naissance, 1910–1927.New York: Palgrave Macmil-
lan, 2002.“Nettleby’s New Year, The” Anita Scott
Coleman(1920)
A short story by ANITA SCOTTCOLEMAN. The
story, published in the January 1920 issue of THE
HALFCENTURYmagazine, was one of several short
stories that Coleman published in the Chicago-
based African-American periodical.
Never No MoreJames Knox Millen(1932)
A play by JAMESKNOXMILLENthat opened at the
Hudson Theatre on BROADWAYin January 1932.
The show, which starred Rose McClendon, Leigh
Whipper, and Lew Payton, closed after only 12
performances.
The play revolved around a besieged family who
is targeted by a mob intent on lynching one of its
sons who has accidentally strangled a young white
girl. In defense of her child, the mother threatens to
detonate a bomb that will annihilate the mob.
New Challenge
A journal that DOROTHY WEST established in
- The title recalled West’s first publishing ven-
ture with CHALLENGE,a popular literary periodical
that featured works by her contemporaries and
friends such as ZORANEALEHURSTON,COUNTEE
CULLEN,CLAUDEMCKAY,CARLVANVECHTEN,
and others.
West collaborated with RICHARDWRIGHTon
the New Challengeventure. She appointed him as-
sociate editor of the quarterly magazine and
promptly published his pioneering essay “Blueprint
for Negro Writing,” in the fall 1937 issue. West so-
licited contributions to the journal from well- and
lesser-known figures of the Harlem Renaissance.
New Challengeincluded poetry by FRANKMAR-
SHALLDAVIS, Margaret Walker, STERLINGBROWN,
and Owen Dodson, as well as short fiction by Nor-
man Macleod, Clarence Haill, and Benjamin
Appel. In addition to Wright’s essay, New Challenge
also included essays by Verna Arvey and Eugene
Holmes and book reviews by figures such as Henry
Lee Moon, RALPHELLISON, and ALAINLOCKE.
Wright and West had a number of editorial ar-
guments about the scope and focus of the revived
magazine that led to its untimely demise after one
issue.Bibliography
West, Dorothy. The Richer, the Poorer: Stories, Sketches,
and Reminiscences.New York: Doubleday, 1995.New Masses
A journal founded by left-wing writers and
thinkers in 1926. Michael Gold and John Sloan
founded New Masseswhen the journal THELIBER-
ATORbecame a vehicle of the American Commu-
nist Party. Its name recalled an earlier socialist
journal, Masses,for which the writer MAXEAST-
MANhad worked as editor.
New Massespublished works by prominent and
outspoken American writers. RALPHELLISONwas
one of the magazine’s volunteer literary reviewers,
and other contributors included Ezra Pound,
RICHARD WRIGHT,LANGSTON HUGHES, Carl
Sandburg, WALDOFRANK, and EUGENEO’NEILL.
Hughes published his powerful verse drama,
SCOTTSBOROLIMITED, in New Massesbefore in-
cluding it in the moving 1932 collection of the same
name. The journal also commented on Harlem Re-
naissance writers and literature. CLAUDEMCKAY
was one of the writers whose work was critiqued in
the journal and criticized for what was deemed an
inadequate class consciousness in his works.
The journal was a monthly periodical during
most of its publication years. It became a weekly
publication from 1933 through early 1948. After
22 years of publication, the journal ceased in mid-
January 1948.Bibliography
Jackson, Lawrence. Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius.
New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002.
O’Neill, William. The Last Romantic: A Life of Max East-
man.New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.New Negro,The: An Interpretation
Alain Locke, ed.(1925)
The celebrated and influential anthology that articu-
lated the cultural, artistic, and scholarly momentumNew Negro, The: An Interpretation 381