Universal Life Insurance in 1927. An active com-
munity member and leader of the Republican Party
of Tennessee, he also was a member of the Ameri-
can Legion, the Elks, and the Omega Psi Phi frater-
nity. He made his home in Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1934 Lee made his literary debut with the
novel BEALESTREET:WHERE THEBLUESBEGAN.
W. C. HANDY, the legendary blues musician and
Lee’s friend, provided the foreword. The novel,
which was included in the BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH
CLUBofferings for 1934, was inspired by Memphis
and its rich music history. In 1937 Lee published
his second novel, RIVERGEORGE.His third novel,
Beale Street Sundown,appeared in 1942.
Bibliography
Tucker, David. Lieutenant Lee of Beale Street.Nashville:
Vanderbilt University Press, 1971.
Lee, Ulysses (unknown)
Coeditor with STERLING BROWN and ARTHUR
DAVISof the 1941 anthology The Negro Caravan.
Lenox Avenue
A major thoroughfare in HARLEM. The well-
known entertainment area known as Jungle Alley
ran between Seventh Avenue and Lenox Avenue
and included such legendary venues as the elegant
COTTON CLUB, the opulent Savoy Ballroom,
which came to be known as “The World’s Most
Beautiful Ballroom,” and the Lenox Lounge, which
opened in 1939 and was the venue in which Billie
Holliday first performed “Strange Fruit,” the most
powerful song written about LYNCHING.
Lenox Avenue inspired writers, including
LANGSTONHUGHES, whose poem “Lenox Avenue:
Midnight” captures the complexity of life in
Harlem. In “The Weary Blues” (1923), Hughes
crafts a haunting image of an African-American
musician playing “[d]own on Lenox Avenue the
other night / By the pale dull pallor of an old gas
light.” The poem continues, calling attention to
the artist’s unself-conscious and expressive ges-
tures: “He did a lazy sway... / He did a lazy
sway... / To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.”
Lenox Avenue was one of the primary routes
into and through Harlem. Major cultural and intel-
lectual sites located on this busy road include the
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
The avenue is now known as Malcolm X Boulevard.Let My People GoLillian Wood(1922)
A novel by LILLIANWOODwhose title evokes the
powerful Old Testament challenge that the prophet
Moses issued to Pharaoh. In the Book of Exodus,
chapter 5, verse 1, Moses relays God’s command to
the Pharaoh, who holds Jews in bondage: “Let My
people go that they may come and worship Me.”
Wood’s book, published by the African Methodist
Episcopal Church’s publishing house, also considers
the plight of oppressed people and the heroic efforts
needed to secure their freedom and existence in a
promised land of stability.
The protagonists are a young married couple,
Helen Adams and Bob McComb. The novel chron-
icles their maturation as professionals and activists.
Helen becomes a nurse, and Bob joins the army
during World War I. The couple ultimately move to
CHICAGO and intensifies their efforts to secure
racial harmony. Bob becomes a member of
Congress. There, he uses his influence and passion
for civil rights to pass antilynching legislation.
The publication of Wood’s novel coincided
with historic public and federal debates about
LYNCHINGand antilynching legislation. In 1918,
four years before her novel appeared, Congressman
Dyer of Missouri introduced the most significant
modern antilynching legislation ever brought to
Capitol Hill. The NATIONALASSOCIATION FOR
THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
(NAACP), which raised concerns about the po-
tential unconstitutionality of the bill at first, ulti-
mately supported the legislation. By 1919 the
NAACP argued that the passage of the bill would
demonstrate federal support for civil rights and
constitute an emphatic condemnation of mob vio-
lence and brutal racial oppression. In January 1922
the Dyer Bill passed in the House. A Senate fili-
buster prevented it from becoming law.
Wood’s novel explored the volatile issues of
lynching. In the face of concerted opposition to
antilynching amendments during the administra-
tions of Woodrow Wilson and Warren Harding,
Wood demonstrated the ways in which antilynch-
ing legislation could be realized.Let My People Go 309