Butler, Anna Mabel Land(1901–1989)
An editor, journalist, and poet whose father, John
Weaver Land, worked as a hotel doorman and was
a published poet. Butler grew up in Atlantic City,
New Jersey. During the Harlem Renaissance, Butler
published poems in the PITTSBURGHCOURIER.It
was not until the 1950s, however, that she began
publishing the first of her three collections of poems.
Butler, Bennie(unknown)
A drama critic for the INTER-STATETATTLER,a
NEW YORKCITY–based newspaper. Butler, who
also contributed society column articles and
worked as managing editor, paid particular atten-
tion to African-American productions.
Bynner, Witter (1881–1968)
A poet and anthologist who supported the efforts
of Harlem Renaissance writers. He accepted the
invitation issued by CHARLESS. JOHNSONto judge
the entries in the first literary contest sponsored by
OPPORTUNITYand the NATIONALURBANLEAGUE.
He participated alongside other recognizable liter-
ary personalities, including FANNIE HURST and
ROBERTBENCHLEY. In 1925 Bynner was one of the
judges in the OpportunityPrize competition and at-
tended the dinner held at the Fifth Avenue Hotel
to celebrate the winners.
Bibliography
Bontemps, Arna. The Harlem Renaissance Remembered:
Essays Edited with a Memoir.New York: Dodd,
Mead, 1972.By Sanction of LawHenry Joshua Jones
(1924)
A novel of interracial romance in the South, writ-
ten by HENRYJOSHUAJONES, and published by the
B. J. Brimmer Company of BOSTON, the same com-
pany that in 1922 published GEORGIADOUGLAS
JOHNSON’s second volume of poetry, BRONZE.
Jones, who dedicated the novel to his father and to
Mayor James Curley, “the man [he] revere[d] and
most deeply respect[ed]” after his father, offered a
forthright preface to his novel. He noted that the
book was, in some ways, factual and that he had
used discretion when revealing or shrouding the
identity of certain locations. He confessed that his
novel was a work of racial outreach, one meant to
bridge the gaps between the races: “[h]aving lived
and battled in a world of prejudice, knowing that
under the skin I was and am no white different
than any other human being, and knowing the fal-
lacy of race prejudice, also the swiftness with
which race prejudice vanishes when we know one
another, I have tried to show how all can dwell
side by side.”70 Butler, Anna Mabel Land