the first Negro revolutionary poets” had “[as] a
poet... for ten years or more been almost silent.”
Johnson’s immersion in journalism and the produc-
tion of two magazines clearly took him away from
his writing. In his discussion of Arna Bontemps’s
selfless mentoring of fellow writers, biographer
Kirkland Jones characterizes Johnson as “a morose,
aging poet” and suggests that his “career was
boosted by Arna’s encouragement and by the in-
clusion of several of his poems in the Bontemps-
Hughes anthology” (Jones, 90). In the 1960s
Bontemps was still promoting Johnson’s work and
noted enthusiastically to Langston Hughes that
Johnson’s Works Project Administration poems
were to be published as part of a series, with an in-
troduction that Bontemps would provide. Al-
though Bontemps noted that the volume entitled
42 WPA Poemswas published posthumously, it ap-
pears that the work appeared as a pamphlet enti-
tled The Daily Grindin 1994 and was edited and
published by Paul Breman.
Johnson’s poetry is powerful for what James
Weldon Johnson referred to as its “fatalistic de-
spair.” Yet, poems such as “Children of the Sun”
were soulful exhortations of a race that had borne
up under great oppression. Johnson may have
ceased to believe in true peace on earth, but he in-
vested wholly in the notion of a restorative future.
“We have come through cloud and mist, / Might
men!” he exclaims. “Dusk has kissed our sleep-
born eyes, / Reared for us a mystic throne / In the
splendor of the skies, That shall always be for us,
Children of the Nazarene, Children who shall ever
sing / Liberty! Fraternity!” Other poems such as
“The New Day” maintained his critique of earthly
violence and suffering. They also underscored
Johnson’s deep spiritual belief in a powerful re-
demption and victory ensured by an unwavering
Christian faith.
Johnson published Tales of Darkest America,
a collection of short stories, in 1920. His pre-
Renaissance publications also included “The Ser-
vant,” a story about a young southern domestic’s
maturation in the urban North that appeared in
the August 1912 issue of The Crisis.
Bibliography
Johnson, Fenton. The Daily Grind.London: P. Breman,
1994.
———. A Little Dreaming.1913, reprint, College Park,
Md.: McGrath Publishing Company, 1969.
———. Tales of Darkest America. 1920, reprint,
Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1971.
———. Visions of the Dusk.1915, reprint, Freeport, N.Y.:
Books for Libraries Press, 1971.
Johnson, James Weldon. The Book of American Negro Po-
etry.New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company,
1922.
Jones, Kirkland C. Renaissance Man from Louisiana: A Bi-
ography of Arna Wendell Bontemps.Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood Press, 1992.Johnson, Georgia Douglas(1877–1966)
The entry for Georgia Douglas Johnson in the
1930 Who’s Who of Colored Americaidentified her
as “Housewife—Poet.” Twenty years later, in 1950,
the reference book listed her emphatically only as
“Writer.” Johnson was a dynamic, astute, and tal-
ented leader of the WASHINGTON, D.C., literary
circle during and in the years following the Harlem
Renaissance. Her works were anthologized more
often than those of any other Harlem Renaissance
writer. Her home was one of the most popular and
engaging social and professional forums of the day.
The “Round Table,” as it was called, met weekly
on Saturday evenings and often featured promi-
nent writers, intellectuals, and influential figures of
the day, ranging from W. E. B. DUBOISand AN-
GELINAWELDGRIMKÉto ALAINLOCKEand MAY
MILLERSULLIVAN.
Born Georgia Blanche Douglas Camp, she was
the daughter of George and Laura Camp, who
were both the children of interracial unions. Her
paternal grandfather was a white Englishman who
relocated to the United States and settled in Mari-
etta, Georgia. Her maternal grandfather was an
African-American builder and her grandmother
was of Native American descent. Both died early
and left their oldest daughter, Laura Camp, respon-
sible for her six siblings. Johnson, who was born
during the first of her mother’s three marriages,
had half brothers and a half sister as a result of her
mother’s subsequent unions. Johnson grew up in
Rome, Georgia, and went on to study at the Nor-
mal School affiliated with ATLANTAUNIVERSITY.
Following her graduation in 1893, she pursued
studies in music at the OBERLINCONSERVATORYJohnson, Georgia Douglas 283