the North and proves that harmful racial stereo-
types, so quickly applied by both whites and blacks
in certain situations, are unreliable and faulty.
Boni, Albert (1892–1981) andCharles
(unknown)
The two men who founded the Boni publishing
firm that later incorporated HORACELIVERIGHT
and became the publishing house of BONI&LIV-
ERIGHT. They participated in events such as the
NAACP literary contest celebrations, gatherings
that celebrated black writers of the period and fa-
cilitated productive relationships among them,
publishers, and patrons. It was their firm that in
1925 published ALAINLOCKE’s influential anthol-
ogy THENEWNEGRO.
Bibliography
Johnson, Abby Arthur, and Ronald Maberry Johnson.
Propaganda & Aesthetics: The Literary Politics of
African American Magazines in the Twentieth Cen-
tury.Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 1979.
Boni & Liveright Publishers
The press headed by ALBERTand CHARLESBONI
and HORACELIVERIGHT. Characterized as a “young
daring, unconventional” press, it established a solid
reputation for itself by publishing THEODORE
DREISER, Ezra Pound, William Faulkner, and other
major white writers.
Boni and Liveright also achieved prominence
as one of the presses that made significant contribu-
tions to the Harlem Renaissance. JEANTOOMER’s
CANE(1923) was one of the first African-American
works that the press published. One year later, Ho-
race Liveright oversaw the publication of THEREIS
CONFUSION,the first novel of JESSIEFAUSET. The
press took its commitment to authors seriously and
in Fauset’s case, generated extensive publicity for
the novel that launched her career. They created
many enthusiastic advertisements and when sales
proved to be good, invested quickly in a second edi-
tion of the book. Boni and Liveright set a new stan-
dard in the publishing industry in their treatment of
African-American writers, a point noted by Floyd
Calvin in the Pittsburgh Courier.Calvin was con-
vinced that the publicity “mark[s] the beginning of
a new era in the treatment of colored authors” (Syl-
vander, 71). Boni and Liveright also published
TROPICDEATH(1926) by ERICWALROND.Bibliography
Sylvander, Cheryl. Jessie Redmon Fauset, Black American
Writer.Troy, N.Y.: Whitson, 1981.Bonner, Marita Odette(1899–1971)
A prolific writer of fiction, short stories, plays, and
essays and known best for her writings of stark and
tragic works of social realism.
She was one of four children born to Joseph
Andrew Bonner, a machinist, and his wife, Mary
Anne Noel Bonner. Sadly, Marita, who was born in
Brookline, Massachusetts, was the only Bonner
child to survive childhood. After graduating from
Brookline High School, where she began to culti-
vate her interests in music and German, Bonner
attended RADCLIFFECOLLEGE. There, she majored
in English and comparative literature. Although
racially discriminatory college residential policies
denied her accommodations in the campus dormi-
tories, she cultivated real school spirit and was one
of the college’s most enthusiastic students. It was
she who composed her class song and also founded
the college’s chapter of DELTA SIGMA THETA.
Bonner’s talent earned her a coveted place in the
highly selective writing seminar of Professor
Charles Copeland. As a result of her continued im-
mersion in creative writing, Bonner began to pub-
lish while in college. She also began a lengthy and
impressive career as a teacher. While still an un-
dergraduate, she began teaching at Cambridge
High School. In 1922, following her graduation,
she began teaching in Virginia at the Bluefield Col-
ored Institute. She then relocated to WASHING-
TON, D.C., where she joined the faculty at
Armstrong High School and taught English from
1925 through 1930.
In the capital, Bonner became part of an ac-
tive literary circle. She joined the well-known liter-
ary salon that GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON
hosted at her home. Attendees at the popular
weekly gatherings included LANGSTONHUGHES,
RUDOLPHFISHER,RICHARDBRUCENUGENT, and
ANGELINAGRIMKÉ. It was in this supportive envi-
ronment that Bonner completed some of her best52 Boni, Albert and Charles