Wallace, Margaret. “A Tale of the Slave Revolt in Haiti.”
New York Times,7 May 1939, BR4.
Book of American Negro Poetry, The
James Weldon Johnson(1922)
The first comprehensive anthology of poetry by
20th-century African-American poets. The editor
of the volume, JAMESWELDONJOHNSON, used a
JULIUSROSENWALDFELLOWSHIPto fund a year-
long leave from the NAACP during which time he
prepared the volume for publication. The table of
contents included well-known and emerging poets
and often included several poems by each of the
writers listed. Johnson chose 40 poets for publica-
tion in the anthology; of this number, seven were
women: GWENDOLYNBENNETT,ALICEDUNBAR-
NELSON,JESSIE FAUSET,GEORGIA DOUGLAS
JOHNSON,HELENEJOHNSON,ANNESPENCER, and
Lucy Ariel Williams.
In his introduction, Johnson offered several
evaluations of African-American literary practice.
He praised the use of authentic Negro sources,
noting that several of the featured writers “have
dug down into the genuine folk stuff” and made
the distinction between this material and “the arti-
ficial folk stuff of the dialect school.” Johnson
lamented the fact that in the body of African-
American poetry “not stimulated by a sense of
race,” he could not identify “one single poem pos-
sessing the power and artistic finality found in the
best of the poems rising out of racial conflict and
contact.” Like Pauline Hopkins and Jessie Fauset,
he believed that African Americans were best
equipped to write, and even responsible for gener-
ating, the passionate, incisive race literature that
would document the evolution, struggles, and tri-
umphs of the race.
Book of American Negro Spirituals (1925)
A songbook edited by J. Rosamond Johnson, the
composer of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and his
brother JAMES WELDON JOHNSON, the writer,
NAACP executive, and editor. The volume, pub-
lished by Viking Press, included an introduction by
James and arrangements of the spirituals by J.
Rosamond. The popularity of the volume
prompted the Johnsons to publish The Second Book
of Negro Spiritualsin 1926.Book-of-the-Month Club
The national book network that was established in- In 1934 it offered to its members BEALE
STREET:WHERE THEBLUESBEGANby GEORGELEE.
This was the first work by an African-American
author that the organization included in its cata-
log. In 1945 RICHARD WRIGHT’s just-published
novel Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth
was one of the selections included in the book
club’s offerings.
Born to BeTaylor Gordon(1935)
The autobiography of TAYLORGORDON, a young
man from White Sulphur Springs, Montana, and a
singer during the 1920s. His story included anec-
dotes about his colorful work experiences as a
chauffeur, cook, messenger, and singer. Well-
known Harlem Renaissance personalities endorsed
the volume, including CARLVANVECHTEN, who
penned the introduction, and Miguel Covarrubias,
who provided the illustrations.Boston
The Harlem Renaissance had satellite communities
of writers beyond NEWYORKCITY. The city of
Boston and its suburbs of Brookline and Cambridge,
for example, were home to writers, editors, and jour-
nalists such as DOROTHYWEST,WILLIAMSTANLEY
BRAITHWAITE, Florence Marion Henderson, and
MARITABONNER. A number of the black intellec-
tual elite had ties to the city and its educational in-
stitutions. HARVARD UNIVERSITY students and
graduates included W. E. B. DUBOIS, the school’s
first African-American Ph.D., JOSEPHDANDRIDGE
BIBB, cofounder of the CHICAGOWHIP,and RAY-
MONDPACEALEXANDER, a law school graduate.
Marita Bonner attended RADCLIFFECOLLEGE.
Like WASHINGTON, D.C., PHILADELPHIA, and
HARLEM, Boston also hosted its own Renaissance-
era literary salons and literary journals. The SATUR-
DAYEVENINGQUILLCLUB, founded in 1925 and led
by EUGENEGORDON, sustained a literary journal of
the same name. The magazine introduced a numberBoston 59