NEGROmovement, provided unprecedented op-
portunities for publishers, potential patrons, writ-
ers, and artists to meet and to network. The Civic
Club dinner led to significant alliances and literary
events, including the historic SURVEY GRAPHIC
special issue on HARLEMthat in turn prompted
ALAINLOCKEto edit the groundbreaking multidis-
ciplinary anthology NEWNEGRO.
“Man Who Wanted to Be Red, The”
Frank Horne(1928)
FRANKHORNE’s fantasy story of prejudice, superi-
ority, and the value of humane and moral treat-
ment of all peoples appeared in the July 1928 issue
of THECRISIS.
The story is set in Ur, a kingdom populated by
the Greener tribe. The protagonist, Juda, is deter-
mined to transform the physical appearance of his
disenfranchised tribe. By doing so, he hopes to lay
claim to the good life enjoyed by the reds, a people
“tall and straight with long hair, golden as the sky
at the break of day” who have “skins a gorgeous
red, like the heart of a flame, and a blazing ruby
and the western sky when the sun goes down.”
Juda is a mixed-race man, born of Moda, a red
tribe member and his former Greener servant, a
woman who “slaved in Moda’s house.” Following
his father’s death, Juda develops scientific experi-
ments that promise to transform his race. He is
thrilled by the prospect of engineering, quite liter-
ally, the emancipation of his people. However, after
a moving encounter with his mother and a re-
minder of the rich cultural history of the Greeners,
Juda abandons his plans. As the story closes, he is
on the verge of exploring ways to transform the op-
pressors instead.
Horne’s story is a thinly veiled allegory of
American society and the history of peoples of
African descent in the United States. It taps into
the theme of PASSINGand also offers a sincere trib-
ute to racial solidarity and cultural survival.
Maran, René (1887–1960)
The first author of African descent to publish a
novel on African experiences under French colo-
nial rule. Maran’s powerful novel, BATOUALA
(1921), earned him the Goncourt Prize, the presti-
gious French literary award, in 1922.
Maran, who was born in 1887 in Martinique,
lived in Gabon and in the Bordeaux region of
FRANCE. After graduating from the Lycée Talence
and the Grand Lycée Michel Montaigne, he joined
the French Colonial Service. Twenty years later, he
settled in Paris and began working as an editorial
staff member for political and literary journals.
Maran published his first novel, Batouala,in- The English title of the work reads Batouala:
A True Black Novel.The work, translated into 50
different languages, focused on the stories of Ba-
touala, an elderly African chief. A member of the
Banda tribe, Batouala and his people are confronted
by the harsh realities of colonial rule. The enthusias-
tic American reception of Batouala,the only one of
his seven novels to be translated into English,
prompted Maran to begin to submit work to Harlem
Renaissance journals such as OPPORTUNITY.
Maran had several close friends and colleagues
in the Harlem Renaissance movement. He collabo-
rated with WALTERWHITEon the French transla-
tion and publication of FIRE IN THE FLINT. He
enjoyed a strong friendship with ALAINLOCKE,
whom he met in Paris in 1924.
Maran, who also published poetry, essays, and
historical works, died in May 1960.
Bibliography
Cook, Mercer. Five French Negro Authors.Washington,
D.C.: The Associated Publishers, 1943.
Irele, Abiola. Literature and Ideology in Martinique: René
Maran, Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon.Buffalo, N.Y.:
State University of New York at Buffalo, 1972.
Ojo-Ade, Femi. René Maran, The Black Frenchman: A
Bio-Critical Study.Washington, D.C.: Three Conti-
nents Press, 1984.Margetson, George Reginald
(1877–unknown)
A native of St. Kitts in the West Indies who be-
came part of the active Harlem Renaissance–era
literary circle there. Like a number of less well-
known Harlem Renaissance writers, Margetson was
unable to devote himself entirely to his writing be-
cause of family obligations and work responsibili-
ties. Margetson began publishing poems in the earlyMargetson, George Reginald 331