Horton, Frances Harper, and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Hawkins’s contemporaries included T. THOMAS
FORTUNE,WILLIAMSTANLEYBRAITHWAITE,JAMES
WELDON JOHNSON,JESSIE FAUSET,CLAUDE
MCKAY, and GEORGIADOUGLASJOHNSON.
The first of Hawkins’s anthologized works was
“Wrong’s Reward.” It is a three-stanza poem that
resonates with classical images and language. In
their brief comment on the works, White and
Jackson described the poem as one that “shows
[Hawkins’s] belief in ultimate justice.” The high
moral message about injustice and the trials of the
righteous began with the lofty pronouncement that
“It is writ in truth eternal, / And the stars of
heaven tell, / That he who dares to do the wrong, /
Has pitched his tent toward hell.” The message
about the wages of sin becomes increasingly apoca-
lyptic in the succeeding stanzas. Hawkins made an
effort to acknowledge that “Decked with thorns
the right may suffer” and that “Wrong may tri-
umph with his crown.” Ultimately, however, the
poem asserts that “the dread recoil is coming / To
the man who does the wrong.”
The second and third poems included in the
White and Jackson anthology were written in a
more contemporary fashion and language. In these,
the speaker reveals himself to be a common man,
but one at ease with more educated or socially
privileged people. “As I talk with learned people, / I
have heard a strange remark,” notes the thoughtful
narrator. He then goes on to muse about the ad-
vice that one should not be “too modest / whatso-
ever thing is said, / Give to every thing its color, /
Always call a spade a spade.”
Poems published in The Messenger reflected
Hawkins’s penchant for strident political critique.
Works such as “Too Much Religion” and “Here
and Hereafter” suggest that empty rhetoric could
have deadly consequences for people in need. The
poem’s speaker complains that “There is too much
time for doctrine / Too much talk of church and
creeds;/ Far too little time for duty, / And to heal
some heart that bleeds.” The unself-conscious
speaker concludes with the call for “less talk of
heaven” and more efforts to “do right a little bit.”
Despite his status as one of Harlem’s most outspo-
ken atheists and agnostics, Hawkins generated
poems that invoked God and contemplated reli-
gious matters. In “The Voice in the Wilderness,”
Hawkins crafted a pained lament in which the
speaker presents a moving portrait of African-
American endurance and also recounts the vicious
attacks on African Americans. “He to bear the
lash and load / Hunger’s grip and spoiler’s goad;/
Toil and grime his lot by day, / Fill the mart where
other’s prey” notes the speaker. “This my country?
cruel Dame,” the speaker goes on to declare. The
following sequence of lines underscores the prob-
lematic myth that all individuals in America enjoy
equality. The embattled speaker contemplates
America as “This the land my heart must pride /
Where my fathers bled and died! / Land that
boasts of slavery, Cruel hate and tyranny?”
Chords and Discordsis still considered Hawkins’s
major work. It includes 47 poems and reflects both
the writer’s ability to use diverse poetical styles and
his interest in subjects ranging from moral issues to
historical experiences.Bibliography
White, Newman Ivey, and Walter Clinton Jackson, eds.
An Anthology of Verse by American Negroes.Durham,
N.C. Moore Publishing Company, 1968.Hayes, Donald Jeffrey(1904–unknown)
A native of North Carolina, Hayes was a poet who
enjoyed critical attention during the 1920s. COUN-
TEECULLEN, the editor of CAROLINGDUSK:AN
ANTHOLOGY OFVERSE BYNEGROPOETS(1927)
included Hayes’s work in the volume. There were
two special issues of Carolina Magazinedevoted to
works by African-American writers. In May 1927,
LEWIS ALEXANDER, the honorary editor of the
issue, selected Hayes’s “Threnody to Alice” for in-
clusion in the periodical. It appeared alongside
writings by ARTHUR HUFF FAUSET,GEORGIA
DOUGLASJOHNSON,ARNABONTEMPS, and EFFIE
LEENEWSOME. One year later, in the May 1928
issue, Hayes’s work appeared again when his poem
“Lament” was published. LANGSTONHUGHESand
Arna Bontemps published his works in The Poetry
of the Negro, 1746–1949 (1949), and his poems
also appeared in Bontemps’s collection, American
Negro Poetry(1969). During the mid- to late 1920s,
Hayes also was reported to be preparing “a new lit-
erary monthly of the Negro race, called Vision.”
GWENDOLYNBENNETT, who noted Hayes’s efforts226 Hayes, Donald Jeffrey