6 10 650 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/e5580ce5a8c02619eecb72d8cadc6bd7.pdf 5d8db0d18eb83e8b0a658e97ea540ab7 PDF Text Text ., I / / / / SCRI P? ADAPTATION OF DRUMVO ICES: THE MISSIO N OF AFP.0AM:~RICAN POETRY (a c ri t ical hi s~c ry) / b ,J Eugene B. Redmon d For Presentation at Book Party Oc:ober 3, 1976 : 3 p.m. to 6 p .m., Redwood Room, Univ ersity Uni on California State Unive rsity Sacramento ( �Na rrator: I ru11 the poer.il Chorus: We are the poemJ Narrator: And the poem is mel Chorus: And the poem is usJ :narrator: , :p o e:,: .'J.Tld I came before pen or pencil or paper or printing pressJ - L, p:i;; c c... and cuddled the wisdom of the winds in drum-bosoms of ecstasy 0 Drummer: / A wi-de range of rhythms, movements, multiple movement -rhythms : African, West Indian., Afro-Americano Narrator: I write in dru.:.--:i-language and converse with tomorrow., today and the here- t c fore. Chorus: DRU:MFEET O:N 'l'E2 SO IL, ON Tl{E SANDROA DS OF THE MIND! F:,ESH-PIS':i:'o:;s PRANCING, THE EARTH Is ENGINE l IT IS A cor::n;G FD R'l'H , THE NIGHT WIT :HN us COMING FORTH l Trill NIG:ir_r 1rJI'I'~-J:IN US COHING FORTH! FEET B.:.::ATING, BEATING, BEATING SEEDS INTO THE SOIL! Narrator: I retu rn anC: :ceturn an d reta;-:,n to m.,'_ magni fi cent and reli able archiv es. Chorus: That love we can depEmd on l ·rha t (over ) l ove we can depend ont �Voice (singing): Onoborobol Chorus: Onoborobo! Voice: Onoborobo! Chorus: Onoborobo 1 Voice: Onoborobo I Chorus: Onoborobo! Narrator: In my dependable cultural vault is the Idea-gram.: the natural cinerna tography landscaped by thudding thoughts of my totem-family, the living-dead, the breathin3, the W1born. I run the poetic flesh-temple wlth many forms, earth-daughter and agile inW1dator of history. I am the poem in motion. Dancer: (q{ (c) ,.-¢ii f I \ Rudimentary movements and other ele:ments of traditional African and Afro-American dance: isolation, use of pelvis and torso, leaps, twirls, pulls, yanvalou, vigorous stretches and thrusts.(Drum accompaniment) Narrator: I am the Black and Unknown Bard. America put me on a conveyer belt moving in ~ different directions at the same time. My African Jubilance turned to anger and a song of sabatage. My Indorni..table Echo and Idiom flavored my rndomi table press to be human. As a poem, I became part of-.,wha.t :_I :did, saw and dreamed on these shores: Field Hollers, Vendors' ~houts, Chants, \l ' ' Work Songs, Spirituals, Blues, Gospels , Jazz, Rhythm-and-Blues, S0 ul Musico ' (over) I �Voice: Did yer feed my cow? Chorus: Voice: Will yer tell me ·f how? Chorus: Yes Ms.ml Voice: Oh w'at did y er give , ;; 1 r6..JJ_ er? ~ 5 ~,, , Chorus: Ca'WI1. an hay! Voice: Oh w1 at did y e r give 'er. ' I i ,· ' Chorus: Cawn an hay! Voice: l. Eva....-iwhuh. I, whuh r,.look dis mawnin, Looks lak rain , loo ks lak rain. Vo i ce: "'•h ) \~ I go tta r;ainbow, tied a ll roun mah shouJ_der 2~-,~ Ain gonna rain, ain gonna rain. Chorus: Dis is de hamme r Kilt John Henry; (over) �Voice: -c;;cu1f- - Twon•t kill me, baby 1 Twon't kill me .. ~ho.rus: Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain; Voice: Tell him I'm gone , baby, '>l' I --- ~toil Tell him I'm gone. Chorus: I got a rainboH Tied !roun my shoulder, Ain.'t gonna rain, baby, Ain't gonna rain. Voice: ~ Dis ole hammer- -huhi Ring lak silver--huh, Shine lak gold--huh. _. --Chorus: gonna rain, gonna rain. Voice f female): c/. ·,~' I 1 m a big fat mamma, got the meat shaking on mah bones, Itm a big fat mamma, got the meat shaking on mah bones, And every time I shakes, some skinny girl loses huh home. Narrator: Yes, as- poem, as cotton-picker, as banj o-player, as preacher and slave-rebellion leader, I emerged as a · new part of the old. IJ',. y African song ushered forth in st~ange new Bib i cal language. (over) �Voice: Go down, Moses, . '\ Way down in Egyptland; Chorus: 11 old Pharaoh ~ ~ let my people go. Voice: sY Deep River ••• Chorus: Deep Deep Deep River •••• Voice: Deep River, my home is over Jordan; , Chorus: ( < Deep River, Lord; I want to cross over into camp ground. '- Voice: A..~d yes, I DREAMED I was riding in that chariot. Chorus: Swing low, swe e t chariot, Coming for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home. Voice: Green trees a-bending, Po' sinner stands a-trembling The trumpet_., sounds within-a-my sou] J Chorus: I ain 1 t got long to stay here. (over) ·, J �Drumvoic e s, b Voice: You . named me: Lucy Terry! ·'.,, ··~: ,· • Voice, 'I Gustava s Va s sa ~ Voice: Britton & Jupi t0 r Hammon. • Vo ice: f Coon -~ {BocKJ · we- Voice: Phyllis 1tlheatleyi. Alld I mastered Gree~, , La.ti~- and · English in my teens. Lonely Black girl wh om the muses befriended, thousands and thousands rt.'I of miles away from ,;.Wes_t African home. I continued to emerge as the poem. /11 \ . Voice: ~Should you, rrry Lord, whil e you peruse my song , J?c::_, d eiii .- J Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow. these wishes for the common good, By feelin g hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seeming cruel f a te, Was snatch ~d from Afric's fancy'd h appy seat; What pangs excruciating must molest, What sorrows l a bour in my parents' breast? Steel'd was tha t soul and by no misery mov 1 d That from a f a the r s e i z 1 d hi s babe be lov .'d: \) Such, suchf\.my cas~ And can I th en but pray Others may neve r feel t y rannic sway? Na rrator: You named me George Mo s es Hort on. I did not like t he injust i c e of the cvv~L_:u- -.r:- double s t anda rci ~ And su ch res entment tu rned me into a poem. Ev en t h ough (over) �--' • - - 1.J. II, V ...._ _,, •J , 1 some called me "'l"ne ~lave. 11 Chorus: The Slave. Voice: / Because the brood-sow•s left side pigs were black, ~ ~ Whose sable tincture was by nature struck, . Were you by justice bound to pull them back And leave the sandy-colored pigs to suck? Chorus: Runagatef Runagatel Runagate! Runagate! Runagate! Narrator: f'IIY. My mother cured ills andAfather worked roots. In the bi-cultural constriction the poem became juju-man, the face hidden by the a,r.bi~vov.s minstrel smile. Voice: We have fashioned laughter Out of tears and pain; Chorus: G t the moment after-Voice: Pain and tears again. Voice: Forgive these erring people, Lord; Voice: Who lynch at home and love abroad. Narrator: Still I wrote--thi s time just like I talked, though some made fun of it. But, as maker of song, I could only p roduce heart-rhythms. (over ) �. Dru."'Tivoi c es, 8 Voice: De Cunjah man, de Cunjah man, O chillen, run, de Cunjah man! G Chorus: chill en, run, de Cunjuh man I Voice: •. I ; I Him mouf e z bee g e z fryin' pan ;_ Voice: Him yurs am small, him eyes am raid, ';'' · ·' Him hab no toof een him ol' haid, CJ(!tl1f ~ I \ Him hab him roots, him wu'k him trick, ! 1 :...,'-,'-- \_1 Him roll him eye, him mek you sick-- ~ e Cunjah man, de Cun jah man, ~ h.illen, run, de Cun ~ah man! Narrator: I lmew my rights, my rough-times and my remedies .... . f o - r - w ~ Voice: laud-nu.i.~, liver µills, "Sixty-six, fo I fever an1 chills, 11 Ready Relief, ant A. B. C., An' half a bottle of X.Y.Z. Narrator: You named me Frances El len Watkin~ Harperi,-~Jarnes Edwin Campbell, James ~•i ela.on j'ohnson, Paul Lawrence Dunbar--son of ex-slaves, elevator boy risen to brilliant bard of ~he race. As the poem I S'1rodc in several kinds of English • ...\ Qx' Yr know why Voice: 1 • the caged bird sings, ah me , (f'-- ~ ~ , forth �When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore-When he beats his bars and he would b e free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-- I know why the caged bird sings! Narrator: oll..> Abovef\ song exudes from me. I am song. P,.e.pus_e__:me • .i::xarnine Me. Watch Me. My birthright is my anthem. My song is my sword. Voice: -$~ ~ f t every voice and singI Till earth and heaven ringI Ring with the harmonies of liberty I Voice: 1 our rejoicings rise gh as the listening skiesJ -,.::_-, ,· Narrator: ! song-poem , I forge pure flames of rhythms without books. James Weldon Johnson called me the Black and Unknown Bard. And I love to hear Ma.lindy sing. Voice: G'way an 1 quit dat noise, Miss Lucy-Put dat music book away; What 1 s ce use to keep on tryin 1 ? Ef you practise twell you 1 re gray, You cain't sta•t no notes a-flyin' Lak do on es dat rants and rings From de kitchen to de big woods When Malindy sings. (over ) �:tou ain I t got de nachel o I gans Fu I to make de soun I come right, You ain't got de tu 1 ns an' twistin's Fu' :.to make it sweet an I light. Tell you one thing now, Miss Lucy, An 1 I 1 m tellin' you fut true, When hit comes to raal right singin 1 , 'T ain't no easy thing to do. Easy .1 nough fu 1 folks to hollah, Lookin' at de lines an 1 dots, When dey ain 1 t no one kin sence it, An 1 6.e chune comes in, in spo.ts; But fu 1 real melojous music, Dat jesr strikes y o' hear t and cling s, .Jes' you stan r an' listen wif me When Malindy sings. Ain't you nevah hyea.hd Malindy? Blessed soul, tek up de cross! Look hyeah, ain't you jokin',honey?' Well, you don't know whut you los •. y, ought to hyealL dat gal a-wa 1 blin 1 , Robbins, la' k s, an 1 all dem things, Heish dey mouf s an 1 hides dey f !lce When Malindy sings. Narrator: Poem that I am and was, I traveled frc m 11 oasis to oasis. 11 Voice: (ove r) �\. ,; , ,Jeot . _:,,,er< Drumvoices, 11 Man's Sahari c up and down. \ ~ t}""' · J,v'~ Narrator: Riverboats, river towns, chain.gangs~ bar-room toughs, hard-hearted Hanna, Stagolee, ••• t h ey all knew me. Voice: Hard-hearted Hanna-- lJ.1 ---- ,geJJf Voice: ----------------- From .Savannah 2 GEE A. . Voice: She was so cold, yal J. -Chorus: &.sn 1 t she-Voice: She 1 d poor water on a drowing man! Voice: It was eurly one morn.in', When I heard my bulldog bark; Voice: . Stagolee and Billy Lyons Was squablin' in the dark. Chorus: Shine, shine, shine, ••• save po' me. Narrator: You heard me corning from the swollen lips of the bu~le, French horn, trumpet, clarinet and saxophone. Horn: A series of sh ort riffs exemplary o f various forms of music played between the advent of t he spirituals and th e blues-ragtime period. ( ov c r) �Narrator: In Paris they called the ncakewalk" tne "poetry of motion. 11 .!'t'\11,e. crevices of ships I was transported t o global points to make my splendid sound and dance my splendid poetry of motion. Dancer: Executes a series of movements representing such dances as the Cakewalk, or. Charleston, Ji t terbug and the Bop • .t:l emen ts (\'vJest Indian dances should flavor the movements. Narrator: As the poem I blue horns, shot guns in your war, danced dances and came home to face the Ku: IUux Klan,~ Southern Sheriffs and Jim Crow. I got angry. And I got defiant. But I was relatively cool. Voice: ~ the furnace let me go alone; V \stay you 1.vi. tho ut in terror of the he at . I will go naked in--for thus 1 tis sweet-- Into the weird depths of the h ottest zone. Voice: r Desire destroys, consumes m'JV mortal fears,,:.~, Transforming me into a shape of flame o I will come out, back to your world of tears, A stronger soul within a finer frame. Narrator: After race riots in several American cities, I lifted my voice into a searing sha ft of discontent ., Chorus: ~ kinsmen! we must meet the common foe! Voice: ~ ke ...______ ,; /41)-/t · men we' 11 face the murderous, co,-:ardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fmght i•·-ig back I ~ r ) .• ~ - 4,WA .. ,e,pA ~.-R .. �Narrator: Still, still my past pulled on me. It was as if we were married to each other, glued, locked, welded togeth~r. It was as if those who left us here on this earth never really, really died. Some African sense kept tugging, tugging at my truncated roots. The bridge of my ~ast rested on two shores. Voice: Pour O pour that parting soul in song, pour it in the sawdu st glow of night, 0 Into tho velvet pine-smoke air to-night,; •• Chorus: ~ d let the valley carry it along. ~ d let the valley carry it along. Narrator: Sometimes I w a ~ f there, fi~ting those who wanted to snatch away rrry humanity by day; and fighting hunger and confusion at home by night. As the poem,~ emerged convoluted and wholly new, only to retreat to a some-other-time refrain. Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar, the Pyramids-Voodoo Ceremonies--what did they all mean to me1 Voice: Come with a blast of trumpets, Jesus! Voice: And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red / Burns in my heart a love-fire sharp like pain. Chorus; ~ eet silver trumpets, Jesus I Voice: Well, son, I 1 11 tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stai r. (over) I I I �Narrator: The blur of the veil was always relieved by song, by dance, by reading about foreign places and looking forward to the day when Americans would grow up. We were here--in America--but not of it. Simply worryin~ without a plan to change thing)never helped much. We grew stronger, and more beautiful, in the words of Langston Hughes, as we re~embraced our rituals. Chorus: Shake your .b rown feet, honey, Shake your brown feet, chile, Shake your brown feet, honey, Shake 1 Vk:way em swift and wil' -Voice: back, honey, ~\ Do that low-down step. Walk on over, darling, Now! Come out With your left. Warrator: During the watering years, after the Great Depression, I was terrified by lynching and an atmosphere of intimidation. I went to war, as poem and soldier and cook and shining knight of Democracy. 'rhe Swa stika, ( ..,-4 ~ ) i£J The Rising Sun, The Hammer & Sickle, I was told, are your r eal enemy. r Meanwhile you had name d me 01-w- Doc.son and I became a witness to the .};.~alft;i._e_s ~of neighborly enemies. Those who caused unnatural Ileaths. Voic0: . . I up, boy, and tell me how you di ed : sense was alert last, What irnraediate intuition about us (over) '·I ..• ~ �You clutched like a bullet 'When your nails Dug red in your yellow palm. And that map the fortunetellers read Chorus: (this line for money, this for love) Voice: Childish again and smeared •••• Chorus: Wake up,boy, ••• Voice: ••• I go to death tomorrow, Tell me what road you took, ••• Chorus: What hour in the day i s luckiest? Voice: - Did your Adams appl e explodez - Who sewed stitches in 0 your µ;:t\ .,' ~ 5 \ angry heart? ~rtt 4 Chorus: wake••• Na rrator: Yes, yes••• I was sometimes a tattered poem in the thirties, forties and fifites. But I was a poem anyway: gracious, noble, fundamental, fiery, Wa ll<C1L 1 firm, relating td My People~' Someone called me Margaret~ I be came a tapestry of my many selves. Voice: For my people everywhere singing their slave songs repeatedly: their dirges and their ciitties and their b,lues and jubi lees, praying their . pr~.yers nightly to an unknown god, bending their knee s humbly to an un/seen power; ( OVf!' r ) �Voice: For my playmate s in the clay and dust and sand of Alabama backyards playing baptizing and preaching and doctor and jail and soldier an~hool and mama and cooking and playhouse and concert and store and hair and Mi s3 Choomby and company; Voice: Let a new earth rise. Chorus: [ let another world be born. Let ·.a bloody peace be written in the sky. Voice: Let a race of mfn / now rise and take control. Narrator: Frank Marshall Davis, Helvin Beaunorous Tolson, Sterling Brown, Robert Hayden, Gwendolyn Brooks--these are names by which my voice is lmown. Some even call me by the name of HISTORY. Chorus: History, history, history. Runagate J Runagate!RunagateJ Voice: Runs falls rises stumbles on from da rlmess into darlmess and the darlmess thicketed with shapes of terror and the hunters pursuing and the hounds pursuing and the night cold and the night long and the river · to cross and the ja ck-muh-lant e rns beckoning beckoning _ and the blaclmess ahead and when shall I reach that somewhere morning and keep on going and never turn back and keep on going •••• Chorus: Runagatel Runagate! Runagate! (over) �Narrator: I wormed into and won hearts and minds. In 1950, America · gave me the Pulitzer Prize. My name was Annie Allen. I was so ·finely sculpt- .. . ed that no inflection was imprecise. I said what I had to say in a language that dazzled and blinded the world. I stood as a jewel; I talked about a jewel named Satin-Leg s Smith. Voice: He wakes, unwinds, elaborately: a cat \ Tawny, reluctant, royal. He is fat ; And fine this morning. Definite. Reimburs e d. He waits a moment, he designs his reign, That no performance maybe plain or vain. Then rises in a clear delirium. Voice: Let us proceed. Let us inspect, together With his meticulous and serious love, The innards of this close+;. Which is vault Whose glory is not diamonds, not pearls, Not silver plat e with just enough dull shine. But wonder-suits in yellow and in wine, Sarcastic green and zebra-striped cobalt. With shoulder paddine that is wide And cocky and determined as his pride; Ballooning pants that taper off to ends Scheduled to ch oke precisely. Voice: Here are hats Like bri e;ht umbrellas; and hystericaJ. ties Like narrow ba.."lners for some ga theri r..g war. (111ver) �1-~arrato r: I lmew the power of the rap l Chorus: Narrator: I am the power of the rap I Chorus: ~ en! Voice: Bartender, make it straight and make it two-- \ ', Voice(pointing): One for the you in me••• Voice(pointing): • • • and one for the me in you. \' Narrator: I became the Be Bopper; somebody called me the Jfot-suiter; I put on dark glasses and conked my hair. A salesman handed me some bleaching cream and a cad.illac as I sped North to join my Brothers and Sisters in the Promised Land. mchard Wright and James Baldwin cried for l'.ll3 • . John Oliver Killens Heard the 'fhunder and Ralph .l!:11ison called me Invisible, adding that once my leaders figured out tbe riddle of my · style and my rap they could help me save me. Black, I left a white country t to fight yellow men in Korea. :t.:lla, Miles, Monk, Billie, Prez,:. .Chano Pozo, Ornette, Coltrane--they went to war 1.-ri.th me. Chorus: jGood morning heartache I ~ do you do? (over) �Horn: , ' Brief medley of sounds and tunes re~~iJiscent of the period. Narrator: I returned to mys~~ .motion~ 1;:~d! The Stroll Slop I The Madisor!J l'Je ~ st~ ~ The Kansas City e Funky Chicken I The Karate-Boogaloo I They saw me poeting with my hips and my feet. ~-Ctt .. cl_., r ;oet~ngl ~ etingl ?Jarra tor: ;1~ilC J,\~ l ,All An d took it all back to 1~ andstand and other countries. Voice: ; ·q-"' l. l.? There's a thrill upon the hill. . Chorus: Let's go, lot : s go, let 1 s goJ _ Narrator: I came from knrea to meet the ltlan in a new sheet'. And, in Montgomecy, · rited,,,~ cr-&:r: ml).,,•/ \\''~hey wo,ul<ln:,' t let ~y tlp_ther sj- t down .pn a bus. )..s.?. Ko t JoiJ<?,0 H--.ilre Y h ,,cte; o Cn orus: .J~ '• i. }rl'-1.,J._ ,p¢f,~ ,."\_) G,( ..(~I\.J 1 ~ ntgomery, Montgomery, I remember Montgomery. Voice: And Birmingltlarn--the three little girls. Voice: And Selma 1 Voice: '. ) And Philadelphia, Mississippi 1 \ Voice: I recollect Emmett Till! Voice: And Watts! i · £ (Al/1-5' , (0 : ~ - ~ Ct/faw e; / ' 6 11 / �Narrator: My name was Co nra d l\ent Rivers at tha t time. I became a poem called 1 'viatts,'"-hoping that in such disguise I could .fi~d my .;wa.y out of this daily ni ghtma re JVoice: -------- Must I shoot the white man dead to free the ni gger in his head? Must I shoot the white man dead to free the ni gger in his head? And Newark! Voice: 0 And Harlem! \ \ \, -- s cgff- Na rrator: My color felt good to me. I stretched and yawned and walked around m~eigb,borhood. Someonec called me Black and I didn--:;~: i t him. At a rally, I turned into a voice on the podium shouting • Chorus: C::TE ,\ i ) ARE A.~ AFRICAN PEOPLE! Voice: \1 I I i \ all things bl a ck and beautiful, I I '- I '- brown faces you loved so well and long, the 'endless roads l eading back to Harlem. (over) \ \ I ..\,l ll \ IJ ~ ,, ,. \ L ' �Chorus: ~ lu Se Ham.al l.=:lu Se Mamal Voice: Where the stri n g At Some point, Was some umbilical jazz, Or perhaps, . I In memory, A long lost bloody cross, Buried in some steel calvary. In what time For whom do we bleed, Lost notes, fro m some jazzman 1 s Broken needlep Musical tears from los t Eyes, Broken drumstick s, why? Pitter patter, boom dropping Bombs in the middle Of my emotions My father I s sound I My mothert,s sound.o •• Chorus: love, life. Narrator: I turned to philosophy. In the spit and dart of my new self, t here �..L ... ..... • ) were utter~~c es I had to make, blood-thoughts I had to share. I knew this was anotl:er sequel to the dream. I had not believed ' jJ those fairy tales. I needed to take a hand and stand and speak the truth. Speak the truth to the peopl 0 ! Voice: It is not necessary to green the heart Only to identify the enemy It is not necessary to blow the mind Only to free the mind •••• Ch orus: It is the total black! Voice: It is the total black, being spoken From the earth's inside. There are many kinds of open. How a diamond comes into a knot of flame How a sound comes into a word, colored By who pays i:hat . :fo:v speaking •••• Ge Chorus: is another kind of open-Voice: i As a diamond cone s in to a knot of fl ame I am black because I come fro m the earth 's inside : Take my word for jewel in your open light. Narrator: I am the ecstasy of N0 1:v. The fullest r e alization of my ancestors' wishes. I return, even in the alarm; e ven in -~:1e shadow-body I am of ten forced to wear. But e:-iough, enough; I beg you, my dear associates, look Now on our&~ctnd hit'fc>;~y~ ~ int~ , ____ Thea.sv"'e. • __ , _: / " j ,JJ .(11.JJ v �Voice(and Dancer): I am a black woman the nrusic of my song some sweet arpeggio of tears is written in a minor k ey and I can be heard humming in the night Can be heard humming Chorus: Hums first line of 11 Nobody Knows The ·'f rouble I See" Voice: in the night I saw my mate leap screamin g to the sea and I/with these hands/cupped the lifebreath from my issue in the canebrake I lost Nat 1 s swinging body in a rain of tears and I heard my son ,scream all the way fromE:v for Peace he never knew • • • • I learned ·na Nang and Pork Chop Hill in anguish ) Now my nostrils lmow the gas and these tri ?ge red tire/d fingers l'!'l\·~ seek the softness inl\k1rrior I s beard I a"'1 a black wo!"lnn tall as & cyp~e ss strong (ov~r) ) ' . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_09_34 Title A name given to the resource Fifth draft of Script Adaptation of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry (A Critical History), typed with handwritten edits, 1976 Description An account of the resource Fourth draft of Script Adaptation of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry (A Critical History), typed with handwritten edits, 1976. For presentation at book party on October 3, 1976: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Redwood Room, University Union, California State University, Sacramento. Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1976 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/ebdd342df128b6d11a87a37cfb825ca8.pdf 070f4f3c8a3259e0890523f38bde3a7b PDF Text Text DRUMVOICES : THE MISSION OF AFRO-AMERICAN POETRY* A Readers Theatre/Ritual Drama By Eugene B. * Script Adaptation of DRUMVOICES : THE MISSION OF AFRO-AMERICAN POETRY (a critical history} , by Eugene B. Redmond: Doubleday, 1976. Script copyright @ 1977 by Eugene B Redmond �Note to Directors & Players DRUMVOICES , as a theatricalqc:RJ,Tt , follows .~ 1 -tW- tradition of ritual theater or the 11 ri tualizing"of an event. I deally, for Readers Theater, th.fJ) · ta-ge.r ;;r,el\lrebo.u~ hav~:' i.'<ii'-Q_ {:l'P~ . "Ti<> ·"'.s~r~J~ ,. r-r 4:i:~ ·-s ~and ,· and ~a. ce iar. . Since ritual theater is conceptually and practically adaptable to as few or as many players as are desired, directors/stagers should proceed accordingly. Ritual drama is also qualitative in terms of depth and meaning- -that is it can be as deep o.r as light as one wants it . Hence , in preparing DRUMVOICES for the stage, directors should take pains to determine the levels of intensity or message - delivery · '·a, tff~J" ii.' • These levels can be achieved and/or modified .from performance to performance by shifting (heightening or lessening) tone and thrust . Ideally, for DRUMVOICES , one drummer and one horn -player should make up the cast , along with at least one male and one female dancer. At t~e same time , owing to the nexibility and adaptability of ritual theater , director may use as many dancers or musicians as are desired. The speaking cast sho.µ ld(preferably) consist of a three-member core-chorus . The core-chorus provides unison, harmony and call-and-response while at the same t ime suppl ying the main indivi,dual voices . S.et apart from t .he core-chorus is the narrator, who is atmospherically removed, some-what dispassionate but omnipresent i a vast-voice :bn ge. Another voice , some distance to the other side of the core-chorus is khown ·as a ralief-voiee . This character/player can- be made the focus of attention or go unnoticed while he/she slips into the audience , disappears to change clothes, or prepares for some sudden and -surprise shift in the action of the drrune. . :t'. �l art I: Music & I The stage is bear except for music stands, a podium and the musicians' instruments . A lo~t dancer appears, walks upstage and lmeels in preparation for the oped~~ance-poem. The first sounds are heard off stage at which time the drummer and horn player come on stage and situate themselves at their instruments . The dancer begins to dance when the musicians are assembled. Voice~{of~-stage) Music and !-- Listen f--Yai L:.Y ai ! Listen to the sound of rrry homl Music and I --Listenl--Yaif Yail Listen to the sound of rrry homl Musi c ~and !--Listen 1-- Yai I Yai ! Voice(ofr-atage as dance begins) Listen to the sound of my horn ••• This note you have longed to hear! Voieef2 Listentito ·" the s souiido of- ·w s,s:ong, : I s TJ.Y, FIO"r :,:the music you have hummed by ear. Voice#) I sound the time to rise for, the fields . I moan the rhythm as the congregation lmeels . Voice:/14 For I am the note of air, the catcher of your despair. Voice .5 I cry long nights for you my people . I rise early with my clayed cotton coat . I tote water to sun-baked lips. Voice#l And I sing awm, pain from your chain-whipped hips . (oven· ) �2 Voice#2 But now, my people, I've grown a new song Listen, all ye Americans! Listen with your ear: Voice#3(walking upstate to position) Now the congregation rises-Voice#4(walking upstage to position) Now the new corn sprouts-Voice#5(walking upstage to position) Now the air breathes fresh-Voice#l(walking upstage to position) Now the trodden land sings-Voice#2(walking upstage to position) Now my horn of clay airs a long signal motif. Voiee/13 Listen to the sound of my horn, my people . This rhythm of years long past . Voice#4 Listen to the sound of my horn, I say; Chorus(raising arms) Music and I :. . ·- have come at last J (Dunn s) ( As voices expaade, dancer ~BJid :dmmm~:ropic1~ u-p ,1tempo ; then dancer exits ~ After a slight pause , narrator begins the on~stage ritual program. ) Narrator I am the poem! We are the poem! Narrator And the poem is me ! Chorus And the poem is u s I And the poem is us I And the poem is us I (over) �3 Narrator I am the poem and I caae before pen ,1or pencil or paper or printing press t e~ ! I cupped and cuddled the wisdom of the winds in drum-bosoms of ecstasy. Drunmer Performs a wide range of rhythms , movements , tones , multiple-rhythms African, West Indian, fro-Latin , Afro - American. Narrator Listenl Listen closely and you can hear me , you can hear me writing in drum-language ; you can hear me conversing with tomorrow, today and the heretofore . Chorus DRUMFEEI' ON THE SO IL, ON THE SANDROADS OF THE MIND! FLESH-PISTONS PRANCING, THE EARTH'S ENGINE! IT IS A COMING FORTH, THE NIGHT WITHrN US COMING FORTH'! THE NIGHT WITHIN US COMING FORTH f FEEI' BEATING, BEATING, BEATING SEEDS INTO THE SO IL! Narrator I return and return and return to my magnificent and reliable archives . 'Chorus That J,ove we can depend onJ That Love we can depend on! Voice ( singing; as danc er:,s _s _tJ?l~ ONOBOROBO I Chorus ONOBOROBO ! Voice ONOBOROBo ! Chorus ONOBOROBO f (over) si; ·rch. J. th.a ta·ge )•0nt [•.op �4 Voice ONOBOROBO I Chorus ONOBOROBO! Narrator In my dependable cultural vault is the Idea-gram: that natural clinetagraphy landscaped by thudding thoughts of my totem family, the living-dead, the breathing, the unborn. I am the poetic flesh-temple .with many forms, earth- daughter and agile inundator o- history. I am the poem in motion. Dancer Executes rudimentary movements and other elements of traditional African and nee-African dance: isolation, use of pelvis and torso, leaps, twirls, pulls, the Yanvalou(or a ~indreckmovement), vigorous stretches, lifts and thrusts. (D~t;A:M. accompaniment) Narrator I am the Black and Unkno-wn Bard. American put me on a · conveyer belt moving in two different directions at the same time My African Jubilance turned to anger and a song of sabotage. My Indomi..table Echo and Id.ion flavored my Indomitable Press to be Human. As a poem, I became part of what I did, saw and dreamed on these shores: Field Hollers, Vendors r Shouls, Chants, Work Songs, Spirituals, Blues, Gospels, Jazz, Rhythm-nBlues, Soul Music. ( See attache.d chart of the preceding item~ , which ~ et!1- lustrated with short examples by voices after the list has been given.) Voice Did ye~ feed my cow? Voice Voice · Wi:11 yer tell me how? (over) �yodle •••• hey brother yodle •••• hey brother Vendors• Shouts watermellons, oh ••• sausages, oh ••• · tomatoes, oh ••• I got •em fresh ••• , Chants Om-la-la Om-la-la Work Songs Say I'm working hard on the chaingang Spirituals Ezekiel saw the wheel a-turning(chorus) Way up in the middle of the air Blues Blood, lawd, blood all on the wall Gospels O' happ. day . O happy day When Jesus washed When ~esus washed Washed all my sins away Jazz Riffs from Ike Rhythm-and-Blues Will you still love me tomorrow? Soul Music I ,m a soul man I •m a soul man �5 Voice Oh w' at did yer give 'er? Voice Cawn an hay! Voice Oh w1 at did yer give 1 er? Voice Cawn an hay! Voice(looking up) Evahwhub. I , -whuh I loo]j: dis mawnin, Looks lak rain, looks like rain. Chorus Looks lak rain, looks lak rain! Voice I gotta rainbow, tied all rounl mah shoulder, Ain gonna r ain, ain gonna rain. Chorus Dis is de hammer, Kilt John Henry 1 oice(emphatically} Twon•t kill me , baby, Twon 1 t kill me . Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain-Voiee Tell him I'm gone , baby, Tell him I 1 m gone . ( ova--, ) �6 Chorus I got a rainbow Tied 1 roun my shoulder, Ain 1 t gonna rain, baby, Ain't gonna rain. · oice(work-song sung) Dis ole hammer--huht(chorus) 1 Ring lak silver--huht (chorus) Shine lak gold--huh chorus) Chorus Ain 1 t gonna rainJ Ain~t gonna rainl Voice(female) I 1m a big fat mamma, got the meat shaking on mah bones, I'm a big fat mamma, got the meat shaking on map. bones, And everry time I shakes some skinny girl loses huh home. Voice Run, nigger run; de patter-roller catch you; Chorus un, nigger, run, it I s almost day. Voice Run, nigger, run; de patter-roller catch you; Chorus Run, nigger, run, and tey to get get away. Voi-c e Dis nigger run, he run his best,-- Stuck his head in a hornet's nest,-Voice Jumped de fence and run fru the paster; (over) �7 Chorus White man run, but nigger run faster . Voice Dat nigger run, dat nigger flew,-Chorus. Dat nigger tore his shirt in two. N~rrator Yes, as poem, as cotton~pfucker, as banjo-player, as fiddler, as preacher, a minstrel-maker and mirror, as slave-rebellion leader, I emered a ne'I/ part of the old My 4friean song ushered forth in strange new Biblical Language. Voice(singing) Go Down, Moses, Way Down in Egyptland; Choru ( talking+pointing) , Tell old haroah To let my people go . Deep River •••• Deep Deep Deep River •••• Voice Deep Bi ver, my home is over Jordan; Deep River, Lord; I want to cross over into camp ground Voice (excitedly) And, yes , I DREAMED I was riding in that chariot. Chorus(or Voice) Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming fort o carry me hon:e1 (over) �8 Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home. Voice Green trees a-bending, Po' sinn.er stands a-trembling The trumpet sounds within-a-my soul; Chorus I ain't got long to stay here . Voice (male) Joshua fit de battle of Jericho,-Chorus Voice Joshua fit de battle of Jericho,-Chorus And de walls came tumbling down . Voice Dat morning •• •• Chorus And decwalls came tumbling Voice My God is a rock in a weary lan 1 - Chorus Weary lan 1 , weary lan' -Voice My God is a rock in a weary lan 1 - Chorus Shelter in de time of storm. Narrator I was Black and curious; I confronted harshness head-on; my struggle meant {over) �I had to learn to write like wh~tes, even though,Ironically, their laws 9 aid I could be punished or jailed for possessing such knowledge and skill . Voice You named me . Lucy Terry! Voice Gustavas Vassa J Voice Britton & Jupiter Hammon! Voice Coon & Buck I Voice Phyllis Wheatley! And I mastered Greek, Latin and English in my teens . Lonely Black girl whom the muses befriended, thousands and thousands of miles away from rrry West African home . I continued to emerge as the poem. Voice Should you, my Lord, while you peruse rrry song, Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow these wishes fort he common good, By feeling hearts alone best understood, I, young in life , by seeming cruel fate , }'las snatched from Afric' s fancy• d happy seat , :t an~ 6.xcruci- ting must mole t ., hat c·,Ja la ,cur~~ ~y ~~r&nt~ t r~ ~t? What sor:irows labour in my parents ' -breasts? Steel 1 d was that soul and by no misery mov•d That from a father seiz 1 d his babe belov 1 d: Such , such my case . And can I then but pray Others :may never feel tyranic sway? (whea1lay) Narrator You named me George Moses Horton. I did not like the injustice (over) of the �10 double standard. And so I turned into a poem. Even though some continued calling me "The Slave . " Chorus 11 Th Slave"? Voice Because the brood-sow's left si de pigs were black, - Whose sable tincture was by nature struck, Were you by justice bound to pull them back And leav e the sandy-colored pigs to suck? (Horton) Chorus(ominously) Runagatel Bunagate! Runagate! Runagate! Runagate! Narrator My mother cured ills and my father worked mots . In the bi-cultural constriction the poem became juju-man, the face hidden by the ambiguous minstrel smile . Voice We have fashioned laughter out of tears and pain; Chorus B~t the moment after- Voice Pain and tears again. (Cb. rles Bertram .Johnson) Voice Forgive these erring people, Lordi Yoip-~s Who lynch at home and love abroad. (cloJ,o D~) Narrator Still I wrote--this time just like I talked, though some made :run of it . But, as maker of song, I could only produce heart-rhythms . (over) �Voice 11 De Ounjah man, de Ounjah man, o chillen,run, de Gunjah man! Chorus O chillen,run, the Cunjah man! Voice Him mouf ez beez as fryin' pan; Voice Him yurs am small, him eyes am raid,-Voice Him hab no toof een him ol' haid, -Voice Him hab him roots, him vru.k him tricks,-Voice Him roll him eye, him mek you sick-Chorus De Cunjah man, de Cunjah man, O chillen run, de Cunjah mant(J.E.Campbell) Narrator I knew my rights, my rou@l times and my remedies. Voice(assurning tones ref1Boting physical illne ses) Blue-mass, laudnum, liver pills, "Sixty-six, fo I fever an 1 chills,'' Ready Relief, an 1 A.B.c., An 1 half a bottle of X.Y.Z.(J.W. Holloway) Narrator You nmned me Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, James Edwin Campbell, James Weldon Johnson, Paul Lawrence Dunbar--Son of ex-slaves, elevator boy risen to brilliant bard of the race. s the poem I strode forth in several kinds of English. ( OVell' ) �12 Voice I know why the caged bird sings, Ah me , lfuen bis wing is bruised and his . bosom sor~.,.Wnen he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol 0f joy or glee, But a prayer that he send from his heart 1 s de p core , But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-1 know why thecaged bird sings l (Dunb~r} Narrator Above all , song exudes from me . Indeed, I am song. atch and examine me . My birthright is my anthem. My song is my sword. And I l l ift that sword high I Voice ( singing) Lift evfr y voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty . Chorus (talking, pointing upwards) Till our rejoicings rise High as the listening skies!(J. W Johnson} Narrator As song-poem I forged pure flames of rhythms without books James Weldon Johnson called me the Black and Unknown ~ard. And, let me tell you some thing ••• hmmm.mmmm •••• I always loved to hear Malindy sing. Voice G 1 way an 1 quit dat noise , Miss Lucy-- Put dat music book away; What 1 s de use to keep on tryin 1 ? f you practise twell you're gray, You cain 1 t sta 1 t no notes a-flyin' Lak de ones dat rants and rings From de kitchen to de big woods (over} �13 Chorus When Malindy sings. Voice You ain 1 t got de nachel o 1 gans Fu• to make de soun 1 come right, You ~in't got de tu'ns an' twistin•s fur to make it sweet an• light. Tell you one thing now, Miss Lucy, I'm tellin' you fu' true, An. 1 'When hit comes to ra l right singin', '~ _Chor.us 1T " ain't no easy thing to do. Voice Easy 1 nough fu 1 folks to hollah, Lookin' at de lines an' dots, When dey ain't no one kin sence it, An' de chune comes in,in spots; But fu 1 real melojous music, Dat jes strikes yo I hea 1.t and clings, Jes you stan 1 an 1 listen wif me ~ · 1~ r • Chorus When Malindy sings . Voice Ain't you nev,ah hyeahd Malindy? Blessed soul, tek up de crossl Look hyeah, ain 1 t you jokin', honey? Well, you don't know what you los•. Y' ought to hyeah dat gal a-wai' blin,, (over) �Ro bins, la' ks, an' all dem things, Heish dey moufs an' hides dey faces Chorus When Malindy sings. Voice#l Fidlin' man jes' stops his fiddlin', Lay his fiddle on de she 1 f; Voice 2 Mockin 1 -bird quit tryin' to 'Whistle, 1 0ause he jes so shamed hisse r. Voice#3 Folks a-playint on de banjo Draps dey fingahs on de strings-Bless yo' soul--fu 1 gits to move •em, Chorus When Malindy sings. Voice She jes' spreads hu mouf and hollahs, Voice( singing) "Come to Jesus," Voice ••• twell you hyeah Sinnahs' tremblin 1 steps and voices, Timid-lak a-drawin 1 neah; Den she tu•ns to Voice(singing) 11 Rock of Ages, 11 Voice Simply to de cross she clings, (over) �15 Ant you fin yo' teahs a-drappin' .Oh(i>I?US When Malindy sings. Voice Who dat says de humble praises lif de Master nevah counts? Heish yo' mouf, I hyea.h dat music, Ez it rises up an' mounts-Ploatin1 by de hills an' valleys, a:y above dis burryin 1 sod, Ez hit makes its way in glo ry ; . " Chorua To de very gates of God~ Voice Oh, hit re sweetah dan de music Of an edicated band; An' hit 1 s deara.h dan de battle's Song o 1 triumph in de lan•. Voice 1 It seems holier dan evenin' \when de solemn chu'ch bell rings, Voice 2(slowly,searchingly) Ez I sit an' ca 1,m ly listen Chorus While alindy sings. Voice Tows stop dat ba 1 kin, hyeah me! Mandy, , mek dat chile keep still; (over) �16 Don't you hyeah de echoes callin 1 F 1 om de valley to de hill? Let me listen, I can hyeah it, Th·' oo de br-esh of angels I wings , Boft and sweet, Voice 3 ( singing) • • • 11 swing . 1 ow, Sweet Chariot , " Voice(dreamily and ecstatically) Ez Malindy sings . (Dunbar) Narrator Poem that I was and am, I traveled from "oasis to oasis . " Voice Man's Saharic up and down . (M . B. Tolson) Narrator Riverbbats , river towns chaingangs • • Voice(singing as chorus makes work-sounds in background) Well don ' t you know That's the sound of the men, working on the chain-n-n-n gan-ee-ang; Well don 1 t you know That's the sound of the men , working on the chain gang . (Cooke) Narrator Bar-room toughs , hard-hearted Hanna , Stagolee ••• they all knew me . Voice Hard haarted Harm.a- Voice From Savannah, GEE A. Voice She was so cold, yal,1-Chorus Wasn't shel (over) �17 Voice She 1 d pour water on a drowning manJ Chorua(slowly and deliberately) Water, on a drown-ii-nnng man. Voice(attracting the attention of others) It was early one mornin 1 , When I heard my bulldog bark; Stagolee and Billy. Lyons Was squablin 1 in the dark . Voice Frankie and Kohnny were lovers , Lordy , how they could love, Voice Swore to each other , True as the stars up above , He was her man but he done her wrong. Voice(female) Shine , shine , shine , ••• save po ' me . Narrator I was in the constant see-saw of life , wading through hell in search of heaven. Bu t I kept my working philosophy with me . Voice l De stopper get de longest rest in de empty jug. Voice 2 De price of your hat ain 1 t de measure of your brain . VoiceJ3 De graveyard is de cheapes' boardin 1 -house . Buyin 1 Voice-f14 on credit is robbin 1 next year's crop . (Over) �18 Voice 5 Life is short and Voice, 1 De cow-bell can 1 t keep a secret . Voiee#2 Little flakes make de deppest snow. Voice 3 De crawfish in a hurry look like he tryin' to git dar y Voicel/4 Be drinks so much whiskey that he staggers in his sleep. Voice 5 In God we trust , all others cash. Narrator Yes I was lyric-wise . You heard me everywhere . You even heard me coming from the ·swollen lips of the bugle, French horn, trumpet , clarinet and saxophone. Horn A series of short riffs and movements exemplary and ±llustrative of various forms of Afro-American music played between the advent of the spirituals and the ragtime-blues period. Narrator In Paris they called the "Cakewalk'' the '1poetry of motion. tt In the crevices of ships I was transported to global points to make me splendid sound and dance my splendid poetry of motion. Dancer Executes a series of movements and steps representing such dances as the Cakewalk, Charleston, the ,Two~~tep, Jitterbp g and t he Bop . Elerr:ents of West Indian dances should flavor movements . (over) �19 Narrator As the poem I blue horns, shot guns in your Virst World War, danced dances and came home to face the Ku Klux Klan, Southern Sheriffs and Jim Crow. I got Angry . And I got defiant . But , I was relatively cool. Voice( serious) Into the furnace let me go alone; Stay you without in terror of the heat . I will go naked in-:e-:fior -.thus 'tis sweet-- . Into the weird depths of the hottest zone. Voice(serious but resolute and emerging) Desire destroys , consumes my mortal fears , Transforming me into a shape of flame . I will come out, back to your world of tears , A strongger soul within a finer frame . (McKay') Narrator From the dark tower I watched as I 1 pr.~para~, ~.Matcb.ed ·as I prepared, watched as I pre pared, knowing that f.We :were not made eternally to weep . Voice(reflective, meditative) The night whose sable breast relie~es the stark White stars is no less lovely being dark, And there are buds that cannot bloom at all In light, but crumple , piteous , and fall; So in the dark we hide ,t he heart ~. that bleeds , And wait , and tend our agonizing seeds . (Cullen) Narrator After race riots in several American cities , I lifted my voice in a searing shaft o~ discontent . Chorus 0 kinsmen! we must meet the common foeJ (over) 11 �20 Voice Like men we•l1 face the murderous , cowa~dly pack , Pressed to the wall, dying, •• Chorus(slowly and softly) Dying ••• dying ••• dying Voice ••• but fighting back! (M.~~,) Narrator All the while my past kept pulling on me . It was if we were married to each other, glued, locked, welded together. It was as if those who departed never really, really died. An African sense kept tugging tugging at my truncated »oot-s . The bridge of my dwarf-like past . rested on at least two shores. Voice Pour o pour that parting soul in song, O pour it in the sawdust glow of night, Into the velvet pine-smoke air to-night, ••• Chorus(slow and echo-like) And let the valley carry it along . And let the valley carry it along . (tG'onte~) Narrator(confused and desperate} Sometimes I was only half-there , fighting those who wanted to snatch away my humanity by day; and fighting hunger and confusion at home by night . As the poem, I emerged convoluted and wholly new, only to ·)retreat to a some-other-time refrain. Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar, the Pyramids-- Voodoo Ceremonies--what did they all mean ito me? The beauty- pain of it all? Chorus Come with a blast of trumpets , Jesus I (over) �21 Voice(o.:xymoronic) And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red Burns in my heart a love-fire sharp like pain. Chorus weet silver trumpets , Jesust ()\~3~8SJ V'oice Well , son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been -no crystal stair. (Hughes) Narrator But the blur of that veil was always tempora~t ly relieved by song, by dance , by reading mr thinking about foreign places and looking forward to the day when Americans would grow up . e were here--in America-- but not of it . Simply worrying, without a plan to change things , didn't help much. We grew stronger, and more beautiful, in tha words of Langston Hughes , as we re-embraced our own rituals . Ch orus(singing and jiving) Shake your brown , feet, honey , Shake your brown feet , chile , Shake your brown feet, honey, Shake em swift and wil 1 - Voice Get way back, honey, Do that low-down step. Walk on over, darling, Nowt Come out With your left . (Hughes) Voice (breaking the fun-frolic' and wanng serious) Yet do I marvel at this curious thing: To make a poet black, and bid him (over} singt ~ vlle~ �22 Narrator Yet must I marvel that I 1 m here at all . Because during the watering years , after the GREAT DEPRESSION, my .. existence was seriliously threatened by lynching and at atmosphere of intimidation. I went to war, as poem and soJ:.dier and cook and shining knight of DEMOCRACY! The SWASTIKA, i:che ISING SUN, The HAMMER & SICKLE, I was told, were my L enemies . wen Dodson and I grew accustomed to the Meanwhile you had named me realities of neighborly enemies , Those who caused UNNATURAL DEATHS . Voice(preaching a funeral sermon) Wake up , boy, and tell me how you died : What sense was alert last, What immediate intuition about m You clutched like a bullet when your nails Dug red in your yellow palm And that map the fortunetellers read Chorus ( this line for money, this for love} ' Voice Uhi.ldish ag~in- ~d.2meared. • • Chorus Wake up , boy • • • Voice • •• I go to death tomorrow, Tell me what road you took, ••• Cho rps What hour in the day is luckiest? Voice Did your Adams apple explode? Who sewed stitches in your angry heart?(O. (over) �23 Chorus 0 wake ••• Narrator Yes, yes , • • • I was sometimes a tattered and beaten poem in the nineteen Thirties, Forties and Fifties . But I was a poem anyway: Gracious, Noble , ·Fundamental , Fiery , Firm, Relating to ;r on ~ of Wtllkb- Common Ground. Someone cal led me Margare ~ eople 11 I became a Tapestry y Many Selves . Voice/11 For my people everywhe:t9'8 singing their slave songs repeatedly; Voice#2 • • • their dirges and their ditties and ~heitb~-.S and jubilees , Voice 3 • • • praying their prayers nightly to an unknown god, Voice#l • • • bending their knees humbly to an un/seen power; Voice#2 • • • washing/ironing cooking scrubbing sewing mending plowing/digging planting pruning patching dragging along never gaining never reapi ng nev er . lmowing and neve~ understand/tng; Voice#) For my playmates in the clay and dust and sand of Alabama backyards playing • • • Voice#l Voice#2 preaching and••• (over) hoeing/ �24 Voice 3 doctor and •• • Voice#l jail and ••• Voice 2 soldier and • . • Voice 3 school and • ••• Voicefl mama and/cooking and playhouse and concert and store and/hair and Miss Choomby and company; Voice#2 For the cramped bewildered yearS' we went to school to learn to know the reasons why and the answers to and the people who and the places where and the days when , in memory of the bitter hours when we discovered we were black and poor and small and different and nobody cared and nobody wondered and nobody understood; Voice 3 For the boys and girls who grew in spite of these things to be . 1__. . . man and woman, to laugh and dance and sing and play and drink their wine and religion and success, to marry their playmates and bear children and then die of consumption and anemia and lynching; Voice 1 For my people thronging 47th Street in Chicago and Lenox Avenue in New York and Rampart street in New Orleans , ••• Voice 2 ~or my people blundering and groping and floundering in the (over) �25 dark of chnrche and schools and clubs and societies , as - sociations and councils and committees and conventions , distressed and disturbed and deceived and devoured by money-hungry glory-craving leeches, preyed on by facile force of state and fad and novelty , by false prophet and holy believer; Voice#) Let a new earth rise . Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky, Voice#J,. • • • Let a second generation full/ of courage issue forth; Voice 2 • • let a people loving freedom come/ to growth . Let a beauty full/ of healing and a strength of f inal clenching be t he pulsing in/ our spirits and<OU.r blood. Voice 3 • • Let the martial songs be written , let the dirges . dis/ appear • Chorus (strongly) • • • Let a race of men now rise and take contro l. M• .Walker) Narrator rank Marshall Davis , Melvin Beaunorous Jolson, terling Brown, Robert Hayden, Paul Vesey, Bob Kaufman, Georgia Douglas t Johnson, Russell Atkins , Leadbelly, Ligb.tnin 1 Hopkins--these are names by which my voice is known . Some even call me by the name of (whispering) HISTORY . Chorus(rising from whispers) Histocy! History! History! RunagateJ RunagateJ Runagatel Voice Runs falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darkness and the darkness thicketed with shapes of terror (over) �26 and the hunters pursuing and the hounds pursuing and the night cold and the night long and the river tocross and the jack-muh-lanterns be ckoning beckoning and the blackness ahead and 'Wb.en shall I reach that somewj):ere morning and keep on going and never turn back and keep on going ••• Chorus(frightened) Runa gatel Eun.agate! Runagatet Voice Some go weeping and some re j oicing ~ome in coffins and some some in silks and some in shac kles Oh that train, ghost-story t r ain through swamp and savanna move r ing movering over trestles of dew, through caves of the wish, Midnight Special on a sabre track movering moveFing , first stop Mercy and the last Hallelujah. Voice Come ride- a my train . Chorus Mean mean mean to be free . (R. Hayden) Narrator I 'ecame a brilliant word-torch shining back against my past and flaming proudly into the future . All the while I wormed into and won hearts and minds . And in 1950, America gave me the coveted Pulitzer Prise . My name was Annie A1len but I was rnsny people . I was so finely sculpted that no inflection was imprecise. I said what I had to say in a language that dazzled and bl inded the world. I stood as a jewel; I talked about a jewel named "Satin-Legs Smith . 11 (over) �27 Voice(as othe~s look on admiringly) He wakes, unwinds, elaborately. a cat Tawny, reluctant, royal. He is fat And fine this morning. Definite. Reimbursed. He waits a momemt, he designs his reign, That no performance mp.y be plain or vain Then rises in a clear delirium. Voice Let 1.~us proceed. Let us inspect, together i th his meticulous and serious love, The unnards of this closet. Which is vault 'Whose glory is not diamonds, not pearls, Not silver plate with just enough dull shine. But wonder suits in yellow and in wine, Sarcastic green and zebra-striped cobalt. i th shoulder padding that is wide And c cky and determined as his pride; Ballooning panms that taper off to ends Scheduled to choke precisely. Voice Here are hats Like bright umbrellas; and hysterical ties Like narrow banners for some gathering war.(G. Narrator Yes, I was immaculately Black. Magnificently Black. And I knew the power of the Rapl Chorus Ament (over) �28 Narr.a tor I became the power of the Rap! Chorus Amen! Voice Bartender, make it straight and make Voice(p6inting) one for the you in me••• Voice(pointing) • • and the me -:in you. (11. Tolson) Narrator After lengthy conversations with my musio, I became the Be-Bopper; somebody called me the Zoot-Suiter; I put on. dark glasses and conked my hair. A double-chinned ~alesman handed me some bleaching cream and a cadillac as I sped North' to join my brothers and siste~s in the .romised Lan Richard Wright and James Baldwin cried for me. John Oliver Killens Heard The Thunder and Ralph Ellison called me Invisible, adding that once rrry leaders ~.e goded the riddle of my style and my rap they could help me save me. Black, I left a Whi e country to fight Yellow men in Korea. Ella, Miles, Monk, Billie, Prez, Chano Pozo, Ornette, Coltrane--they went to war with me. Chorus Good Morning heartachet(sung) How do you do.(said) Horn Medley of tunes and musical mannerisms reminiscent of the period. Narrator I got hip to world events, science and space exploration. I knew wh~ I knew, still I couldn I t go where r wanted to go, or dO what I wanted to do. Arneric~· got nervous whenever I appeared in public. But I knew (over} �29 certain events and developments were dooming all of us t .o an • "Ultimate Reality . 11 Voice You know, Joe, it's a f\u.:;my thing, Joe, You worry most of your life about me, Always afraid I 1 11 get a job with you, Always scared I might get served with you, Always afraid I'd wanna love1your 0r that she might love me Voice Don ,t want me to eat with you, Voice S ared I might live next to Voice But with the Atom Bomb, Joe, It looks like I might die with you . Voice That don:t:p I seem right , does it, Joe? (Ray Durem} Narrator But inspite of all the adversity, the historical strengths kept returning to me, shoring me up , helping me to feep getting up , to keep going. We had our persona] victories in the meantime . We learned everything that it too~ to make it in America, even when no one would let us have equipment or space to work in. We just reached back inside ourselves and crune up with what was needed. Then__;one day, the poem became a baseball in the hands of the legendary Leroy Satchel Paige . Voice Sometimes I feel like I will never stop Just go forever (over) �30 Till one fine mornin• I'm gonna reach up and grab me a handf'ulla tars Swing out my long lean leg And whip three hot strikes burnin• down the heavens And look over at God and say How about thatl(S. 1lav) Narrator Style has always been my signature . So it was not a surprise that I returned to myself in motion. Behold! The tr.oil! Chorus Sings a t,ortion of Gene Chandler ts 11 Duke of Earl" or some other period piege . Narrator The Kansas City Slopt The Madison! · Chorus Sings Jportion of the Five Satins• song from period. n±n the Still of the Night" or another Narrator The Twist! Bri,ef exerpt from Chubby Checker's "Twist" . Narrator The Funky Chicken! The Karate Boogaloot They saw me poeting with my hips and my feet . Chorus PoetingJ Poetingf Narrator And took it all back to American Bandstand and other countries . Voice(singing) There ' s a thrill upon the hil11 Chorus ( singing2 Let's Go! Let's Go! Let•s Go! (over) �Narrator I eaina home from Korea to meet the Klan in a new sheet. And in Montgome;ey they would not let my mother sit down on a bus. As a poem, my name became Lance Jeffers, Raumond:· Pa:tterson, G.C. Oden,Mari Evans, LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde. Chorus(questioningly) Montgomery? Montgomery? Montgomery?. • I remembeF Montgomery. Voice And Birmingb.am--the fo~.-~ little, little girls. Voice Four little girls Who went to Sunday School that day And never came back home at l all-Voice But left instead Th~ir blood upon the wall With spattered flesh And bloodied Sunday dresses Scorched by dynamite that hina made aeons ago llirtl not know' .what 6hina made Before China was ever Red at all Would redden with their blood This Birmingham-on-Sunday wall. Four tiny girls Who left their blood upon that wall, InJ littlet g:ra..ves l today await (over) �32 Voice The dynamite that might ignite The ancient fuse ' of Dragon Kings Whose tomorrow sings a hymn, The missionaries never taught In Christian Sunday School To Implement the Golden Rule . Voice Four little girls Might be awakened someday soon By songs upon the breeze Voice As yet unfelt among Magnolia .o:U.. trees. C~v&,es) Voice And Selma! Voice And Phiiadelphia, Mississippi! Voiee(vaguely , hesitatingly) I recollect Emmett Till Voice 1lnd Watts J Narrator My Name was Conrad Kent Rivers at that time . I became a poem called "Watts , " hoping that in such disguise I could find my way out of this daily nightmare . Voice Must I shoot the white man dead to free the nigger (ever) �33 in his head? Voice(pausing, musing) Must I shoot the white man dead to free the nigger in his head? (t •'--' \\Jl~9 Voice And Newarkl Voice And Harlem! Voice And Oakland! Voice And Dallas! Voice And East St . Louis I Voice And Chicago f Voice M' rtin iuther Kingt Voice Malcolm! Voice Stokley! Voice H. .ap Brown! Voice James Bro'WI'l I (over) �34 Narrator Drumbeats enflamed ·tb.ev sky. Liberation became lilyupassionate preoccupation. A warm self- love engulfed me . My woman and I looked at each oth~ through. new-old eyes . We had our ow.n standard of beauty. I stretched and ya-wned and walked around in my own neighborhood. My ~o l or felt good and healthy to me . It looked good to me in the mirror of my Brothers' eyes . Someone called me Black and I didn't hit him. At a rally, I turned into a voice on the podium shouting. Chorus WE ARE AN AFRICAN PEOPLE! Drummer & Dancer Salute the ~oming of the new consciousness with appropriate nee - African rhythms and movements Voice For all things ~lack and beautiful, The brown faces you loved so well and long , ' the endless roads leading back to Harlem. Chorus Kulu Se Mama l Kulu· Se Mama! Kulu Se Mama! Kulu Se Mama Voi ce 1 Where the string At 1...> Some umbilical jazz, Voice#2 Or perhaps , In memory, A long lost bloody cross , Buried in some steel calvary. (over) �35 Voice#3 In what time For whom do we bleed, Lost notes, from some jazzman 1 s Broken needle . VoiceH=4 Musical tears from lost Eyes , Broken drumsticks , whyT Voice ;I.. Pitter patter, boom dropping Bombs in the middle Of my emotions Voice#2 My father ' s s ound Voiee#3 My mother's sound ••• Chorus Is ~love , Is life . (6,to.\)fi ~· Narrator I had watched America. I knew America I could deal with the difference and the sameness , that strange decorated pain that characterizes our existence . I keep coming back to the point of the sythesis and the symbiosis . I am history and future , or, put differently, I am future• history . Sometimes , because of my ma.ny: level fOf vision, I grasp the helm of the struggles of the many colored hands . I might even be in a river that laces the stomach of America. �36 Voice(with dance accompaniment} River of Time: Vibrant vein , Bent , crooked, Older than the Red Men Who named you; Ancient as the winds That break on your Serene and shini ng face; One time western boundary of America From WhQS~h~t'Your broad shoui ders now reach To touch sisters On the flanks . hl>~us River of Truth: Voice • • • Mornings You leap , yawn 2000 miles , And shed a giant joyous tear Over sprouting, straggling Hives of humanity; Nights you weep As the moon , tiptoeing Across your silent silky Face , hears you praying Over the broken backs Of black slaves who rode, rouched and huddled, At your heart in the bel lies Of steamships . (6 cer) �37 Chorus River of Memory. Voice Laboratory for Civil War Boat builders Who left huge . eyes of steel Staring from your sullen depths; Reluctant partner to crimes Of Ku lux Klanarnen; River mov:-ed to waves Of ecstasy By the venerable trumpet Of Louis rmst~ong . River of Bones: River of bones and flesh-Bones and flesh and blood; Voice The nation ' s largest Intestine And longest conveyer belt; Chorus River MISSISSIPPI : River of little rivers; River of rises , Voice Sometimes subdued By a roof of ice , descending finally On your outhward course over) �38 To . spit Into t:tie Gulf And join the wrath Of larger bodies.(Rea.mond) Narrator I mused over rivers and long-gone voices underneath rivers Soo, however, I turned to philosophy. In the spit and dart of my new self, there were utterances I had to make, blood-thoughts I had to share. I lmew this was another sequel to the dream. l had not believed those fairy tales. I needed to take a hand and stand and speak the ~ruth to the people Choru_s Speak the truth to the people! . Voice It is not necessary to green the Only to identify the enemy It is not necessary to blow the mind Only to free the mind. C}iorus It is thetotal black! Voi_ce It is the total black, being spoken From theear1lh. 1 s inside. There are· many kinds of open. How a diamond comes into t knot of flame How a sound comes into a word, colored By who pays what for speaking. Chorus Love is mother kind of openr(overJ �39 Voice As a diamond comes i to a knot of flame I am black because I come from the earth's inside Take my word for jewel in your open light . Narrator I am the ecstasy of NOW! 'fhe fullest realization of my Ancestors 1 wishes . I return , even in the alarm; even in the shadow-body I am often forced to wear . - But enough , enough--I beg you, my dear aqsociate s , look How on our~s and history's finest treasure . Voice(and dancer) I am a black woman the music of my song some sweet arpeggio of tears i_s writ ten in a minor key and I can be heard humming in the night Can be heard hunnning Chorus Hums first line of 11 No body nows the Trouble I See" Voice(continuing poem) in the night I saw my mate leap screaming to the sea and I/with these hands/cupped the lifebreath from my issue in tre canebrake I lost Nat's swinging body in a rain of tears and I heard my song scream all the way from Anzio for Peace he nevt:r knew. • • • I learned Da Nang and Pork Chop Hill in anguish (over} �Now my nostrils know the gas and these trigger tire/d fingers seek the softness in my warrior's beard I am a black woman tall as a cypress strong beyond all definition still defying place and time and circumstance assailed impervious indestructible Look on me and be renewed.(,., E\J~~ Look on me and be renewed. Look on us and be renewed . i'inis ��DRUMVOICES: THE MISSION OF AFRO-AMEIUCAN POETRY* A Readers Theatre/Ritual Drama By Eugene B. Redmond * Script Adaptation of DRUMVOICES: THE MISSION OF AFRO - AMERICAN POETRY (a critical history), by Eugene B. Redmond: Doubleday, 1976. Script copyright @ 1977 by Eugene B. Redmond - ./ . . �Note to Directors & Players DRUMVOICES, as a theatricalQcll·v'ff~;, follows ~ 1 ~ tradition of ritual theater or the "ri tuali zing"of an event . Ideally, for · Readers Theater, t~ ~.s:tase.~.a·re . should hav-e ~.;f>Q~~ cf.O~'tt:i.ro·~~~e,t .s ._pf,\,m-q,1 $,q 1':~ ' ~ds ··and ·a dsnce i· 'r'84o ~ince ritual theater is conceptually and practically adaptable to as few or as many players as are desired, directors/stagers should proceed accordingly. Ritual drama is also qualitative in terms of depth and meaning--that is it can be as deep or as light as one wants it. Hence , in preparing DRUMVOICES for the stage, directors should take pains to determine the levels of intensity or message-delivery tha-'b' tb&"'y 1 -~ "t'• These levels can be achieved and/or modified .from performance to performance by shifting (heightening or lessening) tone and thrust. Ideally, for DRUMVOICES, one drummer and one hom - player should make up the cast, along with at least one male and one female dancer. At the same ~time, owing to the flexibility and adaptability of ritual theater, directors may use as many dancers or musicians as are desired. The speaking cast should(preferably) consist of a three-member core-chorus. The core-chorus provides unison, harmony and call-and-response whi le at the same time suppiying the main individual voices. Set apart from the core-chorus is the narrator, who is atmospherically removed, somewhat dispassionate but omnipresent ·s a vast-voice image. Another voice, some distance to the other side of the core-cho rus is khown as a ralief-voice . This character/player can be made the focus of attention or go unnoticed while he/she slips into the audience , disappears to change clothes, or prepares for some sudden and surprise shift in the action o f the drama. • �1 Part I: Music & I The stage is bear except for music stands, a podium and the musicians' instruments . A log~ dancer appears, walks upstage and kneels in preparation for the ope:d~~ance-poem. 'rhe first sounds are heard off stage at which time the drumm.er and horn player come on stage an d situ ate themselves at their instruments . The dan c er begins to dance wh en the mus i ci ans are assembled. Voices(off-stage ) Music and I--Listenl--Yail Yail Listen to the sound of my homl Music and I--Listenl--Yail Yail Listen to the sound of my homl Music and I--Listenl--Yail Yail Voice(off-stage as dance begins) Listen to the sound of my horn•• • This note you have longed to hear! Voice/12 Listen to the sound of my song, I say, For _·the music you have hunn:ned by ear. Voice #3 I sound the time to rise for ' the fields . I moan the rhythm as the congregation lmeels . Voice#4. For I am the note of air, the catcher of your despair. Voice//5 I cry long nights for you my people. I rise early with my clay e d cotton coat . I tote water to sun-baked lips , Voice ,¥1 And I sing awa'f pain from your chain-whi pp e d hips. (oveu ) �2 Voice # 2 But now, my people, I've grown a new song. Listen, all ye Americans I Li sten with your ear: Voice#3 (walking upstate to position) Now the congre gation rises-Voice#4 (walking upsta ge to positi on ) Now the new corn sprouts-Voice#5 (wal king upsta ge to position) Now the air breathes f r esh -Voice#l(walking upsta ge to position ) Now t h e trodden land sings-Voi c e#2 (walking upstage to po sition ) Now my horn of clay airs a long signa l motif . Voi ce/!3 Listen to the sound of my h orn, my people . This rhythm of years long past . Voice#4 Listen to the sound of my horn , I say; Chorus(raising arms) Mus ic and I • •• have come a t last J( Durms ) (As voices expaode , dancer arid drUll11Jl!~r. Gpick un ,tempo; then dancer exits~ After a slight pause, narrator begins the on~stage r i t ual p ro gram . ) Narrat or I am the poem! We are the poem l Narrator And the poem is me t And t h e po em i s u s! And t h e poem is u s! And the poem is us f (over) �3 Narrator I run ~3 1 the poem and I cruae before pen ·or pencil or paper or printing presst I cupped and cuddled the wisdom of the winds in drum-bosoms of ecstasy. Drummer Performs a wide range of rhythms, movements , tones, multi ple-rhythms : African, West Indian, Afro- Latin, Afro - Ame r ican. Narrat or Listen! Listen closely and you can hear me, you can hear me writing in drum-langu age; you can h ear me conv~rsing with tomorrow, today and the heretofore. Chorus DRUMFEEI' ON THE SO IL, ON THE SANDROADS OF THE MIND I FLESH- PISTONS PRANCING, 'r HE EARTH I S ENGINE I IT IS A COMING FORTH, THE NI GHT WITHI N US COMING FORTH! THE NIGHT WITH I N US COMING FOR'r H 1 FEEr BEATI NG, BEATING, BEATING SEEDS INTO THE SOIL! Narra tor I return and return an d return to my magnifi cent and reliable archives. Chorus That l.ove we can depend on J That Love we can depend on! Voice ( singing; as ·danc er·s st!}:lR!"seareh.'.'the stage ),r:nt .: ONOBORO BO ! Ch orus ONOBORO BO ! Voice ONOBOROBo I Chorus ONOBOROBO I (over) �4 Voice ONOBOROBO ! Chorus ONOBOROBO t Narra tor In my dependable cultural vault is the Idea-gram: that natural cinetagraphy landscaped by thudding thoughts of my totem family , the living-dead, the breathing, the unborn. I am the poet ic flesh-temple with many forms, earthdaughter and agile inundator oP history . I am the poem in motion. Dancer Bxecutes rudimentary movements and other eleme nts of traditional African and nee -A frican dance: isolation, use of pelvis and tor s o, leaps, twirls, pulls , the Yanvalou(or a kindred movement} , vigorous stretches, lift s and thrusts. {Dr'-lm. accompaniment) Narrator I am the Black and Unknown Bard. American put me on a conveyer belt moving in two different directions at the same time . My African Jubi lance turned to anger and a song of sabotage. My IndomiLable Echo and Idion flavored my Indomitabl e Press to be Human . As a poem, I became part of what I did , saw and dreamed on these shores: Field Hollers, Vendors ' Shouts, Chants, Wo rk Song s , Spiritua ls , Blues , Gospels, Jazz, Rhythm-nBlues, Soul Music.( See attached cha rt of the preceding items : which ~e~!1- lustrated with short examples by voices after the list has been given .) Voice Did ye~ feed my cow? Voice Yes Manf Voice Will yer te·ll me how? (ov er) �- 4-A Field Hollers yodle •••• hey brother yodle •••• hey brother Vendors' Shouts watermellons, oh ••• sausages, oh ••• tomatoes, oh ••• I got 'em fresh ••• , ohl Chants Om-la-la Om-la-la Work Songs Say 1 1 m working hard on the chaingang Spirituals Ezekiel saw the wheel a-turning ( chorus ) · Way up in the middle of the air Blues Blood, lawd, blood all on the wall Gospels 0 ) happp: day _ 0 happy day When Jesus washed When Resus washed Washed all my sins away Jazz Riffs from Ike :Rhythm-and-Blues Will you still love me tomorrow? Soul Music I tm a soul man I 1m a soul man ... - �5 Voice Oh w1 at did yer give 1 er? Voice Cawn a.n hay! Voice Oh w•at did yer give 1 er? Voice Cawn an hay! Voice(looking up) Evahwhuh I, whuh I loolj: dis mawnin, Looks lak rain, looks like rain. Chorus Looks lak rain, looks lak rain! Voice I gotta. rainbow, tied all roun\ ma.h shoulder, Ain gonna rain, ain gonna rain . Chorus Dis is de hammer, Kilt John Henry! Voice(emphatically) Twon 1 t kill me, baby, 'l1won 1 t kill me. Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain-Voice Tell him I'm gone, baby, Tell him I 1 m gone . ( OVEr ) �6 Chorus I got a rainbow Tied 1 roun my shoulder, Ain ' t gonna rain, baby, Ain 't gonna rain. Voice(work-song,sung) Dis ole hammer--huh!(chorus) Ring lak silver--huh!(chorus ) Shine lak gold--huhl(chorus) Chorus Ain't gonna rain J Ain't gonna rain! Voice(female) I 1 m a big fat mamma , got the meat shaking on mah bones, I ' m a bi g fat mamma , got the meat shaking on map. bones , And eve:rr.ry time I shakes, some skinny girl loses huh home . Voice Run, nigger run ; de patter-roller catch you; Chorus Run , nigger, run, it's almost day . Voice Run , nigger , run; de patter-roller catch you ; Chorus Run, nigger , run, and try to get get away. Voice Dis nigger run, he run his .best ,- •-· I Chorus Stuck his h ead in a hornet's nest,- Voice Jumped de fence and run fru the paste r; (over ) �7 Ch orus White man run, but ni gger run f a ster. Voice Dat nigger run, dat ni gge r flew,-Chorus Dat nigger tore his shirt in two. Narrator Yes , as poem, as cotton-pfucker, as banjo-player, as fiddle r, as preacher, as ili:dnstrel-maker and mirror, as slave-rebellion leader, I emered a ne'fl part of the old. My African song ushered forth in strange new Biblical Language . Voice(singing) Go Down, Moses, Way Down in Egyptland; Cho rus(talking~pointing) Te l l old Pharoah To let my people go. Voice(s!inging) Deep River ••• • Ch orus (talking) Deep Deep Deep River .. 0. Voice Deep River , my home is ove r Jordan; Deep River, Lord; I want to cross over into camp ground . Voice (exci t edly) And , yes, I DREAMED I was riding in that chariot . Cho rus(or Voice) Swi ng low, sweet ch ariot, Comin g for to carry me horr.e1 ( over) �8 Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to earry me home . Voice Green trees a-bending, Po ' sinner stands a-trembling The trumpet sounds within -a-my soul ; Chorus I ain I t got long to stay he re . Voice (male) Joshua fit de battle of Jericho,-- Jeri cho, Jericho-hG-ho-hol Voice Joshua fit de battle of Jericho ,-Cho rus And de walls came tumbling down . Voice Dat morning •••• Chorus And de: walls came tumbling down Voice My God is a rock in a weary lan 1 - Ch orus Weary lan 1 , weary lan 1 - Voice My God is a rock in a weary lan 1 - - Shelt er in de time of storm. Narrator I was Black and curious; I confronted harshness head-on; my struggle meant (over) �9 I had to learn to write like whites, even though ,Ironically, their laws Said I could be punished or jailed for possessing such knowledge and skill. Voice You named me : Lucy Terry I Voice Gustavas Vassal Voice Britton & Jupiter Hanmonl Voice Coon & Buck I Voice Phyllis Wheatley ! And I mastered Greek, Latin and English in rrry teens . Lonely Black girl whom the muses befriended, thousands and thousands of miles away from rrry West African home. I contimued to emerge as the poem. Voice Should you,my Lord, while you peruse my song, Wonde r from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow these wish es fort h e common good, By feeling hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seemin g cruel fate, snatched from Afrjc 1 s fancy 1 d happy seat; wti-~t pa.ng·s- ~xcruci~ting must mo+est, ~Jt.tD.t -.;··r~.. ~L J.~' , ✓-~1.:.:(" : _::. ·, - - ~-·~~( :.-;t,r.; · ,:.,t~·~· What sor~ows labour in my parents' breasts? Steel 1 d was that soul and by no misery mov 1 d ~~s l .~•-,< That from a father seiz 1 d his babe belov 1 d: Such, such my case. And can I then but pray Others may never feel tyrani c sway? (vJhfQtley) Narrator You named me George Moses Ho rton. I did not like the injustice (over) of the �10 double standard. And so I turned into a poem. Even though some continued calling me "The Slave." Chorus "Tha Slave"? Voice Because the brood-sow' s left side pigs were black, Whose sable tincture was by nature struck, Were you by justice bound to pull them back And leave the sandy-colored pigs to suck? (Horton) Chorus(ominously) Runagate! Runagatel Runa ga tel Runagate l Runagatel Narrator My mother cured ills and my father worked root-s. In the bi-cultural constriction the poem became j~ju-man , the face hidden by the ambiguous minstrel smile. Voice We have fashioned laughter Out of tears and pain; Bqt the moment after- Voice Pain and tears again.(Charles Bertram Johnson) Voice Forgive these erring people, Lord! Voip_e Who l ynch at home and love abroad.(~ D~) Narrator Still I wrote--this time just like I talked, though some made fun of it . But,as maker of song, I could only produce heart-rhythms. (over) �Voice 11 De Ounjah man, de Ounjah man , O chillen,run, de Gunjah man! Chorus 0 chillen , run, the Cunjah man! Voice Him mouf ez beez as fryin 1 pan; Voice Him yurs am small, him eyes run raid, -- Voice -- Him hab no toof een him ol 1 ha.id, Voice Him hab him roots , him wuk him tr.i. cks, -Voice Him r oll him eye, him mek you sick-Chorus De Cunjah man , de Cunjah man, O chillen run, de Cunjah manl(J . E.Campbell) Na rrator I knew my rights, my rougp times and my remedies . Voice (assuming tones reflB.oting physical ill n e a ses) Blue-mass , laudnum, liver pills , "Sixty-six, fo I fev er an ' chills , 11 Ready Relief , an' A. B. c . , An 1 half a. bottle of X. Y. Z. (J . W. Holloway) Narrato r You named me Frances El l en Watkins Harp er, James Edwin Campbell , James Weldon Johnson, Paul Lawrence Dunbar--Son of ex-slaves , elevator boy -· r i sen to brilliantbard of the race . As the poem I strode forth in sever al kinds of English. ( OVeJ? ) �12 Voice I know why the caged bird sings , Ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom soreyWh_en he be a ts his bars and he would be fr ee ; It is not a carol of joy or glee , But a prayer that he sends from his heart 's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings -I know why thecaged bir d sings l(Dunbar) Narrator Above all , song exudes from me . Indeed, I am song . Watch and examine me . My birthright is my anthem. My song is my sword. And I ~li ft that sword high! Voice( singing) Lift evff'y voice and s ing , Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty. Chorus (talking, pointing upwards) Till our r ejo icings rise High as t he listening skies! (J . W. Johnson ) Narrato r As song-poem I _forged pure flames of rhythms without books . James Weldon Johnson called me the Black and Unknown gard. And, let me tell you something • •• :hmmrnmmmm • ••• I always loved to hear Ma lindy sing. Voice G1 way an 1 quit dat noise, Miss Lucy-Put dat music book away; What ' s de use to keep on tryin 1 f Ef you practise twell you're gray, You cain 1 t sta 1 t no notes a-flyin 1 Lak de ones dat rants and rings From de kitchen to de big woo ds (ovor ) �13 Chorus When Malindy sings . Voice You ain 1 t got de nachel o 1 gans Fu 1 to make de soun 1 come right , You ain 1 t got de tu 1 ns an 1 twistin 1 s fut to make it sweet an ' light . Tell you one thing now, Miss Lucy , An' I'm tellin ' you fu 1 true , When hit comes to raal ri ght singin 1 , Chorus IT ain 1 t no easy thing to do . Voice Easy 1 nough fu' folks to hollah, Lo okint at de lines an' dots , When dey ain 1 t no one kin senc e it , An ' de chune comes in, in spo t s ; But fu 1 real melo j ous music , Dat jes strikes yo 1 hea't and clings , Jes you stan 1 an ' listen wif me .Chorus When Malindy sings . Voice Ain 1 t you nevah hyeahd Halindy? Bl essed soul , tek up de cross I Look hyeah , ain 1 t you jo kin 1 , honey? Well, you don I t know what you lo s 1• Y1 ou ght to hyeah dat gal a-wa ,1 blin 1 , (over) �Robins, la 1 ks, an' all dem things, Heish dey moufs an' hides dey faces Chorus When Malindy sings. Voice#l Fidlin' man jes 1 stops his fiddlin 1 , Lay his fiddle on de she 1 f; Voice#2 :Mockin 1 -bird quit tryin' to -whistle, 1 0ause he jes so shamed hisse1_f. Voice#3 Folks a-playin 1 on de banjo Draps dey fingahs on de strings-Bless yo' soul--fu 1 gits to move 1 em, Chorus When :Malindy sings. Voice She jes 1 spreads hu mouf and hollahs, Voice( singing) "Come to Jesus, 11 Voice ••• twell you hyeah Sinnahs 1 tremblin 1 steps and voices, Timid-lak a-drawin 1 neah; Den she tu 1 ns to Voice (singing) "Rock of Ages, 11 Voice Simply to de cross she clings , (over) �15 An' you fin yo' teahs a-drappin 1 .Chorus When Malindy sings. Voice Who dat says de humble praises Wif de Master neva.h counts? Heish yo 1 mouf, I hyeah dat music, Ez it rises up an 1 mounts-Floatin 1 by de hills an' valleys, Way above dis burryin 1 sod, Ez hit makes its way in glory Chorus To de very gates of God, Voice Oh, hit ts sweetah dan de music Of an edicated band; An 1 hit's dearah dan de battle 's Song o 1 triumph in de lan•. Voi ce#l It seems holier dan evenin 1 When de solemn chu 1 ch bell rings , Voice #2 (slowly,searchingly) Ez I sit an I ca 1·m ly listen Chorus While Malindy sings . Voice Tows a.h;,, stop dat ba 1 kin, hyea.h me 1 Man~y, 1 :mek dat chile keep still; (over} �16 Don ' t you hyeah de echoes callin 1 F 1 om de valley to de hill? Let me listen, I can hyeah it , Th 1 oo de brash of angels' wings, Sof,_. and sweet, Voice#3 (singing ) •• o 11 swing . 1 ow , Sweet Chariot, 11 Voice(dreamily and ecstatically) Ez Mal indy sings . (Dunbar) Narrato r Poem that I was and am , I travel ed from "oasis to oasis . 11 Voice Man's Saharic up and down . ( M. B o Tolson) Narrato r Riverboats, river towns chaingangs • • • Voice(singing as chorus make s work - sounds in background) Well don ' t you know That's the sound of the men, working on the chain -n-n-n gan-ee - ang; We ll don 1 t you know That's the sound of the men , working on the chain gang . (Cooke) Narrator Bar-room toughs, hard-hearted Hanna, Stagolee • • • they all knew me . Voice Hard~hearted Hanna-Voice From Savannah, GEE A. Voice She was so cold, yall - Chorus Wasn ' t she I (over ) �17 Voice She ' d pour water on a dr owning man ! Cho rus(slowly and deliberately ) Water , on a drown-ii-nnng man. Voice(attracting the attenti on of oth ers) It was early one morni n 1 , When I h e a r d my bull dog bark ; Stagolee and Billy Lyons Was s quabli n 1 in the da r k . Voi c e Frankie and liohnny were l overs , Lordy , how they could love , Voi c e Swo re to each oth er , True as t h e stars up abo ve , Cho rus He was h er man but h e done her wrong . Voice ( f cmale ) Sh ine, shine , shin e , ••• save po ' me . Na rrator I was in the constant s e e - saw of life , wading thr ough h e ll in sea rch of h e aven. But I kept my working philosophy with me . Voice# l De stoppe r get de l ongest res t i n de emp ty jug . Vo i ce#2 De price o f you r h at ain't de measure of your brain. Voic et/3 De grav eya rd is de ch e apes 1 bo a rdin 1 -house . Vo i ceff4 Buyin 1 on cre di t is ro bbin ' next ye a r's c rop . Over} �18 Voice#5 Life is short and full of blisters. Voice #l De cow-bell can 't k eep a secret. Voice#2 Little flakes make de de~pest snow. Voice#3 De crawfish in a hurry look like he tryin 1 to git dar yesterday . Voicef/4 Be drinks so much whis key tha t he staggers in his sleep. Voice-#5 In God we trust, all others cash. Nar rator Yes I was lyric-wise. You heard me everywhere . You even heard me coming from the swoll en lip s of the bugle , French horn, trumpet , clarinet and saxophone . lio rn A series of short riffs and movements exempiary and illustrative of various forms of Afro-Ameri can mus ic played between the advent of the spirituals and the ra gtime-blues period. Narro.tor In Paris they calle d the "Cakewalk 11 the 11poetry of motion o" In the crevices of ships I was trans ported to global points to make me splendid sound and dance my splendid poetry of motion . Dancer Executes a series of movements and s teps r ep r esenting such dances as the Cakewalk , Charl es ton, the Two '- Step , Ji tterbµg and the Bop. i:!;lerehts of West Indian danc e s sl1ould fl avor mo vements. (over) �19 Narrator As the poem I blue horns, shot guns in your First World War, danced dances and came home to face the Ku Klux lClan , Southern Sheriffs and Jim Crow. I got An gry. And I got defiant. But, I was relatively· cool . Voice(serious) Into the furnace let me go alone; Stay you without in terror of the heat. I will go naked in-~for thus 'tis sweet- Into the weird d epths of the hottest zone. Voice(serious but resolute and emergin g) Desire destroys, consumes my mortal fears, Transforming me into a shape of flame . I will come out, back to your world of tears , A strongger soul within a finer frame . (McKay) Narra tor From the dark tower I watched as I pr.~pare9, Matched as I prepared, watched as I pre pared, knowing that !!We were not made eternally to weep . Voice(reflective, meditative) The night whos e s able b rea st r eli e v e s t h e stark White stars is n o l e ss l ov e l y being dark, And there are buds t hat c annot bloom at all In light , but crumpl e, pit eou s, and f a ll; So in the da r k we h ide the h e art t ha t bleeds , And wait, and t end our a gonizing seeds . (Cul1en) Na r rator After race riots in s ev e r a l American cities, I lifted my voice in a searing shaft of discon t ent . Chorus 0 kinsmen! we must meet the common foel (over) 11 �20 Voice Like men we 1 11 face the murderous , cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall , dying , ••• Ch orus ( slowly and softly) Dying ••• dying ••• dying Voice ••• but fight ing b a ck ! (M"'f-,-) Na r rator All the while my p a s t kept pu llin g on me . It was if we were married to each other, glue d, loc ke d , welded to gether. It was a s if those who dep art ed n ev e r r eally , really died . An African sense kept tugg ing tu gging a t my trunc a t e d roots . The bridge of my dwarf-lilte past rested on at le a st two shores . Voice Pour o pour tha t parting soul in song , O pour it in the s awdust glow of night , Into the velvet pins-smoke air to-night , ••• Chorus (s low and echo -li ke ) And l et the vall ey ca r r y it along . And l et the valley carry it along . (t6orner) Narrator ( confused and desperate ) Sometimes I wa s only half-the r e, fighting those who wanted to snatch away my humanity by day;and fi;jlting hunger and confusion at home by night. As the p oem, I emer ge d convo luted and who lly new, only to ,re treat to a some-other-time r e f r ain . ~gypt , Ghana, Mada gasca r, th e Py_ramids-- Voodoo Ceremonies--what d id th ey all me an -to me? The beauty-pain of it all? Chorus Come with a blast of trumpets, Jesus! (over) �21 Voice(oxymoronic) And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red Burns in my heart a love-fire sharp like pain. Chorus Sweet silver trumpets , Jesusl(}\~s~e..s) Voice Well , son , I ' ll tell you: Life for me ain ' t been no crystal stair . (Hughes) Narrator But the blur of that veil was always temporar-f.ly relie v ed by sorig , by dance , by reading or thinking about forei gn places and looki ng forward to the day when Americans would grow up . We were here - -in America- but not of it . Simply worrying, without a plan 1x> change things , didn ' t help much. We grew stronger, and more beautiful , in the words of Langston Hughes , as we re-embraced our own rituals . Ch orus ( singing and jiving) Shake your brown,feet, honey , Shake your brown feet , chile, Shake your brown feet , honey, Shake I em swift and wil' -Voice Get way back , honey , Do that low- down step. Walk on ove r, darling, Now ! Come out With your left . (Hughes) Voice (breakin g the fun-frolic and wa.ci..ng seriou s ) Yet do I marvel at this curious thing : To make a poet black,ond bid him (ov e r) singl (ev({erD �22 Narrator Yet must I marvel that I'm here at all . Because during the watering years, after the GREAT DEPRESSION, my existence was ser·i ously threatened by lynching and at atmosphere of intimidation. I went to war, as poem and soldier and cook and shining knight of DEi'10C RACY I The SWASTIKA , the RISING SUN, The HAMMER & SICKLE, I was to l d , were my REAL enemies. Meanwhile you had named me Owen Dodson and I grew accustomed to the realities of nei ghborly enemies: •rho se who caused UNNATURAL DEATHS. Voice(preaching a funeral sermon ) Wake up, boy , and tell me how you died : What sense was alert last , What immediate intuition about m You clutched like a bullet when your nails Dug red in your yellow palm And that map the fortunetellers read Chorus (this line for money , this for love) Voice Child.5.:sh ag~in and.smeared . • • • Chorus Wake up , boy . • •• Voice • • • I go to death tomorrow, Tell me what road you took , • • • Chory.s What hour in the day is luckiest? I Voice Did your Adams a pple explode? Who sewed stitches in your angry (over) heart?(O•Dad..S0'1J �23 Chorus 0 wake ••• Narrator Yes , yes, • • • I was sometimes a tatt e red and beaten poem in the nineteen Thirties , Forties and Fifties . But I was a poem anyway: Gracious, Noble, Fundamental, Fiery , Firm, Re lating to ~ People" Wttl~~ on ~uh Common Ground. Someone called me Ma r ga re1' I became a Tapestry of My Many Selves. Voice #l For my people~everywhere singing their slave songs repeatedly; Voic e#2 • • • their dirges and their ditties and theittbliueJ' and jubilees, . V oice il"3 • • • praying their p r ayers nightly to an unknown god, Voice#l • • • bending their lmee s humbly to an un/seen power; Voice#2 • • • washing/ironin g cooking scrubbing s ewing mending plowing/digging planting pruning patching dragging along never gaining never reaping neveF knowing and nev er understand/;i.'ng ; Voice #J For my playmates in the clay and du s t and sand of Alabama backyards playing • • • Voice #l 'bapti zi-ng : and ••• Voice#2 preaching and••• (over) hoeing/ �24 Voiceff3 doctor and ••• Voicef/1 jail and••• Voice;/2 soldier and••• Voicel/3 school and •• • • Voi ce,fl mama and/cookin g and playhouse and concer t and store and/hair and Miss Choomby and company ; Voic e/12 For the cramped bewildered year s we went to s ch ool to learn to know the reasons why and the answers to and the people who and the pla ces wh ere and the days when , in memory of the bitter hours ,men we discovered we were black and poor an d small and different and nobody cared and nobody wondered and nobody understood ; Voice 1f3 For the boys and girls who e;rew in spit e of th.e se t hings to be • ' .i man and woman, to laugh and dance and sing and play and drink their wine and relig~on and success, to marry their playmat es and bear children and then die o f consumption and anemia and lynching ; Voice//1 For my people thronging 47th Street in Chicago and Lenox Ave nu e in Ne w Yo r k and Rampart street i n New Orleans , ••• VoiceH-2 For my people blundoring and Groping nnd floundering in the (over) �25 dark of churches and s choo ls and clubs and societies , as sociations and councils and committees and conventions, distressed and disturbed and deceived and devoured by money-hungry glory-craving leeches, preyed on by facile force of state and fad and novelty , by false prophet and holy believer; Voice#) Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky, Voice#). • • • Let a second generation full/ of courage issue forth ; Voice#2 • • • let a people loving freedom come/ to growth . Let a beauty full/ of healing and a strength of final clenching be the pulsing in/ our spirits and(our b lood. Voice#) • • • Let the martial songs be written, let the dirge s dis/ appear . Chorus ( st rongly) • • • Let a race of men now rise and take control . (M. Walker) Narrator Frank Marshall Davis, Me lvin Beaunorous ~olson , Sterling Brown , Robert Hayden, Paul Vesey, Bob Kaufman, Georgia Douglas ~ Johnson, Russell Atkins, Leadbel ly, Lic;l1tnin 1 Hopkins--these are names by which my voice is known . Some even call me by the name of (whisp ering) HISTORY . Chorus(rising from whispers) Histo!'1J History! History ! RunagateI Runagate l Runagate l Voice Runs falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darkness and the darkness thicketed with shap e s of terror (over) �26 and the hunters pu rsuing and the hounds pursuing and the ni ght cold and the nigh t long a nd the river tocross and the j ack - muh-l an t e rns beckoning beckoning an d the bl a ckn e s s ahe a d and when sha ll I reach th a t somewhere morning and ke ep on go i n g a nd ne v er turn back and keep on going••• Chorus ( frigh tened) Runagatel Runagatel Runagate l Vo ic e Some go weeping and s ome r ej oicing some in coffins an d s ome i n ca rriages some in s ilks and some i n sha ckl e s ••• Oh that train, ghost-story train through swamp and s avanna mov e r ing movering over trestl e s of dew, thro ugh c aves of the wish, Midnight Special on a sabre t r a ck mov e rin g movering, first stop Mercy and the l as t Ha ll e luj ah . Voice Come ride-a my t r a in. Chorus Me an mean me an to be fr c e .( R. Hayden) Na r rator I became a b r illiant word- tor ch shining back against my past and flaming proudly into the f u ture . All th e whil e I wormed into and won hearts and minds. And in 1950 , Ame ri c a gav e me the coveted Pulitzer Prise . My name was Annie A1len but I was man y peopl e . I was so finely sculpted that no inflection was imprecise . I sai d what I had to say in a language that dazz.led and blinded the world. I s tood as a jewel; I talk~d. about a jewel named "Satin-Leg s Smith." (ov er) �27 Voice (as othe.rs look on admiringly) He wakes, unwinds, elaborately: a cat Tawny, reluctant, royalo He is fat And fine this morning. Definite . Reimbursed. He waits a momemt, he designs his reigµ, That no performance m~y be plain or vain~ Then rises in a clear delirium. Voice Let .·us proceed. Let us inspect, together With his meticulous and serious love, The unnards of this closet. Which is vault Whose glory is not diamonds, not pearls, Not silver plate with just enough dull shine. But wonder suits in yellow and in wine , Sarcastic green and zebra-striped cobalt . With shoulder padding tha t is wide And cocky and determined as his pride; Ballooning panits that taper off to ends Scheduled to choke pre cisely . Voice Here are hats Like bright umbrellas ; and hysterical ties Like narrow banners for some gathering war . (G. Narrator Yes, I was immaculately Black. Magnific ently Black . And I knew the powe r of the Rap I Chorus Amen! (over) �28 Narrator I became the power of the Ra.pl Chorus Arnenl Voice Bartender, make it st rai ght and make it two- Voice(pointing) Otie for the you in me••• Voice(pointing) ••• and the me : ·in you. ( H . Tolson) Narrator After lengthy conver sations with my music , I became the Be - Bopper; somebody called me the Zoot-Suite~; I put on dark glasses and conked my hair. A double-chinned salesman handed me some bleaching cream and a cadillac as I sped Horth to join my brothers and sisters in the Promised Lan d. Richard Wri ght ru1d James Baldwin cried for me . John Oliver Killens Heard The Thunde r and Balph Ellison called me Invisible , adding that once my leaders decoded the riddle of my style and my rap they could help me save me . Bla ck, I left a White country to fight Yellow men in Korea. El la, Miles, Monk, Billie, Prez , Chano Pozo , Ornette, Coltrane--they went to war with me. Chorus Good Morning heartache l(sung) How do you do . (said) Horn Medley of tunes and musical mannerisms reminiscent of the period. Narrator I got hip to world events , science and space exploration . I knew wh~ I knew, still I c ouldn 1 t go where I wanted to go, or d() what I wanted to do . Americ~ got nervous wheneve r I ap peared in pub lic . But I knew (over) �29 certain events and deve lo pments were do oming all of us to an "Ultimate Reality . " Voice You know, Joe, it 1 s a fup.ny thin g, Joe, You worry most of your life about me , Always afraid I'll get a job with you, Always scared I mi ght get served with you, Always afraid I'd wanna love your sister Or that she might lov e me. Voice Don~t want me to e a t with you, Voic e Seared I mi gh t live n ext t o you-- Voi ce But with the Atom Bomb, J oe, It looks li k e I mi ght di e with you . Voice That don 1 t:seem ri ght , does it, Joe?( Ray Durem) Na rrator But inspite of all the a dversity , the hi sto rical s tren gths kept returning to me , shoring me up , helping me to ~eep getting u p , to keep going. We had our persona] victories in the meantime . We learned everything that it too~ to make it in America , even when no one would let us have equipment or space to work in . We jus t reached back inside ourselves and crune up with what was needed. Then one day , the poem becrune a baseball in the hands of the legendary Leroy Satchel Paige . Voic e Sometimes I feel li ke I will never stop Just go on forever ( over) �30 Till one fine mornin 1 I'm gonna reach up and grab me a handfulla stars Swing out my long lean leg And whip three hot strikes burnin 1 down the heavens And look over at God and say How about thatt(S. Allep) Narrator Style has always been my signature. So it was not a surprise that I returned to myself in motion . Behold! The 8troll! Chorus Sings a porti on of Gene Chandler I s "Duke of Ea rl II or some other period pie~e. Harrator The Kan sas City Slop! 1he Madison! Chorus Sings J ·portion of the Five Satins 1 song fr om period. 11 ±n the Still of the Nigh t" or another Narra tor The Twist! Bri•ef exerp t from Chubby Checker's 11 •rwist 11 • Narrator The Funky Chicken! The Karate Bo ogalool They saw me poeting with my hips and my feet. Chorus Poeting l Poetingl Narrator And took it all back to Ameri can Bandstand and other countries . Voice(singing) There's a thrill upon the hill! Chorus(singi ng) Let 1 s Gol Let's Go! Let 1 s Go! (over) �Narrator I oatne home from Korea to me et the Klan in a new sheet. And in Montgomepy they would not let my mother sit down on a bus. As a poem, my name became Lance Jeffers, Raymond Patterson, G. C. Oden,Mari Evans, LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde. Cho rus( que stionin~ly) Montgomery? Montgomery? Montgomery? • • • I remember Montgomery . Voice And Bi rmingham--the fo\l \f' little, little girls . Voice Four little girls Who went to Sunday School t h at day And never came back home at all-Voic e But left instead Their blood upon the wall With spattered flesh And bloodied Sunday dre s ses Scorched by dynamit e tha t Ghina made aeons a go Dfufi not know' 'What Chi n a ma de Before China was eve r Re d at a l l Would redden with the i r blood This Birmingham-on-Sun day wall. Four tiny girls Who left their blood upon th a t wall , In1; li ttle ;, gra.ves l today await (over) �32 Voice The dynamite that might ignite The ancient fuse of Dragon Kings Whose tomorrow sin~s a h~nn The missionaries never tau ght In Christian Sunday Scho o l 'r o Implement the Gol den Hu le. Voice Four little girls Might be awakened someday soon By songs upon the breeze Voice As yet unfelt among Magnolia trees. (t.\v&>EJ') Voice And Selma I Voice And Philadelphia, Mississippi! Voi ce(vaguely, hesitatingly) I recollect Emmett Till! Voice Jind Watts! Narrator My Name was Conrad Rent Rivers at that time . I became a poem called "Watts, 11 hoping that in such disguise I could find my way out of this daily nightmare . Voice Must I shoot the white man dea d to free the nigger (Over) �33 in his head? Voice(pausing, musing) Must I shoot the white man dead to free the nigger in his head? (t 1~\"t\-Jtf'~ Voice And Newark I Voice And Harlem! Voice And Oakland t Voice And Dallas t . Voice And East St. Louis! Voic e And Chicago I Voice Martin ~uther King! Voi ce Malcolm! Voice Stokley! Voice H. itap Brown ! Voice James Brown I (over) �Narrator 34 Drumbeats enflamed the " sky . Libe ration became ltl.y.Jpassiona.te preocoupation. A warm self-love engulfed me . My woman and I looke d at ea.ch othor through new- old eyes . We had our own standard of beauty. I stretched and yawned and walked around in my own neighborhood. My ~olor felt good and heal thy to me . It looked good to me in the mirror of my Brothers' eyes . Someone called me Black a.nd I didn't hit him. At a rally, I t u rned into a voice on the podium shouting. Chorus WE ARE AN AFRICAN PEOPLE l Drummer & Dancer Salute the coming of the new consciousness with appropriate nee - African rhythms and moveme nts. Voice For a.11 things Plack and be autiful , The brown faces you loved so well and long , the endless roads leading back to Harlem. Chorus Kulu Se Mamal Kulu Se Marna! Kulu Se Marna! Kulu Se Mama Vbice #l Where the string At i , Some umbilical jazz, Voice if2 Or perhaps, I n memory, A long lost bloody cross, Buried in some steel calvary. �35 VoiceJJ In what time For whom do we bleed, Lost notes , from some jazzman 1 s Broken needle . Voice,¥4 Musical tears fro m lost Eyes , Broken drumsticks , whyT Voicet/-1 Pitter patter, boom dropping Bombs in the middle Of my emotions Voicerf2 My father ' s s oun d Voice/13 My mother's sound • • • Cho rus I s love , Is life . (O,to.\)rlt\0-Vl} Narrator I had watched America . I knew Ameri c a . I could deal with the diff e r ence • and the samene ss, that stran ge de cora t ed pain that character i zes our existence . I keep coming b ac k to the point of the sythes i s and the symbiosis . I am history an d fut ure, or , put differently, I am fu ture• history . Sometimes, because of my many levels · of vision, I grasp the helm of the stru8g]e s of the many colored hands . I might even be i n " a river that lac es the stoma ch of Ameri ca . �36 Voice(with dance accompan i ment) River of Time : Vibrant vein, Bent , crooked, Older tha.n the Red Men Who named you; Ancient as the winds That break on your Serene and shining face; One time western boundary of America From whDJ,tr.eehlet', Your broad shoulders now r each To touch sisters On the flanks. -Ch orus River of Truth : Voice • • • Mo rnings You lea.p, yawn 2000 mil e s, And shed a gi ant joyou s tear Over sprouting , straggling Hives of humanity; Nigh ts you we ep As the moon , tiptoeing Across your silent silky Face, hears you prayin g Over the broken backs Of black slaves who rode , Grouched and hudd led, At your he a rt in the belli e s Of ~teamship s . (6cer) �37 Chorus River of Memory: Voice Laboratory f or Civil War Boat builders Who left huge eyes of steel Staring from your su l len depths; Reluctant partner to crimes Of Ku Klux Klansmen; River moved to waves Of ecstasy By the venerable trumpet Of Louis Armstron g . River of Bones: River of bones and flesh-Bones and flesh and blood; Voice The nation ' s l a r ge st Intestine And longest conveyer belt; Chorus River MISSISSIPPI: River of little rivers; River of rises, Voice Sometimes subdued By a roof of ice , descendine finally On your Southward course �38 To . spit Into the Gulf And join the wrath 0 f large r bodie s . ( He dmond ) Nar r a tor I mused ov er riv ers and long- gone voic es underneat h rivers. Soon, however, I turned t o philosophy . In t he sp it and da rt of my new self, there were utterances I ha d to make , blo o d- thoughts I had t o share. I lmew this was another s equel t o the dream. I h a d not believed those fairy tales . I needed :to take a hand and stand and speak the truth to the people . Ch orus Speak the truth t o the pe opl e! Voice It is not nec e ssary to g r e en t h e heart Only to identify the en emy It is not nec e ssary t o blow t he mind Only to free t h e mind. C}iorus It is thetotal black! Voi ce It is the total b l ack , bein g spok en From theearth 1 s inside. There are many kinds of open. How a diamond comes into t knot of flame How a sound comes into a word, colored By who pays what for s peaking. Choru s Love is another kind of op enw(over) �39 Voice As e. diamond comes ipto a kno t of flame I a.m black because I come from the earth 1 s inside Take my word for jewel in your open light. Na rrator I am the ecstasy of NOW! 'fhe fullest realization of my Ancestors' wishes. I return, even in the alarm; even in the shadow-body I am often forced to wear . But enough , enough--I beg you, my dear aijsociates, look How on our.1 s and hi story I s finest treasure. Voi ce(and dancer) I am a black woman the music of my song some sweet a rpe ggio of tears is written in a mino r key and I can be heard hummin g in the ni cJ:it Can be heard hummin g Chorus Hums first line of "lll o bocly .r,no ws the Trouble I See 11 Voice(cont inuing poem) in the night I saw my mate leap screaming to the sea and I/with these hands/cuppe d the lifebreath from my is sue in tre c ane brake I lost Nat ' s swinging body in a rain of tears and I heard my song scream all t he way from Anzio for Peace he n ever> kn ew. • • • I learned Da Nang and Pork Cho p Hill in anguish (over) �40 Now my nostrils lmow the gas and these tri gger tire/d fin gers seek the softness in my warrior ' s beard I am a black woman tall as a cypress strong beyond all definition still defying place and time and circumstance assailed impervious indestructibl e L0ok on me and be renewed .(M, E)JOJ'lS) Ch orus Look on me and be renewed. Look on us and be renewed. lHnis ��DRUMVOICES : THE MISSION OF AFRO-AMERICAN POETRY* A Readers Theatre/Ritual Drama By Eugene B. Redmond * Script Adaptation of DRUMVOICES : THE MISSION OF AFRO - AMERICAN POETRY (a critical history}, by Eugene B. Redmond: Doubleday, 1976. Script co pyright@ 1977 by Eugene B. Redmond .. ;,.' y �Note to Directors & Players DRUMVOICES, as a theatricalQcllJa-1, follows ~ 1 ~tradition of ritual theater or the "ri tuali zing"of an event. Ide ally, for Readers Theater, th.~-~-s:tage_·· ia.'rea should bav,e ~;i'G>'Ql!l i:.fo~-::tl!fo·--:s~ts -.~ r~·.=.-mll$i:~ T-1:!~imds ·and ·a dance i~r0-4QSince ritual theater is conceptually and practically adaptable to as few or as many players as are desirea, directors/stagers should proceed accordingly . Ritual drama is also qualitative in terms of depth and meaning--that is it can be as deep or a s light as one wants it. Hence, in preparing DRUMVOICES for the stage, directors should t ake pains to determine the levels of intensity or message-delivery iha-t' t1:'fey i These levels can be achieved and/or modified .from performance to performance by shifting (heightening or lessening) tone and thrust. Ideally, for DRUMVOICES , one drummer and one horn -player should make up the cast, along wi th at least one male and one female dancer. At t~e same,time, owing to the flexibility and adaptability of ritual theater, direc t ors may use as many dancers or musicians as are desired. The speaking cast should( preferably) consist of a three-member core-chorus. The core-chorus pro vides unison, harmony and call-and-response while at the same time suppiying the main individual voices. Set apart from the core-chorus is the narrator, who is atmospherically removed, some-what dispassionate but omnipresent aa a vast-voice image . Another voice , some distance to th e other side of the core-ch orus is khown as a ralief-voice . This character/player can be made the focus of at tention or go unnotic ed while he/she slips into the audience , di sappears to change cloth es , or prepares for some sudden and surprise shift in the action of the drama. w~-t-. �1 Part I: Music & I The stage is bear exce pt for music stands, a podium and the musicians' instruments. A lou~ dancer appears , walks upstage and kneels in preparation for the opeJ~~ance-poem. 'r he first sounds are heard off stage at which time the drummer and horn player come on stage and situate themselve s at their instruments . The dancer begins to dan ce when the musicians are assembled. Voices(off-stage ) Music and I--Listenl--Yail Yail Listen to the sound of my hom l Music and I--List enl--Yail Yait Listen to the sound of my homl Musi c and I--Listenl--Yail Yai l Voice(off-stage as dan ce begi._ns) Listen to the sound of my horn• •• This note you have longed to hear! Voicef2 Listen to the sound of my song, I say, Fo'r :. ·the music you have hurm:ned by ear. Voice#3 I sound the time to rise for the fields. I moan the rhythm as the congregation kneels. Voice#4 For I am the note of air , the catcher of your despair. Voice#5 I c ry long nights for you my people . I rise early wi th my clayed cotton coat . I tote water to sun-baked lips , Voice #l And I sing awa" pain from your chain-whi ppe d hips . ( OVeII ) �2 Voice#2 But now , my people , I 1 ve grown a new song. Listen, all ye Americans! Listen with your ear: Voice#3(walking upstate to position ) Now the congregation rises-Voice#4(walking upsta ge to position ) Now the new corn sprouts-Voice#5 (walking upstage to positi on) Now the air breathes fresh-Voice#l(walking upstage to po si tio n) Now the trodden land sings-Voice #2 (walking upstage to positi on) Now my horn of clay airs a long signal motif. Voice/13 List en to the sound of my h orn , my people. Thi s rhythm of years long past . Voice#4 Listen t o the sound of my horn , I say; Chorus ( raising arms) Music and I ~•• have come at last J (Durm.s ) ( As voices expaade , dancer and drumm:~rcpi ck un .;t empo; t hen dancer e xits~ After a slight pause , narrator begins the on~ s tage ritu al program.) Narrator I am the poem! We a r e the po em ! Narrator And the poem is me! And the poem is us! And the poem is usl And the poem is us! (over ) �3 Narrator I am the poem and I ca.me before pen ~or pencil or paper or printing press• 0a l I cupped and cuddled the wisdom of the winds in drum-bosoms of ecstasy. Drummer Performs a wide range of rhythms, movements , tones, multiple-rhythms: African, West Indian, Af ro-Latin, Afro-American. Narrator Listen! Listen clo se ly and you can hear me, you can hear me writing in drum-language; you c an h ear me conv~rsing 'With tomorrow, today and the heretofore. Chorus DRUMFEEr ON THE SO IL , ON 'r HE SAND ROADS OF THE MIND I FLESH-PISTONS PRANCIN G, 'r HE EAH'l'H I S ENGINE I IT IS A COMING FORTH, THE NI UHT WITHIN US COMING FORTH ! THE NIGHT WITHIN US COMING F'OR'rH I FEEr BEATING, BEATING, BEAT I NG SEEDS INTO THE SOIL l Narrato r I return and return an d return to my magnificent and reliable archives . Chorus That 1.ove we can depend on J That Love we can depend onl Voice ( singing; as danceI!.'·s s _t_?ll!,.search .'.'the sta:ge }· 1:.t '0 ONOBOROBO I Chorus ONOBOROBO I Voice ONOBOROBo I Chorus ONOBOROBO ! ( over ) �4 Voice ONOBOROBO ! Chorus ONOBORO BO ! Narrator In my dependable cultural vault is the Idea-gram: that natural cinetagraphy landscaped by thudding thou ghts of my totem family, the . living - dead, the breathing, the unborn. I am the poeti c flesh-temple with many f orms, earthdaughter and agile inundator o, history . I am the poem in motion . Dancer Executes rudimenta r y movements and other elements of traditional African and neo-Afric an dance: isolation, use of pelvis and torso, leaps, twirls , pulls , the Yanvalou( or a kindred movement) , vigorous stretches, lifts and thrusts . {Dr.um accompaniment) Na rra tor I am the Black nnd Unknown Ba rd . American put me on a conveyer belt moving in two different directi ons at the same time . My African Jubilance turned to anger and a song of sabotage . My Indomi~able Echo and Id.ion flavored my Indomitabl e Press to be Human . As a poem, I became part of what I did, saw and dreamed on these shores: Field Ho llers , Vendors' Shout s , Chants, Work Song s , Spirituals , Blues , Go spels, Jazz , Rhythm-n Blues , Soul Music . ( See attache d cha rt of the preceding item~ : which ~e~i1 - lustrated with short examples by voices after the list has been given .) Voice Did y e~ feed my cow? Voice Voice Will y er te·ll me how? (ov er) �4-A Field Hollers yodle •••• hey brother yodle •• • • hey brother Vendors' Shouts watermellons, oh ••• sausages, oh ••• tomatoes, oh ••• I got 'em fresh ••• , ohl Chants Om-la-la Om-la-la Work Songs Say I•m "WOrking hard on the chaingang Spirituals Eze~iel saw the wheel a - turning( chorus) · Way up in the middle of the air Blues Blood, lawd, blood all on the wall Gospel s 0 1 happ'J day . 0 happy day When Jesus washed When Resus washed Washed all my sins away Jazz Ri fls from Ike Rhythm- and-Blues Will you still love me tomorrow? Soul Music I •m a soul man I ' m a soul man - �5 Voice Oh w1 at did yer give 1 er? Voice Cawn an hay! Voice Oh w1 at did yer give 1 er? Voice Cawn an hay! Voice(looking up) Evahwhuh I, whuh I loolj: dis mawnin, Looks lak rain, looks like rain. Chorus Looks lak rain, looks lak rain! Voice I gotta rainbow, tied all rount mah shoulder, Ain gonna rain, ain gonna rain. Chorus Dis is de hammer, Kilt John Henry l Voice(emphatically) Twon't kill me, baqy, Twon 1 t kill me. Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain-Voice Tell him I'm gone, baby, Tell him I'm gone. �6 Chorus I got a rainbow Tied 1 roun my shoulde r, Ain't gonna rain, baby, Ain 1 t gonna rain. Voice(work-song,sung) Dis ole hammer--huhl(chorus) Ring lak silver--huh!(chorus) Shine lak gold--huhl(chorus) Ain 1 t gonna rain J Ain~t gonna rain! Voice(female ) I 1 m a big fat mamma , got the meat shakin g on mah bones , I'm a bi g f at mamma, got the meat shaking on m.a..p. bones, And evmry time I shakes, some skinny girl loses huh home . Voice Run, nigger run; de patter-roller catch you; ~un , nigger, run, it 1 s almost day . Voice Run, nigger, run; de patter-roller catch you; Chorus Run, nigger, run, an d try to get ge t away . Voice Dis nlgger run, he run h i s best ,-- Stuck his head in a hornet ' s nest, -Voice Jumped de fence and run fru the p a ster; (over) �7 Chorus White man run, but ni Q;ge r run f a ster. Voic e Dat nigger run, dat ni gge r flew,-Chorus Dat nigger tore hi s shirt in two. Narrator Yes, as poem, as cotton-picker, as banjo-player, as fiddler, as preacher, as ,m instrel-maker and mirror, as slave-rebellion leader, I emered a new part of the old. My 4frican song ushered forth in strange new Biblical Language . Voice( singing ) Go Down , Moses , Way Down in Egyptland; Chorud(t alking ~pointing) Tell old Pharoah To let my people go. Voice ( s~mging) Deep Ri. ver •••• Chorus ( talking) Deep Deep Deep River •• 0. Voice Deep River, my home is ove r Jordan ; Deep River, Lord; I want to cross over into camp ground . Voice (excitedly) And , yes , I DREAMED ! was riding in that chariot . Chorus(or Voice) Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me hoill:31 ( over) �8 Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to earry me home . Voice Green trees a-bending, Po' sinner stands a-trembling The trumpet sounds within-a-my so ul; Chorus I ain't got long to stay here . Voice (male) Joshua fit de battle of Jericho,-- Jericho, ·J ericho-hG-ho-ho ! Voice Joshua fit de battle of Jericho ,-Chorus And de walls came tumbling down . Voice Dat morning •••• Chorus And de: walls came tumbling down Voice My God is a rock in a weary lan' -Chorus Weary lan', weary lan 1 - Voice My God is a rock in a weary lan'-- Shelter in de time of storm. Narrator I was Black and curious; I confronted harshness head-on ; my struggle meant (over) �9 I had to learn to write like whites, even thougp.,Ironically, their laws said I could be puni she d or jailed for possessing such knowledge and skill . Voice You named me:Lucy Terry I Voice Gustavas Vassal Voice Britton & Jupiter Hamm.on ! Voice Coon & Buck I Voice Phyllis Wheatley! And I ma stered Greek , Latin and English in my teens . Lonely Black girl whom th e muses befriended, thousands and thousands of miles away from my We st African home. I contim.ued to emerge as the poem. Voice Should you , my Lord, while you peruse my song, Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow these wish es fort he common good, By feeling hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate, ~as snatched from Afric 1 s fancy 1 d happy seat; wJia:. t pang· ~x~ruci~ting must ·,-;;:-. molest, , ~Jt1D. t -~:-•r,.·: ~ J--, ,r, 1..:.:(i :.::. -, - · 1 :•·,# ·; ·:, '~• What sorrows labour in my pa rents' breasts? Steel 1 d was that soul and by no misery mov 1 d •N•( That from a father seiz 1 d his babe belov 1 d: Such , such my case . And can I then but pray Others may never feel tyranic sway? (wheQ1tey) Narrator You named me George Moses Horton . I did not like the injustice (over) of the �10 double standard. And so I turned into a poem. Even though some continued calling me "The Slave." Chorus "Tha Slave"? Voice Because the brood-sow 1 s left side pigs were black, Whose sable tincture was by nature struck, Were you by justice bound to pull them back And leave the sandy-colored pigs to suck? (Horton) Chorus (ominously ) Runagate! Bunagatel Runagatel Runagatel Runagate! Narrator My mother cured ills and my father worked roots . In the bi-cultural oonstriction the poem became juju-man , the face hidden by the ambiguous minstrel smile . Voice We have fashioned l aughter Out of tears and pain; Bqt the moment after-Voice Pain and tears again.(Charles Bertram Johnson) Voice Forgive these erring people, Lordi Voip_e .. Who lynch at home and love abro a d . ( ~ D ~ ) Narrator Still I wrote--this time just like I talked• though some made fun of it. But,as maker of song , I could only produce heart-rhythms . (over) �Voice 11 De Ounjah man, de Ounjah man , 0 chillen,run, de Cunjah man ! Chorus 0 chi ll en , run, the Cun jah man! Voice Him mouf ez beez as fryin' pan; Voice Him yurs am small, him eye s am raid,-Voice -- Him hab no toof een him 01 1 haid, Voi ce Him hab him roots , him wuk him trick s, -Voice Him roll him eye, him mek you s ick-Chorus De Cunjah man, de Cunj ah man, O chillen run, de Cunjah man!(J . E. Carnpbell) Na rrat or I knew my rights, my rough times and my remedies. Voice(assuming tones reflaoting physical illneases) Blue-mass, laudnum, liver pills , "Sixty-six, fo I fev er an I chi lls, 11 Ready Relief, an 1 A. B. c ., An' half a bottle o f X. Y. Z.(J. W. Ho J.loway ) Narrator You named me Frances ~llen Watkins Har p er, James Edwin Campbell, James Weldon Johnson, Paul Lawrence Dunbar--Son of ex-slaves, elevator boy , risen to brilliantbard of the race . As the poem I strode forth in several kinds of English. (over· ) �12 Voice I know 'Why the caged bird sings, Ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom soraT Wh.en he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core , But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings -- I know why thecaged bir d s ings! (Dunb~r} Na rra tor Above all, song exudes from me . Indeed, I am song . Wat ch and examine me. My birthright is my anthem. Hy song is my sword. And I : lift that sword high I Voic e (singing) Lift evfry voice and sing , Till earth and he aven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty . Chorus(talking, pointing upwards) Till our rejoicings rise High as the listening skies!(J . W. Johnson) Narrato r As song-poem I forged pure fl ames of rhythms without books. James Weldon Johnson called me the Black and Unknown Bard. And, let me tell you something ••• h.mmmmmmm ••• • I always loved to hear Malindy sing. Voice G 1 way an 1 quit dat noise, Miss Lucy-- Put dat music book away; What's de use to keep on tryin 1 Y Jf you p ractise twell you're gray, You cain•t sta•t no notes a-flyin' Lak de ones dat rants an d rings From de kitchen to de big woods (over} �13 Chorus When Malindy sings. Voice You ain't got de nachel o 1 gans Fu• to make de soun 1 come right, You ~in 1 t got de tu 1 ns an ' twistin 1 s fu • to make it sweet an• light . Tell you one thing now , Mi s s Lucy, An' I'm tellin' you fu 1 t rue, When hit comes to raal right singin •, Chorus T ain't no easy thing~to do . 1 Voice Easy 1 nough fu 1 folks to hollah , Lookin 1 at de lines an ' dots , 'When dey ain ' t no one kin sence it , An' de ch une comes in , in spots ; But fU 1 real melo jous music , Dat jes strikes yo 1 hea 1 t and clings, Jes you stan' an ' lis ten wif me .Chorus When Malindy sings. Voice Ain 1 t you nevah hyeahd Ma lindy? Bl esse d soul , tek up de cros s! Look hyeah, ain ' t you jo kin ' , honey? Well, you do n't know what you los• . Y1 ought to hyeah da t gal a -wa .1 blin 1 , (ov er) �14 Robins, la 1 ks, an 1 all dem things, Heish dey moufs an 1 hides dey faces Chorus When Malindy sinEs• Voice//1 Fidlin 1 man jes 1 stops his fiddlin 1 , Lay his fiddle on de she 1 f; Voice#2 Mockin 1 -bird quit tryin 1 to whistle , 1 6ause he jes so shamed hisse1.f. Voice#3 Folks a-playin 1 on de banjo Draps dey fingahs on de strings -Bless yo' soul--fu' gits to move 1 em, Chorus · When Malindy sings . Voice She jes' spreads hu mouf and hollahs, Voice( singing) "Come to Jesus, 11 Voice ••• twell you hyeah Sinnahs 1 tremblin 1 steps and voices, Timid-lak a-drawin 1 neah; Den she tu 1 ns to Voice(singing) "Rock of Ages, 11 Voice Simply to de cross she clings, (over) �15 An 1 you fin yo 1 teahs a-drappin' .Chorus When Malindy sings. Voice Who dat says de humble praises Wif de Maste r nevah counts? Heish yo 1 mouf, I hyeah dat music , Ez it rises up an 1 mounts-1loatin1 by de hills an 1 valleys, Way above dis burryin I sod, Ez hit makes its way in glory Chorus To de very gates of God~ Voice Oh, hit 'e sweetah dan de music Of an edicated band; An 1 hitfs dearah dan de battle's Song 0 1 triumph in de lan 1 • Voice#l It seems holier dan evenin 1 When de solemn chu 1 ch bell rings, Voice #2 ( slowly,s earchingly) Ez I sit an 1 ca 1mly liston Chorus While Malindy sings . Voice Towsah,, stop dat ba 1 kin, hyeah me! Man~y, 1 .m.ek dat chile keep still; (over) �16 Don't you hyeah de echoes callin 1 F 1 om de valley to de hill? Let me listen, I can hyeah it , Th 1 oo de br~sh of angels ' wings , So f', and sweet, Voice #3(singing ) •• o 11 swing · 1 ow, Swee t Chariot ," Voic e (dreamily and ecstati cally) Ez Malindy sin gs .( Dunbar ) Narrator Poem t hat I was and am, I t r a veled from "oasis to o asis." Voice Man 's Saharic up and down. ( H . B . Tolson ) Narrator Riverboats , river towns chaingangs ••• Voice(singing as cho r us makes work-sounds in background ) Well don't you know That's the sound of the men, working on the chain-n-n-n gan-ee-ang; Well don't you know That 's the sound of the men, working on the chain gang . (Cooke) Narr ator Bar-room toughs, hard- hearted Hanna , Stagolee ••• they all knew me. Voice Hard•ha arted Hanna-Voice From Savannah, GEE A. Voice She was so cold, yall -Chorus Wasn 1 t she 1 (ov er ) �17 Voice She ' d pour water on a drowning man! Chorus(slowly and deliberately ) Wate r, on a drown- ii-nnng man. Voice(at t racting the attention of others) It wa s early one mornin•, When I heard my bulldog bark ; Stagolee and Billy. Lyons Was s quab lin' in the dark . Voice Frankie and Hohnny were lov ers , Choru s Lordy , how they could love , Voice Swore to each other , True as the stars up abo ve , He wa s h er man but he done her wrong . Voice(femal e) Shine, shine, sh ine, ••• sav e po ' me . Narrato r I was in t h e constant see -s aw of l ife , wading t hro u gh h ell in search of heaven. But I kept my working philo sophy wi th me. Voi c e#l De stopp er get de longest rest in de empty j ug . Voice#2 De price of your hat ain ' t de measure of your b rain. Voicei/3 De graveya rd i s de cheapes 1 boar din 1 -house . Voiceff4 Buy in _ on credit is robbin 1 next year ' s crop. (Over) 1 - ---- ._ �18 Voice#5 Life is short and full of blisters. Voice#l De cow-bell c an 1 t k eep a secret. Voice#2 Little flakes make de def:)pest snow. Voice#3 De crawfish in a hurry look like he tryin 1 to git dar yesterday. Voice,'/4 Be drinks so much whiskey that he stae;gers in his sleep. Voice#-5 In God we trust, all others cash. Narrator Yes I was lyric-wise. You heard me everywhere . You even heard me coming from the swoJ.len lips of the bugle, French horn, trumpet, clarinet and saxophone. Horn A series of short riffs and movemen ts exempJ.ary and illustrative of various forms of Afro-American music p l ayed between the advent of the spirituals and the ragtime-blues period. Narrator :i;n Paris they called the "Cakewalk 11 the 11poetry of motion o II In the crevices of ships I was transported to global points to make me splendid sound and dance my splendid poetry of motion . Dancer Executes a serie s of movements and step s representing such dances as the Cakewalk , Charleston, the Two'-Step, Ji tterbµg and the Bop . Blen:e:ht.s of West Indian dances should flavor movements . (over) �19 Narrator As the poem I blue horn s , sho t guns in your First World War, danced dances and came h ome to face the Ku Klux Klan, Southern Sheriffs and Jim Crow. I got Angry . And I got defiant. But , I was relatively· cool. Voice (s erious) Into the furnace let me 80 alone; Stay you without in terro r of the heat. I will go naked in-:-for thus 'tis sweet -Into the weird depths of the hottest zone. Voice ( serious but resolute and emerging) Desire destroys, consumes my mortal fears , Transforming me i nto a shape of flame . I will come out, ba ck to you r world of tears, A strongger soul within a f iner frame.( McKay) Narra tor From the dark tower I wat che d as I p:r.~pare<)., .watched as I prepared, watched as I pre pared, knowing that ·!!We were not made eternally to weep . Voice(reflective, medita tive) The night whose sable breast relieves the stark White stars is no less lov e ly being dark, And there are buds that c annot bloom at all In li ght , but crumple , piteous , and fall; So in the dark we hide the hea r t that bleeds , And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds .( Cullen) Narrator After race riots in several American citi e s , I lifted my voice in a searing shaft of discontent. Chorus 0 kinsmen! we must meet the common foel (over) 11 �ao Voice Like men we'll face the murderous , cowardly pack , Pressed to the wall, dying , ••• Ch orus ( slowly and softly) Dying ••• dying ••• dyin8 Voice ••• but fi ghting b a ck I (M."'r(°'t) Na r rato r All the while my p a st kept pu lling on me . It was if we were married to each other, glue d, l o cke d , welde d to gether. It was as if tho se who dep arted n ev e r re ally , really died . An African sense kept tugging tugging a t my trunc a t e d ro ot s . 'rl1e br i dge of my dwar f -lilte past rested on at le a st t wo shore s . Voi c e Pour o pour th8 t pa r ti n g s oul in so n g, O pour it in t he s awdust glow of ni gh t , Into th e velvet pine- smo ke air to-ni ght , ••• Chorus(slow and echo -li ke ) And l et the valley carr y it along . And l et the valley ca rry it along . (t6'omer) Na rrator(confus ed a nd desperate) Sometimes I was only ha lf - t here , fightin g those who wanted to snatch away my humanity by day;and f'i [sh tin g hun ger and confusion at home by night . As the poem, I emer ge d convo luted and wholly new, only to ,, retrea.t to a some-othe r-time refrain. ~gyp t , Ghana , Madagasc a r, the Pyramids- - Voodoo Ceremonies--what did they all mean ,to me? The beauty- pain of it all? Chorus Come with a blast of trumpets , Jesus ! (over) �21 Voice(oxymoronic) And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red Burns in my heart a love -fire sharp like pain. Chorus Sweet silver trumpets, Jesust<)\~s~as) Vo ice Well , son , 1 1 11 tell you: Life for me ain 1 t been no crystal stair.(Hughes) Narra tor But the blur of that veil was always temporaFtly relieved by song, by dance, by reading or thinking ab out foreign places and looking forward to the day when Americans would grow up. We were here --in America-but not of it . Simply worrying, without a p lan to change things, didn 1 t help much. We grew stronger , and more beautiful, in the words of Langston Hughes , as we re-emb raced our own ritun.ls . Chorus(singing and jiving) Shake your br01m. , feet, honey , Shake your brown feet, chile , Shake your brown feet, honey, Shake ,J em swift and wil' -Voice Get way back, honey , Do that low-down step 0 Wal,k on over,darling, Now! Come out With your left. (Hughes) Voice(breakin g the fun -frolic and wanng serious) Yet do I marvel at this curious thing : To make a poet black,and bid him sing l~v(le~ (over) �22 Narrator Yet must I marvel tha t I' m here at al l. Be cause during the watering years , after the GREAT DEPRESSION , my existence was seriously threatened by lynching and at atmosphere of intimidation. I went to war, as poem and s oldi er and cook and shining knight of DEMOCRACY ! The SWASTIKA, 'rhe RISING SUN , The HAMMER & SICKLE, I was told, were my REAL enemies. Meanwhile you had n amed me Owen Dodson and I grew accustomed to the realities of nei ghborly enemie s, 'rhose who caused UNNATURAL DEATHS . Voice(preaching a funeral sermon) Wake up, boy , and tell me how yo u died : What sense was alert last , What immediate intuiti on about m You clut ched like a bullet when your nails Dug red in your ye llow pa lm And that map the for tunetell e r s read Cho rus (this line for mon ey , this for love) Voi ce Uh.ildish ag~in - a~d.imeared . • • • Cho rus Wake up , boy . ••• Vo ice • • • I go t o death tomorrow, Tel l me what ro a d you took , • • • What hour in the day is luckiest? Voice Did your Adams apple explode? Who sewed stitches in your angry (over) heart?(O.Dod,.so.-,J �23 Ch orus 0 wake•• • Narrator Yes, yes, • • • I wa s sometime s a tatt e red and beaten poem in the nineteen Thirties, Forties and Fifties. But I was a poem anyway: Gracious, Noble, Fundamental, Fiery, Firm, Relating to ;~ People" W~L~ on ~ur Comm,o n Ground. Some one cal led me Margare1t I became a Tapestry of My Many Selves. Voice#l For my people , everywhere singing their slave songs repeatedly; Voi ce#2 • • • their dir ges and the i r ditti es and theifll:•~~J' and jubile es, • • • praying the ir pray ers ni ghtly to an unknown god, Voice#l • •• bending their knees humbly to an un/seen power; Voice#2 • • • washing/ironin g cooking scrubbing sewing mending I i i & hoeing/ plowing/digging planting pruning patching dragging along never gaining never reaping never !mowing and never understand/fng; Voice#J For my playmates in the clay and du s t nnd sand of Alabama backyards p laying • • • Vo i ce #l 't>aptizing :,and • •• Voic e//2 preaching and••• (over) �24 Voiceff3 doctor and ••• Voicei/1 jail and • •• Voice-/12 soldier and••• VoicelfJ school and • •• • Voice,IJ. mama and/cooking and playhouse and concert and store and/hair and Miss Choomby and company; Voice#2 For the cramped bewildere d y ears we went to school to learn to lmow the r easons why and the answers to and t h e people who and the places whe re and the days when, in memory of the bitter hours ,m en we discovered we were black and poor and small and different and nobody cared and nobody wondered and no bo dy underst ood; Voice1f3 For the boys and girls who grew in spite of these things to be • • .1 man and woman, to l o.u gh and dance and sing and play and drink their wine and religion and success , to marry their playmates and bear children and then die of consumption and anemia and lynching; Voi ce-//1 For my people thronging 47th Street in Chicago and Lenox Avenue in New York and Rampart stre et in New Orleans , ••• Voice-H2 For my people blund oring und (j ro ping and floundering in the (over) �25 dark of churches and schools and clubs and societies , associations and councils and committees and conventions, distressed and disturbed and deceived and devoured by money-hungry glory-crav ing leeches, preyed on by facile force of state and fad and novelty, by false prophet and holy believer; Voice#) Let a new earth rise . Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky , Voice#l. • • • Let a second generation full/ of courage issue forth ; Voice//2 • • • let a people loving freedom come/ to growth. Let a beauty full/ of healing and a strength of final clenching be the pulsing in/ our spirits and(OUrblood. Voice /1-3 • •• Let the martial songs be written , let the dirges dis/appear . Chorus (strongly) • • • Let a race of men now rise and take control.( M. Walker) Narrator ~rank Marshall Davis , Melvin Beaunorous ~olson , Sterling Brown , Robert Hayden, Paul Ve sey, Bob Kaufman, Georgia Douglas~ Johnson, ~ussell Atkins, Le a db elly, Livitnin 1 Hopkins--these are names by which my voice is known . 0ome even call me by the name of (whispering) HISTORY . Chorus(rising from whispers) History I History 1 History 1 Runagate 1 Runagate I Runagate l Voice Runs falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darkness and the darkness thic keted with shapes of terror (over) �26 and the hunters pursuing and the hounds pursuing and the night cold and the night long a nd the river tocross and the j a ck - mul~-lanterns beckoning beckoning and the blackness ahead and when shall I reach that somewhere morning and keep on go in g and never turn back and keep on going ••• Chorus(frightened) Runagatel Runagatel Runagate l Voice Some go weeping and some rejoicing some in coffins and some in carriages some in silks and some in shackl es ••• Oh that train, ghost-story train through swamp and savanna mov c ring movering over trestles of dew, thro ugh c aves of the wish, Midnight Special on a _sabre track movering movering, first stop Mercy and the last Hallelujah . Voice Come ride - a my train. Chorus Mean mean mean to be free .( R. Hayden) Narrator I became a brilli~t word-torch shining back against my past and flaming proudly into the future . All the while I wormed into and won hearts and minds. And in 1950 , America gave me the coveted Pulitzer Prise . My name was Annie A1len but I was many people . I was so finely sculpted that no inflection was imprecise. I said what I had to say in a language that dazzled and blinded the wo rld. I stood as a jewel; I talk~a abou t a jewel named "Satin-Le gs Smith . 11 (over) �27 Voice(as others look on admiringly ) He wakes, unwinds, elaborately: a cat Tawny , reluct ant, royalo He is fat And fine thi s morning . De finite . Reimbursed. He waits a momemt , he designs his reign , That no performance m~y be plain or vainp Then rises in a clear delirium. Voice Le t :·us pro c eed. Let us inspect , together Wi th his meti culous and serious love , The unnards of this closet . Which is vault Whos e glory i s not diamonds, not pearls , Not silver plate with just enough dull shine . But wonder suits i n y ellow and in wine, Sarcastic green an d zebra-striped cobalt . With shoulder padding t ha t is wide And co cky and det e rmined as his pride ; Ballooning pants that taper off to ends Sch eduled to choke precisely . Voice Here are hats Li k e bri ght umbr ellas; and hysterical ties Like narrow banners for some gathering war .( G. Narrator Ye s, I was immaculately Black . Magnificently Black . And I knew the powe r of the Rap I Chorus Amen! (over) �28 Narrato r I became the power of the Rap I Chorus Ament Voice Bartender, ma ke it strai ght and make it two- Voice (po in t ing ) One for the y ou in me ••• Voice (point ing ) ••• and the me : in you . (Iii . Tolso n) Narrator After lengthy conversat ions ~dth my music, I became the Be -Bopper; somebody called me the Zoot-Suiter; I put on dark gl a sses and conked my hair. A do uble-chinned salesman h anded me some bl ea ching cream and a cadillac as I sped Horth to join my brothers and s isters in the Promised Land. Richard Wright and James Baldwin cried for me . John Oliver Killens Heard ·r he Thunde r and Ralph Ellison called me Invisible, adding that once rrry leaders decoded the riddle of my style and my rap they could help me save me . Black, I left a White country to fight Yellow men in Korea. Ella, Miles , Monk, Billie, Prez, Chana Pozo, Ornette, Coltrane-- they went to war with me. Chorus Good Morning heartachel (sung) How do you do . (said) Horn Menley of tunes and musical mannerisms reminiscent of the period. Narrator I got hip to world events, science an d space explorat ion. I lmew wh~ I lmew, still I couldn 1 t go where I wanted to go , or dQ what I wanted to do . Americ~ got nervous whenever I appea red in public . But I knew ('over ) �29 certain events and developments were dooming all of u s to an "Ultimate Reality. 11 Voice You know, Joe, it I s a fupny t h ine;, Joe , Yo u worry most of your life about me , Always afraid I ' ll ge t a job with you , Always scared I mi [Jlt ge t s e rv e d with you , Always afraid I ' d wlill na l ove your sister Or t h at she might love me . Voice Don ·~t want me to e a t with you , Voice Seared I might live next t o you -- Voice But with the Atom Bomb , Joe, It looks li k e I might die with you . Voice That don 1 t :seem ri c;ht , does it, Joe?(Ray Durem) Na rrator But inspite of all the adversity , the hi s torical strength s kept returning to me , shoring me up , h elpi n g me to ~ee p get ting up, to keep going . We had our personal victori es in the meantime. We learned everything that it too~ to make it in America, even when no one would let us have equipment or space to work in. We just reached back insi de ours elves and came up with what was n ee ded . Then one day, the po em became a baseball in the hands of the legendary Leroy Sat chel Paige . Voice Sometimes I feel like I will never stop Just go on forever (over ) �30 Till one fine mornin' I'm gonna reach up and grab me a handfulla stars Swing out my long lean le g And whip three hot stri kes burnin 1 down the heavens And look over at God and say How about thatt(S. Allep) Na rra tor Style has always been my si ,snature . So it was not a surp ri se that I returned to myself in moti on . Behold! The St roll! Cho rus Sings a portion of Gene Chandl er I s "Duke of Earl" or some other period piece . Ha1·rato r The Kans as City Slop 1 l'he 1-Iadi s on I Sing s ¥- portion of t he Fi v e Satins 1 song f r om pe rio d . 11 ±n the Still o f the Night II or another lla rra t or The Twist! Bt~ef exerpt from Chubby Checker's "Twist" . Narrator The Funky Chicken I The l~arate Bo ogaloo I They saw me poeting with my hips and my feet . Chorus Poeting l Poetingl Na rra tor And took it all ·ba ck to Ame rican Bandstand and other countries . Voice( singing) There ' s a thrill upon the hill! Ch orus (singing~ Let 1 s Go! Let ' s Go! Let's Go! (over) �Narra tor I oame home from Ko re a to meet th e Klan in a new sheet. And in Montgome:ry they would not let my moth e r sit down on a bus . As a poem, my name became Lance J e ffers, Raymond Patterso n, G.C. Oden, Mari Evans, LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amiri Baraka, Audre Lo rde . Choru s ( ques tionin~ly) Montgomery? Montgomery? Montgome ry? • • • I remember Montgomery . Voic e And Birrningham--the f.o\l\" little, little girls . Voice Four little girls Who went to Sunday School that day And never came back h ome at all-Voice But left instead Their blood upon the wall With spattered fl esh And bloodied Sunday dr ess es Scorched by dynami te t ha t Ghina made aeons a go Dfutl not know' what China made Before China was eve r Re d at a l l Would redden with the ir blood This Birmingham-on-Sun day wall . Four tiny girls Who left their blood upon that wall, In.Jlittle ·. graves l today await (ov er) �32 Voice The dynamite that might i gnite The ancient fuse of Dragon Kings \\'hose tomorrow sings a hymn The missionaries never tau ght In Christian Sunday School 'E o Implement the Go lden Hu.le . Voice Four littl e girls Might be awakened someday so on By songs upon the bree ze Voi c e As yet unfelt among Magnolia trees. (t\v&ies) Voice And Selma! Voice And Phiiadelphia, Mi ssissippi I Vo ice(vaguely, hesitatingly) I recollect Emmett Till! Voice Jlnd Watts! Narrator My Name was Conrad Kent Ri v e rs a t that time . I became a poem called "Watts, 11 hoping that in su ch disgui se I could find my way out of this daily nightmare . Voice Must I shoot the white man dead to free the nigger (av er) �33 in his head? Voice( pausing, musing ) Must I shoot the white man dead to free the ni gge r in his head? Ct .~,l,-.;er9 Voice And Newark I Voi ce And Harlem! Voice And Oakland! Voice And Dallas! Voice And Eas t St . Louis! Voice And Chicago I Voice Martin ~uther King! Voice Malcolm! Voice Stokley! Voice H. flap Brown ! Voice James Brown I (over ) �Na r r ato r 34 Drumbeats en fla.me d the--., sky . Li be ration became ltl.y.;pas si onate preoccupation. A wa r m se lf-love engulfed me . My woman an d I look ed at each oth r t hrough n ew-old eyes. We ha d our own standard of b eauty. I st r etched and yawned and walke d aro und i n my own neighborhood. My ~olor felt good and healthy t o me . It loo ked good to me in the mi rror o f my Brothers'eyes . Someone called me Bl ack and I di dn I t h it him. At a r ally, I t urned into a voice on th e podium shouting. Chorus WE ARE AN AFRICAN PEO PLE! Drumme r & Dancer Sal ute the coming of t he new cons ciousn e ss wi th approp riate n eo-Afri c an rhythms and mov eme nts . Voice For all t h ing s Pl a ck and beautifu l , The b ro wn f a c e s you lov ed so well and long , th e endl e s s ro ads leading back to Ha r l em . Ch o rus Kulu Se Mama l Kulu Se Mama ! Kulu Se Mam.al Kulu Se Mama Vbice-#1 Where the string At : ) Some umbilical j a z z , Voice #2 Or perhaps , In memory, A long lo st bloo dy cross , Buried i n some steel c alvary . �35 Voice/13 In what time For 'Whom do we bleed , Lo st note s , from some j o. z zman ' s Broken n eedle . Voicet/4 Music al tears from lost Eyes, Broken drumsticks , whyT Voicer-Jl Pitter patter, boom dropping Bombs i n the middle Of my emotions Voic e11·2 My fath e r ' s s oun d Voi c e ,f3 My mo ther I s s ound ••• Chorus rs : love, Is life. (B' to.\)rtt\0-v.) Narr ator I had watched America . I knew Amer ica . I could deal with the difference and the sameness, that stran ge decora t ed pain that character izes our existence . I keep comi ng bac k to the point of the sythe sis and the symbio s is. I am history illL d futu re, or, put differently , I am future• history. Sometimes , because of my many levels · of vision, I grasp the helm of the strugg]es of the many colored hands . I might even be in ' a river th at lac es the stomach of Ameri ca. �36 Voice(with dance accompaniment) River of Time: Vibrant vein , Bent, c rooked , Older than the Red Men Who named you; Ancient as the win ds That break on your Serene and shining face; One t i me western bo undary of America From who.sercehTh~ Your broad shouide rs n ow r each To touch sisters On the flanks . Ch orus River of Truth: Voice •• • Mornings You leap, yawn 2000 miles , And shed a giant joyous tear Over sprouting , straggl ing Hives of humanity; Nigh ts you weep As the moon, tiptoeing Across your silent s i l ky Face, hears you prayin g Over the broken backs Of black s l aves who rode, Grouched and hudd led, At your he a rt in the belli e s Of steamshJ p s , (Ocer) �37 Chorus River of Memory: Voice Laboratory for Civil Wu r Boat builde rs Who left huge eyes of s te el Staring from your sullen dep t h s ; Re luc tant partner to crime s Of Ku Klux Klanamen ; River moved to wav es Of ecstasy By the venerable t rump e t Of Louis Armstron g . River of Bones: River of bones and fl esh -Bones and flesh an d blood ; Voice The nation's l argest Intestine And longest conveyer belt ; Ch orus River MISSISSI PPI : River of little rivers ; River of rises , Voi ce Sometimes subdued By a roof of ice, de sc endine finally On your Southward course �To . spit Into th e Gulf And join the wrath Of larger bodies . ( Hedmond ) Nar r a tor I mused ov er river s and long- gon e voic e s underne a th rivers . Soon, however, I turned to philosophy . I n l~he sp it and da rt of my new self, th e re were utterances I ha d to make , blood- thoughts I h a d to share. I lmew this was another se quel to the dr eam . I had not believed those fairy tales . I needed ;to tak e a hand a nd stand and s pe a k the truth to the peopl e . Chorus Speak the truth to the people! Voice I t i s not n e c essary to green the hea r t Only t o i denti fy the en emy I t i s not nec essary to blow the mi nd Only t o f r e e the mind . Crioru s It is the total bl ac k ! Voice It is the total black, bein g spoken From theearth 1 s inside . There are many kinds of open. How a diamond comes into t knot of flame How a sound comes int o a wo rd, colored By who pays what for s peaking . Chorus Love is another kind of open r (over) �39 Voi ce As a diamond comes ipto a knot of flame I am black because I come from the earth's inside Take my word for j ewel in your open li gh t . Narrator I am the e cstasy of NOW ! 'fhe fullest realization of my Ancesto rs 1 wishes . I return , even in the alarm; ev en in the shadow- body I am often forced to wear . But enough , enough - -I beg you , my d ear a~soc i ates , look How on our~s and history ' s finest treasure . Voice(and dancer) I am a black woman the music of my s ong some sweet a rp eggi o of t e a r s is wri t t e n in a mino r k e y and I can b e heard hummin g in t h e ni crit Can be heard h ummin g Ch orus Hums first line of 11 .1: obo dy .t,nows the Tro uble I See" Voice(continuing poem) in the n ight I saw my mate leap scre aming t o the sea and I / with these hands/cupped the lifeb rea th f r om my is sue in tre c ane brak e I lo st Nat ' s swin ging body in a rain of tears and I heard my song scream all t he way from Anzio f or Peac e he n eva-- kn ew • • • • I l ea rn ed Da Nang and Pork Chop Hi ll i n anguish ( o ver) �Now my nostrils know the gas and these tri gger tire/d fin gers seek the softness in my warrior ' s beard I am a black woman tall as a cypress strong beyond all definition s till defying place and time and circumstance assail ed i mper vious i ndestruc tib le L0ok on me and be renewed.(M, Evo.n!>) Chorus Look on me and be ren ewed. Look on us and be renewed. 11inis � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_09_35 Title A name given to the resource First draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry, A Readers Theatre/Ritual Drama, typed with handwritten edits, 1977 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1977 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/bfb75894c8114ba03872010752d62c0e.pdf b80a7c78d3404af2dfa4c921e6026866 PDF Text Text I DRUMVOICES: THE MISSION OF AFRO-AMERICAN POETRY* A Readers Theatre/Ritual Drama By Eugene B. Redmond * Script Adaptation of DRUMVOICES: THE MISSION OF AFRO-AMERICAN POETRY (a critical history), by Eugene B. Re.dmond: Doubleday, 1976. Script copyright© 1977 by Eugene B. Redmond �Note to Directors & Players * DRUMVOICES, as a theatrical., follows ~ 1~tradition of ritual theater or the "ri tuali zing 11 of an event . Ideally, for Readers Theater, th'$ ::.stage ·are . snould have :,.to'Qm ,,fox-, c: ti.ro ·--sets .~r,·.:m~l:f:A r~~ds and ·a danchfr ' :re-a 0 ~ince ritual theater is conceptually and practically adaptable to as few or as many players as are desire4, directo r s / stagers should proceed accordingly. Ritual drama is also qualitative in terms of depth and meaning--that is it can be as deep or as light as one wants it. Hence, in preparing DRUMVOICES for the stage, directors should take pains to determine the levels of intensity or message-del i v ery that tbe"y · w~t·. These levels can be ·achieved and/or modified .from perfonna.nce to performance by shifting (heightening or lesseni ng) tone and thrust. Ideally, for DRUI1VOICES, one drummer and one horn -player should make up the cast, along with at least one male and one female dancer. At the same,time, owing to the flexibility and adaptability of ritual theater, directors may use as many dancers or musicians as are desired . The speaking cast should(preferably ) consist of a three-member core-chorus. The core-chorus provides unison, harmony and call-and-response while at the same time supplying the main individual voices . Set apart from the core-chorus is th e n arrator, who is atmospherically removed, somewhat dispassionate but omnipresent aa a vast-voice image . Another voice , some distance to the other side of the core-chorus is khown as a relief-voice . This character/ player can be made the focus of attention or go unnoticed while he/she slips into the audience , disappears to change clothes , or prepares for some sudden and surprise shift in the action o f the drama . �1 Part I: Music & I The stage is bear except for music stands, a podium and the musicians' instruments. A log~ dancer appears, walks upstage and lmeels in preparation for the opeti~~ance-poem. 'r he first sounds are heard off stage at which time the drummer and horn player come on stage and situate themselves at their instruments. The dancer begins to dance when the musicians are assembled. Voices(off-stage) Music and I--Listenl--Yail Yail~ ,, Listen to the sound of my horn~ Music and I--Listenl--Yail Yail ~ Listen to the sound of my horn l ~,vv-- Music and I--Listenl--Yail Yail ~ Voictfoff-atage as dance begins) Listen to the sound of my horn ••• ~ This note you have longed to hear! \ Voicef2 Listen .to the sound of ~Y song, Fo'r :.. ·the music you have hummed by ear. Voice#3 I sound the time to rise for the fields. I moan the rhythm as the congregation lmeels . Voice#4 For I am the note of air, the catcher of your despair. Voice 5 I cry long nights for you my people . I rise early with my clayed cotton coat. I tote water to sun-baked lips, VoiceJl And I sing awa'f pain from your chain-whipped hips . (oveiJ ) �2 Voicet/2 But now, my people, I've grown a new song • .,..5.~~ Listen, all ye Americans I Lis t en with your ear: Voice#3(walking upstate to position) , I Now the congregation rises-Voice#4(walking upsta ge to position ) Now the new corn sprouts-Voice#5 (walking upstage to position) Now the air breathes fresh- - ---- Voice#l(walking upsta ge to position ) Now the trodden land sings-VoiceJ2 ( walking upstage to position) Now my horn of clay airs a long signa l motif. Voi ce/!3 Listen to the sound of my horn , my people. This rhythm of years long past . Voice#4 Listen to the sound of my horn, I say; _ Chorus(raising arms) Music and I ••• have come at lastJ (Durms) \ un . tempo; then dancer exits~ After a slight pause, narrator be gins the on~stage ritual program. ) ( As voices expa.bde , dancer and drumm~i- Gpick Narrator I am the poem! We are the poem! Na rrator And the poem is me I And the poem is us! And the poem is us! And the poem is u s ! (over) . �3 Narrator I run the poem and I came before pen or pencil or paper or printing press , \~ ; l I cupped and cuddled the wisdom of the winds in drum- bosoms of ecstasy . Drummer Performs a wide range of rhythms, movements , tones , multi ple - rhythms : African, West Indian, fro-Latin, Afro-American . Narrator Listenl Listen closely and you can hear me , you can hear me writing in drum-language ; you can hear me conversing with tomorrow, today and the heretofore. DRUMFEEI' ON THE SO IL, ON THE SAND ROADS OF THE MIND I FLESH-PISTONS PRANCING, THE EARTH'S ENGINE! IT IS A COMING FORTH , THE NIGHT WITHIN US COMING FORrH t THE NIGHT WITH I N US COMING PORTH I FEEr BEATING, BEATING, BEATING SEEDS INTO THE SO IL I Narrator I return and return an d return to my magnificent and reliable arclliv es . Chorus That 11,ove we can depend onJ Tha t Love we can depend on l Voice ( singing; as ·dancer·s st~llt,-sea.roh. ..' the sta·ge )'n, · 'ONOBOROBO ! ONOBOROBO t Voice ONOBOROBO t Chorus ONOBOROBO I (ov er ) �4 Voice Chorus ONOBOROBO I Narrator In my dependable cultural vault is the Idea-gram: that natural cil"etagraphy landscaped by thudding thoughts of my totem family, the living-dead, the breathing, the unborn. I am the poetic flesh-temple with many forms, earthdaughter and agile inundator oP history. I am the poem in motion. Dancer Bxecutes rudimentary movements and other elements of traditional African and neo-African dance: isolati on , use of pelvis and torso , leaps, twirls, pulls, the Yanvalou(or a kindre~movement}, vigorous stretches, lifts and thrusts. (Drum a ccompaniment) Narrator I am the Black and Unknown Bard. American put me on a conveyer belt - moving in two different direc t i ons at the same time. My African Jubilance turned to anger and a song of i&botage. My IndomiLable Echo and Idion flavored my Indomitable Press to be Human . As a poem, I became part of what I did, saw and dreamed on these shores: Field Hollers, Vendors' Shouts, Chants, Work Songs , Spirituals, Blues , Gospels, Jazz, Rhytbm-n- Blues, Soul Music .( See at tache d chart of the preceding items : which Je~!1- lus.t rated with short examples by voices after the list has been g~ven . ) Voice Did ye~ feed my cow? Voice Y~s M Voice Will yer te·ll me how? (ov er) �- 4-A ~ Ji'ield Hollers / yodle •••• hey brother yodle •••• hey brother Vendors' Shouts watermello~h oh ••• sausages,~.. / tomatoes, oh ••• I got •em fresh ••• , ohl Chants Om-la-la Om-la-la Work Songs Say I 1 m ~rking hard on the chaingang Spirituals Ezekiel saw the wheel a-turning(chorus) Way up in the middle of the air Blues Blood, lawd, blood all on the wall Gospels o~happ'J day O happy day When Jesus washed When Resue washed Washed all my sins away Jazz Ri fls from Ike Rhythm-and-Blues Will you still love me tomorrow? Soul Music I •m a soul man I 1 m a soul man ;{/ ,,,. \: �5 Voice Oh w 1 at did yer give 1 er? Voice Cawn an hay! Voice Oh w 1 at did yer give 1 er? Voice Cawn an hay! Voice(looking up) Evahwhuh I, whuh I loo~ dis mawnin , Looks lak rain, looks like rain . Chorus Looks lak rain, l ooks lak rain J clc11,µ1.1df~ Voice I gotta rainbow, tied all roun mah sh oulder, Ain gonna rain, ain gonna rain . Chorus Dis is de hammer, Kilt John Henry I Voice(emphatically) Twon•t kill me , baby, Twon 1 t kill me . Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain-Voice Tell him I'm gone , baby, I - I Tell him I 1 m gone . ( ova') . I �6 Chorus I got a rainbow Tied 1 roun my shoulder, Ain 1 t gonna rain, baby, Ain't gonna rain . Voice(work-song,sung) Dis ole hammer- -huh!(chorus) Ring lak silver--huht(chorus) 'f-. r J (.; Shine lak gold--huhl(chorus) Chorus Ain 1 t gonna rainJ Ain!t gonna rain! Voice(female) I 1 m a big fat mamma, got the meat shaking on mah bones , I ' m a big fat mamma , got the meat shaking on map bones , C\.Jj And eV6frY time I shakes , some skinny girl loses huh home . Voice Run, nigger run ; de patter- roller catch you; Chorus Run , nigger, run, it ' s almost day . Voice Run , ni gger , run; de patter-roller catch you ; Chorus Run , nigger, run, and try to ~ get away . Voice Dis nigger run, he run his best ,-- Stuck his head in a hornet's n e st,-Voice Jumped de fence and run fru the paster; (over ) I I I 1' I\ I �7 Cho rus White man run, but ni gge r run faster . Voi c e Da.t nigger run, dat nigger flew,-Cho rus Dat ni gge r tore hi s shirt in two. Narrator Yes, as poem,as cotton-picker, as banjo-player, as fiddler, as preacher, as ,minstrel-maker and mirror, as slave-rebellion leader, I emered a ne'f/ part of the old. My African song ushered forth in strange new Biblical Language. Voice(s inging ) Go Down, Moses , Way Down in Egyptland; Chorus(talking~pointing) Tell old Pharoah To let my people go . Voice ( s~mging) Deep River •••• / Chorus ( talking) Deep Deep Deep River •• 0. Voice Deep Riv e r, my home is ove r Jordan ; Deep River, Lord; I want to c ross over into camp ground. Voice ( exci te dly) And, yes, I DREAMED I was riding in that chariot . Chorus ( or Voice) Swing low, sweet chariot , , / ✓ Coming for to carry me hoITB1 ( over ) ' - • - - I I �sweet chariot, \ Coming for to carry me home . l. Voice \ Green trees a-bending, Po' sinner stands a-trembling The trumpet sounds within-a-my soul ; Chorus I ain't got long to stay h ere. Vo i ce (male) Joshua fit de battle of Jericho,-- Jericho, Jericho-hG-ho-hol Voice Joshua fit de battle of Jericho,-- And de walls came tumbling down . Voice f Dat morning • • • • ~ w~~AhM,,~ .~· "'- ~ Chorus And ·de:_ walls came tumblins down Voice My God is a rock in a weary lan 1 - - Chorus Weary lan 1 , weary lan 1 - - j. ~ Voice My God is a rock in a weary lan 1 - I I Shelter in de time of storm. ,, Narrato r I was Black and curious; I confronted harshness head-on; my struggle meant (over) �write like whites , even though,Ironically , their 9 ~aws said I could be punished or jailed for possessing such knowl edge and skill . Voice You named me .Lucy Terry! Voice Gustavas Vassal Voice Britton & Jupiter Hammon! Voice Coon & Buck I Voice Phyllis Wheatley! And I maste r ed Greek , Latin and English in my teens . Lonely Black girl whom the muses befriended, thousands and thousands of miles away from my West Afri can home. I contimued to emerge as the poem. Voice Should you,my Lord, while you peruse my song, ti Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow these wishes fort h e common good, By feeling hearts alone best understood, I, youn g in life, by s e eming cruel fate, snatched from Afrjc 1 s fancy 1 d happy seat; ~~t pangs· ~xcruci~t:ing must molest, , .1.l.".1t'.·c -~·· ·, ··, - ~ _: ,.. ,r,1 •:;. · - _ ., _ · _ .,. ·,:.,~. ! ~-.-. .. - -~~• What sorr'ows labour in my parents I breasts? Steel 1 d was that soul and by no misery mov 1 d ~~s 1 • 1I That from a father seiz 1 d his babe belov 1 d: ' I Such, such my case . And can I then but p r ay Others may never feel tyranic sway? (wheo1ley) Narrator You n amed me George Moses Horton. I did not like the injustice (over ) of the �10 I turned into a po em. Even t ho ugh some continued calling me "The Slave." Chorus "The Slave"? Voice Because the brood-sow 1 s left side pigs were black, Whose sable tincture was by na tu re struck , Were you by justice bound to pul l them back And leave the sandy -c olored pig s to suck ? (Ho rton) Chorus(ominously ) Runagate I Runaga to l Runagate l Narrator My mother cure d ills and my father worke d mots . In the bi - cultural constriction the poem became juju-man, the face hidden by the ambiguous minstrel smile . Voice We have fashioned l aughter Out of tears and pain; Chorus Bqt the moment after-Voice Pain and t ea rs again.(9harles Bertram Johnson) Voice Forgive these erring people , Lord! Voice Who lynch at home and love abroad. ( ~ D ~ ) Na rrator Still I wrote - -this time just like I talked, though some made fun of it , But,as maker of song , I could only produce heart-rhythrn.s . (over) �Voice 11 de Cunjah man , O chi llen,run, de Cunjah man ! Chorus O chillen,run, the Cunjah man! Voice Him mouf ez beez as fryin 1 pan; Voice Him yurs am small, him eyes am raid,-Voice Him hab no toof een him 01 1 haid, -- <\ /, Voice Him hab him roots , him wuk him tricks,-- 0:\ J Voice Him roll him eye , him mek you sick-Chorus De Cunjah man, de Cunjah man, 0 chillen run, de Cunjah manl(J . E. Campbell) Narrato r I knew my rights, my rou@-1 times and my remedies. Voice(assuming tones reflBoting physical illneases) Blue-mass , laudnum, liver pills , "Sixty-six, fo I fever an 1 chills,'' Ready Relief, an' A.B.c., An 1 half a bottle of X. Y. Z.(J. H. Ho J.loway) Narrator / You named me Frances Bl len Watkins Harper, James Edwin Campbell, James Weldon Johnson, Paul Lawrence Dunbar--Son of ex-slaves, elevator boy risen to brilliantbard of the race . As the poem I strode forth in several kinds of English . ( over ) - _j �12 Voice bird sings, Ah me, ./ When his wing is bruised and his bosom soraT Wb_en he beats his bars a nd he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee , But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, But a plea , that upward to Heaven he flings-I know why theca ged bird singsl(Dunbar } Narrator Above all, song exudes from me . Indeed, I am song. Watch and examine me. My birthright is my anthem. My song is my sword. And I :· lift that sword hi gh I Voice (singing) Lift evEry voice and sing, I I "} Till earth and he aven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty. Chorus ( t al king, pointing upwards) Till our rejoicin gs ri s e High as t h e li s t enin g skies l( J . W. Johnson ) / Narrator As song-poem I forged pure fl ames of rhythms without books. James Weldon Johnson called me the Black and Unknown gard . And, let me tell you something ••• hmmmmmmrn •••• I always loved to hear Ma lindy sing. Voice G1 way an 1 quit dat noise, Miss Lucy-PUt dat music book away; What's de use to keep on tryin 1 ? Jf you p ractis e twell you're gray , You cain 1 t sta 1 t no notes a-flyin 1 Lak de ones dat r ants and rings From de kitchen to de big woods (ove r) �Chorus Wb_en Malindy sings . Voice You ain 1 t got de nachel o'~ans Fu t to make de soun ' come right, You ain 1 t got de tu 1 ns an' twistin's fut to make it sweet an ' li ght . Tell you one thing now , Miss Lucy , An ' I'm tellin ' you fu ' true, When hit comes to raal right singin' , Chorus • ' T a in' t no easy thing to do . Voice Easy 1 nough fu I follcs to hollah, Lookin ' at de lines an ' dots, When dey ain ' t no one kin sence it , An ' de chune comes in,in spots; But fu' real melojous music, Dat jes strikes yo ' hea 1 t and clings, Jes you stan 1 an 1 listen wif me .Chorus When Malindy sings . Voice Ain I t you nevah hyeahd Malindy? Blessed soul , tek up de cross I Look hyeah , ain 1 t you jo kin' , honey? Well, you don't lmow what you los 1 • Y' ought to hyeah dat gal a-wa 1 blin 1 , (over) I, �14 Robin s , la 1 ks, an' all dem things , Heish dey moufs an' hides dey faces Chorus When Malindy sin~s. Voicef/1 Fidlin 1 man jes' stops his fiddlin 1 , Lay his fiddle on de she 1 f; · Voice /12 Mockin 1 -bird quit tryin' to whistle , 1 0ause he jes so shamed hiss e 1 f. Voice#3 Folks a-playin' on de banjo Draps dey fingahs on de strings-Bless yo' soul--fu' gits to move 1 em, When Malindy sings. Voice#She jes 1 spreads hu mouf and hollahs, Voice( singing) "Come to Jesus, 11 Voice ••• twell you hyeah Sinnahs 1 tremblin' steps and voices, Timid-lak a-drawin 1 neah; - Den she tu'ns to "Rock of Ages, Voice(singing) 11 \~ Voice Simply to de cross she clings , (over) �fin yo ' teahs a-drapp in 1 When Malindy sings . Voice Who dat says de humble praises Wif de Master nevah counts? Heish yo• mouf, I hyeah dat music , Ez it rises up an• mounts-P'loatin1 by de hills an 1 valleys, 'I Way above dis burryin 1 sod, ' I Ez hit makes its way in glory To de very gates of GodJ Vo i ce Oh, hit ts sweetah dan de mu sic Of an edic ated band; An 1 hitts dearah dan de battle 's Song 0 1 triumph in de lan 1 • Voice#l r J It seems holier dan evenin 1 When de solemn chu I ch bell rings,/ • ' Voice #2 ( slowly,search ingly) Ez I sit an I ca •·m ly listen Chorus While Malindy sings. Voice Tows~. stop dat ba 1 ki n , hyeah me I Mandy, mek dat chil e keep s till; I (ove r) -- -- - --- - ~ �16 hyeah de echoes c al lin 1 F 1 om de valley to de hill? Let me listen, I can hyeah it, Th 1 oo de br~sh of angels' wings , Sof 1.. and sweet, . V v~ Voice//3 ( singing ) • • o 11 Swing low, Sweet Chariot, 11 Voice(dreamily and ecstatically) Ez Malindy sin gs . (Dunbar) ~ --r:::;:;:;- Narrato r Poem that I was and am, I traveled from 11 oas i s to oas i s . 11 Voice Man I s Saharic up and down~ (M. B. To lson) Narr ator Riverboats , river towns chaingangs ••• Voice( singin 8 as chorus makes work-sounds in background) ,.,, , it Well don ' t you know ,, That I s the sound of the men, working on the chain - n - n-n gan- ee - ang ; We l l don't you know That ' s the sound of the men , worki ng on the chain gang .( Cooke) Narrator Bar-room toughs , hard-hearted Hanna , Stagolee ••• they all knew me . Voice Hardahaarted Hanna - Voice F rom Savannah, GEE A. Voice She was so cold , yall-Chorus Wasn 1 t she 1 (ov er ) �17 Voice a drownin g man! Cho rus(slowly and deliberately ) Water , on a drown-ii-nnn g man. Voice(attracting the attention of othe r s ) It was early one mornin', When I heard my bulldog bark; Stagolee and Bi lly Lyons Was squablin 1 in the dark . Voice ' / Frankie and Hohnny were lovers , , ~ ¥l Cho rus \~\,_,1).Lo r dy , how they could love , Voice Swore to each o ther , True as the stars up above , /y I \~ He was he r man but he don e her wrong. · Voice(fcmale) / Shine, shine , shine , ••• save po 1 me . Na rrator I was in the constant see - saw of life, wading through hell in search of heaven. But I kept my working philoso phy with me . Voice#l De stoppe r get de longest rest in de empty jug. Voice #2 ~ De pric e of your hat ain 1 t de measure of your brain. Voice#J De graveyard is de cheapes 1 boardin 1 - house . Voiceff4 \ ~ Buy i n ' on credit is robbin 1 next year's crop . (Over) t �Voice#5 Life is short and full of blisters . Voice#l De cow-bell can ' t keep a secret. Voice#2 Little flakes make de deppest snow. Voice#3 De crawfish in a hurry look li k e he tryin' to git dar yesterday . Voicei'/4 Be drinks so much whis key t hat he stae;gers in his sleep . Vo ice//5 In God we trust , all others ca sh . Harr n.to r Yes I was lyric-wise . You heard me everywhere . You even heard me coming from the swollen lips of the bugle, French horn , trumpet, clari net and saxophone . Horn A series of short riffs and movements exemplary and illustrative of various forms of Afro - American music played between the advent of the spirituals and the ra gtime-blues pe riod. Nar r o.tor In Paris they called the "C ak ewal k " th e "poe try of motion o II In the crevices of ships I was transported t o global points to make m' splendid sound and dance my splendid poetry of motion . Dance.[;) Executes a series of movements an.c steps repr es enting such dances as-------, I t the Cakewalk, Charleston , the Two ·- S tep , Ji tterbpg and the Bop . ~lerr.ents ✓ of West Indian dances should flavor movements . (over) �Narrator As the poem I blue horns , shot guns in your First World War, danc ed dances and came home to face the Ku Klux Klan, Southern Sheri f fs and Jim Crow . I got Angry . And I go t defiant. But , I was re l at i v ely cool. Vo i c e ( serious ) Into the furnace let me go alone ; Stay you without in terror of the heat . I f I I will go naked in-~for thu s 1tis sweet -Into the wei rd depth s of the hott est zone . Voice ( serious but r esolute and emer ging) De si re d e s troys , consumes my mortal fea r s , Transforming me into a shape of f l ame . I wi ll come out , back to your world of tears , A strong4 cr soul within u finer framc .( McKay) Na rrator From the dark tower I watched az I pr.epareg, watched as I prepare d, wat ched as I pre pared, lmowinc; that !!We were not made ete rnally to weep . Voice(reflective , meditative ) The n i ght whose sable breast relieves the stark \mi te stars is no less lov e ly being dar k , And there are buds that cannot bloom at all In light , but crumple , pite ous, and fall; So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds , And wait , and tend our agonizing seeds . (Cullen ) Narrator Aft er race riots in several American citi es , I lifted my voi c e i s e aring shaft of discontent . Chorus 0 kinsmen! we must meet the common foel (over) 11 �20 Voice Li ke men we 1 11 face t he murde r ous , cowardly pac k , // ( Pre ssed to th e wa l l , dyin g , ••• Ch orus ( slowl y an d softly ) Dying • •• dying ••• dyinG Voice ••• but fi e)ltin~ ba ck ! (MC,'f(~t) No.rrato r All the wh ile my past k e pt pul lin g on me . It was if we we r e married to each other, c lue d , loc ked, 1ve l de d to geth er . It was as if t h o se who dep ar t ed n e v e r re al ly , real l y die d . An Af rican sense kept tu ggi n g tu gging a t my trunc a t e d ro o ts . The bri dge of my dwarf-lik e pa st r e s t ed on at l ea s t two shores . Voi ce Pour o pou r tha t pa rtin g s oul i n song , 0 } ., J pour it in the s awdu s t g l ow o f ni gh t , Into t h e v elve t pine- smoke air to - ni ght , ••• Ch orus( s l ow an d e cho - li ke ) I And l et the vall ey carry it a l ong . l And l et th e va ll ey ca rry it a long . (t6ome~) Narr ator( co nfus e d a nd desp era te) Sometime s I wa s only ha l f - there , f i ~ht ing t hose who wante d to sn a tch away my humanity by day ; and fi~tin g hunge r and confu si on at h ome by night . As th e poem, I eme r ge d convolute d and who lly new, only t o -, re t r e at to a some - other- time r e f rai n . ~gyp t , Ghana , Madagasc a r , th e Pyramids-- Voodoo Ceremon ies--what did th ey all me an ,to me? The beau ty - pain of it all? Chorus Come with a bl as t of trump et s , Jesu s ! (over ) I I I �21 Voice(oxymoronic) And the be auty of Susanna Jones in red Burns in my h e art a love -fir e sharp like pain. Chorus Sweet silver trump e ts , Jesust(}\v8~8S) Voice l • Well, son, I 1 11 t e ll yo u: Life for me ain' t been no c ry st al Na r r a tor ,, But the blur of that v ei 1 wa s al ways tempo rar-f ly relieved by sorig, by I dance, by re a ding or th inkin g about for ei gn places and looking forward to the day when American s wo ul d grow up . We were here--in America-but not of it . Simply wo r rying, wi thout a plan tn change things , didn 't help much. We grew stronger, and more b eautiful , in the- words of Langston Hughes , as we re-embr a c e d ou r own ri t u a ls . Ch orus ( si n ging an d jiving) Shake your brown , f eet , ho ney, Shake your brown feet, chile, I Shake you r brown f eet , honey, \ Shake Jem swift and wil 1 - Voi ce Get way back , hon ey , Do that low- down step • Walk on over, da r l i n g, Nowt Come out With your left . (Hu ghes ) Voi ce (breaki n g t h e fun - frolic and wairing serious) Yet do I marvel at this curious thi ng : To make a po et b l a Ck . ond bid h im s ing I (ov e r) (.cvUeri) ·- ~ /k w-;=--- -\t, .~ �22 Narrator Yet must I marvel that I'm here nt al l. Because during the watering years, after the GREAT DEPRESSION, my existence was seriously threatened by lynching and at atmosphere of intimidation. I went to war, as poem and soldier and cook and shining knight of DEMOCRACY! The SWASTIKA, 'rhe RISING SUN, The HAMI1ER & SICKLE , I was told, were my REAL enemies . Meanwhile you had named me Owen Dodson and I grew accustomed to the realities of neighborly enemies, 'rhose who caused UNNATURAL DEATHS . Voice(preaching a funeral sermon) d I Wake up, boy, and tell me how yo u died: What sense was alert last, What immediate intuition about m You clutched like a bullet when your nails Dug red in your yellow p alm And that map the fortunetell e rs r ead Chorus (this line for money , this for love) ·Voice ••• Chorus Wake up, boy . ••• Voice • • • I go to death tomorrow, I Tell me what ro a d you took, • • • Chory.s What hour in the day is luc kiest? Voice Did your Adams apple explode? Who sewed stitches in your angry (over) heart ?(0.~.S0'1] I �-23 Chorus O wake ••• Narr a t o r Yes, yes, • • • I wa s someti me s a t at t e red and beaten poem in the nineteen Thirties, Fo rti e s an d Fifties. But I was a poem anyway: Gracious, Noble, ~un darnen tal, Fiery, Firm, Relating to .1~ W(lltt~ People" on ~ur Common Ground . Some one cal led me Margare~ I became a Tapestry of My Many Selves. Voice#l For my people,everywhere sin ging their slave songs repeatedly ; • • • their dirges and th eir ditties and theitit.:,bL~ and jubilees, Voi ce1f3 • • • praying th e ir p r ayers ni ghtly to an unknown god, Voice/Pf • • • bending th eir knees humbly to an un/seen power; Voice #2 • • • washing/ironin g cooking scrubbing sewing mending plowing/digging planting pruning patching dragging along n ever gaining never reaping neve~ knowing and never understand/tng; Voice#) For my playmates in the clay and du s t and sand of Alabama backyards playing • • • Voice #l baptizing · and••• Voice#2 preaching and ••• (over) hoeing/ �24 Voiceif3 doptor and ••• Voice/fl jail and ••• Voice-/12 soldier and ••• Voiceff3 school and •••• Voiceirl mama and/cookin8 an d playhouse and concert and store and/hair and l-1iss Choomby and company; Voice #2 For the cramp ed bewildered ye a rs we went to school t o learn to know the reasons why and the answer s to and t h e people who and the p laces wh ere and the days when , in memory of t he bitter hours ,-men we di s cov ere d we were black and poor and small and different an d nobody cared an d nobody wondered and nobody understood; Voice lfJ/ § ~;.)), For the boys and girls who grew in spite of these things to be • .. man and woman, to l au gh and dance and sin g and play and drink th eir wine and reli gi_on and success, to marry their playmates and be a r children and then die of consumption and anemia and lynching; Voice#l For my people throngin 15 47th Street in Chicago and Lenox Avenue in New stre et in New Orleans, ••• Voiceif· For my people blundering and g roping and floundering in the (o ver ) I l , I �25 dark of churche s an d nch ools and clubs and societies , as - • sociations an d co uncils an d connni ttees and convent i ons, distressed a nd di s turbe d and deceived and devoured by money-hungry glory-craving leeches, preyed on by facile force of st ate and fad an d novelty , by false prophet and holy believer; Voice-11'3 Le t a new ea rth ri se . Lot anothe r wo rld be born. Let a bloody peace be wri t t en in t he sky , Voic e#"J. • •• Le t a second gen e ra t ion full/ of courage issue forth ; Voice #2 • • • l e t a peo ple loving fr e e dom come/ to growth . Let a beauty ful l / of healing and a stren gth of final clenching be the pulsing in/ our spirits and(our blood . Voice #J • • • Let the martial songs be written , let the dirges dis/ appear. Ch orus(strongly) • • • Let a race of men now rise and tak e contro l . (M. Walker) b Narrate r Frank Ma rshall Da vis , Melvin Be a unorous Tolson , Sterling Brown, :Hobert Hay den, Pau l Ve sey, Bob Kau fman , Geore;ia Douglas ~ Johnson, Russell Atkins, Le a dbel l y , Li [71 t nin 1 Hopkins--thes e are names by which my voice is lmo,,m . Some even call me by the n ame of (whisp e ring ) HISTO RY . Ch or u s ( r isin g from History I Runagat e I Runa gatel Voice Runs falls rises stumbl e s on f r om da rlrne ss into darlmess and the da rkness thic kete d ui t h shap e s of t e r r or ( ov e r) II �~ ;-.-lii'i:::====~:::::::::::::::=====~~--=,-,..= 26 and the hunt e rs pu rsu i n g and the h ound s pursuing and t he n i gh t cold an d t he ni 8ht long a nd the river tocross a nd t he j a.c k - muh-l ante rns beckoning be c koning and th e b l ack n e ss ahead and when shall I r ea ch that son:ewhere morning a nd k e ep on go ing a nd ne v er turn back and keep on going ••• Chorus(fri gh tencd) Runa gatel Voice Some go weeping and some r e j oicing I, ~~ some in coffins and s ome i n c a rri age s ~ ~ some in s ilks and some i n shackl e s ••• -- r Oh tha t train , gho s t-story trai n through swamp and s~vanna mov c r ing mo vering over trestles of dew, thro u gh c a ves of the wish, _M_i_dn_i~gh,,_t__S~p_e_c_i_a=l,_o_n_a _sabre track mov e ring movering, first s t o e y and th e l as t Ha llelujah . \ Voice O- '2.--, \ ' Ch oru s ( ~ Mean me ~n t ean to be fr e e . ( R. Hayden) Narrator I became a brilliant word- to rch shining back against my past and flami ng proudly into the f u ture . Al l the while I wormed into and won hearts and minds . And in 1950 , Ameri c a gave me the coveted Pulitzer Prise . My name was Annie A1len but I wus many peo ple . I was so fin ely sculpted that no infl e c tion wa s impreci se . I said what I had to say in a langua ge that dazzled and blinded the worl d . I s tood as a j ewel ; I talkitJd about e. jewel name d "Satin-Less Smith . 11 (ov er) I, �27 Voice(a s others look on admiringly) He wakes, unwinds, elaborately: a cat Tawny, reluctant, royal o He is fat And fine this morning . Definite . Reimbursed. He waits a momemt , he designs his reign , That no performance m~y be plain or vainp Then rises in a cl ear deliriwn. Voice Let .; us proceed. Let us inspect, together .With his meticulous and serious love, , The tnnards of this closet. Which is vault r ~ Whose glory is not diamonds, not pearls , Not silver plate with just enough dull shine . But wonder suits in yeJlow ru1d in wine , Sarcastic creen and zebra-striped cobalt. With shoulder padding that is wide And cocky and determined as his pride ; Ballooning pan.ts that taper off to ends Scheduled to choke precisely . Voice Here are hats Like bri ght umbrellas; and hysterical ties Like narrow banners for some gathering war.(G . Narrator Yes , I was immaculately Black . Magni ficently Black . And I knew the powe r of the Rap I Chorus Amen! (over) �28 Narrator I became the power of the Ra.pl Ch orus Amen ! Vo ice Bartender, make it strai ght and ma ke it two -Voice( poin t ing) Otte for the you in me ••• Voice (point i ng ) • •• and the me . in you . (H. Tol so n ) Nar r ator After lengthy conversations with my music, I became th e Be-Bopper; somebody c alled me t he Zoot-S uiter ; I put on dark gl a sses and conked my hair. A do uble-chinned salesman handed me some bleaching cream and a cadillac as I sped North to join my brothers and sisters in the Promised Lan d. Richard Wright and James Baldwin cried for me . John Oliver Killens Hea rd The Thunde r and Ralph Ellison called me Invisible , adding that once my leaders de coded the riddl e of my style and my rap they could help me save me . Black , I left a White country to fight Yellow men in Korea . Ella , Miles , Monk , Billie, Prez , Chana Pozo , Ornette, Col t rane -- they went to war with me . Ch orus Good Morning heartachel(sung) How do you do.(said) Horn Medley of tunes and musical mannerisms reminiscent of the period. / Narra tor I got hip to world events , sci en c e and space exploration . I knew wha:; I knew, still I c ouldn 1 t go where I wanted to go, or d() what I wanted to do . Americ a: got nervo us wh en ever I ap pe a r ed in public . But I knew (o ver) �29 certain events and de velopmen t s were dooming all of us t.o an "Ultimate Reality. 11 Voice You know , Joe, it's a fUJ1ny t h in~, Joe , You worry most of you r life about me , Always afraid 1 1 11 g,et a job with you, Always scared I mi c;ht get s e rv e d Hi th you , I Always afraid I'd wanna love you r sister I Or that she might love me . Voice Don~t want me to e o. t with you , Voice Seared I might live next t o you-- / ~•t Vo i ce But with the Atom Bomb , Joe , It looks like I might die with you . Voice That don •t : seem ri c;ht , does it, Joe?( Ray Durem) Narrator But in spit e of all the adversity, the historical s trengths kept returning to me , sho rin g me u_r , h clpine; me to keep ge tting up, to keep going . We had our personal victori es in the meant ime . We learned everything tha t it too~ to make it in America , even when no one would let us have equipment or space to work in . We ju s t reo.che d back inside ours elves and came up with what was n ee de d . Then one day, the poem became a baseball in the hands of the le gendary Leroy Satchel Paige . Voic e Sometimes I feel like I will never stop Just go on foreve r ( over) I I �30 .dll one fine morniri 1 I'm gonna reach up and g rab me a handf'ulla stars Swing out my long lean le g \ And whip th ree hot strikes burnin 1 down the heavens And look over at God and say How about thatt(S. Allep) \ ) Narrator Style has always been my signature . So it was not a surp ris e t hat I returned to myself in motion . Behold ! The Stroll! Ch orus Sings a portion of -.rcne Chandler ' s 11 Duke of Ba rl II or some oth er period pi ec e . lJu1•ruLl) I' ' The Kans a s City Slo p I The i·1adi son I Sings !l portion of the Five Satins ' "±n the Still of the Nigh t" or anothe r song from period . Na rrator The Twist ! II B:ri•ef exerpt from Chubby Checker ' s "Twist 11 • Narrator The Funky Chicken l 'fi1e Karate Do ogaloo I They saw me poeting with my hips and my feet . Chorus Poetincl Poeting t Na rrat or And took it all b a ck to American Bandstand and other countries . Voice (sin ging ) There 's a thrill upon the hill! Chorus (singing) Let's Go ! Let ' s Go! Let 1 s Go! (over) I I �Norrator I ea.me home from Ko rea to meet the Klan in a new sheet. And in Mo nt gomery they would not let my mother sit down on a bus. As a poem, my name became Lanc e Jeffers, Raymond Patterson , G. C. Oden, Mari Evans , LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amiri Baraka , Audre Lorde . Chorus( qucstioningly) Montgome ry? Montgomery? Mont gomery? • • • I remember Montgomery . Voice And Birmingham--the fo\J\" little , little girls. t' Voice Four little girls r, Who went to Sunday Scho ol that day And never came ba c k homo at all - Voice But le ft inste a d Th~ir blood upon the wall With spattered flesh And bloodied Sunday dresses Scorched by dynamite that Ghina made aeons ago Dmtl not know' what China made Befo re China was ever Red at all Woul d redden with their blood This Birmingham- on-Sunday wall . Four tiny girls Who left thei r blood upon th a t wal l , In jli ttle ·.graves _today await (o v e r ) .... �32 Voice The dynamit e t ho. t mi ch t i gnite The anci ent fuse of Dr a gon Kings ·w hose tomorrow sing s a. hymn The missiona ries n e v er t a u f;ht In Ch ristian Sunday ~cho ol 'f o Impl ement th e Go lden Hu le . Voice Four little girl s Might be awakened someday so on By son gs u pon the breeze Voice As y et unfelt amo n g Magnolia trees . \ ! (t-\vffe-9 Voice And Se lma ! Voice And Philadelphia, Mississippi! Voice(vagu e ly, hesita ting ly) I recollect Emmett Til l! Voice Jind Watts! Harrator My Name was Conrad Kent Rivers at that time . I became a poem called "Watts , " hoping that in such dis guise I could find my way out of this daily nightmare. Voice Hust I sho o t the white man dead to free the ni gge r (e v er ) . �33 tis head? Voice( p ausing , musin e ) Must I shoot the white man dead to free the nigger in h is head? (t ,t~°t(..Jer;) Voice And Newa r k l Voice And Harlem ! Voice And Oakland I ' Voice And Dallas! Voice And East St . Louis! Voic e And Chicago J Voice Hartin Luther King ! Voice Malcolm! ,( J Voi c~ Stokley! Voice H. flap Bro wn! Voice James Brown l (ov e r) �Na rrator 34 the ~ sky . Libe ration became ~y ;passi onate preoccupati on . A warm self-love engulfed me . My woman and I looke d at each othor through new-old eyes . We had our own standard of be a uty. I stret ched and yawned and walked around in my own neighborhood. My ~o l or felt good and healthy to me . It looked good to me in the mirror of my Brothers 1 eyes . Someone called me Black and I didn I t h it him. At a ral l y , I turned into a voice on the podium shouting. Chorus WE ARE AN AFRICAN PEOPLE! Drummer & Dance r Salute the coming of the new consciousness with appropria t e n eo - Afri can rhythms and movement s . Voice For all thin gs Plack and beautiful , The brown f a c es you loved s o well and lonG, the endless roads leading bac k to Harlem . Chorus Kulu Se Mama l Kulu Se Mama! Ku l u Se Mama! Kulu Se Mama Vbice i/1 Where the string At ~~,~~ Some umbilical j azz , Voice #2 Or perhaps , I n memory, A long lost bloody cross, Buried in some steel calvary. �35 Voicetf3 ,J~ In what time For whom do we bl ee d, 1 Lost notes, from some j a zzman s Broken needle. Voice tf4 Musical tears from lo s t Byes , Broken drumstick s, whyT Voice1tl q- Pitter pa tte r , boom dropping v Bombs in the middle Of my emotions Voicetf~ . Voi ce t/=3 ~ My father 1 s s oun d My mother i s sound ••• Chorus Is l ove , f\\ Is life . ~ (\3,(°o.\lr~V\) "if<).~ Narrator I had watched America . I know Amer ic a . I could deal with the diff e rence and the samene ss, ~hut st r ange decora t e d pain that character ize s our existence . I ke ~ f coming b ac:, Co the point of the sy'~he s is and the symbiosis . I am history ru~d fut ure, or , put differently , I am future • history . Sometimes , because of my many levels of vision , I grasp the helm of the struggJ. es of the many co lo red hands . I might ev en be in a riv er that laces the stomach of America . ... �36 Voice (with dance accompaniment) Vibrant vein, Bent, crooked, Older than the Red Men \ Who named you; Arici ent as the winds That break on your Serene and shining face; One time western boundary of America From whc.s,&rc.ehTh~ Your broad shoulders now r each To touch sisters On the flanks . Cb:brus River of Truth: Voice • • • Mornings You leap , yawn 2000 miles , And shed a giant joyous tear Over sprouting, straggling Hives of humanity; Nigh ts you weep As the moon , tiptoeing Across your silent silky Face, hears you praying Over the broken backs Of black slaves who rode, ~rouched and hudd led, At your heart in the bellies (6cer) �Chorus River of Memo ry_: Voice Laboratory for C1vil War Boat builders Who left huge eyes of steel Staring from your sullen deptl1s; Reluctant pa rtn er to crime s 0 f Ku Klux IGana.men ; River moved to wav es Of ecstasy By the venerable trumpet Of Louis Armstrong . Chor1ls River of Bones : River of bones and flesh-- ~ ;.~ Bones and flesh and blood; Voice The nation ' s large st Intestine And longest conveyer belt; Cho rus River MISSISSIPPI: River of little rivers; River of rises , Voice Sometimes subdued By a roof of ice, descendine finally On your Southward course .:.. �38 Gu lf And join the wrath 0 f large r bodies . ( l{edmo nd) Na rrato r I mused ov e r river s and long - go n e v o ices underneath rivers . Soor., however, I turned to philosophy . In the spit and dart of my new se lf, th e re were uttera nces I had to make , blood- thou ghts I had to share . I knew this was another sequel to the dream . I h a d not believed those fairy tales . I needed to take a hand a n d s tand and speak the truth to t he people . Cho rus Speak the truth to the people ! Vo ice It is not n e c essary to Gre en the heart Only to ident ify the enemy It is not nec ess ary t o blo w the mind Only to free the mind . ·0riorus It is thetotal black! Voi ce It is the total black, being spoken From theearth' s inside. There are many kinds of open. How a diamond comes into c1l,: knot of flame How a sound comes into a word, colored By who pays what for speaking . Chorus Love is another k ind of openr(over) �39 Voice diamond comes ipto a kno t of flame I am bla c k b ecause I come from the earth ' s i nsi de Take my word for j ewel in your open li@it . Na rrator I am the ecs tasy of NOW ! 'fhe fullest realization of my Ancestors' wishes. I retum , even in the alarm ; even in the shadow-body I am often forced to we ar . But enouf!,h , cnough --I beg you, my dear aijsociates, look How on our's and history 's finest treasure. Voice(and dancer ) I am a black woman the musi c of my song some sweet a rp eggio of t ea rs is written in a mi nor k ey and I can be heard humming in the ni l.Jlt Can be heard hummin g ✓ Cho rus Hums fi rst line of 11 No body l,no ws the Troubl e I See Vo ice(continuing poem ) in the night , J / I saw my mate leap scre runi n c to th e s ea and I/with these han~s/cupped the lifebreath from my issue in tre c anebre.lrn I lost Nat ' s swinging body in a rain of tears and I heard my son ~ s cre am all the way from~z for Peace he n evEr kn ew . • • • I learned Da Nang \md Pork Chop Hill in anguish (o ver) 7 11 , �40 my no s trils lmow the gas and t h ese tri gge r tire/d fin Ge rs seek t h e softness in my wa r rio r 1 s b ear d I am a blac k woman tall as a cypress strong beyond all definition st ill defying place and time and circum s tance assailed ) impervious i ndestruc tible Look on me and be renewed.(/j\ f~~0 Cho rus Look on me and be ren ewed. A.1 1 Look on us and be renewed. 11inis � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_09_36 Title A name given to the resource Second draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry, A Readers Theatre/Ritual Drama, typed with handwritten edits, 1977 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1977 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/0aace93cb3598cb2b3c9e6086f3eef85.pdf 46c067e9af6d7d38429624c5c4cff470 PDF Text Text M4;4 ~1117 uf ldo DRUMVOICES: THE MISSION OF AFRO-AMERICAN POETRY CAST Director/Producer: EUGENE REDMOND Narrator: TOMMIE ELLIS Chorus: KEITH JEFFERSON DEBORAH SLIM CHAMBERS CLIFTON WATSON RAMONA OWEN AHAJI UMBUDI 11 11 Musicians: IKE PAGGITT SELWYN JONES Dancers: PAM KAY LILLIE SAWYER JAMES WHEATLEY PH I LLI P WATSON Choreographer: ELAINE DRUMVOICES is a confluence of several fonns of theater under the heading of ritual ballet. It employs elements of traditional African and European drama as well as indigenous Afro-American ritual. Grounded in the concept of the African continuum, it was first developed as a teaching and performing vehicle. As a production, DRUMVOICES was first staged in 1976, but conceptually speaking, it represents the culmination of fifteen years of active research and work with anthropologists, composers, folklorists, poets, dancers, choreographers and philosophers. One peak in this long process was the publication, in 1976 1 of Eugene Redmond's DRUMVOICES, a critical history of Afro-American poetry. The production tonight explores the technical and thematic history of Afro-American written and oral poetry. The written fonns ar,e drawn from colonial America to the present; the oral fonns are assembled from African beginnings down to today. DRUMVOICES is presented at the University of California, Davis, by the AfroAmerican Studies Program, the Department of English, and the Committee on Arts and Lectures, under a grant by the Graduate Division. (M]V.l � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_09_37 Title A name given to the resource Cast and description of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry, A Readers Theatre/Ritual Drama, May 8, 1977 Description An account of the resource Cast and description of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry, A Readers Theatre/Ritual Drama, May 8, 1977 at UC-Davis. Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5/8/77 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/390ce47523ae882bb6204655383b91aa.pdf c0535edd5626c4a351cad7a91ffb0dc1 PDF Text Text B. RE DMOND, a native of East St. Louis, Illinois, is a graduate of Southern Illino~s University and \Vashington Uni\·ersity (St. Loms) _a~d !!as achieved distinction in several areas of wntmg, mcluding poetry, dram3, journalism, and cf.deism. He has published five books of poetry a:1d recorded a:i album reading his own verse to musical accompam· ment. Cofounder and publisher of Black River Writers Press1 Redmond is also literary executor for the estate of the bte poet and fiction writer H e1:ry DnmJs. C urrently Redmond is ~rofessor of ~ngl_1sh and poet-in-residence at California St~te Umvers1ty, Sacramento, and is one of the co-ordmators of the Annual 111ird World \Vriters and 111inkers Sym· posium held on that c;;mpus. He is in deman~ as a speaker, lecturer, reader, and consultant to _vanous workshops, symposia, and conferences, haV1ng ap· peared before audiences at UCLA, . Berkeley, in H arlem, in ·watts, H oward Umvers1ty, Southern University, and many more. EuGF.NE t': uq OTHER ANCHOR PRESS BOOKS OF INTEREST The Poetry of the N egro EDlTED BY LANGSTON HUGHES AND ARNA BONTEMPS How I Got Ovah: N ew and Selected Poems CAROLYN RODGERS The Mission of Afro-American Poet1y The Gospel Sound TONY HEILBUT Black-eyed Susans: Classic Stories by and about Black Women EDITED BY MARY HELEN WASiiINGTON A C'?ITICAL HISTORY BYEUGENEB.REDMOND Morning Yet on Creation Day CHINUA ACHEBE ANCHOR BOOKS The Black Aesthetic A N CEOR PRESS/ D OUBLEDAY EDITED BY ADDISON GAYLE, JR. CA R DEN CITY, NEW YORK ,,,.. v ◄A &fl(&;M'~ 1976 �r' & ♦a®t +tt:-:b enti?t»il wJb 4 1 'M t:::¾11 J I · yg be-:•?t ~ - t:t:1lf 'e tt •i ~,w,ui4:)+,+1:rJli::U,;,,, -lb: DRUMVOICES tablished a ten-year winning streak. Tolson interrupted his work at "\1/iley to pursue an M.A. in English and comparative literature at Columbia University, where he met V. F. Calverton, editor of The Modern Quarterly. Later, in 1935, at Wiley, Tolso:1's career as a debating coach peaked when his team defeated the national champions, University of Southern California, before eleven hundred people. And in 1947, the same year Tolson was appointed poet laureate of Liberia by President V . S. Tubman, he became English and drama professor at Langston University, Langston, Oklahoma, of which city he served as mayor for four terms. At Langston he directed the Dust Bowl Players and dramatized novels by Walter "\1/hite and George Schuyler. A revered and feared teacher and organizer, Tolson became a legend in his own time. Hardly a student at any Deep South black college had not heard of Tolson's ·work as poet, dramatist, debating coach and educator. His column "Cabbages and Caviar" was a regular in the Vlasbington Tribune during the thirties. Tolson published three volumes of poetry: Rendezvous with America ( 1944), Libretto for the .Republic of Liberia (1953), and H arlem Gallery, Book I: The Curator (1965), and wrote a number of unpublished novels and plays. His work appeared in Th.e Modern Quarterly, Atlantic Monthly, Common Ground, Poetry, and other periodicals. He won numerous awards and citations, among them first place (1939) in the National Poetry Contest sponsored by the American Negro Exposition in Chicago (for "Dark Symphony"); the Omega Psi Phi Award for Creative Literature (1945); Poetry magazine's Bess Hokim Award for the long psychological poem "E. & 0.E." ( 1947); honorary doctorate in letters, Lincoln University ( 19 54); permanent Bread Loaf Fellow in poetry and drama (1954); District of Columbia Citation and Award for Cultural Achievement in Fine Arts (1955); first appointment to the Avalon Chair in Humanities at Tuskegee Institute (1965); and the annual poetry award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, including a grant of twenty-five hundred dollars (1966), the same year he died following three operations for abdominal cancer. As a black poet and intellectual in the mid-twentieth _, A LONG WAYS FRO M H O ME century, Tolson assumed the multi-leveled stance of_ his eighteenth- and nineteenth-century pre~ecessors (Pnnce Hall, Benjami-::i Banneker, James "\1/h1tfield, Alexander Crummell, Frances E . W . Harper, and others) who served as teachers, aboli tionists, revolutionists, defenders of what they believed to be decent in the promise of America, and character models for black communities. Tolson's predecessors fought for the right to be called humans; he fought the battle of integration. As Tolson lay dying, other, younger poets were fighting the battle of self-determination-albeit using the same tools employed by poets and intellectuals of the previous two centuri_es. S~ it is in~eed ironic ( and sad!) when a youn~ wnter like Ha~1 R. Madhubuti (Don L. Lee) complams tha~ Tolson 1s ;1ot accessible to the everyday reader ( see review of Kalezd0scope, Negro Digest, January 1968). But Joy Flasch points out (Melvin B. Toison, 1972} that Tolson was aware that he was not writing for the "average" reader but for the "vertical" audience. In "Omega" of Harlem G allery, Tolson asks if a serious artist should "skim the milk of culture" and give those demanding immediacy and relevancy a popular latex brand? __ _ __.__.,lson- dicLna live, as did Hayden, Bro :vn, Redding, and others, to make clcse contact \vith proponents of the - "E ac, aesthetic" of the 1 6os. But som~pp_onents have continue o ra_,e um over the coals of responsibili.._ty. Black oet Sarah Webster Fa io (Negro Dige.st, Decemoer 1 - halleng.ed Karl Shapiro's statement (Introduction to Harlem Gallery)_ that Tolson "writes _ in Ne ro." Hi p tic language is "most certainly not 'Necrro '" she averred noting that i_L!s "a bizarre, pseudoliter~1 1ction" taken from stilted "American maingrearn" RQe ry, '\vhere if rightfully and wrongmindedly · belonged.'' \Vhite critics :md writers joining in the assault onTolson included Laurence Liebennan ~nd Englishman Paul Bremen ( of the Heritage Series). Lieberman takes exception to Shapiro's statement, saying that he teaches black students from all over the world who are steeped in black language bat do not understand Tolson (review of Harlem Galtery, The Hudson Review, Autumn 1965). Yet Tolson's publishers had high hopes that he might get �DRUMVOICES This poignant revelation is made in the end: I raise my downbent kinky head to charlie & shout I'm black. I'm black & I'm from Look Back. ..,Ne think immediately of such titles as Think Black (Lee) and "Say It Loud-I'm Black and I'm Proud" (James Brown) even though this poem preceded them by several years-to say nothing of Joseph Cotter, Jr.'s '·Is It Because I'm Black?" But White can also do light and touching things, as in "Picnic" and "Day Is Done," whic~ places "music in the air" ~s l?repar7s_ for ,?ed a_n~. hr,~ "woman" sets her hair. Hrs iromc, satmcal Inqms1tive displays the range of these poets. The narrator wonders where "Gods" and "buddhas" hide if the earth and sky are both visible to man. · critical attention has been given tl1e__Hm_y- ~ r -grou or any of the otl1er poets writing during this period. uf they are legion, including well-known as well as unfamiliar names : Jolmson Ackerson, Charles _Anderson (1938- ), Eugene Redmond (1937- ), Julian _Bond (19 40- ), John Henrik Clarke (1915- ), Leslie M. Collins ( 1914- ) , Katherine Cuestas ( 1944- ) , Margaret Danner ( 191 5- ) ,. Gl~ria Davis, Durem, :tv;ari Evans, Ivlicki Grant, Julia Fields ( 1938- )_, Gomon Heath, Horne, Ted Joans (192 8- ), Na?~I ~ad~ett (192 3,- ) , James C. Morriss (1920- ), OH1ggms, Iatterson, James Randall (1938- ), Peter T. Rogers, John Sherman Scott, Carmell Simmons, James W. TI1ompson (1935- ), Vesey, Sarah V\Tright \1929- ), Joyce Y71dell (1944- ), Robert Earl Fitzgerald (1935- ), Calvm •, Hernton ·(1932- ), Lula Lowe Weeden (1918- ), l Lillie Mae Carter, Gloria C. Oden, Mose Carl Holman i 1919- ), Alfred Duckett (191 8- ), J.M. G ates, James } Emanuel (1921- ), Lerone Bennett, Jr. (1928- ), 'I _i£_ Sarah Vlebst r ' bio_(.i9~=-),.Jfoyt Fuller (1927- ), ~~ Carl Gardener (1931- ), Ossie Davis (1922- ), Zack ':! Gilbert (1925- ), Herbert Clark JohD;son (1911- ), ) Bette Darcie Latimer (1927- ), _Oliver ~ Crone ( 191 5- ) , Rivers, Bruce McM. Wnght, Pauli ~urray (1910- ), Roy Hill, Sam Cornish (1938- ), 'Yvonne ?e YltSTIYAI.S AND FtTH'f:RJ.LS 319 Gregory (191<;- ), Frank Yerby (1916-), Nanina Alba (1915-68), Frank London Brown (1927-62.), Isabella Maria fhown (1917- ), Catherine Carter (1917- ), Ernest J. -vVilson, Jr. (1920- ), Mary Carter Smith (1924- ), James P. Vaughn (1929- ), Robert J. Abrams (1924- ), Roscoe Lee Browne (1930- ), William Browne (1930- ), Oliver Pitcher (1923- ), Ishmael Reed (1938-- ), Adam David Miller (1922- ), David Henderson (1942- ), Don Johnson (1942- ), 11rnrmond Snyder, A. B. Spellman (1935- ), Mance Williams, Tom Dent, LeRoi Jones (1934- ), Vivian Ayers, Helen Morgan Brooks, Solomon Edwards (1932- ), Ed Roberson, Vilma Howard, George Love, Allen Polite (1932- ), Lloyd Addison (1931), Hart Leroi Bibbs, Durwood Collins ( 1937- ) , Bobb Hamilton, May Miller, Stanley Morris, Jr. ( 1944- ) , Quandra Prettyman. In anthologies this non-exhaustive list was often intermingled witl1 early poets ( as far back as Phillis Wheatley ), elder ones (Johnson, McKay, Dunbar), a.nd spiced ,vith a good offering of post-Harlem Renaissance poets (Walker, Brooks, Tolson, Hayden). Such names as Fuller, Bennett, Jr., Holman, Yerby, Davis, and Clarke fall in the category of part-time poets-most of whom undertook full-time duties as novelists, editors, laivyers, or teachers. Other important movements parallel to this phase were the emergence of literary magazines (Free Lance, Phylon), especially on black college campuses; black newspapers' renewed interest in verse; establishment of poets in residences at southern black colleges; the flowering of regional "movements" or writing collectives.such as those in New York's Greenwich Village (Yungcn, Umbra, etc.) , Cleveland's Karamu House and Free Lance ( Casper Leroy Jordan, Atkins), Howard's Dasein group, the Detroit poets, and Georgia Douglas Johnson's homebased workshops in Washington, D.C.1 Not all these de- ii i l f t \ t ~ fI f ' f I 1 I t• t f l I 1 Development of a black listening oudienco was a control aim In most of th ese activities. For example, on June 16, 1957, young poets Co :vi n H ern :on ond Rcymo~d Potterson read toge ther ct 316 East 6th S:rcat In New York City. A favo rite New York gotherlng place for readi ngs was the lv'~rk6t f'loce Gallery (2305 Seventh Ave nue) , whor e Roscoe l ee Browne was fea tured In th e lo!e fifrios. In July and ! t 4 l • tf i w~ ,. �37° DRUMVOICES Anthology of Black Phi"ladelphi.a Poets ( 1970) , published by the Black History Museum Committee. Harold Franklin's Introduction states: "A BLACK POET IS A KIND OF WARRIOR"-thus linking Philadelphia sentiments to those in New York and Boston. The Black Butterfly, Inc., a cultural center, was one of the several crossroads for various cultural/political activities in Philadelphia. Its founder was Maloney (now Chaka Ta), whose Dimensions of Morning Sky was published in 1964 in Pamplona, Spain. "Good Friday: 2 A.M." celebrates a "sultry brown girl" who "seems a superior animal." T11is "sepia siren" also holds the "semen" of a "vivid passion." Philadelphia poets explore city life and Africa, and exalt blackness. TI1ere is, too, the rage and vehemence often found in New York and Chicago poetry. "Cool Black Nights" (by Traylor, who died at age twenty-two) also captures driving street rhythms and rough rhymes: them hard-looking hard-talking hard-loving Cool black dudes and them fine-looking fine-walking fine-talking fine-loving them fine soul sisters ..•. In Pittsburgh there was born the short-lived Black Lines: a Journal of Black Studies ( 1970). It published such Pittsburgh-area poets as Ed Roberson, August Wilson and Joanne Braxton, as well as such poets from the Midwest as Al Grover Armstrong and Redmond. The University of Pittsburgh Press opened up to black poets that same year, publishing H arper (Dear John, D ear Coltrane, 1970; So ng: Carz I Get a Witness, 1973), Roberson (Vlhen Thy King Is a Boy, 1970, and Etai-Eken, 1975) and Gerald Barrax (Another Kind of Rain, 1970). Roberson's poetry makes use of the gamut of techniques and styles-from neat drama to slanted spacings and slashes. In "mayday" there is an "underside of heaven" and the FESTIVALS AND FUNERALS 371 warning from one misunderstood that he is "armed" to fight the final kindling of your dreaming. "Othello Jones Dresses for Dinner" is a satirical look at the "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" theme. After dating a white woman, the narrator assures her parc:nts that he is "well mannered." Roberson adds his voice to a growing group of Pittsburgh poets that includes Kiik Hall (1 944- ). Poetic talent has always been sired to the south in Washington, D.C., where Sterling Brown continued to teach into i:he early seventies. Howard, by now leading all l ,hck universities in the new consciousness, was the scene of a number of significant disturbances that nudged the school toward a new image. While Howard's poetic histo1y can be traced through the early days of Sterling Brown ( and into the Howard poets), the school has produced a number of younger writers: Clay Goss, Richard ·wesley, E. Ethelbert Miller (Andromeda, 1<)74), and Paula Giddings. Its new image was deepened and broadened by the appointments of Hie Guiancse poet Damas and Stephen Henderson (English chaim1an at More-. house), who heads the Institute for foe Arts and Humanities. However, the Howard drama was staged against a series of developments in the surrounding communities: Federal City College (Scott-Heron), Center for Black Education (Garrett), New Thing in Art and Architecture (Topper Carew), TI1e New School of Afro-American Thought (Gaston Neal), Drum & Spear Bookstore (and Press) and the D.C. Black Repertory (Robert Hooks). In addition to Damas and Henderson, the instit ute has added Madhubuti (Lee), Killens, Goss, Brown, Arthur P. Davis, and Mmos Zu-Bolton. Already, the program's service to poets h as been invaluable. Selected for special honors have been Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Joans, and Dodson. A number of poets were also featured in the institute's First Annual Symposium: Lucille Clifton, Goss, Scott-Heron, Adesanya Alakoye, Miller, and M ari Evans. Toure, Johnston, and Kgositsile were guests for a program examining the African cultural presence in the Americas. Several poets h ave been invited to read and be recorded �D ~ ...,..,4",► 111WScf'c'6et 37.2 DRUMVOIC:,;s for the permanent audio/video library: Jayne Cortct, - -i~IE=--- - - - 'C ~ ro,..ru..-.c.... h,, · • · Harper, Jeffers, JI' Joans, Redmond, Sonia Sanchez, Scott-Heron, Bruce St. Iohn, Margaret Walker, and Jay Wright. In 1968 Gaston Neal said his "philosophy" was "to purge myself of the whiteness v.-ithin me and link completelv with my black brothers in the struggle to destroy the enemy aud rebuild a black nation." He appeared to be working at that task for a while before the Afro-American school closed. In "Today" be said the tone of his life resembled a "growl mingled" with the groan of the past . . . and he lamented the jungies, which had been deflowered by r.apalm. . . • Karl Carter, another D .C. poet, appears in Understanding the New Black Poetry. He evokes the spirits of the "Heroes" of Orangeburg, Jackson, Memphis, New York, and Nashville, recalling that during a riot in Nashville he was Riding somewhere in my mind with Eldridge Cleaver.. .. "Roots" is an unsuccessful attempt to fuse the drama of colloquial black language with a formal English narrative about his grandmother. Other poets living or publishing in the D.C. area during the sixties and seventies were Bernadette G-Olden ( 1949- ) , Helen Quigless ( 194 5- ) and Corrie and Roberta Haines. Beatrice Murphy ( 1908- ) , who over the years has contributed greatly to the growth and development of black poetry, has edited three important anthologies : Negro Voices (19,38), Ebony Rhythm (1947), and Today's Negro Voices ( 1970) . Her own_volumes. of poetry are Love Is a Terrible Thing ( 1945 J and, with Nancy Arnez, The Rocks Cry Out (Broadside, 1969). Her poetry has moved from a traditional meter to a traditional free verse, dealing in the new phase with tensions cause~ by overemphasizing "white" and "bl~c½," and_war. She 1s currently director of the Negro B1bhograph1c and Research Center and serves as managing editor of its publica- 7I J TIYALS AND FUNERALS 'I· I j 373 t.1n Bibliographic Survey: the Negro in Print. Poetry by I).C.-area poets can be found in Transition, a journal of Howard's Afro-American Studies Department. Editors are ~filler, Iris Holiday, Ella Harding, and Veronica Lowe. The Haineses co-authored As I See It (1973). Many D.C. poets are also fo und in Synergy: D .C. Anthology, edited by Zu-Bolton and Ethelbert Miller (Energy Black South Press, 1975). Adjacent i:o the District of Columbia, in Baltimore, more height is added to the black poetry totem. Lucille Clifton ( 1936-- ) , Sam Cornish ( 1938- ) and Yvette Johnson ( 1943- ) have produced poetry that stands with the best contemporary verse. Good Times ( 1969), Good New.~ About the Earth (1972) and An Ordinary \Voman (1974) are volumes by Lucille Clifton, who also writes children's books. She currently teaches at Coppin State College in Baltimore, where she lives with her husband and six children. Even her titles suggest something about her spirit and temperament. In the swamp of depression and bleakness, it is indeed warming to hear someone proclaim G-Ood News! The "Eldridge" of the 1960s is compared to a meat "cleaver" that will not "rust or break." And there are humor, irony and truth in "Lately" in which the "always drunk" delivery man says : "I'm 25 years old and all the white boys my age are younger than me." \Vhile some sing good times in tl1e kitchen, there are also other acknowledgments: "Malcolm," "Eldridge," "Bobby Seale," and student participants in den1011strations at Jackson and Kent states. G-Ood News About the Earth gives black and contemporary settings to biblical stories. Most are unique, like the very womanly "Mary": I this kiss as soft as cotton over my breasts all shiny bright something is in this night oh Lord have mercy on me J �DRUMVOICES tablishes her right to have "caviar" or " shr_iI?Jp souffic" over "gut" o~ "jowl." Som~ mei:ius and political stances are overexoticized by revolut10nanes, sh_e says, and she has "earned" the riaht to do what she,, likes. She has even b . . . . . ,, heard "Mau Maus" screammg and romanbcizmg pam. But she has paid her dues and had enough pressures ~rom both sides of the color line. The subtle dart, but direct power, of Julia Fields suggests a healthy future for black poetry. ·writers C · i k niversit, the most imporn one taking place in the spring of 1967. Hayden, who h ad been at Fisk since the forties, left in 1968 after. a series of brushes with proponents of the black aestl1ebc. The 1967 conference (probably the straw that b:ok~ the camel's back for Hayden) is seen by some as a ma1or Juncture in the new black writing. Gwendolyn Broo~ talked about it in her autobiography, Margaret Walker discussed it with N ikki Giovanni in their published "conversations," and Hoyt Ful1er wrote glowingly of it in B~ck VVorld. Writers attending the conference were David Llorens, Fuller, Ron M ilner, Clarke, Bennett, Margaret Danne:, Nikki Giovanni, Randa11, Lee, Margaret Walker, Son_i::i Sanchez, Jones, and Margaret Burroughs. frob:ibly hel? m the Soui.h for symbolic reasons, the conference provided the first real "new" national dramatic arena for old and youn.,. writers . G wendolyn Brooks (a "Negro" then, she has s~id) recalls being "col~ly :espect~d" after just havinp, flown to Nashville from white white South Dakota. However she was among the first (with Randall and Fuller) to take up the banner of the black aesthetic and the causes of the voung writers. Such action, of course, was displeasing to number of white and black poets, not the least among them Hayden, who refuses to acknowledge the existence of a "separate" aesthetic for Blacks (Kaleidoscope, 1967, and Blacl< World poll, Januar1 a 1968). I l - Although the Fisk example has been followed by dozens of black colleges all ov~r ~he South, M~~'Yest. and ,,East, there is still no monolithic stand on directions, ~ut some writers keep trying to give them anywa~. O~e indication of the healthy diversity among black wnter~ 1s ~he journal Roots, published at Texas Southern Umvers1ty. FESTIVALS AND FUNERALS t ·i Editors are Tommv Guy, Jeffree James, Turner Whorton, and Mance Willia~11S. Lorenzo T110mas is also associated witli the publication. Volume I, number 1 contains essays, art and tl1e works of several poets, most of them Southeners. The poetry, devoid of monotonous theme or style, represents a broad range of interests in linguistics, subjects aP..d fonns. M'lo, in "a love supreme," says, "all my eyes gazed forever backwards." In "she'll never _k now," 11ic~ey Leland writes of various aspects of the social and physical landscape including the "Kinky haired boys" who build "arsenals 'of straw." Clarence Ward notes in "Hanging On" that the rent has gone up, eviction is imminent, faere is no food for the baby, and Hanging on aint easy. . .. I J. ahmad j.'s title "Hard Head Makes a Soft Ass" implies the poem's statement. And far.tasy eternalizes, "like a good high," for Tommy Guy in "Brother." The themes of unity, self-esteem, the African "motherland," and anger remain in the new poetry as the Midwest and West contribute immensely to its brilliance and the controversy. Ohio, for example, represented a uaique gathering of diverse views on the new consciousness, attracting a number of poets to aid the work of Nom1an Jordan (1938- ), Atkins, Jam es Kilgore (all from Cleveland ) and Hernton. Now at Oberlin, Hernton succeeded Redmond as writer-in-residence there a year after Quincy Troupe began a residency at Ohio l!nivers~ty. Sarah Webster Fabio has also taught at Oberlm dunng Hemton's leave of absence. However, Cleveland-area activity was spurred by a long tradition of black writers including Dunbar, Hughes, Chesnutt ( one of the founders of Karamu House ) and Atkins. This continuum produced Jordan and a host of younger poets: Anthony Fudge, Larry Howard, Larr1 \,Vade, Art Nixon, Clint Nelson, Robert Fleming (Ku \Vais magazine), Alan Bell, Roland Forte, T ed Hayes, Elmer Buford, and Bill Russell of the Muntu poets. Ci:J.1er participating writers-artists were Clyde Shy, Ameer Rashid, a:i.d Anetta Jefferson. Support for poets and their activities came from various places: the Cleveland Call and Post, Afro-Set Black Arts Project, United Black Artists. Free Lance, and Karamu House I i �~- . .,...,,.,.,...y);,: d F'ESTIVALS AND FUNERALS DRUMVOIC ES life, love and ancestry. Exceptional pieces are the folksy "Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane," the mystical and mythical "He Sees Through Stone," the genealogical "The Idea of Ancestrv" the innovative haiku sections, and "On Universalism'" which warns against applying "universal laws" to Blacks' "pains" and "chains" in America. His technical abilities are poignantly displayed in haiku "9": i Making jazz swing in Seventeen syllables AIN'T No square poet's job. Knight, who was later rele;;sed from prison, also edited Bl,ack Voi~es from Prison ( 1970) , and in 1973 Broadside Press published Bell)' Song and Other Poems. He loses bis re,a ch when he overintellectualizes in his poetry. And Poems .is not surpassed by Belly Song. The second book has some fine moments, but it sometimes slips into polemics. However, Knight is still stretching out as a poet, currently doing research into oral literature with the aid of a Guggenheim grant. Belly shows him pursning this tradi. tion in "The Bones of My Father," which smile at the moon in Mississippi from the bottom of the Tallahatchie. Fina~ly, a number of poets from this general region of the Mr?west and South are included in a special blackpoetry rss~e of Negro American Literature Forum (spring 1972) edited by Redmond. T:1e Forum is published by Indiana State University School of Education and edited by John Bayliss, an Englishman. It regularly reviews black literature. Chicago is a Midwest heart and has a long tradition of black arts, going back to, and before, Count Basie's opening at the Sunset Club, in 1927. However, some of the more recent forces helping to shape the new poetry movement there are South Side Community Arts Center, the formidable Johnson Publications, Kuumba's Workshop and Root Theater (Francis and Val Ward), the DuSable Museum of African American History (Margaret Burroughs), Organization of Black American Culture, Insti- tute of Positive Education and Third ,vorld Press (Madhubuti), Free Blach Press.• Afro-Arts Theater, Malcolm X College, Oscar Brown, Jr., Muhammad S{Jeal~s (now Bilalian News), Eilis's Bookstores, Chicago Defender, and Philip CohraP. (Artistic Heritage Ensemble). Much of the new poetry scene generates from OBAC and Gwendolyn Brooks. Fuller, former Black \Vorld managing editor, is also adviser to OBAC's Writer's \Vorkshop. In a 1969 (fall) issue of Nommo, the workshop's journal, Fuller said: Black is a way of looking at the world. The poets of OBAC, in revealing their vision, celebrate their blackness. In this moment in history, what might under different circumstances be simply assumed must necessarily be asserted. And the OBAC poets know--if others do not-that pale men out of the West do not define for mankind the perimete1s of art. This they want all black people to know. I In the jourml's winter issue of the same year, Fuller said OBAC members were "seeking" to be "both simple and profound." They display an •'imaginative representation of their experiences," but they also seek "to be revolutionary." In the first quote, Fuller's tone, carrying the battle-baiting phrase "even if others do not," seemed to have been a signal for, among others, Don L. Lee (1942- ) , to continue his own relentless attacks on all fronts. There are no sacred cows, as Lee sees it, and since "others do not" know what the youthful Chicago Blacks presumably did know, Lee's assignment seems to have been to teach them. Gwendolyn Brooks concurred with most of this feeling, embracing as it were a "new" blackness and (unfortunately) engaging in self-deprecation: "It frightens me to realize that, if I had died before the age of fifty, I would have died a 'Negro' fraction." Lee, following the examples of Randall and Baraka, began Third World Press-a valuable vehicle for the new poets-and changed his name in the early seventies to H aki R. Madhubuti. He also established the Institute for Positive Education, which publishes Black Books Bulletin ( with himself as editor). Other poets included in the editorial staff are Sterling Plurnpp ( 1940- ) , Johari Amini (Jewel Latimore) �7 ' 388 1 re tr:aft'➔ 171 •l&'iiloal'1irlm, ·ii,!biri I ttott::::t:4illt - etile'•, -..,_ FESTIVALS AND FUNERALS DRUM VO ICES (1935- ), Emanuel, Sarah r Fabio the late David Llorens (who aunched Lee's national career in Ebony, March 1969), and Dudley Randall. OBAC was founded in 1967; poets of varying temperaments were attracted to it and to Gwendolyn Brooks's workshops : Carolyn . Rodgers (1943- ), Walter Bradford (1937- )~ Carl Clark (1932- ), Mike Cook (1 939- ), James Cunningham (1936- ), Ronda Davis (1940- ), Sam Greenlee, Philip Royster (1943- ), Peggy Kenner ( 1937- ) , Madhubuti, Linyatta (1947- ), Sharon Scott (1951- ), Sigemonde Wimberli (Ebon) (1938- ), and a continuous stream of newly arriving poets. Other Chicago-area poets are Stephany Fuller (1947- ), Eugene Perkins, Irma McLaurin, Lucille Patterson, Jerrod, Zack Gilbert (1925- ), Alicia Johnson (1944- ), Ruwa Chiri, Robert Butler, and Barbara McBain ( 1944- ) . The work of many Chicago-area poets can be found in Nommo, Black Expressions, Black World, Black Writers' News, Muhammad Speaks, and in the anthologies A Broadside Treasury ( 1971 ) and Jump Bad: a New Chicago Anthology ( 1971), both eclited by Gwendolyn Brooks. They can also be found in numerous other nationally distributed anthologies and journals. Black World, as name and concept, was a concession won by Chicago-area artists and activists who protested against the old name, N egro D igest, in tl1e late sixties. Until April of 1976, when Johnson Publishing Company ceased publishing it, Fuller guided Black World's new image through tl1e choppy waters of controversy and change. But many readers have been critjcal of Black World's particularized stands, its lack of "open" forum on some issues, and its tendency to circumscribe individuals and groups. Nevertheless the journal has been an indispensable aid to black poets and writers, printing their work, identifying anthologists,dn?ti£ng ~ books published, and serving as facilitator and con mt or .i prizes and contact. At the same time, however, the Afro- I American community faces the challenge of producing a journal tbat can reflect its new sophistication and thought. Among all new poets, Madhubuti is second only to Nikki Giovanni in the number cf accolades and the com· mercial attention he and his poetry have received. A 1 j I\ •~§i,btie, sampling of critics, poets, and scholars who feel he is one of the greatest of the new poets would have to include St;phen Henderso?, ~uller, Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret v\ alker, Paula C1ddmgs, Baraka, Mari Evans, Randall, and Gayle. Gwen~olyn Brooks has said he physically rese1:1bl~ Jesus Chnst, and her Introduction to 1ump Bad hai~s him as "the. most significant, inventive, 'and influential black poet m _tl~e country." Overlooking, for the mon;i_ent, th~, prereqmsite. of reading "all" the poetry in the. co~ntr~ before makmg such a statement it is para?Ox:c~l m_ view of the "collective" policy- and the antimdiv1duahst positions-that allegedly £01m the cornerstone of the Chicago poetry scene. Madhub~ti has published five volumes of poetry: Think Black! (1907), Black Pride (1968), Don't Cry, Scream (1_969~, We Walk the Way of the New World ( 1910 ), Dzrectzonscore: _Selected and . New Po~ms ( 1971 ) and The Bo?k of Life (1973). His Dynamite Voices, Vol. I (Broadside Press), publi?h~d in 1971, is a study of four!een black poets of the sixbe~; but, like his other criticism, it reveals that he :s_ a hazy tlunker who lacks discretion and a firm unders~andmg the black poetry tradition. He spend~ an ~tire_ page, ror example, illuminating and apparently ad,ocatmg the use of the word "motherfucker." And any ?ook about the sixties should not come off the press without examining tl1e poetry of LcRoi Jo~es/Imamu Baraka. Madhubuti attributes the fothersl?p of the new black poetry to Baraka but does not ~iscuss th~ man's poetry. T11ere are other, incredible flaws m the book, for which this young poet's mentors must s~are some blame. As a critic, he did not ( could not!) cultivate the "distance" of a Johnson, Brown, Redding, or He_n~erson, and consequently- lacking discipline and ~amm&-could not really see the poetry. The book's :ed~emmg . values, such as they are, possibly reside in its mcidental mformation and bibliography. As a poet, Le~ f~res ~etter, employing ,vit, irony, under. St~te~en!, a~~ sigmficat10n ( e.g., "In the Interest of Black awation : Jesus saves-S&H Green Stamps") But there exc~1_lent _poets in Chicago who have been dwarfed by b~ pohticalT 1:11age (P1umpp, Cunningham, Rodgers, Gil. h~rt, etc.) ,.His themes range from what Artl1ur P. Dr,vis "s called TI1e New Poetry of Black Hate," through love o! ]? ·, t Il II I I �j J DRUMVOICES Washington University in St. Louis, and recently returned to Los Angeles. Jayne Cortez went to New York, where she has lived and wTitten since the late sixties. Her three books are Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man's ~.;:vares ( 1969), Festivals and Funerals ( 1971), and Scarifications ( 197 3) . She has also recorded an Lp, Celebrations and Solitudes ( 1974). Her themes and styles are broad, but mostly they embrace music as aspect and form. Africa as stmggle and spirit is also a dominant theme in her poetry. Pissstained is especially rich in its interweavings of music and indexes of struggle. "TI1e Road" is " where another Hank moans" and is Stoney Lonesome. • •• "Lead" describes the kind of hard life that is "cracklin hot at sunrise." Lead, of course, is Leadbelly, whom the "nigguhs" desperately want to hear spit the blues out. Her struggles are more than simple "contrivances" as they chronicle the hardships and good times of Dinah, Bird, Omette, Coltrane, "Fats" Navarro, Clifford Brown, and others-a veritable poetic tapestry of black expression in defiance of death, from one who would ("Hungry Love" ) ••. eat mud to touch the root of you . . . . l' Among other Southern California poets are Robert Bowen (1936Sherley Anne Williams, Arthur Boze (1945- , Kinamo Hodari (1940- ), Dee Dee McNeil ( 1943- , Bill Thompson and Lance Williams. A popular Watts counterpart of The Last Poets of New York are the Prophets of Watts, who have recorded several Lps. Northern California als e_ctsJ:he varied inJ:~rests and backgrounds of black poets and writers. Indeed, a listing of poets and writers from the general San Francisco Bay area reads like a national convention : Gonc;alves (1937- ), Reed, Al Young (1939- ), Harper (1938- ) (now at Brown), Ntozake Shange (1948- ), Conyus ( 1942- ) , Clyde Taylor, Victor Hernandez Cruz (1949- ), Angelo Lewis (1950- ), L. V . Mack (1947- ), Miller, Thulani Nkabinde (1949- ), Lawrence McGaugh ( 1940- ) , Cecil Bro'Nn, El Muhajir (:Marvin X), (1944- ), Leona Welch, Joyce Carol FESTI VALS AND FUNERA LS Thomas (1938- ), Joseph McNair (1948- ), David Henderson ( 1942- ) , Jon Eckels, Glen Myles (1933- ), George Barlow (1948- ), Ernest Gaines, Herman Brown (Muumba), Pat Parker, De Leon Harrison (1941- ), Sarah , r s Fabi 9.z_& William Anderson, Maya Angelou ( 1928- ) and Alli and M~c?ev,:eo Aweusi (Words Never Kill, 197 4) . Bayarea activity m the arts has been heightened and enhanced by the San Francisco Afro-American Historical and Cultural Society, bookstores such as More, Marcus and New Day ( Gon9alves), activities of Black Panthers and similar ~oups, the DEEP Black \Vriters Workshop, tl1e Rainbow Sign cultural center in Berkeley, Nairobi College, and numerous other cultural and literary projects. Poems by many of these bards are included in Miller's Dices or Black Bones ( 1970), Journal of Bl-a.ck Poetry, Yardbird Reader (a semic:nnual edited by Reed, Young, Brnwn and l\:iyles), Umbra Blackworks (Henderson, all issues, especially 1970-71), and other nationally distributed an- \ I i I thologies and periodicals.5 Reed, a strange and original writer, has published tluee volumes of poems: catechism of a neoamerican hoodoo church (1971) , Conjure: Selected Poems, 1963- 1970 (1972), Chattanooga (1973), and four novels. Volumes of poetry an~ more_fiction are forthcoming. His work has drawn a cunous mixture of adjectives from critics: "brilliant/' ,:•cute," "jumbles and puzzles," "important," "bad ~om1c~ and so on. Indeed, Reed writes his poetry themes mto h_1s novels and_ his ~ction themes into his poems, thm revealmg an ~rrestmg literary continuum. In this service, he e1:1~loys d1~lects, Voodoo, the occult, whimsicality, wit, mysticism, satire, which he obviously enjoys, all reinforced by assort~d library information and street expressions. He v10lates time barriers, placing an ancient Greek figure in a contemporary poem, or vice versa. His verse forms are experi_m~n~al, roug~ly recalling the beats and other past stylistic meverenc1es. But a close reading will show him in the tradition sf Dunbar, Toomer, and Tolson. There are no sacred cows for Reed, who sometimes Iambasts black nationalists and white liberals in the same poem. Gener6 1n The works o f many Northern Califo rnia writers con al so be found " A rts & litera ture" issue of Th e Block Scholar, June 1975, ° special t II � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_09_39 Title A name given to the resource Copy of excerpts from published Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History with handwritten notes Description An account of the resource Copy of excerpts from published Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History with handwritten notes. Includes title page, p. 248-249, p. 318-319, p. 370-373, p. 380-381, p. 386-389, p. 406-407. Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. 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Ftr ~ ~ ~ ~ v~,.tJ4 - ''(TWA~ • · ~..,', 11.,..~Q /,,/~ p~4 ~~~- 7~:P:~ '1/u -tit, IUi.f;.J ~ AM£, tL,,,J. ... ~ /// �, ~ a. ;i.6 'f'A JI) ~ ~It-a~ /fll I;' II' -~'f+U .• • 11_ /t~'/ "At>th~"--1 Jk,Li~'-1101 ,r . . .,.... f~~~p®'' ,r{f,, ~,. , j~ :_/)W a.,f~.::r-t>,A/l ~ .. )¥ ~-z.1/Kf3 ,A, ,. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_09_44 Title A name given to the resource Handwritten notes possibly in reference to Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/b625894b140d30b742878a18c9202118.pdf aeadc798dc9d2499046cb2f891cedc61 PDF Text Text CHAPTER II THE BLACK AND UNKNOWN BARDS 0 black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire? -- James Weldon Johnson I Origins of Black Expression: In this chapter, as in subsequent ones, I will attempt to place the Black creative mind within the spirit and letter of an African-American cultural tradition. Unfortunately, many early scholars either played down or ignored African influences on Black American poetry. these early scholars. This was certainly not true of all For while some gloated over the "findings" of "Southern whites"--purposting to prove that the Spirituals were derived solely from English (Hymns and Psalms) sources-Johnson (Book of American Negro Spirituals, 1925), Professor Work (Folk Song of the American Negro, 1915), and others, displayed faultless proof of Africanisms existing in practically · all Black American folk materials. The approach to this chapter will be via the philosophical concerns, updatine some of the thinking on traditional African views and mannerisms in Black America. Then brief consideration will be given the major trunks of the folk poetry: The Spirituals and the Seculars (or religious folk poetry and everyday workand-pl·a y folk poetry). I have included a fair representation of the original folk poetry. This is appropriate 27 of course, �since most anthologies of Black literature and poetry omit these items; and because without a knowledge of them one will be hard-pressed to understand the Black poet's use of folk materials (see Dunbar, .Johnson, Brown, Hughes, Hayden, Walker and others). However, before discussing the origins of Black expression, we should give mention to the role of the griot-or story teller--in pre-industrial African (and other) societies. The Black poet, as creator and chronicler, stems from the group of artisans known as griots--human records of family and national lore. Originally trained to recite--without flaw--the gene- ologies, eulogies, victories and calamities of the folk, the griot (like the lead singer of Spirituals) had to spice his reportage with dramatic excitement. Hardly a Black youngster grew up (even in recent times) without input from a sort of griot (uncle, grandmother, big brother or sister, mother or father, preacher, etc). The job of the grito, like that of the mater-ceremonial drummer, W 8.S so important that in many ancient societies a mistake could cost him his life. The griot began at a very early age his mastery of technique and information. Like the drummer, he understudied an elder statesman of the trade. His training demanded a certain psychological adjustment to the significance of his job-which was to contain (and give advice on) the "heirlooms" of the community. As years and centuries passed, this "factual" information was converted into a lore, mythology, cosmology and legend; it became a part of the vast web of racial conscious- • 28 �ness and memory. It became the legacy with which every new born child entered the world. Clearly, tnen, the myth-and legend-building Black poet has a past into which to dip and a future to predict, project and protect. And any violation of the past, present or future constitutes a serious crime against one's ancestors--against one 1 s parents, against one's blood, against one's god. So it follows that the poet--griot-- is not some haphazzardly arrived hipster or slick-talker simply mouthing tired old phrases. To the Black griot-singer- poet the job of unraveling the complex network of his past and present-future worlds is a painful but rewarding labor of love. We can say, then, that tbe Black Experience in the United States continues via the African Continuum: a complex of mythical (see Jahn), linguistic (see Twiggs), gestural (see Emery, Black Dance), psychological, sexual, musical, physical and religious forms. This complex is evidenced in the day-to-day attitudes and activities of Blacks: their sacred and secular (organized and random) expressi'ons, their physical appearances, their dress patterns and their family life. Not only in the United States, but in the Caribbean, in the West Indies, in Latin America, in all areas of the world where Blacks live in suhstantial numhers--tbey exhibit characteristics peculiar to the nature and culture of indigenous Africans. Naturally, general Black expression evolves from the myriad components of Black culture; and the artistic (song, poetry) expression--traditional Black (African) 29 �communities did not separate life .from art--is a more soph isticated form honed from t h e ge neral "storeh ouse." No one has yet put t h eir h ands on exactly 1-rhe.t mome nt in ti me a nd wher e t h e first Af ri can s ound?, or i,wvements Here incorpor ated into 11 1-1h i te II or 1fo stern fra mes of references or vice versa; but we do know t hat it did h app e n. Unfortunately , i nept reporting on t he Black Experience b as muddied t h e waters so much that one is repulsed a nd h orrified b y ob servations and conclusions of some Black and w11i te "researchers. 11 In an unf'linchingly br illiant analysi s o.f Black Afr i can Oral Literature, presented at t h e First World ' Festival of Ne gro Arts (1966) in Dakar., Senegal, Basile-Juleat Fouda., noting that "oral literature is as old as creation, 11 coined the phrase "Archival Literature of Gesture." important revelations., Fouda s aid: Concluding his "Thus in t he Black Africa of tradition., literary art is an ano nymous art because it ts a social a.rt; it is a social art because it is a functional art; and it is functional because it is humanist." research is not b ounded by color. Good Blo.c k sociologist E. Franklin Frazier (Black Bourgeosis) held(wrongl y ) t h at t h ere were no significant carryovers (cultural transplants) from Africa to the United States. (Slavery., Frazier said, "stripped II the African of his culture and "destroyed" his personality.) White anthropologist Melville Herskovits (The Myth of the Negro Past) proved without a doubt that there were African "survivalisms" operating daily in Black Americans culture. 30 (For more thought �.....,. . on this see Jahn' s r-iuntu, 1:lork' s findings, memoirs of Katherine Dunham, works of Lorenzo Dow Turner, Negro Folk Music of Africa and America. (Folkways, Lp) and others.) Rudimentary Black expression and the numerous folk forms it produced (field hollers, vendors shouts, chants, worksongs, Spirituals, blues, Gospels, jazz, rhythm 'n blues, soul music) form the linguistic and modal bases for most Black poetry. The early song and chant forms were almost always accompanied by what we have come to call "dramatic ideograms"--or dances. Dance became one of the three basic artistic modes encapsulated by folk expression. The other two are Song and Drum. Aside from being the first means of communicating over distances, the drum also played a major role in the social lives of traditional African peoples. The career drummer, like the Black American musician today, went througb yea.rs of grueling practice and preparation--learning not only drumming techniques but the legends, the myths, the meanings and symbols of which the drum was derivative. Dance always accompanied song--Fouda re.fers to the "acoustical phonetic alpha.bet"--so that the complex web of oral nuances was illustrated vividly and graphically. Obviously, when teaching or entertaining, the artist/teacher had to present his material in -interesting and exciting ways so as not to bore the audience. Thus repetition became a backbone of Black expression--a flexible, buoyant repetition that was designed to reinforce and increase group participation. The three essential modes--dr~, song and dance--heightened 31 ' �I the immediate experience, which was ecstatic, therapeutic, spiritual, visceral and revelatory. Added to these intricate and varying modal patterns were the colorful costumes, make-up, props and important subject matter. The achievement was not just the vicarious experience but one of the act and symbol being actualized together. \foile such a prospect boggles the mind, a serious study of these forms and the general tradition will prove eye-opening for many a disbeliever. Early Black American oral and gestural art forms inherited the qualities described thus far. In language, in dance, and, more importantly, in points of view (attitudes) toward time, life and death, the cosmology of Africa "continued" (with some modifications) in the Black culture of the Western Hemisphere. Specifically, information was conveyed by way of aphorisms, riddles, parables, tales, enigmatic dances and sounds (tonal scales). jokes and poetry. Oblique and cry ptic utterances, puzzles, The pattern remains in tact today. Jahnfs Muntu documents many examples of t h e African "carryovers" and "survivalisms" operating in t l1 e Western Hemisphere. 1. One can For a brilliant and co[sent statement on t h is aspect of Black expression see Samuel Allen's "Tbe African Herita ge" in the Jan., 1971, issue of Black World. Allen--a.lso known as Paul Vesey--is a.n acknowledged auth ority on b oth African and Afro-American culture. In the article, ~e finds African "carryovers" in the Black American church (Baldwin), literature (Sterling Brown, Cleaver) and secular life. 32 �find the tradition in Black poets, in the sermons of Black ministers and in family and otber social gatherings. The scintillating Black poet Tolson operates in the old enigmatic (word-fencing) frame when in "An Ex-Judge at the Bar" he says: Bartender, make it straight and make it twoOne for the you in me and one for the me in you. Tolson (known to carry this Black nature into his teaching at Langston University where be reportedly gave a student an "Frr to the 20th power) ends the poem with an equally enigmatic mock: Bartender, make it straight and make it threeOne for the Negro ••• one for you and me. In the Spirituals (to be discussed) one finds similar debts to the African tradition of Song, Dance and Drum. So too in the shouts and hollers where actual African words and phrases were often used. 2 Hence we can say that the traditional African phonology and ritual, modified on the anvil of slavery, were operating and continue to be represented in different forms of Black American expression. The African slave, forced to acquire functional use of English and to reject surface aspects of bis religion, went "underground" so to speak and became bi-lingual and bi-physical. 2. Hence, while much of the The fine poet Raymond Patterson (26 Ways of Looking at a Black Man) is currently assembling a book listing several hundred African words that are used daily in the American 33 �thematic material of the Black folk tradition is taken fro m the harsh difficulties the slave encountered in America, t h e form, spirit and phonology were essentially African. The use of poly-rhythms 3 and the introduction of s yncopation, t he reliance on various rhythmic instruments (drum-related and sometimes invented), the adherence to a non-European tonal scale and the employment of the blue tone, the development of a distinct body of folklore and a rich language to . convey the lore--all represent t h e African's resourcefulness. Cross-cultural inputs are also evident, however, in--for example--the Spiri tuals wh ich, in many cases, were influenced by the English Hymn and the Psalm. Other considerations in- clude the slave's use of European instruments (Baraka points out, in Black Music, that the piano was the last instrument to be mastered by the Black musician.4 The reason ought to be obvious.), the Black adaptation of songs beard in the "big house," the continual re-styling of American fads and tbe vocabulary. See b i bliography for more on the little known area of scbolarship. 3. Isaac Faggett, a y oung Black composer-band director in Sacramento, Calif., has said that the word "poly-rhythm" (i.e., many rhythms overlapping each other) should perhaps be replaced by or alternated with the words "poly-meter" or "poly-metrics." 4. Eileen Southern, in 'E1e Music of Black Americans, sets forth a thorough and accurate discussion of these points. 34 She �employment of Biblical imagery and language in songs and sermons. Langston Hughes noted tbat the Blues usually dealt with the theme of the rejected lover and personal depression. Hughes' first volume of poems, in fact, was entitled The Weary Blues. However, the Blues, like the Spirituals, do not simply preach resignation or submissiveness. Rather, as Janh and Howard Thurman {The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death) ·note, underneath the complaint is a "plaint": or change! things must get better For as the slave said: Freedom, oh Freedom, how I love thee! Freedom, oh Freedom, how I love thee! And before I'll be a slave I'll be buried in my grave And go home to my Maker and be Free! II Black Folk Roots in America: "Get it together or leave it alone" --Jackson Five Black poets have been writing in the English literary tradition since the middle of the ei ghteenth century. But notes with some detail how the Africans {made slaves) had to learn to use the instruments of the New World. Professor Southern also relates how Black music lnf'luenced whites in the early _days of America. 35 �it is the folk literature--those productions of the everyday people--which must be examined before a literary or poetic tradition can be viewed in its entirety . There are few persons in the United States who have not been touched or inI'luenced (in one way or another) by the folk expression of Black America. White Americans began collectine Black folk lyrics and stories in the early :,ears of t h e ni neteenth century (see bibliography). In the same century , this aspect of Black culture reached wide audiences via at least three major vehicles. The fir s t was the abolitionist movement which featured Black poets (Francis E. W. Harper, James Whitfield, Benjamin Clark, and others), orators and prose writers (David Walker, Frederick Douglass, etc.), and journalists (John Russwurm, etc). The seco nd veh icle was the national and European tours (in t he 1870 's) of student ch oirs from Hampton Institute and Fis k (The J ubi lee Singers) University. The abolitionist movement popularized anti-slavery and freedom songs and the colle ge ch oirs gave wide ex posure to t h e Spirituals, considered by most sch olars (of' Black culture) to be t h e first authentic poetry of Blac k America.. Tb e t h ird major veh icle was the publication (in t h e late ninete ent h century ) of Brer Rabb it tales b y Joel Chandler Harris. In st ud ies and writings, Harris reco,enized t he r,1yt h ic wor t h in Blac k f ol kt ales and exposed readers to s uch charac t ers a3 Brer Te r rapin , Brer Bear, Brer Fox, Brer :Tol f and others . 1 Hany of t l10 se t ale s and ch aracters have African counterpart s . 36 �F '!R III Spirituals: "Tryin' to get h ome" For many reasons, t~10 use of tbe word "spiritual II to describe Black reliciosity is a misnoLler. Current inter- pretations, outlined by neu ini'ormation and er.1pirica._!- research into history and thought convinces us that the entire Black world is 11 spiri tual 11 : i.e., lnforrned by and responsible to a "higher order "--the order of God or the "eods." The ex- huberance, the spontaneity, the ecstas?, the trances, the talking in tongues, the racial flavor and flair in dress (at church and nightclub), all point up the interdependence and the integration of various modes and points of view in the Black community. Professor Work describes it as "this difference and this oneness." The contemporary Black poet Hayden understands this intee;ration w11en, in a poem to Malcolm X, he exclaims tlle 11 blazine oneness" of Allah. Further proof of this fusion is seen in the emotional abandonmerit of church folk during secular picnics, socials and other events of merriment. One has only to listen to Aretha Franklin alter- nate between Gospel and blues to see this unity of expression r:'. operating today • .? 5. And certainly it is clear in the works of Let us observe that the most brilliant and influential Black poets have intimately understood this aspect of Black culture. Almost without exception (and Kerlin, Brown and 37 �the Staples Singers, tbe Edwin He.wkins Singers a nd in a more vulgarized manner in Flip Hilson (Rev. Leroy ). In t he words or one brother, "the preach er and the pimp style out heavy." Still, it is i mportant that we offer t h e traditional portrait and break-down of Black folk expression--so as not to confuse or invade the "sacred" bastions of h istory. The Spirituals have been the source of continuing debate among scholars: Are they completely African in ori gip? Are they primarily English (I:Iethodist, Wesleyan, etc.) in origin? Or do they represent t he co-joining of African/European t h emes and religiosity ? Persons desiring to concentrate on t h is area of Black poetry should trace t h e history of these ar guments and debates and reach conclusions of tbeir own. Johnson (and bis brother, J. Rosamond) put togetb er t h e best known collection of these songs in Th e Book of American Negro Spirituals (1925), and The Second Book of American ITe gro Spirituals (1926). The Spirituals usually deal with phy sical or fi gurative contact between the singer (or congre gation) and God. (Early Afro-Americans often used the words God, Jesus, Savior, and Lord interchangeab l y . For a. more t h orough discussion of this see Benjamin May s ' The Negro's God.) The songs also deal with others warn young Black writers to follow example) Black poets since the Civil War have availed t h emselv es of integral folk rudiments--even when they did not use t h em in poetry. It is still a fact that Black culture (despite the racist and techno- 38 ' �a longing for rest and the overcoming of for midahle obstacles or adversaries. Professor Work's 1915 study was seminal and remains a land mark in the study of African and Black American songs. His work provides many answers to questions and issues that had been (and continue to be) muddied by the waters of insensitivity and careless research. His efforts, "undertaken for the love of our fathers' songs," gives clear connections between the African and Afro-American folk song. His main concern is for the religious songs--although his comments on form and style are of general value: In America we hear it (the song) and see it acted in the barn dance, on the stage, in the streets among the children; in fact, many an occasion is enlivened by this species of music, the interest in which is intensified by tbe rhythmical patting of hands and feet. This rhythm is most strikingly and accurately brought out in their work songs. Citing the emotionalism and songified intensity of the Black American, Professor Work says "He worships not so much because he ought, as because he loves to worship." This "worship," of course, is the kind we referred to earlier: the integration logical barrages of the West) still remains more consciously "integrated" than other cultural unit in America. 39 �of sensuality and ecstasy into the swee ping rit ual of live and immediate drame. Such musical acti v ity is "as natural to the American Negro as his breath 11 : Indeed, it is a portrayal of h is soul, and is as characteristic as are h is phy sical features. Hear him sing in his church , h ear h i CT preach, CToan, and g i ve 1 gravery 1 in h is sermon, h ear t h e wash er- woman sing ing over h er t ub , h ear t h e lab orer singing his accompaninent to h is toil, h ear the child b abbli ng an extemporaneous tune •••• Even those Negroes wh o have b een educ a ted and wh o have been influenced by lonG study , f i nd it difficult to express their musical s el ves in any other way. Black song, as is readily observa ble, possesses b oth pure song (the verse and chorus plan) a nd ch a nt (use of interjections and expletives) qualities: Poor man Laz'rus, poor as I, Don't you see? Poor man Laz'rus, poor as I, Don't you see? When be died h e found a h ome on h i gh , He h ad a home in dat roc k , Don't y ou see? Alluding to the deeper, more psy ch ological, meaning of these songs, Professor Work says "there are closer relations b etween 40 �the soul and musical ex pressions t h an h ave satisfactorily explained. These relations can be felt, but any accurate description seems beyond the grasp of man's mind." Never- theless this important study goes on to classify and number these songs of: Joy, Sorrow, Sorrow with Note of Joy, Faith, Hope, Love, Determination, Adoration, Patience, Courage and Humility. Like most scholars of the Spirituals, this one points out that there is no h ate, resentment or vindic.tiveness in them. However, Dr. Thurman, theolo gian and ph ilos9pher, has excavated underpinnings of turbulence. In The Negro Spiritual, Dr. Thurman tells us death was i mmediate and ever-present for the slave. In such an atmosphere of anxiety and fear, the slave developed a rather stoic attitude in which he saw death as inescapable arrl as, possibl y , the only remaining vehicle for mediation with t h e plantation lords. The slave could take his own life, if he wanted to--as h e did many times in preference to slavery or separation fro m family and/or loved ones. Dr. Thurman's brilliant analysis must be read by any serious student of Black t h ought and culture. Johnson (who also classified the songs) 6 said a hierarchy of poets for the Spirituals included the song-maker (writer) and the song~leader. 6. The leader h ad to remember leading lines, Johnson, Brown, Kerlin and Dr. Thurman also give con- sideration to the "poetic" content of the Spirituals. Johnson and Professor Work discuss the preservation and promotion of 41 �WWW W pitch tunes true and possess a powerful voice. Johnson, who (like Professor Work) believes the earliest Black American songs were built on the common African form, says the Spirituals were written by individuals and set to tm moods of groups. Like the blues, their secular and structural cousins, the Spirituals incorporated antiphony or call-and-response which allowed for audience (congregation) participation (either by alternating, or intermingling, with the leader): Leader: Oh, de Ribber of Jordan is deep and wide, Congregation: One mo' ribber to cross. Leader: I don't know how to get on de other side, Congregation: One mo' ribber to cross. Heavily influenced by Chrlstian imagery and mythology, the creators of the Spirituals often chose the most militant of biblical personalities as their heroes. This aspect of these "poems" opens up an entire area of questions and research for the student seeking to compare/contrast biblical themes and characters to the Spirituals. Certainly there is need to ex- amine the English Hymns and Psalms in the framework of such a study. The Spirituals should also be compared/contrasted to the Black literary verse or the period during which they these songs through archival holdings, choir concert tours and the attention paid to them by composers. �were forged--especially the work of Jupiter Hammon, Phillis "Wheatley and George :Moses Horton. IV Folk Seculars: Don wid massa's hollerin'; Don wid massa's hollerin'; Don wid massa's hollerin' Roll Jordan roll. We observed that there is a thin line between the Black religious and secular worlds. This is true for many reasons-- some of them stemming from the African tradition of interrelating all aspects of life. As John M'Biti (African Religions and Philosophies), Gabriel Bannerman-Richter and others point out, the African takes his religion (his beliefs) with him where ever he goes. Many investigators (Jahn, M'Biti and others) also remind us that most African languages have no word for religion or art. The two are inseparable. Again the ways of African peoples (see Mphahlele's Whirlwind) are expressed in "integrated" terms. True, in Black America there is some tension between secular and religious communities--but so often ( and most Blacks understand this well though they don't always admit it) they are the same: on different occasions. wearing different hats Study, again, the case of a Rev. Jesse Jackson or a Rev. Ike or a Rev. Adam Clayton Powell! We have also observed that many motifs and components of Black expression are interchangeable. That is, songs and . I, 43 �speeches designed for church or other religious activity are often re-cut (modified) for a secular--social affair. are numerous examples of t h 1.s practice. There During the Civil R:i.gh ts era, we would s in8 I woke up this mor nin' with my mind stayed on freedom though we were .fully aware that church .folk were used to singing it this way: I woke up this mormin' with my mind stayed on .Tesus 1-rany of Curtis Hayfield's (and the I mpressions') songs rely strongly on the material of songs sung in Black churches. Even Hayfield's more recent tunes (see "If There's A Hell Below") carry the Black church flavor--with their warnings, admonishments, threats of societal destruction, and pleas for love (see also :Marvin Gay's pieces like "Save The Children"). Some works by the Temptations ( "Run Away Child Running Wild") reflect the historical theme of "searching" found in Black religious songs. This same group's "Poppa Was A Rolling Stone" describes poppa "stealing in the name of the Lord." B.B. King's "Woke Up This Mornin" is a blues treatment of the idea expressed above in the Spiritual: "I Woke Up This Mornin. 11 When heard the old Supremes singing "Stop in the Name of Love" we were tempted to replace "love" with "God." Often the songs contain exchangeable and interchangeable words such as "Lord" and "Mother"; ''Baby II and "God"; "Sweet thing" and "Sweet .Tes us 11 ; ' ' . "Captain" and "Maker"; and "God" and "I'-1'.an". The reasons for such usages, as we have stated, are deeply enmeshed in the 44 �mythos of Blacks. Richard Wri ght's "Bright and Morning Star" (in the Bible, a metaph or for Jesus) becomes t he son of old Aunt Sue in the sbort story b y that name. Th e h ero of John A. Williams' novel, Th e Nan Who Cried I Am, says "thank you man" to God after a sex act. "Slipping into Darkness 11 ( Wh en we h ear a tune like War's "when I b eard my mother say") we must understand tlehistorical significance and function of social (therapeutic) art--just as we must understand· the function of the mother-like voice t hat admonish es Isaac Hayes to "shet yo mouf II in "Sh aft. 11 When conserve.ti ve Black Christians complained of Duke Ellington's use of reli gious the mes in jazz, he replied "I'm just a ecumenical cat"--mea.ning he avoided fine distinctions in where or to whom he played. The church has been the training ground (academy, if you will; see Frazier's The Negro Church in America) for most of the big (vocal) names in Black popular music as well as for important orators, race leaders and community business men. Against the fore going discussion we can view' t h e Folk Seculars in their ri gh t perspective as a vital part of the rich storehouse of Black folklore. (my own grandmother: Through songs, aphorisms "You don't believe fat meat's greasy!" and "If you ain't gon' do nothing get off the pot!"), fables (see Aesop), jokes (see minstrelsy and t he Black comedy tradition), blues and other enduring forms Blacks capture severe hardships and tribulations, folk wisdom, joys and tragedies, and the longings and h opes of Blacks during slavery afterwards. 45 �Tbe Seculars, more so than the Spirituals, give important clues to the inner-workings of the common Black mind. And a closer look at the total folk tradition will reveal the structure and principles of folk psychology. It is, after all, back and forward to these folk materials that researchers will have to go if they are serious about delineating the feelings, emotions and thought patterns of Blacks. The Seculars are surer indices to the workings of the folk mind because they are not as limited as the Spirituals. Though most Blacks in the United States are awe.re of and have heard the Spirituals, an even larger number have had sustained exposure (directly or indirectly) to the secular vocalizations and gestures of Black culture. Contemporary Black popular music and culture con- tinue to be informed by the street and home utterances. An exciting reciprocity allows entertainers to borrow freely from what they bear while the folks recorded. 11 run and tell that" once it's Some examples of songs, titles and other epithets borrowed directly from the people are: James Browh's "Brand New Bag, 11 "Licking Stick" ( see "honey stick" in :McKay's story "Truant"), "Give It Up or Turn It Loose," "The Payback" and "It's Hell"; Marvin Gaye's 11 1-Jhat's Going On" and "Let's Get it On"; Curtis Hayfield's "Superfly"; the . Jackson Five's "Get It Together or Leave It Alone 11 ; Flip Wilson's ''What You See is ·what You Get" (and the Dramatics' tune by the same name); Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and "Run and Tell That"; and Jean Knight's nMr. Big Stuff"--to name just a few. - 46 �As with the Spirituals, whites (primarily abolitionists) were among the first to collect Seculars of wbatever type. William Wells Brown, the first published Black novelist and playwright, collected "anti-slavery" songs. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, writer and abolitionist wbo led a Black regiment in the Civil War, collected songs be heard among his men around campfires and during marches. Though primarily con- cerned with religious songs, he also described some of the properties of general Black song delivery. One of the most important collections of these seculars was put together by Thomas W. Talley ( of Fisk Universit:r, as was Professor Hork). Professor Talley did pioneering work in the identification and classification of Negro Folk Rhymes. Describing the philo- sophy, structure and, in some cases, origin of the songs, the Fisk scholar collected well over JOO examples. r important examples and discussions of the artistic products of folk secular folk life can be found in the works of Hughes and ' Bontemps, Brewer, Spalding, Dodson, Chapman, Brown (Negr£ Poetry), Abrahams (Deep Down in The Jungle) and Bell (The Folk Roots of Contemporary Afro-American Poetry). Bell's ·work i's recent (from the new Broadside Press) and is somewhat vague in perspective as a result of an -imposed ("foreign") construct. Also valuable to an examination of the Seculars are regional works ( such as Abrahams') including Drums and Shadows (Georgia and South Carolina), Goldstein•s (ed.) Black Life 47 �, ' 'I and Culture in the United States, Lore nzo Dow Turner's work in the Gullah culture, Dorson's Negro Folktales in Mich igan, and others (see b ibliography). By f ar the most faithful representation of secular or reli g ious folk materials in the written poetry is in t h e work of Sterling Brown (see his Southern Road, especially Joh nson's introductio n , and h is critical comments in Negro Poetry ). Brown takes exception to Johnson's comment that dialect poetry has onl y two stops-1.1humor and pathos "--and implies that Black poets up until his time had been remiss (or lazy) in not de velop i ng broader uses and deepening the r.1eaning of Black life t 11rou gh the use of folk materials. The tradition of "tall" tale-telling is, of course, submerged in the American my t h os. So the Black narrator found a flexible atmosphere into wh ich h e could introduce his own manner of storytelling and h is own tradition of song. As he had done in the Spirituals, he Gained a resourcefulness in the use of langua ge, acquired instruments to accompany the song or story, and de veloped an ab ility to seize upon a good or amenable context in wh ich to tell or sing h is story; h e also made use of t h emes and ideas fro m the vast ethnic potpourri of America. the Spirituals. The Seculars grew up side-by -side with The Spirituals emerc ed from the attempt of the slave to web to gether his disparate (yet mutual) wounds. Spirituals represent t he slave's perserverence and (in many instances) bis hope and faith in mankind. The Seculars, also �developing in the shadows of the 11 biG 11ouse, 11 reflect the social life of the Black American on the plantation and later. In songs and ditties, the Black American couched his longings and bitternesses, but voiced his hopes and cynicisms through the oblique, eliptical and encoded words and seemingly unintelligible phonetic symbols. These African forms (see Rappin' and Stylin' Out, Kochman) have continued up to the present. Few Black youngst-ers are able to side-step the rigorous (and sometimes painful) verbal desterity demanded by playmates during verbal sparring matches that inevitably take place. The forms of such behavior were in tact during slavery--when a slave might be discussing a master's "moma" or "old lady" during a rather harmless "rap" (rhapsond? rapport?) with his fellow field workers. Frederick Douglass reports (Narrative) tbat slave over-seers thought slaves sang because they were happy. We know that such was not the case (se DuBois Souls of Black Folks) and that such refrains as "stealing away" implied a lot more than wanting to reach the arms of Jesus on the cross. similar codes in his stories and poems. Henry Dumas chronicles And Mel Watkins (Amistad 2) discussed an updated version of at least part of this phonenon in his article on folk singer-hero James Brown. Though he is discussing a secular character, Watkins' revelations are similar to Dr. Thurman's: that in the absurd context of being owned by someone else, it is not life or death that loom so importantly. One lives, Ellison suggests (Invisible Man), the day-to-day 49 �absurdity in a sort of comic-tragic vi ce. TTatkins says: James Brown's initial acceptance by a black audience is fixed in this crucial factor. From the moment he slides onto the staee, whether unconsciousl~,r or intentionally, his gestures, his facial expressions and even the sequential arra.n ge ti1ent of b is materials are external affirmations of a shared acceptance of t ~ e absurd or, more ineenously, of jiving. The i mpeca'bly tailored s uit s, which be brandishes at the outset, become meaninGless accoutrements as his act progresses and, sweating and straining , he ge ts down, li terall:r down on the floor, to wring t ;:10 last drop of emotion fro m a sonc;. Watkins is incorrect about the dress ½ecomine "meaningless" to a Black audie nce, but his general thesis is on tar get. Elsewhere Watkins, fir mly understand:i.nc; the i mp ortance of 11 verbal agility a mons Blacks, sa:rs :t.t is conmen to ·h ear 1-)lack women discussins a ~an's 'rap' or 'progr am' on the same level as tbey di8cuss l1is bank account. TT Blacks c;e~1erally witl11::l old t h eir judc;u~nt on (or acceptance) of a speaker or e ntertainer until he exbil)it s , in b is dress- c;eotnre -rat) , that l1 e under stands t'-:o 1rnllspring tbat f':C'ocl uced the "Slac k a,.1d unknown bards. 11 Return:i. n 6 :)riefly , to ou1• b istorical assess ment, we can 1101-1 see bou t he folk strain in Black writte n nr t eYolved. �From this 11 song" record ed :i.n the l ·S50 ' s by Douglass, Dey gib us de liquor, And say dat 's good enough for the nigger. to the fea1"' of 11 de Cunjab Hrrn" captured in "Gullah" by Campbell in the latter part of the 1900 's, De Cunjah man, de Cunjah li1a.n, 0 chillen run, de Cunjah man ! the deceptively "sin ple" ernplo:rr:1ent of folk expressions have prevailed as an ioportant antidote for the social maladies inherited by Blac ks in the Western Hemisphere. ''De Cunjah i-1an 11 is, of course, equivalent to the "things that go bumping in the night" in Ireland--and tbus has ties to general folk superstitions and t:iythology. But there was also the "buggah- man 11 (Dunbar's "Little Brown Baby"), the 11 rag man", "p~e;-leg," "raw-bead and bloody bones" and ( in places lik_e Trinidad) the "obeah man." Most of these supernatural characters a.re throw backs to various African reli gious and ritual practices. Of the new generation of poets, Ishmael Reed (Catechism of a neoamerican hoodoo church) is the innovator in the use of supernatural the mes and vocabulary. The theme of the 2nd Annual John Henr~r Memorial Authentic Blues and Gospel Jubilee (held in Cliff Top, W. Va., in August and September of 1974) was 11 Tryin' to Get Home. 11 How stea.d- :fastly the folk tradition runs like a vein through Black history. In the Seculars (and the Spirituals) we repeatedly hear something similar to the last stanza of "Rainbow Roun Mah Shoulder": 51 �I'm gonna break ri ght, break ri ght pas that shooter, I' m goin h ome, Lawd, I'm goin home. Again the use of -the work "Lawd" in a "secular" song further bears out the communal integration of the folk expression. My own sisters often interject or exclaim "Lord" or "Lawd" in everyday discussions ab out life. It is next to impossible to list all (or each type) of the Seculars. We have mentioned Professor Talley's pioneering efforts at classifying t h em. But many obstacles lay in the way of recorders of secular folk life. of censureship of language. One problem was t hat Such censuring marked all types of Black creativity, fro m t h e slave narratives to reli gious songs. Hence the more "protesting " aspects of the works were deleted as were "offensive words." Anyone wh o has b eard "authentic" Black folk songs knows t hat t h ey reflect tlJe convergence of madness, absurdity and h ope in t he Black body. Subsequently what are known as "curse" or "obscene" words are sprinkled throughout much of the "secular" lore. ' Brown discusses the "realism II in the folk r hymes along with an attempt to slassi.fy at lee.st some of t h em ("fiddle-sings," "corn-songs," "jig-tunes," "upstart crows"): Ballads, Ballads: Negro Heroes, John Henry (folkified in song), Work Songs, The Blues, Irony and Protest. Irony and protest, of course, run through Black folk and literary poetry from the earliest days (Whitfield, Harper, . anti-slavery songs) to the most recent times (Josh White, 52 . �Leon Thomas, Don L. Lee, Jobn Ecbols, Jo:1nn:.· 8 c ot t ). observers have pointed to the silliness of □ a n:, ::o ~e researct~ era who, white as ever, appeared in person to ask Black folk sonr; writers arrl singers if they endorsed "protest,n then went away satisfied with a "no" answer. Given the nature and history of race relations one can understand the reluctance on the parts of Blacks to tell whites the truth about "anything" let alone ab out such a sensitive area as "protest." ·Yet in the dog-eat-dog world of survival, t he folk person knows that "If he dies, I'll eat h is co'n; An' if he lives, I'll ride 'i m on." In summary we can say that unlike other eth nic immigrant groups ( the Afro-American was not a willing i mmigrant!), the Black American did not simply transplant h is stories--keeping them in their exact same form. He found American or European language counterparts for h is t h emes and vocabularies. But his phonology, style and spirit were informed by the African tradition. The student of Black folk poetry will want to compare and contrast the Seculars to other eth nic stories and songs. Boasting or "ly ing ," for example, is one ingredient o'f the "tall" tale. How does the Black song or story (Le., . "Shine," "Signify ing :Monkey ," "Dolemi te," "Frankie and Johnnie," . . . etc.) fit this motif? How does it conceal deeper meanings on the issues of slavery , inh uman work conditions, or contradictions in Christianity ? What are the similarities between the Seculars and the Spirituals? Between the Seculars and �the literary poetr~? These and other questions (on Black heroes, cultural motifs, blues themes, language and endurance) will lead one through exciting corridors of Black folk creativity and thought. V . SPIRITUALS GO DOWN, MOSES Go donw, Moses, Way down in Egypt land Tell old Pharaoh To let my people go. When Israel was in Egyptland Let my people go Oppressed so hard they could not stand Let my people go. Go down, Moses, Way down in Egyptland Tell old Pharaoh 11 Let my people go. 11 "Thus saith the Lord, 11 bold I1oses said, "Let my people: If not I'll smite ~our first-born dead Let my people go." 54 �"No more shall they in bondage toil, Let my people go; Let them come out with Egypt's spoil, Let my people go," The Lord told Moses what to do Let my people go; To lead the children of Israel through, Let my people go. Go down, Moses, Way down in Egyptland, Tell old Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" SLAVERY CHAIN Slavery chain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. Way down in-a dat valley, Praying on my knees; Told God about my troubles, And to help me of-a He please. I did tell him how I suffer, In de dungeon and de chain, And de days I went with head bowed down, And my broken flesh and pain. 55 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Slavery cbain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. I did know my Jesus heard me, 'Cause de spirit spoke to me, And said, "Rise my child, your cllillun, And you too shall be free. "I done 1 p'int one mighty captain For to marshall all my hos ts, And to bring my bleeding ones to me, And not one shall b e lost." Slavery chain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. NO HORE AUCTION BLOCK No more auction block for me, No more, no more, No more auction block for me, Many thousand gone. No more peck of corn for me, No more, no more, 56 . . �SPIRITUAIS (cont'd) No more peck of corn for me, Many thousand gone. No more pint of salt for me, No more, no more, No more pint of salt for me, Many thousand gone. No more driver's lash for me, No more, no more, No more driver's lash for me, Many thousand gone. SHOUT ALONG, CHILLEN Shout along, cbillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear the dying Lamb: Ob! take your nets and follow me For I died for you upon t h e tree! Shout along , cbillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear the dying Lamb! SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home. 57 �SPIRITtJAI.S (cont'd) I looked over Jordan and what did I see Coming for to carry me home, A band of aneels, coming after me, Coming for to carry me home. If you get there before I do, Coming for to carry me home, Tell all my friends I'm coming too, Coming for to carry me home. Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home. STEAL AWAY Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus, Steal away, steal away home, I ain't got long to stay here. My Lord, He calls me, He calls me by the thunder, The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, I ain't got long to stay here. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus, Steal a.way, steal away home, I ain't got long to stay here. 58 • �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Green trees a-bonding, Po' sinner stands a-trembling The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, I ain't got long to stay here. DEEP RIVER Deep river, ~ay home is over Jordan, Deep river, Lord; I wa.nt to cross over into camp ground. 0 children, o, don't you want to GO to t h at gospel feast, That promised land, that land, wh ere all is peace? Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep river, Lord; I want to cross over into camp ground. I GOT A Hmm I N DAT ROCK I got a home in dat rock, Don't you see? I got a ho me in dat rock, Don't you see? Between de earth an' sl~, Thought I h eard my Saviour cry, You got a home in dat rock, Don't you see? Poor man Laz'rus, poor a.s I, Don't you see? PooRman Laz'rus, poor as I, 59 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Don't you see? Poor man Laz'rus, poor as I, 'Wben he died he fonnd a h ome on h i gh , He had a home in dat rock, Don't you see? Rich man Dives, he lived so well, Don't you sec? Rich man Dives, he lived so well, Don't you see? Rich man Dives, he lived so well, When he died h e fou nd a 11ome in Hell, He had no borne in dat rock, Don't y ou see? God gave lfo ab de Rainbow siGn, Don't you sec? God g ave No~ 1 de Rainb ow sign, Don't y ou see? God c;a ve 1'00.1" de RatnboH sisn, No r.wre wat er 1_w.t f:i.re next ti me , Better get a h ome in dat rock, Don't you see? ' 60 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) I BEEN .REBUKED A:t:ID I BEEN scornmn I been rebuked and I been scorned, I been rebuked and I :Jeen scorned, Chillun, I be en rebuked and I be en scorned, I'se had a hard time, so's you born. Talk about me much as you please, Talk about ne much ns you please, Chillun, talk about me much as you please, Gonna talk a;)out you when I get on my knees. DE OLE SHEEP DEY KNOW DE ROAD Oh, de ole sheep, dey know de road, De ole sheep, dey know de road, De ole sheep, dey know de road, De young Lambs must find de way. My brother, better mind how you ·walk on de crqss, De young lambs must find de · ·wa~r, For your foot might slip, and yo' soul git lost, De young lamb s mus t find de way. Better mind dat sun, and see bow she run, De young lambs must find de way, And mind, don't let her catch you wid yo' work undone, De young lambs must find de way. 61 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Oh, de ole sheep, dey know de road, De ole sheep, dey know de road, De ole sheep, dey know de road, Young lambs must find de way. DE HAHMER KEEPS RINGDTG Oh, de hammer keeps ring ing On somebody's coffin, Oh, de hammer keeps ringing On somebody's coffin, Oh, de hammer keeps rin r; ing On somebody's coffin: Good Lord, I know my time ain't long . Oh, de wagon keeps rolling Somebody to de graveyard, Oh, de wagon keeps rolling Somebody to de graveyard, Oh, de wagon keeps rolling Somebody to de graveyard: Good Lord, I know my time ain't long. Oh, de preacher keeps preaching Somebody's funeyal, Oh, de preacher keeps preaching Sombody's funeyal, 62 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) De preacher keeps preaching Somebody's funeyal: Good Lord, I know my time ain't long. MOTHERLESS CHILD Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, A long ways from home, A long ways fro m home. Sometimes I feel like I' m almost gone, Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone, Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone, A long ways .from home, A long ways .from home. Sometimes I .feel like a feather in the air, Sometimes I feel like a feather in the air, Sometimes I feel like a featber in the air, And I spread my wings and I fly, I spread my wings and I fly. NOBODY KNOWS DA TRUBBLE AH SEE Oh, nobody knows da trubble ah see, Nobody knows but Jesus. 63 �SPIRITUALS (conttd) Nobody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallelujah! Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I' m down, Ob, yes, Lord! Sometimes I'm almost to the grounr, Oh, yes, Lord! Although you see me goin along , so, Ob, yes, Lord! I have my trubbles here below, Oh, yes, Lord! Nobody knows da trubble ah see, Nobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallelujah! One day when I was walkin along , Oh, yes, Lord! The elements open and his love came down, Oh, yes, Lord! I never shall forget dat day, Oh, yes, Lord! ·' 'When .Jesus wash my sins away, Ob, yes, Lord! 64 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Ob nobody knows da trubble ah see, Nobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallelujah! DE BLIND MAN s TOOD on DE ROAD O, de blind man stood on de road and cried O, de blind man stood on de road and cried Crying "O, my Lord, save-a me; 11 De blind man stood on de road and cried. Crying dat he might receive his sight Crying dat he might receive his sight Crying "O, my Lord, save-a me;" De blind man stood on de road and cried. HE MEVER SAID A MCTMBALil'JG WORD Oh, de wbupped him up de hill, up de hill, up de hill, Oh, de wbupped him up de bill, and he never said a mumbaling word, Oh, dey whupped him up de hill, and he never said a mumbaling word, He jes' bung down his head, and he cried. Oh, dey crowned him wid a thorny crown, thorny crown, thorny crown, Oh, dey crowned him wid a thorny crown, and he • 65 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) never said a mumbaling word, Oh, dey crowned him wid a thorny crown, and he never siad a mumbaling word, He jes' bung down bis head, and be cried. Well, dey nailed h im to de cross, to de cross, to de cross, Well, dey nailed h im to de cross, and be never said a r:m mbaling word, Well, dey nailed him to de cross, and he never said a mumbaling word, He jes' hung down bis bead, and he cried. Well, dey pierced him in de side, in de side, in de side, Well, dey pierced him in de side, and de blood come a-twinkline; down, Well, dey pierced him in de side, and de biood cor.1e a-twinkling down, Den be hung down his bead, and he died. JOSHUA FIT DE BATTLE OF JERICHO Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, And de walls come tumbling _down. 66 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) You may talk about yo' king of Gideon Talk about yo' man of Saul, Dere's none like good old Joshua At de battle of Jericho. Up to de walls of Jericho, He marched with spear in hand; "Go blow dem ram horns," Joshua cried, "Kase de battle am in my band." Den de lamb ram sheep horns begin to blow, Trumpets begin to sound, Joshua commanded de chillen to shout, And de walls come tumbling down. Dat morning, Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, And de walls come tumbling down. OH, MARY, DON'T YOU WEEP . Oh Mary, don't you weep, don't you moan, Ob Mary, don't you weep, don't you moan, Pharaoh's army got drownded, Oh Mary, don't you weep. 67 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) One of dese mornings, bright and fair, Take my wings and cleave de air, Pharaoh's army got drownded, Oh Mary, don't you weep. One of dese mornings, five o'clock, Dis ole world gonna reel and rock, Pharaoh's army got drownded, Oh Mary, don't you weep. Don't know what nry mother wants to stay her fuh, Dis ole world ain't been no friend to huh, Pharaoh's army got drownded, Oh Mary, don't you weep. Oh Ha.ry, don't you weep, don't you moan, Oh :Mary, don't you weep, don't you moan, Pharaoh's army got drownded, Oh Mary, don't you weep. VI FOLK SECULARS HE IS MY HORSE One day as I wus a-ridin' by, Said dey: "Ole man, yo' boss will die." "If he dies, he is my loss; And if he lives, he is my boss." 68 �FOLK SECULARS (co nt'd) Nex' day w'en I come a'ridin' by, Dey said: "Ole man, yo' hoss may die. 11 "If be dies, I•ll tan 'is skin; An' if he lives, I'll ride 'im a g 'in. 11 Den ag'in wten I come a-ridin• by, Said dey: "Ole man, yo' b oss mou gh t die. 11 "If h e dies, I'll eat his co•n; An' if he lives, I'll ride 'im on. 11 DID YOU FEED HY COW? ''Did yer feed my cow?" "'Will yer tell me h ow?" "Yes, Mam!" ., "Yes, Mam!" ' 11 0h, w1 at did y er give , er?" "Cawn an h ay. If 11 0h , w•at did y er gi ve 'er?" "Cawn an h ay. fl "Did yer milk 'er good?" "Yes, Ham!" "Did yer do lak yer should? 11 "Oh, how did y er milk 'er?" 11 Yes, Ha.mt "Swish ! 11 Swish ! Swish ! 11 "Did dat cow g it sick?" "Yes, Ham!" "W'us sh e kivered wid tick?" ''Yes, Mam!" "Oh, h ow wus she sic k ?" "All bloated up. II "Oh, how wus she sick?" "All bloated up. II 69 �FOLK SECULA~S (cont'd) SONG (From Frederick Douglass, Ny Bondaee and lI:r Freedom, 1853) We raise de wheat, Dey gib us de corn: He bake de bread, Dey gib us de crust; We sif de meal, Dey gib us de huss; We peel de meat, Dey gib us de skin; And dat's de way Dey take us in; We skim de pot, Dey gib us de liquor~ And sa.y dat's good enough for ni cger. SONG (Fro ~n Hartin .R . Delany, "Blake; or, The Huts oi' At;ierica, 11 in The Anclo-Af'rican EnQ;azine, June 1859) Come all m:~ bret1)r e n, let us take a rest, While t b e ::-ioon sbi ne s br:t o;t1t and c 1. 0 0 1,,; Old ,.1aster d5-ed 8.:.x: : .e:ft us all at last , And b as gone a t t h e bar to a pp ear! Old raaster's dead and lying in b is grave; And our b lood will now cease to .flow ; He will no ri10re tramp on the neck o.f the slave, For he's gone where slave-holders go! '7 0 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) Hand up the shovel and the h oe-0-0-0! I don't care whetber I work or no! Old master's gone to the slave-holders rest-He's gone where t he:r all ou3ht to go! SELLIH' TIT-1E Goodbye, Goodbye, If I nevah, nevah see you a.ny mo. Goodbye, Goodbye, I will meet you on the utha sho. Pray f'or me, Pray for me, If I nevab, nevah see you any mo. Pray for me, Pray ror me , I will meet you on the utha sbo. Be strong, Be strong, If I nevah, nevah see you any mo. Be strong, Be strong, I will meet you on the utha sh o. Fare thee well, Fare thee well, If I nevah, nevah see you an;r mo. Fare thee well, 71 �FOLIC SECULATIS (cont ' d ) Fare thee well, I will meet y ou on the uth a s h o. MANY A THOUSAND DI E No r:1 ore dri ver call for me, No more dri ver call; No more driver call for me, Many a thousand die; No more peck of corn for me, No more pock of corn ; No more pec k of corn for me, Many a t b ousand d ie! No more h undred las h for me, no more h u ndred lash ; No more hu ndred lash for me, Many a thousand die! FHEEDOH Abe Lincoln freed t h e ni gger, Wid da gun and wid da tri gger, An I ain't ginna g it wh ipped no mo. Ah e;ot mah ticket Out of dis heah t h icket, An I'm headin for da golden sh o. 0 freedo m, 0 freedo m, 72 �FOIJC 0 SECULARS ( cont f d) freedom after a while, And before I 1 d b e a slave, I'd b e burie d in my grave, And go home to my Lord and b e free. Therefll be no more moaning , no more moaning , No more moaning after a wh ile, And before Ifd b e a slave, I'd be buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord and be free. No more weeping , no more crying , No more weep i ng after a wh ile, And before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord and be free. Therefll b e no more kneelin g , no more bowing , No more kneeling after a while, And before I'd b e a slave, I'd be buried in my e rave, And g o home to my Lord and b e free. There'll b e sh outin g , t h ere'll b e s h outin13 , There'll be s h outing after a wh ile, And before I'd be a slave, I'd b e buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord and b e free. WE 'LL SOON BE FREE We'll soon be free, We'll soon b e free, 73 �FOIJC SECULARS (cont'd) We'll soon be free, When de Lord will call us home. My brudder, how long My brudder, bow long , My brudder, bow long, 'Fore we done sufferin' here? It won't be long (Thrice.) 'Fore de Lord will call us home. We'll walk de miry road (Thrice.) Where pleasure never di.es. My brudder, how long (Thrice.) 'Fore we done sufferin' here. We'll soon be free (Thrice.) When Jesus sets sets me free. We'll fight for liberty (Thrice.) When de Lord will call us home. DON WTD DRIBER'S DRIBII'I ' Don wid driber's dribin' Don wid driber's dribin' Don wid driber's dribin' Roll, Jordan, roll. Don wid massa•s hollerin' Don wid massa's hollerin' Don wid massa's hollerin' Roll, Jordan, roll. 74 . ' �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) RAINBOW ROUN MAH SHOULDER Evahwhuh I, shuh I look dis mawnin, Looks lak rain, looks lak rain. I gotta rainbow, tied a.11 roun mah shoulder, Ain gonna rain, a.in gonna rain. I don walk till, walk till mah feets gone to rollin, Jes lak a wheel, jes lak a sheel. Evah mailda:r, I gets a letter, "My son come home, my son come bome. 11 Da.t ol letter read about dyin, Mab tears run down, mah tears run down. I'm gonna break right, break right pas dat shooter, I'm goin home, Lawd, I'm goin home. RAILROAD SECTION LEADER'S SONG E.f ah could, ab sholy would, Stan on da rack ·whub Moses stood. Mary, Martha, Luke and John, ' All dem sciples dead an gon. Ah gotta woman in Jennielee Square, Ef you wanna die easy, lemme ketch you there. 75 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) Lil Evaline, settin in da shade, Figurin on da money I ain't made. Jack de rabbit, Jack de bear, Cancba move it jus a hair? All ah hate b out linin track, Dese ol bars bout to break mah back. You keep talkin bout da joint ahead, Never sa:t nawtbin b out mah ho g an b read. Way down yonder in da b olla of da fiel, Angels wukkin on dacha.yet wbeel. Reason I stay wid my cap'n so long , He giv me b iscuits to rear b ack on. Jes lemme tell ya whut da cap'n jes done, Looked at his watch and looked at da suh. Ho, Boys, it ain time. Ho, Boys, you cain't quit. Ho, Boys, it ain ti me. Sun a.in gone down yit. GO D mvN, OL' HANNAH Go down ol' Hannah, wen you rise no mo? 76 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) Go down ol' Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Lawd, if you rise, Bring Judgment on Lawd, if' you rise, Bring Judgment on. Oh, did you hear What the cap'n said? Oh, did you hear What the cap'n said? That if' you work He'll treat you well , And if' you don He'll give you hell . Oh, go down ol' Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Won you go down, ol' Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Oh, long-time man, Hold up ye ha.id. Well, you may get a pardon And you may drop daid. 77 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) Lawdy, nobody feels sorr:y For de life-time man. Nobody feels sorry For de life-time man. J{)HN HENRY HAMMER Dis is de hammer Killt .John Henry, Twon't kill me, baby, Twon't kill me. Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain Tell him I'm gone, baby, Tell him I'm gone. Ef he axe ·you, Was I running Tell him how fast, b aby, Tell him how fast. Ef he axe you Any mo' questions, Tell him you don't know, baby, You don't know. Every mail day, Gits a letter, 78 SONG �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) "Son, come h ome, baby , Son come h ome. 11 Been all ni gh t long Backing up timber, Want to go h ome, baby, Want to go bome. Jes' wait ti 11 I :nake Dese few days I st arted I' m going h ome, ba by , Is going h ome. Everywhere I Look dis morning Look lak rain, baby, Look lak rai n . I got a rainb ow Tied 'round my s h oulder, Ain't gonna rain, ½aby , Ain't gonna rain. Dis ole hammer Ring lak silver, Shine lak gold. Take dis h ammer 79 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) Throw it in de river, It'll ring rigbt on, baby, Ring rigbt on. Captain, did you bear All yo' men gonna leave you, Next pay day, ba9y, Next pay day? SHINE AND THE TITANIC It was 1912 wben the awful news got around That tbe great Titanic was sinking down. Shine came running up on deck, told the Captain, "Please, The water in the boiler room is up to my knees. 11 Captain said, "Take your black self on back down tbere' I got a bundred-fifty pumps to keep tbe boiler room clear." Shine went back in tbe hole, started shovelling coal, Singing, "Lord, have mercy, Lord, on my soul!" Just then half the ocean jumped across the boiler room deck. Shine yelled to the Captain, "The water's round my neck!" Captain said, "Go back! Neither fear nor doubt! I got a hundred more pumps to keep the water out." ''Your words sound happy and your words sound true, But this is one time, Cap, your words won't do. 80 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) I don't like chicken and I don't li ke h a mAndi don't believe your pumps is worth a damn!" The old Titanic was b e ginning to sink. Shine pulled off his clothes and jumped in the brink. He said, "Little fish, bi g fis h , and shark fishes, too, Get out o.f my way because I'm com1.ng throu gh." Captain on bridge hollered, "Shine, Shine, save poor me, And I'll make you as rich as any man can be. 11 Shine said, "Th ere's more gold on land t h an there is on sea." And he swimmed on. Jay Gould's millionaire dau ghter came running up on deck ·w1 th h er sui tease in h er hand and h er dress 'round her neck. She cried, "Shine, Shine, save poor me! I'll g ive you everyth ing your e~es can see." Shine said, "There's mo:ce on land t h an t here is on sea." And he swimmed on. Big fat banker beggine , "Shine, Shine, save poor met I'll give you a thousand s h ares of T and T." Shine said, "Hore stoc ks on land than there is on sea." And he swimmed on. When all them white folks ·w ent to heaven, Shine was in Sugar Ray's Bar drinking Sea.grams Seven. 81 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) THE SIGNIFYTNG IIOYimY Tbe monkey and Lion Got to talking one day. Monkey looked down and said, Lion, I hear you's ling in every way. But I know somehody 1-fuo do not think tha.t is trueIle told me he could whip The l 1 ving da:rliGhto out of you. Lion said, Hho? Monkey said, Lion, He talked about your marmna And talked about your grandr1a, too, And I'm too polite to tell you What he said about you. Lion said, Hho said wbat? rn: o? ;,fonkey in t 1, e tree, Lion on t he cr ou nd . Monkey kept on sic~lf~ing But b e d j_dn ' t co :.:.2 d o~ m . i:ionke~r said , Fis n ai.ie is Elephant-- He stone sure is not your friend. Lion so.id, Fe don't need to be Because toda~ will t e b is end. Lion took off tbrou gh the junGle 32 �FOLK SECULI\.TIS (cont' c5.) Lickity-split, Meaninc; to grab Elephant And tear hit:~ h it to hit. Period! He come across Elep':1ant copping a ri gh teous nod Under a fine cool shady tree. Lion said, You big old no-good so-and-so, It's either you or me. Lion let out a solid roar And bopped Elephant with h is paw. Elephant just took his trunk And busted old Lion's jaw. Lion let out another roar, Reared up six feet tall. Elephant just kicked him in the belly And laughed to see him drop and fall. Lion rolled over, Copped Elephant by the throat. Elephant just sbook bim loose And butted him like a eoat, Then he tromped him and he stomped him Till the Lion yelled, Oh, no! And it was near-nigh sunset When Elephant let Lion go. The signifying 1-fonkeJr Was still setting in his tree 83 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) ·when he looked down and saw the Lion, Said, Why, Lion, who can that there be? Lion said, it's me. Monkey rapped, Why, Lion, You look more dead than alive! Lion said, Ifonkey, I don't want To hear your jive-end-jive. Monkey just kept on signifying, Lion, you for sure caught hellMister EleplJant 's done whipped you To a fare-thee-well! Why, Lion, you look like to me You been in the precinct station And had the third-degre, Else you look like you been high on gage And done get caught In a monkey cage! You ain't no king to me. Facts, I don't think that you Can even as much as roarAnd if you try I'm liable To come down out of this tree and Wbip your tail some more. The Monkey started laughing And jumping up and down. 84 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) But he jumped so hard the limb broke And he landed--bam!-on the ground. When he went to run, his foot slipped And he fell flat down. Grr-rrr-rr-r! The Lion was on him With his front feet and his hind. Monkey hollered, Ow! Lion said, You little flee-bag you! Why, I'll eat you up alive. I wouldn't a-heen in this fix a-tall Wasn't for your signifying jive. Please, said lfunkey, Mister Lion, If you'll just let me go, I got something to tell you, please, I think you ought to knOi-J, Lion let the Monkey loose To see what bis tale could beAnd Monkey jumped right back on up Into his tree. What I was gonna tell you, said Monkey, Is you square old so-and-so, If you :fool with me I'll get Elephant to whip your head some more. Monkey, said the Lion, Beat to his unbooted knees, 85 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) You and all your signifying ch ildre n Better stay up in them trees. Which is wb:r today Manl ey does h is si gnifying A-way-up out of t h e way. FRANKIE AND JOHNNY Frankie and Johnny were lovers, Lardy, how· they could love, Swore to be true to each other, True as the stars u p ab ove, He was h er man, but be done her wrong . Frankie went down to the corner, To buy h er a bucket of beer, Frankie says "Hister Bartender, Has my lovin' Johnnie been h er~? He is my man, but he's doing me wrong ." "I don't want to cause you no trouble Don't want to tell you no lie, I saw your Joh nnie half-an-h our a. go I-Taking love to Nelly Bly. He your man, but he's doing you wrong ." Frankie went down to the hotel Looked over t h e transom so h i gh , 86 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) There she saw her lovin' Johnnie Making love to Nelly Bly He was her man; he was doing her wrong. Frankie threw back her kimono, Pulled out her big forty-four; Tooty-toot-toot: three times she shot Right through that hotel door, She shot her man, who was doing her wrong. nRoll me over gently, Roll me over slow, Roll me over on my right side, Cause these bullets hurt me so, I was your man, but I done you wrong." Bring all your rubber-tired hearses Bring all your rubber-tired hacks, They're carrying poor Johnny to the burying ground And they ain't gonna brin g h i m back, He was her man, but he done her wrong. Frankie says to t h e sheriff, "Wba t are they going to do?" The sheriff he said to Frankie, "It's the 'lectric ch air for you. He was your man, and be done you wrong." 87 .,.. I • �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) 11 Put me in that dunc eon, Put me in t h at cel l, Put me where t h e nor t'!:i east wind Blows from the south east cor ne r of h ell, I shot my man, 'cause be done me wrong ." ST. JAiffiS I NFIRJ.mRY BLUES I went down to St. James Inf'irmar:r , Hy baby t h ere she lay, Out on a cold , cold table. Well, I looked a n I tur ned away. What's my baby's chances, I asked old Dr. Tharp. '~y six o'clock this eve nin She'll be play in a g olden h arp." Let her go, let h er go, God b less h er, 'Wh erever sh e may b e. She can hunt this wod e world over, But she'll never find a noth er man li ke me. JUST BLUES I got a sweet black gal Liven down by t h e railroad track , A sweet black gal 88 1 ' �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) Down by the railroad track, And everytime she cries The tears run down her back. Cryin', baby, bave mercy, Baby, have mercy on me! Baby, baby, baby, Have mercy, mercy on me! If this is your mercy, What can your pity be? BLACK 'WOMAN Well, I said come here, Black Woman, Ah-hmmm, don you bear me cryin, Lawd, Lawd! I say run heah, Black Woman, . Sit on your Black Daddy's knee, Lawd! ; Mmmmm, I know yo house feel lonesome, Ah, don you heah me wboopin, Lawd, Lawd, Don yo house feel lonesome, When yo biscuit roller gon, Lawd, help my cryin timeDon yo house feel lonesome, Mmmm, When yo biscuit roller gon. 89 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) I say my house feel lonesomeI know you heah me crying , oh Baby, Ah-hmrnm, ah , when I looked in my ki tclien, Mama, An I wen all tboo my dinin room An-m.mmm, when I woke up this mornin I foun my b iscuit roller done gone. Goin to Texas, Mama, Justo heah the wild ox moanLawd help mah cryin time-Goin to Texas, Mama, Jus to heab the wild ox moan, An if they moan to suit me, I'm goin to bring a wild ox home. Ah-hmmm, I sa~r I' m got to go to Texas, Black MamaI know you h eah me cryin, Lawd, Lawd- Ah-hmmm, I 1 m got to go to Texas, Black Mama, Ahm-jus to h eah the wh ite cow, I say, moan! Ah~hmmm, ah, if they moan to suit me, Lawd, Lawd, I bleeve I'll bring a white cow back home. Say, I feel superstitious, Mama, 'Bout my hoggin bread, Lawd help my bungry time, I feel superstitious, Baby, ' b out my h oggin bread! Ah-hmmm, Baby, I feel superstitious, 90 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) I say'stitious, Black Woman! Ah-bmmm, ab you heah me cryin Bout I don got bungry, Lawd, Lawd Ob, Mama, I feel superstitious Bout my hog, Lawd Gawd, it's mah bread. I want you to tell me, Mama, Ah-hmmm, I heah me cryin, oh Mama! Ah-hmmm, I want you to tell me, Black Woman, 0 wbeah did you stay las ni ght? I love you, Black woman, I tell the whole werl I do. Ah-hmmm, I love you, Black Woman, I know you heah me whoopin, Black Baby! Ah-hmmm, I love you Black Woman An I'll tell yo Daddy, I do, Lawd. YOUND BOY BLUES I'm a real young boy, jus sixteen years ol, I'm a real young boy, jus sixteen years ol, I need a funky black woman to satisfy my soul. Hy father was no jockey but he sure taught me how to ride. I say my father was no jockey but be sure taught me how to ride. 91 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) He said f'irst in t h e middle, Then you sway fro m side to side. DACKDOOR BLUES I left my baby sta ndin in t h e back door cryin' Yes, I left my b aby standi n in t h e b ack door cryin' She said, baby , you gotta h o me jus as long as I eot mine. A BIG FAT HA.HA I' m a b i g fat ma rna, [!;Ot t h e meat s haki n on ma.b b ones, I'm a bi g fat r,i arna , got t h e meat sh aki n on mab bones, And every t i me I s h a kes, some skinny g irl loses h uh home. HOH LONG BLt:ms How lone; , h ov, lon 6 , h as t h at eveninc t r a in b in gone? How lo ne , ~ 0 11 long , baby, h ow l ong ? Had a gal l i ved up on t h e b ill If she' s t he r e, sh e lo ves ~e still Baby, b ow l ong , h ow long , b ow l on e ? Sta. nd :i.n a t t h e st a ti on , watch r,~:r b aby c o Feel dis c ust ed, blue , me an a n l ow How lone; , 1 7 0W lo ns : b aby , :1 0 1-1 92 lo ng ? ,, � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_08_01_01 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter II. The Black and Unknown Bards, p. 27-92 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/ff815af925a4980926682118f11cbd3f.pdf 8096a82c91569c8b3d1a1bceca3c7e23 PDF Text Text ( ) • �, , ') 1 �V LL " j .6 �• �II �, ��( �����' I I • • t ; I • •• ' ) I �, l ---of'.t my , I .. ef id ., 1 27 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_08_01_02 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Folk Spiritauls (cont'd), p. 14-27 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/efe6c634b118d7cbf0a40da224b42850.pdf ca15909d8f48fc93de485455eb1174df PDF Text Text CHAPTER III AFRICAN VOICE IN ECLIPSE: IMITATION & AGITATION 1746 - 1865 Slaves, though we be enroll'd Minds are never to be sold --from David Ruggles' Appeals, 1835 I Overview As we embark on a survey of the chronological development of Black written poetry, it is important to remember that any study of such literature concerns that which is "written" and "available." The fact that one writer has made more works accessible to the public than another writer does not make him/her the "greatest II or even "greater. 11 In every era., quiet and important writers have been passed over in favor of literature that is more "timely, 11 'flamboyant II and "relevant 11 --to use an overworked contemporary term. Here and following chapters, I am including brief representations of the poetry. And while this book certainly is not an "anthology," "samples" are given to reinforce comments on styles, themes, subjects, language and other aspects of the poetry. The poems included, it is hoped, will allow student, general reader and teacher immediate access to comparisons, contrasts and tentative analyses. There also is no over-riding effort to explain the works in a • 93 .I �poem-by-poem breakdown. However, Chapter VII will offer an historical "runnlng " a nal:,rsis of several poems with emphasis on how the poems can be read silently and aloud. Also to be examined are some of the consistencies (and similarities) in themes that can be found i n many of the poems. II Literary and Socia~ Landscape Blacks have he en in the Western Hemisphere almost as long as whites. After 1501, most of the Spanish exped:i.tions to the New World included Black explorers. By the time the 20 slaves- to-be were brought on a Dutch vessel to Jamestown in 1619, the presence of Blacks had been felt for at least 100 years (see Bennett, Franklin). Crucial to an understanding of early Black poetry are the circumstances surrounding slavery and the political and religious moods of ½oth England and Colonial-Revolutionary America. British America did not follow the Greco-Roman tra- dition of the well informed slave. It was quite unlikely, then, that a "revolutionary" Black poet would emerge from a social and literary landscape so charged with self-righteousness and Neoclassicism (or from the Romanticism of the lBOOts). Lucy Terry's "Bars Fight 11 (written in 1746 and published in 1895) could hardly be called "protest"; neither could the work of Phillis Wheatley, co nsidered the finest Black talent of the colonial era, caught between contrivances of the Age of Enlightenment and the approaching grip of the romantics. 94 The neoclassical �tradition that reached its height in the poetry of England's Alexander Pope, had already begun to die out with the death of Pope himself in 1744. All over Colonial America, however, white poets were imitating the stiff-collared conventionality of that period. The moral issues considered by most of the poets (Black and white)--universal brotherhood of man, quest for reason and order, the Jeffersonian ideals of freedom, liberty and representative government--were removed from the everyday brutality of slavery. Some of the most liberal men of the day (Jefferson, Washington, Hume) implicitly justified slavery by suggesting that Blacks were in some ways inferior. Despite Jefferson's pontifications on humanitarianism, he was unable to reconcile the disparity between his public stands and his failure to manumit his own slaves. Although Jefferson carried on a written correspondence with Black astronomer and mathematician, Benjamin Banneker, he considered Phillis Wheatley's work "beneath criticism. 11 On the general American scene, the Revolution behind, a national literature had begun to emerge. Fascinated with American employment of new technology (Franklin's lightning experiments, printing presses, etc.) and the prospects of unexplored regions of the New World, writers started recording travels and observing the mixture of races and religions. Although religious fervor was still high (Calvinism, Weslyanism and deism had run their courses), political problems dominated. Between 1790 and 1832 the new American government was being consolidated and the writings of men like William Bradford, • 95 �John Winthrop, Cotton Mather, Thomas Shephard, Roger Williams, Edward Taylor and Jonathan Edwards were succeeded by the embryonic nationalistic works of Franklin, Jefferson, William Byrd, William Cullen Bryant, Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving, William Gilmore Simms an:1 James Fenimore Cooper. Irving, Cooper and Bryant were to become the early writers most taught to American school children. Often called the "New England Renaissance," the early decades of the 19th Century saw increasing tension between New England puritanism and Southern aristocracy over the question of slavery. over slavery Debates continued up to the beginning of the Civil War. The early part of the century also saw the birth of many of white America's greatest writers along with romanticism and rugged individualism. :Mystified by the noble savage (Indians and sometimes Blacks) and challenged by the "new frontier," Americans began to romanticize their situation and especially that of explorers 1~0 became the first original folk heroes. White writers who dominated the period from 1826-1865 included Edgar Allan Poe (poet and short story writer, credited with creating the first detective in American fiction), Nathaniel Hawthorne (cons:J.dered the first great American novelist--The Scarlet Letter), John Greenleaf vJhi ttier, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russel Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Harriet Beecher Stowe (one of the first white American novelists to feature a Black protagonist in fiction--Uncle Tom's Cabin), Ra lph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, �Herman Melville (considered to have written one of the handful of "great Tl American no ve ls-- r-Iohy Dick), Walt '!rJhi t man ( termed the Tlgreatest" American poet--Leaves of Grass). Other writers, primarily political acti vists or abolitionists, included John G. Calhoun, Willlar:i Lloyd Garrison, and Abrahar,1 Lincoln. Using their own and Black materlal, a numhe r of white composers i mmortalized t he era ln songs-- man:- of t 1.1 em national:tstic. It wa s C.nr ing t hj_::.; r, e rio( t11at Fran c:Ls Scott Key wrote TIThe Star Spangled Banner. 11 Step:1en Foster b8. S since b een accused of merely putting to music the s on cs that were sung by slaves. There was no i.:;oncral encot1rage r:1ent, bowever, for Blacks to earn to read; but many slave owner s indul ged their chattel tn uriting exercises as pers onal pasttir.1es and h obbies. So nany of the early Black poets, then, grew up in relative security. To be totally free, David Walker ohser ved in h is Appeal (1829) to be economl cal ly insecure, socially ostracized and psycho- ':lrn : og1 cnlly oppres sed . Co nseque ntly, t h ose slaves priviledged to read and writ e invariably took European literary models. f~ta , of course, were not the only ones writing. In addition o n ol1tionists-essayists, like Walker and Frederick Douglass, '1h per iod of Black literary activity was highlighted by •lt1t tng slave narratives: ·r t troed slaves. autobiogra phical accounts of escaped The most popular of t h ese, and one of the rit rocorded, was The Interesting 'JITarra ti ve of the Life of Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789). includes it in bis Great Slave Narratives 97 Arna (1969). �Vassa, who also included penned some notable verses, c onstructe(l a story pattern that was to b ecome fa miliar to readers of early America: that of the escaped, freed or run away slave w1 o reported his or h er hardsh ips and struggles. Vassa descri hes his life in Africa up until the time of h is kidnapping . With vivid memory and detail, he establishes the orig inal bases for what we have come to call the nAfrican Continuum" in America. It is not just mere coincidence that t b is statement from 1789 almost fits parts of Black America of today. We are almost a nation of dancers, musicians, and poets. Thus every great event ••• is celebrated ·in public dances which are accompanied with songs and music suited to the occasions. Vassa's debut into this literary genre was followed by hundreds of other narratives, many of them fakes. Early Negro Writing : Dorothy Porter, in 1760-1837 (1971), h as d l scussed the problem of determining auth enticity of the narratives. Hrs. Porter is librarian of the Moorland Foundation at Howard University--which houses an outstanding collection on the Black past. book she included: constitutions and laws of beneficial societies; speeches before mutual aid and educational societies; the report of the earliest annual convention for the improvement of free people of color; arguments for and a gainst colonization; printed letters, sermons, petitions, orations, lectures, essays, reli g ious and In her �moral treatises, and such creative manifestations as poems, prose narratives, and short essays. Mrs. Porter thus sums up the intellectual and literary output of the early Africans. The word "African," was used generously by most writers and speakers of the era. 'When "African" was not employed it was i r:1plied through the use of "Coloured," "Black, 11 "an Ethiopian P.r incess" and other terms. Placed against the sometimes sophomoric and heretical accusations of some of today's Black critics, these early displays of pride in the African heritage makes one want to send many a loudmouth back to school! In addition to the plethora of pamphlets, broadsides, books and news organ that emerged from Black individuals and institutions during the period up to the end of the Civil War, there was also much political-social consciousness raising through oration. In the early years great religious and political leaders such as Richard Allen, Peter Williams, Absalom Jones, Prince Hall (founder of Black Masonry), Paul Cu:ffee and Daniel Coker, took up projects of "mutual aid" for Africans. Their work set the stage for missionary, ab olitionist and self-help programs undertaken later by people like Jarena Lee, Frederick Douglass, R. Martin Delaney, Sojourner Truth, and Alexander Crummell, to name only a handfull. The intellectual, relig ious and moral work of Blacks in the North was paralleled by the development of folk materials 99 �(the songs and stories) of Blacks on S outhern plantations. In general few states, North or S outh, allowed educational or vocational opportunities for Blacks. Thus the energies of early Black writers and intellectuals, Mrs. Porter and William Robison point out, were aimed at setting up of various '~frican" societies and free schools, and the promotion of literacy and self-betterment among newly freed slaves. Many educated Blacks of the North also acted as conduits for the Underground Railroad. The Rev. Allen, popular religious crusader and founder of tre Bethel African Methodist Episcopan Church, seems to have been referring to the sa:ne Black "sensib ility" described by Vass a when he said ( in 1793) that be was confident that there was no religious sect or de nomination that would suit the capacity of the colored people as well as the Methodist; ••• Sure I am that readin g sermons will never prove so beneficial to the colored people as spiritual or extempore preaching ••.• Much evidence exists, then, of Blacks b anding together for "mutual" concerns in the early days of America. The horror~ of slavery, the psychological pressures of Northern "freedom," white reprisals in wake of slave revolts (such as those led by Gabriel Prosser in 1800, Denmark Vesey in 1822 and Nat Turner in 1831), made for a most unsettling atmosphere (see Walker's 100 �Appeal). Reporting on white America's "need" to vent its fears and hatreds on Blacks, Winthrop Jordan (vJbi te Over Black, 1968) noted that whites initially feared tbree things: loss of identity, lack of self-control and sexual license. In an ei'i'ort to e.scape the "animal within h imself t11e white man debased the Negro, surely, but at the same time he debased himself." And a young Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, visiting America in 1831, said racial prejudice was "stronger in the states that bave abolished slavery than in tbose where it still exists." Needless to say, creative literature of the "arty" sort (though much of it was being done at the time) was not the number one priority for Blacks facing hell from all sides. Nevertheless a literary tradition did develop and flourish in Black America. The example of the narratives (including those by }Iarrant, Douglass and Truth) led to publications by the first Black novelist and playwright, William Wells Brown. novel was Clotel: Brown's or The President's Daughter (1853) and his play was called Escape: Or A Leap to Freedom (185,7). The second novel by a Black American was The Garies and their Friends (1857) by Frank J. Webb. Delaney published the third novel, Black, or the Huts of America, in 1859. Webb were both published in England. The works by Brown and Brown also worked on in the cause oi' abolition and other social reform programs. His Anti-Slavery Harp (1348 ) contained songs and poems whose themes are implied in the book's title. The pattern of the Black educator, intellectual or artisan carrying on the dual role o~ creator and activist, characterizes the history of Black • 101 �creativity in America. Yet many critics, Black and white, unaware of the stresses and demands on Black artists do not approach their subjects with the understanding required. Political journalism (see Dann's The Black Press, 1827-1890), also, was a strong vein in the development of Black American writing. Beginning with John Russwurm (the second Black college graduate and first Black newspaper editor, Freedom's Journal, 1827-29), and evolving through Ruggles' Hirror for Liberty (first Black magazine, 1838), Douglass' Monthly 1844) and North Star (1847), to Hamilton's Anglo-African Magazine {1859), the tradition of Black journalism and research on the African experience was firr;1ly established. Huch of the journalistic writing (like the poetry) took pros or cons on the question of imigration, colonization or the elevation of the Black man's plight in America. During the early and middle years of the 19th Century, white travelers through the South collected and compiled slave songs-Seculars and Spirituals. These songs would . later form the nucleus for much of the Black and wh ite writing themes. On the eve of the Civil Har, tbe Dred Scott decision (a hlow to slaves and abolitionists) help step up the demands for the abolishment of slavery. Brown's The Black I-Tan (1 863) was a capsule of one er•a which closed on the blasts of cannon and another that opened on tl1e sound of jubilant shouts. 102 �III THE VOICES ON THE TOTEM "mean mean mean to 1, e free 11 --Robert Ha:rden Age.inst the foregoin 6 b ackground, t "'.-: e poets of Colonia.1Revolutionary-Slavcry America appear c ur ious, tearful, exciting, paradoxical, fri gh tening and puzzlin 0 • Biblical i maGery, classical allusions and t bemes, batred of slavery and ambiguous praise for slave- masters, recollectio ns of Africa, appeals and condemnatio ns, all be come enmeshed in the intricate linguistic and psych ological uehbinc; of t ½is early poetry. In 1770, at 17 y ear s of a g e, t he privileGed slave girl Phillis 1'H-1eatle:r ;) ccame t 1~e first Black "exception to tbe rule" And for d ecades students of in English and A~orican po etry. American poctr:r 1.-w.d gone a1)ont t1-:ieir recitations and research a:::; though notbinc; or no o:1e of i mporte.n ce :~np::1e r:: ed IIiss Hll eatley Fig'bt"--tbo accou nt of a ::. 71.:. 6 I nc.inn r,1assacre in :D e erfield, , ~ -- -" ·, J_ L, • ..1... .L ,:_, . .Jupiter !!anmo n' s "An :Sveni n.:_: T:.1ou_::;:::t , Salvat io n h:- C"!:~ rlst, With Pen:i.tentie..l Cri es" (1761) :i.n t l'J o lTeH Yorl-: Historical Society, t hus establishinc Tiammo n a s t ~e first ~u½l ishe e African poet in America. 1 03 �Ue r.1ent5.o:1c d earlior t h at ~.:.a ny ant}; olo 6 ies omit "Bar's Figl1t. 11 Thin i n u nd or:J t anda1~l e si nc e T1iss Terr:r (1730-1 831) never wrote, or at lea s t pr e sented, anymore literary works. America's "first rccro poet," t h en, is i n porta nt primarily for being just tl1at--firs t . Lilre Hiss 1,n10atley, Vassa and oth er N'ew England slaves, she was ld.dnapped as a child ai.1d l)rought to New Enc;land (Rh ode Island). She witnessed t b e Indlan raid reported in her 2 3-line do seercl a nd ~as a flair for storytelling . Hence despite t ll e poe m's "ohviously weak literary merit," this Black writer performed one of th e earliest ser vices of' the poet--that of a singer of' h istory-- in recording actual names and places in her narrative. Since she was 16-:~ears-old and a servant girl, writing was surely not h er primarily respon- sibility. Yet "Bar's Figh t," ach ie ves some success when seen against tbe oral tradition i n poetry: Listen my children and you sh all h ear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. or Now, children, I' m going to tell you the story ab out raw-head and bloody-bones! and There was an old woman who lived in a shoe She had so many children she didn't know what to do. Compare the fore g oing lines to Aue ust 'twas, the twenty-fifth, Seventeen hundred forty six, 104 �Tbe Indians did in ambush lay, Some very valiant men to slay, The names of wbom I'll not leave out: Samuel Allen li ke a h ero fout, and the elemental connections will readily be seen. One has only to read this poem aloud to get b otb t h e effects and Miss Terry's apparent intentions. 1foen sb e wrote 11 Bar 's Fight 11 Miss Terry worked for an Eb enezer Wells of Deerfield, t~ssachusetts, but was 1:;iven her freedom ten y ears later when she married a free Black man, Ab ijah Prince, children. wh om she had six by Prince later b ecame tbe owner of considerable land and was one of t h e founders of Sunderland, Ver mont. Hilliam Robinson (Early Black American Poets) lists Hiss Terry with the "orator" poets and righ tly so. Other details about Miss Terry and the Princes can b e obtained from George Sheldon's A History of Deerfield, Hassacbusetts, 1 695. Slave poet and intellectual, Jupiter Ha mmon (1720?-ll300?), provides yet anoth er look into the capab ilities, mind-sets and limitations of Africans in Colonial America. Hammon is generally not regarded as an "i mportant" Black writer-- but is distinguished for being the first African in America to publish his verses. This he did in 1761 ( "An Evening Th ough t, 11 composed in December of 1760); 1778 ("An Address to Hiss Ph illis Wh eatley"); 1782 ("A Poem for Ch ildren"); and in the mid-17 80•s ("An Evening's Improvement 11 ) . In his nAddress to the Negroes of the State of New York" (written in 1786 and pu1)lished in 1806) Hammon linked in with a tradition that included pamph leteers, like • 105 �Quinn, Walker, Ruggles and oth ers of t b e period. Hammonts "Address" sought freedo m .for younger Blacks, claiming that 11 for my own part I do not wish to be free." This statement appears, on the surface, to b e the ultimate in self-debasement and self-denial; but one h as to view it in t h e context of statements by de Tocqueville, Walker, and others, along with the circumstances o.f the aging and reli gious Hammon. That Hammon himself was deeply reli e ious is reflected in his poetry--as with many Black poets, e.g., Hayden today-and he obviously labored under the influence of Methodism and the Wesleyan Revival (see Early Ne gro Writing ). In the poem to Miss Wheatley, he notes t h at it 1--1as throu gh that "God's tender mercy" that she was kidnapped from A.frica and bro.u ght to America as a slave. And Hammon seemed, generally, to reflect with prevailing wh ite attitude toward the "dark" continent: one engulfed in i g norance, ~arbaris m and evil. Obviously not as well read as Hiss l:Jb ea tley, Hammon was unable to take his themes to universal and intellectually arresting levels. He was born a slave a nd b elonged to t h e inf'luential family of Lloyd's Neck on Long Island and was encouraged by his masters to write and publish poetry. There is not a great deal of in.formation available on the life of Hammon; but it is difficult to understand why an intelli gent Black man, who lived such a long life, mirrored almost complete ignorance of the horrors of slavery--despite the almost daily local newspaper and verbal accounts a.nd discussions of the 106 ' '' �11 peculiar ins ti tut ion. 11 J:arimon' s li terar:r models were primarily f' the conventional material of hymns of t h e period. So his re- • i.,; ligious fervor--at t h e time of religious revi vals in Europe and Colonial Amer1.ca--coupled with his stylistic b orrowings from hymns constitut e h i s major poetic effort. Thought, 11 "An Evening which .i irs. Porter tells us was probably during tl1e deli ver:· of a sermon, 11 11 t chanted beGins: Sal va t ion co~e s b~ Christ alo ne Tb e o nl:r Son of .God; Tiedemp tion now to every one, That lo ve h is only word. Dear J"e s us He would fly to thee, And leav0 off every Sin, Thy tender Mercy well a gree; Salvation fro m our king ; Like Miss Terry, Hammon was not primarily a poet. And hence, J unlike approaching Phillis Wheatley, one sh ould not spend too t ...I Drnch time or be too h arsh in criticizing (or complaining about) him. The basic structure of the English hymn--wh ich merged I' with the Spiritual--as Ha mmon interprets it, is an alternation of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter combined with a rather clumsy ab ab rhyme sch eme. Compared to other bymns, it is no worse and is better t h an amny. Despite the times, pressures and censures, however, one is bardpressed to accept Harnmon's assurance to the s lave tbat: In Christian faith thou hast a share, Worth all the gold of Spain. 107 .. �Hammon's works can be found critically introduced in Robinson's anthology, in Stanley Ransom's America's First Negro Poet, the Complete Works of Jupiter Hammon of Long Island (1970) (and in Barksdale's and Kinnamon's Black Writers of America, 1972); critical-biographical attention is in Vernon Loggins' The Negro Author (1931) and J. Saunders Redding's To Make A Poet Black (1939). Yet another slave, Phillis 'Wheatley (1753 ?-1784}, has to be examined. There has been substantial critical-biographical treatment of Miss 'Wheatley, so no attempt will be made here to give her full consideration. By far the most gifted and com- plex poet until Dunbar, Phillis ,fueatley was also priviledged as a young child and allowed access to the Boston library of John Wbeatlye--to whom she was sold after being brought from Senegal when she was six or seven years old--where she read voraciously. By the time of her teens she had learned to speak and write English, and acquired a New England education which put great emphasis on the Bible and the classics. ·Her poetry, like Hammon's reflects deep interest in and knowledge of religion; but it is alsb steeped in classical allusions and conventions of the neoclassical writing school. Critical attention to Miss Wheatley (who, like Dunbar, lived a short life) has been both raving and unkind. Benjamin Brawley (The Negro Genius) reports that Jefferson viewed her as beneath the dignity of criticism. Yet, other great personalities of the day generously praised and received her work. 108 George �Washington, so moved by her poetic tribute ("To His Excellency General Washine;ton"), invited the young poet to visit him at his camp at Cambridge, Massachusetts--an invitation which she later accepted arrl was treated as roy alty. Miss Wbeatley's earliest verses were penned during the · years of her adolescence. "On t h e Death of the Rev. George 1770, 11 re.fleets the elegaic theme which occupies Whitefield: much of her poetry. Manumitted and sent with other members of the Wheatley family to London in 1772, because of frailness and poor health, Miss Wheatley was received like a visiting dignitary in London's literary circles and hailed as the "Sable Muse. 11 Th e next y ear (1773), while in London, she became (at 20-years-old) the first African, a~ the second woman from America, to publish a book of poems: Poems on Various Subjects, Reli g ious and Moral, by Ph illis Wheatley, Negro Servant to ~Tr . Wheatley of Boston. The volume, the only one she ever publish ed, became an i mmediate success in both England and America and won her an everlasting place in the history of Engli sh poetry i n Amer i ca. Upon her return to America, Mis s Wheatley ' s misfortunes seemed to come in such lightning succession that one wonders how sh e withstood adversity as lon g as she did. First, t h ere was t he death of :tv".irs. Wheatley and t h en, during the l 770' s, t h e deaths of t h e remaining Wheatl e~rs. The poet t h en married a Joh Peters, who "proved to b e both a t1bitious and irresponsible," for whom she b ore thre e childr en--all of wh om died in infancy. 1 09 �Additionally, t he Peters family li ved in squalor a nd poverty, like so many New Encland Blac ks . Commenttnc on the circum- s tances surroundinc her de ath , Barksdale a nd Kannamon (Black Writer s of Americ a ) observe wi t b stoRach -curdli ng accuracy that: l t Her early death pr ovides a COQmen t ar y o n the de sperate marginality of life among Boston 's free Blac ks at tre.t time . an extre .. :.c >· To Phillis 1-n~eatley , benig n ma ::; ter-8 Gr-rr.n t relation- ship , freedom's uncertainities and insecur- ities were overwhelming . Certainly, h ad she been initially free in Boston, she would probably never have had the time, the opportunity, or the peace of mind to write poetry. For the state of freedom for the Black man in the 1780's--even in godly, liberty-loving Boston--was indeed precarious. The preceding explanation, coupled again with the observations of Walker, de Tocqueville and others, make Hammon's statement about pref'erring not "to be free" somewhat more tolerable if not plausable. We noted that Phillis Wheatley has been praised as well as condemned. Some critics denounce her for not being inventive and original enough, claiming that she simply followed the conventions and themes associated with neoclassicism: Salvation, Mercy and Goodness. 110 Truth, Some resent her so-called "pious • ! �sentimentality" and accuse her of calling on Christ when she should be calling for the abolishment of slavery. Still others, during the current period, have accused her of not being "Black enough." Considered on the landscape of the times, however, Miss Wheatley comes off as a genius--with hardly an equal among ·Back or white contemporaries. James Weldon Johnson, during a comparison of Miss Wheatley's "Imagination" to Anne Bradstreet's "Contemplation," said "We do not think the black woman suffers by comparison with the white" (Negro American Poetry). During h er l i fe ti me Miss Wh eatley published some 50 poems, almost half of them elegies, five or six political and pa~riot pieces ("General Washington" and "Liberty and Peace"), and the remainder consumed by religious and moral subjects--as she states in her title. Though she never deals with the question of slavery--and makes only tentative reference to her own predicament--her work sustains a high level of emotional, linguistic, religious and general poetic force. S-ince her greatest models were Pope, Dryden, Milton and the earlier classical writers, one must examine these sources to uncover some keys to her techniques atrl allusions. But one only has to read (aloud) the following passage from "Rev. George Whitefield" to feel impact: I l, "Take him, ye wretch ed, for y our only good, "Take h i m, ye starving sinners, for your food. ''Ye t hrifty , come to t h is life- giving stream, I, ; . 111 .... �'~e preachers, take him for your joyful theme; "Take him, my dear Americans, he said, "Be your complaints on his kind bosom laid; "Take b im, ye Africans, h e longs for you, "Impartial Savior is his title due; ''Washed in the fountain of redeeming blood, '~ou shall be sons and kings, and priests to God." More will be said of this poem in Chapter VII; but we should state that some of the previously harsh criticism of Miss Wheatley has been tempered in light of increasing :feminism and, especially, efforts by Black women writers, scholars and intellectuals to reevaluate h er. Much of her work is done in the heroic couplet which dominated the period o:f poetry-writing. These pentameter couplets (which would be popularized in the 20th Century as "unrhymed iambic pentameter" by Robert Frost) call for end-line rhymes to appear in twos, with 10 syllables per line. Roger ~n1itlow (Black American Literature) complains that Miss Wheatley "falls short . in what Pope called the 'correctness' of diction and meter, that near-perfect choice of word and measurement and weighing of syllable." One could agree, if Miss ll'Tbeatley's sole aim were simply to imitate. But there is a great evidence that she--like Black poets always seem to be doing--was trying to achieve a readable poem without losing the essence o:f the couplet. After all, as Stephen Henderson (Understanding the New Black Poetry) has suggested, many Black poets have their ears and thought rhythms attuned to the spiritual and phonological 112 �demands of the audience that loves "extempore" delivery, when the written lines are strict and tight. Also, in placing "Their colour is a diabolic dye" in ✓ "'---- quo tat ions ( "On Being Brought from Africa to America "l, Misa Wheatley suggests that others deem her color negative but that she may not. This remains a possibility despite her closing couplet: Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as C.a in, May be refined, and join the angelic train. Yet there is firm evidence that Miss "Wheatley was not insensitive, at least to her on predicament as a slave without a fundamental and geneological identity. Honourable William, Earl of Dartmough," In nTo The Right she says Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song, Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow these wishes for the common good, By feeling hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate. Was snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy seat: What pangs excruciating must molest, What sorrows labour in my parent's breast? Steel'd was that soul and by no misery mov'd That from a father seiz'd his babe belov'd: Such, such my case. And can I then but pray Others may never feel tyrannic sway? The capital "F" in "Freedom," the phrase "cruel fate," the sorrow felt for her parents and the reinforcement of the agony • 113 ~' • I .. •' . II I �via repetition ("such, such"; see Margaret Walker's lines "How Long!"), place her alongside other Black voices that searched for answers to the pall of racial insanity that enwebbed them. hymn form. Miss Wheatley also experiments with the In "A. Farewell To America II and "An Hymn To Humanity" one bounces along her alternating lines and rhythms. We stated earlier that Miss vJheatley's critical image has somewhat shifted. Perhaps the capstone of this shift was the Jackson State College Poetry Festival, held in November of 1973 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publiEbony magazine (March, 1974) cation of Miss Wheatley's Poems. did a five-page picture essay on the festival, organized and hosted by Margaret Walker poet-novelist and Director of Jackson State's Institute for the Study of History, Life and Culture of Black People. According to Ebony "eighteen Black women poets converged" on the Black college campus to salute Miss Wheatley, read their own poems and discuss poetry and life. Writer Luci Horton noted that recently there has been more respect for the 11 slave girl who, under unspeakable cir- cumstances, was able to write poetry or any literature at all." In addition to Dr. Alexander, the list of poets included in Naomi Long Madgett, Margaret c. Burroughs, Marion Alexander, Margaret Esse Danner, Linda Brown Bragg, Mari Evans, Carole Gregory Clemmons, Lucille Clifton, Sarah Webster Fabio, Nikki . . Giovanni, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Gloria c. Oden, Sonia Sanchez, Alice Walker, Malaika Ayo Wangara ( Joyce Whitsitt Lawrence) and Carolyn M. Rodgers. Gwendolyn Brooks' absence '· 114 �was conspicuous. The festival was also the subject of a six-page picture essay by Carole Parks in Black World (Webruary, 1974). One of the most revealing comments was made by Paule Giddings, a young editor at Howard University Press: There is something wrong with a critical tradition that makes Phillis Wheatley an historical footnote •••• Phillis Wheatley was black and . this is the difference (between her and other poets of her day) and also the contradiction: the contradiction between her blackness which she recognized and never was .free, to forget by a thousand humiliations and white mercantile England, a world that was never to be hers, but whose values she seemed to accept. She was in a slave world, but not truly of it •••• It does no good to reproach a child for yielding to attractive influences when within herself there is no strong residue of any other influence or tradition. It is easy to say she had no racial consciousness. It would be .fair to look at the choices she had and ascertaln whether or not she was capable of enduring even more intense isolation. Ms. Giddings has asserted ·what appears to be a balanced answer to the protestations o.f Redd inc , Brmm, Brawley ( "no racial 115 �value") ~ and others. It remains to be seen as to whether current and future generations of Black and white students will keep Miss Wheatley a "statute in the park" or bring her to the table and "examine her hlood and beart." Critical treatment of this first Black woman of letters already has been extensive: Juli.an Mason's The Poems of Phillis 1~eatley (1966); Barksdale's and Kinnamon's critic a l introduction; Robert C. Kuncio's "Some Unpublished Poe:m3 of Phillis Wheatle~~" I (New Entland Quarterly, XLIII, June, 1 S'7 C, 2 27-2°7); Lor:Gins' I The Negro Author (1931); Bra.wley's The Negro Genius; Redd1ng's To Make A Poet Black; Shirley Graham's The Story of Phillis Wheatley (1949); and Jerry Ward's and Charles Howell's article in the Summer, 1974, issue of Freedomways. We have already mentioned Gustavus Vassa (1745-1801), one of the most interesting of the early writers, in another context. Born the seventh and youngest son of a chieftan (in Essake, now Eastern Nigeria), Vassa (African name: Olaudah Equia.no) was first sold to a Virginia plantation owner. His journeys later took him on several Atlantic voyages and then to the Mediterranean where be served in the Seven Years War . Vassa held technical jobs on ships as a result of bis adeptness at the English language and his mastery of basic mathematics . He became a tireless worker for the abolition of slavery and worked, briefly, in behalf of efforts to colonize poor blacks of England in Sierre Leone. Vassa is chiefly known for his Narrative (1789) which was a best-seller among abo- 116 �l1tionists in England and America. Slave narratives, we have observed, were a part of a branch of Black writing which gave rise to the more sophisticated autobiographies (that stretch from Douglass through Baldwin and Cleaver) which in turn laid some of the foundation for American fiction. Vassa was not the first writer of a slave narrative, as is popularly thought. Briton Hammon (no relation to Jupiter) published in London A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Surprisin5 Deliverance of Briton Hammon, A Negro Man (1760) and John Marrant published (also in London) A Narrative of the Lord's Wonderful Dealings with J. Marrant, A Black ( 1785). Vassa, who we turn to briefly for his efforts in poetry, included "Miscellaneous Verses" in his Narrative. His verse is interesting because it helps to establish the portrait of a complex and many-sided man; it also provides further insight into the workings of the African mind making contact with white culture and especially Christianity. While in his prose and speech-making Vassa was firm in his attacks on slavery, he proves in the end to be a believer in some ultimate force of "deliverance." In the last line of the last stanza of his "Verses" he reminds us that "Salvation is by Christ alonel" Which is, of course, reminiscent of Hammon's opening line: Salvation come by Christ alone Nevertheless Vassa's language is less saturated in Biblical terms than Hammon•s. And the former, as verse writer, has a better control on the language. In the "Verses" he applies a • 117 �driving iambic tetrameter meter with an a ab b rhyme scheme: Those who beheld my downcast mien Could not guess at my woes unseen: They by appearance could not know The troubles I have waded through. Lust, anger, blasphemy, and pride, With legions of such ills beside, Troubled my thoughts while doubts and fears Clouded and darken'd most my years. In the first stanze quoted Vassa presages the duality and mental pressures that more skilled writers would describe in years to come. Implying that the job of the oppressed Black is to keep his head even and up, Vassa says even those who see him in his sorriest state cannot envision the sufferings he has endured. Dunbar would say the same thing in a different way in ''We Wear the Mask" more than a century later. And Countee Cullen would state it more than 130 years later in yet a different way. This apparent ability of Blacks to "keep cool" and adapt (see Johnson's The Autobiography of An Ex-Coloured Man) under the most trying circumstances has been promoted, nurtured and praised by leaders of the race. Vassa, then, is important as an early writer, not only because of his skill, but for the insight and understanding he brings to the social and religious pressures, demands and choices around him. There is a releasing therapy in Vassa 1 s work which acts as only one of numerous L 118 �conduits for Black anguish and outrage when the options were slavery or death. Vassa's Narrative is most accessible in Bontemps' Great Slave Narratives (1969). In 1967 Paul Edwards published an edition of the Narrative including a comprehensive introduction. Edwards also did a two-volume facsimile reprint of the first edition (1969). See also Africa Remembered: Narratives by West Africans from the Era of the Slave Trade, edited by Phillip D. Curtin (1967). Loggins assesses the Narrative and Robinson provides a handy biographical-critical introduction. More on Vassa can be found in Marion L. Starkey's Striving to Make It My Home: The Story of American frQm Africa (1964) and in Whitlow's Black American Literature. In the summer of 1974, Darwin Turner conducted a graduate and postgraduate seminar on Slave Narratives at Iowa State University where he directs the Center for Afro-American Culture. The early and middle years of the 19th century witnessed the maturation of Black autobiography, political journalism and abolitionist activities. George Moses Horton .was 34 years old when William Lloyd Garrison founded The Liberator (1831), the most influential and famous of the abolitionist newspapers. And by 1830 there were more than in America. SO Black antislavery societies Blacks in the United States had been stireed by slave rebellions both here and in places like Haiti, the Carribean and Trinidad. Especially inspiring during this period was the 1839 revolt of slaves aboard the Spanish schooner L'Amistad. Led by Joseph Cinque, a Mandi-speaking 119 �prince, the fifty slaves, killed the captain, set the crew adrift and demanded that ship owners steer the ship to Africa. Apprehended, the Africans were escorted by a United States brig to New Haven where the would-be slaves faced murder and other charges. Ex-President John Quincy Adams defended the Africans' right to return to their homeland and in 1842 they sailed to Sierre Leone. Ironically, neither the international press nor most Blacks knew of the connection between .Cinque of the Symbionese Liberation Front, apparently headquartered in northern California during 1973-74, and the Cinque of the L'Amistad revolt. In light of the growing consciousness among Blacks, it was to be expected that A George Moses Horton (1797-1883) would appear to inveigh against tyranny and slavery. Born a slave near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Horton is considered to be the first Black to employ protest themes in a volume of verse. His Hope of Liberty (1829) ranged over the whole area of general and personal protest. The poet was first owned by a planter named Horton who later rented him in the service of a janitor to the University of North Carolina. Horton exploited the academic environment by reading the English classics and composing poems. Often called the first professional Black writer, Horton hired his poetic skill out to students who paid him rather handsomely for composing "personal" poems. His second book of poems, Poetical Works of George M. Horton, the Colored Bard of North Carolina, was published in 1845. 120 �Horton's hopes that he would gain enough money from the sale of his books to secure bis freedom were never realized; and he was not freed until Union soldiers arrived in 1865 when his last volume, Naked Genius, was published. Horton's themes are not devoted exclusively to protest and he has been criticized, along with Phillis Wheatley, Hammon and Vassa, for writing such lines as those that appear in "On Hearing of the Intention of a Gentleman to Purchase the Poet's Freedom": When on life's ocean first I spread my sail, I then implored a mild auspicious gale; And from the slippery strand I took my flight, And sought the peaceful heaven of delight. ••• •••••••• ••••••••••• • •••••••••• ••••••••• Hard was the race to reach the distant goal, The needle oft was shaken from the pole; In such distress who could forbear to weep? Toss'd by the headlong billows of the deepl Horton goes on to say that ''Eternal Providence" saved him when he was on the "dusky verge of deep despair" and when "the last beam of hope was almost gone." Yet Horton writes bitterly of slavery as well as lightly of love and humorously of life in general. Influences on his poetry are Byron, Wesleyan Hymnal stanzas, and other sources from books that he had read. In the poem from which the stanzas above were taken he pursues a rather monotonous iambic tetrameter meter. But in a poem like "Slavery" (published in The Liberator, March 29, 1834), he can vary the hymn pattern in the ·way that Phillis Wheatley does in ' 121 �her hymn-inspired works. The effect is almost ballad-like: When first my bosom glowed with hope, I gazed as from a mountain top On some delightful plain; But ohl how transient was the scene-It fled as though it had not been And all my hopes were vain. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Is it because my skin is black, That thou sbould'st be so dull and slack, And scorn to set me free? Then l e t me h as t en to t be grave, ~1e onl~ ref us e fo r t h o s l ave , Ubo mourns for liher t:.r. Also effective and sustaining in po1ver is "The Slave's C~mplaint" when features seven thre e-line stanzas with a final indented one word refrain: "Forever n which is followed by either question mark, colon or exclamat i on ~ar k . Horton handles well some of bis love poems and in "Th e Lover's Fare1-10ll" is able to touch base with that broad and painful understanding of what it means to say goodbye: I leave my parents here behind, And all my friends--to love resigned-'Tis grief to go, but death to stay: Farewell--I'm gone with love aHay! In this and other pieces Horton makes good use of dashes--which allow him to develop suspense and render his statemepts more 122 �dramatic. Because of its various uses, the dash has arrived as an important ingredient of modern and contemporary Black poetry. Contrary to many of his learned contemporaries and predecessors, Horton apparently consciously thought of, and worked toward, his freedom. This fact is reflected both in his life's work and his poetry. His own position, coupled with his sanguine delivery of folk wit and emphasis, can be seen in the following stanza from "The Slave": Because the brood-sows left side pigs were black, Who sable tincture was by nature struck, Were you by justice bound to pull them back And leave the sandy-colored pigs to suck? For appraisals and selections of Horton's works see Robinson's anthology, Collier Cobb's An American Man of Letters--George Moses Horton (1886), comments by Barksdale and Kinnamon, Whitlow's· study, Brawley's Negro Genius, Loggins' work, Redding's study, Richard Walser 1 s The Black Poet (1967), Brown's as~essment and Jean Wagner's Black Poets of the United States (1973). Horton, of course, trails and precedes a long line of orators and poets, many of whom we know very little about today. In fact, comparatively speaking, there is a wide disparity between the readily available insignificant information on white writers of the period and the lack of vital data on Blacks. We do know that the early decades of the 19th century witnessed a developing Christian and political consciousness among Blacks 123 i �and that most northern Black writers, intellectuals and educators turned their attention to the educational, physical and educational needs of free and enslaved Blacks. Of these and other matters, Mrs. Porter provides ample proof and discussion in Early Negro Writing. Occasional verse was also somewhat of a tradition among many learned Blacks as was the practice of writing hymns, psalms and other spiritual songs. One such recorded item is "Spiritual Song" by Rev. R~chard Allen, probably "changed or sung during the delivery of a sermon." Rev. Allen employs internal rhyme by repeating similar sounds in the middle and at the end of lines. Varying his meter and using an irregular end-line rhyme scheme, he expresses the religious fervor that consumed many Blacks of the period: Our time is a-flying, our moments a-dying, We a.re led to improve them and quickly appear, For the bless'd hour when Jesus in power, In glory shall come is now drawing near, He thinks there will be shouting, and I'm not doubting, But crying and screaming for mercy in vain: 124 •' �Therefore my dear Brother, let's now pray together, That your precious soul may be fill'd with flame. Another such example is a "New Year's Anthem" written by Michael Fortune and "sung in the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas" on January 1, 1808. Fortune's anthem is tra- ditional in its use of materials from Methodist hymns . He tells the congregation to "Lift up your souls to God on high" Who, with a tender father's eye Looked down on Afric's helpless raceZ Robery Y. Sidney composed two anthems "For the National Jubilee of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, January 1st, 1809." "Anthem I" begins: DRY your tears, ye sons of Afric, God has shown his gracious power; He has stopt the horrid traffic, That your country's bosom tore. See through clouds he smiles benignant, See your nation's glory rise; Though your foes may from indignant, All their wrath you may despise. This stanza is followed by a "Chorus, " "Sole" and "Recitative." In ."Anthem II" an abbreviate form is employed and Sidney drops the solo and recitative--keeping only the chorus: Chorus. Rejoice that you were born to see, 125 �This glorious day, your jubilee. Sidney also wrote a hymn which Hrs. Porter includes along with hymns by religious leaders Peter Williams Jr., and Williams Hamilton. Both men., using the English forms, celebrate freedom., call for mutual aid among Blacks and preach the virtues of the Christian God. Williams praises the "eloquence/Of Wilberforce" after whom a predominantly Black university was named in Ohio. For detailed information on sources for these and similar writings see Hrs. Porter's Early Negro Writing: 1760-1873. The collection includes two very touching examples of writings "On Slavery" and "On Freedom" by 12-year-old boys from the New York Ai'rican Free School established in 1786. In reading into the life and works of Daniel A. Payne (1811-1893), one is immediately struck by his dedication to the task of upgrading Blacks. Educator, university president, missionary and poet, Payne was born in Charleston, South Carolina of free parents. He was orphaned at 10-years-old, apprenticed to a carpenter and then to a tailor. ,Later trained in classical education at the local Minor's Moralist Society's school, he taught free Black students for a fee and slaves free of charge at night. Payne's travels took him to various places (New Orleans, Baltimore, Canada and twice to England) where he helped expand the programs of the African Methodist Church. Trained in the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he was ordained in 1839, after preaching for several years, he was made an M.M.E. Bishop in 1852. In the political and educational spheres be helped urge Lincoln 126 �(on April 14, 1862) to sign the bill to emancipate slaves in the District of Columbia, and spearheaded the purchase of Wilberforce University--serving as its president for 16 years. Payne devoted most of his life to the cause of free and enslaved Blacks and to writing poetry and religious history. His Pleasures and Other Miscellaneous Poems was published in Baltimore in 1850. He also ,;. rrote . books on the history and mission of the A.M.E. Church. Especially valued for its social and intellectual insight into 19th century Blacks is Payne's Recollections of Seventy Years published in Nashville in 1888. As a poet Payne is erudite and imitative. Robinson correctly observes that a major problem with the poetry is "the repetition of end stopped lines, and his diction, a hybrid of classical and Biblical vocabularies, can prove distracting to many readers." Nuch of this we can forgive, however, when we understand Henry Dnrnas' remark that "a Black poet is a preacher." Certainly a preacher--in fact or as poet--knows very well the meaning of and need for repetition. convince us of bis seriousness. Yet Payne never fails to So hurt was he in wake of the 1834 South Carolina law that, effective in 1835, made Black literacy illegal, Payne wrote "The Mournful Lute of the Preceptor's Farewell.n We find bis enbossed concern for students in these lines: Ye lads, whom I have taught with sacred zeal, For your hard fate I pangs of sorrow feel; Ob, who shall now your rising talents guide, - Where virtues reig~ and sacred truths priside? 127 �Payne is a handler of the language, observing that "two revolving moons s:iall lj__s11t the shores" after tbe dread law 11 s11Ut the do ors 11 on cducat1. on for South Carolina Blacks. Engulfed in tb0 rclic;:i.oua and r1oral fervor of r,10.ny Black minist01 s of tbe period, the poet n nd orator reflects age-old 1 concerns about deceit a nc1 mistrust in sucb pieces as "The Pleasures." He complains that Men talk of LovoJ But few do ever feel . The speechless raptures uhich its joys reveal. Hen "mistake love, 11 Payne notes, For grovelling lust, that v:lle, that filthy dame, ·whose bosom ne'er ever felt the sacred flame For insight into Payne's life and works one could go to any one of his "considerable number" of writings. Among others, they include The Semi-Centenary and the Retrospection of the African Methodist ~piscopal Church (Baltimore, 1866) and The History of the A.H.E. Church (Nashville, 1866). .Josephus R. Goa.m's 1935 (Philidelphia) biography: See also Daniel Alexander Payne, Christian Educator, Robinson's comments and Brawley's Negro Genius. Unfortunately too little is known of romantic poet John Boyd, especially since his work reflects genuine gifts and talents. Boyd's poetic images are brilliant, sustained, searing and generally accurate even if they are not always 128 �connected in a way that makes them readily acessible. The only record of Boyd is made available by C.R. Nesbitt, EBq., Deputy Secretary and Registrar of the Government of the Bahamas. Nesbitt must have recognized the talent and the promise and he aided Boyd's poetry through publication in London in 1834. Boyd, it seems, was self-taught on New Profidence Island where he remained all his life. His poem "Vanity of Life" was published in the February 16, 1~33, issue of the Boston-based Liberator. His 1834 volume is entitled The Vision/ and otber/ Poems,/ in Blank Verse/ by John Boyd/ a man of Colour/. Practically unedited, the manuscript is what Robinson calls a "publishing scramble." Like most of the poets of the period Boyd's work owes debt to Milton, the Bible and classical influences. "The Vision/ a Poem in Blank Verse" is immediately reminiscent of Milton 1 s Paradise Lost. Boyd skirts a rhyme scheme but employs a f'airly regular iambic pentameter meter. All things considered, his work partially cancels the criticism by Sterltng Brown that Black poets lag in their stylistic awareness. opens brilliantly with: Me thought the Moon, pale regent of the sky, Crested, an:l filled with lucid radiance, Flung her bright gleams across my lowly couch; 129 "Vision" �And all of heaven's fair starry firmament Delightful shone in hues of glittering light, Reflecting, like to fleecy gold, the dewy air. In his "Vision" Boyd encounters characters of both the heavens and the hells. When the narrator, "dreamer" joined the train Fervent hosannas struck the astonish'd ear, As when in the midbour of calmest night, Stillness pervadeth the awakened wave, Roused by the secret power that moves the deep, It heaves its loud surge on the sounding shore; The nvision" is also peopled by "grim death and ghastly Sin" who "lay coiled, like snakes in one huge scaly fold," and consider their "inexpiable doom--." Boyd's tones are sacred and surreal and be assembles harmlessly complex subordinate clauses that help build an exciting linguistic crecendo as in "Ocean": 'When t he fiat of the most High, Thy fountains burst, a copiously 130 �Thy secret springs, with ample store, Pour'd forth tbeir waves from shore to shore Wide as the waters roll, oh, wave. Boyd's work has yet to be appraised in terms commisserate with its importance. Robinson makes brief but significant comments " on his poetry. Ann Plato, another romantic poet, is also one fpr 'Whom there exists little of the important factual data. This second Black American female to publish a book almost skirts the racial theme completely. Her Essays:/ Including/ Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces,/in/ Prose and Poetry was published in Hartford in Hl41. What little is known of her comes by ~ of an introduction to her book which was written by Rev .. J.w.c. Pennington, pastor of the Colored Congregational Church in Hartford, of whicb she was a member. Except for her "To the First of August.," written in celebration of the 1833 abolition of slavery in the British West Indies., there are ~>nly allusions to slavery. Her book also contains essays on religion, mod- eration, conduct and other conventional themes. These same themes are pretty much paralleled by the 20 poems, in her book, which deal with home life, deaths of acquaintances and moral issues. "Reflections, Written on Visiting the Grave of a Venerated Friend" begins: Deep in this grave her bones remain, She's sleeping on., bereft of pain; 131 �The language and the subject matter are stock but "Forget Me Not," each stanza of which ends with the title, is well handled and has flashes of the preachment of self-control that Vassa alluded to in his verses: When bird does wait thy ab sence long, Nor tend unto its morning song; While thou art searching stoic page, Or listening to an ancient sage, Whose spirit curbs a mournful rage, Forget Me Not. Her interest in oral literature and the storytelling tradition is apparent in "The Natives of America" where sbe asks: "Tell me a story, father, please," · And then I sat upon his knees. Again, as in her contemporaries, we f'ind the inf]uences of English writers of a preceding generation or so, the debt to Biblical learning and much imitation. For brief' critical notes on Miss Plato see Robinson's Early Black American Poets. Another abolitionist-minister and orator-poet Elymas Payson Rogers (1814?-1861) who, after teaching public schools in Rochester, New York, took up pastoring in Newark, New Jersey. One of Rogers' students as a teacher was Jerimiah w. Loguen who later become an important social-religious leader and a Bishop of the A. H.E. Church. Fugitive slave Loguen's bio- graphy (see Negro Caravan) appeared in 1859# in Syracuse, under the title, The Reverend J.W. Loguen, As a Slave and as 132 �a Freeman. Known, as were many of the orator-poets, for reciting his poems orally, Rogers' themes are unashamedly abolition, Black betterment an::l political hypocrisy. Working politically on behalf of Blacks, Rogers apparently designed The Fugitive Slave Law (Ue1-1 ark, 1855) and Repeal of Missouri Compromise Considered (Newark, 1856) to be read aloud from platform. Like, James H. Whitfield, who came later, Rogers gave up hope in America's ever giving Blacks a fair deal and sailed for Africa where he died after contacting a fever a few days after be arrived there. His incisive no-holes-barred approach to the political climate and conditions of the time is seen in "On the Fugitive Slave Law": Lawl What is Law? The wise and sage, Of every clime and every age, In this most cordially unite, That 'tis a rule for doing rigbt. And the ringing cry of the elocutionist can be beard later in the poem when, in discussing the f'ugitive bill, he asks and answers: That Bill a law? the South says so, But Northern f'reeman answer, Nol Anticipating the fiery and torrential Whitfield (and 20th century "angry voices") Rogers continues: That bill is law, doughfaces say; But black men everywhere cry "Nay: We'll never yield to its control While life shall animate one soul 133 �At times biting and over-bearingly harsh as a poet, Rogers resounds in "The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise Considered" with these words: "I want the land, 11 was Feed om' s cry; And Slavery answered, "So Do IJ By all that's sacred, I declare I'll have my just and lawful share. The Northern cheek should glow with shame To think to rob me of my claim." With built-in drama and careful cuts, Rogers assessed the state of the nation during his time. In a line like nLawZ What Law?" he purposely begs the question in order to wring the emotional and rhetorical power from the words and to evoke responses from audiences. References to Rogers can also be found in Robinson's Early Black American Poets. Mathematician, poet, educator and Black community worker, Charles L. Reason (1818-1898) was born in New York City of Haitian parents. He attended the New York A.frican 'Free School 1vhere be later returned as a member of the all-Black faculty. Seeking the ministry, Reason was, for racial reasons, forbidden full time attendance at the Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Eventually, hm-rnver, be became eligible for a professorship in Na.thematics and Belle Lettres (181~9) at the New York Central College in l:cGrawville, Courtlandt County. William G. Allen and George B. Vashon were also on the faculty there. He held various educational jobs j_ncluding a princi- palship of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia 134 �ii~"- ' and grammar shcool No. Go in New York City wbi1e H. Cordelia Ray was a teacher tbcr o.. :S.eason ·was an intellectual and a scholar but was not blind to the practical needs of AfroAmoricans . He oppos ed plans to colonize Blacks, claiming instead that the7 ne eedod to pursue v ocational careers hers in America. AGain, not primarily a poet, Reason is competent as a poet in "The Spirit Voice" which opens with: Come! rouse ye brothers, rouse! a peal now breaks From lo1-1cst island to our gallant lakes: 'Tis summoning you, who in bonds have lain, To stand up r:i.anful on tbe battle plain, and urges Blacl:s to fi.ght for freedom and opportunity. The poem {whose complete title is "The Spirit Voice or, Liberty Call to the Disfranchised") is indebted to the rhyming couplet so famous during the era and which had been used with great skill by Phillis 1fueatley. It appears in William Simmons' Men of Mark (Cleveland, 180?). Like that of other orator-poets, Reason's work is designed to be read aloud in order to stir and move poeple to action. Therefore he exhorts, reinforces, demands, warns, admonishes and issues veiled threats. His "spirit voice" (see the idea of African Spirit Force) longs for the time when freedom's mellow light 135 �Shall break, and usher in the endless day, That from Orleans to Pass'maquoddy Bay, Despots no more may earthly homage claim, No slaves exist, to soil Columbia's name. The poem was written in 1841 and shows Reason's poetic abilities etched out under the strain of racism and the countless chores demanded of an educated Black of the period. Elsewhere ( "Freedom") he gave this familiar cry: 0 FreedomJ FreedomJ Oh, how oft Thy loving children call on Theel In wailings lond and breathings shoft, Beseeching God, they face to see. How reminiscent of and "not unlike" the Spirituals this burst isl Certainly the student of this peirod of Black poetry will want to keep his rhythmic lyres attuned to the Biblical and innovative cadences of those "Black and unknown bards.° For assessments of Reason see Robinson, Brawley and Kerlin. More of Reason's work appears in A Eulogy on the Life and Character of Thomas Clarkson (1847) and in Autographs for Freedom (1854). Anticipating the Afro-American poignancy and humor in this line by Langston Hughes, America never was America to me 136 �and this one by Lance Jeffers to make me more American than America James M. 'Whitfield (1823-1878) voiced some of the most powerful and angry protest yet heard in Black American poetry when he published America and Other Poems in Buffalo in 1853. Barber, worker for Black colonization, poet and pioneer journalist, Whitfield had earlier authored various types of writings: Poems in 1846; "How Long?" (published in Julia Griffith's Autographs for Freedom in Rochester, 1853); "Self-Reliance, Delusive Hope, and Ode for the Fourth of July" ( in The Liberator, November 18, 1853); "Lines--Addressed to Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Holly, on the Death of Their Two Infant Daughters" (In Frederick Douglass' Paper, February 29, 1856); and Emancipation Oration (San Francisco, 1867). Whitfield is known chiefly for America which was received so favorably that he was . able to leave his barber shop and devote full time to making speeches for the abolitionist cause, working for colonization programs and general Black development. He had personal contact with both Dourlass and novelist :rvrartin Delaney who called the 1854 National Emigration Convention of Colored Men which Whitfield attended. respected and admired Hhitfield. Douglass apparently But the two men differed on the question of colonization and participated in a lively debate. Pursuing his own position with vigor, Whitfield established the African-American Respository, in 1858, as a pro-colonization propaganda organ. Though born in Exeter, New Hampshire Whitfield 137 �spent most of bis life in Buffalo where he barbered and conducted most of his colonization efforts. He apparently died on his way to look into the possibilities of colonizing Black Americans in Central America. Delaney had changed his mind and the emigration scheme was never realized. Like most of the orator-poets, Hhitfield is writing to be heard, listened to and read aloud. Consequently much of his poetry (though not lacking in religious fervor) r~inforces bis ideology and negative views of America. America, the Sweet land of liberty becomes for Whitfield, "America" Thou hoasted land of liberty,-and To thee I sing becomes It is to thee I raise my song, Thou land of b lood., and crime, and wrong. Like Rogers., 1-Thitfield did not believe America was , capable of redemption; and., again like bis predecessor, he died on a journed to find something better. The 1.dea of "giving"· up on America would appear thematically in the poetry of later writers like Fenton .Johnson, Lee, Baraka and some of the Muslim poets. It would also be implicit in the expatriation of writers and artists such as Paul Robeson, Wright, Baldwin, Chester Himes and Katherine Dunham. In a driving iambic pentameter meter (in couplets), whish has all the openings for spontaneous interjections and expletives, ·wbitfield in "America," accuses 138 �the United States of killing the Black sons who fought for her and of general hypocrisy. Here one can see Whitfield anticipating current slogan, which Hayden makes use of in "'Words in the Hourning Time": Killing people to save, to free them? Though more general, Whitfield continues a similar assault {stating life is hell) in "The Misanthropist" but tones down to a reverent salute "To Cinque": . ' All baill though truly noble chief, Who scorned to live a cowering slave; Thy name shall stand on bistory 's leaf, Amid the mighty an:l the brave: Whitfield praises the revolutionary Cinque who "in :freedom's might" ,,' Shall beard the robber in his den; and ••• fire anew each freeman's heart. Since Whit.field's primary goal is to get a politi9al "message" over, his poetry, as art, leaves some things to be desired. Robinson points out that Whitfield "is genuinely angry" {despite the inf'luence of Byron) and that the bitterness and force in his work is not to be mistaken for romantic ori linguistic cosmetics. Lastly, we must note that Uhitfield expressed concern .for global oppression; quite modern in this, he served, more or less, as a chronicler of world turbulence and a harbinger of the direct and emphatic assaults that today's Black poets heap upon tyranny. He viewed the "Russian Bear" {reflecting 139 �on European despotism of the mid 1800 's) in his poem ''How Long?": I see the "Rugged Russian Bear" Lead forth his slavish hordes, to war Upon the right of every State Its 01-m af'fairs to regulate; To help each despot behind the chain Upon the people's rights again, And crush beneath his ponderous paw All constitutions, rights aril law. Selections of Whitfield's poetry can be found in the Robinson anthology, in Negro Caravan (1941), and in the Barksdale and Kinnamon text. Whitlow discusses Whitfield's poetry and im- pact as does Loggins, Brown, Brawley, Wagner, and Ruthe Miller (Black American Literature, 1971). The most popular Black 19th century poet before Dunbar was Frances E.W. Harper (1825-1911), the first Black American to publish a short story ( "The Two Offers," 1859). Born free in Baltimore as Frances Ellen Watkins, she was educated in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and spent most of her adult life in the cause of antislavery and other types of social reform. She worked in turn for the abolition movement, the Underground Railroad, the A.M.E. Church and the Women's Christian Temperance league. According to Dunn (The Black Press) she contributed to news and propaganda publications. Her reform work was slackened by her marriage to Fenton Harper in Cincinnati in 1860. But after his early death in 1864 she resumed her efforts, lecturing in all but two southern states and promoting Black �sel.:r-help programs. Her fame rested primarily on her Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects published in 1854 in Philadelphia. A vecy popular volume, it went through twenty editions by 1874 (William Still 's Underground Railroad, 1872). Her literary activity was stepped up after the Civil War and included Moses, A Story of the Hile which went through three editions by 1870; a volume entitled Poems came out in 1870 followed by a second edition in 1900; and attempts at prose f'iction including Southern Sketches {1872, enlarged in 1896) and a novel, Iola LeRoy, published in 1892. has not been located. Her first work, Forest Leave~, Critics generally agree that Mrs. Harper's poetry is not original or brilliant. But she is exciting and comes through with powerf'ul flashes of imagery and statement. Her models are Hrs. Hemans, Whittier and Longfellow, and so we f'ind an overwhelming influence from the ballad. In reading her poetry in public, Hrs. Harper was · able to appeal to what J'ohnson (God's Tronbones) called a "highly developed sense of' ' . sound" in Af'ro-Americans (see, again, statements by Rev. Allen and Vassa). She apparently kne1v her limitations, for Robinson tells us that her popularity ••• was not due to the conventional notion of poetic excellence, l1rs. Harper was fully aware of' her limitutions in that kind of poetry, it was due more to the sentimental, emotionfreighted popularity what she had given the lines wi.th her disarmingly dramatic voice and gestures and sighs and tears. �----------Up until the Civil ifa.r, ::irs . Harper's favorite themes were slavor~r, its harshness, and tbe hypocrises of America. She is careful to place graphic details 1-1'!:iere tbey will get the greatest result, especially when the poet-:-is are read a.loud. An example of t!1ls is f onnd in "The Slave ?-Toth er": Ho is not hers, for cruel ha~ds The onl~~ ~-rreath of household love ~"'tat binds ber breaking .h eart. A. similar pla:r on the emo tions is se en in poer.1s like "Bury He in a Free Land, 11 "Sone;s for the People," ''Double Standard" (with its stirrings of feminis1;1 ) ahd 11 The Slave Auction." A woman is not solely responsible for her "fall," she suggests in "A Double Standard" adding that And wha.t ls wr onG i.n a woma n's life In man's cannot be right . Highly readable nnd less academic in her use of poetic techniques and vocahttlaries, }1:rs . Harper is nevertheless quite indebted to the Bible for• mu.ch of her imagery and moral message. And she is able to merge and modify tho folk and religious forms in a poem like 11 Trnth II where she opens wi tb a debt to the Spirituals: A rock, for ages, stern and high, Stood frowning 'gainst the earth and sky, And never bowed his haughty crest When angry storr:1s around him prest. Morn, springing from the arms of night, �Had often bathed his brow with light, And ld.ssed t~1e sbe.dows f1•om 'his face w·i th tender love and gentle grace. Several religious songs are suggested here; but she also loves to return to the theme of women as she does in "A Double Standard" and "The Slave Hother." In the ballad "Vasbti" she tells of the heroine who dared to disobey her dictator-husband. The strength and determination of womanhood is expressed in the last two stanzas: She heard agaln the King's command, And left her high estate; Strong in ber earnest womanhood, She calmly met her fate, And left the palace of the King Proud of her spotless name-A woman who could bend to grief But uould not bow to shame. Certainly a comprehensive biographical-critical study of Mrs. Harper is long over due. Selections of her work can be found in Kerlin's critical anthology, in Negro Caravan, in Robinson's book., in :Hiller's anthology, in the Barksdale and Kinnamon anthology and in numerous other recent anthologies. Mrs. Harper's works are critically examined by Loggins., Wagner, Whitlow, Brawley., Bro·wn and Sherman (Invisible Poets: Black Americans of the 19th Century, ·1974). Like other writers, educators and activists of his day., �George B. Vashon (1822-1378) contributed to the influential Anglo-Af'rican I-l:agazine which was published intermittently between 1859 until the encl of the Civil War. Vashon had a good solid education--in classics and history--at Oberlin College whe1"e he received bis A.B. in 1844 and M.A. in 1849. Vashon, known chiefly for his "Vince nt ogi," which Sterling Brown tells us, "is the first narrative poem of any length by a Negro poet." Vashon distinguished himself as a teacher, lawyer, lecturer and 1,: riter. He Pl"acticed law in Syracuse, taught school in Pittsburg, served on the faculties of College Faustin in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, New York Central College (where he was a colleague of Reason and Allen) and Howard University in D.C. where he was a. ]aw professor. Huch of Vashon's poetry reflects debts to his strong education and the influence of Scott and Byron. All are seen in "Vincent Oge," ' inspired by the courageous (hut foolish) . ' . efforts of Vincent Oge, a Haitian mulatto who was "entrusted with the message of enfranchisement to the people of mixed blood on the island. n The order bad come down from the Con- vention in France, of which Haiti was a colony. Internal disruption in France (due to t he Rev olution, 1789-1799) had f echoed to its colonies in t h e Caribb ean ·wh ere Oge led a short-lived armed uprising that cost him his life when be was rei'used asylum in Spanish Santo Domingo and rem.anded to the French authorities in Haiti. As punishment and a warning to others, the French had Oge' tortured on the wheel and severed his body into four parts each of which was hung up in the four 144 ·I �leading cities of the island. ' Oge's followers were either put to death or imprisoned and their properties confiscated. ' example as was Whitfield by Vashon was as moved by Oge's In the lengthy poem, "Vincent Oge," ' Vashon 1mmor- Cinque's. ' talizes Oge in an admixture of classical and Biblical language, using a pleasant iar.:i.bic tetrameter meter and an over dose of dissonance in his rhyme scheme which features an alternating a b a b/ a a bb. The style is somei-11,at reminiscent of 1'IT11tfield who breaks his rhyme scheme (see !!America TT) after each group of eight or nine lines. "Vincent ogi II and . 11A Life-Day" were both printed in Autographs for Freedom for 1853. For Vashon, the struggle is very much alive, ' And Oge stands mid this array Of matchless beauty, but his brow Is brightened not by pleasure's play; He stands unmoved--nay, saddened not, As doth the lorn and mateless bird ' and Oge, dedicated to struggle, presses on. Vashon carefully weaves the graphic details of his protagonist's execution into the narrative and anticipates the more fire-tipped pens of later Black ( lynch.:.theme) poets sucb as .Johnson, IfoKay, Hughes, Brown and Dodsen: Frowning they stand, and in their cold, Silent solemnity, unfold The strong one's triumph o'er the weak-The awful groan--the anguished shriek-The unconscious mutterings of despair-- 14.5 �The strained eyeball's idiot stare-The hopeless clencb--the quivering frame-The martyr's death--the despot's shame. The rack--the tyrant--victim,--all Are gathered in t!-:la.t ,Tudgment Hall. Draw we a veil., for 'tis a sight But fiends can gaze on with delight. Freighted with emotion and terror like much of the wo~k of Mrs. Harper, and setting the stage for such awesome poem's as Wright's "Between the lvorld and Me, " McKay's "The Lynching.," Dunbar's "The: Haunted Oak" and Dodson's "Lament," Vashon's relentless . . narrative signals a new and sustaining power in the work of ' Black poets. Compare, for example, the last two lines of the stanza above to McKay's couplet in his sonnet "The Lynching": And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Danced round the dredf'ul thing in fiendish glee. Unlike McKay., however., Vashon cheers up at the end: Thy coming fame, OgeJ is sure; Thy name with that of L ' 'Overture, And all the noble souls that stood With both of you, in times of blood, Will live to be the tyrant's fear-Compare this ending., if you will, to the ending salute to "General Washington" by Hiss Wheatley. "A Life-Day" is a ' shorter poem, in three parts, and, like "Vincent Oge, is founded 146 ' . �on a factual event: the love-arfair and eventual marriage of a young white man and a light-skinned Black. For selections of Vashon's works see Autographs for Freedom and Robinson's anthology. For critical discussions sec the works of Brown and Brawley. As we prepare to move to the next phase in the development of Black poetry, it is important that we tarry long enough to pay brief attention to some of the Creole poets. ·We select Pierre Dalcour, Armand La.nusse (1812-1867), Victor Sejour (1817- 1874), Nelson Debrosses and Nicol Riquet. Somewhat of an anomaly in Afro-American literature and poetry, these Creole poets are nevertheless important if the complete portrait of this many-sided and complex tradition is to be understood. There is nothing typically American in their poetry--not even in terms of American imitators of English forms--and they rarely display any racial consciousness or concern for slavery and general injustice. Host were fluent in speaking and ·writing French and from that influence their wor·k derives a spicy melody and an unhibited treatment of romantic love and revelry. Huch of the work is also intimate and sophisticated in its use of conventions and materials gained from French educations. The Creole poets' works appeared as "the first published anthology of Negro verse in America" in a volume called Les Cenelles (Hew Orleans, 1845 ). In addition to French, the Creole poets also wrote in Spanisb, Latin and Greek and were generally from tbe wealthy land-owner class �and owned slaves. About Dalcour lj_ttle is known except that he was born of wealt11y pa.rents who sent hin::. to France in tbe early 1800's to receive a good education. Returning to Hew Orleans af'ter his schooling, be 1-ra.s unable to accept the racial temper and again took up residency in France. Hhile in 1Tew Orleans, however, he wrote a num1:,er of poems, one of which was "Verse Written in the Alhu1:1 of Eadar,1oj_selle. relives the 11 1t The poem touchingly vanlted skies" and "gentle flas b es II whicb, to the poet, are "less lo-vol:r 11 1-:hon see n a gainst tbe lady's eyes Beneath their brown lashes. Lanusse, Le r.enelles editor, contributed to New Orleans CTreole newspapers, L'Union and La Tribune, serv ed as a conscripted Confeder a.to ~oJ.dier in tbe Civil War, spent some time as principal of tb o Catholic 8cl~ool for Indigent Orphans of Color. He also encouraged literary and other artistic expression amonz; f ellm i artists and 8olici ted work for Les Cenellen. He eulogized h is brother, Hm·,ia, in tbe poem Tttrn ' ' . Frere/Au Tombeau de Son Frere," reca.lli n 6 t :i a.t "unf e lling death has cut you dmm." :rz:sew~Jere La.nusse refers to death as "some other band shutting ~,rour eyelids." Some·what naughtier and more poignant in ":Spigram," Lanusse gives the account of a trwoma.n of evil" Hh o uants to "renounce the devil" but, asks" Before pure grace takes rne in hand, Shoulcln't I show m~r daughter how to get a man?" �f Sejour lived most of his life in France and only returned to New Orleans for hr:tef visits to his mother. Son of a wealthy i'amily, he wrote several plays, 21 of which were staged in France and three in new Orleans in the 18,Sors. S~jour's literary abilities 1-rere praised hy napoleon III and he rubbed shoulders with major French literary personalities of his day. His scope is wider than some of the other Creole poets. His "Le Retour de Napo1Jon 11 ("The Return of Napoleon") is · an elegy and a celebration all in one. ' While eulogizing Napoleon, Sejour praises both his and France's triumphs and glories. poem of flowing, g·ra.phic exaltation. It is a Opening on the scene of a "sea" that "groans under the burning sun," he narrates the growth and collapse of France as a ·world power: And on and on she swept, an unleashed tempest wild, and France moved on ahead. :No more. All is over • ••• Yet, hail, O, captainJ Hail my consul of proud bearing. Admonishing France to ''·J eep, France, weep, 11 f Sejour reminds the country that "death has lightning struck the people's giant." Little is known about the personal life of Debrosses which, according to Robinson, "seems in keeping with his Haitian gained experience in Voodoo, aspects of which be practised in New Orleans." In Debrosses' "Le Re tour .au Village aux Perles" ( "neturn to the Village of Pearls"), be seems to anticipate what Waring Cuney sees through the "dishwater" in his poem 149 �"Images." The Creole poet returns to the village to find that Her spirit dances here and there in these enchanting places and to locate --that flower-bosomed grove again, the witness of our secret passion, and too, the cherished brook to which my soul would on this day confide its happy memory. A cigar-maker by trade, Riquet lived all of his life in New Orleans where he pursued a vigrous avocation of writing light verses. His "Rondeau Tiedouble/ Aux Franc Amis" ( "Double . . Rondeau/To Candid Friends") leaves no doubt that Riquet saw himself as at least serious in his avocation. A rondeau is a French-originated lyrical poem of 13, or sometimes, 10 lines. There are two rhymes throughout the poem and the opening phrase is repeated twice as a refrain. The form is remotely reminiscent of the blues arrl Spiri tus.1 f'orms of' Afro-American poetry. Riquet says that since his "candid friends are calling for a rondeaul" he and his "}fose ••• must work a wonder." Other Creole poets included Hichel Saint-Pierre (18? - 1866), Camille Threrry (1814-1875), Joann! Questi (18? - 1869 . compiled an Almanach of Laughter) and T.A. Desdunes whom Jahn says "is reminiscent of the Senegalese poet Birago Diop." The duty of the poet is to "rhyme in an uncommon way" or he will "earn the name of poetaster--from our candid friends." 150 �The Creole poets are examined and represented by selections in E. naceo Coleman's Creole Voices (Washington, D. c., 1945) and in Robinson's anthology . See also Charles Rousseve's The Negro and Louisiana (Xavier University Press, 1937), and the critical selection by Jahn. Lanusse and Lecour also appear in Hughes' and Bontemps' The Poetry of t h e Uegro (1949, 1970). There were other poets writing a nd publish ing during this same period. Hany of them published their works in ~ingle editions, and copies of some are no longer extant. Brawley refers to a poet known as "Caesar" who allegedly wrote but whose poetry is not available. are: Other poems and their collections Haria and Harriet Falconar, Poems on Slavery (London, 1788); James Hontgomery, James Graham, E. Benger, Poems on the Abolition of the Slave Trade (London, 1809); Anonymous, The West Indies and Otber Poems (1811); John Bull, The Slave and Other Poems (London, 1824); Rev. Noah c. Cannon, The Rock of Wisdom ••• To Which Are Added Several Interesting Hymns (New York,? 1833); Anonymous, "The Commemorative 1freath: In Celebra~ion of the Extinction of Negro 3 lavery in the Bri tisb Dominions (London, 1835); Anon~rmous, Anti-Slavery 1-Ielodies (Hinghar.1, Nassachusetts, 1834); George 1,n1i tfield Clark, compiler, The Liberty Mi nstrel (New York, 1844); William. Uells Brown, Anti-Slavery Harp (Boston, 1849); "A West Indian," Charleston, South Carolina: a satiric poem showing that slavery still exists in t h e country which boasts, above all otbers, of being tbe seat of liberty. (London, 1851); Sara-----------------Darkness Brought to ligbt (Derry, 151 �New Hampshire,? 1855); George ·H. Clark, The Harp of Freedom {New York., 1856); and Abel Charles Thomas, The Gospel of Slavery ( New York, 1864) • In 1860 Blacks represented population and were by 4,1~41., 830 l4. l % of strong. the United States The sour tastes left the worst internal social in.flagra.tion until the 1960 1 s and 70's, the problems of caring for and protecting the soon-to-be-released slaves, the need to develop and ate.ff educational facilit'les for Blacks, all engulfed Afro-Americans 1·n a deluge of h orror and hope. Although it is clear that the works of many poets leap the arbitrarily-imposed chronological boundaries, the temperments, themes, dictional preferences and limitations discussed generally hold for most of the poetry of the period. Despite the surprising successes, and the flashes of brilliance intertwined with mediocrity and comedy, the Black poet would labor long to remove "the image of a :face" that, in the words of Corrothers, "Lieth, like shadow on the wild sweet flowers. 11 The following poens are included as examples to enhance and possibly cla1•ify the for ego ing discussion on the "Imitation and Agitation" of '¼frican Voices In Eclipse." 152 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_08_02 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter III. The African Voice in Eclipse: Imitation and Agitation, p. 93-152 Relation A related resource Eugene B. 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In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/c7aa89703897aac52f662ddfe28d797d.pdf fcba2bfcc30757be082aaf7071d5638b PDF Text Text CHAPTER IV JUBILEES, JUJUS AND ,JUSTICES 1865 - 1910 We have fashioned laughter Out of tears and pain, But the moment after-Pain and tears again. --Charles Bertram Johnson I Overview This "transitional" period is normally viewed by critics as the gestation of pre-revolutionary Black writing. We have seen, however, that some of the most politically-conscious activists., thinkers and poets wrote before the Civil War. Frantz Fanon (1924-1961)., the Hartinique-born psychiatrist., for established three phases the/literature of oppressed peoples: (1) assimilationist, (2) pre-revolutionary and (3) Critics generally agree with Fanon. revolutionary. So., following his reasoning., the period of 1865-1910 (and the previous era) would fall under number one. Number two coincides roughly w1 th the Harlem Ren.a is- sance (1920-1930). number three. And the 1960's (Black Arts era) comes under One should exercise caution, however, in placing categories and labels on any artists--especially ones so diverse and complex as Black poets. For while it is true that there are general trends in the evolution of the poetry, little said 168 �by the so-called "armageddon" writers of the l960•s and 1970's can be anymore "revolutionary" than Walker, \!Jhitfield or Alberry Whitman who favored the murder of Black traitors ("Uncle Toms" and "Topsies") to the cause of freedom. On the other hand, as in the past, some contemporary Black writers avoid politics like the plague (see Introduction). Also the alternatives and options facing Blacks nowadays--resignation, emigration, assimilation, despair, segregation, desecration and so on--have always been there. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Black poets and activists vigorously pursued these choices, sometimes participating (1.fuitfield-Douglass) in fiery debates. A major aim of the preceding chapters was to lay a foundation for the kind of Black poetry that, only recently, has become popular and accessible. Therefore, critical comments and background materials will be less extensive from this point on. Certainly, as Robinson suggests, more careful study of the poets of the Harlem Renaissance is needed. His observation that "Afro-American 'Soul' has never received the elaborate philosophical, poetic, and even political explication that Negritude has" (Nornmo, introduction) is also well taken (although there is some attempt to access "soul" in The Militant Black Writer in Africa and the United States, Cook and He.n derson). Understandable, too is a comment by Sterling Stuckey (Ideological Origins of Black Nationalism) that "Rad a nationalist of antebellum America realized t~e enormous i mp ortance of black �culture ••• that awareness., articulated into theory, would have been as revolutionary a development as calling for a massive slave-uprising." Of course we know, looking back at the last hundred years, that Stuckey's assess me nt does not take in all the facts. Early Black Americans identified with their cul- tural roots more blatantly t h an do even some Blacks of today. But the undermining influences of lynchings and the practice of stereotyping corroded much initial race pride and self-interest. Again we note that chronological boundaries are arbitrary and that we could just as well have studied Hrs. Harper in the 1865-1910 period (since her Sketches of Southern Life was published in 1873 and her Poems ran through several editions until 1874) just as we could have placed Benjamin Clark ( ''What is A Slave?") and James Madison Bell in the last chapter. It is not always easy to determine where a poet who writes early or late in life fits in the chronology; but if pursuit of the poetry becomes a labor of love, boundarles and categories cease to exist. II Forgive thine erring people, Lord, Who lynch at home and love abroad Charles R. Dinkins Literary and Social Landscape Between 1865 and 1961 America played out a drarne of contradictions, swelling and receding expectations, continued progress and experimentation in science and the arts, and 170 �----- -~------- ---------. . . . ..... important beginnings. It 1-ms a period of painful adjustment that has continued to echo throughout the history of the country. On the white literary scene Whitman (the "American poet"), I-1.ark Twain, Hilliam Dean Howells, ..Tames Russell Lowell, Henry ..Tames, Stephen Crane, ..Tack London, Emily Dickinson, J"oel Chaldler Harris and Irwim Russel were the writers of importance. Harris gained popularity for h imself and Black folklore when he published the Uncle Remus tales in 1879. Although .roman- ticism and local color dominated the last two decades of the 19th century, both began to fade with the approach of the new century--whose early years saw experimentation, especially in verse, and the beginnings of naturalistic writings. On the political and economic fronts the efforts at solidifying gains, and retrieving losses, were stepped up among Blacks. The NAACP was founded in 1909; but major vehicles for protest and change were those used during tbe earlier years: the church, self-help societies, free schools, scholarly research and writing on the Blacks, and debates over courses and choices. Important new names in literature, art, science and politics came to the forefront. However, many of the writers, activists and educators from the previous period continued their various programs. Of the new arrivals, several should be noted: Booker T. Washington (Up From Slavery, 1900), W.E.B. DuBois (The Suppression of the African Slave Trade, 1896; The Philadelphia Negro, 1099; The Souls of Black Folk, 1903), Charles Chestnutt (1vri ter of fiction), Dunbar, ..Tames Weldon Johnson, 171 �Fenton ,Tohnson, .Tar.1eo D. Corrothers, William Grant Still (The Underground Railroad, 1072), Alcxamder Crummell (founder of American Negro Acade my), Alb e rry Wlii tma.n, Benjamin Brawley (The Negro in Literatu re and Art i n the United S tates, 1910), Kelley Hiller (::.1 ac e Adjustr,10 ~1t, 1909 ), ~-J illiam Stanley Braithwaite and Alice Dunbar-1'Te lson (Viole t s and other Tales, 1895). Black America witnessed a major step in t·h e developn ent of its stage productions (rilan~r d es i gned to de s tr c::r "st ereotypes II fostered by white minstre l s and dial e ct ~-r rit ers) 1-1itb Bob Cole's A Trip to Coont01-m , the first musical produced a nd managed by Blacks. Will :Harion Cook and Dunbar followed with Clorindy in 1898; and Cole return0d t his time u i th James 1,feldon ,Tohnson, to write and play in Red Noon. Th e ma t uration of essays, journalism and autobiography also continued. E lizabeth Keckley, friend to presidents and statesmen, 1-rrote Behind the S cenes in 1868; Douglass founded the NeH national Era (1 869-1 872) and published his Life and Times in 1881. S outher n 1 ,Jorkmen was established at Hampton Institute in 1872. T. Thomas Fortune founded The ' Rumor in 1879 and edited the Nei-r York Age in 1887. year The Washington Bee came i nto being . In the same Others included Penn's The Afro-American Press (1891), John H. Isrurphy's Baltimo1•e A.fro-American ( 1892), The Chicago Def ender ( 1900) and Monroe Trotter's Boston Guardian (1901). Important Black literary names for the period included some new as well as ones from the prev ious era: Booker T. Washington, Dunbar, DuBoi s , Ch arles Chestnutt, James Weldon Johnson, Fenton Johnson, James D. Corrothers, Alexander 172 �Crumwell, Alberry Whitman, Benjamin Bra-wley, William Stanley Braithwaite, and Alain Locke. Of the names listed above, Dunbar, Whitman, Fenton Johnson, Corrothers and Braithwaite, are the poets of interests during this period. James Weldon Johnson wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in 1900 but is usually identif'ied with the Harlem Renaissance writers. And Locke, intellectual and scholar, was one of' the important chroniclers and interpreters of the era·. DuBois., sociologist and editor, is chiefly known as a poet f'or his "Song of' the Smoke" and "Litany at Atlanta," written af'ter the 1906 race riot. f'iction. Chestnutt was the first i mportant Black writer of Both he and Dunbar were endorsed by Howells, who presided as A sort of A czar over American literary criticism during the last quarter of the 19th century. Howells also helped launcd the careers of Henry James (sometimes called America's greatest novelist) and Walt 'Whitman. Generally, with the exception of Braithwaite, Fenton Johnson, Alberry Whitman and a few others, Black poets followed the, dialect tradition of the day. Robinson (Early Black American Poets) notes that The vogue was established among white southern writers (who failed to appreciate their own amusing dialects) with Irwin Russell (1853- 79) whose popular pieces were collected and published posthumously as Poems by Irwin Russell (1888) with a loving preface by Joel 173 �Chandler Harris, also popular for his Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit prose tales in Negro dialect. The major Black dialect poets are Dunhar, Daniel Webster Davis, James Edwin Campbell, Elliot B. Henderson and J. Mord Allen; although James Weldon Johnson wrote some poetry in that idiom. In the dialect mode, Dunbar surpassed all writers--Black and white, including Russell after whom he patterned his -efforts. His ability to empathize rather than simply "report" on parody., along with his "perfect" oar for Black speech, make him more authentic. Dunbar also 11rote to be remer.1bered. However (ironically), it was his dialect poetry ("a jingle in a broken tongue") that gained him notoriety. The biggest contradiction of the era was that "Reconstruction" occurr ed in name only. The growth of white hate and intimidation groups (2,500 Blacks were lynched between 1885 and 1900), the development of a neo-slavery, the paradoxical plight of the "freedman 11 ( see Wash inGton' s Up From Slavery), the general di sappo intments in social "paper" programs and the disillusionment on the parts of Blacks who fought in the Civil War--all influenced and helped direct the contemporary Black mo od. Coupled with this was the 'beginnings of the Great Migration of southern Blacl::s to northern urban centers. 1Jbi le dialect po0try emerged as the mo st popular form in poetry and pros e , ,James T·Tcld. on ,Tobns on later observed (American Negro Pootry)t~at it would not encase the manifold 174 �nature of the Black }:i;xperience; white writers had initiated it . and Blacks could only "caricature the caricatures." Caught up for a while int} o pot entials of the Emancipatfon Proclamation and 11 ::1econ:.: t rt~ction r: , 1;:any Black po ets also couched their lines in patrtotis m. and ~entir:1entalit:,r (see .Johnson's "Fifty Years"). Others sought to captur e th e ricb pace ~f Black idiom, the spice of resional color, folklore and the solidness of Black everyday whereuithal. Durine; this period, tho first of a series of Black manual arts colleges ·was es tab lishecl. Hampton Institute, Fisk Uni- versity., Ho-:-m:d Uni,rnrslty, Horehouse College and Johnson Smith College were among the early ones. c. In 1871, the year of James 1foldon Johnson's birth, the Fisk Jubilee Singers made their first concert tour with Spirituals. The tour was epoch- making for it marked the f:lrst time a Black indigenous American art form bad been given such worldwide exposure. The period was crucial, too, for all Black folk art because the burgeoning new Black Intelligent3ia, an..·,dous to remove the bitter taste of slavery, were anxious to disrobe themselves of all relics of their ante-bellum past. The Spirituals, the rich cadences of folk speech and the freedom ln de.nee, among other aspects, were given back seat in an attempt to Westernize or "civilize" newly emancipated Blacks. The Civil Wai•, Emancipation Proclamation and the stationing o:f occupation troops in the south, had also left a bitter taste on tbe tongues of southern (revenge-bent) whites. The attempt to "colonize" the south, as some saw it, was dramatized by the a 175 �arrival of "carpetbaggers"--white northerners preaching Black freedom or exploiting southern industry. The results were the elaborate and ruthless rise of white secret societies and the ridicule of Blacks in newspapers and magazines. Many Black poets unwittingly participated in this riducule through their own dialect and sentimental verse. Others went to the extreme to prove their "goodness" and "Godliness", thus becoming hyperbolical. In the shadows af all these paradoxes, Black minstrels and musicians gained prominence. "Ragtime" heralded an era ultimately to be called the Jazz Age. Meanwhile more serious debate over the fate of Blacks was taking place among men such as Douglass, Washington and DuBois. In 1895, at the International Atlanta Exposition, Washington delivered his famous "Compromise" speech which encouraged Blacks and whites to work as close as the fingers of the hand in matters needing mutual concern; but advised that, in all social respects, the fingers of the hand should be separate. , This was seen as a conciliatory and unprogressive posture by many integration-minded leaders. Washington, who founded Tuskegee Institute in 1881, played down civil concerns and integration, and urged Blacks to seek practical skills. DuBois encouraged Blacks to seek knowledge of the arts and sciences and predicted that a "Talented Tenth" would emerge to lead them. In The Souls of Black Folks, DuBois critiqued Washington's pos 5. tion. The controversy between the two men is now famous as is Dudley Randall ts poem ''Booker T. and W.E.B." in which the ideologies of both men are placed against 176 �the mood of the times. In rich use of dialogue in iambic tetrameter meter, Randall opens with: "It seems to me," said Booker T., "It shows a mighty lot of cheek To study chemistry and Greek When Mis ter Charlie needs a hand To hoe the cotton on his land, And when Niss Ann looks for a cook, ,fuy stick your nose inside a book?" DuBois replies: "I don't agr0e, 11 said W.. E.B., "If I should have the drive to seek Knowledge of chemistry or Greek, I'll do it. Charles and Hiss can look Another place for hand or cook. Some men rejoice in skill of hand, And some in cnltivating land, But there are others who maintain The rig!'lt to cultivate t h e bra.in." Obviously, an imaginary conversation, the poem ends thusly: "It seems to me ," said Booker T.-- "I don't agree," Said U.E.B. The DuBois-Washington controversy created reverberations that are still being heard around the Black world. DuBois was to rise as the towering and defiant fic;nre of the period while 177 �Washington ·Has reduced to a dignityless and sometimes obscene symbol (for more on this, see the rece ntly published Booker T!s Child by Roy L. Hill). Despite the v igorous debates a nd prose writings, however, the social coming-of-age in t he poetry (tech nically and thematically) was not t o s ee its apex until t b e second decade of the 20th century. III De Cunjah man, de Cunjah man, 0 chillen, run, de Cun j ah man! --.James Edwin Campbell The Poets and Their Toter;1 Although poets of t he previous period placed their verses and polemics in various po l i tical and nm1s organs, it was during the 1856-1910 era tha t such a practice reached new levels of importance. Poets b ad acc ess to numerous re gional and national publications, conte s ts, political platforms and educational programs through wh ich t hey could either read or publish their poems. Robert Thomas Kerlin, f or example (Negro Poets and Their Poems, 1923), collected literally dozens of poems from newspapers, church bulletins, private ly printed pamphlets and magazines--many of them no longer availab le. Some indication of the political nature of both t he pe ople and the poetry of the post-Civil ·w ar era is seen in this stanza from "The Song of the Black Republicans tr (which appeared in The Black Republican of New Orleans, April 29, 1856): 178 �I Now rally, Black R0pnhlicans, 1rJherever :rou may he, Brave soldier's on the battlefield, And sailors on the sea. Now rally, Black Republicans-Aye , rally! we are freeJ We've waited long long To sing the song-The song of liberty. Continuing i'or six stanzas., this poem is obviously aimed at a public listening and reading audience. It praises "color" which comes "from the Lord" and reminds Black voters that Abraham Lincoln ( "beneath the Flag of all") "flung us Freedom through its s to.rs. " Somewhat of a different vein is the work of Benjamin Cutler Clark (1825? - ?) of whom we know very little. A fugitive slave, he attended the 1835 Annual Convention of Free People of Color (held in Pbiladelphia) from his adopted hometown of York, Pennsylvania, where he had moved after leaving tbe slave state in which be was born. Nostly self-taught, Clark married in York and raiscc1 a. large fo.mily--writing poetry and prose in his spare moments. He was politically active and opposed colonization of Blacks, believing that it was "individuals" who emigrated and "not nations." His The Past, The Present and the Future (Toronto, 1867) includes prose reflections on the state of race relations and 179 65 poems. He is primarily �. concerned, in poetry and prose, with the issues of slavery and racial injustice, although much of his work deals with domestic life. In sentiment, language, style and influence, Clark bears resemblance to t he poets af the period just covered. And although his work was not published until 1867, he wrote poems earlier as indicated, f'or example, in his '~,f uat Is a Slave" and nRequiescat in Pace," an elegy on the 1857 death of' a woman associate. Clark is quite effective as a poet and, sometimes, even gripping in his ability to make t h e poem assume the dimen- sions of the event it relates. in detailing details of slavery. Like Virs. Harper, he is graphic And, like Frederick Douglass, (see Narrative) he is tragic-comic in suggesting that those nat home 11 (in slavery, that is) may "miss me. n Me? nno They Miss A Parody" opens each of its four-lined stanzas with Do they miss me at homo--do they miss me? and alternates an iambic pentameter and iambic tetrameter meter (with an ab c b rhyme scheme). Clark describes an unusual kind of' "home": "Do t h ey miss me at home--do they miss me? By li ght, as the horn echoes loud, And t he slaves are marched off to the corn field, I'm missed from the half-naked crowd. Using a break (or caesura) reminiscent of the blues, at the third foot (the b]ues breaks at the second), Clark dramatizes slavery and pokes fun at those men who run the "peculiar 180 ,, I �institution. 11 He makes similar use of the dash in "t·Jha t Is a Slave" where he achieves incremental power through repetition and syntactical variance: A slave is--what? A thing that's got Nothine, and that aloneJ His time--bj_s wife-- And e'en his life, He dare not call his own. Employing expletives, spontaneity and suspense, Clark shows himself to be a skilled crafts man (a.11 things considered) for his time and traininc. His rhyme scb cme is a ah cc h with an off-rhyme in the first couplet of each six-line stanza. Under the persistent question '~.J'h at Is a Slave?" we feel not only the indictment againGt slave-ouners and racist policies-but some key to the earl:r realizations of Black thinkers tbat the race ·Has beine disro~ea. ph~rsically and psychologically. As ·with Vassa, Reason ancl others, tbe hurt is bidden o.nd defies both defi nition and visunl co~tact: I pra:r do not Insi:::: t; I ca nnot kno~r, ~To :-rnrds i r,1part, Or, pai nt er 's art, 'I'bough trapped i n t he for,·,1s of :;:urop ea n model-builders, Clark shows 'hin own ingenui ty and or i;ina li t:r . 181 B:r ~:o.rying bis rhyme �schemes a nd meter, n ~d u sing dash es a nd expletiv es, he b rings e motional p ower i n t e r l ac ed wi t ri a.n i ron icall:,. d etach ed i n tc llectna.l a.sses sr,:on t of the slave's pl i gh t. powerfu l i n a pocn1 l i ko "The ~,c:):i'::: noJ. o •r ~-:rl"lGl"e He is sirailarly h e (co nti nuing a long-1 :t no of BJ.a.c k s a lutary ver se ) prais e s Oc e ola, S eminole ch ief arrl hero of Semino le wa rs i n rlor i d a in t h e early 1 9t h centur~r. In t h i s , h e a l s o a ntici pa t e s Ub i tma n 's work (Rape of' F: orida). F or sele cti ons of Clark 's u orl::s a ml brief' criti- cis m s ee Ti o'l:- ins on ' s a ntl1olo2,;r. Invisible Poets: See a lso cToa n R. Sherma n 's Afro-Americans of th e 1 9t h Century (1974). If Clark' s s tr ength la.y i n h i s a ss au lt a c ainst racial injustic e s, Jam.cs Eadis on Boll'~ (1 826-1902) lay in his "pleas" and "hop e ." "Fortunate" enough to wlt ness t 1.~e Civil War, Emancipation and Re constructio n , Bell railed a gainst injustices but primarily ex pr e s s ed ho p e in h is Black strug gle. 40 :rears of ob serving the Bell s pe nt most of h is adult life delivering eloquent o.nd He l gh ty· poet ic elocutio ns on freedo m, hope and liberty. He was b orn in Gallipolis, Ohio, wh ich he left at age 16 to pursue t h e trade of plasterer and the avocation of orator-poet. A wanderer, Bell _pla:red his part in the over- throw of slaver:r--soliciting funds and recruiting Blacks for J'ohn Brm,m' s ab orted 185 9 raid at Harper's Ferry. Before the raid, Bell had moved to Canada where h e continued his friendship with Brown and fat h ered a larg e family. He later traveled to California, bac k to Canada, to various cities in Ohio and Michigan, and, . finall:r, sp e nt ti me in Toledo. 182 During this �odyssey Bell appeared at concert halls, churches and various public gatherings to read his poetry in some political or commemorative event. He also took advantage of books and gained considerable understanding of history and literature. His major themes are devotion, inspiration, love, unity, collective strength and political change. Achieving "something of' Byronic power in the roll of his verse," (Kerlin) Bell's poems are often too long, too tedius and lacking in interest. Robinson notes that Not to mitigate his obvious technical flaws, it is helpful to remember that Bell is best appreciated as something of an actor, his poems regarded as scripts. Unashamedly chronicling his journeys, Bell included the following as a full title of Trlumph of Liberty ( 1870): A Poem,/ Entitled the/ Triumph of Liberty./ Delivered April 7, 1870,/ Detroit Opera House,/ On the Occasion of/ The Grand Celebration of the final Ratification/ of the Pifteentb Amendment to the Con-/ stitution of the United States. Consisting of 902 lines, the poem erupts through the use of all the "flourishes and vocal modulations at his experienced command. 11 According to Redding (To Make A Poet Black), Bell ''unblushingly" claimed the titles of "Bard of Maumee" and ttPoet of Hope." Typical of' Bell's style 1s his tribute to his friend John Brown (from The Triumph of Liberty): Although like Sa.ms on he was ta' en, 183 �And by the bane Philistines slain, Yet he in death accomplished more Than 6'er he had in life b efore. His nob le heart, which ne'er had failed, Proved fir m, a nd e'en in death prevailed; And many a teardrop dimmed the eye Of e'en his foes who saw him die-And none who witnessed tbat foul act Will e'er in life forget t he fact. ' Approaching something of the stature of Vashon' s "Vincent Oge" and Whitfield's "Cinque, 11 Bell's tribute has all the ring of indebtedness to Scott, Byron, Pope, Tennyson and other English popular masters witb wbom he was familiar. However imitative and derivative, though, Bell seemed never to be at a loss for exalting, exhortatory poetical flourishes. In "Song for the first of August" b e sings a song for "proud Freedom's day": Of ever:r clime, of every bue, Of every tongue, of every race, ' Neath heaven's broad ethereal blue; Ohl let thy radiant s miles embrace, Till neither slave nor one oppressed Remain through out creation's span, By thee unpitied and unh lest, Of all th e progeny of man. Ono of Bell's most amb itious works is h is ":Modern Moses, or 'Hy Policy' Man" in wh ich - - in scalli nc so.tire--he assesses the 184 �adr.1ini : : tration of pr e sh1e nt Andr cH .To1. , ns on . ,Tor. nson (1C'05- 1075), who succ0 odec1 the a~rn assinat od Li ncol n in 1 1"3 65, was horn poor and lear ned to wri t e a nd fi.c ure from his wife. His prcsidenc~r peake d in a showdown 'betwe e n a procr essive Tiepubllcan Congress and .Johns on, a r e actionary Democrat. 0~1ce in office ,Tobnson began r ever sing h i s b a r s b critic is ms of t b e S outh, giving former rebels a rather free h a nd at t h ings and vetoing several bills aimed at giving Blacks a b ett er s h are of thin gs. Upset by the who le t h ing , Bell ·wrote a b l istering satire--which often collapses a s such--in 1iliich, with couplet-fury, he observes that: And cr01-m s t h er e are, a nd not o. feu, And royal robes and sceptres, too, That h ave, in every a g e a nd land, Been at the option and c omma nd Of men as much unfi t to r u l e , A:J a p es and monkeys arc for school. Following poets like Clar k and 1TT1 itfield, and anticipating "signifying" poets of t be 1960fs and 7 0 's (such as Baraka, Crouch , Toure, Echols: '~ astern Sy ph illizatio n ," and oth ers) Bell com- pares .Johnson to all rae. nner of evils. ,Tobnson is also contrasted to "good" or liberal whites s u ch as Conc ress me n Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens and a b olitionist Wendell Phillips. ically calling .Johnson "Modern Hoses derisive 11 11 , Cyn- Bell also uses the l1ose 11 --wh :i.ch ap pe ar s to b e a "ra:r of reducing h im to the level of t h e st er e otyp e wh i t es r eserv e for Blacks (see, for example, such statement s as the one b~,r Don Lee: "styron/ �& his momma too"). One must chuckle somewhat at Bell's claim that Johnson cursed in the whi tehouse: But choose we rather to discant, On one wbose swa.ggisb hoast and rant, And vulgar jest, and pot-house slang, Has grown the pest of every gang or debauchees wherever round, From Barfin's Bay to Puget Sound. Only recently have we heard echoes of Bell rrom journalists, congressmen and old ladies astonished at whitehouse tapes showing that ex-president Richard Nixon cursed in the oval room. We have observed, then, that Bell, though a tedius and haraguing poet, is important as a continuing chronicle of the mind and creative development of the A:f'ro-American poet. Bell's works also include The Day and The ·war (1864), dedicated to the memory or Brown; The Progress of Liberty (1870), a recollection of the war, praise for Lincoln and Black troops, and a jubilant greeting of enf'ranchisement; and The Poetical Works or ..Tames :Madison Bell (1901), including a preface by his personal friend, Bishop B.W. Arnett. Even though Bishop Arnott claimed that Bell's "logic was irresistible, like a legion of cavalry led by Sheridan,tt the poet recognized his own limitations wben he said (Progress of Liberty): "The poet laments the discord of his harp, and its disuse, until answering Freedom's call he again essays it harmony." 186 �For other samples and appraisals of Bell's work see Robinson, Brawley, Kerlin, Rodding, Brown and :nays (The Megro 's God, 1938). Anticipating Helvin B. Tolson of the 20th century (who wrote a book-length ans·wer--Harlem Gallery, 1965-- to Gertrude Stein's statement t hat "Th e Negro suff ers from noth ingness), Francis A. Boyd (1844-?) penned bis only volume in partial response to Rev. He nry Ward Beecher's concern for "the injured and oppressed sons arrl daughters of Africa." Boyd's volume, published in 1870, is entitled Columb iana;/or,/The North Star,/ Complete in one Volume. Boyd explains in the preface that be was born free to Samuel and Nancy Boyd in Lexington, Kentucky, and met hardships trying to acquire an education. Colunmiana, the author notes in the preface, comes from "I, a scion of that ancient racen who takes "pleasure in dedicating the following lines" to the Rev . Be ecb er. Hade up of five cantos (major breaks in a long po e1.1 ), Columb iana is a poetic narrative on the pli gh t of t ~e Blac k man in slave-founded America. The cantos contain various structure and r hyme scb emes-:--most of which reflect Boyd 's knoi-rledge of t h e classics, ne oclassical and romantic traditions i n p oe try , a.nd t'he h istory of events leading up to t h e Civ il Har. I n t b e poem, Freedora (personified) travels, like some classical deity , on a winged chariot from Egypt, across Israel, Gr eece and America. In America, Freedom meets all sorts of ev ils , l i ke t h e protagonist in John Boyd's "vision," among t h em Se ccss ia, t h e arch -enemy of Blacks and freedom. S ccess la., S outb erners who sec eeded fro m the u nion, 187 �is assessed frora all sides durin; Bo~d's iat~t c tetrametric meter as sault. 11 In "dcflr_:;cc 11ade to Union la1-rn," tbe S outh Ignored 11 truth o.nd ri.:;btnc:Js But the sons a nd clang~~tc;rs o.f Africa, :·r1Jo ow~ a pa.rt of Secessia, Blacks lluvc tb c ir e:ro on t 11c JTc.~rtb Star (als o 1ar.1e of Doug':ass' 1 paper) sn 6 t;oct::: ·: 1 , Bcf or J J 1 n a rra.tor :i.n "To e ;)rean'-" from Canto V" and ':JO q 1.~.o nch the ballm-.red fL"c, Once 1,10re ue stri lea the s o.cred l:rre. 0tm, r:oon n.l:".cl. s-:;o.rs confonncl.ed lie, The Y'Tort'::1 8tc.r ontsh i '.1 0s a11 a.hove, Forcvei· ruling evcr:r-:-rboro . The Horth Sto.r 1:ac rer.i.a :l neu until t 1.1:i.o ver:r da:r i mportant in Black li tcratur e . I'cooe1"'-:; Ha:yden is on-:1..:,- (see "Runagatc ::1.lrr,a 0 at o 11 ) l,: ak :i.ng use of 0110 it. co ntemporary poet Confusing both his meter and bis rllyr,:o pattern witbout h ints that h e is in- tentional or exp erimenting , Boyd sometines loses the reader in his lab:trinthino deluge. But, co n:J :i.dering h is station in 188 �life and the obstacles he uorked against, his work is one more notable step i n tho devel opment of Afro-American poetry. For selections from and assess ments of Boyd, see Robinson. Henrietta Cordelia Ray (1850-1916) uas among the handfull of Black poets of t he 19t h ce ntury (t ncluding Daniel Payne and Ann Plato) ·wh o avoided racial themes. Hiss Ray, however, seems to be one of the first to try n Hide variety of forms. In sonnets such as "To 1'-'Iy Fath er," "Robert G. Sh aw," •"Milton" and others, she sh ows skill at 'Hriting t h is difficult form. And in works like "Antigone and Oedipus," "The Dawn of Love.," nNoontide" and "The lionth s II she proves her linguistic de:xteri ty and poetic virtuosity. Even t h ough Niss Ray avoided outright racial t h emes,in her poetry she i mplicitly commits herself in a poem like "Robert G. Shaw" dedicated to the white Colonel Shaw (1837-1863) of Bosto n wh o led the 54th Massachusetts volunteers (all Black) into the Civil War. Killed leading bis troops on an assault on Fort Wagner., South Carolina, Shaw is eulogized: 0 Fri end! O heroJ thou who yielded breath That other s mi ght share Freedom's priceless gains, In rev'rent love we guard thy memory. Dunbar, a younger contemporary of :Hiss Ray's, would also prai.se Shaw who, like Lincoln, became one of the important white heroes to post war Black Americans. Miss Ray , however, was not un- aware of the pligh t of her brothers and sisters of color in her everyday life. Born one of t wo daughters to the Rev. 189 �Charles B. Ray (of Falmouth, Massachusetts) distinguished minister and "tireless abolitionist," Cordelia was very early made aware of slavery and racial injustices. After a rather protected upbringing, which 1.nclnded good traditional training, she went on to New York University where she finished in Pedagogy and to Sauveuer School of Languages where she mastered Greek, Latin, French, German and the English classics. For a while she taught school, bnt, finding it boring, preferred to attend her invalid sister Florence (witb whom she maintained a life-long friendship), traveling throughout New England and giving moral support to the antislavery work of her father. Her poems deal primarily with love, scholarship, intellectual the~es/praise of great literary and political figures and seasons. She loved to do settings, descriptions, impressions and cycles in her poetry. For example there is a cycle ("Idyl") which goes through "Sunrise, 11 "Noontide," "Sunset," and 11 .i1idnight." Another cycle, "The Months," consists of 12 poems, five of them in eight-lined stanzas, five in six-lined stanzas an~ two in seven-lined stanzas. She generally varies her meter and rhyme schemes; but the ballad form predominates in "The !-1onths 11 while a two-stanza, six-lined form (rhyme scheme: a ab cc b) heralds the .four major segments of the day in nidyl. 11 Hiss Ray, as we have noted, is not an original or innovative poet. But her work does mark a new level of sophistication--despite her imitation of the models follO'wed her time. by most Black poets o.f Her published poems included Sonnets (New York, 1893), and Poems (Ne1v York, 1387). She also published Commemoration 190 �Ode or Lincoln/ 't·! ri tten for tbe occasion of tbe/ unveiling of the Freedman's monur,1ent/ in Hornory of Abraham Lincoln/ April 14, 1876. She co-authored, 1-1itI1 her sister, Sketch of the of the Rev. Charles B. Ra.:sr (He1·.r York, 1887). Life For selections of Miss Ray's work soc TI.obinson 's ~arly Black American Poets and and Kerlin' s Negro Poets and Tbeir Poer:is. critical con~ents. Robinson includes Sec also Sh0rman ' s Invisible Poets. Declarine that "I was born in hondage,--I 1ms never a slave,--" Alberry Allson ".·f uitnmn (1051-1902) thus introduced himself and h is pc otr:r to t h e 1vorld . A complex and brilliant poet (WaGner refers to him as a "brilliant" lmitator), he must have been anticipated by bis co ntemporary Cord 0lia Ray in the experiments with varlous verse forms. 1:Jbitman was born a slave in or near J\Iunfordsville, Hart County, Kentucky (in Green River country). As He noted earlier Whitman, a Hulatto, never acknow- ledged bi::; slavcr :sr situation. He was oi-•phaned at an early age and received only bits and pieces of for mal training--a glaring irony against his achiev ement, the most important until Dunbar. Though it is Hidely believed that Hhitman wrote the longest poem (over 5,000 lines) by a Black American, we now know that at least two other Black poet s wrote longer poems: the Rev. Robert E. Ford's Brown Chapel , a Story in Verse (n.d., n.p. Pre~ace dated 1903) contained at least 8,600 lines in 307 pages; Maurice Corbett's Harp of Ethiopia (Hashville, 1914) contained over 7,500 lines in 273 pages. Rev. Ford's work is broken up into cantos utilizing ten-lined stanzas while Corbett's 191 �epic is divided up into e i gh t-lined stanzas. Whitman utilized a ha l f dozen or so metrical and stanzaic forms and numerous other rhyme schemes. His forms include the ottava rima, dialect verse , th e Spe nserian stanza, blan~ verse, iambic trochaic and anape s t li.nes in t hree to five feet, (including stress unrhymed lines), and the various stanzaic and metrical fusions h e developed from i mitating such writers as Byron, Pope, 11n1it t i cr, Lo ngfellow, Hilton and Scott • . The poet developed his tech nical f acilities ·w·hile he worked, primarily as a pastor of an African Methodist Ep iscopal Church in Springfield, Ohio, and flnancial agent for Wilberforce University (where he h ad studied under Daniel Payne), to support himself and promote race progress. A fiery speaker, lecturer and reader of his poetry, Whitman was known not to bit his tongue. In declaring that h e "was never a slave" he went on to say--at 40 years of age--"The time bas come when all 'Uncle Torus' and 'Topsies' ought to die." The tiele of Whit man's first work , Not a Han and Yet a Man (1877) is important b oth literally and i mplicitly. For one only has to go a fet-1 more steps to place it alongside similar contemporary titles: Soul on Ice, Nobody Knows My Name, I Know 1·Jhy the Caged Bird Sings, :Manchild in the Promise Land, Invisible :nan, and scores of other volumes of essays, novels, poems and autobiographies. The titles are slightly different but the cry a nd t h e passion and aim are the same. Not a Man and Yet a Man, for Whitman, e nsconces the dilemma 192 �of the Black man. A mulatto slave, Rodney , saves the life of the daughter of his mast er during an Indian raid, and afterwards falls in love with her. Going agalnst bis promise to offer his daug'hter in marriage to the man who saves her, the master instead sells Rodney to a Deep South planter. In his new habitat., Rodney falls in love Hith a slave girl., Leona and., after being separated from her for a while, spends a beautiful life with her in Canada. The over-simplified theme of the "tragic mulatto" comes t hr ough in much of Whitman's work which never features the problems or lives of dark-skinned Blacks. 1·J11itman pos3essos a brilliant gift of descriptive prosaic poetry as i n these lines from n ot a Man: The tall forests swim in a crimson sea, Out of 1-rhose bright depths rising silently, Great g olde n spires shoot into the skies, Among the isles of cloudland h igh, that rise, Float, scatter, burst, drift off, and slowly fa.de, Deep 1.n the tuilight , shade succeeding shade. Somewhat re1-::i iniscc nt of the br1.lliant ancl anonymous John Boyd, Whitman is competent and rele ntless ·ween placed a gainst any other romantics of h is da3r. Echoing Poe and Lop 0fellow, else- wbere in '.Not a i:an, 1Tbitrnnn reacts to tbe tempora.r~r separation of Rodney and Leeona: A true heroine of the cypress gloom, 193 �lToH there to lie, the Creole so.H her doom-In The Rape of Fl orida (St. Louis, 1884), revised and repub- lished the folloTTing year as Twasinta's Seminoles, or Rape of Florida), 1.vhi t man onga 6 e s his reade r z i n another romantic tale. Under truce, 8eminole Ir~dians, who h a v e fougr.t bravely, are fired on, capturcc1, and taken off to Texas whore they are re-located. Hore, in a noth er anticipa t ion, we see presages of "relocation" (see Et h eridge Knight ts Bell:r Song) that will come in the works of contc:·,:p or•ar~r ·H r it er s like Baraka, 11111.iams (The Han Hho Cri ed I Ari1), Ralc.1-rin ( Nohod:r T-Cn o;•TE r:y Na.1;10), Greenlee (The s r ook 1-!h o Sat hy· t b e Door), Crou cl1 (A.in' t ?To A .~bula.ncen for 1,:, JTi ·,.P1.1 .s T on{ ·ce ), t "-1 0 Last Poets, Gi 1 Scot1 1 Heron (:i:"rce 1:-JilJ. , SmaJ..l Tall:: e.t 125t:1 Street and Lenox) and numerou::; ot}.1cr ~. of the Indio.ns ~·Il ii t u an, i:117 :::, at any r ate, J.a,~1e nts the treatment cxt cc.:c: ca. a 1>roth c r>r 0and to slaves. In a note to the 1-!ork, 'i17:iitr,1a n .icnttons Pw.t 1':i c n et relatives of one Scrninole cb:i. 0f. Atlassa, 11 Pape contains 257 Spenserian , stanzas. an emi ne nt Sem.inoJ.0 chicftan ," was "h ero-born" Fr ee o.s t l1 e air 1-r itlli n ~!is pa.lr.1y sl-ia.de, T11 0 nobler trai.ts t b at d o the man adorn, In bim uere na.tivo: Not t~1e music made I n ta1apa 's forests or t11c cverglatle Was fi.tter than in t11ls yonns Seminole r.1a.s t h e proud spirit wb ich dld life pervade, And glow and t~enili lc in his ardent soul--- 194 �Which, lit bi.s inmost-self, and spurned all raean control. Whitman's last voltui!e was An Idyl of the South, An Epic Poem in Two Parts (NeH York, 1901). Again ( 11The Octoroon" and "The Sontbland's Cbo.n1 and 7reedom's Ifagnitude"), Whitman explores the problems of mulattoes. Here, in chronology and subject matter, he parallels Charles Chestnutt, the Black fiction writer who al3o exploited the ther:ie of the mulatto and "passing. 11 Drifted Leaves. A ne·w edition of Rape (1890) also included 'Whitman's World's Fair Poem: The Freedman's Triumphant Song, along wi tl1 "The Veteran 11 (Atlanta, 1893), ·were read hy h imself and Mr s. 'Whitman respectively at the Chicago World's Fair, attended by Dunbar and the venerable Douglass. Like Dunbar, W11itman became addicted to alcohol, but he managed to maintain his popularity as a hard churchworker, freedom-fighter an:l poet. in Drifted Leaves. He also published sermons An ed.ition of °li'Thitman's complete works, long overdue, is currently being prepared. For selections of his writings see Negro Caravan, Robinson's anthology, Kerlin's book and other anthologies. Sometimes grouped with Phillis Wheatley in the "mockine;-bird school of poets, 11 Whitman is assessed by Hagner, Brm,m, Brawley, Robinson, Kerlin, J"ahn (Nee-African Literature, 1968), Loggins and Sherman. !-'.fa.king only oblique references to racial pressures, George Narion :McClellan (1860-1934) is reminiscent of Francis Boyd, and calls to mind Tolson, in his effort to prove Blacks 195 �capable of intellectual and literary competence. However, McClellan still does not deserve the abrupt dis missal given him by Sterling Brown. HcClellan writes barmlessly of flowers, trees, birds and love (things Baraka and others have, of late, claimed a Black poet shoul d not waste his time on). But be is competent and technically dexterous so as not to bore. Happily, some of the longer p5.eces are interpolated with shorter ones and this makes McClellan more readable. After his birth in Belfast, Tennessee, McClellan lived in an economically stable family and later bad a good, solid education at Fisk (B.A., 1885, and H.A., 1890) and the Hartford (Connecticut) Theological Seminary (B.D., 1886). Con- stantly on the go, like Bell, and a fund-raiser, like Whitman, for Fisk University, he spent much of his time on the eastern seaboard executing his i mportant duties. and taught in several cit:tes: McClellan pastored Normal (Alabama.), Memphis, Louisville (Kentucky) and Los Angeles, where he finally went in hopes of finding a cure for his tubercular son., His last years were devoted to soliciting funds for an anti-tubercular sani tori um for Blacks. Among :McClellan's published works are Poems (Nashville, 1895), Book of Poems and Short Stories (Nashville, 1895), Old Greenbottom Inn (1896), Songs of a Southerner (Boston, 1896) and Path of Dreams (Louisville, 1916). As a poet, McClellan is sharp, crisp a.nd musical in his use of language and i mages. 11 The Color Bane" pulls us somewhat forward to Fenton Johnso n 's 11 Th e Scarlet Woman" since the 196 �"problem" of hav:tng a beautiful h ut Black face in the theme of both. Even thougb l icCl e llan' s woma n possesses "inex- pressible grace" For a.11 h er wea.lt~1 and gifts of grace Could not a pp eas e t he s h a m Of jus tice t h at discriminates Agai nst t b e b lood of Ham. And there is more than a b. int in t h e title of his final volume, Path of Dreams; for, as many ob serv er s of Black writing have noted, the "dream" is a. central t h eme (see Hugh es, Hayden, Nat Turner, Corr others, Dunbar, a nd nm,1erous others). surface, ::'f oClella n is de l icate and un offensi v e. Yet on the He writes sonnets, sing-song quasi- b allads, formal verse reminiscent of B~rron, Scott a nd Hilt on , and for mal b allad s and h ymn-inspired praises as in "The ::_;ie et of ,Tn cl as. 11 Vn.r:r i ng :.- ; iet er, stanza and rhyme sch eme, EcClo l la n neve r the less r ef us ed to write i n dialect--the v ogu e of h is d ay . l ia k i ng it analag ous to "rag- time," h e cor.1pla inod t h a t it uas "co ns i de red qtd. t e · tbe proper dressing for Tfogro d i sti nc t :! 0 ,1 i n t he p oetic art." F or ample se lection::; of 1:c c:.cl:a n ' s writi ngs s ee Kerlin' s critical antholo 6y. , Robinson' s book a nd J o!1ns on 's American Negro Poetry. Robinson, Kerli n a nd Broun a l so g ive c r itical v 1.ows of I-IcClellan's work. See also Sherman's Invisible Poets. "Ra g- p icker , tobacc o stea mer, br ic1~rard hand, whiskey distiller, tea11:st c1· and pr ize-fi gh te r ," Joseph S e amon Cotter (1861-1949) was a ls o one of th e most g if t ed a nd prolific 197 �writers of his era. Cotter was born to a Black ri1other and ·white father in Nelson County, Kentucky. The kinds of work cited above characterized his li:f'e ·when he was forced, at an early age, to interrupt his 8chooling. Re-enterlng night school at age 24, be studied to b ecome a teacher and administrator, chores which he eventually assumed at the Colored Ward School in Louisville. Cotter also taught English lit- erature and composition and contributed poems, stories and articles to local newspapers including the Courier-Journal (one of America's outstanding newspapers). In bis life and work., Cotter looks forward to Blacks like DuBois., .James Weldon tTohnson, Nary licLeod Bethune and Langston Hughes. In his writings, he anticipates the variety and virtuosity of a Dunbar. For, in the words of one critic of the period, "he makes poems and invents and discovers stories, and bardlike, recites them to whatever audience may ca.11 for them-in schools, in churches, at firesides. 11 Brilliant, precocious and enduring, Cotter pursued the complex side of life, daring to examine the often over-simplified phenomenon of' race relations in Amer:tca. Kerlin said of h is work: "Some are tragedies and some are comedies and sorae are tragi-comedies of everyday life among the Negroes." Cotter (BroHn says he has "both point and pi th"), it must be said, was among the first Black poets to represent, without shame and minstrelsy, authentic Black folk life. He wrote in formal--a.cademic, bookish--forms; but be also wrote 198 �explicitly in dialect and standard English, of common life and common problems. He achieves "1-.ushing rhythms and ingenious rhymes II when he is at his best; and a quiet, reflective perserverence, when he writes introspectively. A disciple of Dunbar, Cotter is able to capture vividly tbe tbeme of traveling and weariness that pervades so much Black literature and song (see "The Way-Side 1foll 11 and the repetition of lines that establish the drudgery and the momentun; to carry on).. He can be satirical and admonishing in dialect as in "Tbe Don't-Care Negro": Neber min' your manbood's risin' So you babe a way to stay it. Heber min' folks' good opinion So you have In 11 a way to slay it. The :Negro Child II Cotter tells the youth to let "lessons of stern yesterdays" ••• be your food, your drink your rest, and in the same poem be strikes a. pose similar to that of Booker T. Washington's when he advises the child to Go train your bead and hands to do, Your bead and heart to dare. Cotter's verses also exalt Black and liberal white heroes ( "Frederick Douglass, 11 ''Emerson, 11 "The Race Welcomes Dr. W.E.B. DuBois as its Leader," "Oliver Wendell Holmes") and relish such experiences as reading or listening to Dunbar ("Answer to Dunbar's 'After a Visit" and "Answer to Dunbar's 'A Choice'") and Riley ( "On Rearing .James Hhi tcomb Rile~r Read ll). 199 He vigorously searches �the human heart--and tbe intangibles of lying, hating, and self-denyine--in poerns like "Contradiction" and !'The Poet. 11 "My Poverty and Ueo.lth II recalls Corrothers' "Compensation" since the richness and strength of commoness, charity and honesty triumph ov er money and a higb social station. A proli:fic writer, Cotter published several volumes including: A Rhyming (1895); Links of Friendship (1898, with a preface Courier-Journal editor Thomas 'Hatkins); Ne 0ro Tales (1902); a four-act play in blank verse, Ca.leh, t he De generate (1903); by and A 1fuite Song and A Black One (190 9). critical study of Cott er is long overdue. A good biographical- For selections and critical appraisals see Robinson and Kerlin. Se e also Countee Cullen's Caroling Dust (1927) and Sherman. Jude;ing from much of t h e critical reception of Daniel Webster Davis (1062-1913) the pre vailing feeling is that he should just disappear. Of all t he cri t ics assessing him (Wagner, Bro~n Redding, Rrm1ley, Sh er man, Johnson and others), only two, Reddi.n[.s and 2h or i;ian, seem to feel t hat Davis ba.s any 11 sinccri t::r" i_n b is efforts to portra~r Blacks 5.n dialect. Reddin;;'s position is ir oni c, i ndeed, since, in To Hake a Poet Black, h e does not discu s s tll e folk trad:ttion i n Black literaturc. Davj_s (1-1'h c O>J. e1•at od on tbe t 11eor~r t:1at the most effective ~ ·writer "fs the one tn demand") is d eri ·ni. ti ve of the white writers of dialect, as 11o re most of t h e Bl ack dia 1.ect 1-rriters, and seems only to transc end t he n t n t; w fact of b i.s b ei D6 e. Black r,1a.n and a pr cac~·10r--~ r1~ o cou ~.d C:o l i ver t b.c -i::erses Hi tb t'he v irtuoso 20 0 �i mp act impossible of Th o;iw..s 1To l s o,-, Pa c.;o , I :cHi n T:ussell and 11 s chola.r of dia1-ect 11 ·Hb o ~Jro t o f ro;,,. 11 ts mm first h and ex- pcri e nce s and Blacks . I n i ntrodu c t i ons to ~ is h ooks h e draws cor:1pari s ons and c ontJ:,as t s 1J c t1-1 0 0n B::.. nc k and ,;.rh i te s outbern speech. Rodd'lng praise:::i :Ja v is fo r t b c sarrie reas ons t h at other cri tlcs dis n iss h i :r.1--f or h i s exasc;cratod 1m.ff on i nc of Blacks and h is s ugg e stion t h at pla nt a t io n 11 da r lri os " wer e content to live out their liv e s oati ns '~ og me at," '~ adermillums" and stealing . Roddins b o l i ovos t hat Da v i s 's p oetry "represents t he bi ghest i me.gi na.t l v c p ower of t h e p l a n ts.ti on Hegro, the prodigal richness of h is i mager:r, o. nd h i s ½np p7 po·Her to resolve all difficultio 8 and r.1ysterie s with the reasoning of a child." Tiedding' s c omme nt, n ot so h a.rs!1 as it mi ght seem, is neverthele s s only partinlly--if t h at 1;:;.ucl:: --tru e . For how does one account for t b e ingenuity of t !': 0 u ork songs, the Spirituals, the dittie s and jingles a nc1 the ea.rl:r b lues? Did not the same "child II CI'c o.tc tr. e r.1 a.ls o? BroHn, on tbe other 11a nd, refers t o Da v is as t h e "Negro Thomas Nelson Pa.g e 11 --quite a nasty "put-d own", to u se contemp orary parlance. An cl Davi s does s e em t o b e maki ng fun of Blacks in giving h is poems s uch titles as: Down Souf," 11 Bakin an' Greens., and "De Bigges 1 Piec e ub Pie .. " 11 "Hog Tieat., 11 "'Web "Is Dar Wa.dermi lluns on High?" But h e is bent on meeting the needs of people ·who uant to be "i nstruc t ed and entertained. 11 .' ; And it will be observed that in some parts of the S outh, the dipthong th is dropped from its ending position in favor off 201 �and one certainly find cvicle ;1ce of Blacks speakinG like the characters in Hebstcr 's poctr:r. But another a nswer might he in a comparison hotHeen Flip Hilson (Tiev. LeRoy) and Rev. Daniel Webster Davis who achieved great popularity when he turned his pulpit :tnto a st age from Hhich to unload his own brand of "saving souls" and making tbc "word" come a.live. As Rev. Davis, t h e dialect p oet was not unlike such men as John ~To.sper (very popular), Black Billy Sunday, Brother Easter, and "other Negro preachers II of bis dn:r ·wh o "were so well known. 11 Davis's ~,o collections, primarily in dialect, are Idle Moments (1895) and 'Heb Dm-m Souf (139? ). lished prose. He also left much unpub- i:i:ost of his work deals with joviality., gluttony, flamboyant sermons, happiness, the "contented II slave and mischieviousness--tbe stereotypical behavior which white minstrelsy has fostered on tho Black personality. Davis is derivative, as we noticed, to the point of copyi n 6 wl-.ole lines and phrases as in "Hog Heat" s;.:bcro be talrns tbe words 11 1,n1en the frost is on the Punkin" fror,1 James l·! l1itcomb IUle~r and changes them thusly: Tfuen de fros' is on de pun' kin an' de sno'-flakes in de a'r, ••• The poem also closely resembles Dunbar's "Wben De Co'n Pone's Hot. 11 (Al thougb Hag ner and o t.ber critics c la.im that Davis did not borrow from Dnnbar hut worked 11 directl:r from the models provided by the minstrel s and the southern poets.") Davis had had first-hand experience of the Black folk predicament, 202 �first as a chlld in North Carolina and, after the Civi.l Har, in Richmond, Virginia, where he attended s·ch ool. Finishing high school with good marks, he began to teach in the Black schools of Richmond. His popularity wa.s wide among "the less literate of his own race," according t o .Ta.mes Heldon Johnson, which ma.y be a partto.l r eason for Do.vis's continual production of his particular brand of "poetry. 11 Known for reading his .. verses with "comical unctuousness before convulsed audiences," his work, when placed beside Dunb ar's, is unfinished. In style and workmanship, however, it s110uld be noted that Davis is not unlike some of the bombastic Black poets of ta.day. For when the complete story is told, many "popular" contemporary poets--speaking and writing a "dialect" and titillating "convulsed" audiences--may very well meet the fate reserved for Davis. (Instead of becoming a "prelude> to a kiss n they may end up a footnote to a joke.) In his few standard English pieces, Davis also preache s a co nciliatory att itude, as in "Emancipation" wh ere he claims t he African "roamed the savage wild 11 Untamed his pasaions; h alf a man and h alf a. savage child, until God "sa"t-7 fit II to teac'h tb e Black man of "Hirn and .Jesus Christ." It could he t h at t h er e i s more to Davis than bas met the eye; at any rate, a complete s tudy of b is life and works await some serious student of Black poetry. For assess- ments of' and selections fro m Davis's writings see Brown, Sherman, Wagner, Robinson, Rodding and ~ohnson. 203 �.,. Our stnd2r makes no clai m that every poet hriefly considered is any sort of giant. In fact, except ~-Jben such a title or label is ohviousl:r :·mrrantod, there is an effort to steer clear of such qualitativ e ova!uattons . stated goal: This is true in view of our to place i nto tho hands of students and lay per- sons a handy refere nce to a nd overview of Black poetry. 11 J'ean Haener' 3 c lair that So i t would have required a great deal of indulgence to welcome II the poetry of ,Tohn Wesley Holloway (1865-1935) into "the literary domain" can not find credence or reinforcement i n thi.s 'hook . }agner also includes Cotter, 1 .Tames David Carrothers and William Stanlye Braithwaite in his list of p oe t s n on cr~ta. Holloway, lil:e h i s c ontemporaries Davis and Corrothers, was a "prcachcr --Doet. 11 His p oetry 5- s in hoth st andard English form and dia le c t , ':-~rich , acc ordi.ng t o tTohnson, is his "hest Hork. 11 I n The 1rc ;ro ' s God, Benjami n r•a~rs classes Holloway with tb e ·writ e rs and thinkers Hho take a c o n ci li atory and c ompen- aatory arrro ach to the d~1ty- -dcsp it e oppression, slavery or whatever. In one roem , Holl01-ray is ''1:faitins 0:1 t he Lord"; and even Thou gh ho3ts of sin ma.y bed[;e me round, Ana thunders sh ake the so!.id ground, he will neverthclc r;s wait 11 pat:tently" for help from God. .Tames Baldwin, and other Black urite rs of the 20th century (getting a first start from :)unbar), call such advice "dishonest." Baldwin, a child-preacher, saw a contradiction in the preacher's 20L~ �resignation and the rat-infested tenement buildings against wbose owners the preach0rs refused to lead a rent strike. Yet, as a preach0r, Holloway exhibits a classic devotion and tbe ability (see Preface to Johnson's God's Trombones) to aid in the welding of the disparate Black mas~rns--which has never been an easy task. A disciple of Dunbar, Holloway was born in Merriweather County, Georgia.. Hi.s father, one of the first Black teachers in the state, bad learned to read and write as a slave and sent his son to Clark (Atlanta) and Fisk Universities. For a period, young Holloway was a member of the famous Fisk .Jubilee singers. As a poet of dialect, Hollowa;r is both musi- cal and humorous as in "l'iiss r'l:erlerlee" who has Sof' brown cheek, an' smilin' face and Perly teef, an' sbinin' hair An' silky arm so plump an' ha.rel Reflecting a gro-wlng practice of the transitional poets, Holloway makes an honest effort to portray deep Black emotions and feelings. His descriptions of Black women (especially) and men signal a new and vibrant aspect of Black poetry--the merger of the sexual/sensual levels with the racial flavor of post-bellum 'Black America. Linguistically, Holloway approaches the sounds and idioms of the Gullah which will be seen more definitively in James Edwin Campbell. Since the Gullah dialect is spoken in the areas off the shores of Georgia and the Carolinas, it is possible that Holloway picked up accents and expressions as 205 �---------- - - - - - ----- a child. (1919). His books include Bandannas (n.d.) and From the Desert Especially humorous is his "Calling tbe Doctor" which is an important cataloging of folk medicinal remedies including Blue-mass, laud-nnm, liver pills, "Sixty-st.x, fo' fever an' chills, Ready Relief, an' A. B. 11 c. , An' half a bottle of X. Y. z. Holloway (dialect poetry) joined Dunbar, Corrotbers, . J. Mord Allen and Ray Dandridge, in being published for the first time (during the first two decades of the 20th century) in previously "off-limits" white periodicals. For selections from and criticism of Holloway's work see Johnson's American Negro Poetry and Mays' The Negro's God. See also, fo1., criticism, Brown's Negro Poetry and Drama. Yet another dialect writer, Elliot Baine Henderson, on whom we have little information, was anotber disciple of Dunbar. A "prolific writer, all in dialect. 11 he published some eight volumes of' verse, In much of his writings, as with .Holloway and Campbell, he utilizes the phonetics and idioms of' the Gullah--akin to the West I ndian brand of folk English. Henderson is sometimes concerned with folk beliefs and the supernatural and Black religious tbemes and songs ("Git on Board, Chillen~'). His dialect is inconsistent, a problem with most dialect writers (including Dunbar), and wbile he trtes to achieve a phonetic transcription of what he hears, he spells (in the same title) "Board" in a standard Enslish way and attempts to place words 206 �like "Git" and "Chillun" in dialect. His volumes include Plantation Echoes (Colnmbu 8, Ohio, 1904), Darlz:r Hed:ttations (Springfield, Ohi.o, 1910), Hned<J:jrkatcd Folks (Autbor, 1911) and Darky Ditties (Columbus, 1<)1,5). James Edwin Campbell (1867-1805), unlike hls contemporary Dunber, "oi:•1 es almos t nothing to the plantati.on poets." Campbell seems to have listened careful~y to and applied tbe Black folk speech around btn T,rhcrea ::, Dunbar t ook 1, is initial cues from the plantation school, c 1, ief pr opone nt of which was !ruin Russell. Born in Por,wro:sr , Ohio, Car,1p'l:oll graduated from the Pomeroy Acadcm7 and for a while taught sch ool ne ar Gallipolis. He gained more teacb 'inc e.ncJ. adr,i:tnistrativ-e experience at the Langston School in Virginia and th e ~est Virginia Colored Ins ti tu.to (now 1:fost Virginia State Col L:::ge ) "f,rlrn r e oppos ltion to his adeiini strat t vc :;'OJ.ici l~S :forced }~i rn to leave for C':1icago . Herald for t be r -:; nt. of 'J ic :.if0. Cotter anC:', Dtmr ar ( o.nd () ..I ..L 'l,.,.,- .,(:1 , V ~. . \ _ _j_ 1.:) ) , Lil~•) 1:is c(n-::t01:1p ora.ries, Cacpt-cll's car~:y ver ses ~rcre of and Else1here. :Cc!1008 fro1,1 the Cabin A ;_; :L,1pl8 c ora:x3.rln6 of titles of dialect volumes of tbc perlod ': rcnld prove i ~1 strnct1,,,;e . Car.P)b0ll is quite c ompete nt in 1Jotb standard English and dialect; and '>r,,1110 so;110 of b1.3 senthii ents are well-handled in the standard Encli s~ po crm, it is i n the dialect pieces that 207 �ho sbows ~1is rower, complcxit:r a nd orti:;j_ nal_:tt:r. Among his important themes are j_nt crrncia l love ( one of ti: e first Black wri tcrs--s oo '1:'TT-li tn:an and otl1ers--to deal with th:ls "touch~r" subject), the mulatto, satire (s e e, cspocia'll:,, 11 01' Doc' Hyar") Black pride ( thongb r,mffled), and realtst ic pres entations of Black "social realities, religious formalism, and folk values." It is i mportant to mention his brand of dialect, although a more in-dept'!--! study is still to be clone. Unlike Dunbar, who seemed to strive for a universal anglicized phonetic, Campbell (tr a ces are also in Hollm-ray and Henderson) recorded tho spe och patterns closely related to Gullah--somewhat akin to West Indian folk speech. Such usage is seen in em- ploying the subjective a.rd objective pronouns in the nominative position (''He sec, ~ n "Him ha1,, '' etc). 11 as in ''Uncle Eph's Banjo Song": the er (as in 11 ba.wnjer") for .the There is use of the broad 1Ja1;rnjer" and .£• 11 dawnce 11 and The verbal copula to be is usually omitted (assurr:cd ?) and there is a normal lengthing of an e or i sound ln Hords like 11 Reeg", 11 jeeg", "Laigs. The -r.r often becomes band t sometimes becomes k. of course, other great differences. 11 There are, For more on such lin- guistic aspects see works hy Lorenzo Dow Turner, Herman Blake, Robert D. Twiggs am others. Campbell has a more autbentic ring than Dunbar and one gets the impression that he is seriously involved in feeling as well as representing what Hughes called "the pulse of the , people." But Campbell and Dunbar are also similar in many ways. 208 �Ih "Negro Serenade" (compare to Dunbar's "A Negro Love Song") Campbell captures a sharp hum.an-social need. In "De Cnnjah Man" he achieves a strong r.msical ring (witb t11e help of a ring-a-round-th~-circle sort of chant) and dabbles in tbe supernatural--suggosting, us Chestnutt idd, that perhaps the Black folk tradition holds keys to the "nltlmate mysteries of the universe. 11 The recurring refrain of De Cunja.b man, de Cunjah man , 0 chillcn run, de Cunja'!-1 manJ will be ramified and made more dexterous by Hughes, Toomer and Hayden, as they experiment with these exciting oral folk forms. Campbell attempted to capture the cade nces and gestural complexities of a contemporary de.nee, the "buck", in his poem "Mobile Buck." He stated that he sought the "shuffling, jerky rhythm of the famous Hegre dance" w11ich he had seen performed by Black longshorer:1en on the Obio or the Hissi ssippi. This type of 1vord-movement marriage (see Chapter VII) ls not unusual in Black poetry. today. Numerous examples of sncb pairings abound Lastly, we 3hould note that Car.1.pbcll's near-Gullah dialect would later be revived (in the thirties and forties) hy writers like Ambrose Gonzales and Julia Peterkin. HcKay , we have said, employed a similar dlalect in his Jamaican poems. Actor-singer Belafonte, son of Hest Indians, ·would popularize this same dialect in the 195'0's and 6ors (''Dayligbt come and me want to go home"). Tlore salient contemp orary examples of this idiom (and its cadences) can ho found in t he lyrics of West Indian1mp.orted music known as the "Reggae)--an island version of 209 �Afro-American rrsoul" music. One of the first Black poets to wrj_te in dialect, Campbell deserves much 11iore attention than he has thus far received. At this writing, tbe most ex~austive studies of him appear in Wagner's Black Po ets and Shcrr.1an' s Invisible Poets. Though he was a close friend of Dunbar's, bis major works in dialect preceded Dunbar's books. In additio n to h1s poetry he was also a member of a group that edited the Four O'Clock Haga.zine which was published for several years in Cbicago. 0~1<:l one occasion, Campbell is knoHn to have spent time talking to BJlack men, pleading with t hem to spend their time more wisely tban in drinking and gamhling. For selections of bis work see Johnson, Robinson and Negro Caravan. For critical evaluations see Brown, Johnson, Redding ( "Car1:_:ihell 's e ar a.lone dictated his language.") and Carter G. ·wo ods on rs rrJ .E. Campbell: Letter, 11 A Forgotten nan of Wegro I-Iistor~r Bul:etin, l'T ovem1,er, 1938, p. 11. In 1937, St0:r1.inc; Dro·wn 8aid t1:sloquent and militant" were the tr.words most descrj_ptive" of the poetry of 1-Vi.11,iam Edward Burghardt DuBois ( 186C-1S63). Broun, il10 also termed DuBois "the leading intcll0ctual lnflnence of bis generation," was only t1ro years ahe ad of a s 1.mi lar accolade fror:1 J. Saunders Redding: !!They (poems) represent the e;;reatness of Dr. DuBois as an inspirationa 1. force." In the history of Black poetry, however, DuBols docs not deserve as larGo a portion of the limelight as is norua.lJ;:r accorded his Hork as historian, social critic, journalist, novelist, Africanist, organizer of important 210 �Pan-African Congresses in tl-:c J.920's, editor of the Crisis, pathfindcr-schola1" of tbc Black Experie nce, precurser of militancy and tl1e "lTc~-r :Tcgro." In 1923, Robert T. Kerlin (Negro Poets) sa5.d Du.Bois nar.: "celebrated 5.n tbe Five Continents and the Seven Seas. 11 As a poet, houevcr, DuBois is i m!)ortant for his work in the prose-poem ( s or.:c say "pro em") forms and f'or asserting a militance, a defiance and an exclaiming, a hatred of racism and oppression that had not been beard since ,To.mes Whitfield. Like molten lava, the dis gust o.nd nager spill from DuBois's pen as in "Hymn of Hate": I hate them, Ohl I hate them well, I bate them, ChristJ As I bate hellJ Ironicall~r, though, in his hatred DuBo1s always managed to re-establish his faith and trust in some bigher ordor--in God. Most of his poems had been published in various periodicals ( the Independent, Atlant1c Honthly and Crisis) before several of them were inte1•spcrsed among the essays in Da.rkwater (1919). DuBois bad, by that time, already gained recognition for bis individualized use of poetic prose--whicb fused Biblical language and tma.gery with his classical education and the expressions from the Souls of Black Folks (1903). But in !TA Litany of Atlanta," written after the racial bolacaust that took several Black lives, he assails all fundamentals--including the existence of God. But if God does ex:i.st, in f'ace of such violence and savagery, 211 �Surely Thou too art not white, O Lord, a pale, bloodless, heartless thing? DuBois also takes the occasion to cite his arch-enemy (Booker T. Washington): Tbey told him: Hork and P.i..se. A seeker ai'ter universal suf'frage and 'brotherhood, DuBois employed ::nu.ch of his poetry in the service of tbe political ideologies that be expouscd. Thus in "A Hymn to the.Peoples" he unites socialise and the Christian God urder one banner, viewing "the primal meet1 ng of t h e Sons of Han II as ForeshadoHing tbe union of the worldJ Other poems in Darkwater include nThe Riddle of the Sphinx" and "The Prayers of God." His "S orig of the Smoke" (written in 1899) makes the American Black the "Smoke King." Listing achievements and misuses of Blacks (a favorite habit of Black poets), DuBois at one point asks for acceptance of the Black man on equal terms ·with the uh:i. te: Souls unto me o.re as mists 1n the night, I 1-rhite n my blackmen, I 1)eckon my wbite, Hhat 's the hue of a hide to a man in his mightl But, DuBois does not silence his pen without some appeal to God: Sweet Christ, pity toiling landsl Hail to the smoke king, Hail to the blackJ For selections from and comment on Dubois's poetry see Kerlin, 212 �Brown, Redding, Frecdomways (Hinter, 1965), Johnson (American Negro Poetry). :ror assessments se Jahn, Barksdale and Kannamon, Wagner, Hays and Cba.pman (Black Voices, 1968) who rightly calls DuBois "the . intellectual father of modern Negro scholarship, modern Uegro militancy and self-consc:i.ousness, and modern lTegro cultural development ." DuB ois Selected Poems h ave just been published (1973) by Ghana Universities Press and is available in the United States from Panther House, Ltd. James David Corrotbcrs (1869-1919 ) acknowledged his debts to Shelley, Keats ( "Drea m and the Song") o.nd Dunbar ( "Paul Laurence Dunbar") after wh om mucb of hls dialect poetry is modeled. But Corrothers, a minister , disple.:7s neither the range (in subject matter) nor the skill of Dunbar. His mother died at his birth in Cass Count:r, rii chigan, and his :father apparently gave him little care. In IIi chigan, be worked o.s a youth in the sa.1-nnills and lnmher camps , o.s a sailor on the Grcat Lakes , and later ceked out a 11.ving as janitor, coachman and bootblack i.n a ba.rbersbop. ~n cournged hy associates to continu0 b is education, he studied for tl:e minstr:r and remained in t h at profession (pastoring in Methodist , Baptist and Presbyterian churches) a.11 his life. His flrst puhlisbing oppor- tunity car,1e through Century mo.Go.zine; this landed him a wide reading au.c1ienc c 'because of tho resorn½lcnce of bis 1-rork to that of Dunbar's. Corrot:10rs' f:i.rst vo lume (Selected Poems) was published in 1907 a nC: 1-..,is nocond collection (Th e Dream and the Song) ca.me out i:1 1914. He 1-ras i n C11 ica eso clnrlng the same 213 �period that Car.1pboll li ve d th e re a nd b o also worked for various daily neuspap ei-•s. Dunbar. Ifa r;-:t0 t a n d so cial i.z c d ui t 1~ Ca mpbe ll a nd F1 on r..e1-1spapcr articles a n d nnpuh li shed poe1;1s b e put 1 of Hand ic ar , ~ es pub li s ~ ~d i n 1916. has bo on mis-road by a nm:b or of c 1,:ttics (Jorr.s on i ncluded ) as advising resi gnati on and c onc5- l i at l o~~ . Corrotbers was a 1,iinist cr , sbou ld s b c d and i mp lica~io ns. r:101·0 1lnt , lrn oulod 6 e t h at li£;l~t on b is usac os E ach oco of t~o rour s t a ~zas (except for the fourth ·wh ic'!.-1 ends •.: ~a rol:r a Ne c.;r d- -i :-1 a d a.:r liko thisJ ") begins and ends :.·!l t h : I • To b e a lTe~r·o l n a day l i l::e this. As a sermon on t he; sDrfac o , t bo po oL a ppear s to tell Blacks to have "patience 11 and 11 fo rgiv0 ness," and so on. But a closer reading will reveal a s tro :.1.g a d 5c c ti vc :.oa d l r.:.c 1 nto almost every virtue. So t he c;ron p i ng.s l ook li ke t b is: "rare patience, 11 "strange loyal t:r" and "utt e r clarkno ss 11 - -all of wh ich s uggest that, in the cocle of t h e prcac!1er, it just mi gbt b e too "rare" or "strange II or "utter¥ " Duri nc t bc deli very of a. sermon, or similar verbal eloque n ce, Ble.cks arc accustou ed to searching i'or mea.ning--shifts and leve ls based on to n al variety and other vocal modulations. So, wo seo y e t one mor e oxau~le of a possible "encoding" of 1~os3ages (s co Chapter II) in w~at 11 s eems" to be., at best, harmless deliveries arrl, at ·w orst, co nciliatory. "Paul Laurence Dunbar" anticipates t b e Harlem Renaissance 214 �and tho "Now Negr o II in b aving t he ''Dark melodist" venture to . . the citadels of Western culture--using "Ap ollo's Fire" and visit "Helicon", t h e h m;1e of the muses. Even more blatant, however, is Corr ot h er s' brllliant so nnet "The Negro Singer," in which h e carries out a major theme of the Harlem Renaissance-reclamation of Black cultural values and the Black pa.st. The "Singer, 11 tired and frust r ated f r om try ing to write (and a.ct) white, finally decides that But I shall dig me deeper to the gold; and Fetch water dripping, over desert miles, so that at least some of his original virtue and ancestr~l strength can be exploited in the Western world. Such a course is the only way for the Black poet, Carrothers says, tbe only way for "men II to: • • • know, and remember long , Nor m:.r dark face dishonor any song. The sar,1e theme .( sligl1tly altered) is picked up in ''The Road to the Bow" where the singer again knows tbat I hold my head as proudly bi gh As any man. Tension develops between the Black and white men "In the Matter of' Two Hen" and "An Indignation Dinner" features a dialect presentation of the popular plantation/minstrelsy theme about Blacks stealing ch:tckesn and turkeys. A social lesson occurs in the poem, however, for "old Pappy Simmons ris" and explained 215 �to those facing a food-less Cbristma.s t h at nothing but "wintry wind 11 (bot ah"') is "a.-n ighing th' ough/de street." He tells the persons at tho meeting that he has seen plenty food on a "certain gemmun's/fahrn" and tbat "All He nee<l is a corr.mi ttce fob to tote the goodies here." Earlier in tbe pocru, Blacks protest tbelr treatment at the hands of' whites; and in a 17-part series called "Sweete n 'Tatahs," one annoyed Black complains that 11 Evah tha.ing is 'dulterated By cle white folks, nowadays-- Even cblme ½ones , when :you buys 'em De ain't wo'f de cash you pays. In one poem, Blacks comp lain of small Hages; in another they protest high prices--familinr stories in the Afro-American communities. They dispel ignorant statements (like Wagner's) that Carrothers is "lacking in personality " and that his works do not belong in "the literary domain. 11 And, thoy ·cancel in part, Brown's allegation that Corrothers follo1-1s a "typical dialect pattern." For selections of Corr othe1•s ' works see Johnson, Hughes and Bontemps, and Ro"rinson. For critical appraisals see Brown, Johnson and Brawley. James Weldon Johnson (1871-193 8 ), important in bis own right as a poet and h is i mmens e "service to other Negro poets," is looked at in passing hero. He will be seen a gain in Chapter Vin connection uith tbe Harlem Rena.issa.nce--wh ere be is normally placed even though he 1-:as in l1is f if tios ·when the leading lights 216 �of the Renaissancc--Cullen, Hughes, ~foKay, Toomer and others-first start!')d to pub lish t b eir ~,rnrks. Jo'hnson, considered here as a writer of dialect poetr:r, was horn in Jacksonville, Florida, to middle-class ~lack parents, and attended Stanton Central Grammar !'cl1ool (all Black) w11ere bis ri10th er taught. He entered a preparatory program at Atlanta University, later graduating and returning to assume principalship of Stanton where-during an oight year period--he ti.p&,--raded the school to secondary status. Considered a "n.enai.ssance" man (in the European sense, this tir,1e), Johnson founded a. local newspaper (The Daily American, 1894), studied for the Florida. bar (was admitted in 1B97), wrote dialect poems (modeled after Dunbar's), and .finally made his ·Hay to Broadwa-:;r in New York where he collaho1.., ated 1.Ji t h his brother, cor,1pos0r J. Rosamond, and Bob Cole in light operas. Sterling Brown said Job nson recognized the "triteness" of his earl:.r d:!.alect poems ( many puhlish ed in Fifty Years and Ot ber Poems, 1917), b ut several of them--put to music by 11i s ,_11..,ot~1er and Cole--hecamc popular ;('avorites. Tho Century accerted "S e :-ice :rou Hent Awa:y" for pu'b lj_cation. And tbc brothP✓ rs c ot.:poscd "Lift Evo,.: :" Voice a.ml S ing" (lyrics by James) for the ~<'cbr no.:..":r 12, 1900, a nniversary of Lincoln's birth. 'T.his poem is gcnerall~r regarded as tbc "National Anthem" of Black America. Hardly an Afro-American bas not board or snng tl-i is sonc. Johnson's dialect poems, listed in his hook under "Jingles and Croons, " leave nuc:-1 to be des ired in t h o area of originality. 217 �Perhaps his mm experir.1onts in that forri1 are idhat led him to state so c1,;.:11~aticall:· tba.t dialect has 'hnt "two stops"--"humor and pathos." Johnson Has n ot tota:.l~r right, as we shall see la tor (Broun tal{es ur this issue in The :!'Togro in Poetry and Dre.ma). However, Kerlln (1-rhom Hagner sa:rs sbol,rs a "deficiency in critic al sense") called Jo11nson's i:-rnrk 11 so1,1e of t~e best dialect writing in the uhole range of 1Tegro litero.turc. cellence is here. 11 Every quality of ex- Technically, Jobnson was quite capahle in handling dialect (as he is in o.11 matters). But his dialect brings nothing new to Black poetry (unlike Sterling Brown's) and his tl1cr,1es have been prett~r much played out by tbe time he reaches print. 11 l:y Lady's Lips Am Like de Honey" recalls Dunbar's "A 1'Tegro Love Song," Carrothers' "Negro Serenade," and other such pieces. of Dunbar's "Song." Johnson poem carries none of the power And bis subtitle ("Negro Love Songn) shows that be is working in the stock trade for the period. The lover finall~r gets to t h 0 point where be Pelt ber k:i.ndo:.." squeeze mah han', 'Huff to make r;1e undcrstan'. 11 Sence ~rou Went A1:1ay 11 is one of the real touching statements in 11 J'inGles and Croons II and 3hows Johnson 'hridginc; between the blues and Spiritual styles. It h as an authentic (though quietly turbulent) ring in its sin plicity--ffioving and lingering in its spell wrought by seeing t h e loss of a lover as a cause for disorder in the cosr.1os. Glimp8cs of bnmor come through in a few of the poems but generally the di.alect is used for ridicule--albei t 218 �um1i ttingly--and deals with tbe "easy" life of the plantation, the stealing of turl;:eys and • • • entin' watermelon, an' a layin' in de sbade. We will meet Johnson agaln, a critic, different poet, user of a different ndialect." The towering figure of Black American literature until the Renaissance of the 1920's, Paul Laurence ])unbar (1872-1906) lived a complex, tragic, ar.1biguous and s1'10rt life. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to former slaves, Dunbar corilpleted his f'ormal training at that city's onl:r high schoo1--graduating with good marks and as the onl:r Black student in his class. He was sickly at an early age but became the man of the house,af'ter his father ts death, when he nas 12 years old. Completing high school, but being financially uno.ble to pursue his interests in law and journalism, Dunhar began 1-rni-•k as an elevator boy, maintaining bis voracious rec.ding habits. He was fond of Tennyson, Shelley (whom be took as o. model for his , poems in standard Englis!1), James Bussell Lowell ( whose work, along with Rile:r, Eugene Field a.nd Ella Hheeler 1-.Jilcox, he found in The Century), and others. Huch of Dunbar rs poetry bears striking resemblence to the 1-1orks of poets he admired, especially Shelley, Tennyson and Riley 1-1bose "devices" Dunbar "industriously" set out to "dismantle" and master . His volumes of verse include Oak and Ivy (1893), privately printed; Eajors and Hinors (1895), also privately printed, with 219 �the aid of patrons; Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896, witb a preface · by 'Hilliarn Dean Hm·J ells) wh ich , representing a major break- through for a Black auth or, was puh lish ed b y Dod, Mead and Company. This t h i r d v olune included t h e best poems from the two prev ious v olur;1e s a nd s ome t h at h a d not b ee n published before. Dunbar, now almost i nstantly famous, continued to write and pub lish b oth v e rse and fiction. His later books of' poems included Lyrics of t h e Hearth sidc (1899), Lyrics of Love a.nd Laughter ( 1903) o..nd Lyrics of Sunsh ine and Shadow (1905), the year b efore h i s d ea th . in 1913. Compl ete Poems was pub lished Intersp er s e d a mo ng t he s e bo ok s of poetry were volumes of short st orie s a nd four nov els. 'Hovels wer Th e Uncal led (1898), The Love of Landry (1900)., Th e Fina.tics (1901) and The Sport of t h e Gods ( 1902). His sh or t s tori e s included Folks fro n Dixie (1 898 ), Tb e Str ength of Gideon (1900)., In Old Plantation Days (~_903) a nd The He a rt of Hnpp:,r Ho llow (19 04). Dunb ar wa s pro l ifi c a lmost r i gh t up unt i ::. th e t i me of h is deatb-w'hich be k new u a s 12.ppr oacl: i ng .. E e h ad i~:arri e cl Al1,ce Ruth HoDe., a pr 01:1isi ng autl::ior f rou 1::"ew Orlo a ns , '.i.n 1e98 ; a.n d his last ~ears wor e a n o:fort to he a l h ot'h fai l i n; he a lt~ a nd a failing marriage. As a p oet, Dun½ o.r 's 110.rk fall s i nto tu o d i visio ns : lect and standard ( so,,10 : rn.:r 11 dia- 11.tor ar:r " or "cla.ss:1.c") E ng lish . He att 0r,1pt b ore t o pre sent some of h is po etic c oncerns, ach ieveme nt s a nd tber,108 . Dun1") 0.1° r s 1 5.f o a nd Hor ks a.re too far- r each ing and cor,1 plex t o ,,_,c as se s sed c or.1pletel:r i_n this typ e of s ur vey .' 220 .. ' ' �a rna.n or as an D~mb a.r wa.s ~... _ lQo 61 _.., ,: "Howells Har1 per-b aps t ho 8:1-1:r literature 11'10 >as :-1 t o ra:.,., ~r hc o 1~ cr i t lc i::-:i th e l1is tory of Ameri.can a'JJ. c to c re a te r•oputa.t l ons ½:r n. sincle re v i01 :r " (Brool:s , The Confident Years, 1;;2). Bnt, as Barksdale and Einnamon no t e, :9:owc:i..:o' rcvicu ·t-ras uore of a social commen- tary (liberal, tbat !s) th an li t ora.r:r cr'i.t lcin r.i . s ingled out t!1c clial oct poc~::s for spe ci..o. l pro.5.so . said, Howells Dun11 ar, he 11 1,ms the on:.:r ma n of p 1,.r e Afr:tcan ½looC::. and of American civilization to .focl negro brricall ,r. .., . ::tro a.0ct:1oticall:r a.i.1Cl express it 11 Du~, ar, lat er rcaliz1 nc Ho~ells' praise TTas n curse in disguise, strucsled for t'l-}c rest of ' ~ls l ife to remove the dialect stigr,ia. Ho complained t o ,Ta~·.1cs 1foldon Joh nson t h at t he public on:y wanted to read ~ is dialect pieces. the pressure to be an intelligent n~ a tG.bo , 11 And feeling be elsewhere com- plained of having to p lay t l1e part of a "hlack 1"11.1 i te ma n." Dunbar's resentment of t 1.1e "label" of dialect poet when h e felt he had rr..orc prof01.,.na. a nd co1;1p lex tbi n0 s to say is capsuled in 221 �this often-quoted stanza. fro ::u "Tho Poet 11 : He sa.ng of love when eart11 i:-ra.s ~roung, And love, itself, was in hi s lays. But ah, the -;-1 0rld, it tnrned to praise A jingle inn broken to nc;ue . Earlier in the poer,1 preferred to sing. Haunted Oak, 11 Dunbar refers to a ndeeper note" which he But while poems like "The Debt, 11 11 Sympatby, 11 "The and "Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes,n do have deep a.nd complicated meanings, one searches in vain for Dunbar the man in them. pieces, Dunbar 1,ms In the dialect ab le to capture the rhythms, phonetics and idioms of Black speech. But it ls generally agreed that, es- pecially since be used ridicule-directed white models, he s·aw the Black man as a subject for either humor or pity • . The South's revenge for the Civil Har h ad come in part through its philosophers and writers who reflected nostalgically about the npeace and tranquility" of plantation life. This was political chicanery at its worst, but several BlaQk poets, Dunbar included, followed the white originators of the minstrel and plantatlon school of poets. (Whites did not origi- nate minstrelsy--hu t they did corrupt it; see Loften Mitchell's Black Drama.) As a result, Dunbar's treatment of Blacks in his dialect poems is stock in trade for the era: singing, grinning, obsequious, head-scratchinc, master-loving, watermellon-eating, dancing, banjo-picking, darkies. Certainly Dunbar comes t hrough realist1.cally as in "A Negro Love Song" 222 �(a written accou nt of a song sung by Black be h ad worked with), "Litt le Brm-m Bah~r, 11 11 theme), "The Par ty , 11 1 rn1en De Co' n Pone's Hot," ( the g ood-eating '1-Iou Lucy Bae ks lid, 11 11 Tbe Rivals II and others. He also acbievc:::i subtlety and irony in others. 1 t-vn'l en Malindy sings" is by all accounts h:i.s importo.nt llnguisti c-cultural contribution. Yet Dunbar seemed to reserve the "serious" sub- jects for standard ~nglish--for wh:i.c1'1 Black critics will not forgive him--a.nd even :tn this seriousness be speaks of people biding bebi nd lonely. 11 tiiasks 11 or being ''caged II or "drca1;1i ng II or being In these standard pie ces, Dunbar treats loneliness, unrequited love and goes on loft:" f li g11t s as a. knight or wanderer or theologian; or be is resigned as i n 11 Rcsignation" where he invites God to "crush me for Thy use" if need he. Yet accusations that Dunbar HRS completely tor::1 from the real world of Blackness are not true. I n "T:1e :Haunted Oak," for example, he indicts the judge, t h e rai ni ster and t he doctor, for the lyncbine of a Black man. He a l so h~e ooded ov er his dark skin, feeli :1.c tbo.t , duri ns a t:tmo of preference for light-skin a nd the ;1al,i t of "passing ," h is color he ld him back. Bnt some of l1is po0tr:r a nticipates Garve:r's call for "ethnic purity." He prai3es t b c hr01m sl:in of :::and:" Lou in "J)re a :n:i.n' Town" and be loves "Dcl:' 11 for ~e:t ng 1 • • • brm·m c z 1r own ca n be . . .. .. .-. - . .. She ai n 't no mullnter; She pure cullnd ,--don 't you see 223 �Da.tts de why I love hub so, D' ain't no mix ahout huh . A similar theme pervades "S ong ," ("African me.id") '"Dinah Kneading Dough 11 ( ''Brown arms b uried elb01-r-deep ") and "A Plantation Por- trait!' ("Browner den de Frusb's Hing "). In bis dialect poems, Dunbar reveals a love for spiri. t and revelry and good times. But nowhere is t h ere an indicat :i. on of t be enormous suffering and violence inh e r ited 1 ) :T p os t -war Af ro-Americans. The lynchings, tbe patt~r-roller s s1-1oop ing dm-rn on defe nseless ex-slaves, the night-rides of t b e Ku Kl ux I:lan and 1-n1i te Citizens orga nizations, the harsh and deb :i.litati ng economic s ituation of Blacks in general--none of tbe s e t h ings find t h e i r way i nto Dunb ar's poetry. All thi s , of coure e , is i ro n:i. c a gainst Du nb ar's great admiration for such men as Preo.eric k Douglass, Alexander Crummell, Booker T. Hasb i Ll.zton "Blac k ~a.m,so n of Brand:n-l i ne 11 --all of whom he immortalized i n p o-e try . I nstead, i n b is "deeper note" Dunb ar (notwith standi ng the examp les of 1-Jh itfi.eld, 1·TT1ib;1s. n , DuBois, and others) s p oke of 'hear t b reak , pr obed b is own pessim1.s m and religious doubt a ncl s ee[1ed l i tera'::..l:r to p :J. ne a~-rn.~r. ( I n one dia- lect poer.i, h owever , h e a dvi sed Blo.c ks t o "Kee p P'2.u ggint Along ~-") Tiucb of t b is e n i gma. of Du nb ar s eems to b e explained in bis poem "A Ch oice 11 ( Ge ncra.1 -::y over looked h y cri.tics wb o r.1 onotonously quote fror.1 "Th e Poot 11 ) i n wb ich h e cor.1plai ns of h eing tired of problet'.'j,S and sh• os s e s: But i n a p oem l e t me sup , Not s i r.~ l es b r ewad to cur e or ease �.,,L].. 118, On more t~an one occasion, Dunhar inti mated to associates tHat l1 c 1:ras all "ot1t fec1 tlp -i-ri tl 1 raci.a l a s i tatton--a.pparcntl2r feeling tl"Jat Black-wh1.te r clat ior.s ucro 1-:i eyonc: ropah 1 T'vd.s could be • There are poets, he re in tl,e ml ddle of the 20th centnry, who feel the sace wa:r. :·fo,:e rt' ; eless Dnnb ar' s request was answered 'A Choice,'" said That pootc d i ould 'h o sui:ft de c rees An~ we~ stern facts to so~er song. Dunbar ei t}:er did not becd/~ear or wns not aware of t11:ts "answer 11 ; but if 1J e bad tal::en Cotter's ad v ice perhaps t1.rn world 1vould knm-1 a d5.fferent poet. A'!-)ove e.11, Dunbar was a skillful reader of h is poetry--often hr i nc i nz eudiences to their feet for stand inc ovat lo rs nncl ~)J.co.s for e :, coros. in the use JTi::i dexterousness "h,-.r - several "'GDe - b rations of Black colle ce poets and lc.;r wrlters irJ}:-:,o Lni tated }1 1m. In a.b1ost c~rer:· stf 1::::tantial Black co numni t:r there is some public faci li t:r named. after Dui'} 1~ar. JTo lJroto ln aL10st ever:, prevailing sty1-e--t11e ~rontost exploi tor of Eni.31:i.sh poetic techniques between Fhit man and Cn1le n . Sonnet, :r,.adrical, couplet, ballad, Spiritual, pre-h1-ues, soncs (includine use 225 �of musical notntio~ in some instances), 7ou name it and Dunhar seems to ;1ave tried it. Dunbar ' s po0t~1s can ' :e fonnd i_n Complete Poems, the text used for t~rn discussion l: er0. Por critical- 1~io_;rap11ical ·w riting o n Dun1,ar see 1foz_;ner 1 s Black Poets of t 1 ~e Unltod States (tbe most ambitious study to elate) , Bro..Hloy ' s Pnul Laurence Dunhar: Poet of Hln People, wor'.rn l1:r Brm-:n, ~=teddi.n.::;, TTictor Lawson ' s Dunbar Cri ti c al1~r Exa.,dne d, 7ir2:inia c1,_nn in;::;:.: a ri1 1 s Panl Lanrence Dun'!:.::ar and IT:i_s Son:::; , and Jenn Gould 1 s T1-"}a t Dnn:Jar Bo:r: Ameri c a ' s Fa1:1ous i;ecro Poet . The Stor:r of Ot'.~ers w'.· o 1.1ave written on Dunbar inc lt~de Houston Bs.'.:er, Dar~1.·.11 Turner, Benjamin r:a:rs, James Helclon ,Tobnnon , Hicl.: Aaron Ford a nd AdcJ_::rn n Ga:<"c.e, ,Tr . , v.11:o recently pub lished a Dunbar ' , :tograp'·:,:r. Junius IIordccai Allen ( l J?~-?), a. 1, out w', o.n ·we know ver:r l:tttle, is an :i.t;1portant f'iG'J.re in this tra;1si_t:to:"lal pl: ase of Black poetr:r . T°!"is pbasc , 1 1-r 11c:, w:i.t:1ess ed t 11e passinc; of the plantation tradition in poetr:- and t:!o wiltin=: of Wasblncton ' s influenc e on Blac k tb5-nkors and nct:i. v :tsts, co::ne :::i to a close about the middle of tho second decade of t he 20t ~ century . Allen , Dunbar , DnBois, Car.1p 11 oll and Corrotb ers are D.monc:; the many t rans i ti oni::-i ts . AlJ.en was 1.)orn i 11 lfont;::;or.ier:", Ala:"l ama , and moi.red witl1 l, is fa r.1i 2..:r to Topeka, TCa.nsa, years old . i 1en r. e was seven Ex c ept for n t 1lroe - ~rea.r period, dnri nc: w11i c;1 ;1e Hrote for• and trn'.·cl0d .-rit 1.., a t 1, entrical r;roup, 1.1e spe !.1 t most of bis life as n '. ~- oi2.erma!cer for w:,:i.c:.1 ll e l1 ad apprenti c ed. His onl:-r volume is m-1:rr:-~e:.::, Tales ancl. :Rh-:rrned TnJ.es 226 (Topeka, 1906). �!1ostly in dialect, ItJ:rmes co nt ai ns "c;reat felid.t:-- of c:.1a.rac- terization, surpris it1c turns of wit 11 ai:d "quai ;Tt. p'I-Jilosophy. 11 The book appeared t1"J e :renr of Dtrn~)ar' s deat 1"' and Kerlin places Allen on par witb Dunbar --some1,J1·: 2t of Allen is deep anc7. pr of ounC: ::i. n aD exaseration. Howe v er, , otb ,, 5 s standard. En.:;l ish pieces 1 (b e 1.ncludes two in tt:e 1· >00'.;:) a nd dialect. "Countlns Out II is a ratber l :tebt rccol'2.ccti_on of ch5.lc11-, ood :::;ames such as 11 Countins : curri nc; : 110 II gives clnes to tbe po:;c 1-olo,c).ca:, l::i.n _:;~1tsti c a :1d c;e stural development of ?~.e. c l: :,.oun.:;~tc::>s (ubic Allon also knows tho co nso qucn c c,s of 1 ' 11 is c h ar:i1incl:r suff:lcient). 0 ct tin c can 01, t II out at ni gb t or ln alien torrttor:,. amonc3 vi ciou s, 'ha te-~11on 6 eri ng and Aro ,~o·H trit'· co nse que n ces fra t' c;1°·t; 227 �5.s t 1-:0 f 5.rst to To win one stride from sh eer defeat; To die--but cain an inch. His pen remained silent afte1• his first book. And one wonders if .Johnson, like so many Black artists, renounced his artistic inclination ( in view of the ti mes) and simpl:~r c;ave up. His dialect poems ce.rry, on t h e surface, t h e spirit of the "dialect tradition." But Allen is a biting satirist of middle-class Blacks (Wagner attributes this to an "inferiority complex") and pokes fun at whites. who tries to "resist" in On, Mr. Suny, 11 Temptation over ... takes the preacher 11 The Devil and Sis Viney" but in "Shine and "The Squak of the Fiddle II show his close ob- servation of(and take-it-or-leave-it attitude toward) whites. His satire of the Black middle-class is reminiscent of the impatience suggested in statements by Whitman and anticipates the works, especially, of Frank Marshall Davis and Melvin Tolson. Allen is also important as e. stylistic innovator. In "A Victim of Microbes," he again casts aspersions on whites and spoofs stereotypes of Blacks as field workers and laborers. But he couches his narrative in an exciting new literary form which allows for an alternation between a loosely rhymed eight-lined stanzas and four-lined stanzas of blank verse in 228 �which repetition of the sort found in the blues of Spirituals occurs: I done hyeahed de doctor say it--de doctor hisse'f said it-- •••• Brown was right when he said Allen's work was "unpretentious 11 and contained "pleasant humor." For selections of Allen's poetry see Kerlin's work; see, for criticism, Brown and Wagner. Primarily important as a writer of prose, journalist and an inspiration to other writers, Alice Nelson-Dunbar (1875-1935) was born and received _her public education in New Orleans, Louisiana, and married Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1898. She did further study at Cornell and Columbia Universities and the University of Penn~ylvania. She authored volumes of prose (Violets and Other Tales, 1894; The Goodness of St. Tocque, 1890) and edited Masterpieces of Ne ero EloquenEe, 1913, and The Dunbar Speaker, 1920, in which appears some of her poetry. :Mrs. Dunbar-Nelson was noted :for her abilities as a journalist and lecturer; for a while she served as managing .edotor of The Advocate and she contributed to numerous magazines. Her poetry, as yet uncollected, bas little racial flavor; but she does protest World War I and her often-anthologized sonnet represents her technical abilities in that form. In "I Sit and Sew" she laments that, as a woman, she can do little else to hasten the end to war. "The Lights At Carney's Point" contains "fine symmetry, highly poetic diction and great allusive meaning." An easy-flowing poem in four-lined stanzas of iambic tetrameter meter, "Light" allows the poet (as with many romantic writers) • 229 �to stream associations from a central theme--the lights. But something is lost when the lights go "gray in tbe ash of day" And the sun laughed high in the infinite sky, And the lights were forgot in the sweet, sane calm. Studies of Mrs. Dunbar-Nelson's poetry are underway. collected poems have yet to be published. Her "The Sonnet" is printed in several anthologies and three of her poems. appear in Kerlin's book. Kerlin also advances brief criticism. A critical study of Mrs. Dunbar-Nelson is currently. Although Sterling Brown says that Joshua Henry Jones (1876-?) "gives little besides banal jingling " we mention him briefly as part of our effort to survey most of the poetic output of the period. ~or more listings of lesser-known poets see the end of the chapter. Jones was born in Orangesburg, South, Carolina, and, after completing high school, attended Ohio State University, Yale and Brown. He served on the editorial staffs of several newspapers, was secretary to th~ mayor of Boston for four years, and published two books of poems (The Heart of the World and Other Poems, Boston, . 1919, and Poems of the Four Seas, Boston, 1921) and a novel (By Sanction of_Law, Boston, 1924). Jones' poetry treats nature, nostalgia, race struggle ( as in ''Brothers u) and sentimental love ( "A Southern Love Song") themes which Kerlin has compared to Johnson's "Love Song." Though grim, 11 To A Skull," does show some origi- nality. 230 �Noted more for walking all the way from his home in the South to Harvard University, where he camped overnight and was arrested on a charge of vagrancy, Edward Smyth Jones (18?-?) published The Sylvan Cabi~ in 1911. nalled "pompously literary" by Brown who adds that his verses are less interesting than his "biography, tt Jones wrote "Harvard Square" wjile he was in jail. The poem brought him immediate attention and helped speed up his release. The poem is a hodge-podge of imitations of various European models used by Jones. He recites the names of Dante, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Burns, and so on down the line, in a bombast of stanzas. "A song of Thanks, sensitivity and deeper feeling. 11 however, shows more While it leaves a·. lot to be desired, one can certainly feel the power growing through the repetition (in several dozen lines) of "For the" sun, flowers, rippling streams, and other faces of nature. Alex Rogers (1876-1930) is one of the several dozen or so "minor" writers of dialect during this period. As we stated earlier, poets published pamphlets themselves, s .e cured places for their work in newspapers and macazines, and traveled on a regular reading circuit executin 0 their poems and ditties, o:rten to the accompaniment of bands or single musical instruments. This practice would continue up until this very day when many of the poets, if not heard live, loose their signi:ficance and dramatic flavor. Such was the case with Rogers who ''wrote lyrics for most of tbe songs in the musical comedies in which Williams and Walker appeared. 231 11 Rogers was born in �Nashville., Tennessee., educated in tbe schools of that city., and finally worked bis way north where be wrote some of the most popular songs of bis day; be ma.de a number of performers famous., including white entertainers looking for "Negro stuff." work is satire, humor and some slap-stick. some clue to bis intentions: His His titles give '~Thy Adam Sinned," 11 Tbe Rain Song" (a Flip Wilson-type conversation between "Bro. Wilson" and ''Bro. Simmons"), "Tbe Jonah Man, Drop." 11 and "Bon Bon Buddy, the Chocolate Rogers' significance, however, lies in his work in the _ theater and his ground- breaking e.fforts to cha.nee the popular (ministrel-inspired) image of Blacks. Dunbar had co-authored lyrics for Clorindy--Ori gin of the f!ake Walk (1 098 ) and In De.homey (1903). This was part of a groundswell that occured when, according to Loften Mitchell (Black Drama): In the latter part of the nineteenth century a group o.f Negro theatrical pioneers sat down and plotted the deliberate destruction of the minstrel pattern. These men were Sam T. Jack, Bert Williams, George Walker, Jesse Shipp, Alex Rogers, S.H. Dudley, Bob Cole, J. Rosamond Joh nson and John w. Isham. And in destroying the minstrel pattern, these men were to help pave the way for the million-dollar musical pattern which today dominates the American theatre. Mitchell's observation sheds great li gbt on the importance of many Black "poets" who, however dismally they may fa.re on paper, 232 �are of major importance to the aggreGate ritual and musical sense/life of on-going Black society. Today we see a similar pattern, with radical variations, of course--growing from the work of James Weldon Johnson and others--in Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, the poets who are writing for the ritual theater, and in the efforts of dramatists like Melvin Van Peebles (Ain't Supposed to Die A Natural,) Paul Carter Harrison (Tbe Great 1-IcDaddy ), Imamu Amiri Baraka (Slave Ship), the work of Barbara Teer, Clay Goss (Andrew and Home-Cookine), Eugene B. Redmond (The Face of the Deep, 9 Poets with the Blues, and The Night John Henry Was Born) and the experimental productions of Michael Gates (The Black 0offin, There's a Wiretap in My Sou~: or Quit Bum~ing Me and Will I Still Be Here Tomorrow). Th is pattern, practically perfected by Langston Hughes, can also be seen in outstanding performing-cultural centers conducted by Katherine Dunham in East St. Louis, Val G-ray Ward in Chicago, and at Alma Lewis's Center for Afro-American Cultural and Performing Arts in Boston. Sterling Brown lumps Rogers in a class with other "minor writers of dialect" and includes Sterling Means (The Deserted Cabin and Other Poems), S. Tutt 'Whitney, Waverly Turner Carmichael, and just about anybody else who wrote dialect at the time. Means also wrote in conventional English forms. For evaluations of Rogers and other similar writers see Mitchell's Black Drama, Johnson's American Negro Poetry ~nd Black Manhattans) and Brown. 233 �As part of a stream of Black "immigrants" that has not been abated to this very day, George Rec;inald Margetson (1877-?), was born in St. Kitts (British West Indies) and came to the United States when he was 20-years-old. Mare;etson, e. wholly original poet, got a good solid grounding in literature in his childhood and produced f'our volumes of' poetry: England in the West Indies (1906), Ethiopia.ts -Plt ght (1907), ~ongs of Life (1910) and Th e Flcd cling Bard and_tbc Poetry _Society (1916). His acbievement can he seen in the last hook which consists of one 100-page poem. A s~tire, owing debt to Byron and other English inf'luences, the poem represents one of the most important technical undertakinc; by a Black poet since 1foitma.n's Rape of Florida. Marcetson uses mostly seveh-lined stanzas of five-f'oot meter with the seventh line lengthening to an Alexandrina. His rhyme scheme is ab ab . b cc and he exhibits a wacky, uproarous use of both rhyme and humor. The basic stanzaic pattern is interspersed with shifting meters and schemes which appear as four-lined stanzas in an ab ab movement or an a a ab context. The poem begins in a search for the Poetry Society (reminiscent of several European poets) and Margetson essays an old theme: that of poetry being mechan- ical and your success depending on school or dress as opposed to bow talented. During this nquest" Margetson "digresses" to discuss and explore practically every major current theme in society: social conditions, World War I, politics, religion, literature, the Black problem, and he even pokes fun at President �Woodrow lJ'ilson: Come, Woody, quit your honeymooning! In this important poem, Hargetson is scathing , sustained and brilliant. He views the ma.ny currents runnine; through the Black community and satirically sums up all the conf'usion: Some look to Booker vlashincton to lead them, Some yell for Trotter, some for Kelly Miller, Some want DuBois with fat ideas to feed them, Some want Jack Johnson, the bic white hope killer. Perhaps some want carranza, some want villa, I guess they want social equality, To marry and to mix in white society. Other, later, satirists whom Margetson's work calls to mind are Tolson (and his incomparable Harlem Gallery ), Frank Marshall Davis, Dudley Randall, George S. Schuyler (Black Ho Mor~), William Melvin Kelley and Ishmael Reed. In bis other poetry, Margetson is strone and competent--he reflects bis immense reading background, 11 Spenser to Byron"--but none of his earlier work matches up to Fledgeling Bar~. For samples and criticism of Margetson's writing see Johnson and Kerlin. Sterling Brown also makes a brief critical observation. In many ways the poetry of William Stanley Braithwaite (1878-1962) has suffered the fate of that by Phillis Wheatley, Dunbar and others somehow deemed "not Black enough" for inclusion in some Afro-American poetic-cultural circles. 235 The Frenchman �Jean Wagner said that a study of Braithwaite does not belong among those of other '1Bla.ck poets." A mulatto, Braithwaite was born in Boston to West Indian parents and was mainly self-educated. He is considered a major influence on "the new poetry revival" in America and counted among his friends such white literary figures as Vachel Lindsay, Carl Sandburg, Edgar Lee Masters, Arrry T,owell and Edwin Arline:ton Robinson. His career as a poet began with the 1904 publication of Lyrics of Life and Love and his second volume (House of the Falling Leaves) was published in 1908. His Selected Poems was published in 1948 by Coward-Mccann, Inc. Best known for his Anthologies of Magazine Verse, published from 1913 until 1929, Braithwaite was for many years a literary critic with the Boston Transcript. His other anthologies include The Book of Elizabethan Verse_ (19061 Tl]e Book of Georgian Verse_ (1908) and The Book of Restoration Verse (1909). For 11is efforts Braithwaite received the NAACP's coveted Springarn medal in 1918 for high achievement by an Afro-American. The same year he received honorary degrees from two Black universities and later became professor of creative literature at Atlanta University, a position he held until he retired in 1945. Graithwaite's poetry, Sterling Brown said: The result is the usual one: the lines are graceful; at their best, exquisite, and not at their best, secondhand; but the substance is thin. Even the fugitive poetry of some 236 Of �of Braithwaite's masters had ereater human sympathies. Brown is implying, of course, that some of the white "models" that Braithwaite used could "get down" (to use a current phrase) even if the Black poet could not. Brown is essentially correct; I have tested the t h esis in classrooms and t he best students appear dumbfounded upon confronting Braithwaite after leaving other Black poets. And Braithwaite's problem is not · the same sort of "problem" presented by a, say, Tolson--wh ose work is dif.ficult and complex but not unweildy on repeated readings {plus Tolson's work is essentially Black-based). Braithwaite seems to be reach ing for a h i gher science in h is words; but he does not chart bis path so we can follow. Brown said bis writing resembled npoetry of the twilight"--just as you think you have his meaning , it slips away. This is especially true of poems like "Turn Me to My Yellow Leaves" (about a death-wish?), nnel Cascar," "Ironic: LL.D" (about the waste-land, c.f., T.S. Eliot, and history?), "Scintilla," and "Sic Vita. t' "Rhapsody" is one of Braithwaite's most attainable poems, but the message is nebulous. He expresses thanks to t he supreme being for "the gift of song " and is replenished in the knowled ge that "world-end things" that dangle on the "edge of tomorrow" can be obliterated by dreams. In his critical introduction to Braithwaite, Johnson (American Negro Poetry) apologizes for the poet's lack of sensitivity to either mistreatment of Blacks and explains his 237 �failure to dip into the Black folk-base: This has not been a matter of intention on bis part; it is simply that race bas not impinged upon him as it has upon other Negro poets. In fact, his work is so detached from race that for many years he had been a figure in the American literary world before it was known generally that he is a man of color. Certainly Johnson meant no harm in usine the word "color" but it tempts one to punning. Braithwaite, as Brown and others have noted, rejected having his work indiscriminately called "Negro" poetry. This issue continues to raise its head with, first, Cullen and, later, Hayden {including many other lesser-known poets in between). And there are other poets of the 20th century who have written {or write) Braithwaite's type of poetry. Some, of course, are experimenting and searching for new forms. See for example some of the work of Cullen, Hayden, Randall {Hore to Remember) Russell Atkins, Bob Kaufman, Tolson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Michael S. Harper {especially History as Apple Tree), and others. The debate over how much of {or when) a poet•s work is or should be nracial" is a continuing one and is not likely-given the diversity of the poets--to be settled in the very near future. For example, with the exception of Claude McKay, no other poet has as many {or more) poems as Braithwaite in Johnson's 1922 (1931) anthology. Whether Johnson did this out of debt or respect is not knowu. Braithwaite, we know, had praised Johnson 238 �(Fti'ty Yee.rs) :for bring ing "th e first intellectual substance to the content" of A.fro-American poetry . But J'. Saunders Redding called Braithwaite "the most outstanding example o:f perverted ener~J 11 t h at was produced in a. 14-y ea.r period of Black poetry. At ~tlanta University , Braithwaite rubbed shoulders with DuBois, Mercer Cook, Rayford Logan and others, which apparently helped h i m doff some of h is Bostonian snobbishness. His poetry in e eneral reflects t he influe nce o:f Keats arrl the pre-romantic British poets. He loves to speak of dreams, trances, impendi ng doom, silence and t h e prospect of touching other worlds. For selections of his wor k see most anth ologies of Afro-American literature. Brown, Redding and Brawley. He is critically assessed by Oth er evaluations a.re primarily concerned with Braithwaite's work as anth ologist and critic. Barksdale and Kinnamon give a good overall assessment of the man. Braithwaite did include some Blad{ poets in h is magazine anthologies and he stands a.tan important t hreshh old of the A.fro-American entry into t he era of modern poetry . · Records show t hat literally hundred s of poets, insp! fed by the brilliant example of Dunbar and company , took part of this exciting pre-Renaissance of Blac k American cul ture and arts. For more on t h ese poets, stude nts s h ould eo to such publications as The Century , t h e Inde pendent, The Ch ica ~o Defender, and the numerous other art-and-poetry -conscious publications of th e day . Yet it is i n some wa:rs appropriate t h at we approach our cl os e to th is ch o. pter wi t h Lucien B. Watkins 239 �(1 D79-1921), first teach er a rx:1 t ~'.' en soldter, t-.rb o was ce.11.ed 11 t h e poet laureate of t 1~e New He s ro. 11 \.f 2-t ki ns pubJ. isb ed one volume of poetry in 190 7 (Voj_c es of 3o-:1.J- tucle_) hi s seco nd hook (l·n 1isperi nc; Winds , n . d . ) was bronglJt out b y frie nds sb ortly after bis untime ly death . Watkins i s ch iefly noted for his mili tanc:,r of ton0 as typified in h is sonnet "Th e Hew Ne,sro 11 which opens wi t l1 tbe words He t h inks in black and goes on to describe a God with Africa n features. Watkins also wrote bis own eulo z:r a fet-1 weeks before he died. In the hymn-inspired form he is grippingly aware of his approaching death as shown in these lines: :rv:ry summer bloomed for winter's frost: Alas, I've lived a nd loved and lost! nA Hes sage to t h e Moder n Pha.roe.hs" is inspired (introduced) by a passage from Joh n 11.44 in t h e Dible. The interations "Loose him!" and nLet him go!' frame each of the six four-lined stanzas. Taking the militant stand chnracteristic of bis work, Watkins tells the Pharoahs to let the Black man go b ecause he 11 bas bis part tc;, play" In Life's Great Drama, day by day,-adding that freeing the A.f'ro-American will "be the saving" of whites' nsoul. 11 In many ways a precurser of the Harlem Renaissance, Watkins conducted experiments in verse ("A Prayer of the Race that God Hade Black") and expressed pride in bis African heritage ("Star of Ethiopia"). He was born in Chesterfield, Virginia, �educated at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute, and was active as a teacher before he served overseas in World War I which "wrecked his health." Perhaps Watkins' feelings are best expressed in these lines (reminiscent of Margetsonts: "The white man's heaven is the black me.n's hell.!!): God! save us in Thy Heaven, where all is ·well! We come slow-struggling up the Hills of . Hell! For additional comment on Watkins see Brawley' s Negro Genius, Kerlin's study (which includes more selections) and Johnson's American Negro Poetry (selections also). During t h is ver~r i mportant perio d of transition, across all levels of Black America, there were other poets writing. We ought to site T. Thomas Fortune (1856-1928 ) wrote journalism and important political studies of Blacks. And although Brawley calls him one of "the most intelligent and versatile Ne groes of the era," bis collection of poems, Dreams of Life: Mis- cellaneous Poems (1905), shows no marked distinction in that category (though he implies a desire to return to Africa in "The Clime of My Birth 11 ) . A preacher-poet, Geor ge C. Rowe (1853-1903), published Thoughts in Verse (1887) and Our Heroes (1890). The first book contains sermons in verse and the second is aimed at "the elevation of the race." Rowe, a pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church of Charleston, South Carolina, also published "A Noble Life, 11 a poem in memory of Joseph C. Price, first president of Livingston College. Known for her �now famous Journal, Charlotte L. Forten Grimki (1 837-1914) is considered to have npossessed sensitivity and creative skills beyond the ordinary" in t h e few poems s h e wrote. Uncollected, they are scattered throughout her notes and various periodicals published between the 1850's and the turn of t h e century. Islay Walden (1847?-1884) published Miscellaneous Poems in Washington, D.C., in 1873. There is an immaturity in Walden's style, owing, according to Jahn, to the fact t hat h is enrollment at Howard University 11 de~troyed his natural talent." Th e Nation's Loss: A Poem on the Life and Death of the Hon. Abra.ham Lincoln, by Jacob Rhodes (1 835?-?), was published in 1866. Summer, John Willis Menard (1 838-1893), the In Lays of first ✓elected Black congressmen in the United States, makes women his central theme--calling t h em by name as h e praises their "hairrr and "lips." For racial reasons, h e was denied his "earned" term in the House of Representatives. Ja mes Ephriam McGist (1874-1930) brought out Avengine; the Haine (Ralei gh , North Carolina, 1899), Some Simple Songs and A Few More Ambitious Attempts (Philadelphia, 1901 ) and For YOt::r 3-weot 8a1:e (Pl 1 ilnc1clp1 , ia, 1?06). Charles Douglas Clem publ ished Rhyme s of n Rhymster (Edmond; Oklah oma, •\ »• l A. :- . _f: ' .:~ ::. "::1 :.-:-, - - - -- - • �reflected the t h ouc;hts of William J. Candyne. Prose was in- cluded b~r Frank Barbour Coffin (1870?-1951) in Coffin's Poems with Ajax' Ordeals (Little Rock, 1892). James Thomas Franklin published one volume of poetry (Jasamine Poems, Memphis, 1900) and one of prose and poetry (Mid-Day Geanings, A Book for Home and Holiday Reading (Memph is, 1 893). not ext a nt . Je_~samine apparently is Poems of To-Day or Some Fror.i t h e Everglades ( Quinc:r, F lor i c1a , 1 ~')3 ) ua:::: pt1.', 1ts11ec. ·--:• Cupid Al eyns 1-.r .,i tfield. Joshua Mccarter Simpson (1 820?-1 876) released The Emancipation Car (Zanesville, Ohio,) in 1 874. Simpson included a prose satire called "A Consistent Slaveh older's Sermon." The Open Door (1895) was published in Winfield, Kansas, by F.S. Alwell. Aaron Belf'ord Thompson {1883-1929) was a member of a family that consisted of a trio of poets. Thompson and his sisters, Pricilla and Clara, brought out seven volumes of poetry between 1899 and 1926--the middle of the Harlem Renaissance. Priscilla Thompson published Ethiope Lays (1900) and Gleanings of Q.uiet Hours (1907). Clara Thompson released ~one;s from t h e Way side (190 8 ) ahd A Garland of Poems (Boston, 1926). Aaro n Thompson publish ed Morning Son~s {1899), Echoes of Spring (1901)--both dictated to his sisters and brother--and Harvest of Though ts (1907). F.choes, in its second edition of 1907, bore a h andwritten complementary introduction by James Wh itcomb Riley . Th eir subjects are the conventional ones of t he 19th century . Charles Henry Shoeman published A Dream and Other Poems in An Arbor in 1 899. Magnolia Leave s was publish ed by Mary Weston Fordh a m in Charleston, �South Carolina, in 1897. Straddling similar fields of expression, as did Alex Rogers, James Weldon Johnson, Nathaniel Dett and others, George Hannibal Temple (a musician) brought out The Epic of Columbus' Bell and Other Poems in 1900. Benjamin Wheeler :followed him in 1907 with Culling from 7.ion's Poets {Mobile, Alabama). Several dozen other Afro-Americans wrote poetry during the later part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Among them were Robert Benjamin (Poetic Gems, 1883), Lorenzo Dow Blackson, Walter Henderson Brooks, John Edward Bruce, Alexander numan Delaney, Josephine Delphine Heard, Joseph Cephas Holly, A.J. Jackson (A Vision of Life, 1869), Henry Allen Laine (Footprints), Mary Eliza Lambert, Lewis Howard Latimer, Grace Mapps, Journalist William I-I.A. Moore, Gertrude Mossell, James Robert Walker (Poetical Diets). Other occasional poets who were ·q uite popular among their contemporaries included Solomon G. B11own, William Wells Brown, Katie n. Chapman, W.H. Crogman, Frederick Douglass, Leland I1. Fisher, Nathaniel Dett, and Virgie Whitsett. Some notable turn-of-the-century poets, a :few of which will be heard from later were, Benjamin Brawley (critic and social historian), Charles Roundtree Dinkins, David Bryant Fulton, Gilmore F. Grant, N.N. Rayson, Elliott Blaine Henderson, H.T. Johnson, Jefferson King, J.W. Palsey, Otis M. Shackelford, Walter E. Todd, Richard E.S. Toomey, Irvine W. Underhill, Julius C. Wright and others. 'F'or more on these poets, including delightful pictures of some, see �Brawley's The Negro Genius (and otber works), Sherman's Invisible Poets and Kerlin's Ne gro Poets and Their Poems. Kelly Miller's Race Adjustment appeared in 1909 as a partial answer to sori1e of the evils and ills plaguing Blacks. But against the balocaustal "panorama of vio1ence n a nd 'bloodsljed, the title of Hiller's book seemed a.l r.i.ost h ollow. was born in 1909 and a year later DuBois WRS The N"AACP put at the belm of its publicity de~ artme nt and made ed itor of Crisis. Echoes :rrom t he 1906 Atlante. riots, in whi cb JO Bla.c ks were ''butchered", could still be heard r evorberati n: in speech es and fear-seized Black h eRrts. (For more on t h is senseless and sadistic murder of Blacks see John Hope Franklin's !ro~ Slaver~ to Freedom and Ralph Ginzherg' s 100 Years of L~rnchin3: . ) On t h e lecture-circuit rampage, DuBois hentedl:r criticized President Theodore Roosevelt who had declared t h at 11 Ha.pe is t h e sreatest cause of lynching. The nation was tryine; to turn back the clock, as evidenced by the nostalgic minstrelsy, a nd was conductinc a good "sabotage" or the Reconstruct1.on. And Blacks were feverously mobilizing to keep from beinc sold "back into n new form of slavery." 245 11 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. 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