publish, however, earned her recognition from
leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance period.
Despite her demonstrated ability to conduct
research, Delany chose a “career” as a wife, a pur-
suit that she characterized as “interesting and ab-
sorbing.” She wed Hubert Delany, an attorney, in
1926 and the couple relocated to New York City.
There, Delany pursued a career in social work and
was affiliated with both the NATIONAL URBAN
LEAGUEand the Woman’s City Club of New York.
Delany, who also was a member of DELTASIGMA
THETA, died prematurely at the age of 26.
Bibliography
Cullen, Countee. Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by
Negro Poets.New York: Harper & Brothers Publish-
ers, 1927.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Founded in 1913 by HOWARDUNIVERSITYstu-
dents, this African-American sorority became an
important advocate of social change and black
economic and intellectual advancement. Its mem-
bership expanded considerably during the Harlem
Renaissance years. Prominent members included
JESSIEREDMANFAUSET.
Bibliography
Giddings, Paula. In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma
Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Move-
ment.New York: Morrow, 1988.
“Deserter from Armageddon, A”
Theophilus Lewis(1924)
A story of spiritual distress and anxiety by
THEOPHILUSLEWISthat is linked directly to the
willful and flirtatious behavior of Rosalie, the
young wife of Roscoe Joyful. Roscoe is an industri-
ous man who is pushed to the brink by his wife’s
perpetual disappearances to go dancing. One night
he follows her to a barn dance and becomes con-
vinced that the man she has met there is actually
Satan. Shortly after he leaves in disgust, Rosalie
makes her way home and reports that the barn
caved in and that a fire broke out. Her experience,
which essentially presents her falling into the fires
of Hell, leaves her haunted by the image of her
dance partner. Roscoe leaves to secure medical
help and returns to find his wife dead. The burn
mark on her breast reinforces his belief that Satan
has snatched her and that his tortured prayers to
God were inadequate and unheard.
The story appeared in two installments in the
1924 March and April issues of the MESSENGER,
the magazine for which Lewis was the long-stand-
ing theater critic.Dewitt Clinton High School
The NEWYORKCITYhigh school that counted in-
fluential writers of the Harlem Renaissance and the
next generation of African-American literary talent
among its graduates. COUNTEECULLENattended
the school from 1918 through 1921. During his
years there, he was the editor of the school newspa-
per and actively involved on the board of the Mag-
pie,the school’s literary magazine. Cullen went on
to teach at Frederick Douglass Junior High School,
where he taught the future novelist and essayist
James Baldwin. Baldwin completed his precollege
education at Dewitt Clinton. JESSIEFAUSET, writer
and visionary literary editor of THECRISIS,taught
French at Dewitt Clinton from 1927 through 1944.Bibliography
Sylvander, Cheryl. Jessie Redmon Fauset, Black American
Writer.Troy, N.Y.: Whitson Publishing Company,
1981.Dickinson, Blanche Taylor(1896–unknown)
A well-published poet from Kentucky whose works
appeared in most of the leading African-American
newspapers and periodicals of the era, including the
CHICAGO DEFENDER, the PITTSBURGHCOURIER,
THECRISIS,and OPPORTUNITY.She published regu-
larly and was awarded literary prizes by both The Cri-
sisand Opportunity.In 1926 her poem “That Hill,”
which placed alongside the first-place work “A Noc-
turne at Bethesda” by ARNA BONTEMPS and
“Thoughts In A Zoo” by COUNTEECULLEN, was one
of two works that judges Babette Deutsch, JAMES
WELDON JOHNSON, and LANGSTON HUGHES
awarded an honorable mention. In 1927 her work
was included in EBONY AND TOPAZ:A COL-
LECTANEA,the impressive and selective anthology118 Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.