story closes as Watson, disoriented by his betrayal
and his own willingness to marry into the race he
despises, boards a French train without a clear
sense of his own destination.
“Wedding Day,” Bennett’s only published
work of fiction, reflected her efforts to assess the
damage of racism, the various manifestations of
race pride, and the survival strategies that Ameri-
cans of color used to preserve their sense of pur-
pose and possibility.
Weeden, Lula Lowe (1918– )
A teacher, poet, and literary phenomenon who was
only nine years old when six of her poems were se-
lected for inclusion in CAROLINGDUSK:ANAN-
THOLOGY OF NEGRO VERSE, the prestigious
volume edited by COUNTEECULLEN. A native of
Lynchburg, Virginia, she was the daughter of Lula
and Henry Weeden, a dentist. The family lived ad-
jacent to ANNESPENCER, a gifted poet, active
member of the WASHINGTON, D.C., literary com-
munity, and avid horticulturist. Spencer mentored
the young girl and was one of her most attentive
teachers.
In his introduction to Caroling Dusk,Cullen
savored the valuable perspectives that Weeden
brought to the collection. As the “youngest poet in
the volume... [she] is too young to realize that
she is colored in an environment calculated to im-
press her daily with the knowledge of this pigmen-
tary anomaly.” Despite her gift for writing and
demonstrated promise, Weeden ceased writing
during her teenage years.
We Lift Our Voices and Other Poems
Mae Cowdery(1936)
The only volume of poetry that MAE COWDERY
published during the Harlem Renaissance. The vol-
ume included an introduction by critic WILLIAM
STANLEYBRAITHWAITE.
Cowdery, who showed great promise as a poet,
published in leading journals of the day including
THECRISISand OPPORTUNITY.Her work also was
included in special magazine issues and anthologies
devoted to African-American writing. We Lift Our
Voicesincluded a range of Cowdery’s work and
demonstrated her straightforward writing style, in-
terest in nature, and efforts to praise and celebrate
individuals with whom she was familiar.Wells-Barnett, Ida B.(1862–1931)
An intrepid journalist, eloquent social critic, femi-
nist, and tireless antilynching activist. Wells over-
came great family tragedy to become the most
influential advocate in the United States against
LYNCHING.
A native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, she was
born into slavery in July 1862. Wells-Barnett was
the first of eight children of James and Elizabeth
Wells, whose mixed-race ancestries included white,
Native American, and African heritage. In 1878 a
devastating yellow fever epidemic claimed the lives
of both parents and one of the Wells children. Al-
though she was only 16 years old at the time,
Wells-Barnett insisted on keeping the family to-
gether and worked to provide for them all.
Before becoming a journalist, Wells-Barnett
was a teacher. She obtained her own schooling at
Rust College, the institution formerly known as
SHAWUNIVERSITY. It was adversity and racism
that propelled Wells-Barnett to begin her lifelong
crusade against injustice. One of the most well-
known incidents involved her refusal to surrender
her first-class ticket and ride in the smoker car of a
Chesapeake and Ohio train. She won a settlement
of $500 but was denied her rightful claim when the
Tennessee Supreme Court overruled the decision.
The savage lynching of three close friends in
1892 galvanized Wells-Barnett into action. She
was determined to protest vigorously the deaths of
Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and William
Stewart by a mob in Memphis. In the pages of the
Free Speech,the outspoken newspaper where she
worked as editor and partner, Wells made pointed
critiques of white mob violence and the myths in
which lynchers invested in order to justify their
lawlessness. Her articles prompted some whites to
destroy the Free Speech offices and to threaten
Wells-Barnett with bodily harm if she ever re-
turned to the city.
Wells-Barnett was an impressive lecturer, and
her presentations to American and to European
audiences did much to raise awareness about
American racial violence and injustice. In 1913,
she established the Alpha Suffrage Club inWells-Barnett, Ida B. 557