Vogel, Todd, ed. The Black Press: New Literary and His-
torical Essays,New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers Uni-
versity Press, 2001.
All God’s Chillun Got WingsEugene O’Neill
(1924)
A controversial play by white playwright EUGENE
O’NEILLabout an interracial marriage between an
African-American intellectual man and a white
woman. The script, which O’Neill wrote with the
actor PAULROBESONin mind for its leading role,
drew considerable fire and protest from whites, in-
cluding then-mayor of New York City Jimmie
Walker, because of its challenge to conservative so-
cial mores. Robeson performed in the Greenwich
Village Theatre shows that began in August 1924.
The NEWYORKTIMESpraised him for the “ad-
mirable force” that he brought to the leading role.
O’Neill’s play, like INABRAHAM’SBOSOM(1926)
by PAULGREEN, was part of the growing canon
of white-authored plays about African-American-
related themes.
Bibliography
Frank, Glenda. “Tempest in Black and White: The 1924
Premier of Eugene O’Neill’s All God’s Chillun Got
Wings.” Resources for American Literary Study26, no.
1 (2000): 75–89.
Kramer, Victor, and Robert Russ, eds. The Harlem Renais-
sance Re-Examined.Troy, N.Y.: Whitson Pub., 1997.
O’Neill, Eugene. All God’s Chillun Got Wings; and
Welded.New York: Boni & Liveright, 1924.
The New York Times,19 August 1924, p. 9.
Along This Way James Weldon Johnson
(1933)
The first work of African-American autobiography
to be reviewed in The New York Times, Along This
Wa yis the 1933 autobiography of JAMESWELDON
JOHNSON, the executive secretary of the NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION FOR THEADVANCEMENT OFCOL-
OREDPEOPLE(NAACP) and the highly respected
editor of several anthologies of African-American
writing. Johnson, who penned the anonymous
1912 edition of the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANEX-
COLOUREDMAN,affixed his name to his only fic-
tional work when it was republished in 1927. Some
critics suggest that he published Along This Way,in
part, to dispel the rumors that the fictional Autobi-
ography,which chronicled the life of an unnamed
protagonist who decides to pass for white, was
based on his own life.
The memoir, which Johnson dedicated to his
wife, Grace Nail Johnson, “in love and comrade-
ship,” was divided into four sections. It offers de-
tailed genealogical information and informative
accounts of Johnson’s life, developing awareness of
racism, literary endeavors, experiences in the
world of commercial songwriting, personal rela-
tionships, and political work within and beyond
the NAACP, the organization to which he devoted
much of his life.Bibliography
Johnson, James Weldon. Along This Way: The Autobiog-
raphy of James Weldon Johnson.1933, reprint, New
York: Da Capo Press, 2000.
Levy, Eugene. James Weldon Johnson, Black Leader, Black
Voice.Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973.Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc.
The first Greek-letter sorority founded by African-
American women in the United States. Founded in
January 1908 at HOWARDUNIVERSITYby under-
graduate students led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, the
organization grew into an influential network that
implemented vital social programs, lobbied for black
political rights, and supported racial uplift through-
out and beyond the years of the Harlem Renais-
sance. Members were part of key Renaissance-era
institutions such as the NATIONALASSOCIATION
FOR THEADVANCEMENT OF COLOREDPEOPLE
(NAACP) and the YOUNGWOMEN’SCHRISTIAN
ASSOCIATION(YWCA).Bibliography
Parker, Marjorie. Alpha Kappa Alpha in the Eye of the Be-
holder. Washington, D.C.: Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority, 1979.
———. Alpha Kappa Alpha through the Years, 1908–1988.
Chicago: Mobium Press, 1990.
Ross, Lawrence. The Divine Nine: The History of African
American Fraternities and Sororities.New York: Kens-
ington Books, 2000.Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. 7