Forum
The magazine that published CARLVANVECHTEN’s
“Music After the Great War” and “Adolphe Appia
and Gordon Craig.” In 1926 ZORANEALEHURSTON
published her folktale “Possum or Pig” there; this de-
cision, according to scholar Valerie Boyd, reflected
Hurston’s effort to introduce wider audiences to the
black folklore tradition. In December 1927 the jour-
nal published ALAINLOCKE’s essay “The High Cost
of Prejudice,” in which he reinforced his beliefs in
the TALENTEDTENTHand the importance of the
New Negro to American and African-American so-
ciety. “Both as an American and as a Negro,” he
wrote, “I would much rather see the black masses
going gradually forward under the leadership of a
recognized and representative and responsible elite
than see a group of malcontents later hurl these
masses at society in doubtful but desperate strife”
(Mason, 315). The controversial story “SANCTUARY”
by NELLALARSEN appeared in the January 1930
issue. The journal supported Larsen when charges
arose that she had plagiarized the work.
Bibliography
Boyd, Valerie. Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora
Neale Hurston.New York: Scribner, 2003.
Davis, Thadious M. Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem
Renaissance: A Woman’s Life Unveiled.Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University Press, 1994.
Kellner, Bruce. Carl Van Vechten and the Irreverent
Decades.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,
1968.
Mason, Ernest D. “Alain Locke.” Dictionary of Literary
Biography. Vol.. 51:Afro-American Writers from the
Harlem Renaissance to 1940, edited by Trudier Har-
ris. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1987. 313–321.
For Unborn ChildrenMyrtle Livingston
(1926)
The only extant play written by MYRTLELIV-
INGSTON. A teacher and longtime resident of Col-
orado, Livingston gained critical attention with her
prizewinning drama. In 1925 the work was
awarded third prize and $10 in the contest spon-
sored by philanthropist AMY SPINGARN. It was
published in the July 1926 issue of THECRISIS.
The play, set in an unspecified southern loca-
tion, features two individuals who must overcome
the entrenched family and social resistance to their
interracial relationship and pending marriage. Liv-
ingston’s characters, a white southern woman
named Selma and an African-American man
named Leroy, are ultimately undone by racism
within and beyond their respective families. The
play ends on a sobering note that underscores the
lack of black social freedom. Even though Leroy
has ended his relationship with Selma, a lynch
mob enraged by his past actions descends upon his
home, determined to kill him.
Livingston’s meditation on miscegenation, in-
terracial unions, and LYNCHINGcomplemented the
works of other Harlem Renaissance writers. For
Unborn Children appeared in the same year as
WALTER WHITE’s FLIGHT, a sobering novel on
racial passing and miscegenation. Livingston’s ef-
forts to illustrate the perpetual threat of lynching
placed her in dialogue with playwrights GEORGIA
DOUGLASJOHNSON,ALICEDUNBAR-NELSON, and
MARYBURRILL.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.“Four Lincoln University Poets”(1930)
The Harlem Renaissance figures WARINGCUNEY,
William Hill, and LANGSTONHUGHESall attended
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY. In 1930 the historically
black, all-male university sponsored the publica-
tion of a pamphlet that featured work by the tal-
ented young poets, three of whom had gone on to
establish themselves as leading writers of the pe-
riod. In 1926 Cuney, Hughes, and EDWARDSIL-
VERA contributed to the first issue of the
short-lived Fire!!,the innovative journal of which
Hughes had been a cofounder. It was Cuney, a tal-
ented singer and lifelong friend of Hughes, who
suggested that the poet attend the Pennsylvania
institution. Hughes enrolled in 1926 and gradu-
ated three years later. By 1930, Cuney, Hughes,
and Silvera had been published in leading venues
of the day.
The pamphlet included poems that had been
published in prominent poetry collections such as172 Forum