COUNTEECULLEN’s acclaimed 1927 volume CAR-
OLINGDUSKand in well-known periodicals such as
THECRISISand OPPORTUNITY.The publication of
Hughes’s first novel, NOTWITHOUTLAUGHTER,
coincided with the pamphlet’s appearance.
In 1954 Hughes collaborated with Cuney and
Bruce McWright, another former Lincoln Univer-
sity student, and produced Lincoln University Poets.
Bibliography
Berry, Faith. Langston Hughes: Before and Beyond Harlem.
Westport, Conn.: Lawrence Hill & Company, 1983.
Four Negro PoetsAlain Locke, ed.(1927)
A pamphlet edited by ALAINLOCKEthat featured
previously published works of COUNTEECULLEN,
LANGSTONHUGHES,CLAUDEMCKAY, and JEAN
TOOMER. Simon & Schuster published the collec-
tion of diverse works by accomplished poets of the
period in 1927. It was part of the “The Pamphlet
Poets” series. The affordable paperback pamphlets
showcased the works of American poets. Each
copy included a biographical profile and brief dis-
cussions of the writer’s work. Previously featured
writers included Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vin-
cent Millay, and Carl Sandburg.
Published two years after his foundational col-
lection of African-American writing, THE NEW
NEGRO, the volume further established Locke’s
role as a public historian of the Harlem Renais-
sance. Four Negro Poetsled to his appointment as
editor of additional series on black writers.
France
A vibrant and empowering destination for many
Harlem Renaissance writers. It was the country in
which many members, including writers like
CHARLESS. JOHNSON, celebrated musician JAMES
REESEEUROPE, and their fellow soldiers in the leg-
endary 369th Regiment known as the Hellfighters,
saw action and became the first black troops to
fight in World War I.
Harlem Renaissance–era writers, artists, pa-
trons, and scholars traveled to France. Expatriates
included the exotic JOSEPHINEBAKERand pioneer-
ing scholar ALAINLOCKE, and represented the full
spectrum of the African-American community. In
1925 the educator and feminist author ANNA
JULIACOOPERbecame the first black woman to
earn a Ph.D. when she graduated, at age 67, from
the SORBONNE.GUGGENHEIMand HARMONFel-
lowships enabled poet COUNTEECULLENto spend
one year in France shortly after the publication of
COLOR, his notable first book. CLAUDEMCKAY,
suffering from a severe case of influenza while in
France, was rescued by his newly acquired patron
LOUISEBRYANTBULLITT, who helped him to finish
drafts of works in progress. Novelists NELLA
LARSENand Dorothy Peterson also enjoyed short
stints in France as did LANGSTONHUGHES, who
visited the country as part of the European travels
he made before publishing NOT WITHOUT
LAUGHTER, his first book of poems. JEAN
TOOMER, the author of CANEand follower of G. I.
GURDJIEFF, studied at the mystic’s Institute for the
Harmonious Development of Man.
France also figured in works such as JOSEPH
SEAMON COTTER,JR.’s one-act play ON THE
FIELDS OFFRANCE, JESSIE FAUSET’s last novel,
COMEDY,AMERICANSTYLE,and in BANJO,Claude
McKay’s second novel.
Artist AUGUSTA SAVAGE’s study in France
was funded by a JULIUSROSENWALDFELLOWSHIP,
and it was there that sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick
Fuller was able to work with the renowned Au-
guste Rodin. The writer GWENDOLYNBENNETT
pursued art studies in France before returning to
America and the position of assistant editor at OP-
PORTUNITY. Other Harlem Renaissance artists
traveled to France, including William H. Johnson
and Lois Maillou Jones.
Shortly after the end of the First World War,
NAACP cofounder W. E. B. DUBOISrepresented
the organization at the 1919 Peace Conference. He
then developed plans for Pan-African conferences
in France. JESSIE FAUSET, who attended Pan-
African Congress meetings in Paris, also featured
the nation in her fiction and poems.Bibliography
Fabre, Michel. From Harlem to Paris: Black American
Writers in France, 1840–1980.Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1991.
Woodson, Jon. To Make a New Race: Gurdjieff, Toomer,
and the Harlem Renaissance.Jackson: University
Press of Mississippi, 1999.France 173