Figgs’s own notes in NUGGETS OFGOLD(1921), a
subsequent volume of poetry, Poetic Pearlssold well
and enjoyed “enormous sales.” In her foreword to
the work, Figgs noted that “[i]t has been the great
desire of my heart to scatter sunshine and con-
tribute something to the world.” She declared that
she was “sending this little book out into the
world” and that while she could “not tell into
whose hands this book may fall,” it was her “sin-
cere hope that every one who reads it will find
something interesting and inspiring.”
The volume, which Figgs “lovingly dedicated”
to her mother, consisted of some 23 pieces, includ-
ing a tribute to her deceased father and a copy of a
speech delivered to the Woman’s Mite Missionary
Society in 1919. The first poem in the collection,
“To My Mother,” was an earnest tribute to the
“queenliest woman on earth,” the “woman who
gave me birth,” “who made of me all that I am,”
and “fashioned my life by your own plan.” Addi-
tional poems revealed Figgs’s keen observations of
everyday life, conversations between couples, and
the natural world. In works such as “It’s Hard to
Keep a Good Man Down,” she encouraged her
readers to recognize and to praise the indomitable
will of the man who “may be white... black /...
red or brown” who will “dodge your blow and grow
and go / Because you can’t keep a good man down.”
Melodramatic and tortured poems such as “The
Meanest Man on Earth” and “Lamentations of a
Deceived Woman” infused the volume with notes
of genuine grief, outrage, and sorrow. Figgs also
used Poetic Pearlsto honor her local community and
the inspiring efforts of its African-American resi-
dents. Works such as “Tribute to the Business Men
of Jacksonville” and “The Negro Has Played His
Part” revealed her confidence in the African-Amer-
ican spirit and history of achievement. “Today finds
[the Negro] progressive, / No more content with
that ox cart,” she writes in “The Negro Has Played
His Part,” before assuring “America, dear America /
Mother of all Americans thou art” that she “need
not grieve” since “your black boy won’t leave / He’s
going to stay and continue to do his part.”
Although Figgs does not appear to have been
part of a cohesive Harlem Renaissance literary
community, her efforts to publish reveal the
widespread allure of literature during this time
and testify to the breadth of African-American lit-
erary tradition.
Bibliography
Clifford, Carrie Williams, and Carrie Law Morgan Figgs.
Writings of Carrie Williams Clifford and Carrie Law
Morgan Figgs with an introduction by P. Jane Splawn.
New York: G. K. Hall & Co., 1997.Popel, Esther A. B.(1896–1958)
A poet whose work appeared in major Harlem Re-
naissance publications such as THECRISIS, and
OPPORTUNITY. She was educated in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, and became the first woman of color
to attend Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. She
graduated PHIBETAKAPPAin 1919, having im-
mersed herself in foreign-language studies. After
college, Popel began a short stint as a civil servant
before moving to WASHINGTON, D.C. There, she
capitalized on her undergraduate studies and
began teaching French and Spanish at the junior
high school level.
Popel was part of the lively literary salon com-
munity hosted by GEORGIADOUGLASJOHNSONin
Washington, D.C., and she emerged as a Harlem
Renaissance writer during the mid-1920s. In the
1924–25 Opportunityliterary contest, she earned a
second-place honorable mention for her poem
“Symphonies” and a first-place honorable mention
for her personal sketch “Cat and the Saxophone.”
Her impressive showings in the competition moti-
vated her to submit additional work for considera-
tion. She published the majority of her poems in
Opportunitybut also saw her work appear in The
Crisisand in the Journal of Negro Life.In 1934 she
published A Forest Pool with the Washington,
D.C.–based company Modernistic Press.
According to scholars Lorraine Roses and
Ruth Randolph, Popel enjoyed an active public life
in the capital, one informed by her membership in
the Lincoln Memorial Congregational Temple and
participation in women’s uplift organizations.Bibliography
Roses, Lorraine Elena, and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph.
Harlem’s Glory: Black Women Writing, 1900–1950.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996.Popo and Fifina: Children of Haiti
Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes(1932)
A novel for children on which ARNABONTEMPSand
LANGSTONHUGHES, lifelong friends, collaborated.Popo and Fifina: Children of Haiti 427