judges, awarded the prize to recognize literary ex-
cellence by Harlem Renaissance writers.
Holstein, a native of St. Croix, entrepreneur,
and gambling kingpin, financed the prize. In
March 1925, Holstein declared his support for the
competition that he believed would help to
“bridg[e] the gap between the black and white
races in the United States today.”
The winners of the 1924 competition, the first
that Holstein sponsored, included LANGSTON
HUGHES,COUNTEE CULLEN,CLARISSA SCOTT
DELANY, and JOSEPHS. COTTER,SR.
Holt, Nora(ca. 1890–1975)
A talented composer and writer who, in 1918, be-
came the first African American to earn a master’s
degree in music.
Born in Kansas City, Kansas, to the Reverend
Calvin and Grace Douglas, she attended Kansas
State College and graduated in 1915 with a degree
in music. In 1918, the year that she married
George Holt, she graduated from the Chicago Mu-
sical College. She pursued additional graduate
studies in music at the University of Southern Cal-
ifornia and COLUMBIAUNIVERSITY.
During the Harlem Renaissance era, Holt was
the music critic for the CHICAGODEFENDER.She
worked in that capacity from 1917 through 1921.
In the early 1940s, she became the music critic for
the New York City-based AMSTERDAMNEWS.She
was an active member of both the NATIONALAS-
SOCIATION FOR THEADVANCEMENT OFCOLORED
PEOPLEand of the NATIONALURBANLEAGUE.
Holt composed a number of distinctive works;
well-known performers such as the celebrated
tenor Roland Hayes performed her compositions.
She was the founder of the National Association of
Negro Musicians.
In addition to publishing History of Negro Mu-
sicians,she was the publisher and editor of Music
and Poetry Magazinefrom 1919 through 1921.
Homespun Heroines Hallie Quinn Brown, ed.
(1926)
A substantial collection of biographies of African-
American women leaders edited by HALLIEQUINN
BROWN. Brown, a graduate of WILBERFORCEUNI-
VERSITY, was an educator who served as dean of
women at TUSKEGEEINSTITUTEand professor of
elocution at Wilberforce. In 1920 she became the
president of the NATIONALASSOCIATION OFCOL-
OREDWOMEN, an influential organization dedi-
cated to racial uplift and empowerment of
African-American women and families. Brown re-
ferred to Homespun Heroinesas a “veritable his-
tory” and noted that she had assembled it with the
hope that readers would “derive fresh strength and
courage from its records to stimulate and cause
them to cleave more tenaciously to the truth and
to battle more heroically for the right.” Entitled
Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction,
the volume included 55 informative individual bio-
graphical profiles and a composite biography enti-
tled “California Colored Women Trail Blazers.”
Brown wrote many of the entries, but there were a
substantial number of contributors, including
DELILAHBEASLEY, Mary Mossell, Ora B. Stokes,
and Maritcha Lyons.
Josephine Turpin Washington, the wife of
Tuskegee Institute founder BOOKERT. WASHING-
TON, provided the foreword to the volume. She de-
clared that the book was valuable for its “reflection
of the wonderful spirit which moved the women
who strove and achieved, despite obstacles greater
than any which have stood in the way of other up-
ward struggles.” The biographies, noted Washing-
ton, “breathe aspiration, hope, courage, patience,
fortitude, faith.”
The dedication page of Homespun Heroinesin-
cluded poetry by CLARAANNTHOMPSON. Her
lines honored women who “Through all the blight
of slavery /... kept their womanhood, / And
now... march with heads erect / To fight for all
things good.” The Thompson epigraph comple-
mented Brown’s earnest dedication to “the many
mothers who were loyal in tense and trying times”
and to members of the American and Canadian
branches of the National Association of Colored
Women.
Homespun Heroinespresented biographies in
chronological order and showcased women leaders
in the arts, religion, club movement, business,
journalism, politics, and education. There were en-
tries on antebellum activists such as Harriet Tub-
man and Sojourner Truth and profiles of race
leaders such as Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Lucy242 Holt, Nora