gender. The volume, whose subtitle is “Stories
about Negro Life in America,” contains stories that
shed light on the “black-belt thesis,” a Russian
communist belief that the American South could
not only function as a black nation but also could
be groomed to become a part of what Baldwin re-
ferred to as the “global Soviet.”
Bibliography
Baldwin, Kate. Beyond the Color Line and the Iron Cur-
tain: Reading Encounters Between Black and Red,
1922–1923.Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press,
2002.
Sugar CainFrank Wilson(1926)
A one-act play by actor and playwright FRANK
WILSONthat won first prize in the 1926 OPPORTU-
NITYliterary contest. Set in Waynesboro, Georgia,
the play revolves around sexual violence, the
threat of LYNCHING, and one family’s efforts to pre-
serve their honor and integrity in the face of a
daughter’s alleged sexual impropriety. The Cain
family lives in an extremely modest home, one that
the stage directions characterize as the abode of
“honest, but poor people.” The daughter Celia,
known by the nickname Sugar, is overwhelmed by
the gossip and secrets surrounding the birth of her
child, Ora. Her parents are convinced that the fa-
ther is a young and enterprising man named
Howard who has gone north for his education.
Paul Cain has threatened to kill Howard, and
Sugar is paralyzed with fear when she learns that
Howard has returned to the neighborhood.
Paul Cain and his son Fred are engaged in
fretful conversations about their white neighbors,
the Draytons, and about white people in general.
Fred believes that his father places too much stock
in whites; Paul, in turn, suggests that Lee Drayton,
the son of the widowed Mary Drayton, is “alright”
and that subterfuge and feigned submission, not vi-
olence, are the most effective way to best white
people and to provide for his family. When
Howard appears, Paul Cain attempts to shoot him,
and the explosive scene forces Sugar to reveal the
secret about the child’s paternity. The ne’er-do-
well boy Lee Drayton attacked her when she took
laundry down to the Drayton home. In addition to
assaulting her, he then threatened to call down the
KUKLUXKLANupon her family if she ever re-
vealed what had happened. In a desperate attempt
to save Howard’s life, she reveals once again that
Lee Drayton is the father of her child. In the flurry
of fevered activity that follows, Howard attacks
Drayton, the Cains believe that a lynch mob is de-
scending upon their house, and Fred Cain saves
Mary Drayton from a fire in her home. The play
ends as the Cains find out that Lee Drayton,
wounded in the encounter with Howard, crawled
into his mother’s home and died there in the fire.
The play is a powerful narrative that focuses
on the ramifications of sexual oppression, the
tyranny of racial intimidation, and the power of
heroic and divine intervention.Sugar Hill
A HARLEMneighborhood that was home to the
African-American aristocracy. Located between
145th and 155th Streets and between Edgecombe
and Amsterdam Avenues, the area included the
famous apartment building at 409 Edgecombe Av-
enue that was known simply as 409.
Among the intellectual and social elite who
lived in Sugar Hill were WILLIAM STANLEY
BRAITHWAITE,W. E. B. DUBOIS,AARONDOU-
GLAS, Thurgood Marshall, WALTERWHITE, and
Roy Wilkins. DUKE ELLINGTON’s “Take the A
Train (Up to Sugar Hill)” (1940) is a tribute to the
prestigious neighborhood that still is thriving
today.Bibliography
Bailey, S. Peter, A. Peter Bailey, Edith J. Slade, and David
N. Dinkins. Harlem Today: A Cultural and Visitors
Guide.New York: Gumbs & Thomas Publishers,
1986.
Watson, Steven. The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of
African-American Culture, 1920–1930.New York:
Pantheon Books, 1995.Sullivan, May Miller(1899–1995)
A playwright, poet, and active member of the
WASHINGTON, D.C., literary and cultural circles
during the Harlem Renaissance. She was one of
five children born to KELLYMILLERand his wife
Anna May Butler Miller. Her father was a talentedSullivan, May Miller 501