Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes: I, Too,
Sing America.Vol. 1, 1902–1941.New York: Oxford
University Press, 1986.
Sylvander, Cheryl. Jessie Redmon Fauset, Black American
Writer.Troy, N.Y.: Whitson Pub. Co., 1981.
Wall, Cheryl. Women of the Harlem Renaissance.Bloom-
ington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Fernandis, Sarah Collins(1863–1951)
A teacher and social welfare activist who was born
in Maryland to Caleb and Mary Jane Collins. She
attended the Hampton Normal and Agricultural
Institute and composed the alma mater song that
still is used today. She graduated from Hampton in
- In 1906 she enrolled in the New York School
of Philanthropy, the institution that is now the
COLUMBIAUNIVERSITYSchool of Social Work.
Fernandis pursued a career in teaching and was
employed in public schools throughout the South.
At one point, her teaching assignment in Florida
was organized by the Woman’s Home Missionary
Society of Boston, a regional chapter of the na-
tional organization dedicated to the support of
American women and children. In the early 1900s
she was a tireless advocate for the poor of WASH-
INGTON, D.C. Her efforts on behalf of the commu-
nity in the Bloodfield area resulted in a settlement
program that included day care facilities, domestic
training classes, and a public library. In Baltimore
she founded the Co-Operative Civic League, an
African-American branch of the white Women’s
Civic League, and supported efforts to improve
urban life for families and children in the area. In
the years leading up to and following World War I,
Fernandis intensified her activism and civil rights
work. She published numerous articles in the
SOUTHERN WORKMAN, the Hampton University
journal dedicated to racial and ethnic matters that
also published writers such as CHARLESCHESNUTT.
These writings documented her campaigns for fair
housing, racial uplift, and community development.
Fernandis, who married John Fernandis in
1902, was a well-published community leader when
she published her first and only volume of poetry in - Poemsand Visionincluded a number of pieces
published previously in the Southern Workman.In
1924 her work was chosen for inclusion in ANAN-
THOLOGY OFVERSE BYAMERICANNEGROES,the
collection edited by NEWMANIVEY WHITE and
WALTERCLINTONJACKSON. Fernandis, who wrote
extensively about her work in black settlements,
was an impassioned poet. In poems such as “The
Children’s Open Door,” she raised public awareness
about poverty. Other works recalled her experi-
ences of black solidarity and triumph. Patriotism
was another key theme for Fernandis. She com-
posed several works in honor of black soldiers, in-
cluding “The Troops at Carrizal,” a poem about the
Tenth Cavalry troops who fought against Mexican
soldiers at Carrizal, Mexico. “Our Colored Sol-
diery” and “Our Allegiance” were rousing poems
that applauded African-American patriotism in the
face of continued racism and disenfranchisement.
Bibliography
“Alma Mater.” Hampton University. Available online.
URL: http://www.hamptonu.edu/about/alma_mater.
htm. Accessed May 20, 2005.
Roses, Lorraine Elena, and Ruth Elizabeth Randolph.
Harlem’s Glory: Black Women Writing, 1900–1950.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996.
Rush, Theressa, Carol Myers, and Esther Arata. Black
American Writers Past and Present: A Biographical
And Bibliographical Dictionary. Metuchen, N.J.:
Scarecrow Press, 1975.
Yenser, Thomas, ed., Who’s Who in Colored America.
Brooklyn: Yenser, 1932.
Ferris, William Henry(1874–1941)
A writer and ordained minister whose activities
during the Harlem Renaissance were linked closely
to MARCUSGARVEYand the UNITEDNEGROIM-
PROVEMENTASSOCIATION(UNIA).
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, to David
and Sarah Ann Ferris, he went on to graduate
from YALEUNIVERSITYin 1895. He earned mas-
ter’s degrees at Yale and at HARVARDUNIVERSITY
and studied for two years at the Harvard Divinity
School. In the early 1910s Ferris pastored churches
in North Carolina and Massachusetts.
Ferris’s turn toward politics included writing
stints at the Boston Guardian,the fiercely anti-
accommodationist paper edited by WILLIAM
MONROETROTTER. He also worked with W. E. B.
DUBOISon matters relating to the Niagara Move-
ment, and with JOHNEDWARDBRUCEand the
Ferris, William Henry 155