CHARLESS. JOHNSON, editor of OPPORTUNITYand
one of the most influential figures of the Harlem
Renaissance movement, were among those who at-
tended the institution. ARNABONTEMPSearned a
master’s degree in library science, E. FRANKLIN
FRAZIER earned a Ph.D. in 1931, and MELVILLE
HERSKOVITS, the founder of African-American
studies, completed his undergraduate studies there
in 1920. RUSSELLJELLIFFEand ROWENAWOOD-
HAMJELLIFFE, pioneers in the Karamu Theatre or-
ganization of Cleveland, both completed graduate
studies in sociology at the university.
Bibliography
Goodspeed, Thomas. The Story of the University of
Chicago, 1890–1925.Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1925.
University of Copenhagen
Founded in 1479 in the Danish capital city of
Copenhagen, the university is the nation’s largest
academic institution in what now is the largest
Scandinavian city. NELLA LARSENattended the
University of Copenhagen during her two-year stay
in Denmark in the early 1900s. In 1921, EDWARD
FRANKLINFRAZIER, the first American to receive
the prestigious American Scandinavian Founda-
tion Fellowship, used his award to finance a year of
studies at the university.
University of Pennsylvania
Located in PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, it was es-
tablished by Benjamin Franklin and a small group
of monied philanthropists. The university was
home to the first American medical school and to
the first graduate school in the country.
The University of Pennsylvania was the alma
mater of ARTHURHUFFFAUSET, who earned a
B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the institution during
his tenure as a principal in the Philadelphia public
school system. Writer LEWISALEXANDERalso at-
tended the university. Other famous alumni in-
clude Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of
GHANA and a LINCOLN UNIVERSITY graduate;
William Brennan, a U.S. Supreme Court justice;
linguist Noam Chomsky; and the former U.S. sur-
geon general C. Everett Koop.
Bibliography
Thomas, George, and David Brownlee. Building Amer-
ica’s First University: An Historical and Architectural
Guide to the University of Pennsylvania.Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.
Thorpe, Francis, ed. Benjamin Franklin and the University
of Pennsylvania. Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, 1893.“Unquenchable Fire, The”Robert Bagnall
(1924)
An eerie story by ROBERTBAGNALLthat explores
the impact of LYNCHINGupon the instigators of the
murder and those who survive the murderous vio-
lence against their kin and households. Published
in the November 1924 issue of THEMESSENGER,
the story proceeds in a gothic, dark style evocative
of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. A nameless trav-
eler seeks shelter in a farmhouse guarded by two
enormous dogs. The owner is John Tower, a white
man and a “once powerful figure over six feet four,
now emaciated and worn.” The other occupants of
the house include a sullen mulatto housekeeper
and a disheveled white woman, who appears to be
mad. The traveler is sure that he has heard of his
host, whose white hair stands upright upon his
head as if in response to a great shock. However, it
is not until the wee hours of the morning, when he
is awakened by plaintive cries of the madwoman,
that the traveler remembers what he has heard
about the house and its inhabitants. He then re-
constructs the tale of Tower, a widower raising his
beautiful daughter alone. After he hires a mulatto
housekeeper with a six-year-old child, rumors be-
gin to circulate that the child is his. Years pass, and
the children become especially close. Eventually,
Tower’s daughter becomes ill, and Tower finds out
that she is expecting a child. When she finally re-
veals that she and Jimmy have been having a se-
cret relationship during the past year, Tower is
incensed. He goads a mob of white men into ac-
tion by claiming that Jimmy has raped his daugh-
ter. When they find the young man, it is Tower
who gives the order to murder him. The story ends
as the traveler makes an effort to leave the home
that many believe is haunted by the ghost of
Jimmy. On his way out, he spies a Bible open to a
passage that refers to an unquenchable fire.“Unquenchable Fire, The” 537