poems and fiction under the Italian pseudonym of
Bertuccio Dantino. He also completed Exile,an
Italian drama, and Sheriff’s Children,a play inspired
by the Charles Chesnutt short story.
In 1929 Williams began doctoral studies in li-
brary science at COLUMBIAUNIVERSITYbut died
suddenly. Funeral services for Williams were held
on the campus of Howard University, and the
school’s president, Dr. MORDECAIJOHNSON, con-
ducted the event. Williams was buried at Lincoln
Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland.
Bibliography
Dyson, Walter. Howard University: The Capstone of Negro
Education, a History: 1867–1940.Washington, D.C.:
Howard University Press, 1940.
Josey, E. J. “Edward Christopher Williams: Librarian’s Li-
brarian.” Negro History Bulletin33 (March 1970):
70–77.
Logan, Rayford, W. Howard University: The First Hundred
Years, 1867–1967.New York: New York University
Press, 1969.
Wilson, Frank (1886–1956)
A playwright and an accomplished stage and film
actor who performed with some of the most
promising dramatic troupes and in some of the
best-known plays of the Harlem Renaissance pe-
riod. Wilson’s professional experience was in-
formed by his education at the American Academy
of Dramatic Art and his early performances with
the LAFAYETTE PLAYERS STOCK COMPANY. In
1926 he appeared with PAULROBESONin EUGENE
O’NEILL’s ALLGOD’SCHILLUNGOTWINGSand
two years later, in 1926, in the PULITZERPRIZE–
winning play by Paul Green, IN ABRAHAM’S
BOSOM.Wilson was eventually catapulted into the
leading role in that play and received high praise
from theater critics for his polished performances.
In 1927 he played the title role of Porgy in DU-
BOSEHEYWARD’s early dramatic adaptation of his
novel PORGY.
Wilson wrote several plays, but their reception
and impact were uneven. In 1922 he completed PA
WILLIAMS’GAL, a play that was performed in
Harlem before modest audiences. Williams won
first prize in the 1925–26 OPPORTUNITYliterary
contest. His work, judged by David Belasco, T.
MONTGOMERY GREGORY,PAUL ROBESON, and
Stark Young, edged out submissions by JOHN
MATHEUS,ZORA NEALE HURSTON,GEORGIA
DOUGLASJOHNSON, and MAYMILLERSULLIVAN.
In 1928, MEEKMOSEopened on BROADWAYbut
did not meet with overwhelming success.Wings of OppressionLeslie Pinckney Hill
(1921)
A collection of poems by LESLIEPINCKNEYHILL, the
HARVARD UNIVERSITY–educated president of the
Cheyney Training School for Teachers. Dedicated to
his wife Jane Clark Hill, the volume was published by
Stratford Company of BOSTON, Massachusetts.
In his preface, Hill declared that “Nothing in
the life of the nation has seemed to me more sig-
nificant than the dark civilization which the col-
ored man has built up in the midst of a white
society organized against it.” He went on to note
that in Wings of Oppressionhe “desired to exhibit
something of [the] indestructible spiritual qualities
of my race.” Hill’s political sensibilities and race
pride shaped the collection and reflected his effort
to contribute to the engaged race literature of the
period.
The volume contained poems that had been
published previously in leading journals of the day,
such as THECRISIS, The Outlook,and The Indepen-
dent.It began with the title poem, “The Wings of
Oppression,” and then included poems divided
into five sections. Hill developed categories such as
“Poems of My People,” “Poems of the Times,”
“Poems of Appreciation,” “Songs,” and “Poems of
the Spirit.” He provided contextual remarks for
some works, such as “Armageddon,” a poem pub-
lished in The Crisis as “Die Zeitgeist” and
prompted by the start of World War I, “Matto
Grosso,” “Brixton Prison,” which honored Lord
Mayor McWiney of Cork, who martyred himself
for Irish freedom, and “So Quietly,” a haunting
poem on LYNCHINGthat was inspired by a murder
reported in THENEWYORKTIMES.Poems such as
“My Race” reflected Hill’s patriotism and desire to
seek out places “[w]herever the light of dreams is
shed / And faith and love to toil are bound” so
that he may “stay to break the bread / For there my
kinsmen will be found.” Hill’s poems conveyed his
optimism about African-American success, andWings of Oppression 565