural outgrowth; the slaves in accepting Christianity, a COOT-ted the vcc^bule.ry and subject of Christianity. Hegro caravan citss the following li­ nes: At his teble sre'll sit down, Christ will gird himself and serve us with sweet aanna all around, (white) as parallel with Gwlne to sit down at the welcome table, Owlne to feast off milk and honey. (Negro).^ imaj of the religious songs have a significance quite be­ yond the Biblical text. The Negroes saw in the stories of the

46. Brown ... eds. Hegro Caravan, p. 414. 46. Ibid. p. 417. 87

Jewiah tribes a parallel with their own trials. It fired the imagination and they sang into their aon^s a new comfort and a faith in their ultimate deliverance. Go down, uoses, may down in Kgypt land: Tell old Pharoah Let my people go,47 The Hegro never intended the spirituals to appear humo­ rous. «ith his language difficulty, he captured from phrases his own interpretation and he styled them as best he could to reproduce the thoughts and meaning which they had for him. went down to the rocks to hide my face, The rocks cried out no hiding place, was act meant to be capricious; it was iaeroly his childish translation of To hide yourself in the mountalntop To aide yourself from God.**3 There was much of which the negro could, not sing. He could not speak too freely of his earthly bondage; he could not speak of deadly fear. 2e conveyed much longing in few words: Bye and bye, I'm gonna lay down dis heavy load,49 Bis omissions carried poignancy, fie seldom spoke of 'fa­ ther* or of 'boas*. His emotion released itself in mystic thoughts: There's a little wheel a-turnin' in-a-my heart. William Edward Burghardt Duflois, in his essay "Of the Sor-

47. Johnson, ed. Book of American Kegro Poetry. Preface to 1st. ed. p. 18. 48. Brown ... eds. Negro caravan. 49. Ibid. p. 419. 38 row 3ongo" draws attention to the alave's deep sensibility to nature. Life was *a rough and rolling sea' like the brown Atlantis of the Bee Ielanda; the 'wilderness* was the home of God, and the 'lonesome valley* led to the way of Ufa. 'winter'11 soon be over*, was the picture of life and death to a tropical imagi­ nation. The sudden wild thunder-storm of the oouth owed and impressed the «egroe*,- «t tines the rumbling seemed to them 'mournful*, at times imperious: &y Lord calls me, He calls me by the thunder, The trumpet sounds it in my soul.50 Those who have given study to the spirituals believe that the earlier ones were built upon the form so comeon to African eongs - the leading lines and response. Leader: &wing low, sweet chariot, Congregation: comin* for to carry me home. James tfeldon Johnson, in The History of the .spiritual, com­ pares the response to the solitary voice of the leader to a sound like a rolling sea, with an effect, strangely moving. EC further writes: But as the American tfegro went a step beyond his original African music in the development of me­ lody and harmony, he also went a step beyond in the development of form. The lead and response are still retained, but the response is developed into a true chorus. In a number of the songs there are leads, a response and a chorus, in this class of songs the chorus becomes the most important part, dominating the whole song and co­ ming first. Such a song is the well known * steal Away to Jesus *•.. ..The •awing' of the spirituals is an altoge­ ther subtle and elusive thing. It la subtle and elusive because it is in perfect union with the re-

SO. PuBols, K. 3?. B. Bonis of Black Folk* p. 257-S58. £9

llgious ecstasy that manifests Itself in the swaying bodies of a whole congregation, swaying as if res­ ponding to the baton of sone extremely sensitive conductor.51

There la deep beauty and artistry in the *J.TO'S emotion for a *land bereafter'. There are few folk songs which carry more appeal or move an audience to a more gentle rapture than: Swing low, sweet cheriot, Coming for to carry me home. and steal away, steal away, .Steal away to Jesus. The words are very siiaple, and when read aloud, the cons­ tant repetition may appear trite, even tiresome. With the deep richness of the melody and harmony as an accompaniment, the very simplicity of the words bring lyricism. They produce a mystic beauty, a naive and £entlo charm, with a poetic cadence haunting to the hearer. All the Spirituals possessed a dignity. Wistful, plain­ tive, they bore the resignation of the wayfarer who, toilworn and filled with ineffable longing, beholds the anseet vision of a Promised Land. I know moon-rise, I know star-rise, I lay dls body down. I walk in de moonlight, I walk in de starlight, To lay die body down. I lie in de grave an* stretch out my arms, I lay dls body down. I go to de jedgment in de evenin* of do day •hen I lay dls body down, An* my soul an* your soul will meet in de day when I lay dls body down.»s

©I. Johnson. "The History of the Spiritual", loc. cit. p.131. 82. Higginson, T. w. From "Negro Spirituals". Atlantic Monthly. June, 1867. May be found in Johnson. "Hisiory of the spiritual", loc. cit. p. 146. 30

These are tho itegro American's legacy, to his whiter brothers. i*ow 1 acknowledge that liberty is a great thing, and worth seeking for, if we can get it honestly. Jupiter ijaxs;von.

Thus from the splendours of the morning light The owl in wadness seeks the caves of night. chillis wheat lay. 3£

CiaArTKa Hi.

TluS jUArtii.

Jupiter aammon. (1720 ? - 1800) - Chillis «heatley. (1753 ? - 1784).

In view of the adverse circumstancss which aurrounded the American «egro, it is interesting to note that his first recor­ ded writing datos back to 1760. This appeared as a broadside in 1761 which read: AB iSvoning Thought, salvation by Christ. with Penitential Cries: Composed by Jupiter Hammon. a i^egro belonging to &r. Lloyd, of Queen's Village, on Long island, the &oth. of December. 17e0. Little is known of Barajaon save that he lived between the years of 1720 - 1826 and was much influenced by the evangelical movement of the ualvlnlst Methodists. His trustworthy character and his skill with tools brought him ma­ ny privilegea; it was his good fortune to have Blasters who were sympathetic to his writing, although receiving advantages thro through the Lloyds, there is no reason to believe that his e- ducation extended beyond the most elementary training in read­ ing and in writing. His owners appear to have allowed him to go to church regularly and to devote his spare hours to preach­ ing. Stimulated by th© Oltristianity which Whitefield and his predecesssrs had spread, Haakon absorbed their doctrines. All his writing reveals his deep love of the tfible, and of hymns; 33

his receptivity to emotional expression. The editors of Negro caravan describe namaion's first pu­ blished poea ^n iSvening Thought, es ' some'Chlng of a shout- hymn, obviously influenced by tho Methodist-Dissenters, of the Great Awakening". It consists of twenty-two four line stanzas, the alternate lines rhyming. iJear Jesus, unto rhee we cry, Give us the preparation; Turn not away Thy tender eye: .;o seek Thy true salvation,&3 This verse form was used quite frequently in the early us- thodiat hymns and hammon followed it an all his poems, though using it with roany irregularities. The method of rhyming al­ ternate lines lent itself quite readily |o religious chanting. Like the spirituals, his poems were composed to be sung, and when he discovered a pleasurable word ho used it from verso to verse with haunting frequence. In 1778, tiamnon published an -'Addross to *£Lss oriilllis 'hefitley"; in 1779, "An Essay on the Ten Virgins"; in 1782, "A f?inter idoee", a prose sermon which concludes with "j.oe*i for Children aith Thoughts on Death." • An undated work entitled n&n evening's Improve&ent" is n poetical dialogue betnoen "The Kind ft-aster and the L-utiful servant". The last of his printed work,

"An Address to Negroes in the at&te of u&* York" *I&L- issued in 1787 and received sufficient popularity to gain three editions. £fammonTs writing reveals no unusual talent, no loark of spe­ cial genius. His lines are laerely prose rhymes abounding in

§3. Browa ... ads* negro Caravan, p. 274. 34

in pious platitudes and superstitions. There is an occasional suggestion of lyricism, as in "The Address to rhillis *vheat- ley": God's tender mercy brought thee here; Tost o'er the raging main: In christian faith thou hast a share, tforth all the gold of apain.5* sometimes there is a mystic quality which suggests a latent gift, but for the most part, his song is a childlike acceptance of con­ dition. iiammon*s song was not unique. The new evangelical doctrine had great emotional appeal for those who knew enduring hardship. The years from 1760 to the remainder of the century were vibrant with paeans of religious feeling. There is a marked resemblance in the verse of Henry Ailine, a white contemporary, referred to in the early records as the ".Thitefield of Nova $cotla«. Amazing sight! the aaviour stands And knocks at every door.5** more significant than his verse, was his single prose piece, "An address to the Negroes in the State of New York". This was pre­

sented to the members of the African society in the city of tiew York, September 24, 1786, and printed in Hew York early in the next year. The Pennsylvania society for promoting the Abolition of slavery responded to It warmly and ordered a reprint Immedia­ tely. A third edition even, appeared after the author's death. Though his verse may be described as doggerel, with strai­ ned metrical effects and faulty syntax, his address displays

mvimm>mvmmmmmmmmmm**iimn mmmmm**m**mMmmmmmmmmmmmim»****m*mmmmmMmmam*m*mmii^^ \ mmymmmworn

firm handling. Me accepts slavery for himself es a personal duty but states aloud his opposition to tho practice and be­ lieves that young Negroes should be given their freedom. Ben­ jamin Brawley, Negro critic, suggests that the Address may have influenced John Lloyd, Junior, who, in his will of 1795, orde­ red that certain of his slaves be manumitted at the age of twenty-eight • ** The conciliatory attitude which Hamraon directed toward sla­ very met with much opposition among negro leaders, r^ost slaves were bitterly reproachful of bondage and they burned with re- sen tenant toward bis lack of fire. Respecting obedience to westers, itow whether it is right and lawful in the sftght of God, for them to make slaves of us or not, I am certain that while we are slaves, it is our duty to obey our asasters in all their lawful commands, and mind them ..... AS we depend upon our masters for what we eat and drink and wear, we cannot be happy unless we obey them. 57 maunders neddlng, Negro critic, suggests: 2samon*s life was motivated by the compulsion of o- bedienca to his earthly and his heavenly master. Perhaps the inevitability of his position tended to wilt his moral fibre. Perhaps the beneficence of his masters lightened the burden of his bondage.88 That Haauaon recognized this in hi-use If is evident in his writing. I have good reason to be thankful that my lot is so much better than most slaves have had. I suppose I have more advantages then most of you who ere sla­ ves have ever known, and I believe more than many

56. Brawley, Benjamin, fle^ro Genius, p. 19. 57. Hammon, Jupiter. From "An Address to the Negroes in the Btate of Hew York, 1787". Saunders, TO stake a Poet glacis* p. 7. Ibid. p. 7. 36

white people have enjoyed.59 Despite bis denunciation of slavery, Mammon's opinion lo­ ses vigour by the appeasement insertion "though for my own part I do not wish to be free". Doubtlessly an eager abolitionist must have experienced disappointment toward this hint of paci­ ficism; yet the modern thinker must concede its thread of wis­ dom and like liedding realize "Perhaps it was the very weakness of the statement that recommended it for publication".60 The thought merits quoting Harnmon. How I acknowledge that liberty is a great thing, and worth seeking for. If we can get it honestly; and by our good conduct prevail upon our masters to set us free; though for my own part I &o not wish to be free; yet I should be glad if others, especially the young negroes, were to be free; for many of us who are grown up slaves, and have always bad masters to take care of us, should hardly know how to take care of themselves...... That liberty la a great thing we may know from our own feelings, and we may likewise judge so from the conduct of the white people in the late war. How much money has been spent and how many lives have been lost to defend their liberty1 I must say that I have hoped that God would open their eyes, when they were so aaich engaged for liberty, to think of the state of the poor blacks, and to pity us.61 Perhaps the statement is pregpBi&t with patience but it ia doubtful that ia 1787 a slave could have dared to handle a the­ sis differently. Hamraon'B masters were humane, his life con­ tended. He did not feel the whip which presses recklessness, bis personal experience was tuned to peaceful living.

59. Hammon. From "An Address to the Negroes ..."• Logglns. jjogro Author, p. 10. 60. Bedding, op. cit. p. 7. 61. Bassoon. #rcm "An Address to the Negroes ...". Ibid. p. 7. 37

Bis literary merit is of little consequence; his value lies in the historical significance. The first slave in A- merica whose work appeared in print - It is a quaint prelude to the rich and varied songs which were to burst spontaneously from the rtegro folk a little later, songs which make ug the {jreat gift from Africa to the art of America.8*

rhillis vheatley.

* one cf the nost interesting portraits In the story of sla­ ve life belongs tc ihillis -'heatlqy. A little 1-C-CTO girl of seven, she was brought across from Sone;;*! to Boston in 1761, and purchased by kx, hoatley, a Boston tailor. His wife, a devout and cultured woman, perceived the brightness, the innate refinemsnt of tho child end, dropping- the restrictions associa­ ted wife slavery, gave her every ^ncaurageisont toward learning. Mrs. ..heetley's daughter Jr&ry began teaching Phlliis the Bible and within sixteen laonths she could read the most difficult pas­ sages from it with the utmost ease; ere long she shewed skill in both English snd Latin literature. Pope was the poetical fashion of that era and his translation of Homer so completely charmed her that she began to attempt verse herself, to imitate heroic couplets. The vjheatleys nurtured her in gentle ways; she became companion, rather than a servant. From the nheatley

68. Loggias. Sefgro Author, p. 16. 8© library she had found inspiration in the Bible; classical my­ thology had interested her much, ftith this background and the influence of Pope, her thoughts took shape - she began to wri­ te. Perhape it was a racial heritage which endowed her with a sensitivity to words; but her keen ear caught their music. Out of her admiration for Pope came a proficient, an accomplished imitation: she became "a kind of poet laureate in the domestic circles of Boston".**3 The greater part of i hill is wheatley*s poetry la whet we term occasional! poems produced by commemorable eventa - ele­ gies written as consolatory theses st requests of friends, or in honour of people whom she revered. Her first publication, "A Poem, by Phllli3, A flegro Girl in Boston, on the death of the Keverend George whitefield" occupied four pages of large print. It appeared in 1770 and was dedicated to Belina Shirley, countess of Huntingdon, vhitefield's patroness. This poem no doubt influenced the public for we read that in the following year she became a member of the old south meeting House in Bos­ ton. This was an unusual privilege for it was not customary to allow slaves to be baptised into the church, .shortly after thia her health began to fail and her doctors advised her to take a sea voyage. «ra. whoatley esteemed the girl's cultural refine­ ment to euch an extent that she manumitted her before she sail­ ed. The poem on whitefield had Interested the countess of Hun­ tingdon and when she learned that Phlllia was in Hnglftnd she re-

63. Boown... e&s. Me$ro Caravan, p. 263. m eeived bar aa a guest, mar acceptance by this influential wo­ man, coupled with her own vivacity and modesty, made her a fa­ vourite in London; she became the recipient of many gifts. In the Barry jOkins widoner Library at tfarvard there is a copy of the 1770 Glasgow folio edition of "Paradise Lost"; on one of the opening pages the recipient had inscribed: "MT. Brook . at- son to rhillla sheetley, London, July, 1775". At the foot of the same page, the donor to the University has written: "This book was given by Brook . atson formerly Lord Mayor of London, to i'hillis wheatley and after her death was sold In payment of her husband*s debts. It is now presented to the Library of aarvard University at Cambridge, by Dudley L. Piekaen of oa&em. i*reh, 18S4." The Countess had planned to present the young Hegro at the court of George ill, but Mrs. ftheatley took ill and ihillis hastened back to Boston. Before leaving London she succeeded in making arrangements for the publication of her volume of col­ ic eted verses: "Poems on Various subjects, Heligious and Moral". This visit to England marked the apogee in the career of the author| for while other single pieces have bean preserved, her book is the only colls etl on of poems by Pbillls she at ley ever published. Bhe contemplated another collection, even an­ nounced it in the Boston "Evening Post and the General Adverti­ ser" for October 30, 1779, but the Hevolutionary war was on, subscriptions were low and it was never published.

64. Brawley. Ifegro Genius, p. £2. 40

As though bar cup bad beam too full, disaster now befell her. Her patrons died; she sade an unsuccessful narriago; hor three children paased away in infancy. Bhe died a servant, working for her board in a cheap lodging house. one could wish, with a life ao full of contrasts, that rhillis $heatley had been less restrained, had expressed some inner feeling, A product of her era, she seldom referred in any way to personal experience; she wrote but little which sould identify her as a Segro. isighteen of her known forty-six poems, are elegiac. The most momentous is the one on the death of the neve rend ueorge fehit afield, ifive of her elegies are on minis­ ters, two on the wives of a lieutenant-governor and a celebra­ ted physician; the rest on unknown persons, including a number of children who died in infancy, TO our modern public these have little interest; they are formal, conventional, Vernon Loggias, shite critic, adds this conciliatory statement: ... in each case they were true to the tradition of the clergy, in an elegy making age - especially in Boston, where epitaphs and poems of condolence had been in high vogue since the days of Anne Bradstreet and Urlan cakes. The treatment is in accord with neo-classical standards. Whatever feeling there is, is impersonal and artificial, the method for achie­ ving effect is mainly that of hyperbole; the oraaiaen- tation is elaborate and Bumptious, with frequent in­ vocations of the louses, allusions to pagan gods, and Biblical heroes, overuse of personification and pom- pousness of diction.*© Loggias cites the following elegy as representative of the gene­ ral mood:

68. Logglns. op. Cit. p. 22. 41

tfhere Contemplation finds her sacred Spring; where heav*nly l&isio loakes the Centre ring; arhore Virtue reigns unsullied and divine, ehere wisdom thron'd, snd all the Graces shine; There sit thy Bpouse, amid the glitt'ring Throng; There central Beauty feasts the ravish'd Tongue; with recent Powers, with recent Glories crown'd, The choirs sngello shout har welcome round.66 six of her poems concern themaelvas with public events. The beat kaown of these ia a complimentary work which she sent to George Washington upon his appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, madness had just made its second en­ trance to her life and Washington's reply must have brought to her an infinite joy and pleasure« If you should ever come to Cambridge or near head­ quarters, I shall be happy to sec a person so fa­ voured by the muses, and to whom Nature has been so liberal and so bene fie lent in her dispensations.67 It is recorded that hs later received her with asarked courtesy at Cambridge. The poem appeared in the Pennsylvania rsgazlne for April, 1776, while Thomas Paine was editor. All her poems are not occasional. Two poems are paraphra­ ses from the Bible, she worked out paraphrases of eight verses from the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah and of the passages in the first book of Samuel which describes David's flight with Goliath. Logglns writes: It is unnecessary to say that her neoolaepical couplets deafen entirely the fire of Isaiah*s rhapsody* Her "Goliath of Oath" is more suc­ cessful. In hearing the following lines one might feel that he is listening to the steady music of the opening of Pope's version of the Iliad:

66. Quoted from the 177B broadaide. Ibid. p. £3, 67. Brawley. aggro Genius, p. 23. 42

Ye martial pow'rs, and all ye tuneful nine, Inspire my song and aid my high design. The dreadful scenes and toils of war l write, Tne ardent warriors, and the flelda of fight; You best rewember, and you best con sing The acts of heroes to the vocal string; Resume the lays with ahich your sacred lyre, Did then the poet and the sage Inspire.6** She steeped her mind in the classics; filled her verses with classical and mythological allusions, she knew ovid tho­ roughly and was familiar with other Latin authors. The splen­ dours of Milton»s "L'Allegro" and "II Penseroso" excited her; she attempted to imitate them. At all times she borrowed free­ ly; making use of cliches - 'vaulted skies*, 'roving fancy', •smiling fields*, uhe frequently addressed her verse to per­ sons of distinction - lULng George III, on his repeal of the stamp Act; the Karl of Dartmouth, whom she knew; her ode to Washington and bar poem on Major General Lee. The only personal feeling she revealed was her capacity for Intense religious faith. g?ary taeise linked Itself with piety, but even there she was restrained. "On Being Brought From Africa" haa been described as her *one wholly subjective poem* and yet it leaves the reader still remote, detached. 'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand, That there*a a God, that there's a aaviour too, unce i redemption neither sought nor knew. iiome view our sableness with scornful eye, "Their colour ia a diabolic die*' iiemember. Christians, fiegro black as cain, AQ Hay be refined, and join th' angelic train.

68. Logginc. Kegro Author, p. ZZ. 69. »heatley9 PhUlis. "un Being Brought From Africa". Johnson, ed. Book of American ifegro poetry, preface to 1st. edi- tion. p. 29. 43

In only one instance did she express enotion toward the wrongs of the Wegro in America, this is in o poem addressed to the Sari of Dartmouth. ^Ven it contains ro passionate re­ sentment. yfaould you^ my lord, while you peruse my song, A'onder from whence ray love of Freedom sprung, ffhence flow these wishes for the common good, tty feeling hearts alone best understood; I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate sas snatch*d from Afric's fancy*d h«ppy seat; what pangs excruciating must molest, what sorrows labor in ny parents' breast? Steel'd was that soul and by no misery mov'd That from a father seiz'd his babe belov'd; «uch, such was my case. And can I then but peay others nay never feel tyrannic sway?70 She never mentioned Pope in any of her poena; only rarwly did she touch on any of the themes he treate.;. But like her white contemporaries, she knew the neoclassical rules and it pleased her to follow them. 'fhere are those who would discount Phillis Wheatley's con­ tribution to American literature but her part in it has histo­ rical significance. Her vogue was sufficiently far reaching to find ready sale for editions of her pooiss in 1793, 1802, 1816. some of her verses found a place in school readers, she recei­ ved a special publicity during the anti-slavery agitation, in 1834, ?sargaretta asotilda Odell, e relative of the ?heatleys, republished the poems with a memoir. This bocame so popular that two more editions went Into the press within four years. whatever our judgment, we must roiaember that her poetry is the poetry of the Eighteenth Century, tfhe shared its preference

70. Ibid. p. B$. 44 for the elegant, the ornate; she shrred it?" dislike for self- revelation; and she published the f^rst book- brought out by an Arearican rie^ro. Had she lived lon;^-r, t?o Intor sorrows of hsr life mifrht have Intensifio.i her pnsslons; she might have uttered inner thoughts. But her opportunities for outspoken words were slender. with all the adulation she received from her white patrons, she *os still a itegro; she know the delicate thread on which hung a Negro's life. the life of Frederick Douglass is the history of American sla­ very epitomized in a single ex­ perience. Me saw it all, lived it all, and overcame it all.

Booker f. Washington.7*

71. Washington, Booker x". Frederick pouglass. 46

CBAri'i&i IV.

ms ol-HUGGLg PCH ffxiSifi>UM.

Frederick bouglass. (1817-1895).

£he literature of the nineteenth century brought a breadth and a complexity which was lacking in the eighteenth, social changes gave to writing a purpose which produced power and real­ ism* Into tills era stepped the force of Frederick Douglass. That this man ahould have been a leader was important in Itself; but that he should Imve been a Negro and a slave, self-taught, poor and thwarted - that be should have step by step triumphed over every obstacle - therein lies his supreme importance. Un­ like Phillis sheatley he was born a slave and grew to manhood in an atmosphere of cruelty, starvation. Her protected childhood, her exceptional opportunities in sduaation, the gentility of her environment, produced in hmr a submissiveness toward life, un the ather hand, injustice, unrelenting toil and hunger bred in i>euglass an inexorable hatred of human slavery and made of him a force, a herald of the Abolition. Phillis sheatley merits mention through her innate refinement, her delicacy of thought; but she remains an intellectual curiosity of her century. Fre­ derick Douglass is a living Hagro challenge: his speaking elo­ quence no longer heard, his written words still ring with messa- 47 ge and conviction. In living a life narked with the moat phe­ nomenal evolution, he disproved the white man's accusation that coloured men could not ascend; the story of his life is one of intellectual achievement, "a graduate from the peculiar insti- tution with his diploma written on his back". Frederick Douglass was a mulatto; hia mother, Negro; his father, white, of his father he knew nothing, for in his own words: "Slavery had no recognition of fathers". Mis mother ap­ pears to have been a woman of unusual Intelligence, "tall and finely proportioned" and amongst the slaves "sedate and digni­ fied". Somehow ahm had learned to read, "The only one of all the coloured people of iuckahoe" to acquire this art. Knowing the stern measures which were taken to prevent a slave from e- ducation "This achievement of his mother considering the pla­ ce and circumstances was very extraordinary". Another powerful influence for young Douglass was his grandmother Bailey with whom he spent his early years. A "good nurse", a "famous fisherwoman", and a "gardiner**, she "easily got lihe reputation of being born to 'good luck* and was conse­ quently held in high esteem, far higher than the lot of most coloured persons in that region". His mother was hired out, so his only recollections of her were "a few hasty visits raede in the iiight on foot": but living under the warm protection of his grandmother, "it was sometime before he knew himself to be a

72. '£he descriptive words and phrases quoted in this biographi­ cal presentation are those of Frederick Douglass, which - appear in Life and tlmaa of Frederick Douglass {1892). on­ ly the lengthier passages arc cited in the footnotes. 48 slave". In bis life and Times he describes with tenderness the little cabin - its "clsy floor", its "ladder etairway", and "the bole so strangely dug in front of the fire-place, beneath which grandmamma placed her sweet potatoes to keep them from the frost". Here his child-free mind delighted in the squirrels as they "skipped the fences, climbed the trees, or gathered their nuts". But the joy of childhood was short-lived for at the age of seven he was taken to his as star, Captain Anthony, where his apprenticeship to slavery began. He never felt the coiafort of his own again, save for a memorable evening when his mother, shortly before her death, journeyed twelve miles to aee him, re­ turning the same distance again "before the morning sunrise". Bot yet schooled to the cruel discipline of slavery he treasured this last visit - he was "not only a child, but somebody's child*', "grander upon my mother's knee than a king upon his throneM. Pensively* poignantly as Douglass portrays sketches of his early life, it is his story of slavery, his battle against bon­ dage which grips, compels our interest. His remarkable delinea­ tion of slavery, its effect upon both master and slave, is rich­ ly historical, circumstance brought him while yet a child, into the home of Hugh Auld, Baltimore; through tho innocent goodness of i£*s« Auld he acquired his alphabet, learned to spell words of thre'» or four letters. That Mr. Auld forbade it «shen his wife exultingly told him of her teaching, gave to Predoriek the first actual challenge to fight this defeating despotism. The "Iron sentences" sunk like "heavy weights deep into ay hesrt" and 40 stirred within him a "rebellion not soon to be allayed". The penetrating thought engulfed him: "Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave", this was "the direct pathway from slavory to free­ dom". From children whom he met upon the street he learned to read, "with playmates for my teachers, fences and pavejstont© for my copy bo oka, and chalk for my pen and ink, 1 learned to ..rite7', tie carried webster*s spelling book within his pocket; at thir­ teen years of age, from a little money ho had earned by blacking shoes, he bought a popular school book, "The Columbian orator". The eloquent speeches of Pitt, Fox and Chatham, their appeal for liberty and their denunciation of oppression, challenged his dread "I am a slave for life". Be "had now penetrated their true foundation to be In the pride, the power and the avarice of man". This revelation haunted, tormented him; he "heard Li­ berty in every sound, saw it in every object". Ha describes with poetic, lyrical expression bis desolation, his passionate yearning to escape: You are loosed from your moorings,, and free. 1 am fast in ray chains, and em a slave J You move merrily before the gentle sale, and 1 sadly before the bloody whip. You are freedom's swift-winged angels, that fly around the world; I am confined in bonds of iron, u, that I were free! u, that I were on your gallant decks, and rm&aae your protecting wingj Alas J bet­ wixt me and you the turbid waters roll... u, that x could also go J could 1 but swiml if I could fly l u, why was x born a saan of whom to mk® a brute! Hie glad ship la gone: she bides in the dim distance. 1 am left in the hall of unending elavery, u. Gad, save met God, deliver m% Let me be freel •. .73

Th&re came a H^y when he resisted punishment from covey, a

73. Ibid. p. 15&-1S3. 30 cowardly tyvaat. It was the last attempt ev«r K»d© to whip aim. I was a changed being after tnat night• 1 was nothing before; I was a iaan now. it recallod to life my crushed self-respect, and my solf-confi­ dence, and Inspired m with a renewed determlna- tioa to be a free man.... I Sad reached the point at which I was not afraid to die. This spirit made ate a freeman in fact, though I still remsined a slave in form, when a slave cannot bo flogged, ho ia more than half free. He has a domain as broad as his own eianly heart to defend, and he is really •a power on earth*.74 At eighteen years of age ha attempted to escape, but his plan was discovered. At twenty-one, disguised as a sailor, and tiaroigh the generosity of a sailor who lent him his free papers, he succeeded in reaching the Mortb. Hitherto he had used tho name of Frederick ualley but now for bis protection, he was ad­ vised to take another. A nev? friend, .Nathan Johnson, had just been reading "The Lady of the Lake" and admiring the hero, sug­ gested 'Douglas*. It was imiasdiately adopted, thoujsh always spelled with a double *s*. The next three years were eventful ones. illlam Lloyd Garrison was stirring mssea with hia anti-slavery meetings, and his weekly publication of **» Liberator. UnOm? this guidance ^reOsrick Douglass 'listened* and •received*, with "its spirit" he now began to understand the principles aM measures and " [jus] hope for the ultimate freedom of [his 3 race increased", in 1041, a great antl-alavery convention was held in ssantuokot under the auspices of Garrison and his friends. Noting Frederick Douglass

iy iiMNIMi^MWIIwWPaHfWeW**^^ HIIIWIiin.aiHI1HW.Wi mm i •wnm>^w,N»NiM|.#wl,...*,w.wl ».Wi, maa,. 74. Ibid. p. £86. 51 among tea liataaers, willlam c. coffin, who nad heard him speak to tba negro paopls in Bew Bedford, asked him if he would con­ tribute a few words, concerning the occasion, Douglass later wrote: it was with the utiaost difficulty that I could stand erect, or that I could comae nd and articulate two words without hesitation and stammering. In Garrison's own reference to the Incident he wrote: I shall never forget his speech at the convention - the extraordinary emotion it excited in ray own mlnd- the powerful emotion it created upon a crowded audi­ tory, completely taken by surprise ... There stood one in physical proportion and stature commanding and exact - in intellect richly endowed - in nature1 elo­ quence a prodigy - in soul manifestly "created but little lower than the angels" - yet a slave, ay, a fugitive slave, trembling for his safety, hardly da­ ring to believe that on American soilk a single white could be found who would befriend him at all hazards, for the love of God and humanity.75

marker rillsbury, adds further conviction to the electric quality of this speech by his description of its reaction on Gar­ rison: vtfien the young iaan closed, late in tho evening though none seemed to know nor care for the hour, Mr. uarri- son rose to ssake the concluding address. 1 fchiai: he never before nor afterwards felt more profoundly the sacredness of his mission... I surely never saw him more deeply, more divinely inspired. Els last ques­ tion was this: * shall such a wan ever be sent back to slavery from the soil of old 'Massachusetts?* Almost the whole assembly sprang with one accord to their feet, and the walls and roof of the athenaeum seozasd to shudder with the *liol mi loud and lonft- coctlnued....t176

7S. i/ouglass. Harratlve of the Li fa of Frederick Douglass. 184S. Loggins. Megro Author, p. 155. 78. Brown... eds. Megro Caravan, p. 606. 5E

Within a few years the whole world knew Frederick Douglass. The anti-slavery Society, immediately following tho memorable speech, insisted he become an agent for them. He gave fourteen years of brilliant service. During his apprenticeship his pro­ gress waa so rapid, bis genius showed such surety and quickness, that before long people were doubting he had ever been a slave. His style was moving, his invective brilliant, his story of sla­ ve life, vividly effective. Fugitive slaves were still rare and to a sympathetic listener he was a "bran new fact". At first he merely presented his own simple narrative, but night after night of this gave dullness to his vigour. Mth his development in reading and in thinking, his horizons broadened; mere narration of his subject no longer seemed sufficient. He knew he must denounce. The world began to doubt, to say: "He does not talk like a slave, look like a slave, act like a slave ..." The sin­ cerity of Frederick Douglass could bear with it no longer. He therefore, was induced to write out the leading facts connected with his experience in slavery, giving names of persons, places, dates. This statement bocane known throughout the stato of Ma­ ryland and he was again in danger of rooapture. "[He] was still under the liability of losing all that [he] had gained".

The first publication to appear, came from Boston in 1845, entitled Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. To those regarding him as an impostor, this was a commitment of his ori­ gin, a full statement of the facts. Though »?ili.iam Lloyd Garri­ son and aendell Phillips questioned the wisdom of such revelati­ on, they both eventually wrote introductions. Prior to this, m

Ajouglae* bad written open letters in the abolition journals. In reference to them Loggias writes: In the issue of the Liberator for November IB, 1642, appeared the first, an overstrained and crudely writtea expression of Douglass* feelings in regard to the case of George Latimer, whose Imprisonment in Boston as a fugitive slave claimed in Norfolk. Vir­ ginia, was then stirring the abolition flcrth.77 That Douglass recognizor his own inadequacy is evident from tho conclusion of this letter: I can't write to much advantage, having never had a day's schooling in my life, nor have I ever ventu­ red to give publicity to any of my scribblings be­ fore; nor would I now, but for my peculiar circums­ tances. 7f Yet in three years time Douglass* letters had become a regular feature of the antislavery proas, one written at Glasgow, ,*pril 15, 1046, to Horace Greely, received sufficient merit to roach publication in the hm York Tribune, ££ey 14, 1846. Following the publication of his ^native Douglass* friends deemed it wise that he should leave jy&erloa. jjo left for .-ngland in 1045, where he regained for two years. Hero he beeaiao ac­ quainted with such eminent figures as cobden, Bright, r-ool, •. 'con- nell and other xmrliai^entary debaters, ills power of speech, his personal magnetism, won for him so many friends that before he left for borne they raised annoy for his manumission and gave him sufficient surplus to found a journal of bis own. Upon his i*o- turn, despite the protests of Garrison, he withdrew as an anti- slavery agent and threw his influence with those who sought to do away with slavery by constitutional moans, in December, 1047,

». «.»j

he settled In Hoc he st or, New York, and with the financial aid given to aim abroad, he commenced the publication of the "north dtar*, later known as "Frederick Douglass* Paper", in 1858, he began the issue of a little magazine called "nouglasa* xmtuly". xhas® two merged in I860 when Douglass went again to

•••.••M..H....I.M..* riiiimir IIPIII tim ••> i • *m ininiiii ••ininmiim — • — •• ' • •' • ' • •• —"' «»••«• ••••••«.«• ••- „• •••,,..„,. „. r .... ^.^. ...rT„. .,,. u „• rtm win, .r m%nK 79. Brown... ads. Mc^ro caravan, p. $&&. 80. boggins. op. cit. p. la!. ee

Just a few weeks prevloualy he red been invited to send his bound volumes to the library of Harvard University, wnore tnoy would have bees preserved in a fire-proof building; but no had not yet sent them away. uutslds the years embraced in the late tremendous war, there bad been no period more pregnant with great events, or better suited to call out the best mental and moral energies of men, than that covered by these lost volumes. If I have at any time said or written that which is worth remembering or ro­ pes ting, 1 imtst have said such things between the years 1848 and I860, and my paper was a chronicle of what I said during that tlias. . I thin that space we bad the great rree-Boil convention at Buffalo, the domination of Bartia Van Buren, the Fugitive- slave Law, the 7th of March Speech by Daniel »ebs- ter, the Dred acott decision, the repeal of th© loissouri Compromise, the Kansas Nebraska bill, the Border war in Kansas, the John Brown raid upon har­ per's Ferry, and a part of the war against the he- bo 111 on, with muoh else, well calculated to fire the souls of men having one spark of liberty and pa­ triotism within them. I have only fragments now of all the work accomplished during those twelve years, and must cover this chasm as best as I am able to glean from various sources.®1 Historically, tins is a great leas to the American picture. How­ ever the published writings still in existence, are enormous in quantity. miring the period of bis apprenticeship, Douglass* xaost out­ standing contribution was the Narrative of the Life of Frederick i/ouglass. The first edition appeared in Boa ton in 1645. it fol­ lowed in general, the plan of the usual slave autobiography, but was much superior to any prevloualy written by sieves, it crea­ ted spontaneous enthusiasm and led to this insertion by an ano­ nymous reviewer, in the "Kew York Tribune", June 10, 1845.

Mi Hi mmmmmmmmmummmmmmmmmmwmmmmmmmmminuimmn- in mi I—»mm— i in mi i n I—mmmm i i «I.I ,.«. m i « » ——.-.. ... mm^mnmmtm* ®L. Douglase. Life and lima ... p. a&7-326. 96

Considered merely as a narrative, we have never read one more simple, true, coherent, and wain with genuine feeling. It is an exoeilent piece of writing, and on that sc ro can be prized as a apeoimen of the powers or tie black race, which prejudice persleto in disputing.82 In 1848, a French translation by .;. K. parses, appeared in Paris under the title Vlo de Fred6rlc Douglass. The fact that pouglasa, jast seven years removed frojc sla­ very, roduoed the book - is an exciting story. The warratlvo is simply told but possesses s compelling charm which inter3sts and convinces. Perhaps his years of oratory d^-vric u in hl:s a subjectivity, 'actional himself, he had the gift of moving o- thers; bis picture is waru with incidonts of Isughter a. whipping is the penalty of not being in tho field at sunrise, unless a slave haa special per­ mission fror his or her imster to the contrary".

82. Loggins. op. cit. p. 140. m

An equally difficult stylistic accomplishment ia- soon in the gracefulness v;itn .uich lawless jan­ gles argiuuent with incident, ills sole purpose in writing his autobiocraphy wan to produce nntisla- vory propaganda. Unlike tne ,\ruat uajority of a- bolition writors, however, ho possessed the abili­ ty to uriiig out his sermon without de: troying his atory. in© following passago, •- ;ch Unppons to be probably the rirst printed coiirientory /aade by a fee- gro on the folk songs of his vi>cut preaohei whilo it telle: * "vnc alavos selected co go to the ttreat :»ouae Farm, for the monthly allowance for the»8elves and their felluu alavua, were peculiarly enthusiastic, ahil on their way they - -uic make the dense old woods, for ile.s aruu 2d roverbornte with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy end the deepest sadness. They ; olii- coBiposc and sing as they w*nt KIO;,.., con­ sult! ..>: neither tlue nor tune. The thought that caue up, c«ue out - if not in the vj^ru, In the sound; - snd a a frequently in the VJ:C aa in the other. They would sometimes sing the west pathetic sentiment in the moat rapturous tone, and the most rapturous aentLTOJ t in the moat pathetic tone, into - all of their songs they would menage U. wea«- ve soiastuinc of the Great uouse ^ar-.. Spe­ cially woulu they do this, whCi» leaving home, rhey would sing uost exul ingly the following words: -

*I am going away to tx> Croat Bouse Farm* u, yee! Q, yes! u.• This they would sing sc a chorus to words which to nanny would aeom unmeaning j«rgon, but which, nevorthelo L, were full of meu<<- iut; to themselves. I havu sometimes thought tlaxt tLa iiare bearing of those songs would dw xoru to impress so/no minds with tlic hor­ rible cuarncter of slavery, than the reading of whole volumes of philosophy on the subject could do".83

In 1B&5, ton years later than the nan atlvo. thu- u : -jn-

63. Ibid. p. 141. 58 red a seoond autobiography entitled My iionda^e and Mr -r^won. with an lntrodaetlon by a /ember of tne author's own race, James r^cuune umlth. xhis revealed a rarirKed develop'•tout in nis eviucatlon and his style, i-li^ost four tlir-es tne lenptn of the j

day that reveals to him more than all other dnys In tho year, the gross in­ justice and cruelty to which he is a constant vie tin' .8* uegurdlng the ado spooohes Vernon Loggias v.rltes: la the oratory of Frodcrick Douglass, American riegro literature, aside from its fols v.oin: has reached perhaps its highest plane. -*nd tho a ficanco of his speeches lie in their intrinsic ;»rlt, not in the fact that they werv; created by a nocro who for the first twenty-one years of his life was a slave.®** Uis speech "t.-hat the Jlack fian <*ants" is i\>rlhri(;at, yot jaajos- tio in its pr mentation: ... everybody has as.j u the question, and they learned to ask it early of tho Aboiltionistr, "what shall we do with the ftegro?" 1 unvo had but ono anawer from the beginning. Bo r-thing Kith us'. Your ^-'W; with us has already played the lis chief with us. vo nothing with us J If the apples will not reiaain on the tree of their can strength. ... let them foil: I JUI not for tying or fasten!^, them cm tao tree in any way, except by nature's plan, and if they will not stand there, let UnOu\ fall. And if the ;,ec;ro can aot stand on his own lof , let hit, fall also. All i aai: is, give bin a chance to stand on his own legs: ju?t him alone; If you see Idj:. on his way to school, let him aloes. - don't disturb aim. If you see hi... >!;;,, to the dinner tablo at a hov 1, let liiia gol if you sec him < .oing to the ballot-box, let him alone, - don't disturb ULU If you see him going i^to a workshop, just let him alone, - your interference is doinj_ hi;., a po­ sitive injury, xt the so, TO con not live by the line of eternal justice, the fsult will not be yours; it will be his who made tno ftegro, and ..-y- tablisheu that line for hia gov rruont. Let him live or die by that.86 The third period of Douglass' life dJP not reveal ttio emo­ tional and artlstio power of t .o second. Rio words lacks \ tho

84. Wedding. To . alo a Poot Black, p. 35-34. 85. LOgfine. Kegro Author, p. 150. 86. arewley. Koffi-o Gonius. p. 39. $0 fire, %tm apoatnnai |y xtuiah jea£n©fci~ea Ma murly itmt&mm* aaat of die apeoohoo vera now polities! «to» ccs»osaiurauve. *jla kalsd autobiography lAf a and ^1 oa w*s a&s^rblna Uc ALIS la still conaidoroa the peak of his life atariro. ^aoawaal'.;: tsas aatse lucid dmplioity wbieii narked u*c **&r& of oar lie r days, tnia was a more finls&ed voinne; it uad the qualities a£ soon- nose and poised jud^aent. 4%o fourth edition of Lits ,and, rg:^3. puolia^sd xn ite**, is i^noraily eonaeded to bo hia weateat airtobi«sraphy. u>ug- lass enlarged 1$ over bis preceding work by mri; loan o&o ann­ exed p»$osj but tas result ia a volume w&acn ncdoin^ d*8erl&&ft as »alow and repetitious*.*39 Yet to taose radars unfamiliar wltn tne eerlier autobiographies, thia boost la still vibrant with ooispeliing in tercet, fne %&m&rmm with wmeti ltt& toyc sod upon nis baby scenes n&s sfcirr.ui anc appeal which ananas %aa rea­ der toward %m little cabin: his Slav® life, aicrply and direct­ ly tola atirs syiiipa,e&y, QDatdors; toat pcuiaive oomitor la «ia soy- so^d yearnings is lyric in its quality; the t-jrxitudo with which he won tbe odds ia ripe with richest OhaUsntga* uobsfcm, orient, v'wonnsjll, ©Low as lntiffiate portralto &©fc in an luutoriecti co­ lour, garrison, Liaeola, rlnc sito ta© , still llngera on th© •fage* It ^ould have seemed vise to tsiv» xott a*s star, at una apeat of nia victory.

8^. mMlng. dp* elt* p. 37* Si

Yet withal, those who have nissod tne 18f*l c iltion will still place him in the field of literature, still clou nin as a great American. In the words oftfoduir^, "T o the last, he wrote as ho spoice". I nave soon darlc hours in »ay lift:, and I havo soon tae darkness gradually disappearing, and the li&nt gradually increasing, on by one I have seen obs­ tacles removed, errors corrected, prejudices soft­ ened, proscriptiona roll finished, and my people ad­ vancing in all the eleasnts that ise&e up tho sum of general welfare. I remember that God reigns in e- termty, and that, whatever delays, disappointments, and discouragements may coas, truth, justice, li­ berty, and humanity will prevail.88

. Ibid. p. m. "1 had met uuntoor five years before, when no was almost unknown; now he ass at the height of his fame. «nen no waiKoa into tne nail, those who Jcnew hia rusned to welcome hia; a- saong those who did not know hia personally there were awed whispers. m% it did not ap­ pear that eelesrity had puffed his up; ho did not neet the hostage that was being shown him with anything but aearty and friendly respon­ se, there was no hint of vainglory in his bearing, do sat quiet »«c unassuming anile the rehearsal proceeded, lie was then twenty- sevon years ola, of tisdiina height ana slight of figure. His blacK, intelligent face was grave, alsost sad, except wnen he smiled or laughed. But notwithstanding this lacfc of os­ tentation, tiicro was on hi© tno mXlmi-K. of distinction, 3© nad an Innate courtliness of sanacr, his speech wis unaffectedly polishes sad brilliant, and he carried himself with that dignity of humility which never fail® to produce a sense of tee presence of ijreatneas".89

Johnson, Ja*sos weldon. fflonfi 'jt'hla -.lay, p. loS. 63

Paul Lawrence Dunbar. 16'/3 - lvOd.

It has bees difficult to ascertain just how far &&arioa asde Paul Lawrence Dunbar and how closely it failed him. Aa a fiagro poet, a aaater of the dialeet verse, bo booano a national literary figure; aa an ii&erleait poet expressing hixaaelf in clas­ sic fiaglish, he is a diaappolntzoat. It stay bo, as the critics wrote bis metier lay in dialeet; but with the artistry of word, the laalody of rhythm, the sensitivity of thought, it seeas strange be scald not reach fair Unseat. Mis life was full of promiae. dora of pare Msgro parentage, he was an esbitlous stu­ dent, pensive in nature. Unable to attend college, to obtain e- ven a clerical position, be worfesd as an elevator boy and soon became Known by those about the building for hia poetic verses, la 1£«3 be was sufficiently daring to print at his own expense, a little volufse entitled QaJc and ivy which he sold to his pa­ trons, and in two years ttee to bring out another book majors and Minora. It was this second attempt which brought hlia vic­ tory. Gillian Ham iiowclla, novelist, whose particular tresis was portrayal of Americab life with its own atmosphere, saw in this boo* soia©thing delightful - in keeping with his thought. ed

He gave it a full-pago review in the issue of Harper's weekly for .Nine £7, 1096, and Dunbar flashed into the public eye. Through this encourages©nt ha began to prepare a new volusas which be entitled Lyrics of Lowly Life. It coatainoa the host selections from the two previous works, a few additional ones, and an appreciative Introduction by Howolls. with this bef­ ficient sponsorship, l>odd, tfead and Company published Lyrics of Lowly Life in Xm&. ihe book beea&s a current interest. ;lo- wella' coaaendation gave it sanction, Intellectuals delighted is its eham; the hoaely simplicity was within tbe understand­ ing of the working aan, the rabbis purchased it for curiosity. Dunbar became the faanion, a temporary satellite. Always de­ licate, the following years of publicity, pressure, shortened his life. Obtaining a position in the Library of oongrees, he gave it up to satisfy the increasing den&nds which ^aga^ine e- ditors and publishers were placing upon his work. During the next few sn§srs a© published Lyrics of the Bsarthaide (1899), Lyrics of Love and Lau&htar (lw08>, Lyrics of aunshine and She- dow (1905); several aaallsr volaaes, illustrated editio!is of poems in the preceding volumes; short stories, jfolka frota Dixie (1336), The Btren^tb of Gideon (1900), In Old Plantation pays. U*>»), fbe Heart of atopy iiQllow (1904)s novels, iHo Uncalled (1098), 'ifce Love of Landry. (1900), The fanatics (1901), ffho Ssort of the Qods (iyOdi). ^a*tner writing was cut through his death by tuberculosis in 1906. !^e record of this man»s life is both fascinating aisd poi­ gnant, fascinating because as a Hegro, he shook *j«rie«i to ro- 05 cognition of hi*i poignant because he failed to touch tho height be yearned to roach. Dealring to be a universal poet, be resnined - •'tba oaly nan of pure African blood and of «iae- ricaa civilization to feel the aegro life aesthetically and ox- press it lyrically".90 »iis dialect poena arc little gems of lowly life, ifhelr melody carries them easily into music; their crooning swecttiess brings gentleness, and chars, xlie humour is pithy but seldom provocative; the pathos is sentiment rich ^ith appeal. iiis tenderness produces Lullaby; BedtiiM'e comas fu* little boys, *o* little laab. Too tiabied eut to jiake a noise, io* little laab. You gwine t* have to-oorrer she*? Y©s, you tole mo dat bofo', uon't you fool ae, chile, no iao', ro' little lanb.91 la *'&ro Little Boots", Dunbar's sensitivity haa painted pa­ thos with aa artist's finger. Ain't you kin' ©' sad fs*ae»f, You little boots? bis is all bis sasoay's lef *, two little boots. sense bub baby gone an' died Keav'n ltse*f bit saoE. to hide Pea a little bit inside iwo little boots, w His poetry la tuned with exquisitely noted sights and sounds his pastoral pictures poa&amm changing freshness.

•iwiw«M*we-iMSMi»s~TTTin-T^^ —irTTTH^—v-T*nrnrJ-"i"i-ii ni mir rirenwiiTrrrr-imi-n-i-Tiiiiriiir--r-irr-rmT imnirriTmiii ir-nnwinmpr-w—ni»iM»—w to. iiawella, t*illiS3& Deaa. "Introduction to tarries of Lowly Li- f©*». Dunbar, Paul. Lyrics et Lowly Life. P» xvi. 91. pdabar. "Htllaby. Comnlet® froeias of t^aul Lawrence gunbar. p. 144. #8. Ibid. "Wo Little Boots", p. 144. 66

scuir*! a-tlppin' on his toes. So'a to bide an* view you; whole flocks o* eanp-osetln* crows Shoutin' hallelujah, reekowood erpon do tree Tap pin* lak a hsjaraah; Jaybird chattin* wif a boo, fryin' to teach hira graarJih.98 Few posts, if any, could surpass this little rhapsody of ,<»tar©. Doubtlessly James «hitccmrt> Hiley had a direct influence u- pon uunbar. Janes weldon Johnaon, who raade intenslvo study of the ^egro poets wrote: Dunbar's earliest verses show the influence of Jatisos whitcomb ttlley, and were patterned after alley's lioosiar dialeet poetry, ibis influence persisted e- ven after Dunbar began writing in negro dialect, but It did not Unit hia. It is interesting to compare Dunbar's "#hen De Co'n i*one*s liot" with Wiley's n*h&a the Frost is on the *unkin", and note the similarity of sentiment and the nearly identical rhythmic struc­ ture. It Is also interesting to note bow >nnbar de­ monstrated a defter technique and a more delicate sen­ se in handling the istanees of sentiment than bis early ssastar. He gives "«bea *>© uo'n Pone»s Sot" a sore mi­ mical lilt, and reduces metrical monotony by compres­ sing his stanza into what is actually a verse schciao of six couplets. And by this line arrangesasnt be gives to the recurring title line a cumulative force that al­ ley misses giving to the title line of "when the Frost is on the runkin". Dunbar profited by alley's influen­ ce, and be transcended it".94 Vernon Loggias, further adds: "... In applying Hiley's Kathode to the Negro, Dunbar achieved genuine originality. His strongest predeces­ sors in tba writing of riegro dialeet verse, didney La­ nier, Irwin Kusoell, and Joel chandler Harris, were detached from their satterial; uunbar was a part of his. Kia realI em is better than theIra because it was inspi­ red by sincere feeling and not by the search for novel­ ty t bis music appeals to us as more natural because we do not in any way have to associate it with white sing­ ers. Ma iiagro dialect verse is today generally accep-

mmi>#tmiimmmMmimm*mm*mm%*M*mwmmm%^^ Hill I mm wwwMI«.M» -iwuinwiiw mt 93. Ibid, "JKMBC of ssussaar". p. 26. 94. Jobisson, ed. Isook of /^aarlcan, iaeiyo rootry. p. 50-S1. ted as the best which has been written ia America. It deserves that consideration, and will probably Maintain it. For tho plotureaguo and poetic lan­ guage which Dunbar knew so well la rapidly passive away: be preserved a record of it at the right tl- ae**.»5 His poetry in literary i&igliah was as Uowolls said, "vory good, and even more than very good, but not distinctively his contribution to the body of Aiaorican poetry". Howells continued: "what I uaan is that several people might have written than; but I do not know anyone else at present who could quite have written the dialect pieces. Hbese are divinations and reports of what passes in the hearts and laiads of a lowly people whose poetry had hitherto been inarticu­ lately expressed in is&islc, but now finds, for the first tine in our tongue, literary interpre­ tation of a very artistic easelstonesa".$6 Perhaps the very tenor of this praise was, as J. maunders nodding suggests, eventually Dunbar's downfall. Howclls was a criterion; he placed Dunbar In a pattern which be could not pierce, ig&ded to that, poor health, love of popularity, cons­ tant demand, beeaiae a cruel deterrent, A conversation tilth Dun­ bar, which Jebnaoa relates in hia autobiography .along xhia »ay rings with peculax pathos. *»e talked again and again about poetry. I told him &y doubts regarding the further possi­ bilities of stereotyped dialect, lie was hardly less dubious than I. He said: 'You know, of course, that I didn't start as a dialect poet. I sinply carae to the conclusion that I could wri­ te as well, if not better, than anybody else i knew of, and that by doing so I should gain a hearing. I gained the hearing, and now they don't want ino to write anything but dialect.* There was

95. Loggins. Be*ro Author, p. 349. . Bowell*. "Introduction to Lyrics of Lowly Life*, loo. cit, p. vil• a note of self-reproach in what be said; and five years later, la hia fatal illness, he sounded that sane tone acre deeply when he said to as, "I'va kept on doing the earns things, end doing then no better. I have ne­ ver gotten to the things I really wanted to

\a\/ e Dunbar died at thirty-three.•• Loggins states aa bis opinion: "Moat of tba pieces in Lyrics of Lowly Life are in Shelley's jsngliah. may of the subjects - including definitions of life, the mysteries of love and passion, the appeal of nature, and the prenoaitions of death - are such as one finds often treated in the lyrics of Shelley. If t*i© vuluHe bad oonteinstt ao oore, it would be ac­ counted merely a collection of gentle sentiments sung in pure aelody, far superior, to be sure, to anything which any other Miacrtean isegro poet had done, but not sufficiently strong to be con­ sidered a contribution of fierit to American li­ terature".**3 He later adds: "A type of pare English varse which Dunbar should have cultivated zaore intensively is represented ia Lyrics of Lowly Life by such piocos BS ^Freda- rick &©oglasa" undoubtedly sore eloquent than any xseserial possi produced by any one of uunbar's He-- gro predecessors; *"ibe Colored soldiers", a stir­ ring tribute to the colored ssn who fell in tho Civil «sr; and "Ode to Ethiopia", perhaps the asost signifioant of the poeaa which are not in dialect. It opens with: 0 another rtftcei to thee I bring Ibis pledge of faith unwavering, xhia tribute to thy glory. And the concluding stanza is:

97. Johnson. Along fbia way, p. 160. 98. Loggina. ffiajgro Author, p. 346. 59

Go on and upf Our souls and ayes Shall follow thy continuous rise; Our ears shall list thy story From bards who from thy root shall spring, And proudly tuns their lyres to sing Of Kthiopia's glory. The gravest charge which can justly be brought a- gainst Dunbar ... ia that be too often forgot tho pledge which be aade to hie race in "Ode to Kfthi- opia". He was endowed by nature "to alng Of Ethi­ opia's glory**, but he crowded hia first important volume with songs which have little relation to himself and none to hia own people. Such songs car. be estiiaated as no aoro than pretty exorcises".99 Thia appears to oa a rather harsh indietssent. Lyrics of Lowly Life represented Dunbar's formal introduction to the world an Introduction, aa other Megro bad as yet experienced. It was huisan that he hesitated to storm an entrance. His future swung suspended by a slender thread; folly or wisdom, scarcely discer­ nible to him. And so be tossed the dice and sang: A song is but a little thing, And yet what Joy it Is to sing J In hours of joy it gives a© acst, And when at eve I long for rest; When cows coma hojae along the bars, And in the fold X bear the bell. AS night, the shepherd, herds his stars, 1 sing ay song, and all is well.100 but in hia inner sense, there burned: The soul doth view its awful self alone, Sre sleep comas down to soothe the weary eyes.101 This is the poem that Negro poets have chosen to list in their anthologies. He has rarely surpaesod the pure flow of aai-

99. Ibid. p. 350. 100. Dunbar. "A song". Coaplato iomm ... p. 4. 101. Ibid. "ETC sleep Coma Down to Soothe the %mry Eyes', p. s. *m

ale which be put into these lines. Life has the lightness arid verve which goes with singing. The words dance and scintillate like notes across a score. A crust and a corner that love lankes precious, With a smile to warm and the tears to refresh us; And joy seems sweeter when cares cone after, And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter; And that is life J3-02 The beauty of imagery he creates in A 3ong is Dunbar at his best. Thou art the soul of a summer's day, thou art the broath of the rose. But the sunassr is fled And the rose is dead &?here are they gone, who knows, who knows?103 But too often he descended into sentimental pathos; too often ho catered to the racial preconceptions of his publishers and road- era by employing the *apologia* of Salter Page and Joel chandler Harris. He sang on because he was afraid to pause; ho appeased, to retain public opinion. As be sang, the elusive quality slip­ ped into the background. Ubere was no aoraent 'to recollect it in tranquility*,104 It is difficult to criticize Dunbar; to say what he might, or might not have done. A ifegro'a position is different from a white aan*s. "Be la forced to take bis view point on all things, not from the view point of a citizen, or a man, or oven a huasan

10£. Ibid. "Ufa", p. 6 10$. Ibid. "Song*, p. 871. 104. »©rd»wWtb> William. "Poetry and Poetic Diction**. Jonss, ffidraond, ed. jtealish Critical assays Hjneteanth Century. v. ccvi. p. £6. ~~ fl being - but from tho view point of a coloured man".w Ameri­ ca had rediscovered '•Uncle Romis". It pleased her to humour hira, to be 'kind xjarsa* once again. But as before, she could not grant him freedom; she could not spare hlo tho liberty he required. He needed to soar as the nightingale; to use a voi­ ce which was akin to lurim. But where Burns sang his son;;; In a tongue known to all Scotland, America confined Dunbar to a "©- gro song. Plantation days have passed; his song Is asaraly a sweet re­ cord of the tisae. America isay have lost her Shelley. As for DunbarS To the $@gro he gave a new resolve not to be conquered. To white America he left as epitaph, his song - I know what the oagod bird feels, alas! vjhen the sun Is bright on the upland slopes; e/hen the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, fa& the river flows like a stream of glass; aban the first bird sings and the first bud opes, And the faint perfume from its chalice steals - I know what the caged bird feels ! I know why the caged bird beats bis wing HXl its blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and ding #hen he fain would be on the bough a-swing; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars And they pulse again with a keener sting - I know wh; he beats his wing I I know why the caged bird sings, ah EJB, tfhen his wing is bruised and his bososa soro, - then he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or gleo, But a prayer that he sends froxa his heart's doop com, But a plea, that upward to Heavon he flings - I know why the caged bird sings{2-06

10S. Johnson, Jaiaes /eMonf The Autobiography of an ^-colored Man, quoted by "Tiaaa 'LiWfary duppieaeBt*, MsraETSS", T5IB, p. ao?. 108. Dunbar. *8yiapatby**. complete Poosae ... p. 10S. 7»

"If i inapt on had done nothing more than to give us looker -ashington its history would be isafc>rtality,,.i07

107. '^HSbii^toa, Hooker, ed. yuakegoq and Its People. ..ords of Dr. Curry, p. 91. 79

OHWKB VI.

Booker ,%. .mshJngtoa. (16o8-l91S?.

Booker T. Washington belongs raore rightly to tl*o economic picture than to the literary, but his autobiography I3p ffroat sla­ very is a link in the historical record. It is a simple por­ trait of his lifo; Ms work at Tuakegeo, his own 'court of ap­ peal* for the group which censure bin. He emm to the foreground during aa era when the nation was shifting fras the institution of slavery to the existence of a ftegro problast; when the fixed social position of the Hegro slave had changed hy his e/sancipa- tion. i'ha literature of Frederick iwaiglass is an indictiaant a- galnet slavery; the literature of Booker ./ashington is the story of the positive approach of a nam's plan to prepare his people for a future of equality. Up ffroja slavery has no particular literary merit. The role which Washington played with the .south, bis recognition by such influential leaders as Walter £|yge and Theodora Hoosovelt, bis own significance as part of the political picture; theso facts alone created a public interest in the book and gave it the po­ sition of an American classic. £be Autobiography first appeared in serial form, a features 74

of tba "outlook", ao eagerly did the Interact in this serial advance, that upon completion, it appeared iawediatoly in book form and attained not only American but world popularity. U^ iroia Slavery reached American print in 1901; an isnglieh edition caiae out in 1902; by 1903 it had appeared in Ocnaan, ircneh and 3panisb. iaahington*s life waa an exceedingly active one. :ie did not write to gain recognition in the literary world; he wrote because be had an object. Hia style is too elsiaeatary to have charsa. There is a pe­ dantic note which put* the reader back behind the school desk. Washington had a singleness of purpose. It was to prove to the world that in the experiments in industrial education being car­ ried on at Tuskegee and other institutes, lay the deliverance of tho Bagro people. IMS theory was a verity to hia; he propoun­ ded it in all his speeches and he wrote of it. In his desire to gain the greatest interracial cooperation, he followed a conci­ liatory policy which gave hira a key position with the white but led to a aaountlng dissatisfaction with the black. He flavours bis book with these appeaaejaeni sentences. I have entertained the idea that, not withstanding the cruel wrongs Inflicted upon us, the black got nearly as aauch out of slavery as the white.100 Although be wrltaa with no artistic flow, his style is novor jer­ ky. His words move with evenness throughout the book, creating empathy rather than emotion. His prose is logical. Ho does not

108. Washington. Up froa aiayory. p. 17. 75 exeita but passes point by point with a deliberate thoroughness; relating bis experisiente and his gains as one might chroniclo a voyage. I have taken peine to go to the hottest of things and get facts, in a cold, business-liko i;aanner.100 ills laein stylistic accompli shrsBnt is bis sincerity. There is a physical and rasntal and spiritual en­ joyment that cooes from a consciousness of being the absolute castor of one's work, in all its de­ tails, that is very satisfactory and Inspiring. Uf experience teaches ae that, if one learns to follow this plan, he gets a freshness of body and vigour of mind out of work that goes a long way toward keeping him strong and healthy. I believe that when one grows to the point where ho loves hia work, thia gives his: a kind of strength that is isost valuable .UO Washington was a realist. To him the Negro's groat redemp­ tion lay in industrial education. He was convinced th© crux would solve itself on that. "Cast down your buckets whore you ar<3" was the virile note he put into his faiaous address at the Atlanta Sxposition, 189b: Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in ©csmuor- ce, in domestic service, and in the professions. And in this connection it is «ell to boar in mind: That whatever other sins the South isay be called to bear, when it coraos to business, pure and simple, it is in the South that the Hagro is given a loan's chance in the comsaarcial world, and in nothing is this iSxposltlon store eloquent than in emphasizing this chance. Our greatest danger la that in the great leap from alavory to freedom we isaay overlook the fact that the nasaoa of us aro to llvo by the production of our hands, and fall to keep in mind tb. that we shall prosper in proportion aa m loam to draw the line between the superficial and tho substantial, the ornanantal gowgaws of life and the useful. Bo race can prosper till it loams

169. Ibid. p. 249. 110. Ibid. p. #31-222. 7d

that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It Is at the bottom of li­ fe that we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities. To those of the whit© race ... were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race, "oast down your buckets where you are". Cast It down among the eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have tested in days when to have proved treacherous laeant the ruin of your firesides, cast down your buckets a- aong these people who have, without strikes and la­ bour wars, tilled your fields, cleared your forests, buildei your railroads and cities, and brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth, and helped stake possible this smgnifieieat representation of tho progress of the South. Casting down your bucket a- mong my people, helping and encouraging them as you are doing on these grounds, you will find that they will buy your surplus land, stake blossom the waste places in your fields and run your factories. ...l*1 He then followed with an electric edict which beoams a constitu­ tion to the white American: In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet on© as the hand in all things essential to z&ttual progress .212

This whole speech strikes strength. It reveals a procreative power, proa&nt in his sociological writing and oratory but neglec­ ted la his ijpffr

1H. Ibid. "Atlantic Imposition Address", p. sio-s&i. 11£. Ibid, p* g£l-S££. US. Dictionary of American Biography, v. xix, p. 507. "William Sdward Burghardt uuBois breaks every mould into which the average Ame­ rican tries to put 'the Kegro'. Born not in the southern rurals but in Hew England, educated at Harvard and Berlin, his features not black but finely chi­ selled in bronae, precise in speech, e- rudite, fastidious and haughty, ho is a Boston Brahmin".lid

114. ^»bree, idwin H, 13 Against the Odds, p. 153. m

CHAPTTSH VII.

v^llliam JSdward Burghardt PuBola. (I860-).

Bo one stands out so individually an exponent of his race, as this American Ifegro. of French, Dutch, and issgro background, be ban directed bis heritage, bis Intellectual eupreiaacy, toward 'colour'; he uses bis scbolarahip as one might use a lash to pe­ netrate American consciousness. Born In the north, Croat Har­ rington, yassachueetts, 1BG8, bis childhood was comparatively happy. "Living with my motber's people", he says, "I ab­ sorbed their culture patterns and then© were not Africa so mush as Patch and New sngland tongue with no African dialect, the family eustoas wesre Hew g»glaad".*l£ During his school and university days, his eagerness lay in learning, and any restrictions placed upon his life touched him but very lightly. Bs was a clever, popular young lad, enjoyed by teachers in their classes. Graduating at sixteen, he had a keen desire to go to Harvard; but as money was not forthcoming, be was obliged to work. The following year, through a scholar­ ship set up by four New England churches, he entered Fisk, a He- gro university, at Nashville, Tennessee. Here, ho experienced the true pietare of the South, its lynohings and it© ro^ro no-

.———»—will HI '.I «m II i iniii'mi pim i n i ii —•" " ' I m •• •" M' »»i——«I«»I.I «...»• i i ii ...1..i...MI i,,:„,.„•. IIS. Ibid. p. im. 79 gligense* During summers he taught in the rural countryside and witnessed the dire poverty, the illiteracy of the coloured peo­ ple. His intense observation found an outlet in his public speaking, in bis writing, AS editor of the Fisk Herald ho scour­ ged at the injustices to hia race. Graduating from Fisk in 1868 he entered Harvard on a scholarship. Here, he procurei the same degroe be had attained at yiak, followed by an A. u. Luring that time he won frequent academic distinction; he coined a pri­ ze in the Boylcton oratorical contest and was ose of six seniors ehoaen for ccssaeneesaent speaking. On this last occasion, he took as bis subject "Jefferson Davis" which ilatlon reported he handled "with absoluta good taste, great moderation, and almost contemp­ tible fairness".116 Mis years at Harvard wore xioh in intellectual pursuits. Ms keen scholarship delighted his professors. lie sat under the tutelage of William James and George oantayana; Albert Bushnell Hart, eminent historian at Harvard, appointed himself counselor to DaBois' graduate studies. He oexaanted his contact with Bar­ rett Wendell, iSnglish professor, when he replied to the brusque question, "iSaat do you want in iay classes?" hy writing, "1 be­ lieve foolishly perhaps, but alncersly, that I bav© something to say to the world, and I have taken English 12 in order to say it well". It ia recorded that iondell "chuckled", read the senten­ ce to the class as an Illustration of trenchant English and from that time gave "this coloured boy" all he had".117 lid. Xbld. p. IS©. 117. Xbld* P. 160. 80

Hia excellent work and his enthusiastic sargarness enabled him to secure through tho newly established viator fund, a fel­ lowship of seven hundred and fifty dollars a year, for two years study in Germany. This colourful life at the University of Pur­ lin left deep impress on his character. "I had been before, above all, in a hurry", he says. "Row at times I sit still. I camo to know Beethoven's symphonies and '.ilagner's "Ring". I looked long at the colours of Kembran&t and Titian. I read in arch and stone and stesple the history and striving of men and also their taste and expression".118 During his long vacations he travelled throughout Iterope, visiting ancient German cities, mingling with the coismon people. He toured Italy, experienced th© rich atmosphere of Vienna; the treasures of Prague and Budapest. Travelling cheaply, he reach­ ed as far east as Polish Cracow,119 By turns h© fait the throb of f&trope, mixed with the pulse of his own people and their des­ tiny. DUBOIS returned to America In the sumasr of 1894; in 1895 received th© Doctor of Philosophy degree at Harvard. He present­ ed as his thesis: The suppression of tho African slave Trade to the United States of America. 1638-1870. "This is tho work of sound scholarship authoritative in its field*. ° It was published in 1893. Concerning the volume, an unnamed reviewer wrote: "We have failed to not© in the book a single lm«- portarrt statement of fact for which specific au-

110. Ibid. p. 160. 319. Ibid. p. 161. 1SCT. Brown ... eda. tiefyo caravan, p. 884. 81

thority is act adduced; but there is an entire absence of anything like pedantry, and irrele­ vant matter baa been rigidly excluded".^31 The aama year that DuBola was proaonting his thesis to Har­ vard, Booker T. Washington waa expounding to tho 3outh: "Cast down your buckets where you are". To BuBols, Just homo from Eu­ rope, oager to emancipate the IlegrO raco through learning, these words wore fuel to an already burning fire. The readiness with which the white roceived tho Kegro leader, conveyed a single moaning to him; 'Industrialise th© iiegro - allow hixa to contri­ bute to "all things essential to mutual progress" but 'in all things that are purely social"12^ - keep the I&gro in his place*. He began to form a militant faction, to become the standard- bearer of a left wing. About this time the University of Penn­ sylvania sent him a request to oak© a study of the ssgro in Phi­ ladelphia. DuBols was teaching at ..ilborforce University, Ohio, but he moved to Philadelphia and took a year's appolntn^nt. The Philadelphia ^e^ro. a report of mors than fivo hundred pages, appeared in 1899, as th© fourteenth volume in the Publication of the University of Bemnsylvaaia Series of Political Economy. "It was as revolutionary in Negro aoeialoglcal studies as 'las 3ugycealon of, the African aja- vo irado ... was in history ... In writing The Philadelphia 8e*gro. ur. Duilois assumed nothing. Th© book: is a lucid report of an exfconalve exa­ mination of the life of the llogro in the city in which he had probably achieved moot... One does not expect readability in a book like The Philadelphia jter.ro. to & groat extent a oocspon-

121. "nation", lxlii, p. 498-800. Q»oted in Loggias. Hagro Author, p. S@l. lfc&. From "Atlanta Exposition Address", aeo ill. alias of statiatloal tables, in th® works which bs published before 1900 Dr. DuBola had little opportunity for tba display of that richness of style which his later publications have proved is bis by a heritage of nature. <&hlle no other Negro who wrote on racial problems between 1865 and 1900 was hia equal aa a scientific thinker and as an unbiased recorder of facts, a number produced sociological treatises which meet the Interests of the general reader".3*8 From tba University of Pennsylvania, DuBois wont to Atlanta University where be accepted the professorship of history and e- eonomies. There be did much valuable work in connection with the Atlanta conference. *By the Studies of usgro Problems which he edited In tbis connection be became known as one of the fo­ remost sociologists of the day".12* <*m perhaps more than any­ one elae prepared the way for the intensive work which the wegro has done in recent years in studying scientifically the actual living conditions of bla race".188 In reference to DuBois* contribution toward the conferences, SSabree writes; *Tbe reports of these conferences were carefully edited and published year after year, until a fi­ le of 2178 pages were assembled - a vast encyclo­ paedia, widely vtsed then and now 1944 on negroes is church, school, and business, on Negro health and Negro crime, on Hegroes' efforts for their own betterment, even on Negro morals and smnncra. **1*8 From now on, DuBois thought only In terms of 'colour*, the

123. Loggins. Naj^ro Author, p. 208-284. 124. Brawley. Ejegro Genius, p. 196. 125. Loggins. op. elt. p. 283. 1£6. Babves. 13 Against the Qdds» p. !#3, The itaaxo artisan; is a report of the Seventh conference, and is in the Ifial- versity of Ottawa Library • m

"veil" whish 'separates the world within from the world with- oat*.** * Be bad mingled with the greatest minds at Harvard and in Europe, had travelled widely, thought more deeply than most people of the South; yet hia own country denied him every cul­ ture, save by a means which it was slavery to accept. " fby did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own bouse? The shades of the prison-houso closed around about us alls walls strait and stub- bora to the whitest, but relentlessly narrow, tall, and unscalable to sons of night who must plod dark­ ly on in resignation, or boat unveiling palms a- gainst the atone, or steadily, half hopelessly, watch the streak of blue above...... One ever feels bis two-ness, - an American, a Hegro; two souls, two thought a, two reconciled stri­ vings; two warring ideals in ono dark body, whoso dogged strength alone keeps It from being torn aeun-

The above excerpt is from the first of a collection of essays which DuBois published in 1@03 under the title, The souls of alack Folk. This book discusses various topics, all relating to the Megro race. J. Saunders Bedding describes it as "the first pro­ duct of his combined thinking and feeling". "It is in this book that he grows to fulness as a writer, fusing into a style that is beautifully lucid tba emotional power that later made bis "Crisis'* editorials unsurpassed \>y any writing of their kind".1*®

The volume is »a mind' of rare, artistic feeling couplod with most forthright, vigorous thought. It moves from touching inci­ dents of teaebing daya to the most sensitivo etchings of a lyric

U87. DuBois, '4, s. 0. Souls of Black Folk, p. 3. 128, Ibid. p. 3. l&t. Heddiag. To Make a roct ula.qk. p. 79-80. ©4 desolation. It attacks Booiosr Washington with the astute ran­ cour of a politician; lashes the white world with virile and in­ vective thrust. Insisting upon suffrage, civic equality, and e- dueatlon according to ability as racial objectives, DuBois cal­ led attention to "the triple paradox" of .Washington*3 caroer: 1. Ha la striving nobly to make Begro artisans business man and property-owners; but it is utterly impossible, under modern competitive methods, for sorkingmea and property-owners to defend their rights and exist without the right of suffrage. 2. lis insists on thrift and self-respect, but at the same time counsels a silent submission to civic inferiority sueh as is bound to sap the manhood of any race in the long run. 3. Ha advocates commoa-sohool and industrial trai­ ning, and depreciates institutes of higher learning; but neither the Negro common-schools, nor Tuskegae itself, could remain open a day sere it not for teachers trained in Itegro col­ leges, or trained by their graduates" ,X30 DuBois reduces the Atlantic exposition address to the "At­ lantic Compromise" and refers to its author as "certainly the most distinguished Southerner sine© Jefferson Davis, and the one with the largest personal following". * "Tbis policy has been courageously and insistently advocated for over fifteen years, and has been triumphant for perhaps ten years. Aa a result of tbis tender of the palm-branch, what has been the return? In these years there have occurred: 1. The disfranchisement of the Negro. 2. The legal creation of a distinct status of ci­ vil inferiority for the negro.

ISO. DuBois. op. elt. p. S2, 131, Ibid. p. 43. S. The steady withdrawal of aid from instituti­ ons for the higher training of the tegr©.*®2 ... we have no right to ait silently by while the Inevitable seeds are for a harvest of disas­ ter to our children, black and white".133 la the same book he promulgates his personal theories: "What place in tho future dsvelaptasnt of tho South ought tho Negro college and oolloge-brod man to occupy? That the present social separa­ tion and acute race-sensitiveness Mist ovontu- ally yield to the influences of culture, as the - South grows civiliaod, is clear. But such trans­ formation calls for singular wisdom and patience. If, while the healing of this sore is progress­ ing, the races are to live for many years side by side, united ia aeonoxaie effort, obeying a comcaon government, sensitive to mutual thought and feel­ ing, yet subtly and silently separate in many mat­ ters of deeper human intimacy. - if tills unusual and dangerous development is to progress amid pea­ ce and order, mutual respect and growing Intelli­ gence, it will call for social surgery at once the dellcatest and nicest in modem history. It will demand broad-minded, upright men, both white and black, and its final accomplishment, American ci­ vilisation will triumph. •• ... for thia ia certain, no eeeuro civilisation can be built in the Beuth with tho Hsgro aa an ignorant, turbulent proletariat. Suppose we seek to remedy this by making them labourers and nothing more: they are not fools, they have tasted of th© Treo of Life, and they will not cease to think, will not cease at­ tempting to read the riddle of the world, ay taking away their best equipped teachers and loaders, by slamming the door of opportunity in the facos of their bolder and brighter minds, will you make them satisfied with their lot? or will you not rather transfer their leading from the hands of men taught to think, to the hands of untrained demagogues? \e* ought not to forgot that despite the pressure of po­ verty, and despite the active discourageunont and o- ven ridieale of friends, the demnd for higher train­ ing steadily increase® among A&sgro youth. ... lioro, then, is the plain thirst for training: by refusing

122. Ibid. p. 43. 133. Ibid. P. 35-56. 86

to giee tbis Talented Tenth the key to knowledge, can any sane man imagine that they will lightly lay aalde their yearning and contentedly become bewers of wood and drawers of water? "^4 riouls of Black Folk was Dubois' literary and sociological an­ nouncement to the world. For fifty years the Talon tod Vemth has boon bis thesis. It was not, alone, the polemical substance in this book which brought 3ouls of mask Folk to the foreground as a literary clas­ sic. It was the rare quality which blcndod clarity of thought, with acute and sensitivo expression. "I sit with ^Shakespeare and he winces not. A- cross the colour-line I move arm in urm with Bal­ zac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out of the ca- vos of evening that swing between the strong-lim­ bed earth and the tracery of the stars, I sumtoon Aristotle and Aura Liu* and what I will, and they some all graciously with no scorn nor e^n&sseen- sion. 3o, wed witb Truth, X dwell above the Veil. Is this tba life you grudge us, 0 knightly Ameri­ ca? Is this the life you long to change into the dull red bideousness of Georgia? Are you so a- fraid lest peering from this high Flsgah, between Philistine and Amalekite, we eight the Promised Land?"135 The two most poignantly peroeptiva essays are Of the sorrow sonfts and Of the Passing of the First-Born. Those are exquisite prose poems, pregnant with anguished beauty. It is said that one man, on reading the latter to a group of friends, eholced when he came to the lines "an awful gladness" flung the book down and cried, "Ma man has a right to utter such terrible sorrow".136

134. Ibid. p. 104-105. 125. Ibid. p. 309. IS©, gmbree. 13 Against the Odds, p. 166. 87

"Ha died at eventide, when the sun lay like a brooding sorrow above the western hills, veiling its faces when the winds spoke not, and the trees, the great green trees he loved, stood motionless. I saw bis breath beat quicker, pause, and then his little soul leapt like a star that travels in the night and left a world of darkness in its train. Tba day changed not; the asms tall trees peeped in at the windows, the same green grass glinted in the setting sun... All that day and all that night there sat an aw­ ful gladness in jay heart: nay, bias© me not if I see the world thus darkly through the Veil, - and my soul whispers over to me, saying, "Not dead, not dead, but escaped; not bound but free".^37 Ho Hegro, before or since, has presented bonder with such penetretlng loneliness. These essays mark th© apogee of DuBois* artistic promise, ooula of ^laok Folk brought him to th© cross­ roads; bis choice, literary creativeness, or th© *colour fight*. "I have seen a land right merry with the sun, where children sing, and rolling hills lie like passioned women wanton with harvest. And there in the Kind's Highway sat end sits a figure veiled and bowed, by which the traveller's footsteps hasten as they go. On th© tainted air broods fear. Three centuries* thought has been the raising and unveiling of that bowed human heart, and now behold a century now for the duty and the 4^&@0i* The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the colour-line".*88 DuBois chose the latter; since then his ivriting has burned with propagandio fuel. Race pride and race consciousness have been his slogans. He has written intensively for nearly fifty years. Under DuBois* leadership a Kegro conference was launched in 1903, at Buffalo, Raw York, called tho !£la(*ara T/ovoiaerit. it pled­ ged itself to work upon the abolishment of all distinctions based

J r • ••iiwi^iii W •wHWinmrfnrrir Galium i"i "i r- Tf-1 — ^-- - — "- ••——•- —...- 1—i -Q—r-„—, ••,- n ., \m. Stilois. Betfts of mack, lolk. p. 211-213. 136. Ibid. p. 40. on race, class, and colour. The following year they tmt at Har­ pers Ferry. Xbis conference probably led bim to John flrown, a biography, published in 1909. The preface reads: "The viewpoint adopted in thia book is that of the little known but vastly important inner de­ velopment of the Negro American. John Brown worked not simply for Black mn - he worked with them..,".139 This biography was a contribution to the series of American Cri­ sis Biographies, "lotion" described it as "disappointing in that it betrays no original research and abounds in inaeeurociea. The last chapter is a notable discussion of the race question as it 140 stands today ia the light of J[ohn Brown's sacrifice". "It is now full fifty years since this white- haired old man lay weltering in the blood which he spilled for broken and despised humanity# Let the nation which be loved and the South to which be spoke, reverently listen again today to those words, as prophetic now as then: "You had better * all of you people of the South - prepare yourselves for a settlement of this question... You may dispose of me very easily - I am nearly disposed ofj now; but this question is still to be settled - this Hegro 1A1 question, 1 mean. The end of that is not yet".'"*4' aeddlng, litegre critic, auaiaarizea the new DuBois: "From 1909, the year of his biography John Brown. be was an avowed propagandist, setting himself the task of remolding the destiny of the race. It is doubtful that from that time forward, he considered himself a literary artist in the strict sense of the term. This is not to say that he smothered his appreciation for the esthetic quali­ ties of hia medium. But he did not hoodwink him-

1T39. »n3ols. Jolrn Brown. Preface, p. 7. 140. "fiction*. 09 : 405. Oct. 1909. Book ttovlew Digest. 1911. p. 133. 141. DuBois. John Brown, p. 396. self that propaganda could successfully masque­ rade as art. Be continued to write with the craftsman's care and sensitiveness that has Bade bim a master of English prose style, but toward ends that were utilitarian*. *•*« In 1S11 DuBois published his first novol, The ouost of the Silver Fleece. It is a sociological story which Redding descri­ bes as "not a novel so much as it is fact fiotloned."i4S The Literary Digest remarked; "If the reader can lay aside preju­ dices, he will thoroughly enjoy th© story, which ia dramatic, original, and convincing".1*4 The uuest of the Silver Fleece is a story of tho cotton in­ dustry. Toomsvllle la an Alabama eomtaunity elevated "above the cotton end the ccrn, fringed with dirty, strag&Llng cabins of black folk. In the commercial centre of the town "groat bales of cotton, yellow-white In its soiled packing, piled In lofty, dusty mountains, lay listening for tho train that, twice a day, ran out to the greater world". "American cotton-spinning supremacy is built on cheap cotton; cheap cotton is built on cheap niggers, liducating, or rather trying to educa­ te niggers, will make them restless and disconr tented - that is, scarce and dear as workers".i4B In 1910 DuBois had left Atlanta to become director of publi­ cations and research for the newly formed K.A.A.'C.P. {JSationai Association for tho Advancement of Coloured People). He was ins­ trumental In founding Crisis, a magazine which wielded influonc®

142. nodding. To Hake a Poet Black, p. 60. 143. Ibid. p. 01. 144. "Literary Digest". 43:986. Hov.18, 1911. B. .«. P.. 190®. *PJH LJnrntC? s 140. Gloster, Hugh. Jftff?Jft«M^» ^fyS^ffn **°*teB«- P« 73. From "Quest of the silver Fleece^. 90

for a quarter of a century. "It kept the colour question acti­ vely before the thinkers of the nation, mouth after month, year in and year out. It introduced to many peoples, who did not icnow such folks lived, negro writers, thinners, crusadors. Its cir­ culation ran to 100,000 in tho period just of tor the ,'lrst orld 140 •ar". DuiJois' influonc^ hero, cannot b© mlnliJ-zod. ic pro­ jected his thought toward a now school of writers who sought to destroy the gontlenoas of "Uncle Tom"; to supplant him with rug­ ged protest stern determination. In 1915, h© publiahod The Jegro in which ho trncou tho an­ cestry of the Ilegro race. This case from a desire bo procreate race pride; to justify the black man's rigbt to the full heri­ tage of American citizenship. In 1020, he received the oingarn medal; aa award offered each year to that llsgro man or worsen who, by his or her individual achievement as judged by a oommittoo, shall have reflected most credit upon tho race in any field of honourable endeavour. In 1921, h© published Darkwater, a col- lection of essays, editorials, poems, and sketches. j;oot of the selections from this collection had appeared previously as njaga- zlne articles in the "Atlantic l*tonthly", "Independent", and tho ^Crisis". *Tbs Litany of Atlanta, his major worlc in poetry, ap­ pear® in this collection, Megro Garovtm refers to it as, "ono of the earliest poom® by a Hagro in free vorso... the author's impassioned proas at its most typical, proso that has crossed the tenuous line dividing it from poetry".*47

"" IMI IMMiailltMfftl^ •••• !!••«M—^M«M—MM, . I,.I •^^..—...•—i II I.. •...!•. •„ ••••.I.l,| m^.,m. . ., - —• rT" "If •»"-iirTii-iff-ftwn WH III.IWW.l»W i.Wu Minn ' . in.T ..Jl , n I MM I Ml 146. fbebree. 13 Against the Odds, p. 168. 147. Brown ... ed®. Jtegro caravan, p. 3E1. 91

It is an uttcranoo of helpless grief, an ontroaty born of desolation. The occasion is tho Atlanta race riots in 1000. 0 silent God, Thou whose voice afar in mist and mystery hath left our oars an-bungorod in these fearful days - Hear us, good Lord! .... i© are not better than our fellows, Lord, TO are but weak snd human wn. .*hon our dosvils do deviltry, curse Thou the doer and the deed: cur­ se them as we curse them, do to them all and moro than ever they have done to innocence and »©ak« ness, to womanhood and homo. Have mercy upon us, miserable sinnersJ

A city lay in travail, God our Lord, and from nor loins sprang twin 'turder and Black Hate. Bed was the midnight; clang, crack and cry of death and fury filled tho air and traxabled underneath the stars when church spires pointed silently to Thoe. And all this was to sate the greed of groo- dy man who hide behind tho veil of vengeance! <$&&& us Thine ear, o Lord I .... ait no longer blind. Lord God, deaf to our pray- or aitti dumb to our dumb suffering. SuroLy Thou too art not white, u Lord, a pale, bloodness, heartless thing? Ah! Christ of all tba Pities S

Forgive the thought! Forgive these wild, blas­ phemous words. Thou art still th® God of our black fathers, and in Thy soul's soul sit soiae soft derk- cnlnga of the evening, sozaa shadowings of the vol­ vet night.

"Tbou art not white" is an irony, which wirings from fetter­ ed anguish; "sbadowings of the volvet night" tho baauty of eter­ nal hope which clings throughout despair.

148. BaBois. "A Litany at Atlanta", which appeared in *fi"iarkwa- ter", 1920. Brown ... ©ds. op, cit. p. 764. m

The Gift of Black Folk appeared in 19ft4. This contained an introduction by Mward F. ''c.^wconey and was published un­ der the Knights of Columbus Racial Contribution scrlos. It was an essay attempt to sot forth tho of fact which the ,G-TO has had upon American life. In lv)88, ho brought out an-itnor novl, The lays Princess, .tedding describes this "a strange book, a strange eoupcund of revolution­ ary doctrine and fatalistic ± hilosophy, refuting, it searaa, Dr. DuBois' own text of aggressive inde­ pendence... • lhoro is an unwholesome saxity, a poisonous power in the book. It calls for uithri- datic stoiaachaw.149

iho thone represents tae furious conflict which exists in the heart of i'legro men. doctor suggests tho book is probably tiio result of the Pan-African conferences vjhich ruBois inaugurated, following the ^irst Groat %er, when ?«.A.n.u.p« sent hiia to ifa- ris to study tha troatcsont and tho record of Amorlcan llo&ro sol­ diers. The fourth cor^ress had met in i-ew York, 1927. The 7 roneb government blocked th© fifth one which was to bo 11 vunis, < frica, ia 1929, and there have been none sinco. The i ^r.c „

149. Adding. To laakQ a Poet Black, p. 81. 93

also noteworthy because it offers a more detail­ ed satire of contemporary Itogro political orga­ nisation than any other work of fiction by a co­ loured writer of this country... In tho main, however, DuBois is mors of a propagandist than a realistic painter of folk and tho social scene**.100 tfuBois published Dusk of Dmu in 1940. This i« his auto­ biography in essay form. It is provocative, yet much mellower than Souls of 31ack Folk. It fails to aohieve the sensitive beauty of the other book. Library Journal described it: "... a mood of mounting intensity, stonily held in check, his own changing attitudes towards the restricting bars sot up against tho world of co­ lour. The story of nr. DuBois' lifo ... presents an unforgettable picture of the changing social life of our tit®. It should be read widely".151

Dusk of Dawn is th© autobiography of a race concept. It inclu­ des an essay, The iMBois - i&shingten Controbcrsy. "I believed in the higher education of a Talented Tenth who through their knowledge of modern cul­ ture could guide th© American IJegro into a higher civilization. I knew that without this th® Ifagr© would have to accept white leadership, and that such leadership could not always be trusted to guide this group into self-realisation and to its highest cultural possibilities. Mr, ttaablngton, on the other hand, believed that the *tegro as an efficient worker could gain wealth and that event­ ually through his ownership of capital he would be abl® to achieve a recognized place in American cul­ ture and could educate his children a© ho might wish and develop his possibilities. For this rea­ son he proposed to put the emphasis at present upon training in tho skilled trades and encouragement in industry and common labour".*<*>%

150. Gloster. ffe&ro Voioos In American Fiction, p. 153-15C. 151. "Library Journal"• 67:707. Sept. 1940. 15B. uuftois. "The lwilois - .Washington Controversy". ifrcsn • •**• Hc&X'Q Caravan, p. 764. 04

la 1947 DuBois returned to his study of tuo aiunotry of the -'agro race, and publiahod The world a;id Africn. ; oi^\ Uls subtitle, it is an inquiry into the part which Africa i». o play­ ed in world history. Tho forewarn states his purpose: "Twice before I have assayed to write on the his­ tory of Africa: once in 1915 when the editors of the Joao University Library asked ua to attempt such a work. The result was the little volma» called The IJoryo, which gave evidence of a ccrtnl;, naivo astonishment on i*y own part «t the ,/oalth of fact and ;»to rial concerning tha ''-o^ro people, tito very axis tenee of ivhicii I had myself iaiowu" little deep!to a varied university career. The result uas a condensed and not altogether logical narrative. : nvertholsss, it has been widely read and is still in print. Naturally I wished to enlarge u.'<,n this earlier work after .orld -or 1 arid at the boginuiug of vsluit I thought i>as a new era. to I wrote Ulack t oik: Then and J.OB [193S], with SOJUC now imteriei and' a ior? logical arrangement. Uut it happened that I was writing at trie end of an ago which xaarKed the final catastrophe of the old era of urojoon dtsai- nanco rather than at tho threshold of a cha&g& which I had dro&acd in 1935. I daotaod it, the r« fore, not only fitting but necessary in 1946 to essay again not so much a history of tho negroid peoples as a statement of their integral role in human hiatory fron prehistoric to modern tiroes'*.153

xho books alr^dy listed, with the fidditio.rtl V,J1UMOR, olack aoconstruction in uaftrioa. 1S6Q-1B60 ClOS&] and Colour arid 'iomo- cracy: Colonies and ^•'-•aco [1045J, c^stit-ito tlse ;\"»at ;orfc of >:u;iois* contribution to 'juoricni: litoivturu. tie :ios ,>iv% his tfaJln life to the ogro cause, flf/itinr rae cpat-3, i'.citinc strong race consciousness, '.tooker V. *sshinf:ton was a loader. though his policy is controversial, he vmxad outstandijjf i^flu- enco upon his race. Consorvcttivo that tie was, to accented the

153. DuBois. The .torld arid .Africa, p. vii-vlii. 95

immediate; and in doing so he won th® ardour of the white. "X would set no limits to the attainments of the Hsgro in arts, in letters or statesmanship, but I believe the surest way to reach those ends is by laying the foundation in tho little things of life that lie immediately about one's door. I plead for industrial education and development for the Negro, not because I want to cramp him, but because I want to free bin. I want to see him enter the all-powerful business and eomraer- oial life".1©* DuBois has been the Loader of the Opposition, whose p&rty never yet lias been in power. From a liberal, striking with courageous independence, ho becarae a radical, living one consuming thought. Booker T. Washington's writing is important, merely in the li^bt it sheds upon himself • ftilliam iJdward Durghardt I>u3ois is a li­ terary artist. His words make music even when his thinlcing does not soothe. His power of writing, is rousing to the soporific, yet leaves the reader pensive, as to what his literary promise might have boon. Ii© has lived 'colour'; it has both incited and disrupted his rare gift. Out of the llegro, he has fostered •The New Kegro'; he has inculcated in his people pride of race. But his gift of expression will never meet the praise which it deserves, because his intransigent spirit holds him to a single, indefatigiblc caus© - "the problem of the Twentieth century".18® The #sssage. "Reader of dead words who tsrould live doods, this is the flowering of my logic, I droara of a world of infinite and Invaluable variety; not in tho laws of gravity or atomic weights, but in human variety in height and weight, colour and akin, hair and nose and lip. But more especially and

ii\wmiammmm****'™***mmm%memm*mmmMmM HMW—IHWHNWJWMMW \wmamtn*mmim>#mf**mm mn*»t >« .'iwiii»iiiw««»w»w**^ww»wiwwwii««wwiim^wwiww%v*<»«w)«n»-t»wnJB»tt» 154. Franklin, John Hope. Jfrm Slavery to ifreodoia. p. 307. 155. DuBois. Souls of Black Folk, p. 40. • — -- - •------•—• -—<-—-—^ <*>- far above and beyond this, in a realm of true freedom: in thought and dream, fantasy and imagination; in gift, aptitude, and genius - all possible manner of differenco, topped with freedom of soul to do and be, and freedom of thought to give to a world and build into it, all wealth of Inborn individuality. Kach ef­ fort to stop thia freedom of being is a blow at democracy - that real democracy which is reservoir and opportunity ... There can be no perfect democracy curtailed by colour, race, or poverty. But with all wo accomplish all, even Peace. This is this book of mine and yours". iJuBols. 1947 ^6

IS©. DuBois. The World, and Africa, p. B$l. That tho riegro was stimulated to greater creative effort by the interest of white America is beyond doubt. It' Is rexmrk- abie, however, that his semi-dependent position as an artist (and especially as a writer) did not load hia in most in­ stances into the production merely of what the white man ".fanted. Black and white America had come a long way in the two decades since 1900. "'hough there was still in the attitude of rahit© Mmrl- ca something of the playful indulgence of a giant for a pigmy, there arose up impor­ tant numbers of critics and readers like Robert Korlin, -/aldo Frank, Paul losen- feld, Louis Untermeyar, V.F. Calverton, Joel splngarn, and Henry 'tencken who were sincere and strong in their belief that the rcgro writer had a particular gift to make to American culture.^7

MWWMin'!iiriii<«,iiii"M tmW^4**m^m*}

GWiF$m VIII*

Tins mm. m*i&sAMi4..

In 1910, Philip A. Payton, a real ©state operator, persua­ ded two landlords in Ilarlam to rent apartments to Agrees; in spite of attempts to int©r:fcT% the araa rapidly grew. Today th© population stands at approximately half a million. It was a na­ tural conclusion that this centre should become & mecea for lie- gro progress in all channels. Through white influence, the na­ tional Urban League was formed in 1310, with its primary object, the development of industrial opportunities. Charles S. Johnson, legro Sociologist, coming to the central office in 19^1, founded "Opportunity*, a Journal of $egro life and progress. Although Its primary object was to stress social reports, it soon included a cultural expression. Johnson canvassed schools and colleges, urged bis friends to writ©, hunted for «e© talent, lie offered prise contests for creative work un& brought in as Judges eminent literary critics. Among the Judges wore Carl Van Doren, -.ona (Tole, Fannie Hurst, John Dewey. Johnson was quick to perceive the values of discoveries concerning African art and in my, 1924, brought out through Ms saagasalne, an African Art issue containing Africa - Inspired poans by Langs ton siughea, Claude tte.iCay, and tjmlm Alexander. It also contained articles? A Kote on African Art> hy Alain Locke, The Temgfoe. by Albert c. BarB@s, and Afri- can Art afl the Barnes foundation. W ai«l Gulllaurao. PriJs© win­ ners were Langston Hughes with his Weary Blues, and :&ora Hurston, with one of her short stories of Deep south primitives, krtm Bontemps, James Weldon Johnson, Gouatee Cullen and .sterling Drown were steady contributors. Among the artists were Aaron Douglas, Richmond Bart ho, Augusta lavage, and B. Simms Campbell, The mu­ sical world gained recognition through the compositions of s. c. Bandy, father of the blues, of William Grant Still, and the rhythmic lyrics of Rosamond Johnson, ^crisis** with DuBois as e- ditor, had appeared in 1910; this was the official organ of th© l&tlonal Association for tho Advancement of Coloured people. It was first of all, a newspaper recording iaovemants of inter-racial relations; secondly, a review of opinion and literature on mat­ ters relating to the race probl^a; thirdly, it published a few short articles; and lastly, it contained an editorial page whose policy was to represent the highest Ideals of American democracy. B&r ISIS, tiae paid monthly circulation had readied over a hundred thousand copies and had incited th© assistance of Jane Addaae, the £3plngsras, and others. Of the role played by "Crisis" mBois wrote: Sly 1320, we could point out that most of the young writers among American Nsgros* had suede first pu­ blications in the columns of "The Crisis"• In th® next years we published work from Claud© Mo.Atay, Lsngston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Countee cullen, Anne 3p@acer, Abram Harris and Jessie Faus^t.15® "Crisis** gave annual priaea for creative writing.

198• DuBois. £>usk of Dawn, p. 70. (.naotsd in Oloster. laagro 100

But it was the close of world War I, which revolutionised the whole aspeet of Negro literature. The restrictions placed upon Jtaropean immigration had created a labour shortage in the $orth and tbis became the open door through which a half milli­ on Negroes began their exodus from the agricultural couth in answer to the challenge of industrial wages. Alarm spread throughout the South at fear of a financial broakdoim; repres­ sive measures were enacted; race riots ocoured. ?!©gro raasses for the first time in history were asking money, experiencing comfort, gaining an opportunity to educate their children, ne­ groes returning from war aones were no longer submissive toward their former status. The Megro had become an Individual, suf­ fering exploitation only when he could not help himself, eager as every human being for advancement. The campaigns projected by administrative leaders to convince iiegroes that the general pattern was unchanged, met with stern opposition. DuBois voiced the new sentiment In an article Returning soldiers which he pu­ blished ia "Crisis**, X&W: Tinder similar circumstances we would fight a^in. But, by tha God of iiemvan, wo are cowards and jaekasses if, now that the war is over, we do not marshall every ounce of our brain and brawn to fight a sterner, longer, more unbending battle a- gainst the forces of hell In our land.^» ith security strengthened, the Megro had courage to write. He did not select the stereo types of "Unci® Torn**, nor the appease-

•J >WMl>iW»«eN»W<»WWWew*W>WlWWWl«»WWM«MlMW WI»iWM«WW»MBW*W«WW«l^|»m«»IW«WW««»^ ^>WilWWW»IWIHi 1 Ml «pH»W«Wlw»Wi Willi Ml ljBQi«»w«M»iw»nii—W»w — xm, DuBois. "Beturning $©ldiersM. The crisis, xvlil, 1919. Quoted in Oloster. op. cit. p.' Il4. 101 meat poetry of dialeet. He wrote forcefully, defiantly, of his rightful heritage aa a Brown American. The foremost leader of this audacious group was Claude McKay, whose voice struck out in ringing protest: If we must die - let it not be like bogs, Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot... Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack Pressed to tho wall, dying, but fighting back!*®0 Yet born in Jamaica and remembering its lush warmth, ho still could write: So much I have forgotten In ten years, So much in ten brief years] I have forgot That time the purple apples eosae to Juice-, And what month brings the a by forget-me-not. I have forgot the special, startling season Of the pimento's flowering and fruiting, t/hat time of year tho ^rowaA doves brown tit© fields And fill the noonday with their curious fluting. I have forgotten much, but still remember 1|tl The poinsettia'c red, blood-red in warm December. *** Tbis range of expression was to beeom the substance of the Bsw Negro. Amongst the women poets, Georgia Douglas Johnson was produ­ cing lyrics of the heart, conventional In metre, but with a poi­ gnant charm whieb touched her readers. The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn, As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on, Afar o'er life's turrets and vales does it roam In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home. The heart of a woman falls back with the night, And enters some alien cage in its plight,

1#C1. itevXiay, Clauds. "If We IJast Me". Harlem shadows. John­ son* «d» Book of Afacrloan, jjagro ^etry. p. "lite. 161. McKay. "Flame Heart*. Johnson, op. elt. p. 45. MS

Am tries to forgot it has dxsansd of the stars . tails it breaks, breaks, breaks on th® sheltering bars.**** Angela arimke sought her release in delicate little threads of imagism, wbicb abe expressed in "cemfully corded and cadenced free verse•« - I weep - Mot as the aged nastily, But quietly. Prop by drop the great tear® splash upon my hands. And save you saw them shine, You would not know I »©pt.3J& With the awakening of a new artistic consciousness* Harlem, the Mseea of the Hew Negro, became a national vogue. Hagro enter­ tainers daazled audiences, the African theme !&&0m to lead in art, renewed interest took up the spiritual, *$hit© writers turned to portraiture of negro life. Eugene Q'Bslll, with j|gge- ror Jones. Paul Gree&s, wi^i Out Of the South and Hare Connelly with Green Pastures brought the lagro to tea drams. vbuBbel Lindsay, Carl Sandburg, carried bim to the poetic field. Hlggsr Heaven by Carl VanYeehten is alleged "to have affected the work of lagre fletionists more than any ether book in the history of American literature*.3^4 it painted Barlem cabaret life with animalism and exoticism and was the first ami most popular novel in the black ghetto of 3$cgr© life, fficeitlng whit© applause, it aroused much controversial discussion amongst Ifagroas. From all

1...n |lr ,, ,,...... , ,m*mm~m.m^..^>~~^~-^*.«.m*,l,Mm-m~±~m~-^m*J-~mmmmm*mmm^^ .,,.—.,.-•,...,— ,-,>- ••••.,, ? ,_ -p .-^^ -| Mmi. |J» 1_H

IM* $mxmmt. Seorgla. Tha iieert of a BOOSA". collen. ed.

ffiriiwimiffli HiirrTiffffii'iTriiiiinii mmn rtff x %m* ®r$£@m9 la@sla. "2 #©ep*. Ibid. p. 4®. 103

directions whites poured in, seeking escape and thrill, riagro writers met with white; be no factors vied with each other in the sponsorship of lie&ro proteges; Harlem became; a literary treasure trove of interest. Mot all produced was good; but in the words of Heading: "the thing the nm l&gro followeu was soul-deep".^ It was the llagro renaissance.

Jamos ^aldon Johnson. (1871-193B).

Different in temperament from DuBois, Jemos ^oldon Johnson stands out as a promoter of the cultural movos&ont. Lawyer, poet, musical comedy composer, diplomatic official, author, editor, o- rator, educator, Johnson straddled or bridges tho gulf of preju­ dice and carried the Ho&ro before the public in all directions. As lawyer fee walked suro-footedly within his right, AS poet ha contributed toward the history of a national litertitura. AS EJU- sleal c«a»dy composer ho, with bis brother iioaajmnd, won tho wi­ de acclaim of Broadway, AS diplomatic official in Jlaitl, h® gained prestige and recognition. As teacher, he began Ills adult career in Jacksonville, Florida, AS author, his leisurely atyle revoaled a straightfurward intelligence; ho had a gift of sensi­ tivity which enabled him to ©ontoin© a pithy wit, a quiet irony, with a light deftness which meltod prejudice. As editor, he brought out the first anthology of poetry writ ton entirely hy Itigress. The Book of American ifagro poetry was published in

MS. Bedding. To jtfafce. a float Black, p. 11©. 104

19S&, with a revised edition in 1931. There ia a comprehensive Preface of forty pages in essay style, in which the ffsgro's ca- pa city for making original contributions to American art and li­ terature la pictured. He presents an historical survey of the achievements of Negro poets In the past, beginning as far back as 1790. In the main text a short appreciation preceded each poet's verse. The poetry is a prophecy of larger things to come in literature. James 3feldon Johnson bad the rare ability to discuss the ra­ ce question in a quiet, forthright manner. In the review of Ms noTe*» the Autobiography of an &M3€&onred Man, wbicb appeared, anonymously, In 1012, and in new issue during 1327, the "litera­ ry supplement of the London Tluasc" commented: Mr. Johnson has a gift of storytelling which is ra­ ther rare; he can set down social facts of a serious and disturbing kind with extreme simplicity, and al­ though bis sympathies are ffver in ouestion, without appearing to plead « case.*®* Although in bis earlier poetry Johnson bad included dialect, be considered it too limiting as a poetic medium. In Qod's from- bones, a fSegro Sermon, "he turned to the model of Bynge dealing with tha Aran Islanders m^ sought to 'express tha racial symbol from si tela rather than without*.*^7 AM. God stepped out on space. And 3e looked around and said: I'm lonely, I'll make aa a world.ifiS

i»t_mtmmm%%im%%^mmmm>mmimMmmmmm%9mkMm^^ US. Times Literary Supplemsnt, fMrch 8s, 1928. p. &07. %m* i**mmmf ed. jg*i ofl tompt^ a^ag ..flaaflrfr p. 116. Bio­ graphical sketch of Johnson, by sterling grown. lift* Jefeasaeiu **Tbs Creation", from ffiod's ;Troj^onps. jotasson, ed* op* alt. p. 11*?. 105

The work Johnson did on editing and encouraging research toward the spiritual is scarcely describable. ccmrrant was im&e on it earlier in tbis book. Ills autobiography Along This ?/ay. 1«33, written five years before bis death, ia rich with intimata pen portraits. Amongst them are Frederick Douglass, Booker Washington, raul Dunbar, .. 35. B. iniBola, and interesting profiles of tho Itegro Renaissance, In 1985, he was awarded the splngexn medal. A strong character, Johnson both received and gave tho life which ho encountered. On a high Intellectual level h© preserved a human dignity; he gave warmth and understanding to young Ivegro writers and through his influence Megro listeners grew.

Joan Toomsr.

As Claude m.£&y startled the poetic world in 1382 with Harlem Shadows, so also did Joan Toomer in 19£4 with cane, a book of poems, sketches, stories. Ho was the first fiction writer to appear in the new movement. Cano portrays jiegroos and whites in rural Georgia. Gloeter describes it, "a potpourri of stories, sketches, poetry, and drama" by a coloured writer, who, "for possibly the first time in American negro fiction, bundles in­ flammatory interracial themes without abandonment of the artist's point of vlowM.169 Case opening with rural Georgia, shifts to bourgeois Hegro

189. Gloster. Ha&ro Voices... p. 188. 106 society in Washington, returning in Its third sootion to rural Georgia again. Oloster wrltos: Th® chief Importance of these stories lias in their departure from the traditional treatment - of sex by Negro authors. The candour, sh&ia©les@- noas, and objectivity raanifeated by Tooraor in tho presentation of theao women oausad DuBois to desi­ gnate him as "the writer who first dai*e& to eraan- cipato the coloured from the conventions of sexM. ... Toomsr neither debunks nor glorifies but, as Sterling Brown observed, "pictures "Washington with the thoroughness of on© who knew it from the inside". ... In the storioa of the second part of Cane, therefore, ToojuGr shows th© ,uo^p?o facing the problems of caste, respectability, and preju­ dice in Washington and Chicago. Pane, being an ©xperLoental sork In its quest for appropriate literary forms and diction, is debilitated by occasional incoherence, which may have bo en Inspired by ,*aldo Frank, and undue stri­ ving for effect. Ltunson has noted the architectu­ ral influence of 3herwood Anderson in "l?em" and "Avsy" as well as that of Frank in "Theatre". All these considerations notwithstanding, Cane is no­ teworthy because of its departure from arguments»~ tion and apologetics in the treateant of Intorra- eial subject mtter as well as because of its pro- figuration of southern realism and llegro self-re- vslation.3-7^

Toomsr withdrew from the literary field in 19S3. Since then he 1ms published practically nothing. His lapse isoans loss to American Negro culture. His mood was intimate, rodolont with nature; his thoughts palpable, steeped with the brooding beauty of the South. 0 land and soil, red soil and sweet-gum tree So scant of grass, so profligate of pines, Ikm Just before an epoch's sun declines,

1?0. Ibid. p. 130. The above reference to r.^uiaou ooncorns an article which appeared by him in "Opportunity", 111, 1925, entitled. The Significance of Jean Toomer 107

Tby son, ia time, I hsms returned to thee, lf7x/1i Thy mon9 In time, I have returned to thoo. His prose descriptions havo a touch of Hardy; they portond ominous mystery, exotic boauty, in thoir 'dusk' and 'mellow moons'. Up from the deep dusk of a cleared spot oc tho e4^ of th© forest a mallow glow arose and spread- fan-wise into tho low-hanging heavons. And all a- round the air was heavy with th© soent of boiling' cane. A Large pile of cane - stalks lay like rib­ boned shadows upon the ground.... The scent of cane cause from tho copper pan and drenched the fo*- rest and the hill that sloped to factory town, be­ neath its fragance.172 Hodding's summary scams sufficient a® conclusion: A youth of twenty-eight fresh from the South when Cane was published, ho held nothing so important io the artistic treatment of Uegroos as racial kinship with them. Unashamed and unrestrained, ' Jean Toomer loved the race and the soil that sus­ tained it. His moods are hot, colourful, primi­ tive, but mors akin to the naive hysteria of the spirituals than to th® sophisticated savagery of Jasz and the blues. Cane was a losaon In emoti­ onal release and freedom. Through all it® pros© and poetry gushes a subjective tide of lova.™g

Jessie Faucet. Bella Larson. 'Walter Jfliite (1893-).

One cannot discuss the negro Kenaissanoe without including Jossie Fauset, I&lla Larson, and v/slter ..hite. Jossle lausot's There is Confusion is important, not only becauao alio was the first American coloured woman to have a novel nationally roco-

1?1. Tooaar, Joan, "Song of the 3on". from Cane. Drown... ©ds. *v©&ro Caravan, p. 2355. l?g. Toomer, wBlood Burning Ltoon**, from cane. Ibid. p. 42. 173. Redding. To Kftks a Foat Black* p. 104. 108 gnised, but because of the subjeot she presented. In clean, neat style she wrote of the life she knmtf the Ajogro middle class of Hew York and Philadelphia. Heading suggests she may have bean shocked at the kind and quality of truth in I*ooi.»r, and therefore sought relief through depiction of th© bourgeois itogro. Her treataaeat of race has an "'Incidental air, avoids the heavier going of propaganda".174 The them is the struggle for expres­ sion and social betterment of the educated Kegro. She wrote: It [the complex of colour] comes to every coloured man and every coloured woman, too, who has any am­ bition..., I3ut every coloured iaan fools It soonor or later, It gets in the way of his dreams, of his education, of his marriage, of the roaring of his children. The time comes when ho thinks, •**! might Just as well fall bock; there's no us« push­ ing on. A coloured man Just can't .snake any head­ way in this awful country**. Of course, it's a fallacy. And if a follow stick© it out be finally gets past, but not before it has worked considera­ ble confusion in his life.175 Alain Locke summed uv There is Confusion as the novel that the Jfegro intelligentsia have been clamouring for... not merely a race story told from the inside, but a cross-saction of t&e race life higher up the pyramid and farther from the base-lino of the peasant and the soil than is usu­ ally taken. 2-76

Plum Bun (1929), The Chinaberry Tree (1951), Comedy: American Style (1933) all followed as novels dealing »

174. Ibid. p. 107. 175. Oloster, Beggo Voices ... p. 133. From "There is Confu­ sion1*. l?d. Closter. op. cit. p. 134. im

Jessie Faucet's novels am not groat; th@y «r® si-^tificant. To her, "treatment of colour ia tho most Ini.orter.t factor in her method of living life*. In suism&rlzlnc tho vnlue of her four novels ije&ro Caravan statist wearying af caricature and undcresti-natlon, Msa I'dusot performed pioneering service in attempt­ ing to describe tho .tegro middle class. Tsa% r«3al- ism yloldeu to idolizing, with a heavy dash of argumentation. In hor last tixreso novels, " ise .tmaot has made the phenomortant and spectacular tlj&n it really ia in mid­ dle-class llegro llfo. coiaady. Amor lean Jtyle (19S3) however, has pow'^'r' in Its revelation'of tha tragedy that can b© eaua@d by colour orejudice with­ in the race itself. 17? aella Larson's •:ulqksahd (1338) and rasninf, (192C) d'sal with »jfciwiiii«ii*w>«iiwmm»m**mfi * the Kegro upper claea; th© them, the usiiedjustaeat wrought by ©iscsgnation. "f«w York Herald Tribune'" credited tho truo obana of yicksand tc Miss Larson's delicate aehievopojit in maintaining for a long tine an indefinable, wistful - that- feeling of loa£ln# sad at the oa,

177. Br&®&+.* ©da. ifOflyo...Caraystt* !>• 142. 17S. "Mew York Herald Tribune". J4ay 13, 19fcU. ». .. ! . luas. 179. ^Saturday rfeviow of iJLtorfcturo% r*y 10, 1J?&. 3. 1929. 110

after Cheatmttt's to show the lives of ambitious, moderately successful Ifcgroes in tho South.180 lflight (1926) concerns itself with tho liecro bourgeois of At­ lanta, Georgia. It alao deals with 'passing', '.'hito satirizes Negroes who pine© a solo importance upon wealth, and projects his praise toward the genuine strength of the hard working JJO- gro: ... she taarvolled at their toughness uf flbro which socued to be a racial characteristic ... In slave­ ry it had kept them frou boing crushed and extermi­ nated as oppression had done to the Indian. In freedom it bad kept thorn from becoming i-jore CQ^B in an Glabourntely organized uachine• ^83- C-loster adds, in refer once to the above: This power to resist and endure is attributed large­ ly to Negroes' "rare gift of lifting thorasolvos emo­ tionally and spiritually far, far above their mate­ rial lives and solves'".IBS tic 1 titer I^ire in tha l-'lint nor /light have claim to greatness. They are but lin^s in the new determinism to expose. From adulthood, Jaltar -hito lias devotod himself to tho "i^ational Association For tho Advancement of Coloured i/oople"; ho has investigated lynchings, civil rights, itecnuso of his palo skin ho has mingled with white people in the.-iouth end lias thus probed deeply into tho lynching problem. .hen jamas ;ol- don Johnson resigned as executive secretary of N.;..;,.c. . in 1931, to go to Fisk University, .«hito received the appointnont. In 1936, when xnisUais loft Ms fosltion as the Association's &1-

180. Brown... ads. Hqgro Caravan, p. 141. 181. aioster. Msgro Voices ... p. 140. From Flint. 1@8, aioster. op. cit. p. 140. JLXX rector of publications, White baean© general secretary, **the single great force in tho organ!zation's work". In recent years (1940) he published A r.sn Callod ..hito. It is not the u- eual style of biography. It is a documentary record of the >'. A.A.C.P. with intimate portrayal© of eminent jooplc, stories of race pressure which arouse human interest. It lias boon much re­ viewed, and praised.

Countee Cullen. (1903-1946). Langston Ha/foes* (190&- ).

Aran bontemps, ;&gro writer and critic, describes counteo Cullen aafi Langs ton Hughes as "the two brighest stars of th© .Se&ro -•*©- nai seance".*8** Both coloured and a yoar apart in age, they fa­ ced the same era, yet wrote in it oonstrastingly, Cullenfs the­ ses reveal the pensive beauty and the sadness felt In twilight, or the sun's glow which colours into darkness, lie begins his poems with positive not©: *?e shall not always plant while others reap Tho golden increscent of bursting fruit. But his final note is one of unhealed wound: So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds And »ait and tend our agonizing seeds.IB* Sometimes he opens with a skipping happiness:

183. Bontemps, Arras. "(Che Harlan Renaissance". ^Saturday fleriew of Literature. March 82, 1947. p. IS. .*" 184. Cullen, Countee. "From the Dark Tower". Cullen, ed. ca­ roling Dusk, p. 183. X1&

Once riding in Old Baltimore Heart-filled, bead-filled with glee, I saw a Baltimoreoii Keep looking straight at 13. But quiet hurt and pathos take fori* in Ms conclusion: Now I was eight and v.vy small And he was no whit bigger And so I smiled, but he poked out His tongue and called zae "bigger", I saw th© whole of Baltimore From May until lseceiaber, Of ell the things that happened there That's all I can retaeciber.185 Hughes' poetry has the unpredictability of changing moods. It has an insouciant recklessness which arrests and ©hockons: A clean spittoon on the altar of the Lord, A clean bright spittoon all newly polished - At least I can offer that. Coa'EJore, boy!*80 4 His woods change with the variance of sumacr days, and the deep- soul of the lyrist speaks of rivers. I've known rivers; I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of hiiaan blood in human veinsj. t$y soul has grown deep like the rivers.*®7 He vaults into a vibrant chali&Bge and he cells: I am the darker brother They send a» to eat in the kitchen .Tien company ceases. But I laugh And eat well. And grow strong.

185. Cullen. "Incidentf\ Ibid. p. 187. 106. Utighes, Langston. "Brass Spittoons". Johnson, ed. jjtook of Aiagsriean Be^ro Poetry, p. B35. 10?. m&0m&, Th© Sfegro gpeaka of Rivers". Ibid. p. 241. 11*3

'fos^rroif 1*11 sit at the table miss company comes. iJobody*ll, dare nay to isse, 9»t in the kitchen flhe».lB® And soaiatifflss h© writes mere wisps of thought; frncsnntswf poems, which reads Suicide's Hots. 'Bus calm, cool face of the river *sksd £3@ for a kiss. 139 It is interesting to reflect upon these two :ae*n as ».ritors; Cullen, subjective, conservative; Hughes, to a large extent ob­ jective, daring. Their background in part, reflects their sto­ ry, counte© Cullen, born in 1903, lived a conventional life in a ,8e*r York parsonage with his foster persists, is had an eager­ ness for studies, a willingness to please, which produced in him a scholar* Tbim environasant coupl©4 vltb inherent traits, mde hiw seek th® intellectual rather than tha bl&srre, self-consci­ ous ;>r©Milg&tors of renaissance ilarlea. Although he served for two years as associate editor of "Opportunity**, he never beeetaa a follower of th© aodora verse fersj* lie never ©trove for ar­ resting effect© in ilrse or form, but lived la the tradition of the old jaastera. His poetic expression lay in the measured li­ ne and skilful rhyim; be guined *his inspiration, his rhythos and

im» ftagbss* ni, $ao". ctOlen, ed. op. cit. p. 145. 389* an#*@a. suicide's note'*, ibid. p. la. 114 patterns, as well as iauoh of hia substance from the world's lo­ re of scholarship*'.**° Critics attribute the influence of .eats and Shelley, or in a later era, Kdna St. Vincent illlay and Lau­ rence iiouazaan. One of bis :

Cullen wished to be judged as an American poet. He wanted no consideration or allowance because of race. He states this quite clearly In the foreword of Caroline rusk (1927): I have called this collection an anthology of ver­ se by Itegro poets rather than an anthology of jJe- gro verse, since this latter designation would bo jaore confusing than accurate, ?fegro poetry, it seems to aa, in the sense that we speak of irassien, Trench, or Chinese poetry, must enenete from soma country other than this in soisse language other than our own. Moreover the atteerpt to corral the out­ bursts of the ebony amse into soase definite xaold to which all poetry by Ifegroes will conform seems al­ together futile, sitd aside from the facts. 'i'Ma country's Negro writers may here and thero turn so­ ma literary facet toward th© literttry sun, but in the main, since theirs is also the heritage of the English language, their work will not present any serious aberration from th© poetic tendencies of their times. The conservatives, the lidddlors, and the arch heretics will be found among theia as among the white poets; and to say that the pulse beet of their verse shows generally such a fevor, or the

190. Boateaps. "The Oar lea Renaissance", >;. A, L. p. 12. 181. Cullen. "John j£eats at Springtliao". Color, p. 3. IIS

symptoms of such an ague, will prove on closer examination merely the moment's exaggeration of a physician anxious to establish a new literary ailment. As heretical aa It may sound, there is the probability that Negro poets, dependent as they are on the English language, jaay have more to gain from the rich background of "aiglieh and American poetry than from any nebulous ata­ vistic yearnings toward an African inheritance.*08 Secondly, he wished to have no liuiitatioij to r«cir;l thoxoes and forms. He projects this idea also, In the foreword: If dialect is missed in this collection, it is e- nough to state that the day of dialect as far as iiegro poets are concerned is in the decline. Add­ ed to the fact that these people are out of con­ tact with this fast-dying rae&iuxa, certain socio­ logical considerations and the naturnl limitations of dialect for poetic expression militate against its use even as a tour de force. In a day when ar­ tificiality is so vigorously condoianod, the negro poet would be foolish indeed to turn to dialect. The iaajority of present-day poeias in dialect are the effort of white poets. 193 Cullen kept in line with this belief. Although he wrote some poasss motivated by race, "he is not a Jfegro poot, but an American poet mho happens to be a Kegro*-19* Ifevertheloss, hi© best poena were motivated by race. One of his must quoted is Yet j Po mar­ vel, which appears in his voluiae of verse, Colour. 1 doubt not God is good, well-»aeaning, kind, And did he stoop to quibble could tell why The little buried mole continues blind,

192. Cullen. Caroling busk, foreword, p. xili. Its. Ibid. p. xiv. 1*4. Brown... eds. negro caravan, p. 880. 116

Inscrutable His ways are, and liaamme To catechism by a jaind too strewn »ith petty cares to slightly understand v.'bat awful brain compels Hia awful hand. Yet I do marvel at this curious thing- To make a poet black, and bid him singi195

There was nothing chauvinistic about Cullen. His poom noritage, chat is Africa to aa: Copper sun or scarlet sea,^6 remains, despite its colour, unconvincing. Hedding displays a sensitive understanding of Cullen when he erites: Pie [Cullen] is th© Ariel of Negro poets. He cannot beat the tota-tosa above a faint whisper nor know the primitive delights of black rain and scarlet sun,,,, lie aas not among the Ifegroee who were xaade Africa conscious and Africa proud by the striding Colossus, L&rcus Carvey, by Vandercook's Tom-Tow, and b'neill's The laanoror Jones. Cullen's gifts aro delicate, bet- ter suited to bona mots, epigrams, and the delight­ fully personal love lyrios for which a large circle admire him. 1^7

At "The Dark Tower" a salon in Harlera, s:o on sored by A'Leila •alker, the young writers of the Uegro literary stevsaoent gather­ ed and Countee Cullen was one whose naras merited distinction there. On the walls hung Cullen's poena The park Tower and Langs- ton Hughes' The *;eary Blues, painted in brilliant rod and gold co- lours. During this tt&© a dozen or xaorfc magazines wore publish­ ing Cullen's poetry. In 1925, the first collection of tnese ly- ries xsade their appearance in Colour. This is conceded his best. !4vcn at that tiua he was revealing a pessiiaisitt. lie could not lose himself in the eleiaontnl hysteria which swept the :-erloia

195. Cullen. "Tot 1 Do Marvel". Color, p. 3. 196. Ibid. p. 36. 197. Bedding. To Hate a post Black, p. 111. 11? twenties. Avoiding it, he framed his ivory tower. Jis other volumes, copper Sun. The Black Christ. .The riedea, nevor flavor­ ed as did his first publication. Hedding indicts bin thus: A poet untouched by his times, by his cojiditious, by his environment is only half a poet, for ear­ nestness and sincerity grow in direct proportion as one feels intelligently the pressure Jr imme­ diate life.138 .,batevor thwarted Cullen, he never fulfilled the .roi.iise of his youth. An esoteric, he perhaps foresaw the folding* of his fate; for in his earliest published volume, Colour he inserted: I have wrapped ay arenas in a silken cloth, And laid theia away in a box of gold; here long will cling tho lips of the laoth, I have wrapped my drearas in a silicon cloth; I hide no hate; I am not evoc wroth Who found earth's breath so keen and cold; I have wrapped jay dreams in a silken cloth, And laid them away in a box of gold.X9® A brilliant student, winner of poetry contests at school and u- niversity, travelling on a Gugganhelia Fellowship abroad in 19&8 - he wrote to a friend a few years before his death in 1948: nl£y muse is either dead or taking a twenty year sleepw.&00 Cullen, like Dunbar is a mystery. Lyrical, subjective, promising, he faltered at the turn. One cannot lay his failure to the circuiastanceo; it is outside our power. i3ut one wonders whether in the heart of tho chauvinistic elouent, the white hys­ teria, and the gay vogue, his intollaetual, sensitive spirit floundered, smothering his raise. At %r*y rato, uo opened uglpur

198. Ibid. p. 102. 190. Cullen. "A Poet". Color, p. 45. 200. Bontesips. "The Harlem donaissanoo". J.. .t». L. p. IS. 118 with To You Who Head W Book :Soon every sprinter However fleet, Comes to a winter Of sure defeat; Though he may race Like the hunted doe, rime has a pace To lay alia low.**01

Could this reasoning be Countee Cullen's acceptance of his resi­ gnation?

Langston Hughes JjS the Renaissance. Hia spirit burns with the uaiaie of the spirituals and his strength ia strong enough to keep it vibrant. Gadnes®, beauty, laughter, everything he finds in life, he makes hia own and he emits it in th® form with ^rhich he feels it. He does not elo?;3 his dreasjs in a box of gold; bo folds in the world's drsama too, and he x,-rotects and nurtures them. Bring me all your dr&ajss, You dressier s, Bring us© all of your Heart melodies That I may wrap them In a blue cloud-cloth Away from the too-rough fingers Of the S8orld.308 lie laughs, he cries, he shocks, as his spirit prompts, and he grows stronger by it.

VmmmmmmmnmVmmmmlmmHmMmmimmmmmmm^ IWII.WKMPIIIWIIII.IIIIIIIIH.H WIB II.IIIIWII HUI * U.I^..IMI>IM||I>I.,!, BOX, Cullen. "To You ;?ho Head Ity Book". Color, p. xiii. 103. Hughes. "Dreams". Bontemps. loc, cit, p. 12. ktm-mtm>3

Clean the spittoons, boy. Detroit, Chicago, Atlantic City, Palm Beach Glean the spittoons, The steam in hotel kitchens, And the smoke in hotel lobbies, And the slime in hotel spittoons: Itert of my life. Hey, boyJ A nickel, A dltjO, A dollar, Two dollars Buys shoos for the babies. House rent to pay. Gin on Saturday, Church on Sunday. ay God! Babies and gin and church and women and Sunday all mixed with disss and dollars and clean spittoons and house rent to pay. Hey, boy J 303

ith the utmost agility ho moves between the shadows and tho light* He stands within the glare of crooning blatancy and his mood plays to the exotic dusk of night, dropping poetry into the lurking crevices. Oh, silver tree! Ob, shining rivers of the souli*504 Darkness enfolds him ... with its swift reality of 'colour': ."shadow I am black. I lie down in the shadow. Ho longer the light of my dream before ma, Above me. Only the thick wall. Only th© shadow.

80S. Hughes. "Brass Spittoons'*. Johnson, ed. Book of American gG4. Hughes. *Jaazonia*. Ibid. p. 236. ISO

uiy hands! My dark hands! Break through the wall Find my dream1 Help me to shatter this darkness, To smash this night, To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun, Into a thousand whirling dreams Of sunl205

The great richnoss which lies in Langston Hughes, is his ability to be both participant and observer. Always he is sensitive to his moods. He lets them sway and bend, but they are never bro­ ken. They go like vagrants, visiting every scene and bring him back its rhythm. He lends them sorrow, happiness, all the things they need, but his command returns them. To fling my arms wide In same place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day Is done. Then rest at cool evening Beneath a tall tree ?*hil© night comes on gently, Dark like ae, - That is my dream. To fling jay arms wide In the face of the sun, Dance, whirl! whirl} Till tho quick day is done. Heat at pale evening ... A tall, slim tree ... Iiight coming tenderly Black like ms.306

His vagabond life has carried him far. He has shocked people by his engrossment with low life, his 'spittoons', his 'cabaret girls'. But they have been blendod with his living. He lias been

SOS. Hughes. "As I Grow Older". Ibid. p. MO. i. Hagbes. "Breaa Variations". Cullen, ed. caroling uuak. p. 149. X21 doorman in a fjontmartre cabaret, a second cook and pancaice ma­ ker at the Grand Puc in *>arie. lie has voyaged as crow member to the 3est Coast of Africa, has known Italy, has painted and scrubbed decks on a tramp steamer. It was while serving as a bus boy at the 'ardman Hotel in Vaahington, that fee met Veehel Lindsay. Hughes, recognizing the writer, had shoved three of his own poems beside the poet's plate; next morning's papers car­ ried headlines of Lindsay's 'discovery' of »a i&gro bus boy po­ et'. Always, he has fait the enduring tie of ffagro background. At sight of Africa his feelings surged and he felt beauty. aometiues life is a ripe fruit too delicious for the taste of rasa: the full laoon hung over Buru- tu and it was night on the Nigerian delta...... In the dis tanco ©e heard the drums of ema­ il, the Ju-Ju. Their measured beating came a- cross the swamplands at the edge of the forest. Tonight the natives danced to tiyalr gods.... -/c turned beck towards the docks and followed the river road... I climbed the rope ladder of the deck of the 'lions'. Far off, at tne edge of th© a leering over against th© forest, I heard the drum of 0- mali, the Ju-Ju. Above the moon was like a gold ripe fruit in heaven, too sweet for the taste of j^an. For a long time I could not sleep.30' ills folk-lyrics contained in ^eary allies [1926J art; products of devotion, spontaneity, toward his peoplei I tried- to write poems like they sang on nov^nth 3treet - gay songs, because you had to be gay or die; sad son^ because you couldn't help being sad sometimes. But gay or sad, you kept on living and you kept on going. Their songs - those of Gov©nth

SO?. Bagbas. The Big Sea, p. 117. xm

street - bad the pulse-beat of the people who kept on going.**"® Do railroad bridge's A sad song in de air. Do railroad bridge's A aad song in de air. iSver time do trains pass, I wants to ^o somewhere.aoa

Hughes' raoet beautiful expression toward his people is POCK: The night is beautiful, so the faces of my people. £lm stars are beautiful, So th© eyes of my people. Beautiful, also, Is the sun. Jtoautiful, also, are the souls of my people.2^ As contemporaries, Hughes and Cullen were foils for each o- ther. Both won poetry prizes for their work, both »ero recipi­ ents of the Guggenheim Fellowship. For his volume of poem©, co­ lour [1925J Cullen won the Harmon Gold award for literature. In 1931, Hughes received the lianaon award for hia novel -lot ithout Laughter. Cullen was a student, /saving in his studies froia school to university. Hughes, the son of parents who nad sepa­ rated, spent part of his High School years in ?.S3xieo; with his father. On finishing school, his father sent for him again to help bim again in the business. They did not get on well toge­ ther; which resulted in Hughes' return to New York, with a year at Columbia University. Too restless at this time for either

mmmiMmmmn m —wi •»•»«•—•— —HHWIWHH ••nwww»HMl..iiiiiiiW.« niiimiia.ii— MI IQI-WMI IWM. •-•«. iwiiww—.mon— • W«M WIHIIWI i • in > MLI. S08, Ibid. p. 209. &09. Hughes. "Homesick Blues". Cullen, ed. op. cit. p. 14?. S10. aa#«c. "PoaaV. Ibid. p. 150. JLS*5 books or study, he withdrew frost his academic life and shipped on a freighter for Africa. It was only after the publicity which • 4 he received through Vachel Lindsay, that ho ro-ontered universi­ ty; he graduated from Lincoln in 1929, All this reflects it­ self within Hughes' poetry. Through acquaintanceship with Vachel Lindsay and carl Yan- Vechten, bis popularity prosper©a with rapidity. This was the period of the Van Veen ten vogue and iveary Blues (1926) Hughes' first collection of verso, appeared in the aaae year as Nigger Heaven. *eary Olues "brought over into literature th© jazz and swing of the cabaret, 'droning a drowsy syncopated tune' and finding "joy in the jungle raood at night**. It also included The fiegro Speaks of Klvars. which is still considered one of the finest pooffis which Hughes has written. In 1987 ffine Clothes to the Jew aroused ranch controversy, both vitriolic and favourable. Brawley criticized: It passes from jaaa to the "bines", which we are reraindod, have a strict poetic pattern - on© long line repeated &%& a third line to rhyise with the first two; but it would have been just as well, perhaps better, if the book had never been publish­ ed. So other ever Issued reflects laore fully the abandon and the vulgarity of its ago.«il On tho other hand "Current Biography" cojanBats: A second volume Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927) was almost as well received by the WEl'Vo1 "press but ge­ nerally condemned by Itegro critics such as Benja­ min Brawley, who missed its satire and felt it was 'holding up our imperfections to public gaze.218

211. Brawley. Ijejgro Genius, p. 248. ZIZm "Current Biography. 1940. p. 410. 124

Alain Locke asserts his conviction in his essay The Irlegro in American culture. A itfagro editor of the new school, Charles ..;. John­ son, says: 'The new racial poetry of tlie r/egro is- the expression of something more than experimental- ism in a new technique. It iaarks tho birth of a new racial consciousness and self-conception. It is first of all a frank acceptance of race, but the recognition of this difference without the usual implications of disparity. It lacks apology, the- wearying appeals to pity, and the conscious philo­ sophy of defense. In being itself it reveals its greatest chara; and in accepting its distinctive life, invests it with a new sunning*. tr. Johnson is further right in saying that 'th© poetry of Langston Hughes is without doubt the finest cq-r^s- sion of this new Kegro poetry. It is also a signi­ ficant part cf the poetry of nei Asjerlee,»(!J?ecordittg its boauty in its own idiom'.2J^

Locke then quotes Hughes' wiemcrablc rsanifesto of the laoveiaent: «o younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shaiae. If white poopl© are pleased we are glad. If they arc not, it does not soattar. 'o know that we are beautiful. And ugly too. The toss- toza cries and tho tom-tom laughs. If coloured peo­ ple are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doosn't aattor either, >va build our te-faplea for toxsorrce, strong as w@ know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.2-*-4 Tbis, srites Loeke, is the young liegro's spiritual declaration of independence and raarks the attain­ ment, nearly two generations after physical freedom, of spiritual exsancipation.^lS

Langston Hughes* literary announceiaent, which Locke has in­ cluded, leaves ua with no uncertain!ty regarding the young ar­ tist's purpose. lie is a rebel, "*a cosmopolite" who intends to

SIS. Locke, Alain. "The flegro in /uaorican CultureM. -'atkins, ed. Aatboloinr of Aiasricaii Ijogro Literature, p. 150-159. Bid. Ibid. p. 159. Quoted from "The ;;ogro artist and the Bacial Mountain*' which appeared in "Station", exxil, 1026. p. 694. %m+ ibid. p. 1©9. 125 portray life not only as he feels it, but as he sees it. .her© Cullen confined himself to tradition and convention, ilughes in­ tends to take his subject from any level of life that interests hia. His verse is experimental; the 'blues' fona, the regular stanza, and free verse, where cullen chose for his model Keats, Hughes has substitutea Sandburg. Though both poets reveal pes­ simism, cullen's work is subjective; on© iHight say, it Is nar­ rowed by the concept of race. Hughes' purpose over-rides his subjectivity; actually, his race frees him, :.ith the depression of 1929, the Barlem fad took sudden death, following its peak in 1928. Primarily a vogue, it would have been short lived; but the toll was heavy for the rtegro ar­ tist. Hughes wrote of it: The spring for csa (and I guess, all of us) was th© end of the Har lea Henaissance. Sophisticated flew Yorkers turned to lloel Coward. Coloured actors began to go hungry, publishers politely rejected new saanuacripts, and patrons found other uses for their laoney. The cycle that had Charles toned into Seeing on the dancing heels of ohuffje Alon& now ended in oreen Pastures with J>e Lawd. The generous 1925's were over. &i&

&16. Hughes. Tba Big Sea, p. 334. 136

rjThv e post Civil' ,ar household word among iJegross - "He's an Uncle Tom"J - which denoted reluctant toleration Tor the cringing type who knew his place before white folk, has been supplanted by a new word from another generation which says: - *Uncle Tost is dead!"217

S17. afright. Uncle Tom's Children. Foreword, p. 8 117

xitg rrsw mam. •MHWMIMIiMMMHlWMWMHWNMW

Anta Boutesapa. (1902 - }. Eiobard bright. (1909 - 5.

»ith the recession of white patronage from Harlem, !&gro literature fell into the background once again. Of all the «ri# tore whose aaaee studded the Benaissanoe, only Araa Bonteajps and Langaton W&gfrsa reaained. Assy free tho bizarre influence of the Jess School, they turned to themes which Interested them. Bontesraa chose his radium in the historical novel; Ilughes, in the proletarian. Hew novelists who laade their entrance during the 1230*a were Zora Hurston, George Vylle Henderson, George t. Lee, /inters Edward Turpin, ilHiam Attaway, Richard bright, mr~ cedes Gilbert, John E. Paynter, Victor Daly, John H. Hill, and 0'Wendell Shaw. These writers wrote to please thes©elves, not to give^jtaae to a vogue; their output launched itself upon a keel of firmness. Between 1933 snd IMS there was no novel on the theme of passing. The culture of the bourgeoisie was dis­ missed snd rases problems saxes into the ascendancy* Two writers who aafce interesting contrasts placed in jux- t&poaition, are Araa Bontempa and Hichard .'right. Sontemps, « %vaM in 1ML, observed the $agp© Bcnal seance, as he pute it aim- self, "from s grandstand seat**. Wright was barely twenty when the vogue dissolved, so grew up under the reactionary influen­ ces of those who knew it. Both men, unlike in temperament and subject thesw, represent two approaches in the literature of tba Sew Negro. Sontemps does not throb with protest; he words his message with dignity, sincerity. His work is sensitive, yet steady. * ibsa bs writes historical novels, they are controlled; bis poe­ try is aystie, yet with philosophical quality. Darkness in. them is an expression of saddened reverie, not despair. There is a siraple story on your face; Years have wrinkled you. I know, itethsedaj You are sad. It is the SSIEG with Ete.2i0 He baa known desolation; sonetloss bis thoughts are wrenched from bis in penetrating beauty: Ob broken houae Crumbling there alone, «.anting iael Ob silent tree Dust I always be A wild bird aiding the wind And screaming bitterly?3*9 Occasionally bis spirit speaks of Africa with atavistic longing:

There are mountains in Africa too. Treasure is buried there Gold and previous stones And moulded glory. Lush grass is growing there Sinking before th® wind.

SIB. Bout©&ps. "Nocturne at Detbseda*. Cullen, ed. Caroling &§§&. p. IS?. S19. Bont«BS5«. "Homing". Ibid. p. 173. im

Black men are bowing Haloed in the grass Ulgging with their fingers. X am ana of them: These mountains should be ours.M0 Sis pastry besoms tho yield of a skilled cmftssen when he writes: Oh, I've seen mountains: Pale purple mountains salting in the evening joists and blurring on the borders of the sky,®^* He is responsive to the si^ats, the sounds of nature; tree® touch bim saystioally, and he feels as A tree bent dawn and dew dripped from its hair. To MM A tree is nacre than an April design Or a blighted winter bough Where love and xausic used to be. A tree is something in a©; Tery still and lonely now. ^2 Bit Sontenps takes only winged flight® late poetry, lie ia librarian of Fisk University, as well as professor of creative writing there. In 1938-1059, he received a itosensald fellowship for creative writing. He reviews regularly for th© "Herald Tri­ bune Books'*, th© "Chicago atin Boofcweek** and has also contributed to the "Saturday Review of Literature'*. II© frequently writes for children. You Can't Pet a Possum (1934} and aad-gaesd Boy (1937) are on th® shelves of isodorn libraries, in 1941, he brought out Golden Clippers, an anthology of Ifegro poetry for young readers. This volume has much appeal. It is unfortumto flMU ©ontsi^a. «mi®&tb& Is a Mountain". Ibid. p. 174. ZBU Ibid. P. 173. £82* BOKtdHpa. "A tree Design*. Ibid. p. 170. xm that das to its Had ted ranee of readers, it has gone out of print, in conjunction with langston Hughes he has written 1*03*0 and ififjae (1938), a story of two Haitian children, and with hia la 1949, edited Poetry of the lleisro. 1746-1949. This Is an anthology which brings up to date, Negro poets of the U. 3. A. ; Tributary poems by nori-riegroea; The Carrlbean. Citable for High School students is m Have Tomorrow. (1945). The title is symbolic of Arna JJontomps' constructive outlook toward his race. The book is a collection of twelve biographies of living iaan and women who have achieved success in their endeavours. Hazel Seott is included in this group. The biographies are sincere, straightforward portrayals, oiopiy and directly told. The story of the Ikifiro {1946} is another ©xcellont teen-age book which traces the race back to its American beginning. 3ince 1931 BonteEip© has been writing novels. Ilia first story Qod sends aun&ay reflects the influence of Van Vechten's Higher Heaven, with an es^hasis on sex, fast living, it revol­ ves upon the world of sporting life. The central character is Little Angle, a jockey, who sueeuxBbs to evil influences, mixes too freely with liquor, with wotasn, and ends his existence as a surderer. In thia novel Bontemps treats race dispassionately. He writes realistically but devoid of irony or pity. Black Thunder (1936) is an historical novel portraying Gabriel's in­ surrection in the Virginia of 1800. prums at Dusk (1939) is also an historical narrative, the story of Toussaint L'Ouver- ture, the black insurrection of Haiti, the social upheaval and @Xmm prejudice existing in sen Bomingo. He delineates such 131 subjects as mieoag»Bti©n, oXmmm dominance, slave ships. These t»o books reveal tba possibilities of the ."fegro as rasterial for historical fiction. Bontetapa does not make his thesis protest, lie records tba Negro's quest for freedom, but he avoids a vivid realism. He presents rather, a figurative pic­ ture, written ss from a detached point of view. v*

TO read sitb Richard Wright is to perceive, to live, within tba coaWnes of stark bsrror. wbere Ama Bontasjps builds, even astldst defeating forces, a eonstruetlve pattern, Wright tears all that is decent from underfoot and plants frustration, evil. Baring grown up in an atnospbere of cruelty, bate, be bas detersdned to strike at tba economic oppression and race violen­ ce which is stunting Negro American development. Theugh be chooses a Negro as the ground on which to hurl bis missile, the invective is a strong; protest against the corrupt conditions wbicb society bas imposed. Aware of the repercussions which Bative Sea (1940) would bring, be wrote an article for the "Sa­ turday Bevies of Literature'*, June, 1940, entitled How Bli&gar was Beam. It is a clear picture of his determined reasoning. What will white people think if I draw the picture of such a Negro bey? Will not they at once say: "See didn't se tell you all along that niggers are like that? Bow, look, one of their own kind bas sons along and drawn the picture for us J ... &hat will Negro doctors, lawyers, dentists, bankers, school teachers, mM business man think of ess if I draw such a picture of Bigger? ... Haver did they want people, especially white people, to think that their lives were so touched by anything so dark and brutal mm Biggar. Their attitude toward life and art can be summed up ... "Bit, Mr. Wright, ... Why don't you portray in your fiction the beat traits of our race, something that will show the people • what we have done in spite ef oppression? ... Haver 1st bim feel that you are so snail that what he has done to crush you has ma da you hats him J And above all, save your pride*.223 Me put aside all these claims and went on building Bigger. His character did not take shape from one bully, but from a group

•HUM . i-ltij——I—M—————imiW—I—••—«»«»•——in —II II • mi ir i •• nw—rM. in.i.u mi i. ••,!.».. i.n».. 223. WRfaa*. "JtR* Bigger was Born**. Firat appeared in 5. ft. g. aaai, 1926. p. go. is included in Batjve son. p. xaaeiii-aspevi . 13.3

of bullies. He discovered that Bigger Thorns was not black all tbe tiasf bs was white, tee and there were literary aillions of bim everywhere. During this period of conceiving, be ssat white writers who talked of their responses, who told bim bow whites reacted to thia lurid African scone, AS they talked h® would translate what they said in tors® of Bigger'a life. . He took tba techniques of their novels, these ways of seeing and feeling, and ia bis own words: "twisted them, bent them, adapted them, until they became iggr ways of apprehending the locked-ln-life of tba Black BeE erea*.8^4 Thia association sfith white writers, be describes as the life preserver of his hope to depict !J@gro life ia fiction, for, ay race possessed no fictional works dealing with such problaras, bad no background in such sharp and critical testing of experience, no novels that went with a deep and fearless will down to the dark roots of life.^&S But Bigger still was not complete, bright knew that if he did not present bim ss he was - resentful toward whites, sullen, angry, ignorant, ei&ctlenally unstable, depressed and unaccount­ ably even* because of his own lack of Inner organization which American oppression baa fostered in MR226 - be could not write of bim at all. There was the question of whites who doubting bis authenticity would say: "this tmn is preaching bate against the whole white race I"227 The store deeply be

224. Ibid. p. xacvi. SS5. Ibid. p. xxvi. m. ibid. p. 333111. 327. Ibid. p. xxxlll. n$& pcnetrated the greater bs beeasia oonvlnsed that if ha did not produce bis ebaraotar as bs saw him, bs would be reacting exactly as Bigger himself roasted - bo would be acting out of fgfi£ if bs 1st what be thought whites would say restrain and paralyse bin. Another thing wbicb influenced him was the public's recep­ tion of bis previous book Uncle Ton's Children (1939), a series of abort stories, wbicb won a prise of five hundred dollars. WbsA reviews of it began to appear he felt that he "had iaade an awfully naive mis take".229 He writes: I found that I bad written a book which even bankers* daughters could road and weep over and feel good about. I awore that if 1 ever wrote another book no one would ever weep over it; that it would be so hard and deep that they would have to face it without the consolation of tears. Xtwas this that iaade tm get to work in real earnest.*30 Tright has attained thia in both Black Boy and native Son, one dwells in Digger's gutter, loathing bim and all butmnity, in­ fected by the stark, horrible realities of sensuality and crime. One burls the book down in grin disgust, or one roads on, hyp­ notized, olutching the band of fear. Ilp to this tins be bad not thought such about the plot of Native son, but the jnonsnt be began to write, the "plot fell out, so to speak".231 Any Hogro who has lived in the South knows that tiiae after time a K»gro boy has hmn picked up in the streets, carried off to Jail, and charged with rape. Tbis

—•—WWwmmmmmmm»W——w—mn II « iiiim.il 11 i..n. 1..1 » wmmii • n m m «•.». » 1.., I-.I.H,..,..,.,. 22B. ibid. p. xxsiv. 829. Ibid. p. xli. 230. Ibid. p. Xll. 231. Ibid. p. xlii. tm thing baa happened as often that, to Wright's xalnd, It h®& be- setae a representative syabol of tha llagro's uncertain position la Aasriaa.*3** And ao be began to feel with his B&nd th© inner tensions ef all the people be mt. Ho would hear a^JVegr© say: "I slab I didn't have to live this way. I feel like I want to burst*.***"'* He would read a passage in a book dealing with old Russia wbicb said: "We mist be ready to zaaks endless sacrifi­ ces if we are to be able to overthrow the Czar*.83* And he would say to himself: "I've beard that somewhere, somewhere before*.**w And be would hear Bigger Thesis s, far away and long, i telling aorae white mn who was trying to impose upon bim: "I'll kill you and go to hell and pay for it*.236 And so he would eoas bade and write about Bigger - this "product of a dislocated society* - *a dispossessed and disinherited iaan" - **all of this'*;; living eaid the greatest possible plenty on earth. ^ He writes: 2 don't say that Bigger knew this in the terjss in wbicb I am speaking of it; X don't say that any such thought ever entered his head. His emotional and intellectual life was mvmr that articulate. Bat be knew it emotionally, intuitively, for his enactions and his desires wore developed, and be caught it, as most of us do, tram the mental and exaotioral eliiaata of our tise. Bigger bad all of tbis in him, daasasd up, buried, Implied. E^8

232. Ibid. p. xlii. £33. Ibid. p. XXli. 234. Ibid. p. XXVii. E35. Ibid. p. xxviii. 236. Ibid. p. xxviii. 237. Ibid. p. xxxi. gg@. Ibid* p. xxxvlii. xm

£* bright wrote on, living bis thesis more and jaore intensely, be sould as longer restrain bis character. His impulses became intoxicated; he was as powerless to control them as Dr. JekyU to coctroi Mr. Hyde. Thus, everything that is lurid, awful, terrifying - cornea into tbis story, Be are not shaken emotion- ally by tears; we are swept into a livid gulf of desperate hor­ ror. Despite tbe fact that ..right's style is mlodrmmtlc, that bs present© bis Better in an unlovely, and at tines revoltlngly obscene wmux8r9 ha has developed a powerful thesis. He has burled, in truth, "a bomb" upon Asaarioan consciousness* .e do act know the direct impact of this bcsab, but we do know that BUlBk Boy was one of the sost widely reviewed of its year, as waa Bativo aon. on its appearance. That these books may be read through curiosity because of their sensational content may be accepted* but in tbe reading, even those most adversely critical will find roost for thought. And to think u$®& this problem is vital. For tbis problem is a matter of national life and death and the American people sit at the heart of it. Main B. atabree in his book, 15 Against the Odds writes: Froja earliest life, sright has been fascinated by the «3otlon of fear. Ma knew an excess of fright is bis own life aa a black boy in the mop South. Ha watched fear turn iaan sometime into cowards, sometimes into bullies, fear runs through all of bis stories. It is terror that has interested him most is the psychological studies he has iaad© of motives and behavioa*.*3® ggf. Sabre©. 15 Against the Odds, p. 44. xm

Although bright bas found companions asaong Socialists and uora- rauQists, hm refuses to follow any party line or be bound by any group. "Though lay heart is with the collect!viet and pro­ letarian ideal", fie says, "sonicthing', deeper than polities or race is at stake, and that is a human right, the right of a man to think and feel Honest- Ma^jr s> He cakes a brilliant plea for the Hegro cause through th© Jewish lawyer Mr. Max. J4T. Dalton, the philanthropist in jjative ;ion gains a good part of the money h© spends on eharity from the exorbitant rents he charges the Uegroes to live in the over­ crowded, rat-Infested tenements that he owns in the Black rselt - ia part, frota the very room Bigger had left that aornlng. **Mr. Dalton, Why is it that you charge the Thoraas family and other negro families isor^ rent fur the same kind of houses, than you charge whites"? "I don't fix the rent scales". Mr. Dalton said. "ah© does**? "Why the law of supply and demand regulated the price of houses". "*Cr. Dalton, you give million® to help Negroes. isay i ask you shy you don't char®® them less rent fur fire-traps and cheek that against your chari­ ty budget*? "Why to charge them Jess would be unethical0. ''Unethical"? *Wby, yea, I would be underselling my competi­ tors*. *3© the profits you take from th© Thorns family In rents, you give back to them to ease the pain of their gouged lives and to salvo the ache of your own coneclonesW.S41 ar. lax seexfis to be tho one wholly admirable character in the east. In his progronuaa lies the sol© hope of lasting iraprove-

SdO. 'fright. "How Biggar ^ao Born". I^tiye tion. Introd,

Jm^K^m\m%Wmim%%4K*t-9 Ml. mtUfr* Native sen, p. 877-378. aant far the Msgre. Wright la at all times ruthless with his characters. In Haste Boy he is rutblesa with himself and his own family; in bis contMes with white people, bo only rein tea the humanity of three. There was a kindly policeman whom ho encountered when a little boy: I opened my eyes and looked into a *vhite" faoe of another pollsesan who was sitting beside me. Be aeked rae questions in a quiet, confidential tone, and quite before I knew it he waa not "white* any more,242 A white asm froja Illinois once showed him interest; and an Irish 4 Catholic lent hia his library card. Negroes have not been allow­ ed access to tbe libraries in the south. Sabree, writing of bis says: He bas not even sought the security of his own race. He never lost bins elf in the sprawling', friendly Hegro group on the South side of Chi­ cago, and now that he has moved '&aat. he has not joined tbe noisy Har lam crowd. £»* bright speaks for hi KIT ta If in alack Boy: Uy reeding bad created a vast sense of distance between we and the world in which I lived and tried to stake a living, and that sense of dis­ tance was increasing each day. ... The tfhite South said that I had "a place* in life, well, I bad rmVQr felt my "place"; or, rather, my deepest instincts bad always *»de me reject the place to which the '*hlte Joufch had assigned ne. It had never occurred to me that I was in any way an inferior being.®** Yet bright la intuitive and speaks scathingly of the type of

£42. *right. m&ek Soy, p. S@. £43. Bsbrse. 13 Against the Odds, p. 827, 244. ®ri#i*. Black Boy, p. 227. xm fraternising as offered by Mary Dalton and Cosraunlst jan :rlcmo, in native Son, law baa been asking Bigger why be hated zjary Dal ton, I don't know. £&e didn't do nothing to «... she asked me a lot of questions..• She made rae feel like s dog... "Aw, Mr. Max, she wanted we to tall her bow ffegroes live, she got into the front aeat of tbe ear whore I was... •But Bigger, you don't bate people for that. She was being kind, to you". *Kind, hell, she wasn't kind to xao... Mr. &ax, we're all split up. ihat you say is kind, ain't kind at all. X didn't know anything at all about that woman. All X knew was that they kill us for women like her. via live apart. And then she cesses and acta like that to &&".«*£ Wright »a all pervading theme in both Black Boy and Native Son la to project bis analysis, that it is a prejudiced, capi­ talistic social order, rather than a human weakness that is the cause of crime and frustration amongst under-privileged Pagro youth of America. In Richard Wright's resolve to replace pathos with perfidy, be has swept away the chains of censorship and plunged every­ thing unlovely into a single circunistance. 25iis accentuated picture of life at lowest level, mirrors aensationalism, in­ flates morbidity, recoil. But although he has built his por­ trayal from a sagsaent of life rather than a vihole of life, his strong indictment presses powor. Turpitude tears complacency and horror explodes its venom into social consciousnose.

245. aright, dative Son, p. 296-297. 140

X was leaving tbe South to fling myself into the unknown, to laeet other situations that would perhaps elicit from me other responses. And if I could aset enough of a different life, then, perhaps, gradually and slowly I might learn who 1 was, what X Blight bo. X was not leaving th® South to forget the South, but so that soma day X might understand it, might const to know what its rigours had done to me, to its children. I fled so that the numbness of my defensive living might thaw out and let ma feel tho pain - years later and far away - of what living in th© South bad meant.

vfith ever watchful eyes and bearing sear®, visi­ ble and invisible, I beaded North, full of a hazy notion that life could bs lived with dignity, that the personalities of others should not be violated, that men should be able to confront other men with­ out fear or sharas, and that if tmn were lucky in their living on earth they might win some redeeming meaning for their having struggled and suffered here beneath the stars.®*® This is tbe quiet, lyric note of aiohard Wright - the poetry of style and thought which makes bim, not only the stark inter­ preter of social ills, but a sensitive painter of his race's yearnings.

B40. Wriest* JBasJc. flay. - p. SSS8. 141

I'he intelligent Negro of today is resolved not to sake discriminati­ on an extenuation for his short­ comings in perforraanee, individual or collective; Its is trying to hold himself at par, neither inflated by sentimental allowances nor depre­ ciated by current social discounts. For this he must know himself and be known for precisely what he is, and for that reason he weleosaes the new scientific rather than the old - sentijsantal interest.... ivow we re­ joice and pray to be delivered both from self-pity and condescension.

Alain locke.^47

w 147. Lo*Js»# Alain. *^rbe ?4®w K®gro . Brown ... eds. Megro Oarajma. p. ®sg. 142

CHAFfKR X.

C0JKCLIB5IQB.

tka Hew Bsgro has dissolved the stereotype of the content­ ed slave. In hia owa linage, he is marching through the cross­ road. Those who give intelligent listening to his voice per- ceive tbe resonant ring of surety and challenge. m has dismis­ sed tbe comic ftegro as part of the white man's programme; the terms 'nigger* end 'negress* as elements of a debasing polity. He has crashed the invidious bar of dialect, resolving to express himself as he alone sees fit. His dialect is no longer his voice; it is merely a quaint charm, a folk expression of an early literature. lie has discarded the eream-complex!oned, tragic figure - the Mulatto, scarred by black blood running through her veins. He does not ask for pity or for tears; he asks for jus­ tice and for human rights. .vhat we want than Is, first, economic opportunity <- the right to earn our money at any trade or profes­ sion open to other Americans. •• Second, we want equal educational opportunities all over America. All schools supported by public funds should be open to Negro students whose parents, toe, contribute to these public funds... Third, we want decent housing. In the big cities wo are very tired of living in the ancient abandoned sections deserted by the whites, for which we pay double rents... He resent not being able to get loans on our property, or loans for building or insu­ rance after we build, al»iply because we are coloured and live in colour eel neighbourhoods... 143

That is why, fourth, wa wsnt full participation In government - municipal, state, and national. Only where we participate in government have we - any sure and effective way of remedying these un­ fortunate conditlona... s?e want, fifth, a fair deal before tho law. That means we desire Negroes on all jury panels, and that we be fairly called for jury service. we desire the right to elect judges (which means again that we must vote)... We desire protection from police brutality, wbicb is severe in Negro- neighbourhoods, and against which we have no re­ dress. £s desire Kegro policemen. In other words, we desire equality before the law... Sixth, we desire public courtesy, the same court­ esy that is normally accorded other citizens, we desire polite service in the shops and at the gas stations and in restaurants and on the trains and buses.•• And, finally, we want social equality in so far as public services go. 6hite people have it... we want the right to use, and be protected in the use of, all the public conveniences that other Americans may use; the municipal parks, play grounds, audito­ riums, hospitals and schools. *e want the right to ride without Jim Crow in any conveyance carrying the travelling public, we want the right when travel­ ling to dine in any restaurant or seek lodgings in any hotel or auto camp open to the public which our purse affords..• ... There is nothing wrong in wanting these things, Is there? If so, wherein lies the wrongr^dS litis is tbe voice of the Slew negro speaking with honesty, with firmness. liow that be has reached the point where he can view his po­ sition with scientific interest, bis approach is positive, cons­ tructive, lie is moving forward not by pataraaliaed white philan­ thropy or son tauten toll an, but under the control of his own ob­ jectives. Denied a civil freedom, he has used his voioe in print.

248. Hughes. "What the Hegro Wants". Catkins, ed. Anthology of American Ssjqro literature, p. S63-265. Jk&%

'de bas substituted self-respect for defeat, eelf-pity; he baa aaoved from tbe sear of race to pride of race. His psychology bas replaced a sense of social debt by the responsibilities of social contribution. 1. B. 3. DuBois was the first scientific scholar of social affairs, also the first scientific historian, His deep research in African heritage has been invaluable toward the obliteration of a warped social perspective, toward the growth of race cooperation. At Fisk University, George a. Haynes did fflttob work in social research; bis early study of tbe rfegro is Warn York lad to the foundation of the National urban League. The efficacy of Char lea 3, Johnson (1695- ) has been imasasur- able. In 1926, after a period as editor of "Opportunity* he be­ came bead of tbe Department of Social science at Fisk University. Of all tbe Hegro social scientists, be bas been the mat product­ ive; bis service to Negro expression bas been very great, in addition to contributions to numerous magazine® he has bad published: The ffogro In Aster icon Civilization (X^O), *gbs, lee- nomic Status of tbe asure (1933), Ibe abadow of th® Plantation (1934), Race Kelations with *. D. Weatberford (19S4), Tim Gol- lapse of cotton Tenancy (with Edwin R. Kmbree and w. w. Alexan­ der, 1935), A Preface to Basis! Understanding (1®M), !gbs Ne&ro Collage Graduate (1936), which won tbe Aniafleld Award, and Growing UP in the mack Bait (1940). He is still writing. I. Franklin Frazier (1894- ) has written with provoca­ tive viewpoint. His important contributions to American socio­ logy have beem The ffofiro Family In Cbjcago {19SS), ffbs Jagro 145

Family ia the tatited states (1059), and Kegro Youth, at the uross- roadtt (1940). His knowledge of hia subject is significant through bis various appointments: 1920-1921, be was research follow at the Haw York Sohool of social Work; 1921-1922, Fellow of the American Scandinavian Foundation to Denmark; 19&B-1927, Director of Atlanta School of Social Work; 1929-1934, professor of socio­ logy, fisk University; since 1954, professor and head of the 4 department of sociology, Howard University. Xn 1940*1941, be was awarded tbe Guggenheim fellowship to Brazil and the /est Indies; bs bas also been a fellow of tbe American Sociological 4 Society and a member of tbe Society for Research in Child Devel­ opment. Regro colleges have not stressed political science, but Ralph Bunehe, (1904- ) as head of the department of political science st Howard University, has brought scientific treatment to tbe subject - not only of the Negro in American politics, but ia world politics. As a Social Science Research bellow, he bas made investigations of imperialism in Africa; as a staff member of the Carnegie-l^yrdal study of tbe Begro, he has made a study of the Begro la American political life. As successor to count Bernadotte, be bas revealed acumen. Xn addition to articles which have appeared in scholarly aagaainos, bs is the author of A y

£®f»* arawley an2flurged it twice under tbe aaaa title. Xn 1937, two years before sis death, he gave it a final revision and bad it published under a asw title The tjegro genius, though Brawley+a tropic is scholarly, it reveals mom restraint than tbe * * writing of tba later school. It is well-bred, refined, but less critical than biographical, AS a pioneer in literary criticism, Brawley's voluass lbs Negro Genius and negro He roea and Builders published the same year (1957) merit value as helpful reference aids. H%m contribution was a sincere, an erudite approach, toward rase appreciation and cooperation. William Stanley Braitbwaite (1S7S- ) also gained promi­ se ose as a critic, an anthologist, for several years he was a member on tba editorial staff of tbe "Boston Transcript* and in addition contributed both vers® and essays to tbe *6sntury% "farum*, *Serib*»r'sB, and "Atlantic* periodicals. From 19131 to 1929 be published a yearly Anthology of w&m$£%m Verse. m bas also collected and edited tbe following anthologies; (&\&

Book of iOlzabethan Verse (1906), ffSsa 8eok dfi qeorglan verse

Treasury of Itegasine Terse (1916), ffhe„aoofe |iiiof„i^dern Sritisb

Poets, with an Introduction by Theodora Boosevelt (1919), Antho- leior of Sfessaalmsstts posts (1928), our My*",^^! ft, P°W»- porary Anthology of Verse by Catholic sistars (1951). Though mom widely known as a critic and anthologist, he published in 1804 » maU voXwm of bis own poems, lyrics of .Ufa and Ufa. 147

«ad la 1908, • fta ffouco,af , frap^, Jfraf as. Ia 1941* be publiabed Ms autobiography ftj fflptffff pais*,, Arcturus. It appeared in wFbylonw, tbe Atlanta University navies of mm and Culture, founded and edited by «. S. B. DuBois. For 3fl»»y years Mr. Braithwalto bald the post of Professor of Creative writing at Atlanta University. Though awarded tbe Spicgara medal in 1910, bis position as a Regro contributor toward race advaneeiiaant has been controversial. Self educated, his temperamant is classi­ cal, though sponsoring tbe Sew Poetry meveissnt in America, bis own work follows tba pattern of tbe late nineteenth-century poets. With singleness of purpose bs has confined aiiaself to world literature rather than to Ifsgro literature. His own poems do sot direct themselves toward races they are polished lyrics, dealing with t house a of love and death, or in bis later years, with mysticism. Ills anthologies include Kogro pomm, but do not lay emphasis upon then. His critical introductions to tbe anthologies reveal an acute, perceptive grasp of poetry, but be never uses bis sensibility to make race consciousness bis thesis. lAuay Ifsgro thinkers criticise this attitude, as neglected toward rase promulgation. In bis autobiography, Braltbwalte related the Influence of 0. Lowes Dickinson when be delivered tba Inger- soll Lecture at Harvard, on the immortality of the soul. <*)for race, nor wealth, nor social position, makes any difference", he quotes Dickinson, "it is only the growth of the soul™. Braithwsite continuest And is my artistic ambitions X bad dimly formulated this beliefw certain that th® truth of it would xm

dissolve tbe obstacles that presented a diverted pathway la tbe practice of one's Idealistic vo­ cation. She racial conditions wbicb closed the doors to opportunities for employment of tbe kind I sought la Bew York that slater convinced me that whatever may be tbe quality and distinction of achievement in literature, if that literature was confined to racial materials and experiences, it would be appraised and Judged by a different standard from the literature of American writers in general. For tbe good of the artistic since*- rlty, for the cultural values, which imist be pu­ rified and sustained in a country so much below the standard of European achievements, this double standard of criticism imsit be destroyed. This purpose became the dominating influence upon »y efforts In the career I dreamad for the future... The resolution X foriaed in that darkened room was to express myself on the cotaaon ground of American authorship, to demonstrate, in however bumble a degree, that a man of colour was the equal of any other aan in possession of tbe attri­ butes that produced a literature of human thought and experience, and to force a recognition of this common capacity and merit from the appreciation of reading public and the authority of critical opi­ nion. And X resolved, with equal determination, not to treat in any phase, in any form, for any purpose, racial Materials or racial experiences, until this recognition had bean won, recorded and universally confirmed. '.Chic is the first recorded explanation of a course which had invited soma criticise from igy own people who accused iss of retreat from, and discrimination against, racial jsaterlala and interests.249 Braithwaite's poetry undoubtedly lacks fire; his great worth lies as an anthologist, a critic, rather than a poet, vhether hia at­ titude has been right or &rong, could furnish live discussion. But whatever the concluding judgment, his sincerity, his cultural quietneas bas been a keel, a balance, bringing by contrast, depth to the negro mosaic.

mw*mmm4»m»MmWmWHmmmtm*%*nimmm*m%%wm^^ WI'lHIIW HHll lUfcWQl»»A\ 349. Braltbwalte, William 3. "The abuse Under Arottirus*. Ibid, p. 406. Alain Locke's {1886- ) contribution is compiler, eoasea- tator, sather than creative writer. His several essays contain- •* ** fbe Has Jfoftro form an accurate picture of tbe aime of tbe 4 5ss Segro moveannt. Bis interest in cultural expression focus- sad attention upon creative writing and brought unity to sogro litarature. Highly intellectual, be is a Harvard graduate, a abedas scholar at Oxford, with a year of further specialization in philosophy at tbe University of Berlin, Since 1912, be ham been teaching philosophy at Howard University. Of himself be writes: 1 have devoted most of my literary effort and time to tbis avocationa l interest of HSgre culture, with occasional excursions into the sociological side of tbe race creation.250 Aa contributor to "Opportunity's* annual retrospective reviews of literature on tbe Itegro, be baa been a moulder of Bcgro opinion. Of late years be bas taken much interest in the pre­ sentation of native Afrlean art. Sterling Brown, (1901- ) associate professor of Sngliah at Howard Univerlsty, is a current promulgator of Kegr© thought. From 1936-1959 he held tbe position of Ml tor on Hagro Affairs for tba federal Writers* Project; in 1939 be mrm& as staff member of tba Carnegle-L^rda! study of tbe Negro, in 1957-1938 bs received a Guggenheim fellowship. His first collection of P@®»** Southern fioad is a series of folk songs. He does not shun dialeet % bs gives it, however, a racy quality which is

250. Locke. "Biographical note*, catkins, ed. op. cit. p. 4V1* 150

Redolent sitte folk spirit. Brown has roads intensive study of folk portraiture; be bas captured tha road songs of the wander­ ing roustabout, His poetry Is the comedy, tba tragedy, of the folk people. He is a regional poet, with bis characters inha­ bitants of their Southern setting, Be uses free verse as well as traditional and folk forms; bis poems have frequently a note of social protest, AS critic, bs occupied a foremost place; negro in American Fiction (X$$f\, and Hagro Poetry and Drags

(1907) are both valuable and scholarly. ghe mmroi caravan. (1941), of i&ieh be is co-editor with Arthur P. Davis and Ulysses Lee, is s summary of tbe entire literary picture, AS source bods, anthology, it la an unbiased presentation of creative li­ terature, dispassionate, authentic. The introduction wbicb prefaces each anthology is a survey of that particular field. In each ease it is compact, erudite, elucidating. 3. Saunders Iteddlj^, (1906- ) author of fo jaakc a ffeet Slack (1939) and Hugh Harris Glostsr, (1911* ) of pgre Voices in American Fiction (1948) have both provided Invaluable assistance to tbe research student. Bedding blends an artistry ef paraa© with scholarly analysis; Cloator's work is a review of tba entire fiction field, quiet, authoritative. In Bjaek Odyssey (1©48), Roi Ottloy (1906- ) has shed light on tbe seciological picture. His presentation ia enlightening and human. These BOgro writers deserve recognition in tbe field of study. Carter #• Woodson {187S- ) is generally considered as 151 the dean of American Kegro historians. He was the pioneering influence in tbe founding of the association for the study of Hegro life and History and the Journal of Msgro History. This journal bas been most helpful to younger Nagro historians who have used it aa a vehicle for entrance toward research. fdward the interest in African heredity, two influences have been paramount; first, the entrance of Marcus Garvey, a Jamaiean Segro, to Barlsm in 1932; second, the bibliophile, Arthur Sebomburg, who discovered many curiosa about African, South American, and Caribbean degress. Garvey had a four-fold purpose. HO Bought to reach out to the very poorest ^agrees, to exalt blackness, to pierce it with a glamour. Xn order to facilitate this programsje be vlaloned the need of a culture and an historical background for the flegro people. They were oar- veyite parades displaying banners, "Princes shall GOES© out of Egypt*. A romantic, a chauvinistic prld© was fostered to in­ flame the movement. Garvey*s third move was to secure the free­ dom of all Negroids throughout the world. The fourth, an Uto­ pian ideal, was his desire to establish a black republic in Africa. The Garvey movement was a momentary bubble. It failed through financial miszeustnagement, a stupid vanity upon the part of Garvey, the disapproval of the Segro intellectuals, ibe si­ gnificance of the enterprise lies in the electric interest toward African art and African history. This was further stimulated by the rediscovery of primitive African painting and sculpture by French artists during the first quarter of th© twentieth century. xm

Artisur ;:Jehaatburg, a Riorto Hi can, ^hieb lies in Harlem. •Jchomburg served as curator there until his death in 1938. ^he Sebomburg collection included Africa, 15m west Indies, Brazil, and other regions in South Aiaariea. '£h© Haitian collection is considered the best in the United states. 'As writings of several *&irep©SB Bsgroeg, Alexander Poskln's p©e», jacobus capltein*s Latin thesis, Bums' novels, v&rious editions of the autobiography of Gustavus ¥asa, are to bo found tbeso too. At present, there are esuny youtag writers experl.anting in llagro expression. In 1942, nargaret :;&tar won the Tale tJni- veraity Younger l^oets Competition with her volume of poena, For m Feople. Stephen Vincent Benet contributed th® foreword. Tim book consists of three slmrply contrasting groupings, sec­ tion C»e contains Public Poems in which the post speaks diroctly for tba W&0m people, ffimy are in Biblical style and appear for 13® the most part in free verse, or as rhythmical proso pocjas. The second section contains folk ballads written in !%gro dialect; tbe third aeotion la a aerie a of sonnets, formal yot personal. A chief interest in tbe book lias in its variety of verse forms. mch of it is difficult poetry from which to quote. Tha follow­ ing passage is from tbe title poem: For my people lending their strength to the years to the gone year® and the now yoara and tho jaaybe years, washing ironing cooking scrubbing sewing mending hoeing plowing digging plant lis© yrujiiiag patching dragging along nevf%r gaining never reaping never knowing and never under standing. ..251 "aacb poem of this section ia a sustained utterance from its be­ ginning to its ending. Of late, there has bean a growing trend among llegro writers to deal with other phases of American life than th© problems of the riegro minority, willard S*>tl@y, Ann P©try and frank Yerby are representatives of this. Axm Petry won the 1945 Houghton l*ifflin literary Fellowship for her novel, The straot. U@r jmr- pose is to portray tbe Itegr© as a human being rather than a type. £rank Yerby writes about African people uho aro not ne­ groes. Tbs Foxes of Harrow (1944), the Vixens (194?) both osa- pbasize romanticism; they do not stress tha author*© identity as a iiegro American. Millard Motley uaos an Italian boy from th© Chicago streets. Knock on Any Door (1534?) docs not treat the probXmm of a segregated minority; it pena with depressing realism tbe evils incurred by sociological neglaet, through mim denser, Margaret, for m people. -Rioted in "Current Biography*. n*r. »4Tl" p.%9. IM

Ignorance and lack of Interest In unjust and dire conditions. Sbaae books, dealing primarily with white charactera, prodiet the gradual emancipation of Negro writers from the strictly racial treatment to the widening universal.

At Fisk university, a young cultural group is operating at the present time, under the name of "Counterpoise*. It invites to membership "friends of modern arts and devotees of ideas significant for universal human values'*. Xbs aim ia to encourage both the writing and reading of serious experimental poetry and prose. Their declaration prefaces their invitation. we arc unalterably opposed to tho chauvi­ nistic, the eultish, to special pleading, to all that seeks to limit and restrict creative expression we believe experimentation to be an abso­ lute necessity in keeping the art® vital and aignifleant in contemporary llfo; therefore wo support and encourage th© ex— perijastttal and the unconventional in wri­ ting, masie and the graphic arts, though we do not consider our mn work avant garde in tbe aceeptdd ©ease of the term as, writers who belong to a so-called mino­ rity we are violently opposed to having our work viewed, as the custom ia, entirely in the light of sociology and politics to having it overpraised on tha one hand by those with an axe to grind or with a cons­ cience to salve to having it misinterpreted on th© other hand by coterie editors, reviewers, antho­ logists who refuse us enoourageiaent or cri­ tical guidance because we deal with reali­ ties we find it neither possible nor desi­ rable to Ignore 165

as poets we naturally believe that it is more profitable for generation to road good poetry than it la to listen to soap opera, since poetry has humanistic and spiritual values not to be ignored with impunity we believe in tho onenoaa of mankind 8M the importance of tbs srts in the struggle for peace and unitySSE

Ibis creed is the thought and voice of a mm llegro Henaissanoo.

858. Fisk university, A leaflet, advertising wCcuatc>rpolsel«. 186

BIBUQCtaAPHT.

Baker, Hay Palmer. (W) A History of mglish-canadian Litera­ ture to tba Confederation. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1920. Baker, liay Stannard. (v) Following the Color Line. II.Y., Doubleday, 1906. 3ontempa, Ama. (U) Black ibundor. U.Y., ttaomillan, 1936. Bontempa, Arne. (U) Drums at Dusk, W.Y., Sfecnslilan, 1939. Bontempa, Arnc. (N) od. Coldon slippers. !l.Jf., Karper, 1941. Bontempa, Arna. {li) £he XIarlom Henalaaanee. In Saturday He- view of Literature, v. xxx Ho. 12, March Bs, 1947. Bontempa, Arna. (ft) and Hughes, Langaton. (II) Pop© and fifina. N.*., l^acmillan, 1932. Boatca^ps, Arna. (K) <2*e story of th© Kfegro. n.Y., Knopf, 1948. Bon temps, Arna. (£) tfe Have Tomorrow. Boston, Houghton, 1945. Book Soview Digest. 1905-1950. («) 15.Y., Wilson, 1905-1950. Bralthwaite, William Stanley. (Iff) A selection from r'Th© House Under Arcturus*'. In Catkins, Sylvestro, ed., (If) Anthology of American J3egro Literature. 14.Y., Modern Library, 1944. Brawley, Denjamin. (8) Builders and Heroes. Chapel Hill, University of Korth Carolina frees, 1937. Brawley, Benjamin. (N) The Ksgro Goniue. H.Y., Dodd, Mead, 1937. 4 Brown, Sterling. (H) Contemporary KCgro Poetry, 1914-1936. • la fatkins, Sylvestre, ed. Anthology of American ifegro Lite­ rature. N.Y., Modem Library, 1944. Brown, Sterling, Bavis Arthur, JP., Loe, Ulysaos. eds. (H) Aa Megro Caravan. H.Y., Dryden Press, 1941. 157

Bunch©, Balph. (K) 'lbs Pisfrancbisemcrit of the Nsgro. in Brown, Sterling, Davis, Arthur, P., Leo, Ulysses, eda. The negro Caravan. B.Y., Drydea Presa, 1941. Cheanutt, Cbarles waddsll. (H) The Goophered Grapevine. In* 'Catkins, Sylvaotre, ed. Anthology of American Kegro Litera­ ture . K.Y., Modern Library, 1944. Cullen, Countee. (W) lbs Black Christ and Other Poems. w.Y., Harper, 1929. Cullen, Countee. (») ed. Caroling Dusk, an Anthology of Yers© Br negro Poets. M.Y., Harper, 19S7. Cullen, Countee.

Ouabar, Paul Lawrence, (X) Lyrics of Lowly Life. H.Y., 1904. J&abree, Xdwin R. (**) American ftagroes, a Handbook. i;.Y., John pay, 1948. Sabres, Sdwln It. (W) 1® Against the Odds. 13. Y., Viking, 1944. Encyclopaedia Br itannica. 11th. edition. London, Ency. aaritannioa, 1911. gnoyclopaedia of tbe Social Sciences. H.Y., Jaacmlllan, 1933. Fauset, Jesaie. (ii) Plum Bun. &.Y., Boni at Uveright, 1924. Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom. H.Y., Knopf, 1947. Gloster, Hugh Morris. {1} Hogro Voices in American notion. Chapel Hill, University Worth Carolina Press, 1948. aregory, J. w. ( 0 The Menace of Colour. London, Seely, Service, 1925. Bandy, #. C (l») St. Louis Blues and Solvent Bank, yatber of tbs Blues. In ttatkins, Sylveatre, ed. Anthology of American Hogro Literature. N.Y., Modern Library, 1944. Harris, Joel Chandler. (II) Nights With Uncle Remus. s.Y., Sterner, 1941. Hughes, Langston. (a) fbe Big Sea. H.Y., Knopf, 1940. Hughes, langston. U) ifeat the Hogro itaats, Xn wstklna, 3ylvestro, ed. Anthology of Aneriean Negro Literature, J8.Y., Modern Library, 1944. Hurston, Zora Hoale. (K) Utiles and Man. Philadelphia, Lip- plncott, 1935. Johnson, Cbarles 3. (2?) From "The Shadow of the Plantation". In Brown, Sterling, Davis, Arthur P., Lea, Ulysses, eda. The Hegro caravan. H.Y., Dryden Presa, 1941. Johnson, Cbarles 3. {ii) striking the Economic Balance. In Statkins, Sylvestre, ed* Anthology of American Jiegro Litera­ ture. &.Y., Modern Library, 1944. Johnson, Cbarles 3. {M) and Weatherford, Willis T). (•) Base Halations, Adjustment of Whites and Blacks in tbe united States* K.Y., Heath, 1934. xm

Johnson, James Wel&on* (*) Along This Way. H.Y., Viking &r*BB$ 1933. Johnson, James Weldon. (23) ed., Book of American Ifegro Poetry. K.T., Harcourt, Brace, 1931. Johnson, James »eldon. (M) ilie History of the spiritual, in Watains. Sterling, ed. Anthology of American Negro Litera­ ture. H.Y., Modem Library, 1944.

LBxsen, Kolla. (H) Passing. IJ.Y., Knopf, 1929. Leaks, Alain. (N) tbe Negro in American Culture. In vatJdnc, Sylveatre, ed. Anthology of American Ifegro Literature. H.Y., Modern Library, 1944, Leake, Alain. (H) fIhe Bew Negro. In Brown, Sterling, Davis, Arthur P., Lee. Ulysses, eds. The Negro caravan. &.Y., Dryden Press, 1941. Loggins. Vernon. (£) The Negro Author. H.Y., Columbia uni­ versity Press, 1931. motley, tfiilard. (M) Knock On Any Door. 21.Y., Appleton- Century, 1947. yyrdal, Cunnar. (w) An American DilaEsae: the Hegro i-robleia and Kodem Democracy, hy ... with tbe asaistance of Hichard Maurits Oterner and Arnold Hose. M.Y., Harper, 1944. ottley, Boi. (#) Black Odyssey. ;«.Y., sorlbner, 1948. Fetry, Ann. (S) The Street. K.Y., Houghton, 1947. lied ding, J. Saunders. (3) To Make a Beet Black. Chapel iiill, University of North Carolina Press, 1939. Redding, J. Baunders. (M) Th© Rise and Fall of liegro Literal ture. Negro Digest, v. vil, Ho. 11, September, 1949. pp.41-

Hicbardson, Ben Albert. Great Asmrlcan Nogroee. II.Y., crowell, 1945. Stewart, Maxwell. Tbe liegro in America. N.Y., Public Affairs Committee, Incorporated, 1944. (Public Affairs Pamphlet Mo. m). Tim* Literary Supplement. Hcview of "The Autobiography of an &s>Celored Han*. London, Times Literary Suppleaaent, daxon 22, 1923. p. 207. uo

•fooaer, Jean* (H) Mood-Burning l^oon; from th© first section of ^aas". In Brown, sterling, Davis, Arthur P., Lee, "Ulys­ ses, eds. tbs Negro Caravan. H.Y., Dryden Press, 1941. PP. 4S-S4. fiashiugton, Boolosr ?. (H) Frederick Douglass. n.Y., »crae aslS, 1907. Washington, Booker T. (23) ed. Tuskegee and its People. H.Y., Appleton. Century, 1907. (American Crisis Biographies). Washington, Booker T. (B) Up From slavery. C#ard@n City, mw York, sun Dial Press, 1917 • -falker, Jsirgaret. (K) For Uy People. Haw Haven, Yale Univer­ sity Press, 1942. satkins, Sylvestre, ed. Anthology of American Hegro Literature. H.Y., Modern Library, Random House, 1944. Yeatherford, Willis D. (W) see Johnson, Cbarles s. Waits, Walter. (K) The Man Called v?hite. Toronto, Hacmillan, 1940* Wright, Hichard. (.N) Black Boy. H.Y., Harper, 1945. Wrigbt^ Hichard. (J?) native aon. S.Y., Harper, 1940. bright, Biebard. {H) IS Million Black Voices. aYf., Viking, 1941* wrig&fom Kichard. (u) Uncle Bern's CaHdren. H.Y., Barper, 195S. Yerby, Frank. {M) The Foxes of Harrow. H.Y., Dial Press, 1946. x&x

IHDK.

A B Addsms, Jane, 99 "Black Thunder", 130, 1S6 "Address to Miss Phillis Bontempa, Ama, III, V, 99, 111, Wbaatley", 33, 34 117, 118, 127-131, 132, 150 "Address to Negro os in State "Book of American JJegro jpoetry", of Haw York", 33, 34, 35, IV, 18, *4, 66, 101, 103, IIS, as 119, 1&9 "African Art at the Barnes "Book of aisabetban Verse*, 146 Foundation**, 98 "Book of Georgian Verse", 146 Alexander, Lewis, 98 "Book of Modem British Verse, Alexander, W,

y Connelly, Hare, 108 -Copper 3un", 117, 157 "Fanatloa", 64 Coward, Seel, 2*3 ' Fauset, Arthur Huff', 14 "Counterpoise", 134-135 Fauset, Jessie, 107-109, 138 "Creation", 104 "Fine Clothes To The Jew", 183 "Fire in the Flint", 109, U0 "Crisis", §ot 99, 100 Cullen, Countee, 111, IV, 99, "Flaa» Heart", 101 "Flight", 110 108,'HI, 118, 113, 120, 182, "Folks From Dixie", 64 183, 188, 156 Folk Tales, 10-30 currant Biography, 183, 153, "For My People", 152, 153, 160 137 "Fossa of Barrow", 153 franklin, John Hope, 95, 158 Frasisr, K. Franklin, 144 Daly, Victor, 187 "Frederick Douglass", 45, 160 "Dark Princess", 98 "From tbe Dork Tower", 111 "Dark Tower", 116 "Darkwatar", 90 Deris, Arthur P., IV, ISO Gale, Zona, 98 Dewey, Joan, 98 Garrison, William Lloyd, 50, 51, Dickinson, 0. Lowes, 147 53 "Dinfranchiseiaant of the Garvey, iSareus, 116, 151 Segro", 7, 156 Gellert, Lawrence, 88 Douglas, Aaron, 99 "Gift of Black Folk", 98 Douglass, Frederick, II, III, Gilbert, Mercedes, 187 23| 46-61, 103, 157 Gloater, iSugh Morris, IV, 69, 98, "Brssjss", 118 93. 99, 100, 108, 103, 106, "Dream Variations", 180 108, 110, 150, 158 "Dress at Dusk", 130, 136 "God Sends Sunday", 130 DuBois, aiUiam Edward "Gcd*s Trombones", 104 Burghardt, III, 8, 27, 77-96, "Selden Slippers", 189, 156 99, 330, 144, 147, 137 "Golden Treasury of Magazine "DttSoia-waebingtQn controversy" » Verse" 146 HI, 83. 108, 137 "Golgotha 1B a Mountain", 128, Dunns, 13s 189 Dunbar, Paul Lawrence, 63-71, "Goopbered Grapevine'*, 156 108, 117, 137, 158 "Great Aiaerican Kegroee", 159 -Dusk of Dawn", 93, 99 Greene, Paul, 108 "Green Pastures", 108, 185 Gregory, J.a., V, 5, 158 S Griake, Angela, 108 "Saperor Jonas", 188, 116 "Growing Up in the Black Belt", Encyclopaedia Britanniea, 138 144 Sneyelopeedia of tbe Social Guggenheim Fellowship, 117, 188, Sciences, 138 145, 149 "Srs Sleep Coosa Down •••", 69 GuillauBta, Paul, 98 "Seamy on tbe Tea Virgins", 33 "Evening's Ltaproveiaent", S3 1 Heisaon, Jupiter, 12, 31, 38, Johnson, Georgia Douglas, 33 101, 108 Handy, w.C*, 88, 98, 188 Johnson. J. Rosamind, Harlem, Renaissance, 114, "Journal of iisgrIlogroo History"Mis , 117/156 131 "iSarlem a»d©wn", 101, 103 Saraon Gold Award, 188 Harris, Joel Chandler, 13, 14, 15, 83, 138 "Kind M&stcr and Dutiful ser­ Haynes, George 3., 144 vant", 33 "Bsart of a Wojaan" 101, 108 "Knock on Any Door", 153 "Heart of Bappy Hollow", 64 ICrahbiel, Esnry 3«, 19 Henderson, George wylio, 127 "Hsr! tags", 116 Higginson, T.W.. 10, 84, 89 bill, John H., 187 Larson, Nells, 107, 109, 159 "Hiatory of tbe Spiritual", SO, Lee, George f., 187 85, 199 Lee, Ulysses, IV, ISO "Homesick Blues", 188 "Life", 70 "Hoaing", 188 "Life and Tiuaes of Frederick Houghton Mifflin Literary Douglassw, 47-50, 5% 60, fellowship, 133 157 "House under Arcturus", 147, Lincoln, Abraham, 1 148 Lindsay, Vachel, 108, 181, "Bouse of falling Leaves", 147 183 "How Bigger was Born", 138, "Litany of Atlanta", 90, 91 133. 134. 135 Locke, Alain, IV, 14, 19, 98, Howelis, lillism Dean, 63, 64, 108, 184, 141, 149, 159 63, 67 Loggins, Vernon, IV, 38, 40, Hughes, Utttfisten, X, III, 88, 84, 41, 54, 56, 37, 59, 66, 67, 88, w»7*Is, fib, 18S, 187, 68* 88* ISS 190, 148, vm LSMBSX, Alan, MB Lonax, John, 88 Hurst, Fannie, 98 "Lovo of Landry", 64 trston, zora, 16, 17, 83, 99, "Lullaby", 65 "Lyrics of the Hearthside", 64, "Lyrics of Life and Love. U% "If me Bust pie", 101 "Lyrics of Love and Laughter",* "Incident", 118 64 "In Old Plantation Days", 64 "Lyrics of Lowly Life", 64, 65, "I Snow Ifoon-rise", 89 68, 69, 96, 138 •X, *»», 118, 118 "Lyrics of Sunshine and shadow", "X deep", 108 64

U "Jazaonia", 119 Macon, A.J., 83 "John Brass0, 88, 137 "Majors and i&nora", 63 Johnson, Cbarles 3., 13, 98, man Called White", 111, 160 184, 144, 138 Me .lay, Claude, 98, 101, 105 164

M w "HaaXas*, 11V Hegro Poetry end Drama", 150 "Meanse «f colour", V, 5, 138 "Negro Speaks of Rivera", 118, s«illay, mm St. Vincent, 114 motley, Willard, 133, 139 "Negro 3ongs of Protest and .'.'© "miss snd iaan", 16, 17, 158 and hiy Captain", 88 "l&T Bondage and hiy Freedom", "Itogro Voice® in American Fic­ tion", IV, 89, 95, 99, 105, asyrdal, Gunner, V, 159 108, 110, 150, 158 "say Southern Ho»e", 15 "ilegro Youth at the CrossroadsM, "Mew Megro", 149, 159 Hew York Tic raid Trtbuns, May 13, "Narrative of tbs Life of 1988, 109 Frederick Douglass", 58, 55, "digger ileavon", 102, 130 36 58 "flights ti'itb Uncle 2enais% 158 Nassau, Robert H., 13 "Hoeturns at Bethseda", 188 &JUA.S.P., 88, 99, 110, 111 "llot© on African Art", 98 National urban League, 244 "*J0t without Laughter", 188 "Stative son". IV, 138, 134, 296, 137, 139, 160 "liegro, Tbs". 90, 94 0 "liegro Artist and the Racial "Oak and Ivy", 63 aauntain", 184 "Of the Passing of the First **8agro Artisan", 136 Born", 86 > Author", IV, 68, 53, 54, "Of tbe sorrow songs", 87, 86 57, 59, 66, §7, 68, 88, o'Belli, lugene, 108, 116 "On Being Brought From Africa", "Jtegro Builders snd iieroea", 48 "Opportunity", 98, 144, 149 "Segro caravan", IV, 14, 26, 19, Ottley, Boi, 150 81, 85, 86, 33, 38. 51, 54, "Our Lady's Choir ...% 146 80, 90, 93, 109, 110, 150, "Out of th© South", 108 *»Segro College Graduate", 144 "Ilagro FaiBily in Chicago", 144 P "ifcgr© Family in tbe United Page, waiter, 15 states", 144 "Passing", 109, 159 "llegro Folk Bonnes", 83 Paynter, John II., 187 "fiegro Genius", IV, 35, 39, 41, Pay ton, IMllp A., 98 39, 88, 183, 246, 136 retry, Ann, 153, 159 -Hsgro Heroes and Builders", 146, "Philadelphia negro", BX "Phylon", 147 "Hegro in Josrlea", 4, 8. 159 Pillsbury, Jrfarkar, 51 "ifegro in American Civilisation", "Plum Bun", 108, 158 144 "Poem", 188 "Bsgr© In American culture", 19, "Foes® for Children, ,;itb fbougbts lit, 189 on Death", 33 "Hegr$ in American Fiction". 150 "PoefflB on Various Subjects", 39 "Hegro in Literature and Art", "Poet", 117 "Poetry and Poetic Diction", 71 163

3 "ifcetay of tbs Jtogre", 130 "Sport of th© Gods", 64 "Pop© and Fifinc". 230, 196 "Standln* on do Corner", 82, "rreface to Baclal Understand­ 83 ing*. 244 , Steward, Maxwell, 4, 0, 159 Puckott, Professor Hswbell K,, Still, William Grant, 99 23 atory of the ifegro, 130, 156 Fuskin, Alexander, 138 "Strength of Gideon", 64 "Street, The", 153, 159 Suicide's Koto", 113 "Suppression of the African %uest of the Silver Fleece", Slave Trade", 80 88 "Syiapathy", 71 "Quicksand", 109

li T "Haee Halations", 13, 144, 158 "13 Against the Odds", v, 8, 77, Bedding, J. Saunders, I., 16, 78, 82, 86, 90, 136, 138, 158 33, 33, 68, 60, 61, 67, 83, TaHey, Thoiaas ".«., 83 88, 89, 97, 193, 107, 108, "Temple", 98 116, 190, 139 "Thar© is Confusion", 107 "Returning soldiers", loo "Times Literary Supplement**, "He-volution", 157 March 82, 1988, 104, 159 Richardson, Ben Albert, 139 "To Make a Poet Black", IV, 36, iiiley, Jamas 3hltcosib, 66 59, 83, 89, 97, 103, 107, 116, "Mse and Fall of Jlegro 150, 159 Literature'*, 139 "TO IJake a iJo®t Black" (poeia), Rosenwald Fellowship, 129 116 Toojsar, Jean. 105, 106 wTo John Keats, Poet At spring- S tins", 114 "Sad Faced Boy", 189 Toussaint, L'ouvertur®, 130 Sandburg, Carl, 108, 125 "To You viho Head ity Book*1, 118 "Saturday Review of Literature", "Tree Design", 129 Xm, 189, 233 Turpin, patera .2,, 187 Savage, Augusta, 99 "Tuskegoe and Its People", 78, SchomouTg, Arthur, V, 151, 158 160 Scott, Hazel, 130 "18 Million Black Voices", i, "Shadow of the Plantation", 5, 160 144 Shaw, O'wendell, 187 "Shuffle Along", 185 U "8ou2s of Black Folk", 83, 84, "Uncalled, The", 64 .46^8*£ 87, 98, 157 "Uncle Usaus", 15 "Southern Hoed", 149 "Uncle Tom's Children", 186, spingarn, A.D., 99 134, 160 Spinier*, Joel, 99 "Op From ftlavery", 73, 74, 75, spingarm siadal', 90, 105, 147 76, 160 Spirituals, 10-30, 108 V Van Doren, Carl, 98 Van Vesaten, Carl, 108, 185, 130 Vans Gustavus, 138 "Victory! Celebrated by Thirty- eight Aoericwn Poets", 146 "Vie de Frdddrio Douglass", 56 "Vixens, The", 153

ialker, A.'Leila, 116 talker, Margaret, 158, 153, 160 -Jallasohek, Richard, 19 Washington, Booker T., Ill, 45, 78/73-76, 81, 84, 95, 105, Satklns, Sylvestre, IV, 143, 160 "weary aiues", 99, 116, 181, 123 seetherford, Willis D., 13, 25, 144, 158, 160 weeks, John II., 13 "He Have Tomorrow*, 130, 156 v&eatlsy, Phillis, II, 31, 38, $hite, George, 85 .nite, Joshua, 88 «mita, Walter, 107, 109, 110, 160 "Winter Piece", S3 Woodson, Carter, 150 Wordsworth, William, 70 "acrid and Africa", 94, 95, 96, 157 "world View of Hace", 145 srigat, Hichard, III, IV, VIII, 5, 186, 187, 138, 160

Y Yerby, Frank, 153, 160 "Yet I Do Marvel", 115, 116 "You Can*t Pet A Possum", 139