American poetry in their Detroit home. On one
occasion, he and Margaret Danner, a poet-in-
residence at Wayne State University, held a read-
ing together.
Bibliography
Cullen, Countee. Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by
Negro Poets.New York: Harper & Brothers, 1927.
Papers relating to James McCall, Rosey Pool Papers, Uni-
versity of Sussex Library, England.
McCoo, Edward (unknown)
A Newport, Kentucky, playwright and minister
in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.)
Church. McCoo’s play Ethiopia at the Bar of Justice
(1924) was included in PLAYS AND PAGEANTS
FROM THELIFE OF THENEGRO,a 1930 anthology
edited by WILLIS RICHARDSON. The work met
Richardson’s standards, which called for materials
that did not feature dialect and were accessible to
young people. McCoo’s play appeared alongside
works by respected dramatists such as THELMA
MYRTLE DUNCAN,JOHN MATHEUS, and MAY
MILLER.
The biographical profile of McCoo included in
Plays and Pageantsnotes that he had “given much
attention to the strivings and achievements of the
Negro.” McCoo, like many authors, used his writ-
ing to “visualize” the inspiring history of African
peoples. The work apparently became popular in
Louisville, Kentucky. McCoo collaborated with
Professor John Hawkins on a production of the
work during the 1924 Quadrennial Conference of
the A.M.E. Church. Its positive reception resulted
in its repeated use during subsequent Negro His-
tory Week calendars.
McDougald, Gertrude Elise Johnson
(1885–1971)
The first African-American principal in the NEW
YORKCITYpublic school system, outspoken femi-
nist, member of the YOUNGWOMEN’SCHRISTIAN
ASSOCIATION, and essayist who published regularly
in leading journals of the Harlem Renaissance era.
McDougald published in THECRISISand OP-
PORTUNITYas well as Birth Control Review.Her
essay, “The New Day for the Colored Woman
Worker” appeared in the special African-American
issue of Birth Control Reviewthat also included
works by MARYBURRILL,W. E. B. DUBOIS, and
ANGELINAWELDGRIMKÉ. In March 1925 she was
one of only four women featured in the special
Harlem issue of SURVEYGRAPHICthat included
works by 23 influential scholars, artists, and writ-
ers. McDougald’s essay “The Double Task: The
Struggle of Negro Women for Sex and Race Eman-
cipation” appeared in the section devoted to
“Black and White—Studies in Race Contacts”
that also included submissions by MELVILLEHER-
SKOVITS,WALTERWHITE,and KELLYMILLER.Mc-
Dougald’s essay offered a compelling social critique
of African-American women’s experiences. She
concluded that the “Negro woman, figuratively,
[is] struck in the face daily by contempt from the
world about her.” Harlem, she argued, provided a
vital respite from the “cruder handicaps of primi-
tive household hardships and the grosser forms of
sex and race subjugation.” This vibrant community
provided the woman of color with “considerable
opportunity to measure her powers in the intellec-
tual and industrial fields of the great city.” Despite
the fact that “she knows little of peace and happi-
ness,” McDougald insisted that “the wind of the
race’s destiny stirs more briskly because of [her]
striving.” The journal also included a gorgeous
WINOLDREISSportrait of McDougald.
McDougald’s father, Peter Johnson, was in-
volved in the founding of the NATIONALURBAN
LEAGUE. McDougald continued the family tradi-
tion of service and outreach through her affilia-
tions with the New York City Board of Education
and the U.S. Department of Labor.Bibliography
“McDougald, Elise Johnson,” Survey Graphic(March
1925): 689–691.McKay, Claude(Claudius Festus McKay)
(1889–1948)
The Jamaican poet whose evocative and incendi-
ary 1919 poem “If We Must Die” is hailed often as
a work that not only launched the Harlem Renais-
sance but also illustrated the keen political passion
that informed the works of so many writers of the
period. McKay was a prolific writer, publishingMcKay, Claude 339