Encyclopedia of the Harlem Literary Renaissance

Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes: I, Too,
Sing America.Vol. 1, 1902–1941.New York: Oxford
University Press, 1986.
Sylvander, Cheryl. Jessie Redmon Fauset, Black American
Writer.Troy, N.Y.: Whitson Pub. Co., 1981.
Wall, Cheryl. Women of the Harlem Renaissance.Bloom-
ington: Indiana University Press, 1995.

Fernandis, Sarah Collins(1863–1951)
A teacher and social welfare activist who was born
in Maryland to Caleb and Mary Jane Collins. She
attended the Hampton Normal and Agricultural
Institute and composed the alma mater song that
still is used today. She graduated from Hampton in

1882. In 1906 she enrolled in the New York School
      of Philanthropy, the institution that is now the
      COLUMBIAUNIVERSITYSchool of Social Work.
      Fernandis pursued a career in teaching and was
      employed in public schools throughout the South.
      At one point, her teaching assignment in Florida
      was organized by the Woman’s Home Missionary
      Society of Boston, a regional chapter of the na-
      tional organization dedicated to the support of
      American women and children. In the early 1900s
      she was a tireless advocate for the poor of WASH-
      INGTON, D.C. Her efforts on behalf of the commu-
      nity in the Bloodfield area resulted in a settlement
      program that included day care facilities, domestic
      training classes, and a public library. In Baltimore
      she founded the Co-Operative Civic League, an
      African-American branch of the white Women’s
      Civic League, and supported efforts to improve
      urban life for families and children in the area. In
      the years leading up to and following World War I,
      Fernandis intensified her activism and civil rights
      work. She published numerous articles in the
      SOUTHERN WORKMAN, the Hampton University
      journal dedicated to racial and ethnic matters that
      also published writers such as CHARLESCHESNUTT.
      These writings documented her campaigns for fair
      housing, racial uplift, and community development.
      Fernandis, who married John Fernandis in
      1902, was a well-published community leader when
      she published her first and only volume of poetry in


1883. Poemsand Visionincluded a number of pieces
      published previously in the Southern Workman.In
      1924 her work was chosen for inclusion in ANAN-
      THOLOGY OFVERSE BYAMERICANNEGROES,the

collection edited by NEWMANIVEY WHITE and

WALTERCLINTONJACKSON. Fernandis, who wrote

extensively about her work in black settlements,

was an impassioned poet. In poems such as “The

Children’s Open Door,” she raised public awareness

about poverty. Other works recalled her experi-

ences of black solidarity and triumph. Patriotism

was another key theme for Fernandis. She com-

posed several works in honor of black soldiers, in-

cluding “The Troops at Carrizal,” a poem about the

Tenth Cavalry troops who fought against Mexican

soldiers at Carrizal, Mexico. “Our Colored Sol-

diery” and “Our Allegiance” were rousing poems

that applauded African-American patriotism in the

face of continued racism and disenfranchisement.

Bibliography

“Alma Mater.” Hampton University. Available online.

URL: http://www.hamptonu.edu/about/alma_mater.

htm. Accessed May 20, 2005.

Roses, Lorraine Elena, and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph.

Harlem’s Glory: Black Women Writing, 1900–1950.

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996.

Rush, Theressa, Carol Myers, and Esther Arata. Black

American Writers Past and Present: A Biographical

And Bibliographical Dictionary. Metuchen, N.J.:

Scarecrow Press, 1975.

Yenser, Thomas, ed., Who’s Who in Colored America.

Brooklyn: Yenser, 1932.

Ferris, William Henry(1874–1941)

A writer and ordained minister whose activities

during the Harlem Renaissance were linked closely

to MARCUSGARVEYand the UNITEDNEGROIM-

PROVEMENTASSOCIATION(UNIA).

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, to David

and Sarah Ann Ferris, he went on to graduate

from YALEUNIVERSITYin 1895. He earned mas-

ter’s degrees at Yale and at HARVARDUNIVERSITY

and studied for two years at the Harvard Divinity

School. In the early 1910s Ferris pastored churches

in North Carolina and Massachusetts.

Ferris’s turn toward politics included writing

stints at the Boston Guardian,the fiercely anti-

accommodationist paper edited by WILLIAM

MONROETROTTER. He also worked with W. E. B.

DUBOISon matters relating to the Niagara Move-

ment, and with JOHNEDWARDBRUCEand the

Ferris, William Henry 155