efforts that would produce racial equality and
called for unity, an intensification of race pride,
black political autonomy, and strategic, ambitious
African-American economic advancement that
was not constrained by efforts to reach only con-
sumers of color.
Negro Americansconcluded with a powerful
assertion. “My inner life is mine,” wrote Johnson,
“and I shall defend and maintain its integrity
against all the powers of hell.” The pamphlet en-
dorsed racial uplift, self-preservation, and forceful
activism to achieve racial advancement in diverse
areas of American life and society.
Bibliography
Johnson, James Weldon. Along This Way: The Autobiog-
raphy of James Weldon Johnson.1933, reprint, New
York, Da Capo Press, 1973.
Levy, Eugene. James Weldon Johnson, Black Leader, Black
Voice.Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1973.
Negro and His Songs, The: A Study of
Typical Negro Songs in the South
Howard Odum and Guy Johnson(1925)
An anthology of songs compiled by HOWARD
ODUMand GUYJOHNSON, two white University of
North Carolina professors. The volume included
the texts, but not music, of a variety of songs from
African-American life. Odum and Johnson in-
cluded work, religious, and everyday social songs as
well as a commentary on the ways in which the
works influenced, and were themselves shaped by,
white music.
ARTHURHUFFFAUSET, reviewing the volume
in the November 1925 issue of OPPORTUNITY,
lamented the presentation of the rich material.
“The pity of it is that all who read this splendid
volume,” he wrote, “must content themselves with
the mere seeing. Negro song is not something to be
looked at; to appreciate it and understand it you
must hear it.” Fauset recognized the enthusiasm of
the editors, suggesting that they had “devoured
what came across their paths, and apparently made
a good meal of it.” He also noted that some of the
commentary in the book would provoke “lively de-
bates.” Comments about the “vulgar and indecent
content” of “a great mass of material,” for instance,
attempted to explain that much primary material
was not suitable for inclusion. Ultimately, Fauset
concluded that “[m]any will be inclined to laugh
as they read the words which Odum and Johnson
have recorded so faithfully and interpreted with
such evident carefulness.” Despite the distinct pos-
sibility of such reception, however, he firmly be-
lieved that such a volume would reveal “the soul
which underlies and permeates these songs of
black folk” and recognize it as “the same one
which in latter years has burst forth into the luxu-
riant, mellifluous outpourings from the hearts of
such children as Dunbar, DUBOIS, and COUNTEE
CULLEN.”Bibliography
Fauset, Arthur Huff. “The Negro’s Cycle of Song,” Op-
portunity(November 1925).
Odum, Howard W., and Guy B. Johnson. The Negro and
His Songs: A Study of Typical Negro Songs in the
South.1925; reprint, New York: Negro Universities
Press, 1968.“Negro Art Hokum”George Schuyler
(1926)
One of the most provocative and controversial es-
says published during the Harlem Renaissance.
Written by journalist and novelist GEORGE
SCHUYLER, “Negro Art Hokum” took direct aim at
the principles underlying the Harlem Renaissance
and contributed to the ongoing debates of the day
about the authenticity of African-American art,
the responsibilities of artists of color, and the ex-
pectations of the American public in general, and
the African-American audience in particular.
Schuyler published the scathing essay in the
June 1926 issue of THENATION,but it appeared
nearly one year after he submitted it for considera-
tion and after editor Freda Kirchwey had circu-
lated it among numerous African-American
leaders in order to gauge potential national reac-
tion. A tone of impatience marked the essay,
which opened with the bold assertion that “Negro
art there has been, is, and will be among the nu-
merous black nations of Africa; but to suggest the
possibility of any such development among the ten
million colored people in this republic is self-
evident foolishness.” Schuyler was advancing his
theories in the wake of the acclaimed 1925 SURVEY“Negro Art Hokum” 371