that God has for her life. It is Aunt Sabriny who
suggests that Leah could become a bride of God, a
woman devoted to good works and one who does
not have to join the convent in order to do so.
Leah takes her aunt’s advice and for the next 20
years becomes an invaluable member of the com-
munity. She remains unmarried even though she
has ample opportunity to accept the attentions of
other suitors. One night, as she is contemplating
the life that she has led and wondering whether or
not she might have been wrong to stay single, she
is reunited with Aleck. In a rushed conversation,
he tells her of his years of misfortune and the fact
that he is now on the run from the law because he
might have killed a local overseer. He begs Leah to
give him shelter from the mob that is in hot pur-
suit. Before she can agree, he has sequestered him-
self in the house, and she then directs him to hide
himself in the attic. She faces down the would-be
lynchers who storm down upon the house and is in
the process of fending off the police who arrive
shortly thereafter. Aleck emerges and surrenders
even though it appears that Leah is on the verge of
successfully defending herself and her home from
invasion and inspection. The story closes as she
tells Aleck that he has not ruined her life because
“[n]o man kin spoil the life of a Bride o’ God.”
Wynbush’s story of fugitives and love betrayed,
like the controversial NELLALARSENstory entitled
“SANCTUARY,” explores the bravery of women and
their commitment to racial solidarity even when
they have suffered greatly.
“Brief Biography of Fletcher J. Mosely”
Theophilus Lewis(1924)
A tragic love story by THEOPHILUSLEWISin which
a spurned woman employs voodoo to win back her
lover but ultimately sets in motion the events that
bring about his death by LYNCHING. Lewis’s well-
paced and evocative prose tells the story of two
hotel employees and the racial tensions that make
it a microcosm of the larger, volatile white south-
ern world.
Fletcher Josephus Mosely loves Miranda Mi-
natree and eventually asks her to marry him. After
proposing, however, Mosely attempts to break off
the engagement. Miranda seeks help from a
voodoo priestess, who warns her that a spell can
bring back and turn away the person in question.
When Mosely attempts to steal the ring from his
ex-fiancée’s room, she mistakes him for a burglar
and flings magic powder in his eyes. As he stum-
bles away, Mosely accidentally enters the room of
Anna, a vivacious blonde employee. His boss, who
hated to see any hint of familiarity between the
two, thinks that she is being attacked. Anna lies
about the event and thus justifies the mob’s pursuit
of Mosely. The story ends with the brief note that
Mosely has been lynched and a reference to Mi-
randa, who believes that it was the spell, rather
than any unfortunate act of hers, that drove
Mosely into the white woman’s room.
The story appeared in the July 1924 issue of
The MESSENGER.Briggs, Cyril Valentine(1888–unknown)
A founder of the AFRICAN BLACK BROTHER-
HOOD, a Marxist organization begun sometime be-
fore 1920 by West Indian intellectuals that
actively protested segregation and racial inequal-
ity. Briggs was also the editor of the New
York–based AMSTERDAMNEWS,the platform from
which he delivered numerous editorials on issues
of the day. He lodged a successful suit against
MARCUSGARVEY, whom he had supported in ear-
lier years, after the Jamaican leader accused
Briggs, an extremely light-skinned black man, of
having “white” attitudes.Bright, Nellie Rathborne(ca. 1902–1976)
Born to West Indian parents in Savannah, Georgia,
Nellie Bright grew up in PHILADELPHIA. The
daughter of an Episcopal minister, Bright came of
age as a writer in the supportive black literary com-
munity of the city. After graduating from the
Philadelphia School of Pedagogy and the UNIVER-
SITY OFPENNSYLVANIA, she began teaching in the
city’s public school system. She soon joined the
BLACKOPALSgroup that included BESSIEBIRD,
MAECOWDERY, and ARTHURHUFFFAUSET, a fel-
low city school teacher. She published in Black
Opalsand in OPPORTUNITY,the journal in which
“BLACK,” her essay about her developing racial
consciousness, won third prize in the magazine’s
1927 literary contest.Bright, Nellie Rathborne 63