or brutally ‘placed’ in this midkingdom” (Hammer
and Weber, 64).
Crane was part of the literary group that in-
cluded SHERWOODANDERSON,WALDOFRANK,
VANWYCKBROOKS, and James Oppenheim, co-
founders of the journal SEVENARTS.Frank, with
whom Crane had a close friendship, published a
posthumous collection of Crane’s poems in 1933.
In 1937 Phillip Horton published a biography that
was enriched by contributions from Crane’s es-
tranged mother and from his correspondence.
Bibliography
Hammer, Langdon, and Brom Weber, eds. O My Land,
My Friends: The Selected Letters of Hart Crane.New
York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1997.
Brown, Susan Jenkins. Robber Rocks: Letters and Memo-
ries of Hart Crane, 1923–1932.Middletown, Conn.:
Wesleyan University Press, 1969.
Fisher, Clive. Hart Crane: A Life.New Haven, Conn.:
Yale University Press, 2002.
Horton, Philip. Hart Crane: The Life of an American Poet.
New York: Viking Press, 1957.
Unterecker, John. Voyager: A Life of Hart Crane.New
York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969.
Crigwa Players
A theater group that W. E. B. DUBOISfounded in
the 1920s with the help of the librarian and play-
wright REGINAANDREWSand the writer and artist
GWENDOLYNBENNETT.
The word Crigwawas an acronym for “Crisis
Guild of Writers and Artists,” a phrase that asserted
DuBois’s connection to THECRISIS.The name of
the group also underscored the importance of the
arts and the support that the official journal of the
NATIONALASSOCIATION FOR THEADVANCEMENT
OFCOLOREDPEOPLEoffered to aspiring writers.
The troupe, which met in the basement of the
135th Street Library, received support from the
branch librarian ERNESTINEROSE. The group, which
soon changed its name to KRIGWAPLAYERS, later
became the HARLEMEXPERIMENTALTHEATRE.
See alsoKRIGWAPLAYERS.
Bibliography
Mitchell, Loften. Voices of the Black Theatre.Clifton,
N.J.: J. T. White, 1975.
Crisis, The
The first of the three influential New York City-
based African-American periodicals that flourished
during the Harlem Renaissance. Founded in 1910
and edited for 24 years by W. E. B. DUBOIS, the mag-
azine was an invaluable forum in which writers,
artists, politicians, and intellectuals of all races could
publish their work, debate the issues of the day, and
mark the significant achievements of the day. Hailed
by David Levering Lewis, DuBois’s biographer, as
“one of the most remarkable journals of opinion and
propaganda in America,” The Crisishad more than
100,000 readers during its peak years.
Like the journal OPPORTUNITYthat was the of-
ficial magazine of the NATIONALURBANLEAGUE,Crisis, The 101Portrait of Georgia Douglas Johnson published on the
cover of the September 1927 issue of The Crisis,New
York National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (Yale Collection of American
Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)