when Hughes was despondent about his potential
loss of sponsorship by CHARLOTTE OSGOOD
MASON, the patron whom ALAINLOCKE,ZORA
NEALEHURSTON, and others referred to as “God-
mother.” Amy Spingarn’s press, Troutbeck, pub-
lished 100 numbered copies of the Hughes volume
on handmade paper that also included Spingarn’s
sketch of the author on its frontispiece.
Bibliography
Bernard, Emily. Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of
Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten.New York:
Knopf, 2001.
Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes: I, Too,
Sing America.Vol. 1, 1902–1941.New York: Oxford
University Press, 1986.
Death Dance, TheThelma Duncan(ca. 1921)
The first play by THELMADUNCAN, written while
she was a student at HOWARD UNIVERSITY in
WASHINGTON, D.C. The University Players, a
drama group at Howard, produced this one-act
musical. It told the story of Kamo, a heroic young
African man who survives the treachery of a jeal-
ous medicine man. Kamo’s ability to survive doses
of a potion called “ordeal” enables him to win the
love of the dancer named Asumana.
Bibliography
Roses, Lorraine Elena, and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph.
Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies
of 100 Black Women Writers, 1900–1945.Boston: G.
K. Hall & Co., 1990.
“Death Game, The”Edwin Drummond Sheen
(1927)
The second-place winner in the 1926 THECRISIS
literary contest, this short story by EDWINDRUM-
MONDSHEENwas a grim account of an unreliable
woman, her earnest suitor, and the troublemaker
who ends her life. Against the backdrop of a di-
lapidated CHICAGOneighborhood, Nell engages
in reckless relationships. This thrice-married
woman who killed her last husband could im-
prove her life by being true to Joe Nixon, a man
who loves her. Nixon discovers Nell’s treachery,
and he confronts Shug Lewis, her lover. The two
men begin a card game that will decide which
man will kill the other and win Nell’s affections.
Shug ends up killing Nell, the inconstant and
damaged woman, instead.Delaney, Sara (Sadie) Marie(1889–1958)
Educated at City College in New York, Delaney
earned her library certificate from the NEWYORK
PUBLICLIBRARYschool and went on to become a
highly effective bibliotherapist at the Veteran’s Ad-
ministration Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama. Dur-
ing her time in NEWYORKCITY, Delaney lived in
the STRIVER’SROWneighborhood and participated
in the multifaceted activities of the Renaissance.
Delaney believed that books were essential to re-
covery. Her resourcefulness, determination, and vi-
sion completely transformed the meager holdings
of the hospital library from 200 to some 4,000
books.Delany, Clarissa M. Scott(1901–1927)
A poet, essayist, and teacher whose works ap-
peared in THE CRISIS,OPPORTUNITY, and the
COUNTEECULLENanthology, CAROLINGDUSK
(1927). Her poems, which included works like
“Joy,” “Solace,” and “Interim” were rather sim-
plistic narratives about nature and suppressed
feelings.
The Wellesley-educated writer and scholar
was the daughter of Eleanora Baker Scott and Em-
mett Scott, the devoted longtime secretary of
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. She graduated PHI
BETAKAPPAfrom the prestigious women’s college
in 1923. After an enjoyable postgraduate year
spent traveling through Europe, she joined the fac-
ulty at the WASHINGTON, D.C., DUNBARHIGH
SCHOOL, the highly selective school that was the
alma mater of many accomplished Harlem Renais-
sance writers including JEAN TOOMER,MAY
MILLERSULLIVAN, and RICHARDBRUCENUGENT.
Delany would later confess that “though... chil-
dren were interesting, teaching was not [her]
metier,” despite her immersion in the school’s intel-
lectually stimulating environment.
Delany’s untimely death prevented her from
becoming a full-fledged and prolific member of the
Harlem Renaissance. The four works that she didDelany, Clarissa M. Scott 117