are willing to lie about the parson’s behavior in
order to have him fired. Just as they begin to con-
vince themselves that he may be living above his
means, and thus shaming his poor congregation,
the parson himself appears at the house. In an in-
stant, the annoyed parishioners begin to praise him,
and no one will own up to making any allegations
against him. The play ends as the group stands for a
prayer that asks God to “smile down in tender mer-
cies upon those who have lied, and those who have
not lied... and direct Parson Procrastinator’s feet
toward the railroad track.” The lack of resolution
prompts the group to disintegrate once more, and
the curtain comes down before any cohesive and
sincere plan for the church can be developed.
Judges EUGENEO’NEILL, Charles Burroughs,
and Lester Walton awarded Gaines-Shelton sec-
ond prize in the 1925 CRISISliterary contest. First
and third prizes went to WILLISRICHARDSONfor
THEBROKENBANJOand to MYRTLESMITHLIV-
INGSTONfor FORUNBORNCHILDREN,respectively.
The Church Fightwas a pointed satire on church
politics and a humorous critique of human nature.
Bibliography
Brown-Guillory, Elizabeth. Their Place on the Stage: Black
Women Playwrights in America.New York: Praeger,
1990.
“City of Refuge” Rudolph Fisher(1925)
Written by RUDOLPHFISHERduring his medical
training at Columbia University and published in
the February 1925 issue of THE ATLANTIC
MONTHLY, the prestigious New England literary
magazine in which CHARLESCHESNUTTwas the
first African-American writer to see his works pub-
lished. This was the first story that Fisher, who
went on to write a diverse number of short stories,
essays, and novels, published.
A story about black migration, the lure of the
streets, and social violence in and beyond the
South, “City of Refuge” told the tale of King
Solomon Gillis, a man whose regal name belied his
need to escape the threat of LYNCHINGin North
Carolina. HARLEMis the “city of refuge” to which
Gillis flees, but it eventually proves to be anything
but a sanctuary. The first sight that he beholds
when he arrives in Harlem is that of an African-
American police officer intimidating a white mo-
torist. The role reversals are stunning, but they
also suggest how vulnerable Gillis might be in this
wholly unfamiliar environment. Ultimately, he be-
comes a pawn in a drug ring, is threatened with ar-
rest, and attacks the officers who want to take him
into custody. In the melee that ensues, Gillis real-
izes that the officer he is fighting is the same man
whom he saw disciplining the white driver. The
story closes as he smiles, seemingly aware of the
ironic justice and injustice of his situation.Bibliography
Lenz, Gunter. “Symbolic Space, Communal Rituals, and
the Surreality of the Urban Ghetto: Harlem in
Black Literature from the 1920s to the 1960s,”
Callaloo35 (spring 1988): 309–345.
McCluskey, John Jr. The City of Refuge: The Collected Sto-
ries of Rudolph Fisher.Columbia: University of Mis-
souri Press, 1987.Civic Club
An entertainment venue in HARLEMthat, unlike
the COTTONCLUB, freely admitted both black and
white patrons. It was there in 1924 that OPPORTU-
NITYeditor CHARLESS. JOHNSONhosted what be-
came a legendary pre-Harlem Renaissance party: a
celebration to honor JESSIEFAUSETand to mark
the publication of THEREISCONFUSION,her first
novel.Clark, Mazie Earhart(1874–1958)
A poet whose poems reflected her feelings of great
personal loss. Clark lost her mother when she was
five years old and later in life lost her husband pre-
maturely as well. She published her poems, some of
which were elegies for the World War I dead, in a
number of periodicals and in at least two collected
volumes: LIFE’SSUNSHINE ANDSHADOWS(1929),
for which she used the pseudonym Fannie B.
Steele, and GARDEN OFMEMORIES(1932).Bibliography
Roses, Lorraine Elena, and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph.
Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies
of 100 Black Women Writers, 1900–1945.Boston: G.
K. Hall & Co., 1990.82 “City of Refuge”