Memorial Library honors one of the school’s most
distinguished alumni.
Bibliography
Bond, Horace Mann. Education for Freedom: A History of
Lincoln University, Pennsylvania.Lincoln, Pa.: Lin-
coln University, 1976.
Lisping Leaves Ida Rowland(1939)
A collection of poems by IDAROWLAND, who be-
came the first Oklahoma woman of African descent
to earn a Ph.D. Lisping Leavescomprised 47 poems
that highlighted Rowland’s love of nature, her race
awareness, and her unwavering social optimism. The
publication of the volume by Dorrance and Com-
pany of PHILADELPHIA coincided with Rowland’s
graduation from the University of Nebraska at
Omaha, where she earned a master’s degree.
The volume, which was the only collection
that Rowland published, reflects her efforts to
grapple with race, class, privilege, and disenfran-
chisement. Works such as “Heritage” and “Is It
Not Enough” call attention to the overwhelming
nature of racism and racial violence. The first-
person complaint of “Is It Not Enough” is marked
for its distress and frustration: “Is it not enough, /
That I should suffer poverty and disease / Pay for
crimes I do not commit, / Be burned at the stake
for another’s lust?” asks the speaker. The three-
stanza poem ends on a sobering and bitter note.
“No, it is not enough,” concludes the speaker, “For
I must have heaped upon / My already bowed head
/ The black prejudices of by-gone centuries.”
Other poems reveal Rowland’s passionate protests
of the constraints—physical and spiritual—that
dictate the lives of African Americans. In “Negroid
Things,” Rowland rejects racial essentialism and
the narrowness of stereotypes. “I cannot write of
things negroid / I cannot feel the things that are
black,” asserts the speaker in the first lines before
noting that she can “feel only life in its pulsing full-
ness: The joys, the grief and troubled cares / That
come with every life.” The poem ends with a pow-
erful rejection of the blackness that is socially con-
structed and highly destructive. “And on that last
day, When I must face a frowning Maker... / I
shall say to him: / God, I could not feel the black,”
Rowland writes.
Lisping Leaves is a powerful meditation on
transcendence, survival, and individuality.Bibliography
Rowland, Ida. Lisping Leaves.Philadelphia: Dorrance &
Co., 1939.“Little Grey House, The”Anita Scott Coleman
(1922)
One of the earliest published short stories by
ANITASCOTTCOLEMAN. The piece appeared in
two issues of HALF-CENTURYmagazine, the July–
August and September–October 1922 issues. The
journal, based in CHICAGO, Illinois, was edited by
Katherine Williams Irvin.Little Heads: A One-Act Play of Negro
LifeAlvira Hazzard(1929)
A one-act play by ALVIRAHAZZARDthat focuses
on social racism and white expectations, and black
performance.
The play features five characters: Mrs. Lee
and her children, the 12-year-old twins Bee and
Joe, and Frances, and a family friend named Edna.
Mrs. Lee maintains a tranquil and enabling home
environment for her children. In addition, she has
a college-aged son named Bob who attends
HOWARD UNIVERSITY. Mrs. Lee encourages her
children to think of each other as smart and capa-
ble individuals who should not regard their race as
an impediment to their professional goals.
Mrs. Lee, who may be a widow, is juggling
family finances that include endowment policies
based on interest derived from the family income.
Frances, excited about the prospect of a social
gathering, requests an advance on the fund so that
she can dress well for the elite social gathering.
Her twin siblings intercept the invitation to the
gathering at Oak Manor, the school that Frances
attends. They open the letter and to their dismay
discover that Frances is invited but not as a guest.
Her white schoolmate Dolores Page hopes that
Frances will “help entertain” and “dress like—well,
you know—sort of old fashioned, and sing some of
those delightful spirituals.” The children destroy
the invitation and hope that they will be able to
protect their sister from such a dreadful prospect.Little Heads: A One-Act Play of Negro Life 315