Toomer’s much-celebrated work Cane.Toomer’s
work, which included evocative portraits of south-
ern life, also confronted the specter and reality of
lynching.
Bibliography
Bittner, William Robert. The Novels of Waldo Frank.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
1958.
Frank, Waldo. Introduction to Holiday, by Kathleen Pfi-
effer. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003.
Holloway, Lucy Ariel Williams
(1905–1973)
An accomplished musician, teacher, and poet who
published poems in OPPORTUNITY during the
Harlem Renaissance. Her first and only volume of
poems, Shape Them into Dreams: Poems,was pub-
lished in 1955.
Holloway was born in Mobile, Alabama, the
daughter of H. Roger Williams, a physician and
pharmacist, and his wife Fannie. She went on to at-
tend Talladega College before graduating from FISK
UNIVERSITYwith a degree in music in 1926. She en-
rolled at OBERLINCONSERVATORY OFMUSICand
earned another bachelor’s degree in music. In 1936,
after she had completed her formal studies and had
begun teaching music, Holloway married Joaquin
Holloway, a U.S. Postal Service worker, with whom
she had son, Joaquin Jr. Holloway’s career in educa-
tion and music prompted her to move frequently
throughout the South. She taught in Alabama,
Florida, and North Carolina. During her lifetime,
Holloway was deeply involved in civic, religious,
and philanthropic organizations. She was one of five
charter members of the Delta Sigma Theta Alum-
nae Chapter in Durham, North Carolina.
She published in Opportunityover the course
of several years. Her works appeared sporadically
from 1926 through 1935. She made a significant
and promising debut in Opportunitywhen she won
the 1926 literary contest for her poem “North-
boun’.” That work was included promptly in CAR-
OLING DUSK:AN ANTHOLOGY OF VERSE BY
NEGRO POETS, the 1927 anthology edited by
COUNTEECULLEN. In 1941, ARNABONTEMPSalso
included the poem in Golden Slippers: An Anthology
of Negro Poetry for Young Readers.
Bibliography
Cullen, Countee. Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by
Negro Poets.New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
Holloway, Lucy. Shape Them into Dreams.New York: Ex-
position Press, 1955.Holstein, Casper(1876–1944)
A successful immigrant from St. Croix, Virgin Is-
lands, West Indies, whose generosity financed liter-
ary competitions organized by OPPORTUNITYand
the NATIONALURBANLEAGUE.
Born in Christiansted, St. Croix, Holstein
moved to the United States while a teenager. He had
a colorful career that included stints in the U.S. Navy
and work as a hotel bellhop. He eventually made his
fortune in the profitable, albeit dangerous, world of
gambling. In 1928, a rival gambling organization
headed by Dutch Schultz kidnapped Holstein and
demanded a ransom of $50,000 for his safe return.
Holstein was eventually forced out of the business.
In the early 1920s, Holstein pledged financial
support to Opportunity.He wanted to encourage
African-American literary talent and to foster op-
portunities for interracial harmony. The organiza-
tion believed that Holstein had offered funds for
one set of prizes. In 1925, at the awards dinner for
the first winners, JAMESWELDONJOHNSONan-
nounced another generous Holstein donation and
read aloud an enthusiastic letter from the earnest
patron. In a letter that was republished in the
March 1925 issue of Opportunity,Holstein declared
himself to be a lifelong “firm and enthusiastic be-
liever in the creative genius of the Black Race”
and that “artistic expression among Negroes has
been a source of breathless interest to me.”
Holstein died in April 1944. More than 2,000
mourners attended his funeral service, held at the
Memorial Baptist Church in HARLEM.Bibliography
Holstein, Casper. “The Virgin Islands.” Opportunity(Oc-
tober 1925).Holstein Poetry Prize
A prize named after CASPERHOLSTEIN, an enthu-
siastic patron of talent. The journal OPPORTUNITY,
in conjunction with distinguished independentHolstein Poetry Prize 241