Santa Claus Landwas a short two-act play for
children and featured a governess named Alice
and her three charges, a young girl named Fluffy
and her two brothers, Stuffy and Toughy. The
group is in search of Santa Claus and gets help
from a kindly Queen of the Fairies. When Fluffy is
on the verge of being kidnapped by a King of the
Goblins, her outspoken brother Toughy saves her.
His gruff manner and disregard for magic embar-
rass his sister, but as he points out in the closing
scene, “you weren’t ashamed of me when them
Goblins was after you, and you’re ashamed now?”
The play has no overwhelming moral message but
does build on children’s interest in Santa Claus
and suggests the benefits of patience and curiosity.
Bachelor’s Conventionis a satire of the relation-
ships between men and women. A group of ship-
wrecked nurses seek shelter in a disorganized male
sanctuary known as Bachelor’s Headquarters. Over
the course of the three acts, the men, whose names
range from James Disgusted to Richard Sleepyhead,
set aside their protests of female influence and ac-
cept the improved domestic arrangements that the
women make. By play’s end, the bachelors ask the
ladies to marry them and agree to the strict terms
that the women institute. These house rules enable
the ladies to attend their own club meetings and to
leave any children in the care of their fathers, and
give control of household finances to the women.
The two biblical plays were based on sobering
stories of self-sacrifice and female bravery. The
first, Jepthah’s Daughter,was a three-act play that
condensed the story of Jepthah found in the Old
Testament book of Numbers. Figgs created a fast-
paced version of the tragic story that culminates in
a father’s necessary sacrifice of his only child. The
outcast, but eventually victorious, soldier Jepthah
makes a promise to God in order to secure military
triumphs. When he returns home, he is forced to
sacrifice Adah, his daughter and only child, in
order to honor his pledge to God. The play closes
as characters sing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,”
one of the several spirituals that Figgs has inter-
spersed throughout the play. The second biblical
play, The Prince of Peace,reenacts the days preced-
ing the birth of Jesus in the course of three brief
acts. The play includes well-known scenes of
Mary’s visitation, Herod’s pronouncement, and the
birth of the child. It concludes with the hymn
“Silent Night” as characters gather around Mary
and the child in the manger.Bibliography
Clifford, Carrie Williams, and Carrie Law Morgan Figgs,
Writings of Carrie Williams Clifford and Carrie Law
Morgan Figgs with an introduction by P. Jane Splawn.
New York: G. K. Hall & Co., 1997.Seven Arts
A progressive socialist literary arts magazine that,
despite its short-lived publication period, con-
tributed significantly to the advance of the Harlem
Renaissance.
The Seven Artseditors VANWYCKBROOKS,
WALDOFRANK, and JAMESOPPENHEIMhoped to
introduce fresh and dynamic works by emerging
and established writers. The journal featured writ-
ers such as Sherwood Anderson, John Dos Passos,
THEODOREDREISER, Robert Frost, Amy Lowell,
and EUGENEO’NEILL. Seven Artsalso became the
first white literary magazine of the Harlem Renais-
sance period to publish the work of a writer of
color. In 1917 the journal published the sonnets
“The Harlem Dancer” and “Invocation” by
CLAUDEMCKAY, who on this momentous occasion
used the pseudonym ELIEDWARDS.
Despite its promising and substantial start, the
Seven Artslasted only one year before it merged
with The Dial,a magazine that published JEAN
TOOMERand Waldo Frank. The outspoken politi-
cal views of Oppenheim, who voiced his opposi-
tion to World War I, resulted in a severe loss of
funding, and the magazine merged with The Dial.Bibliography
Carter, Paul. Waldo Frank.New York: Twayne Publishers,
1967.
Cooper, Wayne. Claude McKay: Rebel Sojourner in the
Harlem Renaissance.New York: Schocken Books,
1987.
Giles, James R. Claude McKay.Boston: Twayne Publish-
ers, 1976.Seventh-Day Adventist Harlem Academy
SeeHARLEMACADEMY.Seventh-Day Adventist Harlem Academy 477