7 10 650 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/d5462ee88da269a24a71e1b65dd3d1e2.pdf 351fed69aa89941320442c915cd1527a PDF Text Text 9ENtTAHI N CLARK WHAT I S A SLA 'JE ? A slave is- - vrha t ? Nothing , anc that alone ! Hi s ti me--his wif e -- And e ' en his life , . O't·Jn. He dare not call ,ti lS A sla ve is - -what ? Ah ! dead.ful lot I s his that ' s d oomed to toil Hi th out rec;ard , Or just re1:ard , U~on n~othcr ' s soil . A slave is - -wl-rnt ? Ah ! cr~ol t~ OUJ~ t, In con ~tnn t strife , A s lave is--w~at ? .A pe r f0ct nau:;1,t, Shor n of bL: lecal r t c;bt; And the~ co~pelled To work, h0 1 a held The, rciwant of h i.s 1 :i.fe . �HF.AT IS A 8L'\ 1 7F? (c on t'd) Or stolen f rom ~i mself, B:r Chr i s ti ans , rho T1,ls trad e rursne For s ordid , raltr~ pe lf. A s lave i s- -Hh at ? Throuc;h out tl i;; Hide doma i.n; 1 Tbrou gh '1,o rr a nd c len, For lucre-- cPrs ec. c;a ln! A slave is--w½at? I pra:' do no t I nsist; I cannot know, Or, paint er ' s art , Describe a slave -- ah , no ! A slave is--uhat? Tell I can not,-The ta 3k I wou ld not cr ave~ If you would know, 247 �BENJAMI N CLARK 1 ,THAT IS A SLA1JI:? ... (cont ' d) And he your se lf a slave! ,JOSEPH SEAHAN COTT:CR ANSWE R TO DWTBAR I S "A:7':r':J:::!1 A VIS IT 11 S o , yon be ' n t o o 1 e Ke n tu c k:r , An ' you want to g o ag ' in? Well, Kentucky ' ll doff her kerchief An ' politcl! ask you i n . An ' she 1 ll loosen fro m her g irdle Key s that fit t~e othe r c uph oar~s Of her hospitality. Not th at she ' s incllned tD t old ba ck With th e good , and g i ve the worst; But, you know, in all fair dealin 1 'W hat ' s first must he tbe first. So , when s1':i c t akes ke~r the se co nd An ' gives it a twist or two , Ofa~rl)e I ousht not say it) It ' l l 1,1ost ni gh startle :rou. �JOSE PH SEAHAN COTTr,R ANSW.JR .. TO DTHIBAJ. 11 S 11 APTF.n A VIS I T II ( cont I cJ) An ' tlrnn ke:rs t1,e tl1ird a :1d fourth , sir , (Hot to spea. 1-: of a l l tl-Je rest ) Wouldn ' t stop at crncJ.dri' , ntto ns , 1 And your happiness wou ld find , sir, A momentum then and t~ere , 'T.11,at rnt1.lc1 c o.rr:r 1 j t a-sueer,in ' Througb tlrn stro;11}1olc1 cf despair . Now, the gripp i n ' o ' t he ~and, sir , . .'\.n 1 the 1.1 el c o111e that :,.ou say Wa s so f irm and tru e an ' all that En s a ~: i.nd o ' curious ua:r . At the f i r c t it ' s s orter slow like , Ti 11 :i. t f orrn.s a leagne wi t11 :rot1 , Then i. t rnalrns a kind of circuit Tbat But jest thr:i.11s :,ron tl,.,ro ' and thro 1 • 7a~1 8 I had bettor Not d i s c uss this a f ter ma th , For it mig½t stir up your fe e l i ngs To th e ri c;h teous point of wratl1 , As you 1)rood o ' er wbat :rou lost , sir, �,JCSEPH SEAI'1AN COTTER ANStn::::R TO DUNBAR 1 S "AFTER A VISIT" (co nt ' d ) B:r not s tayin I wi tl1 ns longer . Ah, we ll, come to see us often, Ole Ken t ucky 1 11 make you str onger. So, :rou be 1 n to ole Kentucl¼.r , An t you want to go ac 1 i n ? Nell , Kentucky 's □ tandin ' wa iti n 1 ,Test to take yon 1-1h oll:r i_n , An 1 s1- 1 0 1 11 loosen her vast ; lrclle So that you can fully see All the roots, frults, leaves an 1 br anches JAHES EDWIN CANPB:2:LL DE CUNJAB ?IAN 0 cl.., i llcn ru n , de Cunjah n:an, Hi m nio uf ez 1,eec; o z fr:ri :1 ' pnn , P.ha :rur s a r.1 s mall , 11 i. L1 eye s a n1 rai d , Hi m 11a:) 110 toof een 11im ol ' ha id, H:i.m 11a'I-) ,~i r-1 roots , 'r\ L n 1:n ' k b lm trick, TTi 8 roll hin eye, him Llok yon si c k-- Do Cun:an man , de Cun,jah man , O c'!.1:i"2..le n ru n , de Cnn .~a11 r::,an ! �D"C CUN.TAT-I ~T.l'-;. }T (cont'd) Him hid it un ' de kitc~en sta 'r Mam ,Jude huh !)2,rs urlon g dat way, An ' now hu1.1 hah nr sna i k , de s ay. Hi rn -wrop ur roun ' '!,uh riudd:r t i gh t, Fu11 e:res p op out , ur orful s i g~ t-- De Cunjal-, r.1an , de C1 :ija1" Him r~ut nr root tir. ' "L i j2_lo f s ::an, 1 ~aicl, An ' Him stamp him foot urpon de groun'; De snaiks come cra:wlin', one by one, Me h y uh um hiss, me break an' run. �JAMES EDWIN CAMPBELL DE CUNJAH MA.N (cont'd) De Cunjah man, de Cunjah man, O chillen run, de Cunjah man! W.E.B. DU BOIS THE SONG OF THE SMOKE I am the smoke king, I am black. I am swinging in the sky. I am ringing worlds on high: I am the thought of the throbbing mills, I am the soul toil kills, I am the ripple of trading rills, Up I'm curling from the sod, I am whirling home to God. I am the smoke king, I am black. I am the smoke king, I am black. I am wreathing broken hearts, I am sheathing devils' darts; Dark inspiration of iron times, 252 �• .E.D. DU BOIS THE SONG OF THE SMOKE Wedding the toil of toiling climes Shedding tre blood of bloodless crimes. Down I lower in the blue, Up I tower toward the true, I am the smoke king, I am black. I am the smoke king, I am black. I am darkening with song, I am hearkening to wrong; I will be black as blackness can, The blacker the mantle the mightier the man, My purpl' ing midnights no day dawn may ban. I am carving God in night, I am painting hell in white. I am the smoke king, I am black. I am the smoke king, I am black. I am cursing ruddy morn, 253 �'11 .E.B. DU BOIS THE SONG OF THE SMOKE (cont'd) I am nursing hearts unborn; Souls, unto me are as mists in the night, I whiten my blackmen, I beckon my white, What's the hue of a hide to a man in his ~1ght1 Sweet Christ, pity toiling lands! Hail to the smoke k_ing , Hail to the black! PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR SYMPATHY I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springi~g grass, And the rivers flows like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opens. And the faint perfume from its chalice stealsI know what the caged bird feels! I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would be on the bough a-swing; 254 �PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR SYMPATHY (cont'd} And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars And they pulse again with a keener stingI know why he beats his wing! I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,When 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 flingsI know why the caged bird sings! A NEGRO LOVE SONG Seen my lady home las' night, Jump back, honey, jump back. Hel' huh ban' an' sque'z it ti ght, Jump back, honey, jump back. Hyeahd huh sigh a little sigh. Seen a light gleam f 'om huh eye, An' a smile go flittin' byJump back, honey, jump back. 255 �PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR A NEGRO LOVE SONG (cont'd) Heyabd de win' blow thoo de pine, Jump back, honey, jump back. Mockin'-bird was singin' fine, Jump back, honey, jump back. An' my hea't was beatin' so, When I reached my lady's do', Dat I couldn't ba' to goJump back, honey, jump back. Put my ahm aroun• huh wais', Jump back, honey, jump back. Raised huh lips an' took a tase, Jump back, honey, jump back. Love, honey, love true? Love me well ez I love you? An' she a.nswe 'd, "cos e I do"Jump back, honey, jump back. 256 �mIAPTER V A LONG WAYS FROM HOME Sometimes I feel like a motberless cbild, A long ways from bome; A long ways from home. --Afro-American Spiritual I OVERVIEW Tbo di 3rnpt i on of ch r o ncl o~r Hi.11 1--,c :no:,·,e. e vide n t chapter than in preceding ones. l n tr is This is so because poets of the same age do not always achieve recognition at the same time. We have looked at James Weldon Johnson, for example, but we mention him again in this chapter. In fact--for reasons to be shown--Johnson overshadows almost the whole of Black poetry. Melvin B. Tolson, born before Hughes and Cullen, will be viewed after them in the so-called post-renaissance period. Since the primary aim of this study is to "cite" the most significant names and events in the development of Black poetry, our approach to this ch~pter will follow the others in that criticism will remain minimal. From this point on, Black poets--and Black artists of all sorts-- begin being viewed alongside all other writers of the world. Appraisals of Black poetry, then, become a bit more dii'ficult since up until the second decade of the 20th 257 �!- ' century, the Black poet was seen as somewhat of a novelty. He was a subject for "curious" whites or of a few dedicated Black historians and critics. The Black writers, until the 1960's, had very little armament with which to fight critical or literary "lynchings." Their models were essentially white (some con- temporary Black poets continue this practice) and so were their critics. In the 1920's they became one of many "exotic" escape routes used by bored and thrill-seeking whites who w~nted to "engage their new Freudian awareness and forget the horrors of the war." In the post-Renaissance their skills were often directed towards integration and various other social programs. Their approaches were often scientific and fact-finding. The most incisive and continual blow to the Black poet is a disrespect and rejection that parallel the general treatment of Blacks. Criticism of Black poetry is invariably political and racial in concern--just as most of the poetry is forced to be. Some poets lament this because it implies that protest and anger are reserved for them. It also says that the whole • range of human behavior is somehow placed off-limits to the Afro-American poet, criticized by whites for not being "universaln and by some Blacks for not being "Blackn enough. Needless to say, it is a dilemma of some magnitude and no amount of words or lamentations will answer or solve it here. We do comment on these matters, though, because they begin to appear as serious--unavoidable--plagues to the Black poet from this period on in our study. 258 �In this chapter we will go up to 1960. Many poets (Mari Evans, Lance Jeffers, James Emanuel, Ray Durem, Dudley Randall, Zack Gilbert, Bob Kaufman, Russell Atkins, Frank Horne, and others) were publishing in periodicals before poets who had been publishing books during the years before 1960 (Hayden, Gwendolyn Brooks, Conrad Kent Rivers, Hughes, and others) brought out new works sometimes reflecting different themes and attitudes. Poets who had been publishing substantially in periodicals or anthologiei before 1960 will be noted in pa.sing. There will be no attempt to give individual attention to the scores of Black poets writing and publishing in the 1960•s and '70's. II Literary and Social Landscape Night is a curious child, wandering •••• --Frank J\18.rshall Davis A. To 1930: In 1910 the population of Black America was 9,827,763; Langston Hughes was a boy of ten and the NAACP was one year old. By 1930, however, the Black population would have increased to 11,891,143 (or 9-7~); a major migration of Blacks to northern industrial centers would have taken place; racial riots would have scorched more than half a dozen American cities; the country would have engaged in and ended its first national war, 259 �and lynchings would continue to be among the most fearful prospects for Black men. Booker T. Washington had chronicled the hardships and bitter disappointments of Blacks in his Up From Slavery. The new "freedom" was short lived and illusive, Washington observed, because the ex-slave had no skill, no land and no place to go. "Emancipated II Blacks were not faring much better than their fore-parents. DuBois had begun to raise some of the broader, global issues of Black oppression and place the Black Experience in its proper perspective in The Souls of Black Folks. Durinc; the second and third decades of the 20th century, Black scholars, activists and writers continued to record tbe Black Experience with telling accuracy and drama. Addi tiona.lly, a number of chane;es and de~relopments in Black cor1muni ties Sf,t off a chn.in reaction of cross-examinations, intense debates, calls for c":an c;es and V1e ch arting of r.iew directions. Accordingly, the student ~ust understand the mod of the times in terms of: L The decline of Dunbar's influence amonc poets. 2. Failing support of Booker T. Washington's "accomadationist" philosopb:,r. 3. The continued disillusiomIBnt of survivors and heirs of tbe 4. 11 Reconstruction. 11 The development of white bate and intimidation groups (Ku Klux Klan, etc.) 260 �5. The continued presentation of "stereotypes" of Blacks in the mass media and creative literature of the period. 6. The "Jim Crow" laws of the south; job discrimination and general segre gation in the north. 7. The splits and confusion in the Black community due to the "new" middle-class; the appearance of West Indians in America and class alienment according to color stratification (i.e., lightskin, dark-skin, near-white, etc.). Much of the literature of the period deals with the theme of passing or miscegenation. 8. Race riots in various parts of the country between 1905 and 1917. On the general American scene, science and industry were developing rapidly. Indications of this were the radio, wireless, technological warfare and the automobile. The "new Psychology" was taking bold and tbe realism of the previous literature was bowing out to naturalism. This new mode is seen in the works of such writers as Theodore Drieser, Evelyn Scott and William Faul:kner. Interest in local color and dialect, which had dominated the later portion of the 19th century, was also dying and the Black American was "re-discovered" by white writers as a subject f'or r .e alistic fiction, drama and poetry. White writers who published popular accounts of Black life included DeBose Hayward, Sherwood 261 �Anderson and Carl Van Vechten. characterized American society. Revolts in interests and manners Black critic James A. Emanuel points out (Nesro Dlg0st/Black World, Aug., 1969) that during the 20's, many whites went to Harlem to 11 .forget the war and engage their new Freudian awareness by escaping into exotic black cabaret li.fe." l Hughes records this exotic indulgence in his autobiography, The Big Sea (1940). Numerous other Black writers recorded these white "diversions": McKay in A Lop_g Way .from Home and Johnson in Along This Way (autobiographies). Johnson also notes it in his novel The Autobioeraphy of An F..x-Coloured Man. Drame of the period was dominated by Eugene O'neill who won Pulitzer and Nobel prizes. Two of O'neill's plays (The Emperor Jones and The Hairy Ape} symbolically dealt with the psychological involvement of Blacks and whites and suggested a transracial mixture of fear, hatred and admiration. The Emperor Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings .featured major Black characters. Before O'neill, America had not pro- duced a first-rate dramatist. Ironically, _though, ,one of the vehicles .for O'neill's theones was a Black actor, Charles Gilpin, who starred in The Emperor Jones. Th e reviews and general interests in Gilpin' s per.formances ( "naked body ••• dark lyric of the flesh") atain typi.fied preoccupation with the exotic savage--a trend that had continued from Jack London (The Call of the Wild, The Sea-Wol.f) and the white writers of local color: Page, Harris, Cable and others. However, many of the writers, like O'neill and Dreiser, had begun to shake 262 �off the mystique of tbe American Dream and deal instead with "illusion." Such was Dreiser's theme in bis novel, An American Tragedy ( 1925). The founding of Poetry: A Mae;azine of Verse, by Harriet Monroe (1912) signaled the birth of the New Poetry movement in America. Most of the new work, including that of the Imagist poets, was showcased in Poetry. In 1915, the anthology, Some Imagist Poets, appeared to rival dissident factions which wanted to dispense with traditional forms. Ima.gism was in- fluenced by Ezra Pound's theories and French Symbolism as well as Oriental and ancient Greek poetry. Chief spokesman for the Imagist poets was Amy Lowell who was joined by John Gould Fletcher and Hilda Doolittle, among others. During the next two decades the group waged a successful battle against the dissidents; but they also re-worked traditional forms and cornered a new reading market for poetry in America and England. Poet Vachael Lindsay, an advocate of using rhythm and the reading aloud of poetry, is credited with baving "discovered" Langston Hughes. Black poets who participated in this "revival" of American poetry were the innovator Fenton Johnson and the anthologist William Stanley Braithwaite. The most significant development of the period, however, was the Black cultural flowering, principally in Harlem, which has become known as the Harlem Renaissance, the Negro Awakening and the Negro Renaissance. Central to the "renaissance" (critics differ over whether it should be called such) was the 263 �migration of' soutbern Blacks to northern urban centers. With the working-class Blacks also came (and grew) the Black intelligentsia, artists and activists. Current Black creativity or scholarship cannot be understood unless the Harlem Renaissance is placed in proper perspective because the Harlem period is the most important bridge existing between slavery and the modern and/or contemporary eras. Hence, it is necessary that we sketch out the important political and artistic developments which led up to (or happened during ) the Renaissance. A partial listing of' these developments must include: 1. Founding of' the Boston Guardian by Monroe Trotter (1901). 2. Founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1909) and establishment of The Crisis. 3. Founding of the Urban League (1911). 4. Founding of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History 5. by Carter G. Woodson (1915). Establishment of The .Journal of Ne gro History by Woodson ( 1916) • 6. Black troops involvement in World War I. 7. Great Migration of Blacks to northern urban centers (1916-1919; but the trend continued through the middle of the century). 8. The recording of Black achievements in all areas; Black scholarship is brilliant and sustained 264 �throughout the entire period. 9. The writings, especially, of W.E.B. DuBois, Charles s. Johnson, Alain Locke and James Weldon Johnson. 10. The high point in the influence of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (Garvey, who came to the U.S. from Jamaica in 1916, preached a back-to-Africa movement. He was imprisoned in 1925 for mail fraud.) 11. Founding of Opportunity, A Journal of Negro Life (1923; Opportunity and The Crisis published much of the new work of the Renaissance poets and prose writers and offered annual prizes). 12. The flourishing of Black Music and musical dramas (Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake do Shuffle Along, I •i .,. 1921; Louis Armstrong, with his own band, opens I at the Sunset Club, Ch icago, 1927; Duke Ellington opens at the Cotton Club, Harlem, the same year). 13. The post-war Pan-African Congresses (Paris, 1919; London, 1921, 1923; New York, 1927; DuBois wa,13 primary organizer.) James Weldon Johnson edited the first ..., anthology of Black poetry, The Book of American Negro Poetry 1rf ,. , 1922. Johnson's work was followed in quick succession by five other poetry anthologies: Negro Poets and Their Poems (Robert Thomas Kerlin, 1923) 265 �..., An Anthology of American Ne gro Verse (Newman Ivey White and Walter Clinton Jackson, 1924) An Anthology (Clement Wood, 1924) Negro Songs: Caroling Dusk (Countee Cullen, 1927) Four Negro Poets (Alaine Locke, 1927) Of' note also was F.F. Calverton's An Anthology of American Negro Literature (1929) which contained 60 pages of poetry. Cn l l e n J.110 L oc ke u crG t wo of t 1-rn ;,: a5or f:! ~·ur e s of t 'he Farl e m Jean Toomer. Locke edited the anthology which heralded and chronicled the new Black mood and achievements: The New Negro: An Interpretation (1925), :-:l1 5. c 1 ' r emains a classic today. He also wrote the equally important A Decade or Ne gro Self Expression (1928). A Rhodes Scholar from Pennsylvania, Locke received a Ph.D. in 1918 from Harvard and is still considered as the foremost interpreter of Black creativity of the Renaissance. Cullen published Color, his first book of poetry, when he was 22 and instantly reco gnized as one of the b est young poe~s in America. Like Claude Nclfo~r, Cullen urote in t h e n ore formal tra.di tion of English poetry. Considered t h e be s t "formal" writer of the Renaissance period, Cullen was meticulous and careful in his poetic workmansh ip. 20 's who went to 11 IIe was a mons t h os e Black writers of tbe S:'he De.rk Tower'' to 1Trood over be in c; called "Negron !:)oets. In addition to Cul l en, other key poets of t h e Harle~Awakening also published i mportant v olu~e s or antholoGies and 266 �added to the creative and critical flutter. Joh nson and his brother, J. Rosamond, edited The Book of American Negro Spirituals (1925) and The Second Book of American Negro Spirituals ( 1926). America. JlticKa~r published poetry in England and Johnson said lfoKa.y belonged "to the post-war group and was its most powerful voice. poet of rebellion. n He was pre-eminently the Hughes and Cullen won national (and poetry awards) at about the same time. the comparison ends. There, however, Hughes was one of the widest traveled of all the renaissance writers. He was also the most prodig1oua and multi-talented, writint; successfully in all genres. Hughes. who when he died in 1967 was the widest translated American author, is known as the international poet laureate o.f Black people. Johnson recorded much of this creative outpouring in various ways. As a scholar, he is known for his anthologies and his seminal interpretations of Black cul ture--music and the Spirituals in particular. Of great importnnc~ was his 1922 anthology- wherein an illuminating Preface, he cited the four major Black artistic contributions to America: l. The Uncle Remus stories, collected by Joel Chandler Harris. 2. The Spirituals ("to which the Fisk Jubilee Singers made the public and the musicians of both the United States and Euroep listen 11 ) . 3. The Cakewalk (a dance which Paris called the "poetry of motion"). �4. The Ragtime ( 11 American music II for which the U.S. is known all over the world). Johnson is also noted for his work with the U.S. diplomatic corps, his pioneering work with the NAACP and his brilliant employement of Black idioms and psycholog,J in his poetry and discussions. "Lift Every Voice and Sing, 11 called the Black national anthem, was written by him in 1900. One of the most unique voices of the Harlem Repaissa.nce, however, was Jean Toomer, who along with HU[shes, Cullen and McKay make up Lock's Four Negro Poets. A complex of person- alities, talents and racial mixtures, Toomer was a constant enigma to critics and fellow writers. Although he admitted that he was of seven racial strands, he acknowledged that 11 my growing need for artistic expression has pulled me deeper and deeper into the Negro group. was published. 11 In 1924, Toomer's Cane Set primarily in the deep south--in Georgia-- it also deals with the urban impact on migratine; Blacks. Love, racial conflict, sex, violence, relie;ion, nature ~nd agrarian themes are all explored directly and allegorically. Race pride, the lower side of Black life, and a romantic engagement with Africa were the main thrusts of the renaissance literature. activists. So too with the painters, musicians, scholars and Garvey had set up a reeal court reminiscent of ancient Af'rican Kine;doms and had infused his followers with visions of returning to the 11 homeland. 11 His "court" was resplendent with hierarchical titles and lavish regalia for 268 �I for parades. ships. Black Star Line was t h e name of l1is fleet of The prevailing spirit of the day was one of Black indulgence and many whites sought for, and · got their share of, it. The Black Awakening was not t h e exclusive property of Harlem. For as Kerlin points out ( Preface, Negro Poe_!;a a Their Poems), the mood of change spread to other sections ot the country. Some of the re g ional or community anthologies published were: The Q.uil~ in Boston, Black Opals in · Phila- delphia and The Stylus in Washington, D.C. Important, too, were the collections and studies of folk songs. "Noteworthy. collections for tre period included: Negro Folk Rhymes (Thomas W. Talley, 1922) Tbe Ne gro and His S onc;s (Howard W. Odum, 1 925) Ne gro Workaday Song s (Howard W. Odum, 1926) Rainbow Round My Sh oulder (Howard w. Odum, 1928) Wings on Hy Feet (Howard W. Odum, 1929) American Ne gro Folk Songs (Newman Ivey Wh ite, 1929) Other brilliant and exciting poets and writers shared the Renaissance scene--though they are normally over-shadowed by Hughes, Toomer, McKay , Joh nson and Cullen. Some of these writers--most of wh om did not publish volumes until the later period--were: Arna Bontemps, Geor g ia Doug las Johnson, Waring Cuney, Robert Hay den, Gwendolyn Bennett, Sterling Brown, Owen Dodson and Melvin Tolson. Prose writers of the period included Eric Walrond and Rudolph Fisher as well as Hu gh es and Toomer. Bontemps, antholog ist, critic, lib rarian, poet and novelist, 269 , �published in leading magazines of t he period and won numerous awards for poetry . Brown pursued tbe fold tradition wh ile cultivating an ear and technique that rivaled some of the best · modern poetry. His debt to fol k idioms and characters is ob- vious in such po ems as 11 ody s s ey of Bib Bo~r, n "Memphis Blues," and "Long Gone." 11 S outh ern Road," Brown contributed to peri- odicals of the period, wrote a re gulnr column for Opportunity, and later pub lish ed i mportant critical studies. Dodson wrote verse plays and collab orated with Cullen on at least one writing project. and poetry. He too won numerous awards for h is plays Hayden and Tolson, b oth s i e nificant modern poets, were to be heard from in succeeding dec ades as critics and outstanding teach ers. B. 1930 - 1960 1:l ben t h e stoc k mar ket era.sh ed in 1929, white patronization of Blac k artists ended. Blac k creativity and scholarship, · however, bad grown up during the frist t hree decades of the r.t '4 l ,;,. century, and i mportant writing and mus i cal de velopment continued. , i'<;J; • Migration of Blac ks to north ern urb an centers was stepped up before and after World War II--wi t h many Blacks being attracted by shipbuilding and oth er war manufacturing industries. Afro- Americans have participated in every U.S. military conflict 1. t \. The wri tj_ nc of :"" oetr~~ c o·1t :t nued but pub lishing slowed down • .James o. was Young, in Blac k Writers of t h e Thirties (1973), notes t h at "Black writers produced less t h an one 270 �since Colonial days. During World War II and Korea, however, they were used almost exclusively a.s f'ighting troops (between 1943-45 Jim Crow as abolished in the Armed Forces). Nevertheless, Black soldiers, returning home fro m European and Pacific war theaters, still faced unemployment and lynching; and in some southern cities were f'orbidden to appear on the streets in military uniforms. Baldwin is one of many perceptive American writers to note that Black men, seeking the f'ruits aqd the realization of the American Dream, tried throughout history to adjust a.nd "fit" into American society. So, in face of official American contempt for his humanity and his welfare, the Black soldier marched also with an "equality" of' death into the Korean War. 2 James Weldon Johnson had opened the dismal period of the Depression with Black Manhattan, a social history of Harlem. Black Manhattan was one of the dozens of' studies on urban Black communities which had been begun by works such as DuBois' Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study (1899). Like .Johnson, many of the poets and artists turned their writing skills toward the recording of Black social problems and artistic achievements (e.g., Johnson's Black Americans, What Now? and Charles S. Johnson's The Shadow of the Plantation, bot'!:1 in 1934). Some volume of poetry per year hetween 1929 and 1942." 2. This turned out to be not so true in the Viet Nam war of the sixties when a dead Black veteran was refused burial in a white cemetary near his home in Georgia. 271 �o:f the writers were subsidized by WPA grants wbile others managed to obtain jobs as teachers and journalists. like the common folk, walked the soup lines. Others, It was during the period of 1930-60 that white schools o:f higher learning started accepting more Blacks, as students and teachers. Generally, America witnessed rapid advancements • in science and industry. Radio drama became a cultural mainstay and the motion picture industry provided a new and exciting diversion. Baseball continued as tbe 11 national pasttime" {for Blacks, it was the era of Jackie Robinson). Jack Johnson had already {in tbe previous era) dazzled America with his pugilistic skills. {the But it was the prize fighter Joe Louis 11 Brown Bomber"), however, who captured sports-minded America with one of the greatest records in the boxing history. Louis's defeat of German Hax Schmeling (193 8 ) came at a crucial time in U.S. history--when America's rising might among the world of nations wo.s being challenr-;e d on the battlefield by Hitler. Two yes.rs earlier, a racist Hitler had refused to acknowledge the feats of America's Black Olympic track star Jessee Owens. In prose and drama, white American writers continued to straddle a thematic pathbetween realism and the American Dream. A distinctl~r 11 post-wa.r II sroup of writers emerged. Domina.ting the period were Dreiser, Sberwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis, Willa Cath er, Thomas Wolfe, 0'ncill, William Faulkner, Ernest Hc nin gway, Tennessee Williams, Jo11n Dos Po.ssos, Katherine Anne Porter, Erskine Caldwell and Co.rson HcCullers. 272 Using �syniliolism and alle gory to attack war, de cadence and the atomic bomh, A.merican wr5_t or s o.ftc n took as n:od. e ls such Russ inn writers as Chekov , Dostoevski and Tolstoi, r:tr e ::-,:;1 ;__,f Me ny employed t h e co n::::c: -..J P ;--·c :-:::i t e cbnique --a st:;"!. e i n.fluenced 1):r t be "new psycholo s··y 11 a nd Irj_sh writer James Jo:rce--wh ich al lowed for uninterrupted explorations on t h e t li on 0b ts of characters who "streamed II their referG nces. A si rnila.r r.:iood pre vailed in the poetry--much of wh icb dealt witll s ocial dect\dence, war a.nd the mechanization of uan. E .E. Cumminc;s, known for h is typo- graphical trickery and general linguistic a.nd s y ntactical experiments, was one of t h e most relentless critics of bureaucracy and war. Such t h emes h ad nlso concerned T.S. Eliot, considered one of the greatest modern poets, in such poems as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Pro.frock II a.nd Th e Waste Land. The Ima.gist poets persued t h eir development via such voices as "H.D., 11 Ezra Pound and Harianne Moore. Oth er modern poets were Conrad Aiken, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, .A rchibald HcLeish, Hart Crane, Joh n Crowe Ransom, Allan Tate, Richard Eberhart, Randall Jarrell, Rob ert Frost and Carl Sandburg. Crane, Eliot, Pound, W. H. Auden and Stevens h ave been called the amjor voices of t he modern American Poetry . Historically, Black Music had been marked by white imitation and exploitation. 11 Th ere always exists the need to create a wbite" musical face t hat can be di gested by Americans at large. From the minstrelsy of plantation day s to t h e sophisticated operettas and musicals of th e twenties, t h is pattern ran un- 273 �i broken. During the modern period, Be Bop became the musical heir to Ragtime, early Jazz and Tin Pan Alley. ·w11ile tbe big band and Black composers--Basie, Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, w.c. Handy, Eubie Blake, Noble Sissle, etc.--continued their important work, different kinds of experiments were going on among other musicians. From these new for mations and probings came some of' the giants of modern Black Music: Miles Davis, Charlie ''Yard Bird II Parker, Lester "Prez'.' Young , Sonny Rollins, Gene Ammons, Art Blakey (wh o studied drums in Africa), Ornette Coleman {see Four Lives in t h e Be Bob Business), Chane Pozo {Af'ro-Cuban), Dizzy Gillespie and Bab s Gonzales (Bop poet and singer: I Paid My Dues, 1967). From t h e musicians and their supporters emerged an underc;round 11 h ip" language. This tradition, of' talking in metaph ors and encoded cultural neologisms, had be gun during t he renais s ance. vocalists were featured with t h e musicians. Often, too, Black Some of these song stylists were Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaugh n, Billie Holliday and Bessie Smitb --wh o died in 1937. The migration to cities also sa~ the continued rise of urban or bi g city Blues. By 1960, h owever, t h e Blues h ad gone t hrou gh several important periods of de velopment. Some names associated with the modern period were Louis Armstrong , Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Bill Broonzy, Pops Foster, Eddie "Son" House, Robert Johnson, Johnny Temple, Roosevelt Sykes, Elmo James, B.B. King, Leadbelly, Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Josh Wh ite, Sonny Boy Williams, Howlin' Wolf, Joh n Lee Hooker, Li gthnin' Hopkins and Big Joe Turner. These men inh erited t h e flames be gun by 274 �Leroy Carr, Blind Lemon Jefferson and W.C. Handy. Several notable Black literary explosions occured during the period between 1930-60. Important were: the publication of Native Son (Richard Wri ght, 191tO); the publication of For My People (Margaret Walker, 1942); the appearance of Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison, 1952) and the winning of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry (Gwendolyn Brooks, 1950 for Annie Allen}. Nati ve Son , a novel, featured a Black protagonist named Bigger Thomas who symoblized (and in many ways contained) the anger, ra ge ind pressures felt b y urban Blacks. Th e b ook was the first by a Black author to make t h e best seller list and was also a book of the month club choice. DurinG t h e same period Wright, who died an expatriate in France in 1960, published several other novels, short stories, books of essays and miscellaneous prose. appeared. In 1945 Black Boy, his autob iography Wri ght is si gnificant for many reasons, fore most among them being t hat he was the first Black writer to deal, ' accurately and on par with the be s t fiction writers of the ~ day, with the philosophical and psy ch ological complexity of the Black urbanite. In doing t h is, h e opened a new ran ge of possibilities and ehlped free Blac k fiction in many ways. There were other excellent fiction writers durin g this period: Rudolph Fisher, 7ora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Hu ghes, Arna Bontemps, Ann Petry, DuBois, Frank Yerby , Eric Walrond, Chester Himes and Sterling Brown. Wri gb t, h o·wever, was the first to for ge and sustain a major Black art piece out of mythical and racial materials in a. wsy that no other writer bad. 275 �Baldwin, whose reigh succeeded Wright's, made his entry in 1953 with the publication of Go Tell It On the Mountain. His other brilliant work includes Notes of a Native Son (1955) and Giovanni's Room (1956). Miss Walker, a Mississippi housewife who teaches literature at Jackson State College, was 22 years old when she wrote "For My People"--one of the most famous Black poems. Her book by the same name won the Yale Series of Younger Poets- award in 1942. Rich in cultural folk references, Black phonology and social history, the slim book brilliantly traces the hope, humor, pathos, rage, stamina and iron dignity of the race. The winning of the Pulitzer Prize by Gwendolyn Brooks (and Ellison's accolades) told the world that Black writers bad mastered the "ultimate" English literary crafts of poetry and fiction to a degree which no longer called their abilities into question. Many Black critics feel, however, that there were excellent volumes, before Annie Allen, which should have received the Pulitzer Prize. These critics say Black artists, like the Black Experience, come periodically into fashion (e.g., Harlem Renaissance)--to be tolerated at the whims of white literary bastions, despite their proven abilities. The citation of Miss Brooks (who published A Street in Bronzeville, 1945) was a citation of the Black Experience, however--despite the fact that the prize was not a major announcement in the Black community. Blacks, caught up in the post-war mood, job- searching and a quest for social equality, were not reading 276 �much poetry. Ellison, who bas not published a novel since Invisible Man (1952) remains one of t h e most controversial figures in American Literature; much of the controversy arising from what he says outside of fiction (see Introduction). Communist-oriented papers generally condemned Invisible Man when it first appeared. They held t hat it was a "dirt throwing" ritual for Ellison--who comb ines naturalism and complex symbolism in the book. Black novelist John Oli ver Killens also gave it a ne gative re v iew. Generally , h owever, t he work is considered, by Blac k and wh ite critics, to b e a great novel-perhaps the greatest American novel. It won t h e National Book Award in 1952 and in a subsequent poll of 200 journalists and critics, it was judged the most distin guis h ed single work of fiction since World War II. Enflamed by t he sp i rit and example of t h e Harlem Renaissance, Black poets of the pre- and post-war y ears continued exciting experiments. Miss Brooks r e calls t b at a brief encouragement from the "great 11 James Weldon Joh nso n wh en s h e was · a ch ild spurred her on her way . Some of t he poets of t h e renaissance, however, quit writing alto i:;eth er or be gan writing in anoth er genres. J ollns on reported in 1931 t ha t Fenton Johnson h ad been 11 silent 11 for ten years. Poet Bontemps also wrote novels--the most famous of them being Black Thunder (1939), an adaptation of the 1 831 Nat Turner-led slave re v olt. He edited and wrote, and sometimes collab orated wit h oth ers on anth ologies and biographies for youn g readers. 277 With IIue;h es, he edited The �Poetry of The Negro: 1.764-1-949, c nn ~d-t:.e red a break through in modern Black literary activity. One of the handful of Renais- sance Black writers to survive into the Seventies, Bontemps died in 1973. Sone have called the period 1-')etween 1930-54 the age of Lanr,s ton Hughes 5-n Black letters. Indeed, Huc;bes remained prominent and productive t!u•o u 0h out tl1e t!1ree periods-Renaissance, 19J 0-5L~, o:na. the Contempora.ry era. Dur inc; the pre- and post-ws.r periods, Huc;hes continued to turn out everything fro m newspaper fictio n columns (Jesse B. Simple) to juvenilia to plays. Hughes in poetry, like Wri e;ht, Ellison and Baldwin in ½rose, faithfully recorded the Black mood. Like the others, h e also predicted t h e social violence of the sixties. Poets and other volurr..es of the period include: Sterling Brown, Southe~n Road (1932); Cullen, The Medea and Some Poems (1935); Hayden, Heart-Shape in the Dust (1940}; Naomi Long l'-18.dgett, Songs to a Pha1,tom Nightingale (1941}; H. Bings Diamond, We 1rJho Would Die ( 1943); Tolson, Rendezvous With America (1944); Dodson, Powerful Long La.E§e~ , (1946); Cullen, On Tbese I Stand (posthumously, 1947); Hayden, with Myrom 0' Higgins, The Lion and the Archer (1948); Tolson, Libretto for the Republic of Liberia (1953); Selected Poems of Claude McKay (posthumously, 1953); Ariel W. Holloway, Shape Them into Dreams (1955); John C. Morris, Cleopatra and Other Poems (1955); Alfred Q. Jarette, Black Man Speaks (1956}; Beatrice Wright, Color Scheme (1957); 1-fary Miller, Into the Clearing (1959); Percy E. Johnston, Concerto for Girl and 278 �Convertible (1960); Oliver Pitcher, Dust of Silence (1960), Gwendol"'rn Brooks, T:1e Bean Eater (1960 ); and Dodson, Th e --------- ~ Conf es::: ion Stone (1 960 ). -- Also writing and/or translating during this period were Dudley Randall, Samuel Allen (Paul Vesey), Margaret Danner, Richard Wrigbt (who also wrote poetry), and many others. Black and white poets exchanged ideas and socialized, as Black and white intellectuals had done throughout mos·t of the history of America. Many of the Black poets of the period, consequently, were introduced to publishers and the reading public by well-known white poets or critics. Such a practice was to come under fire, during the late 6o•s and 70's, by some Black poets and critics who felt that whites could not judge on Black writing. Reviews of the period were generally favorable to the Black writers who showed great finish in their work. Hayden, Walker, Brooks, Tolson and Dodson were among the poets who received high praise for their technical virtuosity. Stephen Vincent BenJt wrote tbe forward to ·Miss Walker's For My People, Allen Tate to Tolson's Lihretto For the Republic of Liberia and Hayden won Hopwood Awards twice and accolades for Poetry: A Magazine of Verse--regarded as the white American olympus of poetry. One of the most important anthologies of the post-renaissance period was The Negro Caravan, (1941) edited by Brown, Arthur P. Davis and Ulysses Lee. Tbe best inclusive anthology of Black literature, it remains today one of the outstanding textbooks. 279 �Brown also published two important wor ks of criticism, The Negro in American Fiction and Ne gro Poetry and Drama, b oth in 1937. And J. Saunders Reddin g published his critical work, To Make a Poet Black, in 1939. Anotr er item of i mportance was the establishment in 1940 of Phy lon with the venerable W.E.B. DuBois as editor. In 1954, as American soldiers prepared to return from Korea and television glared to consume the world, the Supreme Court decision of May 15 closed the book on one era of Black American history and opened up Pandora's box on another. Wright's Black Power (1954), a commentary on his experiences in Africa's Gold Coast, may have b een more than just a hint at the wh at was to come. Wright would witness some, but not all, of the ingredients of Pandora's box, as b is death would occur in 1960. But when a Black woman in Montgomery refused to c ive her seat on a public but to a white man, a new era of Black struggle was born. A successful boycott of buses was led by Martin Luther King , Jr., founder (in 1957) of the Southern ' Christian Leadership Conference. Like flesh-fla mes, hordes of young Blacks (and some wh ites) be gan sit-ins and various other "in's" as the Freedom cry reached a new pitch . This was the ges- tation period for t he Congress of Racial Equality and the Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. White youth took to television and swayed to the rhythms of Chubby Checker, the Chantells and the Five Satins. But as America "twisted the night away" another and different mood, expressed through a 2 80 � 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_05 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter V. A Long Ways from Home, p. 246-280 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/cb2e35d7b15c39f0f46a976d860bc966.pdf fe4dd022507740f7ba61f7d9fb7eca27 PDF Text Text rent voice, was bugg ing t h e rim of the "dream." And we were not yet "Bey ond the Blues." III THE POETS AND THEIR TOTEM Good mornin', blues, blues, how do you do? -- Leadbelly A. The Coming Cadence: Pr e - :1.eiw.issanc e Voic es As th e 20t~ ce ntu r y c ontinu ed to open its bewi l der ed ( some say "sh ocked ") eyes , al 1 s or ts of che. n13es we r e occuri ng-not t h e l ea s t a monc th ere in Black poetry and the arts. With the inc reas e i n t~ e nu~1e r of publ i cat io ns tak inG their work (due to t he pionoer i nr, efforts of Du n½ar , Car r oth ers, Campbell, Cott er, Sr ., and ot~ers ), Blac k poe t 3 c ou l d at l e as t a ntic i pate hav i ng t heir work read 11y wh it e ed i. tors . l'Ia ~1y of t h e poets i-rr i ting i n the f irst and se c ond de cades of the century would never be heard f r om a ga i n; h u t a few would he coffie "mi nor" li ghts of t h e Har l.2; m Ren a i s s ance . Th e poets i:rnrked l n a sur- prls ing d i ve r sity of styles , lineui stic-b e nts , t he mes, temperame nt s a nd a c e cate g orie s, and came from prac t ically every cor ner of t he United States , t h e West I nd ie s and South Amer ica. Among th e early p o ets were Kelly Mil ler (1 863- 1939 ), Les li e Pi nc k ney Hi l l (1830- 1960 ), Charle s Bertram Johnson (1800- ), Be nja~i n Brawl ey (1882- 1939 ), Raymond Garfield • 2 81 �) , James Da ndrid co (1 882 -193 0 ), Otto Lee Bohanon ( :Sduard I:1cCall (1n 8C- ), Anc015-na Held Grin:1'::e (13 D0 -l950:), J33sie Redmond Fauset (1 132-1<)61), Wal ter Everette Hawkins ) , i'Trs . Sarah Lee (Brown) Flem:t n:3 , Leon n. Harris ( 1033(1 80 6- ) , Effie Lee N01-rnome (l l305- ) , 1-!alter Adolpl1e nob ert8 (1 88 6-1965), Eva Alherta Jessye (1 8 97- ), Georcia Douglas Johnson (1 2f 6-1 966 ), Theodore Eenry Shackelford (lCSIJ-J.923), I\oscoe C. J amlso n (1 8/"3 6-l C)l'."' ), Cl:arles 1Hlson (1885- ) , 1:r s . Ifae Smi tl~ Jobnson (l 190- !razafker•iofo (1 295- ) , Andrea ), Be nja min E~e~azer Burrell (1292- '.!illiam Edgar Baj_ly ( ), ), Josep 1, Se a mon Cotter, Jr. (1 195-1919), Clarissa Scott Dela □ ey (19 01-1927), and scores !Jore. Eajor poeti.c contr1-h1.1tions Here t,m de b:r Tames Weldon ,fo), nson, Fenton ,Tol·rnson, Cotter, Jr. ( cut down to early to deve lop his promise) and a few ot~ers; yet it is i mportant lhat we at least note so:,10 of t110 l er; ser lichts of this period. '."' terlin c; Bro-i-m and ,T. Snunders Reddi nc feel not11:i.ng of L1i)ortance, heyo nd. tl, o Jo1- ns ons, occured i r. the first two decades. Dut, for purpose.::: of ou r stndy and co n tinuit:r, He must note that this was not a period of inactivity amonc poets. nically, there was s ome expe ri ment ation. Tech- However, most of the poets eith er ~elpcd ~ 1ase out t he dialect v og ue or wrote h armless piece s o n ~ature, l ov e, cardens, death and human .:iorro1v. Others wrote ·hars11l:r and hi tterl:r of tbe war. Miller, mat11e maticj_an and sociolog ist, was a leadinG 2 82 �Black spokes man of t h o d ay and onl:r occa :J iona 7.l~r wro te poet r :r. His prose-poem "I Sec and Am Sati s fi ed " pro v ided fuel for further discussion of conte mporary racial issues. Consistine of 25 stanzas, it i. s r c nr.i. n is c e n t of F e11 ton Job ns on ( "Tired 11 ) and Margaret Walker ( "F or II:r People"). Hi 11 produced 1:1an::,r good students while he was principal at Ch e:rney Tra:lnin 6 School for Teachers (later Ch eyn e~ ntato Coll e g e). Ile attended Harvard and taught at Tuske c;ee and bis literary i nfluences are Lon gfellow, ifordswortb , Mil ton and Bnrn :.1 . !-Ti s pn~) lis b ed works are The Wines of Oppression (1922) and Toussaint L'Ov erturc--A Dramatic History (192 ~). Roy L. Fi l l, p oet a nd edu cator, is a prote g e of the se nior Hill 111, 0 fe e ls t 1, e Afro-A me rican r' con strained O '"'pression ~ l 1_ 1.•_r1 •1 ~I,.rf nr:q. -~ to G,....ive. 11 Hi.s po e tr:r l1as a strenc; th laced Hith Washington-t:r po f e ol :i n 0 s a,...,0 1 1t rac e re latio n::;. us that he will "monrn t r e trav ail of ..::r rac e . 11 T-Ie tells TJ:ost g rippinc;ly memorab le, b ovre7er, i c 7i s nso Qu1.0tl:r," a p oe tlc distil~ati.on (a par:i pb l e t, 1 9 00 ) , T> o l ian tl o of Dti n 1·· ar a nd Otb or P,o e ms (a pam" "'d C" c,.1-~· of _--.,.r -o: o,L p~e ( 7'J 1 ci) ~ J.. ... c?. L.! r.) U..:, ed u cator a :-10. pre a c 1~c r b iri1, 11 l if o 11 if' a 11 _,.,!_ · t :1 II:i. sf'c11r :i. a nd 1;'" ~.:-:c c~ s on ,:::: ." ..... ,, 10 . ... ~, • 5. s p oetr:- :i. s J oth li crit An oc c-a s i onal p oe t , P,rm-rle~r �( .. ,-. - 0'i .,_ .I - · · '- ' I\ ,1, l. t'l-i e d evelo pme nt of 'llla c 1- Amo r 5. can po c t r :r. !!o wrote stories a r~d poer:s t1• a t ' ,o.d :,ot ½con c ol:_s ct ed at the t l.110 of h is de at'I; . Dandri dc;o ' :.:. po c tr~r 5. s r l cl~ a nd ~o .. :o t i me:J ra d .al. l n co n- and contemporary violence against Blacks, he asks: Or can it be you fear the grave Enough to live and die a slave? "Zalka Peetruza 11 recalls McKay's "Harlem Dancer 11 in that pa.rt of the woman is dancing "--save her face. 11 A native of Cincinatti, Dandridge suffered a stroke when he was 30 years old which le.ft his legs and right arm paralized. Thereafter writing most of his poetr:r from his bed, he published The Poet and Other Poems (1920) and Zalka Peetruza and Other Poems (192 Dandridge also wrote competent poetry in dialect and, in this form, was a disciple of Dunbar. poetry to various magazines. Bohanon and McCall contribute A teacher from Washington, D.C., t Bohanon did not publish a volume. Neither did McCall who became • ;1,t~ ;!l an editor of the Independent after being made blind by typhoid., l An13e lina Grimk6 published a three-act play (Rachel) her poetry remains uncollected. 284 Born in Boston, she was �educated in various schools, of several states, and later taught English for many yea.rs at Dunbar Hic;h School in Washington, D.C. More than slightly resembling Gwendolyn Brooks, Miss Grimk~ 's poetry contains some of the most distilled language in modern American literature. Brilliant, precise and poignant, she writes of' love, seasons, darkness and high spirits during her maturing years--typified in the phrase "the New Nee;ro. rr Although she had been publishing poetry in periodicals her first big break came when she was included in Cullen's anthology, Caroling Dusk (1927). Not until the sixties would suqh lines as the following take on tbeir full political/cultural significance: 'Why, beautiful still finger, are you black? And why are you pointing upwards? In 11 The Want of You" even the moon and clouds join in "the crying want of you." work. Long overdue is a detailed study of Miss GrimkJ's But she is included in the best anthologies of Afro- American poetry and literature. Critical comments on her work can be found in the work of Kerlin, Kinnamon and Bttrksdale, and Brown ( 11 irony and quiet despair 11 ) . A brilliant student in college and for several years literary editor of the famous Crisis magazine, Jesse Fauset also served as an interpreter for the DuBois-inspired Second Pan-Af'rican Coneress in London. A native of New Jersey, she attended Cornell (Phi Beta Kappa) and the University of Pennsylvania, and published four novels: There is Confusion (1924), Plum Bun (1929), The Chinaberry Tree (1931) and Comedy, American �St~rle (1933). Her poetry appeared in numerous periodicals during the twenties and thirties. "Oriflamme, 11 Her skill is evident in her most famous poem. Inspired by a quotation from Sojourner Truth, the poem views the Black mother "seared with slavery's mortal scars" but vows that ber sons are Still visioning the stars! Black poets apparently spent time reflecting during the period between the beginning of the century and the Renaissance. So much of the poetry takes us into their private lives--sometimes into racial tones and sometimes not. Some of J essie Fauset's verse, for example, mirrors her knowled ge of French (she taught the language and translated into English several West Indian French-speaking poets). This is seen in the titles of some of poems and in other places where she interpolates French words into the texts. Generally her tone is quiet, neat and well written. Hawkins (a native of North Carolina) graduated from Kitrell College in 1901 and worked for many y ea.rs in the railway mail service. In "Credo II he announced t h at I am an Iconoclast. With obvious irony, Hawkins goe s on to claim he is "an Anarchist," (see Brown) and "an Agnostic." Additional irony and cynicism is seen in such poems as "A Spo.de is Just A Spade" and "The Death of Justice. 11 In h is rush of language and boldness of subject matter, Hawkins anticipates Tolson. .. His Chords and and Discords was published in 1909 and h is work appears in 2 36 �The Poetry of Black America (ado.ff, 1973) and Kerlin's anthology which includes critical notes. on Hawkins (a 11 Brown also comments .foreshadow" of new nNe gro Poetry "). Harris, Mrs. Flemi nc; , Hrs. Newsome, Rob erts, Hiss Jessye, Shackelford, Jamison, Wilson, Mrs. Johnson, Raza.i'ieriofo, Burrell and Bailey were among oth er poets contributing to various periodicals of t h e day. Harris brougbt out The Steel Makers and Otber War Poe ms in pamphlet form in 1918. · He served as editor of the Richmond (Indiana) Blade and published shortstories in The Century. "The Steel Makers II is emotionally and technically akin to some of the work of Whitman (Walt) and Sandburg. It praises t he steel workers--amone whom Harris himself numbered at one time. In another place, Harris asks the white man to accept him since, despite color and feature dii'ferences, The NeGro's the same as the rest. Harris' work can be found in Kerlin's book. Mrs. Fleming published Clouds and Sunshine (1920) in Boston at the inception of the Renaissance. Mrs. Newsome, wb o writes primarily for children, did not publish a volume of poems until 1940 (Gladiola Garden). Among the "earliest Necroes to employ free-verse with artistic ei'fectiveness" were Razaf'keriei'o and Will Sexton. Sexton contributed to various periodicals as did Razafkeriefo whose work appeared in Th e Crusader and The Ne gro World. through the t h eme of t h e day, Sexton announced I am the New Negro. 287 Carryinc:; �Taken i'rom "The New Negro", this line will be seen a.gain in various places and temperaments including in Tolson•s "Dark Symphony. 11 In "The Bomb Thrower" Sexton plays the role of "America's e'1il e;enius II and sardonically proposes a reversal of the ideals of Democrac:t. Razai'keriefo, born in Washington, D.C. to A.fro-American and Hadagascaran pa.rents, only had an elementary education. He asks, in "The Negro Church, 11 for "manly, thinking preachers 11 And not shouting money-makers, after declaring (in the manner of a Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X or Rapp Brown) t h at t he church has great "power." Preachers, he warns, should work to "fit the Negro" For this world as well as heaven. In addition to anger and impatience, this poet also expresses race pride and praises 11 Tbe Negro Woman." to him to pick a woman for 11 If it were left up queen of the ball of fame," be would "select the wonderful Negro woman. 11 Burrell, who con- tributed poetry to magazines, echoes Razafkeriefo in Nee;ro Mother. 11 11 To A In four eight-lined stanzas (using iambic octa- meter) Burrell celebrates the "grace and fortitude" of the Black mother. Recalling that greatness of Black history, he asks earth mother to Create anew the captains of the past; Build in your soul the Eth iopian power, ... The preceding two poems call to mind Hue;hes' "The Negro Mother," Watkins' '1Ebon Maid and Girl of Mine," Hrs. Johnson's "To 28 3 My �Grandmother, 11 11 Owen Dodson's Black :1vi: oth er Pra.y inc; ," and other moving tributes to t h e Afro-Americ an woman. 11 Wilson's body's Child" is not good poetry but its subject is. Some- He worked a s a pr :1.nt cr and tbeatr i cal performer a nd s e r v ed time in t 1.1 e llioso ur i St a t e: Peniter~ti nr:r d'...1r i n::; w1·, :T. ch ti me 11e put togeth er a small b oo k of l 1i s ver ses. of Co.nada who s·::, c~.Y-~ ::-,t 11 Ph ilad e lph ia. Art ?lus e um . Shac kelford was n native i_:x1-_,st,:-- ia ~- tra.i ni nc; s ch ool and t be '1'' His b oo k , ~,tr _Qoun t r :r and Ot11 er Poems, was pub lish ed i n Pb ilaclelpl1 ia. in 1 91 ,'.J . Jamison publish ed Nccro So l diers n.nd Oth er Poe ms in S outh St. Joseph , Hi ssouri, in 1918. Jamison wri te s ab out :rca.stles i n t r e Air, nHopeless ness II a nd 11 Th e :tfoc;ro Soldiers." 11 love, Th e latter poem has someth ing of t h e flav or of Dunba·r 's "Colored S ol diers n and salutes the bra.very and courac e of Black troops whose "souls grandly rise. 11 Th ese troops, Jamiso n points out, fou ght for America instead of se eking 11 venc e nce for t h eir wrongs. 11 A native of Hissouri, Bailey's only volume of poems (The lt,irstlin 0 ) was released in 1914. "The Slump II makes a baseball (via Christian s y mb olis m) game an a lo r; ous to t h e hardships of Black life: Well, we'r e all at t h e b at-and warns that t h e "ball may be hurled" as a plea. "Hr. Self 11 is at the bat b ut There's the Be ggar and Gate-and a wh isperinc voice from above calls "Strike t h ree." Miss Jessy e wrote movine:; poetry but is much b etter known 289 �for her work in developing and leading professional choruses. Born in Kansas, she received musical training at Western University in Kansas and Langston University in Oklahoma. Moving to New York City in the twenties, she continued working with figures like Will Harion Cook, J. Rosamond Johnson, Hall Johnson and others. In her famous concerts around the world she has used work from Porvj and Bess, John Work 1 s compositions and that of the men listed above. Her published collections include My Spirituals (1927), The Life of Christ in Negro Spirituals (1931), Paradise Lost and Re gained (Milton 1 s work adapted to Black songs, 1934), and The Chronicle of Job (a folk drama, 1936). I mportant for t~e same reaso ns noted in our discussion of Alex Rogers, Hiss Jessye successfully combined the poetic and the musical lan 0uage (though they are so similar to start with!). Her poem, 11 Tbe Sinc;er" recalls the work of Corrothers, Dunbar, Johnson (James), and numerous other poets who h..a ve bridged the gap between t b e two art forms. One is reminded of Johnson 1 s 11 0 Black and Unknown Bards" in Miss Jessye 1 s statement t b at the singer's "speech was blunt and manner plain. 11 Like the "unknown bards, song was "but the essence of the heart." 11 his unlettered Her poems, published in newspapers during t h e twenties, s h ow a li gh theartedness but a sincerity and sense of conviction. "spring" and the 11 She writes about Rosebud 11 and while she is not singularly distinguished as a poet, her life 1 s work is an indispensable float in the grand parade of the AEro-American creativity in 290 �the arts. In choral work, Hiss Jessye is especially noted for her direction of the Original Dixie Jubilee Singers, later named the Eva Jessye Choir. For a thoroue;h ·discussion of Miss Jessye 's life and works ( alone; with that of her contemporaries) see Eileen Southern' s The Music of Black Americans. For poetry selectio ns , see Kerlin. Durine the period of the Renaissance, poets such as Georgia Johnson, Jessie Fauset, Anne Spencer, Alice DunbarNelson, I-Iill, 1'-foKay, James Weldon Johnson, Dandridge and Cotter (sho had achieved recognition before 1923), continued their output either through ma 6 azines or book-publication. i Much of this work is recCrded in Johnson's The Book of American t l r Negro Poetry (1922, 1931); Kerlin's ~egro Poets and Their Poems (1923, 1935) and Contemporary Poetry of the_ Negro (1921), and in other sue~ coLlpilutions and periodicals. Anne Spencer was born in West Virginia and studied at the Virginia Seminary in Lynchburg where sbe has spent most of her life. She recently relocated in California; but was for a long time librarian at Dunbar Hi c~h School in Lynchburg. This poet's work hardly ever reflects racial or political concerns but she is one of the most technically-sure of all Blnck poets. Sb e writes about wor.1en, love, carnivals and the workings of the mind. In its brevity and conciseness, her poetry anti- cipates the work of' Gwendolyn B1.,ooks and is loosely akin to Angelina Gri mk~ 's ( thou gh the latter 1 s work is racially-flavored). Her poetry also bears some kinship to t he 291 11 Imagist II school of �poets writing in the early years of t be century. Elements of this particular technique and style can be seen in Hayden: ( "The Diver," "Nigbt-Bloomine Cereus, 11 and oth ers). "At The Carnival II we smell sausage and c;arlic t :1at Sent unh oly incense skyward and are told ( in an echo of the ro .nantics) that Whatever is good is God. "Dunbar" laments 11 b ow poets sine; and die! 11 and places -the eulogized Black poet in t b e same class with Ch atterton, Shelley and Keats. Niss Spencer's most mov ing poem, it seems, is "Translation" wh erein two lovers nover speak But each knew all t h e other said. Calling her the "most ori ginal of all Ne gro women poets," ,, Sterline Brown adv ised, in 1937, t h nt ~rnr "sensitive, and keenlJ .~:;. , observant" work sh ould be "collected for a wider audience." But as of sumrr.er, 1974, no one h ad undertaken Brown's Considering her span of years, Mrs •. Spe ncer (somewhat has not been prolific. Her work can b e found in se,v eral antho-. logies and periodicals of t he twenties. Critical assessments are given by Kerlin, Brown and Joh nson. James Weldon Joh nson, we noted earlier, published Fifty Years and Other Poems in 1917. Tl1e Hork included dialect as well as conventional standard English commemorative pieces. Not high ly original, t b e work was one more step in the long and fruitful development of perh aps t h e most i mportant figure in the history of Black poetry. 292 It seems Johnson was involved �in as many thinc;s as could have been hu~nanly possible. After his work on Broadway (with ligh t operas), h e worked for the re-election of Theodore Roosevelt, served as United States Consul (a reward for bis political work ) in Nicaragua and Venezuela, published (anonymously ) The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man in 1912, wrote editorials (for more than 10 years) for the New York Ac;,e and b ecame t h e NAACP's first s ecretary genera l- - worl:j_nc i n tb at post fo r 14 :rear s . · A deep ly psych oloc i cal wor k , Au tobi ograph~ de alt wi t h s uch a n explosive contemporary topic--th e t h eme of passing--th at Johnson would not affix h is own name to it until it was reissued during the Renaissance (1 927) with an introduction by Carl Van Vechten. The conventional poetry of Fiftv Years shows Johnson to be politically at the t hresbh old of t h e "a.wakening ." Sterling Brown stated, incorrectly, t h at Joh nson's "Broth ers II was the most "vigorous poe:'1 of protest fro r,i a ny Ne gro poet up to h is time." We know t h at Whitfield, Wbitman, DuBois, Hawkins and others were just as strong and forceful. Fifty Years was highly praised by Braithwaite ("intellectual substance"), Brander Mathews ( sbould be grouped with t be noblest American commemorative poems), and other influential critics. This first book shows a strength, "v irility " a.nd robustness t hat would mark Johnson's future wri tings--especially God's Trombones (1927). The poems are patriotic ("Fifty Yea.rs" wh j_cb commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of t he Emancipation Proclamation}, nostalgic ( 11 0 Southland!"), descriptively amorous ( "The Glory of the Day was in Her Face"), strong and verile ("Th e Young Warier"), 293 �race-proud (angry) and didactic ("Brothersn) and fundamental and reli gious ( no Blac k and Unknown Bard 11 ) . The last poem, more important for what it records t h an b ow it is assembled, is an artistic tribute of t h e makers of t h e Spirituals. Using actual words and names from Spirituals, Johnson weaves in the strength and artistry ch aracteristic of t h ese songs he loved-and to wh ich he devoted s o much research and listening time. Great are, he says, is produc ed b y These simple ch ildren of t h e sun and soil. Joh nson knew, too, t h at t ~es e makers would not be O black slave s incers , gone , for got, unfamed, if work of t h e sort be wa s doins continued in t he h ands of those to -wh om h e pass ed the torch . Alth ough Fifty Yea.rs is strong , solid wor k , it is lat e r that Jo~nson ' s c ome s into h is own as ex per imonta15.s t a nd ra ce-s e t ter. Go or 3 ia J obncon a lso wrote ra c e -c on~i cious l~rrics. J o11nson's t hemes are sn c;r_i;cs t ed 5. n h e r titles: The He art of A Woman (191 8 ), Bro nze (1922) and An Aut umn Lo ~e Cy cle. .. '· f and fluent, 11 Hrs. "Skillful h er poe try deals primaril~r witb lo neliness, sorrow, seasons , u nrequit ed lov e and is intellectual ly- b ased. The first Dlack woman after Frances Harp er to acl1 ieve reco gnition as a poet, she is explicitly r acial in Bronze alth ough allusions to Blackness s ometime appear in h er other work. Yet Mrs. Johnson seems to know something ab out the heart of all women (and men) when she says t h e singer's s ongs Are tones t h at repeat 294 • �The cry of the heart Till it ceases to beat. "The Octaroon" deals with a woman who is tainted because she is the victim of One drop of midnight in the dawn of life's pulsating stream but who finds hospitality in the Black community. 11 humble fold"--presumably the Tbis poem recalls Cotter's "The Mulatto to His Critics" which depicts t h e multi-racial predicament of one (probably Cotter himself) made up Of Red Han, Black Ma.n, Briton, Celt, and Scot, but who loves the dark-skinned, curly haired race that "puts sweet music in my soul." tension in "To Hy Son. 11 I'1rs. Johnson develops a similar She tosses and turns between advising her son that the "dusky pall or she.dews screen the highway of sky" and encouraging him to "storm the sullen fortress" founded on racism. In addition to writing such powerful and lasting poetry, Mrs. Joh nson was of service to young writers f'or several decades. A f'emale counter-part to Langston Huehes, she hosted regular and spontaneous writers meetings in her h ome in Washington, D.C., where she moved after receivine academic and musical training at Atlanta University and Oberlin College. A native of Georgia, she was employed in government service most of her adult life. For critically introduced selections of her work, see Barksdale and Kinnamon, Johnson and Kerlin. 1' 295 Brown also supplies a good �assessment. We should note, in passin~ and by way of introduction to Fenton Johnson, H. Binga Dismond (1891-1956) who did not publish a. volume of poetry until 1943 (We ·who Would Die). Dismond, like Johnson and Frank Ears~ all Davis was one of the man:r writers of t'!rn period who ·was not pbysically present in ITarlem durinc t~c Renaissance. Di smond was born in Virginia and, a track star ( as was Frank Horne), studied pb:rsical t h erapy a.t Rush He dical Collcc;e after attendinc Howard Universit:r Academy and tbe Unive rsi t:r of Ch icac;o . (The Hic1west's parti- cipation in the ~onaissance has been dramatically underplayed.) Dismond, Hbo Hrote some crisp and poi~~1ant poetr:r of love and protest, is more importa nt to us durins this period for his journalistic wor1:. :Ti t11 .To1: ns on, ~-ic edited Tlle Champion Ma r;azine 1 (startine; in 1916) for several ·,:re ars. Tl'"cey also co-edited The Favorite Na2;azino ( nThe World's Greatest 11ont1:'1 ly") where they both published poems and articles. Johnson bac: several of l1 j_s pla:rs performed 'l.n Chicago's Pekin Theatre wben 1rn ~ras ni.neteen a nd is generally seen as tbe most creati ve J_ink 1-)eh.reen t 1,e poets of Dunhar's era and the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Chicaco of economically stable parents, b e attend ed tbe city's na me sake university and taugh t school for n. :reo.r in the South. Ee privately pub- lished three volumes of poetry, o ne (A Little Dreaming, 1917) in Chicag o, anc, tuo (V:tsions of the Dusk, 1915; and Songs of the Soil, 1916) in new York uhero be liv0d for a sbort time. Harriet I·'i:onroc and ( "The Hew Poetryn group) bad established 296 �Poetry ( 1912) i n ' : is 1 '0iilO tow n o. nd .Jol,ns on 1;1ade c ont ac t wit": I n 1 92 0 , ,Jo1 , 1::i on r' 1 '-,lls 17 cd Tal e s of Dar ke s t Amer ica, b er . A part i c i pa nt in t 11e " poet r y re v ival" in sb or t storie s . Amer ica, ,Jo11 nso n '·, nd ~1is -:rnr k accepted for P oetr:r, and t:rn "'t1,._h ol o,.,. -: e,....., 0.1.L, 1,cr,., ( i l., G .-L "' J • .., 0 ~ ·- ·- , 6 ' ' n.,.L 7 , ,!.. j An Ant bolocy of An10ri c an P oetr:r: 1 0 9 n J.. , C. ·• ) , T1, e l'~ eu Poet r :r and L:rric America, 163 0 -1 9) 0 . I n sayi ns Jo 0, ns on wo.s u lt i 1:1 2t c l :r t h e p oet of "desp air 11 a nd t bat he wa s t 1rn 0 111:, po e t Hritins i n snch ~.· ein (ns Brown, Reddin c; , .Jolrnson, "'. :n ..::;ner , a :1c. oti-,e rs •, a·:c do n e ), cr iti. cs pre sent ed par t of t l·.c ,·, ia n . new i n El ac k po c t r :r r,' 1:1 · j _l 0 1;1:r :.!e did 1,orrow f ro ;:i Iin. st ers, Li nds ay e pr o-,· :i.d 5- '1,:::- a n a ':e nue for exp e r i mcn - tation t o en t er i nt o t1"Je works of }J is Bla c k c ont emp orar i es. But in poems s u ch a s "Tired, "Th e Ban j o Play er, tt 11 "The Scarlet Woman" and "Rulers II b e displays much more t ll a n "d espair." Reflecting , as Brown n ot ed , t h e "tw o ext remes of Ne gr o poetry after 1914,tr Job nson can d eal with eith er t h e b rawling urban b lues or t h e down- h ome, "we s h a l l ove rcome " motifs. Because his work doe s not contain n co nsist e nt spirit of h ope, James Weldon Joh nson s aid h i s mes s a ge mirror ed idea.s 11 forei t:; n to any ph ilosoph y of l i fe t he Ne c;r o in Ame r l ca. h a d ever preach ed or practiced. the 11 11 Joh nso n t h ou r;h t t h is wns 11 startling 11 despite birth 11 , about the same time as F enton Jol·, nson' s work, of t h e blues era--and t b e wor k of W.C. Handy (l -S 73-1958 ) wh o is sometimes called i t s 11 fat h er. 11 F ent on Jobnso n is •"Tired" of a ci v ilization wh i ch b as gi v en h i m "t oo many tr ch ildren and 297 �no ch ance for t h em to sh are i n t h e American dr e am. He proposes to his wife t h at t h ey Throw t b e cb j_ldren into t h e ri v er: and observes t h at ••• It i s be ttor to di e t h an it is to grow up and f i nd out t h at you are colored. Joh nson writes ab out roustab outs, prost i tutes, vagrarits, laborers and strong will and is, as Jay Wri gb t said of Henry Dumas, "the poet of t h e dispos s ess ed." He is also t h e poet of t h e blues; and Sam Greenlee b as noted t hat "th e bl ues are a freedo m song ." In breaking away fro m trad itional Blac k poetic diction and form, Johnson not only received influence fro m t h e wh ite experimenters of free verse; be borrowed h eav ily from t h e b lues and, at t h is level, must s h nro some of t h e accolades usually reserved almost solely for Langston Hugh es. It is now wid el y accepted t hat t h e b lues d o not simply preach resi g nation. To the contrary , t he b lues, t~lling about heart-ache and perso nal failures, carry h ope in the singing and the going on. Har garet Wal ker i s only one of t h e many poets whose work seems to reflect t h e influence of Joh nson. Do we really believe t h at Joh nson meant for t he ch ildren to be t hrown in the river? Anymore t h an we take the bl~es singer literally wh en be promises to "lay my h ead down on some railroad track"? Johnson ts "note of despa i r rr is one more brilliant and artistic distillation of t be strange phy sical web wh ich produced tbe sorrow songs, t h e Spirituals, t h e ditties, jokes, rhymes and 29 8 �blues. At the time Johnson wrote his poetry Handy was com- posing some of his most famous blues songs ("St. Louis Blues," "The Memphis Blues, 11 'Yellow Dog Blues") and arranging traditional blues pieces like "Train's A-Comin.," "Let Us C:beer t h e Weary Traveller," "Come on., Epb, 11 and 11 Juba. 11 And in this list alone is locked partial answers to much of t h e work of several Afro-American writers: Hughes, Walker, Tolson, 1-vrieht, Brown, Jayne Cortez, Gil Scott-Heron and numberless others. -It is quite possible t hnt critics loo ki ng at Johnson were not pre~ pared for his irony and poetic assimilation of t h emes and feelings wbich had been glossed over by Chr istianity and other anesthetics. In 11 Rulers II Johns on discusses a "monarch II on "Lombard Street in Philadelphia.," who "was seated on o. throne of flour bags. 11 Near the 11 r.1onarcb 11 two young boys with guitars played "ragtime tunes of the day. Black 11 11 Clearly this "monarch" ( a laborer 11 in reality) is being serennded and saluted just as any oth er 11 ruler 11 would be. of the blues ( 11 ragtime 11 )! He presides as a prince Johnson's work is in mos.t anthologies of Afro-American poetry and critical assessments of him have already been noted. For more thorou g11 discussions of the poetry-blues concept see Stephen Henderson's Understanding the New Black Poetry., 111:r bibJ. iocrap1':y and Chapter VII. At t he dawn of the Harlem Renaissan c e t h ere appeared a. slim-vol ume of poetry Seamo n Cotter, Jr. (1 395-1919 ), the precocious son of t'~e Cotter alroad:r cUscussed. YounG Cotter died an early dcat'1 Hbicl: cnt short tlie work of one of the 299 �most promising figures in Afro-American poetry. Born in Kentucky and frail fro m childhood like Dunbar, Cotter had to end his college career at Fisk University when he developed tuberculis. An innovator, as was h is father, Cotter s h ows a sharp awareness (in The Bend of Gideon, 1910) of the plight of Blacks and an even sharper ability to express that plight along with other sentiments and feelings. Black poetry's concerns in 11 He echoes much of And What Sball I Say 11 ; "Rain Misictt anticipates amny of Hughes's pieces--thin gs in The Weary Blues, "Jazzonia, 11 and so on--whe n be recalls tbe "dusty earth-drum" which hammers fallin g rain Now a wh ispered murmur, Now u louder strain. Bearing the import of mucb of the "exotic" Black literature of the renaissance, Cotter never t h eless sees in the beat of· the Slender, silvery drumsticks a rejuvenation of life as ordered b~r God, "the Great Musician." Cotter began writing poems wh ile a teenac;er. His technique, as is .Johnson's, comb ines t he best of traditional Western poetry with the ncu wave of free verse. His poe ms . are a.bout love, "Ne gro Soldiers," reliGion, Blackness, justice and his own illness. 11 Is It Because I Am Black 11 seems to have been looking forward to a 1<)60 1 s "soul" sonc of a similar title wherein t1~e sincer says Sometbinc is holding me ha ck! Lawd, is :i.t ~:ie cul'!se I'm D~.a ck ? In tbe poem Cott or o.sks 1-111:r ·whi tcs are so o.1;1azed t b a.t he can 300 �"stand II in t~ v) i r i n port ant 1,1e 0tl nc;s, Joo),: t110n1 str a i ch t ln t 11e f c.c c , a nd 11 spe a !r ti.101r Cot ters 1rnrk appe ars L1 The 'R ool~ of Ame rican lJe.::.;ro Poe try , 1Jec;ro Car n.van., ICe rli n ' s study ( 11 T11e stamp of the African mind is upo n " Cotter ), and The Poetry of Blac k Amer lc a . Al t bour;b I:c r lin su'0mi t s brief critical comments, a study of t h :i. s y oune poe t's wor k is sorely needed. He left, also seve ral plays and unpub lish ed sonnets. B. POETS AS PTI OPBJ~TS : The Har l em Renaissance A Ha ve of lonc:;i nc t h rough my bod:sr suept . -- Claud e IfoKa.y The Harlem Renai s sance (see section I of t h is c h apter) is normally see n as a decade-lengt h (1920-193 0 ) out-pouring of cultural and artistic activity in wh at Jame s Weldon Joh nson called t h e Ne gro cultural capitol. Tllere is h armless dis- agreement as to wbe n t b e renaissance act ually b e ga,n and how long it lasted. 1935. S ome say it started in 1925 and ran until Others gi ve t'.1e first ti me sp a~1 me nt i oned ab ove. Still ' others (includinc Wa gner, Black Poets of t h e United States) des i c;na te tllc period ' ,ct•·rc·cn tl'e tu o Hor1.d wars (1913-1 939). T11e poets of tbe renaissance--whi cb included dance., painting., sculpture, music., t h eater, literature, science and scholarsh ip--knew a nd read each oth er's works. Ironically , however, only one of t h e lea.din,~ f' i gures is said to have been b orn in New Yor k City : Countee Cullen (1903-1946) a.nd 301 �I I I. he w~s raised in the "conservative atmosphere of a Methodist parsonage," the adopted son of a minister. Langston Hughes (1902-1967) spent much of t h e decade of the twenties traveling: so did Claude Ifo Kay ( 1890-194 8 ) who wandered over "Europe and North Africa. 11 --in many instances, 11 a lone; way from home. 11 Jean Toomer (1 894-1967), disturbed and haunted by his complex ethnic background, was a my sterious fi gure who died the same year as Hu ghes in the anonymity of a Q.u aker . commune in Philadelphia (obscure after having years before). given up writing several Often called "minor" writers of the Renaissance, neither sterling Brown (1 901was born in New York. ) nor Arna Bontemps (1902-1973) And neither pub lish ed books during the twenties but they did have poems accepted by such magazines as The Crisis and Opportunity. McKay , lah e led the r e na i ssance ' s poe t of ancer and: rebellion, is chiefly for his famom:; sonnet ( 11 If We Must Die 11 ) which winds down (up?) to the followin g couplet: Like men we 'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to t h e wall, dying , but fi ghting back! Found scribbled on the walls after the Attica uprising of 1972, the national American press attributed the poem to some promising inmate! McKay wrote it in 1919 sh ortly after a series of riots that took hundreds of Black lives. Many critics use the date as the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. 302 But McKay had made �his entry into the Harlem world of letters two years earlier (1917) with the publication of two poems ("Harlem Dancer" and "Invocationn) in Seven Arts Magazine. He came to America. in 1912 from his native Jamaica, where he read much European literature and philosophy, to study agriculture. Enrolling first at Tuskegee and lat0r at Kansas state College, he finally went on to Harlem where he worked as a porter, waiter and restaurant propietor. Before leaving Jamaica, McKay had established bis reputation as a poet of dialect poetry with his Songs of .Tamaica (1912) and Cons tab Ballads (1912), the latter work reflecting his one-time e mp loyment as a policeman on the island. In New York, he gained quick entrance into literary and political circles, establishing a life-long friendship with Max Eastman (who wrote a biograpbical note for Selected Poems (1953). McKay counted amon g his friends some of the most in- fluential literary and political fi gures of tbe day: John Reed, Floyd Dell (The Masses), Waldo Frank, Frank Harris (Pearson's Magazine), ::a1'ct1 s Garvc:r (l'~sc;ro Ho:rld ) 1 and others. Fiery and forceful, McKay was the subject of much attention and discussion. Although he never joined the Communist Party, he defended its stand in most of the publications he wrote for. 11 If We Must Die" was read into the Congressional Record as an example of Black unrest and resentment. In the furry, McKay left the United States in 1919, returned for a brief period the following year, and left a gain to travel all over Europe and Northe Africa for 15 l ears. 303 He returned to America in 1934 �where ho wou ld ro r,:at n unt i l b i s d e atl.:-1 in l()L~ 2 . Hc Kay ' s o t bc r vo lLrne D of p o e tr:' i nc l ude Spr i ng i n New • e n amps l1ir , ... __ ; TT f ., " ' " ", • 1-l w 1. \ ,. 1 a pr 01r, ac e 1., y ~1~ •no f a rn ous c 1•i t i c I.A. ,.., :-;,· ;'._' of J a ma tcn wa s re i s s u e d in 1969 -~, ,_,, - -·... --- -----~ ·-- - C:l a ude rfoKay (1 97 2). and a new v olun e of prose a nd p o e try ( '.l' li e Passio n of Claude McKay) was pub lis b0d i n pu b lish ed writ in Gs , 1973 . 1<)12-194 ° . It co n t a ins p l~!, li s 11ed and unr-Ic Ka:r d ied ohs c u re and poor in Chicag o wh ere he h a d g one to t e ach in Ca t h olic Sch ools. Hi s life, like t h at of so many Blac k artis ts (D unb ar, Ch arlie 1 'Yardb ird II Par k e r , S a r.1 Co oke , Le roy (;ar r , Bli.ncl Lemon Jefferson) wa s li ved wi th cons Uli1a te spee d, f e ar a nd tr a g e dy . Th ough b e las h ed ou t at wh ites , h is c l o ses t fri ends were wb ite; wb ile he wrote def 5.ant , a ngr y a nc7 mil i t an t ver se , was i nsp ir e d b:r t h e t .ri eat mcnt of Blac k s. tradictio ns and eni::;mas in b i s lH'o. to unr av el t h e m bo re . Kc:r:J t o mu c h of 1:10 d enied t h at it Th ere are oth er con- Bu t we mako n o atte mpt Nc Ka y ' s complexit y , h owever, can he g ained by re a d i nB h is aut oh io s r aph y (A Long Home t o Uarle m (1928), Ban j o (1 929) and Ba n ana Bottom (1933), and h is many articles and s h ort storie s , Gi n g ert ow ~ entitled Harle m: (1 932). Negro Eet rop o l i s He also wr ote a study (1 9L~0 ). 'I' 1"0 ', e st source for Mc Ka y 's po e t ry is h i s Se lec ted Poems . J c Lio.n:· ways it i s iro n ic t hnt Mc Kay i s called t h e poet of ang er. lfatb an I-I n gc i n s "b lack Prm;1etheu:s , n (!Iarl em Re n a is sance) calls h i m t h e s i n e e most of h i s poe ms deal with quiet �topics such as moth er, nature, nostal gi a, loneliness, mental - -- - refle-etion, r-eli 13:i.on, world- tra vel, and descriptions - of -city - -life. Of literally do ze ns of poems he pub l ished, only 8b out ten can be called I angr:r. 11 Of c ourse t bo r e is often seeth ing unrest, And I am sh arp as steel wit h dis co nt e nt ••• , in much of t h e poetry tbat is not overt l y violent. true of everyday Black life. Such is And in this sense most Black Americans could be l a beled rrmilitant" or "viole nt "--h arb oring, as it were, polarizing tensions ("Ba ptism ") t b at make one defy all: I will come bac k to y our world of tears, A str onger soul within a finer fra me . Th ou gh one of t he create:::it influen c es on Blac k t h ou c;b t and art of h is day, Nc!Cay perb aps d id not know tllat h is writings inspired various srokesmen for African nationalism: Sedar Scngh or, Ou sman0 S oc e and Ai me Cesaire . Leopold And he is today seen as t he major lj_ nk between t b e re naissance and, t he mili ta.nt writings of th e 19 60 's. J us t a~ his clirtlect poems (such as "Two-an '-Six 11 ) h ad charned and enterta:1.ne d bi s fellow Jamaica cs, the discipline d ant:;e r of hi s popular American poems incited and inspired Blacks , and tit illated and fas cinated wh ites. For durin g t b is period , wh ites around t ho world were indicating a new interest s i n Blacks; and Blacks, inspired b:r t b e crowing nationalist f ee l lncs in sorae Euro pean countrie s , found ready fuel and propa ga nd a in their brot hers of co l or returnins h ome 3c,5 �from t he war. Yet .for all !;he anc;0r , i:'fo I(a ~r nover swervecl from .1is use of conventional Enr:;U.sh verse . Witl-. Cullen--tl10ucb not so 'l'l1c folk mater i als r o li g iously--bo a v oid8d. cxrori r;ientat5.o n . of llmerican Blac k~~ , e.xrnp le n of' Penton Jo11nson and oth ers, t ~·10 b is Englisl1 i.s cJ.c si.,s;;.-ioc1 to cac c f u r:r o.~d passion :i.n trac;ed:i..cs II a s Jame::, Weld on Johnson called t b e m. is a poet of po. ss ion, d:i.:::,trnst, an 1.:;cr end 1:rn tr cd . 11 sonnet- Ah ove all he We b a ve seen some ll atred before in Dla c 1.: poetr:· (DuBois, Gwendol:rn Bennett) bu t not q uite 1 i ke ive says 11 lt 8 00 :i..s par ex c ellence tho po,st of After ' '' 11 0 1V\·Torlr I. . - ·r.ri •re ...., ._, ' to , ur-, _..L ng, ' is not alw ays t 110 ' ~n.t c 1'.'. ~~ c 11 . . , nr~ u. i. n IIc ifo.;,r w1"1 0,n Wac;ncr l-1at0 . 11 11 Su c h feclin ,s is T>o ,.L ar~,..• t ~r ~ ~· • n Bu t i'IcKA.y e xe.n i ncs l·,nte ir tl: e 1--i ands of whitos--or as a prod~ct of ~estern sicknes s a nl decadenc e , v0 nted a 1hoit on t : e ::Jlac!'.".s . of the ear t h rr e nta'J. i s t Tl1 0 n oh :Llit~- of trrn Blac 1{ soul ( anc. t1 - 3 c ountr:n:lide) , d hd J. lu s l on':".1ent ( s Ge Du ~m.s) , 1, c c1 ic} mal~e 1:or etof or e unnoticed mod if i cations in �for i!e ol, 8or7c<.1 t}1at Luc:i.an B . Uatkins opened his rncc :,rido. ~-To,\.,r 1·'T.u<... ·~r o 11 ·. -1 i•· J. i t·t·, .I, But in no ot~cr quart e r, ~cfore or since ~ cKay, does a Black p ost perd.s t-- i nfus i n 6 blues and tra :.:;ic irony-•-wi tb t1-ie sonnet. Gwendolyn Drooler~ w-U. J. later inve nt l1c r ner:1ora ble 11 s onnet-ballad. 11 And Cn~.len's sonnets cortainl:r must 'Jo taken into account. :i:IcKay, however, endures with an ironic j_nconclusiveness that verges on the 11 dc:J;:)air ll critics see::n to se0 in Fenton Johnson. Por ~lcEa~r tlrn s onnc t is a for~ of t he rapy--allowing him to loose contro lled anccr. __,;:,,., is t~e anser of a nati v e Jamaican Ir; ( "home; 110:,.n) cau,:).: t up in t11e strait-jacket of wl~tte literary amenities. Ee Ha nts to be freed. poe try--principully t h e sonnet. seen in "The Nec;ro 's Trac;ed:;,r, and nThe Lynch in 0 • of Western poetry , 11 11 And freedo m comes t b rou 0 h This open-endedness can be 11 The I:Jcc;ro's Friend, 11 "In Bondage, As a correct a nd carefully nurtured darling tl10 sonnet l1ad been in the annals of English Contain:i.ng literature for centuries when i·IcKn:r ti.sed it. 14 lines (in various atanzaic patt erns), it is desi 5 ned to pose a probler~1 , squirm in it fo:-: n wl.1 ile, and close in a neat answer which begins with lino nine, or the sextet. Pres to! a olvins a problem in mathemati cs or calculus. :irace pro Jler1 , n b owevcr, cannot 11 is not qni te so easy. solve 11 a lynchi 11g . Just like "Solving II tho Hence HcKay But ho places it in the most awesome, 307 11 �gruesome contexts by equating t h e lynch ing to the crucifixion of Christ (see Cullen's The Black Christ and "Colors"), and failing to resolve the white-man's moral and religious cris i s. The blue-eyed women come to view tbe body, but show no sorrow And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Danced round the dreadful t h ing in fiendish glee. Clearly this is not how Petrarch, Sh akespeare., Spener, Milton., Wordsworth, Arnold or Santyana would have wanted the problem "solved." There was no answer--except for Blacks "fi ghting back" here and there--so McKay modified the concept of the sonnet in order to deal with a real "prob lem. 11 Most of the critics of Black literature and culture have discussed McKayfs work. His Selected Poems is available and he· is now being 11 represented even in white prestige" anthologies (Norto'n·; -Brooks- Lewis-Warren, The United States in Literature and others)~ most a mbitious s tudy of l'icKay to da t e is Poets). by The J"ean Wa gner _(Black Another recent study (which includes prose wr~ tings) I I i' is Arthur P. Davis's From the Dark Tower: 1900 to i 960 (1974). Afro-American Writers, Also see appendixes to most anthologies, biblio graphy section of this work., and especially the listings in Black Writers of America (Barksdale and Kinnamon). Unlike that of t h e 11 pure blooded" HcKay , .Jean Toomer's body r,ioused seven racial strains and he looked white. · Evidence , ·_ to support the fact that Toomer rejected his Black blood and "passed" cannot be found in bis major work--Cane (~923). I _; 300 �Neither is it i n "Th e Blue Meridian," written in 1936 and sadly overlooked, in which he tries to unite the disparate elements of the American personality into one person. Apparently unbe.ppy in childhood, Toomer never knew his father who abandoned the boy's mother shortly after he was born in Washington, D. C. Toomer's possible claim to name and money had been thwarted earlier when his mother, the daugh ter of P.B.S. Pinchback, an importa~t Louisiana Reconstruction politician, had to reduce her social status and re-locate in the upper-class Black area of Washington. robustness: gaiety." It was here that Toomer found spirit and "more emotion, more rhythm, more color, more After attending local public schools (including Dunbar High) he enrolled in one colle ge after another, never becoming a serious degree candidate. From this latter type of life, he went tbrou gb a series of jobs, finally gettine; into serious writing and putting poems and stories in several avant-garde little ma gazines. Toome r also formed close asso- ciations with Net·r York intellectuals: Hart Crane, Waldo Frank ( to whom he dedicated a section of Cane), Gor1rnm P. Muns.on, Alfred Stier;litz, Paul Rosenfeld, Kennetb Burke and others. Later, while working as superintendent (for four months) of a small Black school in 8parta, Geor gia, h e gained much of the material for the first and t h ird sections of Cane. After pub- lication of Cane, Toomer' s life returned to "psychological disarray" and he turned to other sources in search of a selfunifying methodology . Wi t b other intellectuals-associates, he 309 �delved into the philosoph ies of F. Mattl1ias Alexander, P.D. Ouspensky, and, most importantly, GoorGe J. Gurdjieff--whose disciple he later became. Gurdjieff, a Russian, assimilated aspects of Yoga, reli8ious mysticism and Freud, to produce what he called Unitism. won over converts. Toomer later expoused the theory and For a short while be also lived in a heterosexual experimental commune. married two white women. In quick succession Toomer After his second marriage in the thirties, he quipped: "I do not know wh ether colored blood flows through my veins. 11 Earlier, however, he bad noted in a biographical sketch accompanying work he submitted to The Liberator, t hat I have lived equall:y among the two race 3roups. Now white, now colored. From my own point of view I am naturally an American. I have strived for a spiritual fusion analagous to the fact of racial intermingling . Without denying a single element in me, with no desire to subdue one to the other, I have sought to let them live in harmony. Within the last two or three years, however, my growing need for artistic expression has pulled me deeper and deeper into the Negro group. And as powers of receptivity increased, I found myself loving it in a way that I could never love the other. Although James Weldon Johnson complained that Toomer refused 310 �(allegedly out of contempt for racial cate gorizing ) to be included in the second edition of The Book of American Negro Poetry, it was later brought out (conversation between Sterling Brown arrl Jean 1-'Jagner) t h at ill-feelings existed between the two men. At any rate, Toomer's poetry and prose appear in practically every subsequent anthology of Afro-American literature. In terms of influence, Toomer exerted more than any other renaissance fi gure on t h e Black intellectuals of the era. No other writer experimented wi tl1 literature or depicted Blacks quite the way he did. Mutual influence seems to have occured between h im and Hart Crane. And Robert Bone ( Negro Novel in America) places Cane on par with t h e writings of some of the best American contemporaries: Hemingway, Stein, Pound, Eliot. This is all surprising since Ca~~ sold less than 500 copies. As a work of art, however, it reflects Toomer's efforts to achieve unity of both self and purpose. Called variously a novel, a collection of s h ort stories/v i gnettes, a ' poetic drama, Cane defies labels. In my classrooms I often refer to it as a Blues-Epic--conceptually, similar to the great nationalistic sagas of the world: Beauwulf, Siegfried, The Song of Roland, . Chaka, a.nd others, only welded by Black spirituality and the rhythms of Afro-American ritual. Cane h as three basic movements-- Toomer had been interested in b oth music composition and painting--which involve (1) Geor gia and the .South, (2) Chicago, Washington., D.C. and the North, and (3) Georgia again where 311 �Toomer waxes autobiography. In the first part of Cane there are numerous pictures of women, many of them who, like will be ripened "too soon. 11 In the second section, Toomer views northern urban decadence and corruption and their influence on Blacks. In the third movement, a naive northern Black educator goes South (Georgia) to find his African roots. He rather clumsily passes t hrough a series of rites during which Toomer uses brilliant symbolism to heighten the man's fear and complex nature. Many of the stories are introduced by and interspersed with poetic sketches. The third, and final section, "Kabnis", is similar to a play. Karintha's skin "is like dusk on the ea.stern" horizon and immediately, at the opening of Can~, we find significant symbols in the words Hduskn and "ea.stern." Through out the book, Toomer essays the plight and joys of Blacks through tigth and sometimes enigmatic poetr:r. Word meanings are given double, triple, n.nd even more levels, as in the "Reapers" sharpening their scythes for far m chores but s.lso, perhaps, for a massacre. Black b eauty is someti mes surprising in the context of white barrenness and brutality: Flower.n TIITovember Cotton "Face" is an old, tired Black woman in Georgia. "Cotton Song" celebrates the worksonc, unity among field workers, and encodes revolutionary messaces: 11 v-le a.int a v -1ine t wait untll th Jud G;ment Day!" The "Beehive 11 is a rao tap!1or for t h e 2:bc tto, conpressed, cardoned off, i mpoveris 1 ' c d. The narrator wish es ' , e could rest 312 �"forever" in a flow er on 80!'1C farm (ac;ain rural v s cit:r life). I n t1:,o post r :r Too,·:c ::' 11r•i t::__r· about sun a nd eveninr, "songs," 11 Conversion 11 and "Portrait :tn Geor g ia," t he electricit~r of a woman's lips, needles. 11 Har vcs t Song," and t he cane scents and pine From tbe pen of t:10 poe t spill the liv es-- b roken, mended, some never 1x.l 0 ~n--of tbe severely damaged men and Homen who, "witb vesti c;es of pomp," carry t be ir Race memories of king and caravan, and go sing ing t h rough t b e "G0or g ia. Dust. n Ori esinal, awesome and sustained in craftsmanship , Cane as poetry is a classic of Afro-American literature. the book, "Son of the Son, n In t be most i mp ortant poem ln Toomer encases b oth 11 is superior techniques and the concept for Cane. T1'le son sin i:;s: Pour O pour t h at parting s oul in sonc; , because be knows the tradition is in tact. Just "pour II the song, be asks, And let t h e valley carry it a.lone; . And let the valley carry it along . The songs of "slav ery 11 will be transformed into brilliant dirges compositions and epics (like Cane). And Toomer's was a fitting observation in tbe years preceding t he b irth of big Black jazz bands (Basie, Ellincton) and followin g t h e b lues (Handy and others). The plaintive soul will soon be g one, but it will leave An everlastinc son, a sing inG tree •••• Likened by some to a series of artistic sketches, by others 313 ,. �to a symphonic composition, still by oth ers to t h e syncopation and vocal blendings of Afro-American folk mus i c, Cane--according to one critic--was at least two decades ah ead of the era in wh ich it was written. Less impressive as Black material, but brilliant as a general work of art, is 11 Th e Blue Meridian . 11 Heav ily influenced by the modernist school of poetry ( P ound, Crane, Eliot, etc.), "Heridian II was o verlooked for years and is finally anth ologized in Black Writers of America (Barksdale and ICi nnamon). Upwards of 700 lines, t h e poe m ma kes use of various r hyme schemes, 3tress formulas, linguistic and stylistic marriages. a lot to Walt vn.1itma.n in its swee p a.nd intent. 11 muted sh ades of Sand b ur g . Meridian, n It owes And there are s e ems to be Toomer's •'I! '\ ~;,Jt 'J!i' near-final effort to pur s uade t h e different elements of himseU' ;,r·. to nlive in harmony . tt T.S. Eliot b ad k nelled t h e doom. of Western civilization in 1922 (The Wasteland) and other poets had echoed him. Fenton Joh nson, of course, had preceded Elio with this proclamation. Toomer had intimated t h e •same thing in Cane (c.F. !!Nove mber r.otton Flower"). But it is in "Mer1d1 t11at he warns of t h e impending downfall of t lle West--noting tha\ ).'.· <.~ such fate might not be undeserved. Th e world is full of "cryinJJ ,1 men and hard women II and We're all ni ggers now-- get me? Black ni ggers, white ni ggers,--take y our choice. These omens of doom come in the first section of the poem. 314 �But the second section heralds t he co ming of t be new man (for Toomer, perhaps, an admixture of races and colors) wbo is spiritually and psychically elevated above race and other immaterial problems . Tb e new man is a "b lue" man, possibly a cross between a Black and a wh ite man, and even sexual crosses are suggested. For we k now all t b ese t h ings troubled Toomer. He was concerned as a teenaGer a ~out h is "nascent sexuality." And he declared t hat he was above b oth sex and race if they set up obstacles and defeat. It is a ch allenr e to t h e more curious student, however, to unravel the life and 1-rnrks of one of the most complex geniuses in American letters. i,.n1atever the outcome, Toomer' s is an achievement to be reckoned with . His work can be found in most antholoc ies of Afro-A merican literature. He also pub- lished Essentials-- 11defini tions and aph orisms n--in 1931. Toomer wrote more things but most are uncollected and remain at Fisk University. An unpublis h ed se gment of h is autob io graphy, Earth-Being , appeared in tbe January , 1971, is.sue of The Black Scb olar. tvl1ile Hae ner' s tr0at ment of ,'.f'..9.9mer does not equal his discussion of oth er poets of t h e renaissance, it is good. Brown, Redding , and numerous other critics discuss Toomer's work in various places. 11 Jean Toomer: Of special aid is John M. Reilly's An Annotated nl1ec klist of Criticis m, for American Literary Study, Vol. IV, No. I (1974). 11 Resources See also Toomer listinGs in ICinna.mon and Barksdale and my h iblior;rapl1y. Countee Cullen, anotb or brilliant-trag ic fi gure in Black 315 �poetry, spent most of his life tryinc to bridce the gap between a "Christian upbrinc;i n3; 11 and a npa c;an ur c;e. 11 How can the educated Afro-American, Cullen seems to ask, re main true to bis native instincts and fe elings wl1ile he WBars the mantle of European "Respectahilit::r"? This particular aspect of Cullen's life and work is often taken too li ::h tly by critics wbo view his highly stylized poetry as intellectual ( and he nce not .real) journeys into the aweso me world of death , reli c ion and color. Yet Cullen knew, as h e said it in 11 'J.1l~e Shroud of Color, being Black in wbi te America requires have. 11 11 11 that courage more than angels History, of course, sbows t b at so far Cullen's name has withstood heat fro m the furnace of others before and after. 11 Baptism" just like many And such fi gures as Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Van Vech ten and Eleanor Roosevelt, lauded bis passionately searchinG and skillful effort to aroid being devoured by the dragon of racism he tried to slay . However, Cullen did not consciously seek after t he unity so desperately thirsted after by Toomer. On the one hand, Toomer felt free to explore all facets of the religious and mystical world; on the other be was committed to an intellectual and spiritual search of his African origins. Cullen embraced Christianity and developed the first major Black tragedy fi gure by reincarnating Christ into a Black ma.n. The "pure" and nobel Black becomes the new "only bee;otten son" on a several-hundred march up Calvary. Here, of course, Cullen was close to McKay; but in sustaioing such efforts, in rr..aking them alle gorical, he surpassed McKay. Cullen's already complicated personal situation was • 316 �aggravated b y b is reluctance to deal truthfully with t h e details of his early life. It is still unclear as to wh ether h e was born in Baltimore, Naryland or Louis v ille, Kentucky, though he makes references to b oth ( !!Incident" and !!Th e Ballad of A Brown Girl!!); or i f h e was raised by h is moth er or h is grandmother (up until t h e ti me of b is adoption by t h e Rev. Frederick Asbury Cullen). Joh nson (T:Je Book of American Ne gro Poetry ) says Cullen was born in New York City (as do t h e editors of The Negro Ca.ravan)--probab l y b ecau s e t h is is wh at Cullen wanted readers to t h ink . Pos s ib l y , Wa gner not es, h e was an "illegiti- mate II ch ild a.nd, out of fear of e mb arrass ment, purposely confused the .faces. Th is myst ery , coupled with Cullen 1 s "different" sexual inclinations , h is desire to nssume t h e perso na of an English romantic poet, h aunt t b is precocious poet t hrough out his lifeti me. Cullen's i nitiation into poetics came, as with Dunbar and Ilue;h es, in h i gh sch ool where h e won poetr:r contests and published pieces inn student publ i cation wb icb h e h elped edit. By the time h e h ad finis h ed New York University (Ph i Beta Kappa.) he had won several awards ( includ ing t h e Witter B~rnner award for excellence) for his poetry and recei v ed a contract from Harper's and Broth ers for public a tio n of b is first book (Color, 1925). This mar ked t b e first ti me, since Dunb ar's deatb , that a major publish er h ad brou ght out t h e work of a Black poet. It also marked t b e first time in al most 20 years that such a. book b ad b een publ ish ed for a liv e Black poet. 317 The most skillful �Black user of English verse for ms , Cullen ac hieved almost instant success. Color sold ove r 2,000 copies during the first two years of pub lication. A.nd he recei ved bi s Tl.A. from He generally sided with McKay Howard durinc; tbe same period. in not breaking away from traditional Englisl1 poetry. expecially admired t he poetry of Keats and Shelley. He Johnson, noting that "he mic;ht b e called a :rounger brotb er of Housman," said some critics arc;ued t b at Cullen was not a.n Negro poet. 11 11 autb entic And Cullen, re minis cent of Toomer's position, straddled the fence on the questio n of inspiration and t hemes for Black poets. On one occasion he acknowledged his debt to the Black tradition; but on another, compla ined that the Black poet ouc;ht to be abl e to :rchant II poetry spiritual or blues appears. 11 11 i n whi ch no IIi s esthet ics were stated more concisely in 1927, h owever, in the form of a forward to Caroline Dus k ( 1!;27 ), an anth oloc-1 of A.fr o-A mer ican poetry wl1i ch be compiled. His conm1ent was startlinc, especially at t h e bei .::;h t of the Harlem Renaissance and com.inc, as it were, fro m a. New Negro: As heretical as it may sound, t here is t h e probability t b at Hecr o poets, dependent as t b ey Rre on the Engli s h lancuace, rnay b a.·. , e rr.ore to e;a in from t h e ricb backcround of Enclish and American poetry than from any nebulous atavistic y earninc s towards a.n African inheritance. Cons equently, Cull en caJ_letl Carolins Dusk e.n a nt11 olog:7 of 31 3 11 verse �by Negro poets rather tban an antboJ.osy of lrec;ro verse. 11 But Cullen could not ahra:rs subscribe to t hi s particular est11etic; 11 for much of h is own poetry can h e labeled towards a.n African inheritance. 11 ata,: istic yearnings Examination w:i.11 s h ow t11at such poetry is fo und i ~ t is enrly volu~ e (Color) in his later works: Girl; as well as Cop per Sun (1927), Il1c Ballad of the Brown a :.1 OJ.d Ballad ;'."{9to ld ( 1927), 1I1~ 1e :Gln ck C1, rist and Other Poems (1929), Tb0 1-Iedea and S or11e Po~ns (1935) a nd J-1is selected poems, On Thes e I Stand (1947). C<'- ~_c :·1 a.lso wrote b ooks for children (Th e Lost Zo o, 194 0; nnd Hy Lives and How I Lost Them, He translated Gree k literature (The Hedea), wrote 1942). numerous lyrics for mus ic and -i-r orked on a draraatic adaptation ( 11 S aint Louis Woman 11 ) of an Arna Bontemps novel: Sunday. God Sends In 1932, s ee kinG to re new h is siminish ing creative powers, h e published his only novel, One Way to Heaven. Most of Cullen's poetry represents the vnst influence of Christianity. He wrestles with tbe Lord or nsks God wby this event or that event occurs. Especially is this seen in his poetry of racial conflict wbere t he contradictions of white 11 Christianity are expo sed over and over. For a Lady I Know 11 11 depicts a white woman in h eaven who t h inks servants) will do her "celestial chores. Is w~rth Its Song" chides 11 1 ¼merican poets, black cherubs 11 ( or 11 Scottsboro, too, 11 outraged by the plights of Sacco and Vanzetti, for not defending Black boys kangaroo'd for 11 ra.pe 11 in an Alabama Court. says, is also "dev inely spun." 319 In 11 Theri cause, Cullen Colors 11 t h e 11 swart 11 (Le., �Black) man is lJ anged on a "newer Cal v a.r::r. n Cullen's loncest po0m and treat ment of t h is tl: e me is The Black Christ (puhlished in France). It deals alle c orically with a lynch ing . A Black man, Jim, attacks and kills a wb ite man wh o insults a. wb ite woman. Jim is lynch ed, as southern law requires. His state- ments leading up to t b e lynch ing , a nd t b e action of the poem, suggest the crucifixion. mysticism of a bad dream. Redding called the poem "The ch ildish 11 Indeed, despite t h e poem'.s evasive- ness and "mysticism,1: l y nch ing is much worse t b an a. "bad dream." Finally (thouc;h t h e t h e me continues in countless other poems), there is the famous ''Yet Do I Harvel. 11 Here Cullen applies the sonnet to the riddle of the Afro-American poet, concluding, after high praise of God, that: Yet do I marvel at t h is curious t h ine -To make a poet b lack and b id h im sing . Curious, indeed, was t h e Blac k poet--curious b oth for Cullen and the whites who lavish ed praise and Gifts upon t b ese Kew and Unusual Ne groes. was also "curious.'' And Cullen's fa me (recallinc. Dunb ar's) Here was a poet makin c; wa ves witb old, outdated forms of English verse. 11 fresh beauty. 11 Joh nson said h e gave them Tb is is true hut Cullen's wb ite audience seems to have gotten special pleasure out of b is a b ility to handle Black anc;er, Black e;rief and Black path os in such amusingly antiquated poetic cloth inc . Prevalent t h emes in Cullen's poetry, then, are race pride, endurance, lynch ings, cynicism and pessimism ("can death be worse?"), 320 �a primitive or romantic v iew of A:frica ("Heritage" and many others), religious and psycbolo gical conflict, love and death, spiritual freedom, personal or racial inferiority, doubt and fear, the tensions created by bein 0 Black among whites, and Christ as a symbol of conflict and contradiction. Cullen saw the plight of the Afro-Americans a.s true tra gedy in a Christian land. This comes t ll rouc;11 in many of bi s poems, but poignantly in "Heri tae;e 11 : Fatber, Son, and Holy-Ghost, So I make a.n idle hoo.st; Jesus of the twice-turned ch eek, Lamb of God, al t h ou gh I speak Wi t b my moutb t hus, in my he art Do I play a. double part. For the Black American, trapped in Christian attire but longing deep inside for wb at Zack Gilbert calls '1t 11nt all-Black Saturday night," it is inde ed a tragedy . Cullen tried a.11 of his life to reconcile a "Chri8tian 11 education with a. Toomer wanted to to find a 11 11 unite" h is several parts. 11 pago.n ur ge." And HcKay tried bome II in tbe desolate and some times contemptuous place Elijah Huh a rimad calls "the wD.derness of Horth America." McKay went all t he way to Europe and Horth Africa. made annual treks to France for several years. Cullen Black literature abounds with t h e tragedies incurred wh en Black intellectuals relinquish their 11 dance II for a "b ook. 11 Earlier in Heri tage 11 11 Cullen admits this deep need, felt b::- Blacks cau rrh t in white · 321 �worlds everywhere, to "Strip!" and 'Doff this new exhiberance. Come and do the Lover's dance! McKay's "lynchinc ' rer.m.ins unsolved 1-.,y t he sonnet and is unable to make bis "heart and head" know that Tbey and I a!'e civil ized despite the meters. 11 unre mi ttant be at II of b is impressive iambic tetr A classic state nent on the inner-workings of the o:f a Black genius wbo must ntwist and squirmn in an a.lien ' ~ 11 Heri tac;e II h as yet to b e seen on the many psycbolocical · ·~,., world. l' dimensions that it operates. This and related t h e mes also per vade other poems by "From t h e Dark Tower a is inspired by b is column of a similar name in Opportunit:r. 1 AlthouGl1 Black artists and thinkers "wer~ -~ not made eternall:r to weep," t h ey must eitl1er face destruction of their potential or wear the mask and "tend our agonizing seeds . " Cullen also writes about timid lo ve rs and Black pro- stitutes, about man:r, many ub rown tr c;il.. ls ( anoth er ..favorite theme) and the acb e of t h e human h eart. He writes in tbe shadow of Keats and Sbelley and pens epitaphs to them. His employment of traditional Enelish verse forms is not as :startling" as McKay's. But he does bring a Black force and intellectual veracity to these devices and techniques which had long housed rrw11 i te II hopes and feelings. He took the bes of Keats and Edna. St. Vincent l'Iilla.y and made it work in a 11 marked technical skill. 11 Sterling Brown identifies his · 322 ; 1 �aD "fluency and brilliant i magery. 11 But h e is likened by many, critics to the standard En 6 lish work of Braithwaite and Dunbar. Cullen consciously developed misery --apparently in ·an effort to llsuffer II like t h e romantics, so h e could know what real inner-strife was all a b out. He b ad not seen the underside of Black life in t h e way t h at lfoKay (Banjo, Banana Bottom), Hughes (The Weary Blues), Fenton Joh nson, and oth ers had come to know and understand it. into a pristine verse. He subdued h is anger and violence Most critlcd allude to the woman-like or "prissy II nature of Cullen's work. 11 e viewed 11 lif e t h rou c;b the eyes of a woman wh o is at once shrinking and b old, sweet and b itter. or 11 Redding complained t hat 11 In Cullen's 11 atav1stio" primitive 11 pieces one feels t h at h e is not really there himself--much like one feels in reading white poet Va.c}1el Lindsay's poems on Af'rica and t b e 11 Cone;o. " · But Cullen remains one of the brilliant meteorites of Blac k poetry. His passion has yet to be surpassed, e ven among conte mporary Afro-American. poets. Thou gh h e does not conv ince t h e reader t h at he would actually !Tstrip! 11 and do tbe !!Lov er's dance! 11 b e does distill an intellectual fury wh ich ch ronicles t h e death -during-life v ortex (Davis calls it "alion-and-exile ll) that so many Africans in America struggle a gainst. Wagner's Black Poets contains t h e most up to date and incisive critical assess ment of Cullen. See., also, critic ism by Redding , Brown., Johnson, Huggins (Harlem Renaissance), Bontemps (including Harlem Renaissance Remembered), t h e listings in t h e Cullen section of Black Writer• . 323 �::any of C11.llen 's unpublis h ed of America and n ~.: m-r:1 >i 1, lio:.:;rap1°:r. works are deposited in t~e library at Atlanta Universit7 . James Weldon ,To11nso:1 , 1-11-:i. on we 1 , ave cause to menti on a c ain, ranks today as o ne of "chc n ost distin c uis 1-:i.e d men of Black American letters. ~fo h a ·Je alreac.:'" no ted 1, is work wi.tl1 li 0 l~t operas, bis service as u United States consul in Latin Ar,1erica, t be years he spent as secretar:r ceneral of tho HAACP , 1-,is first v olume of poetry ( Fift:r Years and Otber Poe:ns) and tbe 1912 publication of bis novel, '.I'he Auto'!., ioc;rapl:i:r of an Ex-Colored 1".an . Autcbiograpby was rc-isc.:ued in 1927, tl,e earli e:ir pseudonym dropped, and carried Johnson 'n na me. Durin: tho twenties Johnson continued to co :.;1::-i :t no ~, is l:co n social o> sor vat:ton s of Black America with h is poetic develop ment a n d output. Of 1(.)..r of Ay•c·•-,-i noo TT::.,-.ro Poe•l-r~~ ...... ..:..J .l. ·- en t.4 ··L1 .. d3 V ..· Tne L,..., 0 .... t he ldc;h poi nt:c; of t 1.1 e renaissance. just the poets inclt1ded, t~10 (1 \ ,,_ Cl22 ,,. , His editorship 1_ O".l]) .... .,.s 0118 of ..,, _.1 .. vva. Importa n t for more tban ant 1-: olo 0 :r represe n ted t'.1 0 first sustained effort on tbc p art of a 3lack critic to identify 11 Ifogro 11 olo:.;1ents L : roo tr:" wrl tten s inc c Dnn 1 'nr. It ·was also t1rn first antholo ;:_;:r of Af'ro-A:·1e rica n po etr:t to '-,e pu 1·1 5.sbed On e can safely sa:r t'rnt a ~:' serio us =::tt1.d~~ of Blo.ck critic ism h as to 1Je.si ~1 wit~~ ,Tanes Uoldo n J ohn so n . IIis sn>titlo (uith a nd Essay on t he JTocro rs Crcnt i vo Gen in::;) su c;_:::;este c1 t}:rn h n gh the vari ous L 1flu e ,.1 ccs ot1 t 10 c po0t s, :rnted cFs ·ci n ctions ', etween differe n t ki n{Ll or dialects, Qnd c a ~e a ss es s ~ e : ts of t he �\\That the colored poet in tl1c Uni tod States needs to do is sometl~i n:~ like what S ync.; c did for t b e I1.,lsl1; ·r: o ncods to fi nd a for r:1 t;11 a.t will express t:1e racial sp:I.ri t l)y s:nu1·) 0ls i'ro::n wi t1~in rather t!1an h:r s:,~·:'-,o:..s fro 1:1 1,-dtbout, s n c~ 1 as V -ie ';ere tautilatio n of I~n:-_;l is'-:. s p c )_li nr._; n. n d p:ro rw:1 ci- e.tion. Eo : -wed s ,'.". fo r --1 t 1.-i at is :::'r"cor a n d lar c er than d:laloc t, b n t H\ 5.c:.'J :c-J:i.~.l st i J. :. '-:i o Y.d t :.:: o racia 1 fla vor; a f o~.~1·:; ox press :t n :3 t1..,e i iiia. :::;0 r :', the idion s, t ~ e ,e culinr tur n s of t b ou~,t , a nd tll e distincti,: e bur,1 or and pa.tl10s, too, of t > e t h e deepest n nd 11i ~;}1est emotio ns and o.sp5.rations, and alloH t h e uidest range of s t~1, jects nnd the widest scop e of treat ment. It was a g igantlc cl1allonc c. it? Did an~, :Slack poet rise to meet Has any succeeded? With bis brother, J. Ilosamond, Jobnson also co-edited The Book of American 1Jecro Spirituals (1925) and The Second Book of A ri'10r> :T. c a :1. ~:'o ::_;ro <"'! :'.) 5.r 1.~; " a ~_ : ( :.. '; 26). cal arranGements b:r J. nosamnod. Botl"1 v olu mes carried musi- Jo _inson himself tried to meet • 325 �the challenge with God's Trom\:lones: Seven lJe r,-ro Sermons in Verse (1927), a rendering of t h e works of t he "old time" Black preachers. His pamph let, Native African Races and Culture, was published in 1927. A study of Harl8 m, Black i:1anhattan, ca.me out in 1930. His autohiobrap'!.-: y, Alo ne T)1is Ua:r , a ppeared 5. n 1933. And a social/political commentar::,r, Negro Americans, What Now?, was published the same year. His selected poems (St. Peter Relates an Incident of the 2esurrection Day) came out in 1930. Johnson established hinwclf o.s prol:ific and exe mpl ary 1-:-ian, a co(111, ination of formidab le talents, by t he time b e was killed in an automobile accident in 1938. Aside from their literary and social value, the sermons in God •s Trombones l1a.ve , in the years since their publication, brought delight and instruction to many from t h e various stages from which they have been s taged or oth erwise dramatically presented. In my own classes we assi r;n a sermon per-student and, allowing days for researcb and preparation, stage t h e works for a lar ger campus or community audience. Just h ow much of his own ch allenge ( see ab ove ) was ntte mpted in God's Trombones is indicated by Johns on's Preface in which h e briefly gives the history of Black preachers and explains why he chose the trombone as the central s ymb ol in t he work: He (the preac~er) strode t he pulpit up and down in what was actually a very r hyt hmic dance, and he brought into play t he full go.mut of hi s wonderful voice, n v oic e--wh a.t sba.11 I sa::,r?--not of an organ or a trumpe t, but rather of a 326 �trombone, t h e instrument possessing ab ov e all others the power to express t h o wide and varied range of emotions encompassed b~r t h e human voice-and with greater a mplitude. He intoned, h e moaned, he pleaded--h e blared, h e crash ed, h e t h undered. I sat fascinated; and more, I was, perhaps a gainst my will, deeply moved; t h e e motional effect upon me was irresistible. This scene occured at a ch urch Joh nson attended in Kansas City. While t h e preach er was struttin g and deli verin.c; , Jolmson recalled that h e n jotted II 11 down note s for The Creation. n God's Trombones contains so v e L s ermon s a:1d one pr ayer -- "Listen, Lord. 11 Th e sermons, ea.ch taken fro m a t ext in t he Bib le, include "Th e Creation., 11 rrThe Prodi gal Son.," 11 Go Down Dea.tb --A Funeral Sermon," "Noah Built the Ark," nTbe Crucifixio n," nLet Hy People Go" and nThe Judgment Day. 11 Coming as it did at t he h i gh point of t h e Renaissance-1927--God' s Tromb ones was rath er odd in t h at a les,s t h an ostensibly reli giou s v ers e was b eing written by oth er poets. There were reli r;ious t hemes in much of t h e poetry --but none of the poets dipped into t h e same reservoir in t h e same manner as Johnson. Joh nson was, bowever., a ble to fuse some of the jazz a.nd blues patterns of t h e day into h is work--th ough it is not t h at noticeab l e . Th e s ermons a.re not in Black dialect since Joh nson said t h at t he Afro-Anerican poet must transcend that for m. Tb e lo.n t;ua.ge is generally t h at of a ny wh ite 327 �American or F.nglis bman. Wh at Jo11nson does is instill racinl feeling and dram:i.tic (eth nic) touches by allowing for spontaneity, bui l dinc; i n repetition, and e mployine; free verse forms. Mar garet Wal ker, La.nzs ton Huc;h es, and Sterling Brown would place all t b cse ite ms i n a more secular context--although Brown will interpolate b latantly r eli ;:i:ious expletives and exclamations into some of b is work. Tb e double ne gativ e, wb ich Johnson makes use of, is not a n exclusivel y Blac k product. But we do find him inters per s ing Black s ay ings, usa ces and other idiomatic spices into t he t ext of t he s ermons. It was t h e first time t hat a Black poe t b ad undertaken suc h a ta sk sol ely for literary r e asons . So t h i s alone ma ke s t h e work i mportant-- not to me ntion its antbr opoli c;ical a nd sociol oc; ica.l value. The over-riding achi ever.1ent of t h e se r mons i s t h e i r graph ic, full-blown 1 images and t h eir i nf erential Toomer and oth ers). ~ lacke ni ng " of God (see Cullen, Tb e analogy is more obviou s i n "Th e Creation" where God Like a ma mmy b ending over h er b aby, Kne e led dow n in t h e dust Toiling over a lump of clay Till ~e sh aped it in h is own i ma Be. It seems only natural t h at Job nso n would pay t h is tribute to the Black mother-- most Blac k poets writing since, say , 1880, had done so. And b e b ad earlier complaine d of Joh n Wesley Holloway rs "Black Mam.mies" in dialect, say ing : for better poetry t h an t h is. u uThe b lack mammy is material From Joh nson's 328 1 'tnilk-wh i te horse," �through pbrases l ike "O-- Hary 's Baby--, long plunge, 11 11 11 sinners in t h eir bead- and "Bl ack er t han a hundred midni gb ts, of t he dramatic Black sermon can b e seen. 11 the power There are t hreats and warnings, adminishments and pl eas, fire and brimstones, force and even worse fury. 11 Th e Prodigal Son II is warned: Youn 6 man-Young man-Your arm's too short to b ox with God. The incremental lines, t h e spontaneity , t b e witty turns of phrases, t he colorful and sone ti mes b ombastic langua ge--a.11 give God's Trombones it auth enticity . Joh nson does use s ymb ols t h at express fro m "with i n " rath er t b an fro m 11 with out" t h e Black experience. For as h e noted in h is Preface "The Ne gro today is, perhaps, the mo s t priest- governed group in t h e country. 11 The old time preach er knew t b e "secretsn of ancestral oral and gestural power, Joh ns on says; t h ey knew t h e nsecret of oratory, that at b ottom of it is a pro gress ion of r hyt 11mic words more than it is any t h ing else. n The preach ers h ad inh erited an "innate grandiloquenc e of t h eir old African ton cues." the pulpit, the minist e r f used t h ese 11 Once in ton gues" and Biblical language because this "gratified a h i gb ly developed sense of sound and rhythm in hi mself and bis h earers." These were the concepts and ideas under wh ich Joh nson la.b ored in God's Trombones. Doubtlessly, the volume is one of t he most precious in the annals of Afro-American writine; . 11 There is h ardly a person wh o cannot feel 11 t h ese sermons--and yet their power and t h eir intuitive 329 ' ; •.-:~',\: . 1",,..,~ �embracing of a world of emotions and temperaments make them lasting as classical literature of whatever definition and hue. Jobnson' s Saint Peter, followine; a. tradition of Dunbar's "The Haunted Oak, Lynching, 11 11 Hu g~es' 11 S o ng for A Dark Girl, 11 i'foKa;_r' s "The and Cull e n's The Black Cl:1 rist and "Scottsboro, Too, is Worth Its Son o.; 11 , 11 atte mpts to lace t he desecrat5_on of Black humanity within its proper contradictory Christian context. In each of the poe L,s, tbe lyncll ing is connected up to a higher order--usnally t h e Ch ristian God. imagination, 11 Usine; a 11 visionar~r type of Jol"ns on a p!:)l:i.es satire to the se c re g ation of Black and white mothers of Gold S tar-Hinning soldiers. Sending the parents to visit P ' e ir so ns' g ra v es, tb e War Department put Black mothers on a foul, crm~ed boat (reniniscent of a slave ship) and wbite raotl1ors on a moder n liner. Job nson, in tJ1e poems, imag:i.nes t11at tbe Unknm-m Soldier arrives in heaven and is discovered to he Black. Various patriotic and terriorist organizations (t he G.A.n., t h e D.A.R., the Le g ion, the Klan, and others) want b i u buried a g ain. For more cri t icis li1 of Jobn son sec Dav is, Ua[;ner, Arna Bontemps (includi ng note in American Ne c;ro Poetry), Brown, Redding, Hugg ins and otlrnrs. Lan.c;ston Hughes Has at the oppos1-te end of the poetic spectrum from Cullen 1vhen ~~e wrote i n 11 Hother to Son": Well, son I'll tell you: Life for me ain't b een n o crystal stair. For while both men acbieved reco g nition oJ,out the same t:tme, 330 �Hughes was a fol k trol, 1Jador Hi th 17is f i nc;cr on tbe "pnlse of Eo was also free fro Ll ~he rostrnints of conventional Englis~ verse t~at do ~ i n atc~ practicall? all of Cullen's poetry. a dozen hoo~s of roet r~, se ve ral volumes of prose and plays, and soon bj_s oHn dra1:m s st o.. ge d all o·\ •cr the country, b:r trie time of ~18 d e at½. Of t',e q'..1c.rtct of f5.r0·c -li 11 c ~-T arlern Rennis- wbosc maternal .:.;r:incLno'chcr ' - '.J.d 1"co:~ _.:::.rr:i_ecl tc one of tl-,e Canary Io lands, t1, e ;,_zor c s a nC t1, e :fost Coast of Africa. 22nd bj_rtl1c. ay ttn r1 11G:1t Re- to rarls , a.::;ai n wor1dn ::_: odd johs, on 331 �to Italy and Genoa , and af tei-• a nu mb 0r of v aried experienc e s ( s ee The B5. 0 S e a : and I Wond e r as I Ha nd e r), ret n1" ned to. Amer i c a • . Ile then spent ti me in Washine ton, D.C., wh ere h is mother had moved, workinc i n t h e office of Dr. Ca rt er G. Woodso n , editor of the Journal of Ne gro History and later, as a b usboy (see "!?rass Spitt o o i12 " ) o.t t 1• ·:: rr~u·c1man Pa r ~: !' ot e l . At the latter place, h e had a c h anc e to s h ow some of l1is poe ms to Vachel Lindsay--thus launchi ng Hu 6b es "career II t b rou gh t h e newspapers. His v olurr.cs of p oe try include T11e 1 fo ar:r Blues (l ':12 6), l" :t ne Clot~cs Ne gro Moth er and Oth er Dramatic Re citations (1 931), Scottsboro Limited (1932), The Dream Keeper a nd Oth er P oems (1932), Shakeape in Harlem (1942), Freedom' s Plow (a long poe m, 1943), Jim Crowt ~ Last Stand (1943), Fields of Wo nder (191~7), One-Way Tic ket (1949) Hontag e of a Dream Def e rred ( 1 951), As k Your Homa: for Jazz (1961) and The Panth er and t h e La.s h : Times (1967). 12 Hoods Poe ms of Our Fu .;1.1es r,'2-so 1·r rot0 s;·_1ort sto 1 ies ancJ. n ov el s 1 ( in c ludin g collec t ed stories fro ~ t t e Jesse 3 . S i mpl e series Hl1ich h e ori gi nat e d ). Pro s e uorks a r e Not l H t1, out Laur-11t e r (1930) The Ways of Wh i te Folks (1934 ), S i mple S pe a k s His Mind (1950 ), Lau gh i ng to Keep fro m Cryi r1,z (:..952), S i mple Takes A Wife (1953), Si mple S ta kes a Clai n (1957 ), Ta mb ourine s to Gl ory (1 95 e ), S ometh i ng l n Common (1963) a nd S i mple 1 s Uncle Sam (1965). Play s by La n gs to n Eu c;;·: c:z. was pub 1 :ts~, cd in 1963. Fi ve Th e poet al s o e ith er wrot e ( or co lla~or ated with oth ers ; usu a l l y Bonte mps) many b ooks for you n 6 r eade rs a s well a s wor ks of g eneral and zpocific· inter es t o n Blac k c ult u re . 332 �In his early years, Hu~h es was i ~fluenced by Walt ~fuitman and Dunbar. In h :i. ~11 scbool, a teach er introduced 11im to the poetr:r of An1y Lm-rcll, Lindsa:r, :rasters and Se.ndbur c; . He was especially indebted to Sand1YL1rG, of wT, orn h e would speak, in The Big Sea, as 1:5_ ::; :rguldinc; star. 11 Fenton ,Johns o n bad been the only poet up until Hughes to sustaln suc h an ener g etic poetry of Blacl:: fol k life. Hu g11es i mprov ed on w11at Johnson b e g an, addinc; fros;1 portraits--t110u.::;:1 n ot the ridicule sometimes a ppearinc in Du:10ar--and actually using music to inspire bls wri ti nc; or accompan:r h is live re8.tli ncs. with Charlie ltlngus , a mon ~ other jezz Greats. He r,iade recordings And he is g iven credit for ori ginating t~e practice of readinG poetry to jazz. Interestin c;ly enou gh , t l1 is i n teri,reavin:: _; of mus:i. c and poetry (discussed in Chapter IV) be co me s a ve rtual b acW1one of Black architectonics. Baldwin, for example, speaks of listening repeatedly to t lle records of B0ssj_e Snitb to cain rhyt11m in bis prose. Certainl:.,. t~·i e sar;1e fusio n of st~rle a nd spirit can be found in Elliso n , 1frj_c;'1t, Tolson) B:iraka and Croucb . Novelist - poet Greenlee, quot ed earlier, noted in a h io c;raphical note to bis Blues for an Afri can Princess, F iat Ny chief literary influences are Ch arlie Parker, Lester Younc , Ililes Davis and Billie Il oliday . As a writer, I cons :i .dor m:rself a ja.zz musi cian whose instrument is a typewriter. Hichael S . Harper , a Black poet ·wh o ca '.i1o to mat nration in t 11e , sixties, also attri:)Utes ::1u cb of C: lS style and poetic philoso- . pby to jazz musicians w!·rn belped hi:.n u nderstand pain and make 333 �it "archetypal. rart of Hn :::;l1es 's L·,1pact on t1°is area of Black Tl poetry is documented~~ Ba nard Dell in The Folk Roots of Conter.1porar:r Afro-A merj_ can Poetr:r. Das ical 1:~ Hug1!es' s poetry falls into three stylistic cate g ories: dialect (pri marily of an urban sort), "t~:.nes and traditional-free verse. His use of dialect is seen in practica.11:: e•1er:r ' , ook 1rn 1wr1 lisl, ed. His blues and free-verso forms arc cspeciall~ evident in The Weary Blues. One of b is most fm1ons free-verse poe ms is T1T11e ITec;ro Speaks of Rivers, ir written ri c;h t after ;~e finis}1ed b igh scbool and publisbed in T1~e Criois j_n l<J21. T1,;_s for ;;1 , accordinc to J. Saunders Redd:~;1c, :Ls mu c'.J :·,wI'e eff e ctive a v e 1·dcle for !.:rug:1es than dialect or blues . :rn c:;'-ieri co me:J t 1, ro1..1..=1-, , in tbc "purer verse for ;-1s . 11 In 11 Reddlnc feels, Ri vers 11 :1:ncl,es reacb es into tbe deep deep well of Black ', istor:r and strt' cc;le , unitinc in spirit tbe global Africe.n: I' ve :rno1-1n ri vcrs : The use of worci.s :i::e ns on~. 11 ant: art 0 , crs ,i __ p', ic 1·• rnn li 1rn spines thronGb Black folkJ.orc anf J_itcrntnrc, n-:'..J.ows TT11:::;·~es to tonch · �In "vci ns, !I 11 r1CC '• ,._,., L"~ , :J TTfiQT -T • •• . ' T: !: Q" t.A.,.,,1,..,.r ,.__, Llt.. ,_, , IT ll,:, l) Cle ,_., t!I •,;.l ._ - l...i ,, .) (1 V. l. •l loging of actual p lace-names important to Blac1rn, strength and loncc v it:- :ls put :i.nto irPoe ;:.1s !I 11 t1.1e Catal 1e establishes T'··o He c ro, 11 and numerous otbors. Et1[):1 os 's dia:1..oct and ,Jlt1.es-orie n ted poe n s ·Here not "sweet" to tbe cars of some ;-!arlc;::;. Blacl: iDt0llectualc of the tuenties_. '•, Just as amny of ti-:0:1. ,-:i ad son.:;,1t to censure Ct~J.J.e ,1 for n ot writing more blatantl::r n'Jol,t nlac 1 : strti:_;c;lo (5.n Black :i.cHoms), the::r cri ticizod Hng!~es for deo.l:i_ n.; 1ri t 11 t},e "lower s tra tD. 11 or under- of Black life were hecinninc to co;ne to t1--ie fore in the works of Black::; (licKa:.· ) and 1-1'.~itc ( 1!ar, vec 1·ten) 1-- :rriters. And Hug1 1es joined tbis growt ns te:-!c.onc:r in spoa\::ln.s frankly a h out "Suicide, "Hard Dadd:r, 11 n~u'J::r Brm-rn, ir and more s~, c 1 1 experiences or svb j ects. Tho blues form ca11D for t},rcc-1.ined stanzas: the , seco i.'i d line repeats t11e first, and t}rn t' ird end-line r11:rmes 11itb the two 0 pro cedinc; ones. FuGt os 1-rorked t 1-iis mecHun for much of what it ua~ worth durinc h is life time. These vari ous forms also helped establish Hu~1es's tte mes ~nd subjects. traged~, vi ble nce or co ~passio n . Lin5uistic freedom I n many of h is poems, Hughes is able to develop a d5.o.:.o::; 1)etwecn t~.~o Black t1:1derdo c ancl tbe wbi te ruler. 11 Tbis occurc :ln 11 Brass 3pi ttoonc n ·wbere tbe busb o~r 335 �interlace:: a portro.:r_t of u. co :m~10n Blac:{ Horl:e r w:i. t 1 , dazzlj_n c: r1Jyt'h r;13 of c1·1 u rc 1: , H1 "' 5- te :;1c~ ' 3 orders, nlnc 1: part:r and n i ::;1.~t life and t h e s b i ri y sr,1.ttoons Blacks must keep polis h ed. see it tech nica11:r, t 1 1ot\~;,,., no t racj_nll~ 0 i. n , 11 He ..Tazzonia" i~ the call-a~1d-rc sr on n e pat t e r n conpl e6. ,75_t 1, car ef nll~r rearrang ed chordal structures: 011, s i l v er tre e ! rn1, s~ininc rivers of t ~e so u l! T11ree stanzas lat e r, t 1-1 e Ob ::1 1.·fn:tn ~ o a ;,10 i d ea "p pc ars i n tl·lis for m: r:i. vcrs of ti..,e s onl! And fi vc stanzas lat or, it a pp enrs tl, ns 1:,.: This b rilliant use of t 11 csa.:;1e L1trlcc.te p a tt e r n of dialo c· a.nd call-and-response co:1t:t nno s 5_n 11 ::nJ. a t t o. 11 T,.,., e 11 Bastard b o:"" ls rejected first b :- t1,e 1:b ite fat :1er n nd later ' J:r t ?-le w1.1 ite broth er, ')Otb rorrcsenti 11;_: ( t l:: ro uc;l-\ t11e inter jectipn of dtalo g ) different types a nd _::;enornt5.ons of ~-J})tte me n --o ne o}:, ject:tnc to t b e existei1ce of an 11 :i_2-l e~ it:i.mato 11 so:-1 .9. i1c1 t h e other (tbe farmer's off-spri nc;) r ef'n3i n:3 to ex t e nd a ~-1and of h rot 11erl:r concern. Hugh en tlrn mos, H~1:tc11 re ,;:a :i.n o<l wit½ 1-1hl t 1'1 rou~):: most of 11 is life are: ro.c ism, prote:n t, rac 5-a1 u n i t 2'", i-·nc c pr ide ( t l10u c1, 11e did not indul .::;c t b e pa e an Africa:1 fa :] tas-_- as muc1' as Cullen or EcKay), Black ·wo man (t11e :tr > ea.ut:r anc::. t 11eir stro nctl ~s), jazz a:1d b lues and reJ_j_ c :i.ons r.1t, s :l c, v :i_ol e nc e a c ninst T3 lacks and lnte c nation. 336 �Hughes, especially , Has t 110 spolrnsr,10.n of t11e e v cr~rday Black man. And b e oft e n relis 1 ~cd t h e coJ'.mo n profunc it:r of Blacks at dance, play, wors h ip or wor:{. J. Mord Allen f s 11 L 1 n}Te c;ro Da ncers,'! h e recalls '.:1~1e Sqnoa ':: of the Fi c:dle Tr a nu James Edwin Campb ell's TrHob i le :S u e k. 11 Allen b i n t s t b a t ·wb j_ tes cannot dance. And Campbell reproduces in poe tr:r the r 11:;th ms of contemporary dance knoun as t 1 e 11 1..,uc k . Hu [.f.1 es s b owi ng off Black i mprovi- n sation, claims t ~ at l,o a nd , . L~lS Two mo ' -:-ra:~s t o do d e C> o.r les to n ! --also a popular c ont omr,o r ar:r d ance. and 11 Eve n if w,, ites 11 lau c;11 11 prn:;:r 11 Blacks c2. n ta l:e r.: a tj_sf n c t :i.o n in tl,e k nowled c e t~1at the~r can top thei::: own re ser v oir of spo ntanei t:r a nd cren.ti v i ty when tho:~ Hant to siclc-st ep or a n n o:r t ·h e me c11a ,1 :1.cal wh ite 11 nigbt II and afrai d . 1:1:rn r e i s c:rn ic is m a nc. sai-·cas :i1 and tra ,::;edy in this poot iho o1Jsor v oc: 1-Jl s p e o pl e t :". ron 01· a deep ancl creative affectio n . Fuc: :os 1 s perso nal lif e , of cours e , wa.s }n st a.s fasci- ~r8.nts, l:i n-c was ofte n :L 1troc:u c e c?.. to c. 1.1c.:T.cnces as "tbe poet Laureate of IIarlc u . 11 I n )-, 5.s a u tob io :::;r o. p 115-es (Tl~ e Ri g Sea and ranld n3 1-rr itor s a.nr'l 5.n tc 1 l s. c t1'ul s of ' - ~s 11 __,_., '7 I a.o.~- ,.__n t r c mal n ecl :i.n �- ' C : .(:(; : t ,.. r-- -1- .:.. ' t.A L• _._, _,.... l• , "T, _C :::0:1.rce of ,, is i:.-rords. �anthologies: An African Treasury: Articles, Essays, Stories, Poems By Black Africans (1060) ; Poems from Black Africa (1963); New Negro Poets: U.S. A. (1964); and Voi ces: Poetry (Ne gro poets isstlo, winter, 1950). 339 (a) A Quarterly of �::rnems t o :)o a•J out a flDr0a:,1 Deferred. in t h at po.rtic uJ. a r ~'10C ti1 11 '::'rn dream, e.:a i n , l i ke ~-!'-ere i.., e asked , 1-.r ftho t~t nns·weri nc , th e ques tio n: 1'D.1 a t 1w.ppens to a dreRm def erred ? lrnr .f arnous pl a::,,r, 7-Iuc,~os also d ispJ_a~rs · ·is n as ter:· ov er tec11 - Or does it explode ? And l-:'. c liv ed t o s o c t 1.1 e a nd oth er places. exp1.os:i.on 5-n ~To.tts , 1';eH8.rk , De t roi t ::-ru cl ic s ' :~ Nri ti nc;s are anth oloc i er.: of Afro - Aw::ri c an l i t orat nr e . j_ n a 'J.1 2 0th c ent ur :r Detailed cri tical s tudics of l'lis wor\ : a ppe a r in Ha ener ' s Blac k P oe ts a nd Da vis's From t he Dar k TuHer . rrc :'.s aJ s o assessed in 1rnrks 1-:'y Br ow n, Kerlin, RodcUn~ , Jolmson a t:,d nm;1or ous o t 1.1 er s tudie s and com- was p"uh lis I-w d i n 11; 6 7 . Oth er i mportant source ite ms . on Hughes are Francois Dodat' s Langston Hugh es (Paris, 1964 ), Raymond Quinot's Langston Hugh es (Brussels, 196!+), Milton Meltzer's Langston Hughes: Hughes: A Bio graphy (1 968 ), Elizabe t h P. Meyers' Langston Poet of His Peopl e (1970 ) and Charle mae Rollins' Troubador: Langston Hugh es (1970). B~~£~ Of t be pleth ora of material steadily pourin g out of Hugh es, a most valuable book is Langston Hughes: Blac k Genius: Therman B. O'Dani el. A Cr itical Eva l uatio n (1 971), edited by O'Daniel includ e s a selected classified bibliography detailing Hughes's len gt hy career as writer in all genres, anthologist and critic. ,-: ,, t '', Hugh es inspired generations of ...,_, . Black Africans and Americans and also edited the followin g --;, - 0 ,j 5 I �C. Minor or Second Echelon Poets of the Renaissance Dozens -of poets helpe d to make up the varie gated atmosphere of the New Negro Eovement. And just as the New Black Poetry of the 1960•s cannot he characterized in terms of four or five individuals, so _the Renai s sance cannot b e understood unless the general poetry s cene is exami ned. Man:l of the so-cal led minor or second echelon po e t s writin g durin r; t h e peak of tr:ie Renaissance had already estab lished reputations b efore 1923. Principal amon g these were Arna Bontemp s (19 02-1973), Angelina Grimke, Gwendolyn Bennett (1902- ), Anne Spencer, Clarissa Scott Delaney (1901-1927), Frank Horne (1 899- ), Geor gia Dougla s Joh nson, Geor ge Leona.rd Allen (1905-1935), Donald Jeffrey Hay es (1904- ), Jdnathan Henderson Brooks (1904-1945), Helene Johnson (19 07- ), Waring Cuney (1906- ), Lewis Alexander (1900-1945), and Lucy Ariel Williams Holloway {1905- ). Other poets, to be mentioned at the end of this unit, can be dispersed rather widely alon g a spectrum of relative si gnificance. Many of tbem won prizes and places for t ,heir poems among the pages of Tbe Crisis and Opportunity and then disappeared from t he s c e ne . Others me t unt i mel~ dc aths --~fu il e yet others ch ose differen t c areers or le a ped i nto t :10 fre e d om fi gh t. Cullen's Caroling Dusk (1 92 7) co nta i ns t h e best re prese nt ation of AfroAmerican poetr~,. wri t t e n 1-:i etween 1910 a nd 1925 . Joh nson's The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922) pre sents poets between Dunbar and t h e time of its l as t edi t ion (1931). Ha_jor and minor poets are also to b e found i n Kerl in's Ne gro Poets and Their Poems (1923, 1935). �Hughes and Bontemps made many of thes e lyricists availabl e to u s in The Poetry of the 1-!egro ( 1949 , 19 70 ). At least hl3.lf a. dozen of the les ser know n poe ts are included in Alain Locke's The New Negro (1 925 ). Rand all (The Black Poets, 1971) displays work by Horne and Bont emps; b ut only Bont emps is included in Randall ' s Black Poetry (1969). He nd ers on does not list one of these transitional figures in Understanding the New Black Poetry (1973). And only Cuney and Bont e mps are included in Rosey Pool' s Beyond the Blues (19 62). TTere, we are simply randomly sampling t he anthologies for co ntent. detailed listin1::;s. See the hih liograph y for more The 1iest co nt emp orary anthology of 20th Century Black poetry is Ar no l d Adoff 's The Poetry of Black America , which list s mor e t han 14 0 poets and practically all of the minor one s of tbe renaissance, although the omission of Cuney and Edward Silvera hangs li ke a pall ove r the hook. Unfortunately, no Black a ntholo ey of the magnitude of the Norton series has appeared . The Necr o Cara ,ran (Sterli ng Brown, et al), a comprehensive anth olog~ puhl i shed i n 1941 and re~issucd (unrevised} in 1970, contains nearly a do zen of the mi nor v oices. In "Frank Horne and th e Second Eche lo n Poets of the Har leLl Rena is s ance" (The Harlem Re naissanc e ~emem1., ered, Bontemps, ed., 1972), Ronald Primeau launche s an i mpressi ve and i ~p ortant discussion of these lesser known f i gPrcs . W11i le 1fa 6 ne r (Black Poets of th,e United States , 1973) makes a partial effort to dis cu ss these poets, he seems generally to di s mi ss them a s clic k i s1J seekers after an African pas t. So at this wri ti ng , Sterling Brown 's "Contemporary ,. �Negro Poetr~ (:~14-1 936)," in h i s TTc;ro Poetry and Drama (1937), remain s tl-1e 11es.t critical ovcrvic,,r of t'l--icse poets . Bonto rrps 5~ OD~ of thr ee i mportant renaissance fi gures (alone; Hlth I-In c;h cs and Br own ) t o snrvtvc 1, od11:r and craativel:r up until the l !) h0 ' s . Hac~1er c all:: T? ontemp s 11 onc of t b e most brillia nt min or roots of th s TTar ~_c u Rl nc issa nc e II and Brown also ha s 11i g:1 praL::e of 'Jis poctr:- and fictio : -1 . Arthur P. Davis (From the Dark Tower) sees an "a.lien-and-exile" theme continuine; from the major trunk of renaissance poetry into the work of Bontemps. With the notable exception of Geor e ia Douglas Johnson, the important minor renaissanc e fi e urcs did not puhlish books of poetry until the 1960's. This fact alone tells us much about Bontemps' seeming poe tic obscurity hetw c on 1930 and 1960. But more important, for th e record, is the fact t h at Bontemps' efforts were direc.t ed toward fiction, drama, cl1ildren' s li ternture, history, chroniclinG the developmen t of other Black poets and ground-br e aking lihrary work. Born in Alexandria, Louisiana, Bontemps family move d to California when he was still a child. He attended Pacific Union Colle ge and the University of Chicago. His dive!'s e Hriting output, almost as prodi g ious as Hughes', includes numerous books, pamphlets and articles. His novels are God Sends Sunday (1931; dramatized as St. Louis Homan, 1946), Black Thunder (1936, about t h e Nat Turner-led revolt) and Drum·s at Dusk (1939). Bontemps also co-edited with Langston Hughes the very influential anthology The Poetry of tbe Negro (1949, 1970), and he brought out American Negro Poetry in 1963. 342 Other anthologies • I �are Golden Slippers: An Anth olo gy of Tiecro Poetry for Young ---=-------"'-- - - - ~ - - - - ~ Readers (1941), Th e I3 ook of Hec;ro Folklore (1 95f., with Hn gh es), Great Slave Narratives (1969 ), Eold Fa st to Dreams: Po~ms Old and New (1969) a nd Tbe Harlem Renaissance Rer.1em1; cred (19 72, a collection of artic les ). Additionally Bontemps publ i shed more than 20 odd works of h i bl io c raphy (usu a lly on Black heroes), juvenilia, cult ur e and his tor~. He sor¥ed as university li~rarian at Fis k for more t b a n 20 :rears and was a mem1) er of t h e faculties of t he Uni ve rsity of Illi nois a nd Yalc --whe re be was i ~ ch arg e of Afro-America n S t udios at t he ti me of h is death. 1924 and 1931 I3onto rup □ ' Between poems were r1~Jl is bed widely in v arious magazines and per i od ical s at1e1 ~e Cri s is a nd Oppo rtiini t :r . :10 Hon 1.-:ioe try pr:i.zes from b oth HLJ o nly pub lis ~1cd vol ume of poetry , Personals, did not co:,10 01:t until 1.')6~. (from t~1e Englis11 rnan Paul Bre1~1an). Perso n al s a s an idea-position suras up mu ch of Bontemps' poctr:r • . F or throuc;hout t1-:i o book th,:_,ro is the nse of A comf orta1, lencss also att ends P o ::i ten:p s' poet1,.,:·-- ·1cy':; a s nrn:~ co r,ifort , , u t a co:11.fort of 1 ye o.r n:i.nc; for L 1stant rcc o:_> l:i.t:i.o n or t 1, 0 frc:1z~.- tl-w. t .) •I!. nr •·1"' 11 ) C,J,, '-' U , t ' ·· c' Bethe s da 11 ) , t '-1 c . .; ' .L·" -.l ~. . C'"' "'l L 1 J.~ ;-<, ou t 1.., (._.J. ( 11 pr,c-• t I. l 1~1o ,.J (llrr,i.,,,., .J or . Count ee Culle n 1 s nncl Frank I'orne ' s . ',ro~•"'1 11 I 11 '-.~ ~c,'--iirt11! ,.. .,.i. l..,.:iJ. ~-,. V • -. C.A [ tl:;e anti- 111\Toc.J...U.,,.,rl"' ..._ l, .L" - V at 8 01-,tl-:: l")r~ ::ans io n 11 ) , a ~-,e d ef:ta n co a nd . 343 �s tr c ngt~7 tradition of B~.ack lahor and concludes that tho laborers' children "food on bitter fruit. 11 Billie Holiday would later witness a hanging in the S out11 and wrlte "Strange Fruit. 11 And we recall that since James Wb itfield, Black po e ts have pointed to the contradictions in American Christianity and tr,e harren versus bearing theme. Bontemps also followed the renaissance pattern of romanticizing a pagnn-likc Afro-American or African. With the taste · of slavery and the dialect tradition still bitter on their tongues, these poets leaped backwards over slaver:r to another place and another clime. 11 Bontemps does just this in The Return" ~ 1ich closely resembles Cullen's "Heritage" and some of the atavistic pieces of Langston Hughes and Claude I-IcKa.y. 11 of "remembered rain, "dance of rain, n II "the .friendly ch ost, 11 jungle sky, 11 Bontemps speaks "lost nights, "muffled drums, 11 Let us go back into the dusk again, 11 and then suggests: • 1 • • Dusk, ebony, jet, nir,bt, evenings, purple, blue, raven and other such synonyms for Blacks are frequentl:r employed to great eff'ect and power by Afro-American poets. Likewise, symbols or images of' invisibility and blindness are also prevalent in Black writing. Bontemps employs and implies such states in several poems where he achieves a surreal quality--a dream-like longing for another time and another place (a1::s ain, a pattern in the poetry of the period). If you "Close Your Eyes," Bontemps says, you can go 344 \ ,,, ., . I • \ ' ' �back to what you were, and maybe the sonc, as with Toomer, will 11 in time return to thee. 11 Closing the eyes will also allow one to "walk bravely enough. fl _A.way from the daily limelight and without the constant pressure (c.f., Cullen) to succeed and hold up the light of the race, Bontemps developed strong statements using convention poetic patterns with occasi6nal free-verse experimentation. Personal and powerful, Bontemps' poetry looks ahead to a similar stamina (this ti me in a new dialect) exclaimed by Sterlinc; Brown in Southepn Road. For even though Bontemps tells us in "Golgotha is A Mountain 11 , that One day I will crumble we know that the dust will fossilize and "make a mountain": I think it will be Golgotha. There has been very little critical assessment of Bontemps' poetry. But brief reactions to his work can be found in The·_ Harlem Renaissance Remembered ('which b e edited), Sterling Brown's study, Barksdale a.nd Ka.nnamon's anthology, Robert Kerlin's critical-anthology, Arthur P. Davis's From the Dark Tower, and The Ne gro Caravan. For a near complete listinc of Bontemps' published works see Black Horld, XX (September 1971), 78-79. Alon~ with Angelina Grim.lee, Lewis Alexander, Anne Spencer, Arna Bontemps, Geor gia Douglas Joh nso n, and Helene .Jobnson, GwendoJ:~,rn Bennett helped to .fill out t 11 e list of lesser known renaissance poets wh o appeared in _'!'_Ee New Ne gro (see 1968 edition with a preface b y Rob ert Hayden). Unfortunatel~r, bowever, Miss Bennett's best foot was not put forward in the "Song" which �Ala.in Locke accepted for pub lication i n t h e a.1.) ove nan,ed antholo gy. 11 S onr, 11 is not rcpresentati ve of :I-Iiss Bennett's generally hi gh craftmansh ip; it is flawed by imb alance e.nd an attempt to say many things in one poem. poetry of the period, 11 Characteristic of t~e Sonc " reaches back to 11 for gotten banjo songs II and Clinkine chains and minstrelsy but Miss Bennett's interpolation of dialect lines does not come of'f with the ease and power of Sterlin.c Brown's similar efforts. On the other hand, h er s h arp crisp ana precise i ma gery employed in poems which appeared in ma gazines and oth er a.nth olo c;ies show her as a poet witb many gifts and resources. Gwendolyn Be nnett was b orn in Giddine s, Texas, to professional parents. After graduation fro m t h e Girls' Hi gh School in Brooklyn, New York, s h e attended Teach ers Colle ge, ·columbia University, for two :rears and studied i n tlie Fine Arts Depa.rtment--tbereafter estab lish ing a dual career as poet and artist. She later attended Pratt Institute, tan gh t in the rine Arts Department at Howard Uni versity, and t h en recei ved t h e Thousand Dollar Foreign Sch olarsh ip of t h e Delta Sigma Th eta Sorority, which enabled ber to go to Europe w11ere she studied for a. year f , f in Paris at the Academi c Julian and t h e Ecole Panth eon. She returned to New York at t h e bei c;bt of t h e renaissance and for a while was a member of t h e editorial staff of Opportunity where several of her poems appeared . In reading her finest poems, one recalls depth of Black wot;mnlJ ood revealed in t h e poetry of . - l 346 ~ . ;· •· �Frances Harper, Geor gia Joh nson and Angelina Gri mke. "To A Dark Girl" is a meditation on the sisterh ood w11 ich retains aspects of "old for gotten queens. 11 We recall the word "for- gotten" from "Song "; but it ab ounds i n t h e poetr•y of this period. Miss Bennett's "brown girl" ( c. f., Cullen!) is "sorrow's maten but if she forgets her slave background she can still "laugh at Fate!" The yearning , t h e pleading , the thirsting for another time and anoth er place--for natural Africa--recurs t hrouchout these poems and poets. distills "dista nt laugh ter II and huming melodies." 11 Miss Bennett's S onnet--2 11 11 "Nocturne" recalls "Ne groes · Heritar;e 11 is almost ideri;.. tical, in t h eme and tone, to Countee Cullen's poem of t h e same name. Just as Cullen laments t h e d isparity b etween his "heart and head, 11 this poet sees t h e same dua.li ty in her "sad people's soul" Hidden by a minstrel-smile. Finally, "Hatred II is s h arp and stingine; Like a dart of singing steel and we are reminded of t h e poems of t h e same t h eme: DuBois' "The Riddle of t h e Sph inx," and McKay 's "To t h e White Fiends" and "The "White House. 11 For Clarissa Scott Delaney, "Joy n seems to contain the . emotional intensity t h at "Hatred II b olds for Gwendolyn Bennett. The dau ghter of Emmett J. Scott, t h e "distinguished secretary. to Booker T. Washington, 11 J\.a,s. Delaney lived a tragically short life and died at the peak of the Harlem Renaissance. 347 ,· . ~ .. ;:~;'- · "Joy" is �what she vows to "aba ndo n1t herself to j_n an effort to avoid the troubling 1tmazen of life. Her poetry is quietly power- ful and seems to compliment t h at of Arna Bontemps since it is deep and flows from tradit i on, stamina and endurance. Born in Tuske cee Institute, Alabama, s h e attended Bradford Academy in New England and t h en Wellesley Colle ge, af'ter which sl1e taught three years at t be famous Dunb ar High School in Washington, D.C. According to Robert Kerlin, Hrs. Delaney o.lso "Studied delinquency and ne c;lect a mong Ne gro chi ldren in New York City." Her poetry reflects a percepti ve and analyt ical mind. Initially, she appears detach ed and metallic--deceptively, like Gwendolyn Brooks, hut the poem usually winds down to a c;rippin g messa.e_;e on pretense, loneliness, joy or despair. is a 11 The ni gh t in "Interim" gracious cloak" used to conceal the defeat of t h e soul. "The Mask" imr.iediately brings to mind Dunbar's "We Wenr t h e Mask." Except for t b e differences in persona and drama.tic affects, the two poems are quite similar. Re -read ine "The Mask," one is ' reminded of Smoke:;r Bill Rob inson's recentl::,r popular "Tbe Tears of A ClOi·m"--wb ich carri es t b e t b eme of duality a nd scb izoph renia so often found in Black t h ougb t and wri tine; . Wh ile a.11 Black artists do not display t h is "twoness" with the intensity of a Countee Cullen or nalph Ellison, it is almost always present in t b e:i.r works. Especially is t b is true of the Black American irriter, forced to use t he · communication tools of the over-seers to speak ab out t h at wh ich is closest to him. 348 �This particular aspect of Black poetry gives rise to r.mch speculation since poems devoid of racial or eth nic flavor take on added si g nificance when we know their authors are Black. Such is t h e case with Gwendolyn Bennett's "Hatred" (where nyou" could b e whites) and W.E.B. DuBois' "The Riddle of the Sphinx" {wh ere 11 t b e m11 prob ably means wh ites). Frank Horne, who won a poetry contest in Th e Crisis in 1925 but did not publish a book (Haverstraw) until 1963, fits .into this context. Horne was born in New Yo1"k City where he attended public schools. As a. student at t 11e Colle g e of t h e City of New York, he won varsity letters in track and wrote poetry. He later graduated fro ,;1 trie Nortbern Illinois College of Ophthalmolo gy witb a. de gree of Doctor of Optometry. Horne worked in Chicac o, New York, tau r:;h t in Fort Valley Georgia and was for some time e mploy ed by t h e United State Housing ... Authority. Horne, "poss0sses the authentic gift of poetry," s.ccordi.ne to James Weld on Joh nson. "intellectual irony. n And Sterling Brown mcnttons Horne's Indeed Horne is cy nical, skeptical, re- served and almost b are i n h is s h ort lines and econon ic lan8uage. The corpus of h is early poetry re v olves around ·nLetters found near a suicide II for wh ich he won The Crisis award. !•lost of the poems are addressed to indi v i d~ally-named persons and recall some point of co ntact (co nt e ntion?) ~etwe en t he alle ged suicide victim and t be per son acldressed. 1\s not8d earlier, ma ny of . the poems b ave to he pJ.aced 5- n t h e context of "Blac k " poetry if ' 34 9 '·' j·~-, ,fi':.~\• • • I ' ;.. / If-), _: t•I, .i. �the shortness of lifG, co ntr adictio ns :i.n Ch ristinni t:r, 1"' ot r s.:. . al, endurance, love, h atred, surv 5.va:. of t1 e spir5.t over p11~rsical death, music, scientific inquir:r adapted to t b e poet's questioning , racial injustice, and victory as fact or idea. Horne's verse is sanguine but, for t h e most pa.rt, auoids t h e romantic treatment of Africa found in practically all poets of the renaissance. His "Nigger (A Chant for Children)n catalogs I3la.ck beroes: Hannibal, Othello, Crispus Attucks, Toussaint L 'Overture, and adds Jesus near tbe end. A ch oral lteration, anticipating Sterlin~ Brown and complimenting La nc;ston Hu c;hes, includes: 11 Ni c;c;er • • • ni c;c;er • • • ni c;zer II "To the Poets II recalls Cullen rs "Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth Its Song"; both poems chide other poets for sin ginc; sone s over wrong causes. Eorne "yelled h osannas" into t h e emptiness, but (Neither did yellin g move mountains yelling got h im nm.-1h ere. f'or Baldwin who, as a boy-preacb er, quickly saw the contradiction in singing ''You can have all dis world but gi v e me Jesus. 11 ) Horne's knowled ge of science is put to go6d use in' such poems as "To Henry II and 11 Q.E .D. 11 And bis skeptic ism continually surfaces as in "To You 11 wbere he examines t b e road to salvation, which is through ''Your 11 ( or Christ's) body. involved in a worldly experience wi t b 11 But later he is b er II and when he returns to the al tar to eat and drink of ''Your II splendors he can think "only of her. 11 Much of' Horne's poetry employs the symbolism and vocabu- . lary of athletic contests--principally football and track. 350 �He also uses language associated with playing music or singing. "To Caroline" and "To Cataline" merge melody, harmonies, pain and ecstasy. "Caroline" plays his "skin" as well as the piano. that the piano will give joy and hurt. "Catalina" is warned "To Chick" recalls the days of the "Terrible Two" on the football field. The "signal" in football is made analagous to the "signal" called in real life. In both instances the poet crossed the victory line, "fighting and squirming." "To one who called me 'nigger"' is a comment on the white man's ability to do everything but face America's race problems. Continuing his theme of skepticism, Horne presents a "Toast" to eyes, lips, heart and body, even though the person addressed has an "unborn" soul. His poetry is solely in free-verse and, though sparse, his language invariable operates on multiple levels. "To A Persistent Phantom" is an excellent example of Horne "complicating" the meaning of words through the use of repetition, elipses, and the strategic use of words like "tears," "tangled," "deeper," "charms" and "buried." If the language and action of athletic competition influenced Horne, it was melody that captured George Leonard Allen, a poet who lived only 30 years. Allen achieved wide recognition before his death, ho~ever, for his "To Melody" won first prize in a 1927 state-wide poetry contest sponsored by the North Carolina Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. His poems also appeared in Opportunity, American Life, The Southern Christian Advocate, The Lyric West and Caroling Dusk. "Pilate in Modern America" employs what is, by Allen's time, a traditional theme in Black poetry: equating Black suffering to the crucifixion of Christ. The "Pilate" of America pleads with God for redemption, claiming that "one man's voice" 351 , ' �Oof dissent) could not be heard in the din of the lynch mob. But God's voice (the white man's conscience) t ·e lls "Pilate" that his guilt is as great as the crowd's. "To Melody" has no racial import. It simply praises song and is imitative, in language and theme, of early 19th century English poetry. As a sonnet, it only remotely suggests the work of McKay and Cullen. "Pilate" is well handled in iambic pentameter. Allen was born in Lumberton, North Carolina where he attended public schools--later completing his studies at Johnson C. smith University. His book-learning is evident in his poetry which is competent but conventional. A certain formalism also marks the work of Donald Jeffrey Hayes. Hayes was born in Raleigh, North Carolina; his education, which was quite extensive, was gained primarily through private study where he pursued his interests in singing, directing and writing. During the twenties and thirties, Hayes appeared in several Broadway productions as a member of a singing chorus. His poetry, much of which reflects his interest in music, was published in Harper's Bazaar, Good Housekeeping and This Week. "Appoggiatura 11 --a musical term--draws sustained comparisons between a woman's movements and bodies and sounds of water. and watering flow. It is a towering poem full of surreal images and mysticism Ultimately the woman seems to become a mermaid. He heard the "indistinguishable sound of water silence" and then the woman disappeared: "Sea-Woman--slim-fingered-water-thing II ,. This theme of having lost something or someone pervades Hayes' poetry. And while he never mentions Africa or the lost Black purity lamented by other renaissance poets, it is possible that he had similar concerns. 352 "Benediction" �is for the departed rather than a prayer to end a religious service. pursues Horne's theme of life's briefness. the poet's "kiss was sweet." for time before death. "Poet" A eulogy, the poem notes that "Prescience" depicts the poet trying to stall His concern is not for his own physical and emotional well-being, but for the "you" addressed in the poem. The speaker cannot bear the thought of his loved one being alone after his death. "Haven" death haunts all of Hayes' anthologized poetry. and conventional forms. Except for He writes in free-verse "Poet" and "Prescience" make the most of' careful meter and rhyming couplets. Another poet, Jonathan Henderson Brooks, writes with allegorical elequence. His work is deeply religious; but it is not a canned religiousness. He takes Christian symbolism and makes it work for the Black cause. Like Cullen and McKay, he equates Black suffering to the sufferings of Christ. And like Phillis Wheatley, he ensconces his deep and troubled feelings in religious fervor. "The Resurrection" is a poetic narrative--employing dialog where racial concerns can only be inferred. doubt as to its intent. But "My Angel" leaves little Freighted with both hope and doubt, with "Despair and my disgrace", the poem depicts "my angel" attempting to lift the burden from the shoulders of Black Americans. But the angel, who struggled "All night," is unable to lift The heaviest load since Lucifer .••• Carefully and startlingly, Brooks weaves in the relatively new Black poetic theme of indifference towards (and distrust of) Christianity. "Black necessity" is what the angel intervenes on behalf of; but after the all night struggle, he wearily flies off "To angels' resting place. 353 t ,, j ' \ V ' .,~:it~ �Thus leaving the narrator with his despair and disgrace. It is a chilling poem, one which blatantly carries a doubt more subdued in other Brooks pieces. Alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, and using six-lined stanzas, he presents an exciting technical achievement with an ab c b db rhyme scheme. Brooks was born in Mississippi, on a farm "twelve miles southwest of Lexington." After his parents separated, he stayed with his mother until he was 14 when he went to Jackson College for four months on money his mother had saved. At Jackson he won a prize for a short-story and later completed his high schooling at Lincoln University (Missouri). at Tougaloo, Mississippi. He then went to college Though religion is the outstanding influence on his poetry, he is nevertheless unconventional in his use of it and his poetry is always well-crafted. His over-riding achievement appears to be "She Said ••• " a poem dedicated to the memory of the first Black soldier from Alcorn County, Mississippi, to be "killed in action in the invasion of Normandy." Again using Christian symbolism and terms, he imagines the response of the soldier's mother who wonders if her son screamed when he was shot, if "unhurrying Death" was called, and if he died in sunshine, rain, or night. The mother finally equates herself to "Mary of Galilee" and notes that the two women must have felt the same emotion. This is an irresistible idea and theme in Black poetry. The searchingly skillful contemporary poet, Raymond Patterson, presented a similar situation in his elegy on the death of Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr. ("All Things Abide," Black World, September, 1974). Patterson echoes Wheatley, DuBois, McKay, Hughes, Cullen and Dunbar when he asks who in our presence can say how Jesus' mother perished: --Jesus, crucified? 354 �The question mark aids in calling up all the gore and grief and passion and terror that engulf and interlace Black existence as it is infused by Christianity, Africanisms and the Amreican experience of slavery. there again. Was Jesus really crucified? Skepticism and cynicism are In his poem, Brooks achieves a haunting, yet immediate, requiem by tieing the soldier's death to the cosmos-anticipating Owen Dodson's "Lament"--and relating place-names of importance. He establishes other associations: the stars and stripes (of the flag) are connected to the "sun's shining," the sunlight and moonglow are associated with the "stars forever," bullet and death and days and hours and sunshine and night and rain and battleground--all set the stage for Mary and the "Garden" and the suggestion of a rising. Lastly the narration in this free-verse is set off in italics for those sections which occur in the mind. Brooks is certainly worth much more study. Helene Johnson's small output should be collected and published in bookform because she is an important poet. Born in Boston, where she attended local public schools and Boston University, Helene Johnson arrived in New York in 1926 to do additional study at the Extension Division of Columbia University and to become one of the important "younger" figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Her poems were published in Opportunity, Vanity Fair and several other periodicals and anthologies. and language. Her poetry is terse, emphatic and diverse in form, style She is at home with the sonnet, free-verse, conventional rhyme pieces, or with what James Weldon Johnson calls "colloquial style--a style which numberless poets of this new age (1910-1930) have assumed to be easy." (Johnson sounds as if he is talking to some of the poets of the current "new age" (1960-1974!). And Johnson is right about Helene Johnson when he says that she is aware that a poem written in dialect, colloquial or street language 355 �"demands as much work and workmanship as a well-wrought sonnet." Helene Johnson's dominant themes are cultural reclamation (the African heritage), the ludicrous (sometimes peacockish) dress and mannerisms of Black men, Black beauty and love. Almost always she expresses longing, either for personal love or a return to pre-slavery Africa. In "Summer Matures," "Fullfilment" and "Magalu" she invites lovers both literally and metaphorically. "Magalu", like "Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem," "The Road," "Poem," and "Bottled," suggests that the Black American is better than he thinks he is; .that examination of his African past and his innate rhythmic richness will allow him to maintain both his past glory and his present sanity. The hint that whites are crass, immobile and inhibited ( a theme recurring in Black thought and writing) also creeps through these poems. "Magalu" · is told to ignore the teachings of the man in a "white collar" who carries a Bible. Poetry, or ancestral and cultural worship, is better than Christianity, the poet says. Here, of course, she advances an answer to the riddle of Countee Cullen, who appears to have wanted to "dance" but could not throw off the cloak of Western education, sentimentality and respectability. Helene Johnson asks Magalu: Would you sell the colors of your sunset , and the fragrance Of your flowers, and the passionate wonder of your forest For a creed that will not let you dance? Continuing this theme in "Sonnet to A Negro in Harlem" (and recalling McKay's "Harlem Dancer" as well as dozens of poems in this category), she depicts the Harlem Negro as not being psychologically and religiously a part of the 356 '.' �• environment in which he or she lives. Somehow, the Black American has remained untainted by crass, Western ways and inflexible thought. All this is embodied symbolically in the Harlem Black who, in his devine barbarism, stylistic richness and refusal to imitate those "whom you despise," is "too splendid for this city street." Helene Johnson seems to direct her poetry at Cullen and others who are unable to extricate themselves from the clash of the "Christian" training and the "pagan urge." is the answer an easy one. Neither For despite all the renaissance .proposals calling for spiritual or physical return to the essences of the African self, the writers had no concrete suggestion to offer. Except for DuBois, Garvey and a few others, they simply explored romantic declarations and yearnings. This mood is evident also in Helene Johnson's "Poem" where the "Slim, dark, big-eyed" boy becomes a prince like the "monarch" laborer in Fenton Johnson's "Rulers." Yet there is important immediate social commentary in the same type of poem: 1920's. "Bottled," which ridicules a superfly-type character of the Her "Negro dressed fit to kill" refused to dance the Charleston or the Black Bottom since he is too "dignified." Instead of a cane, she says, he should be "carrying a spear with a sharp fine point." , The tip of the spear should be dipped in poison. And the rest, of course, is obvious. Finally, the poem laments the apparent internal turmoil of a Black man who is "all glass" ("plastic" in today's language). "Bottled" is typical of much of the thematic focus of Black writing in all genres of the period. It also anticipated the continuing satire that would be found in the writings of Frank Marshall Davis, George Schyler, Hughes, and others. A young con- temporary woman poet, Barbara McHone (Black World, August, 1974) assesses a character similar to Helene Johnson's in "A Sea of Brown Boys." 357 �Barbara McHone chides the boys for wearing high heel shoes, purses, and patterning their lives after Shaft, Superfly and Sweetback. After stating the urgent needs of the times and implying that Black masculinity is being undermin.ed, she asks: where did our love go? Helene Johnson seems to make her most cogent statement, however, in "The Road" where she links into a theme long-associated with Black struggle: on moving." fight. "Keep "The Road" encourages Blacks to see their beauty as well as their "Trodden beauty," is still "trodden pride." Reminiscent of Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and Fenton Johnson's "Children of the Sun," she advises her people to Rise to one brimming golden, spilling cry! Perhaps not coincidentally, Helene Johnson's work is similar, in language and theme, to the poetry of Waring Cuney who (along with Hughes and Edward Silvera) belongs to the group sometimes called the Lincoln University poets. 1 Cuney was born one-half of twins in Washington, D.C. where he attended public schools and later studied music (after Howard and Lincoln Universities) at the Boston Conservatory of Music and in Rome. The twins had similar interests: singing and his brother's the piano. Waring's being After his poem "No Images" won an Opportunity prize, James Weldon Johnson stated that Cuney's work held "exceptional promise." However Cuney never became a prolific writer of literary poetry. Instead he divided his time between writing lyrics for songs and his other numerous chores. His protest lyrics were set to music and sung by Josh White on the album Southern Exposure. And his poetry was not published in book form until 1960 when the 1. See Four Lincoln University Poets (Hughes, 1931) and Lincoln University Poets (Cuney, . Hughes, and Bruce McM. Wright, 1954). Hughes called Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) "a place of beauty and the ideal coll ge for a poet." His ·assessment seems to have been correct. Raymond Patterson, Larry Neal and · . 358 . :-:1);·,;:~;).;;:;' ti ,:-. : i �bibliophile society in the Netherlands brought out Puzzles. free-verse and maintains "great economy of phrase." He usually writes in His poetry surveys the whole of the human experience but most of it carries either a racial or a folksy riote. There is also cynicism and skepticism of the sort found in Fenton Johnson, McKay, Cullen and Hrone. Heavily influenced , by Hughes, Cuney' s early work depicts fi.-ank pictures of Black 'and general life and often uses the plain, direct folk spee~h as a major vehicle. This trend is seen in poems like "Hard Times Blues," "Cruci.:.. fixion," "Troubled Jesus," and "Burial of the Young Love." Though his poems were published in several magazines and anthologies of the era, his "No Images"-...:which won 'the Opportunity prize--ties in with a general poetic theme of the renaissance: that Black beauty and creativity are too good to flourish in the decadence of Western civilization. The Black woman in Cuney's poem is similar to the Harlem Negro of Helene Johnson's poem, the dancer of McKay's "Harlem Dancer," the ravished and tormented narrator in Cullen's "Heritage," and the split personality in Toomer's "Kabnis" (Cane): they all seek to be whole in a world that denies and carica- tures their humanity. Cuney's woman figure -: • thinks her brown body Has no glory. But if she had an opportunity to dance as her natural self--"naked" perhaps--in her natural habitat--Africa--where her "image would be reflected by the river; · then she would "know" how beautiful she is. But civilization corrodes the idea of trees and naturalness and, consequently, deprives Blacks of their own beauty and their healthy self-image: And dishwater gives back no images. ·.•., / Dishwater is :a . kind ·of · death--a spiritual and moral death--for Cuney whose work ·.:,. Gil Scott-Heron are only three of the never poetic talents nurtured at .,,J ,, :: '. ' • Li~~.::.:·,\·:; : . . / ;•:>:✓:\> •·•r·, .~ , .: .. :.- .. · . . ~·~' ~ r .. ;, •.. ;" ,; ~ • '3 ·~~ I, I �shows him to be preoccupied with death. Several of his poems ("Threnody',-'' "The Death Bed," "Crucifixion," "Burial of the Young," "Finis" and "Dust") react to, anticipate or contemplate death. For Cuney, who seems to place a strong trust in the folkways, there is an irony in the fact that the God who protects the oppressors is also expected to protect the oppressed. This particular brand of Black cyni- cism makes it most dramatic debut with Dunbar and remains a dominant theme in Black poetry up until this very day. In "The Death Bed" the dying man sends all the praying "kin-folk" away from his bed. The praying ones, of course, think this is strange and continue praying against his will in a room accross the hall. Failing in an attempt to sing a final song, the dying man lapses back and, knowing death is iminent, wonders What it was they cound be saying. "Hard Times Blues" is a protest song-poem which talks about drought, hunger, depression and general bad times in the South. The refrain contains this paradoxical plea-assertion: Great-God-Amighty Folks feeling bad, Lost all they ever had. The indirect association of God with the misery coupled with an oblique prayer for help is different indeed--though its antecedents can clearly be seen in the coded Spirituals, blues, jokes, and oral epics of the folk. A similar paradox and irony is contained in "My Lord, What a Morning" where the speaker is ecstatic over "black" Jack Johnson's defeat of "white" Jim Jeffries. Admitting to the "Lord" that "Fighting is wrong," the speaker nevertheless exclaims: But what an uppercut. Making God a colloquial person--Black, that is--in several of his poems, Cuney 360 '' �recalls Johnson's feat in God's Trombones where God is likened to a ''mammy." Another important later achievement of Cuney's is "Charles Parker, 1925-1955." The legendary jazz musician is given credit for reshaping the blues idiom in music--and hence revitalizing the Black aesthetic. The poem is made up of lines of one-three words and includes phonetic renderings of saxophone sounds. And . throughout the piece, the reader is advised to "listen." Lewis Alexander apparently also wants us to "listen" to his "Enchantment" which embodies, again, the theme of the exotic and beautiful AfriGan. the "body smiling with black beauty" is wearing "African moonlight." divides his poem into two sections: the "Medicine Dance." This time Alexander "Part I" which is "Night" and "Part II," Part one gives the setting, moonlight in Africa, juice gushing from over-ripe fruit, palm trees, silence. In Part II the medicine dancer is placed in relief against the "grotesque hyena-faced monster" who (seeming to represent whites) is driven back into the "wilderness" by his own fear and the spell cast on him by the medicine dancer. The poem is in free-verse and features several exclamation marks and single-word lines. Typographically, the poem works well with its depiction of dancing, mystery, suspense, fright · and ,. anticipation. There is a quickening here, a stalking there, finally a resolution and the black body now dances with "delight" as Terror reigns like a new crowned queen. Alexander was born in Washington, D.C., educated in public schools, including the celebrated Dunbar High, and attended Howard University. His interests somewhat paralleled those of Cuney and Donald Jeffrey Hayes and he acted in the Ethiopian Art Theatre Company; for a while he was a member of the Playwriters' Circle and the Ira Aldridge Players. Many of the major themes and experimental techniques of the renaissance can be found in Alexander's poetry. 361 Examination of the Black �. anatomy to nature. Hughes says the faces, eyes and souls of "my people" are beautiful like the night, stars and sun. Alexander finds, on the other hand, that the heavy hanging sky, the curved scars of the moon, the twinkly of stars and the trembling earth, all parallel the Negro woman's burdensome hair, wrinkled brow, tears flowing from "an aging hurt," and eye-lids quivering and cupping tears. For Hughes nature is a partner to Black beauty; for Alexander it is a companion to agony, suffering and historical pain. possibilities of color and shade symbolism. when night falls black." Alexander also probes the "Dream Song" advises one to "dream In "Nocturne Varial" shadow (Blacks) becomes light (beautiful, aware) and the deeper the Blackness gets (spreads its influence) the more changes (the greater the impact) will occur among whites. In the deepest core of the night, "Each note is a star" but the light emitted from that darkness is not blinding. Then, after this searching contrast and overlay of what painters call chiaroscuro, we are told that: ·I came as a shadow, To dazzle your night. The idea of transfiguration and change weighs heavily upon Alexander's poetry. ' Significant changes occur in "Negro Woman," "Enchantment," "Nocturne Varial" . and "Transformation." After having arrived as a "shadow" in "Nocturne Varial" the poet (or the persona "I") decides to "return" a bitterness that has gone through the wash of tears. through the years." The bitterness becomes "loveliness" which has been "garnished Announcing that the bitterness has been worn from the taste of the past, Alexander implies here, as he does in other poems, that he is a forgiving person. Indeed he may be saying that Blacks will hold no hatred . (for whites) or desire for retribution. Alexander's poetry is concise and neat, mostly 362 ' ,, �in free-verse and conventional language. Neat also is the only anthologized poem by Lucy Ariel Williams Holloway. Found in Caroling Dusk (Cullen), The Poetry of The Negro (Hughes and Bontemps) and Johnson's The Book of American Negro Poetry, "Northboun'" garnered the coveted Opportunity poetry prize in 1926. We mention it because it shows great talent and feel in the employment of Black southern speech and it embodies not only period but historical concerns of Blacks. The world is neither flat nor round, the poet tells us: H'it's one long strip Hangin' up an' down-and there's only "Souf an' Norf." The foregoing is part of the chorus in this song-poem which comically predicts how people "all 'ud fall" if the world "wuz jes' a ball." For those who brag about the city seen by Saint John, Lucy Holloway challenges them to see Saginaw. Opportunities for Blacks are good in Saginaw (heaven) and pretty women are plentiful. The poem restates the belief (developed during slavery and abolition efforts) that the North is heaven compared to the South (hell). Lucy Holloway emotionally chronicles the feelings, anticipations and oral narratives connected with "moving north." \ Such a preoccupation can be seen throughout the literature of the period, in the stories, the poems, the plays, the novels, the articles and the songs. Finally, Miss Holloway tells us what Hughes, Ellison, Baldwin, Claude Brown and Sterling Plumpp would refute: Since Norf is up, An' Souf is down, An' Hebben is up, I'm upward boun'. 363 �Lucy Holloway's poem is interesting for another reason: coming, as it did, at the thrust of the renaissance, it represented a throwback to the dialect and minstrel traditions which most of the New Negro writers were trying to break. And although Johnson (James) and Hughes worked in dialect, their major efforts were decidedly different from those of the Dunbar school. Reading Miss Holloway's poem, however, one is immediately reminded of Dunbar, Campbell, Corrothers and Daniel Webster Davis. Yet, a final reason for using the example of Lucy Holloway is to lead into at least a partial listing of the poets who published in magazines, regional anthologies and newspapers during the Harlem Renaissance and afterwards. among the dozens of lesser and unknown poets we mention the following: From Gladys May Casely Hayford (born in West Africa), Allison Davis, Esther Popel Shaw, J. Mason Brewer (Negrito), Kenneth W. Porter, Harvey M. Williamson, Otto Leland Bohanon, Eleanor Graham Nichols, Corrinne E. Lewis, Mary Effie Lee, Edward Garnett Riley, Albert Rice (a member of Georgia Douglas Johnson's writing workshop), • Carrie W. Clifford (The Widening Light, 1922), Marcus B. Christian, Winston Allen, Mae V. Cowdery, Tilford Jones, Adeline Carter Watson, Will Sexton and Edward Silvera. Some of these occasional and newspaper poets made temporary "splashes" and moved on. Mae V. Cowdery won a Crisis poetry prize in 1927 and published a volume of her poetry in the thirties. and Silvera are the most important. Of this group of poets, however, Christian Christian (1900-) was born in Houma, Louisiana, and primarily self-educated. For a while he served as supervisor of the Dillard University Negro History Unit of the Federal Writers' Project. He later re ·c ceived a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship to complete an historical study begun on the project before going to work in the Dillard Library. His poems --1 ·.r.7•t. : . ' '- f )-, .:: !: .:: ':<' , ; 364 . 1.n~f':1!~i . �appeared in various anthologies and magazines. And his available work has both general and racial flavor and shows him to be a skilled word-handler. Craftsman" is about artistic excellence. The artist--presumably the poet--must work with "consummate care" and be "free of flaws." above everything else. ever. "The This is so because art is The poet knows that if he writes well, he "lives" for- Christian employs a form--the sonnet--that is consistent with his high calling. Another sonnet, "McDonogh Day in New Orleans," is a celebration of the beauty of Blackness. Detailing the difficulty a poor Black girl h~s in trying to get the kind of clothes she needs, Christian finally has her attired "Like some dark princess" wearing "blue larkspur" coupled with "yellow marigold." True, she looks good going to school But few would know--or even guess this fact: How dear comes beauty when a skin is black. Silvera (1906-1937) lived a productive, if tragically short, life. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, attended local public schools and graduated from Orange High; he then went to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania where he participated in sports and wrote poetry, some of which was included in Four Lincoln Poets (1930). His poetry also appeared in magazines and anthologies. Much of Silvera's poetry is quiet and sparse--reminiscent of Cuney, his friend, Horne, and many of the introspective poets of the period. of renaissance poetry. But his work does carry the prevailing themes "Jungle Taste," for example, celebrates the Africa of old-- Africa before the appearance of the "civilization" Fenton Johnson doncemns. The "Coarseness" in the "songs of black men" does not sound "strange" to Silvera. Neither does the "beauty" in the "faces of black women" seem unusual. men alone can "see" this "dark hidden beauty." Yet Black In "Forgotten Dreams" only a "heap" of entangled thread now lies where once a beautiful dream had been spun. Here, . ii{ .· :,;,,."· ;_:,.> . ·. .',· ;·;.;( '.,: • 365 . . l . 1.-,...-,.,..-~; ·~\4·, .~- �Silvera seems to be lamenting the loss of something--maybe viewing his approaching death. Likewise, in another poem, "On the Death of A Child," he again uses the "spun" image. The child comes without a "voice" to announce its arrival. lark sings, but "shadows" have already "foretold" that death is near. had been "spun" and the end comes. Hughes and Bontemps anthologies. The The "shroud" Silvera's and Christian's works appear in the Silvera's poetry also appears in Kerlin's Negro Poets and Their Poems. The dominant themes in poetry of the Harlem Renaissance--cultural reclamation, stylistic experimentation, romantic engagement with Africa, a presentation of the rawness of Black life--can also be found in the fiction, drama, painting, music, criticism, and belles lettres of the period. is Locke's The New Negro. The best documentation of th~se items But we ought to mention some of the major names in prose (fiction and non-fiction), many of whom also wrote poetry: Jean Toomer, Eric Walrond, Jessie Redmond Fauset, Rudolph Fisher, Nella Larson, Zora Neal Hurston, McKay, Hughes, Cullen, Walter White, W.E.B. DuBois, Charles S. Johnson, Carter G. Woodson, Bruce Nugent, John Matheus, Cecil Blue, Montgomery Gregory, Arthur Huff Fauset, James Weldon Johnson, E. Franklin Frazier and Arthur A. Schomburg. D. Renaissance Fallout: Negritude Poets and Pan-African Writing Claude McKay's influence, as a novelist (Banjo), on leaders of African nationalism has already been noted. kind, nor the last. But McKay's impact was not the first of its During the 18th and 19th centuries, Africans in the Western Hemisphere had exchanged ideas and made pacts with each other and with their fellows of color in Africa. In Chapter III we noted this pervasive influence as seen in documents, the establishment of African societies and the African Methodist Episcopal 366 �Church, the founding of Liberia, and the daring and courageous example of the West African Cinque. We also noted the arrival in the United States of a number of West Indian, Caribbean and South American Blacks--a flow that has remained . I unabated up until this very day. We call immediately to mind such names as John · Russwurm, Marcus Garvey, McKay, and Stokely Carmichael. The poet John Boyd, dis- cussed in Chapter III, was a Bahamian. It was during the 1920's, however, that the Pan-African flavor was most dramatically and . thoroughly demonstrated. Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement .. r • Association which claimed thousands of followers and members, was in full swing by the time of the Harlem Renaissance. DuBois was the driving force behind four Pan-African Congresses which met successively between 1919 and 1927 (in Paris, London and New York). And the predominant themes in renaissance literature were reclamation of the African heritage and celebration of the beauties and talents of African peoples. Consistent with our study, however, is a consideration of one of the most important spin-outs from the Harlem Renaissance: the Negritude school of poets in- eluding Martinique, Capetown, Paris, Dakar and Algiers. As natives of French- controlled colonies, these young Black students and intellectuals were trained in French schools and shared dual citizenships. (This practice represents a throwback to the Creole poets, many of whom were educated in France.) the Negritude poets' activities here. But we only summarize Chief among them are Aim~ C~saire (1913-) I • I I of Martinique, Leon Damas (1912-) of French Guiana, and Leopold Sedar Senghor (1906-) of Senegal. More information, including examples of Negritude poetry, can be found in Jean-Paul Sarte's "Orphee Nair" ("Black Orpheus") which prefaced I I Leopold Sedar Senghor's anthology of African and West Indian poets: I I Anthologie de la nouvelle poesie negre et malgache de lingue francais (Paris, 1948). I . Although , • ;11 ~· .-. · .>:, ·;. :· . '. . ~;.. . u.,~"4i.11~J<r ., ." : ... · . ' • 367 ,l··:, . -....... ,.,;,:: ; . . , ,'· ; • , ;· .,. . +i, ;}(~/::·,)': :,;st•".~ �the important preface has appeared in various hard~to-get translations, it appeared in book form for the first time in C.W.E. Bigsby's The ·-Black American Writer, Volume II: Poetry and Drama (1971). For further study see the works ' ' of Franz Fanon, writings of Senghor (see also, Leopold Sedar Senghor and the.. Politics of Negritude, Irving L. Markovitz, 1969), and the numerous anthologies of African poetry by Langston Hughes, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Wilfred Cartey, Rainer Schulte and Quincy Troupe, and Mercer Cook and Stephen Henderson's The Militant Black Writer in Africa and the United States (1969). Negritude has been eloquently and illustratively defined by Satre, Senghor, Cook, Paul Vesey (Samuel Allen) and others. The term (roughly corresponding to • Black American Soul) refers to the mystique of Blackness which pervades the thought, actions, creativity and general life-style of some Africans. Senghor calls it a philosophy of humanism; Vesey finds elements of it in the Afro-American church and in the works of artists such as Baldwin and Ellison; Sartre notes that "From Haiti to Cayenne, there is a single idea: is evangelic, it announces good news: reveal the black soul~ Black poetry Blackness has been rediscovered." The . first creative work to emerge from this French-speaking sector of renaissance influence was L~on Damas' Pigments (1937). Like the other works , that followed~ Pigments extolled Black beauty and lamented Black suffering. The influence of . Langston Hughes is more evident in Damas than in other Negritude poets. Damas, freely admits in conversation that he (and his compatriots) owes much to Hughes who offered prizes to African writers and helped expose African literature to the world. Pigments heralded the arrival of Negritude. Its style, reminiscent of Hughes, is "sharp, slangy, tense and fast-moving" and was revolutionary to French poetry when it appeared. ' ' published Cahier d'un retour au pays natal Cesaire (Return to My Native Land) in 1938. Senghor has published Chants d'ombres (Song ;i:•--:-·, • 368 . ·:}\:;?.;,: {: ' ; :,f) ~-:;_ :r /;/ ':i. '' ' >,.\ -1~·.•· ~~'"·..-·,,it <,·; ,·. . 1,-~ : .:.,~j' \~-~:.:,~fr-~:•' .·. .,,. .J ;t,·t:•~ 1,lt.it~- ·, , ·£1~f;i; •C �of Shadows, 1949), Hosties Noires (Black Victims, 1948), Chants pour Naett (Songs ' Both Cesaire and for Naett, 1949), Ethiopiques (1959) and Nocturnes (1961). Senghor have been heavily influenced by jazz, blues and poetry of Harlem. Ex- posed to these forms in the salons of Madamoiselle Nardal between 1929 and 1934, they found Afro-American expression liberating and "fertilizing." Rene' Maran afforded them similar exposure after 1935.) (The salons of Also contributing to this convergence were the efforts of Mercer Cook who, as statesman and scholar, played an important part in bringing the works of Black Americans to their African and Caribbean contemporaries. Senghor's great poem about New York has immediate ties to both the renaissance and the impact of Harlem on him. As in many of his poems, For "New York" Senghor designates the instrument(s) to accompany the piece. he chooses "Jazz Orchestra: solo trumpet." New York's beauty at first "confused" Senghor, but after a couple of weeks in that city one grows accustomed to buying "artificial hearts." He is ecstatic about Harlem Harlem! I have seen Harlem Harlem! ••• Senghor writes of the African landscape, warriors, love and his admiration for Black women. As president of Senegal, he presided over the First World Festival of Negro ARts, held in Dakar in 1966. Damas deals with problems of color and ·class in his poetry and defines Negritude in a series of rolling, vigorous stanzas in free-verse. I t His other collections of poems include Poemes negres sur des airs africains (1948), Graffiti (1952), Black-Label (1956) and Nevralgies (1965?). Like other Negritude poets, Damas read the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance. Critics seem to agree, however, that the Africans and Caribbean poets surpassed their American brothers and sisters. in the following titles: "Almost White." "Enough," Damas' cynicism and irony can be detected "s.o.s.," "Position," "Good Breeding," and Damas satirizes the Black middle-class and the Black habit of 369 �straightening hair and using bleaching creams. Similar themes can be found in . ' . who also employs free-verse and makes great use of irony. the poetry of Cesaire Return to My Native Land catalogs all the scientific things that Blacks have not invented, but later gives them credit for being the backbone of human existence. ' Cesaire has served as mayor of Fort de France and a deputy to the French National Assembly, representing the independent revolutionary party of Martinique. He quit the French Communist Party in the 1950's and has since been active in African nationalism. His other collections of poetry are Les Armes miraculeuses (1946), I Soleil cou coupe (1948), Corps perdu (1950) and Ferrements (1960). I I Cesaire, Damas and Senghor have also written drama (mostly about Black historical figures) and essays on Negritude and Pan-African liberation. I Damas is currently living in Washington, D.C. where he teaches literature at Howard University and Federal City College. The Negritude Movement in poetry--best recorded in Satre's articles and in Norman S. Shapiro's Negritude: Black Poetry from Africa and The Caribbean (1970)--encompassed several other important Black areas and figures: Ernest Alima (Cameroon), Joseph Miezan Bognini and Bernard Dadi~ (Ivory Coast), Jean-Fernand I Brierre and Rene Depestre (Haiti), Siriman Cissoko (Mali), David Diop (Senegal, a ~ I ' great poet killed in an airplane crash in 1956), Jocelyne Etienne and Guy Tirolien (Guadeloupe), Camara Laye (Guinea) and Emile-Desire Ologoudou (Dahomey), to name just a few. The Harlem Renaissance and the subsequent concept of Negritude influenced these poets in various ways and to greater or lesser degrees. But the influence is there. Thematically, emotionally and politically the poets bear greater resemblance to Afro-Americans than in their styles and techniques. This interchange among writers and thinkers of the Black world has continued to its current rich and important tide (more on this in Chapter VI). 370 � 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_06 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Section III. The Poets and Their Totem, p. 281-370 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/12195e3e706875f4469b6ff791ea9674.pdf 4a2988f26c02d4148da367bd2ccaee5d PDF Text Text DRUMVOICES: THE MISSION OF AFRO-AMERICAN POETRY Table of Contents Preface CHAPTER I: Introduction, Black Poetry: CHAPTER II: Views, Visions, Conflicts The Black and Unknown Bards: Folk Roots I. Origins of Black Expression II. Black Folk Roots in America III. IV. V. Spirituals Folk Seculars Folk Anthology Section (Sample) Spirituals Go Down, Moses Slavery Chain No More Auction Block Shout Along, Chillen Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Steal Away Deep River Folk Seculars He Is My Horse Did You Feed My Cow Song Many a Thousand Die Freedom �. .. Table of Contents (cont'd) Folk Seculars (cont'd) Rainbow Roun Mah Shoulder John Henry Hammer Song A Big Fat Mama How Long Blues CHAPTER III: African Voice in Eclipse(?): I. II. III. CHAPTER IV: Overview Literary and Social Landscape The Vo~ces on the Totem Jubilees, Jujus and Justices (1865-1910) I. II. III. CHAPTER V: Imitation and Agitation (1746-1865) Overview Literary and Social Landscape The Voices on the Totem A Long Ways From Home (1910-1960) I. II. III. Overview Literary and Social Landscape (A) To 1930 ( B) 1930-1960 The Voices on the Totem (A) The Coming Cadence: Pre-Renaissance Voices (B) Poets as Prophets: The Harlem Renaissance (C) Minor or Second Echelon Poets of the Renaissance (D) Renaissance Fallout: Negritude Poets and Pan-African Writing (E) The Extended Renaissance: 30s, 40s, 50s �, _I I( . (/ ... Table of Contents (cont'd) CHAPTER VI: Festivals and Funerals: I. II. III. CHAPTER VII: Black Poetry of the 196Os and 197Os Overview Literary and Social Landscape The Voices on the Totem (A) 'Soon One Morning': (B) 'Griefs of Joy': (C) Reflections on the New Black Poetry Conclusion: Threshhold of the New Black Poetry The Poetry of Wings Afterthoughts BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INDEX I. General Research Aids II. Periodicals III. Anthologies IV. V. VI. Literary History and Criticism (A) General (B) Poetry Folklore and Language Discography and Tape Index (A) Collections (Phonograph) 1. Single Poets (Phonograph) (B) Single Poets (Tape) � 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_07 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Table of Contents, typed manuscript 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/f82dc5f7f4fa1297c88197deb4035a3e.pdf 9f5e5a58bd1a403bbb844888d1e80b15 PDF Text Text in!f[// #1 FrfJ.fe.rshe.11 Davis for lines from . "Jazz Band" from A Black Man's Verse, ( 1pyrignt ~ 1935 by Frank Ma.rshtll Davis . Author or representative could not be located for pm:!lmUi:l reprint rtgltlbs. insert #2 Robert Hayden f o~ lines lines from "Gabriel," from The Begro Caravan, copyright c 1941 by Robert Hayden ; for lines from "Runagate Runagate , 11 from Selected Poems , copyright c 1966 by Robert Hayden and published and by October House; for lines from 11 ~1-Hajj Malik El Shabazz" and "Zeus Over Rede-ye" , from Words in the Mourningtime, copyright @I 1970 by R0 bert Hayden and published by October House . All reprinted by permission of Robert Hayden. insert #3(add to on-going ackn . ) ; Harold Ober Associates for lines from "Goo<ibye, Christ, 11 from Good Morning, RevolJtion, copyright c 1932 by Langston Hughes, c renewed• reprinted by permission of Harold Ober associates . insert 1f4 Ted Joans for !ines from "The . 38, 11 from New Negro Poets: u . s . A., copy- right c 1964 by Ted Joans . S0 urce for reprint rights could not be located at publication time . insert # 5 Fenton Johnson for lines from "Tired, " from The Book of Ameri;JS Negro Poetry, copyright c 1922, 1931 by J ~ ~ a . ~ ~ ~ d @ r e n e w e d IC(~ 1959 by Mrs . Grace Nail Johnson . Source for r~print rights could not be found at publication time . insert :ff6 Elouise Loftin for lines from "Getting Oaugnt" and "Rain Spread," from Jum.bish , copyrignt c 1972 by Elouise Loftin and published by Emerson Hall, Inc . Reprinted by permission of the authamr. �• t f _p.ns; rtl ' #i I • ,' Oj/rn,'e(Alvin Saxon) for lines from "Watts," from 'the Poetry of Black .•••. / Kmerica, copyright c 1973 by Ojeknke. Reprinted by permission of 1 ' the author. insert #e 'Job:nJie - S'cott for lines from "The Fish Party" and"Watts," from From Ashes: Voices of Watts , copyright c 196"( by liohni-ie Scott. Negobiations for reprint rights incomplete at time of publication. ¼ Wrife ·, r Si'n /1.:1+ insert :/19 Paul Vesey(Sarnuel Allen) for lines from "To Satch, 11 from Soon, One Morning, copyright /4' 1963 by Paul Vesey. Reprinted by permission of the author . �I ' I' I '' ' ' I , t I • I l. , ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ✓ Many thanks are due the following poets, editors, publishers and survivors of poets for use of cited material. All efforts have been made to secure the proper permission for each selection. However, if some of the selections are not properly acknowledged, please contact Doubleday &Company, Inc., in order to clarify the situation. Mrs. Anna L. Thompson for lines from "Nocturne Varial, 11 by Lewis Alexander, from The Poetry of the Negro, copyright@l949, 1970 by Anna L. Thompson. Published by Doubleday & Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Mrs. Anna L. Thompson. Margaret Walker Alexander for lines from "Bad-Man Stagolee, 11 "For My People," "Pappa Chicken," "The Struggle Staggers Us," and "We Have been Believer~' from For My People, copyright(£)1942 by Margaret Walker and Yale University Press. Reprinted by permission of Margaret Walker Alexander. The Associated Publishers, Inc. for lines from "The Psalms of Uplift," by J. Mord Allen, from Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin. Copyright@l923, 1935 by The Associated Publishers, Inc. Samuel Allen (Paul Vesey} for lines from "To Satch," copyright@l962 by Samuel Allen. Reprinted by permission of Samuel Allen (Paul Vesey). Russell Atkins for lines from "At War" which first appeared in American Weave, copyright01962 by Russell Atkins, and "Irritable Song" which first appeared in Naked Ear, copyright@l958 by Russell Atkins. permission of the author. 1 Reprinted by �'t .. ,I I Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. for lines from Imamu Amiri Baraka s Black Art, 1 11 Black People, 11 11 leroy, 11 11 11 and Sterling Street Septembe13 from Black Magic: 11 11 E_getry 1961-1967, copyright©l969 by LeRoi Jones. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. Exposition Press for Austin Black's ASEXUAL FLIGHT from The Tornado in My 11 Mouth: 11 Poems by Austin Black, copyright@l966 by Austin Black. Reprinted by permission of Exposition Press, Inc., Hicksville, N.Y. 11801. Harold Ober Associates for lines from Arna Bontemps' 11 Golgotha Is a Mountai~ from Personals, copyright@)l963 by Arna Bontemps. 1 Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates. Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. for lines from Gwendolyn Brooks's The Anniad, 11 11 The Ballad of Rudolph Reed, the poor, 11 11 "Beverly Hills, Chicago, 11 11 the children of 0f De Witt Wi 11 i ams on His Way to Lincoln Cemetery, be afraid of no, "Negro Hero, 11 11 11 We Real Cool, 11 11 11 11 11 The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till, The Preacher: 11 Ruminations Behind the Sermon, 11 do not 11 and all of from Jhe World of Gwendolyn Brook_s , copyright@l971 by 11 Gwendolyn Brooks; and for lines from "Langston Hughes, Blood-Red Wrath and 0f Robert Frost, 11 11 11 11 Riders to the from Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks, copyright@l963 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. 11 Reprinted by permission of Broadside Press for lines from Gwendolyn Brooks I s Speech to the Youn97 1 from Family Pictures, copyright (£)1970 11 by Gwendolyn Brooks Blakley. Reprinted by permission of Broadside Press. Ster 1i ng Brown for 1i nes from Memph is B1ues; f ram Southern Road, Beacon Press 11 reprint, copyright@l975 by Sterling Brown, and 01d Lem, 11 by Sterling Brown. Used by permission of Sterling Brown. 2 11 copyright@l975 �t The Associated Publishers, Inc. for lines from Benjamin Burrel1 1 s 11 A Negro Mother," from Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin, copyright (f) 1923, 1935 by The Associated Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of The Associated Publishers, Inc. Doubleday &Company, Inc. for lines from Marcus B. Christian s 11 McDonogh Day 1 in New Orleans, 11 from The Poetry of the Negro, cop_){ri ght © 1949 by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps. -re_nev.JW Copyright,@1970 by Arna Bontemps. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Company, Inc. Random House, Inc. for lines from Lucille Clifton 1 s 11 Lately 11 and 11 Mary~11 from Good News About the Earth, copyright(yl972 by Lucille Clifton, and 11 God s 1 Mood 11 from An Ordinary Woman, copyright@l974 by Lucille Clifton. Re- printed by permission of Random House, Inc. Sam Cornish for lines from Middleclass Girls with crippled fingers waiting for 11 me to light their cigarettes;• from People Beneath the Window, copyright@ 1968 by Sam Cornish. Published by Sacco Publishers. Reprinted by permission of the author. Jayne Cortez for lines from Festivals and Funeral~' from Festivals and Funerals, 11 copyright €)1971 by Jayne Cortez. Reprinted by permission of the author. The Associated Publishers, Inc. for lines from "The Don t Care Negro" and 1 "The Negro Child," by Joseph Seamon Cotter, sr;and for lines from 11 Rain Music) by Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr., from Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin. Publishers, Inc. Copyright@l923, 1935 by The Associated Reprinted by permission of The Associated Publishers, Inc. 3 �Harper and Row Publishers, Inc. for lines from Countee Cullen's "Heritage," "Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth Its Song, I Stand. 11 and "Yet Do I Marve yr from On These Copyright@l927, 1955 by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Waring Cuney for 1ines from "Hard Times" and "No Image~;' from Storefront Church, copyright @1973 by Waring Cuney. Reprinted by permission of Waring Cuney. Broadside Press for lines from James Cunningham's "St. Julien's Eve: Cross; from Jump Bad, edited by Gwendolyn Brooks. Broadside Press. For Dennis Copyright(S) 1971 by Reprinted by permission of Broadside Press. Frank Marshall Davis for lines from "Jazz Band" from A Black Man's Verse, ) copyright(f)l935 by Frank Marshall Davis. Author or representative could not be located for reprint rights. Jupiter Hammon Press for lines from Walter Delegall's "Psalms for Sonny Rollin~• from Burning Spear: An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright (s)l963 by the Dasein Literary Society. Reprinted by permission of Jupiter Hammon Press ~asein Literary Society. Doubleday &Company, Inc. for lines from Alexis DeVeaux's Spirits in the Streets, copyright('.9 1973 by Alexis Deveaux. Reprinted by pe~ission of Doubleday & Company, Inc. Charles Dinkins for lines from "Invocationj' from Negro Poetry and Drama, copyright@l969 by Sterling Brown. Reprinted by permission of Atheneum. Farrar, Strauss &Giroux, Inc. for lines from Owen Dodson's "Countee Cullen," Divine Comedy, "Guitar," "Jonathan"s Song," "Lament," "Open Letter" and Poems for My Brother Kenneth from Powerful Long Ladder. copyright@ 1946 7 4 �by Owen Dodson and copyright@renewed 1974 by Owen Dodson. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, Inc.; Owen Dodson for lines from llll!I. 11 The Confession Stone," "Let me rock him again in my trembling arms" and "Mary Passed This Mornin~ from The Confession Stone, volume 13 in the Heritage Series, published by Paul Bremen, Limited, London, 1970. Copyright @1970 by Owen Dodson. Reprinted by permission of Owen Dodson. Mrs. Shirley Graham DuBois for lines from W.E.B. DuBois's "A Litany of Atlanta," copyright@:)1906 by W.E.B. Du Bois, "Hymn of Hat~• from Darkwater: The Twentieth Century Completion of Uncle Tom's Cabin, copyright@l920 by W.E.B. Du Bois, and "Song of the Smoke, 11 copyright@l899 by W.E.B. Du Bois. Reprinted by permission of Mrs. Shirley Graham Du Bois. Random House, Inc. for Henry Dumas'~: Talk Joke" and for 1i nes from "Jackhammer," "Ngoma, 11 "Play Ebony Play Ivory," 11 Rite, 11 "Root Song, 11 and 11 A Song of Flesh," from Play Ebony Play Ivory, copyright©l974 by Loretta Dumas and edited by Eugene B. Redmond. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. The Associated Publishers, Inc. for lines from Alice Dunbar-Nelson's "The Lights at Carney's Point, 11 from Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin. Inc. Copyright@l923, 1935 by The Associated Publishers, Reprinted by permission of The Associated Publishers, Inc. Paul Bre"":;)o, L i m i t e ~ : Durem's "Broadminded," from Take No Prisoners, __/~ume 17 in the Heritage Series, published by Paul Bremen Limited, London, / 0 1971. Copyright@)1971 by Dorothy Durem. Bremen Limited. 5 Reprinted by permission of Paul �Mari Evans for lines from "Who Can Be Born Black" and "The Rebel," from I Am A Black Woman, copyright(0)1970 by Mari Evans and published by William Morrow, 1970. Reprinted by permission of Mari Evans. B. Felton (Elmer Buford) for lines from "An Elegy to Eternity," from Conclusions, copyright@l971 by B. Felton and reprinted by permission of the author. Moore Publishing Company for lines from Julia Fields's "Aardvar~ from Nine Black Poets, edited by R. Baird Shuman, copyright {)1968 by Moore Publishing Company. Used by permission of Moore Publishing Company, P.O. Box 3143, West Durham Station, Durham, N.C. 27705. Black River Writers Press for lines from Sherman Fowler's Thinking, 11 Sides of the River: 11 from A Mini-Anthology of Black Writing, edited and copyright@l969 by Eugene Redmond. Reprinted by permission of Black River Writers Press. William Morrow &Ca., Inc. for lines from Nikki Giovanni's ''Concerning One Responsible Negro with Too Much Power," "Of Liberation," "Nikki-Rosa," "The True Import of the Present Dialogue, Black vs. Negro," from Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgement, copyright@l968, 1970 by Nikki Giovanni; for lines from "Africa" from My House, copyright c 1972 by Nikki Giovanni. All reprinted by permission of William Morrow & Co., Inc. Jupiter Hammon Press for lines from Oswald Gavan's "The Lynching," from Burning Spear: An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright© 1963 by the Dasein Literary Society. Reprinted by permission of Jupiter Hammon Press of The Dasein Literary Society. Farrar, Strauss &Giroux, Inc. for lines from Angelina Grimke's "The Black Finger," j 6 �from American Negro Poetry, edited and copyright@l963 by Arna Bontemps. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, Inc. University of Pittsburgh Press for lines from Michael S. Harper's Dear Coltrane. 11 11 Dear John, Reprinted from Dear John, Dear Coltrane, by Michael S. Harper, by permission of University of Pittsburgh Press. Copyright@1970 by University of Pittsburgh Press. Robert. Hayden for lines from "Gabriel , 11 from The Negro Caravan, copyright@l941 by Robert Hayden; for lines from 11 Runagate Runagate, 11 from Selected Poems, copyright@)l966 by Robert Hayden and published by October House; and for lines from "El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz" and "Zeus Over Redeye, 11 from Words in the Mourningtime, copyright (£)1970 by Robert Hayden and published by October House. All reprinted by permission of Robert Hayden. John Wesley Hollaway for lines from "Calling the Doctor" and "Miss Merlerlee 1 from From the Desert, copyright@l919 by John Wesley Hollaway. Reprinted in The Book of American Negro Poetry, edited by James Weldon Johnson. Copyright@l922, 1931 by Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. 1959. by Mrs. Grace Nail Johnson. Copyright@1950, Source for reprint rights could not be found at publication time. The National Urban League for lines from Lucy Ariel Williams Holloway•s 11 Northboun 1 11 , from The Book of American Negro Poetry, copyright (9 1926 by Lucy Ariel Williams Holloway. Reprinted by permission of the National Urban League. Random House, Inc. for lines from Langston Hughes 1 s "Mother to Son" and 11 The Negro Speaks of Rivers, 11 from Selected Poems, copyright© 1954 by Langston ~I" Hughes, reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.; iliile:l"'ines from 7 �"Harlem," from The Panther and the Lash: Poems of Our Times, copyright @1967 by Langston Hughes, reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.; A1fred A. Knopf, Inc. for 1i nes from "Jazzoni a," from The Weary Blues, copyright(s)l926 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and renewed by Langston Hughes, reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; Harold Ober Associates for lines from "Goodbye, Christ," from Good Morning, Revolution, copyright @1932 by Langston Hughes, @)renewed , ~printed by permission of Harold Ober Associates. Broadside Press for lines from Lance Jeffers's "Black Soul of the Land" and "My Blackness Is the Beauty of This Land," from My Blackness Is the Beauty of This Land, copyright(91970 by Lance Jeffers. Reprinted by permission of Broadside Press. Ted Joans for lines from "The .38," from New Negro Poets: U.S.A., copyright (g 1964 by Ted Joans. Source for reprint rights could not be located at publication time. The Associated Publishers, Inc. for Charles Bertram Johnson's lines (no title given))from Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Robert Thomas Kerlin. Copyright@l923, 1935 by The Associated Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of The Associated Publishers, Inc. Fenton Johnson for lines from "Tired," from The Book of American Negro Poetry, copyright (£)1922, 1931 by Harcourt, Brace & World and ®renewed 1950, 1959 by Mrs. Grace Nail Johnson. Source for reprint rights could not be found at publication time. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. for lines from Georgia Douglas Johnson's "Dreams of the Dreamer," from Caroling Dusk, edited by Countee Cullen. 8 Copyright@ �1955 by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. for lines from Helene Johnson's Magulu from 11 Copyright@l955 by Harper & Caroling Dusk, edited by Countee Cullen. Row, Publishers, Inc. 11 Reprinted by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Viking Penguin, Inc. for lines from James Weldon Johnson's My Lady's Lips Am 11 Like de Honey" and 0 Black and Unknown Bards, 11 11 from Saint Peter Relates an Incident, by James Weldon Johnson, copyright©l917, 1935 by James Weldon Johnson, copyright@renewed 1963 by Grace Nail Johnson. by permission of Viking Penguin, Inc. Reprinted The Viking Press, Inc. for lines from James Weldon Johnson's The Creation and "The Prodigal Son, 11 11 11 from God's Trombones by James Weldon Johnson, copyright@1927 by The Viking Press, Inc. reserved. Copyright@l955 renewed by Grace Nail Johnson. Reprinted by permission of The Viking Press, Inc. Jupiter Hammon Press for lines from Percy Johnston's Opus All rights 5) from Burning Spear: 11 Fitchett's Basement Blues, An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright @ 1963 by Dasein Literary Society. Reprinted by permission of Jupiter Hammon Press of Dasein Literary Society. E.P. Dutton & Co. for lines from June Jordan's Uncle Bull-Boj' from Some 11 Changes by June Jordan, copyright@ 1967 and 1971 by June Meyer Jordan. Reprinted by permission of the publishers, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. Third Horld Press for lines from Norman Jordan's "High Art and All That Jazf from Destination-Ashes, copyright@ 1970 by Norman Jordan. Reprinted by permission of Third World Press, 7524 South Cottage Grove, Chicago, Ill. 60619. 9 �City Lights Books for lines from Bob Kaufman's "Heavy Water Blues," from Golden Sardine, copyright@)l967 by Bob Kaufman. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books. Broadside Press for lines from Etheridge Knight's "The Bones of My Father," from Belly Song, copyright © 1973 by Etheridge Knight, and "Haiku _"9_)11 from Poems from Prison, copyright©l968 by Etheridge Knight. Reprinted by permission of Broadside Press. Pinkie Gordon Lane for lines from "Griefs of Joy, 11 from Wind Thoughts, copyright @)1972 by Pinkie Gordon Lane. Published by South &West, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Pinkie Gordon Lane. Elouise Loftin for lines from "Getting Caught" and Rain Spread, 11 from Jumbish, 11 copyright(s)l972 by Elouise Loftin and published by Emerson Hall, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author. Black River Writers Press for lines from Wayne Loftin's of the River: 11 Realit:f from Sides A Mini-Anthology of Black Writing, edited and copyright~ 1969 by Eugene Redmond. Reprinted by permission of Black River Writers Press. Broadside Press for lines from Audre Lorde's "Black Mother Woman, from From a 11 Land Where Other People Live, copyright@l973 by Audre Larde and reprinted by permission of Broadside Press; Audre Larde for lines from Moon-minded 11 the Sun" appearing on pp (fill in), from Sixes and Sevens, copyright(g 1962 by Audre Larde, and "Rites of Passage," from Cables to Rage, copyright@ 1970 by Audre Larde. Used by permission of the author. 10 �Twayne Publishers for lines from Claude McKay's "Baptism," "If We Must Die" and "The Lynching," from Selected Poems of Claude McKay, copyright@l953 by Twayne Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Twayne Publishers, a Division of G.K. Hall & Co. Broadside Press for lines from Haki R. Madhubuti's "First Impressions of a Poet's Death," from Think Black, copyright(s)l967 by Don L. Lee, and "The Self-Hatred of Don L. Lee" and "Don't Cry, Scream," from Directionscore: Selected and New Poems, copyright(s)1971 by Don L. Lee. Reprinted by permission of Broadside Press. George Reginald Margetson for lines from The Fledgling Bard and the Poetry Society, copyright@ 1916 by George Reginald Margetson. Reprinted in The Book of American Negro Poetry, edited by James Weldon Johnson. 1931 by Harcourt, Brace &World. Johnson. Copyright~l922, Copyright(91950, 1959 by Mrs. Grace Nail Source for reprint rights could not be found at publication time. G.C. Oden for lines from 11 ••• As When Emotion Too Far Exceeds Its Cause, 11 from Kaleidoscope, edited by Robert Hayden. Copyright@l967 by G.C. Oden. Reprinted by permission of the author. Ojenke (Alvin Saxon) for lines from 11 Watts, 11 from The Poetry of Black America, copyright@ 1973 by Ojenke. Reprinted by permission of the author. Pat Parker for lines from "Brother," from Child of Myself, copyright @1972 by Pat Parker. Reprinted by permission of the author. Third World Press for Dudley Randall's 11 copyright(pl971 by Dudley Randall. Iwo Jima 11 from More to Remember, Reprinted by permission of Third World Press, 7524 South Cottage Grove, Chicago, Ill. 60619. 11 • �Black River Writers Press for lines from Eugene Redmond's 11 Invasion of the Nose, 11 from River of Bones and Flesh and Blood, copyright(£)1971 by Eugene Redmond, and "Inside My Perimeter," from In a Time of Rain & Desire, copyright© 1973 by Eugene Redmond. Reprinted by permission Black River Writers Press. Paul Bermen Limited for lines from Conrad Kent Rivers I s II In Defense of Black Poets 11 and "The Still Voice of Harlem" and for 11 Watts, 11 from The Still Voice of Harlem, Volume 5 in the Heritage Series, published by Paul Bremen Limited, London, 1968, copyright@l972 by Mrs. Cora Mciver Rivers; for lines from "To Richard Wright, 11 from The Wright Poems, Volume 18 in the Heritage Series, published by Paul Bremen Limited, London, 1972. Mrs. Cora Mciver Rivers. Copyright(£)1972 by All reprinted by permission of Paul Bremen Limited. Broadside Press for lines from Sonia Sanchez's 11 Malcolm 11 from Homecoming, copyright~l969 by Sonia Sanchez, reprinted by permission of Broadside Press; Sonia Sanchez for lines from 11 definition of blk/children, copyright@:)1969 by Sonia Sanchez. 11 from Homecoming, Reprinted by permission of the author. Broadside Press for lines from Judy Dothard Simmons's Schizophrenia, 11 from 11 Judith's Blues, copyright~l973 by Judy Dothard Simmons. Reprinted by permission of Broadside Press. Johnie Scott for lines from 11 The Fish Party 11 and 11 Watts, 11 from From Ashes: v·oices of Watts, copyright@l967 by Johnie Scott. Negotiations for reprint rights incomplete at time of publication. Welton Smith for lines from Malcolm, 11 11 from Penetration, copyright@Jl971, published by Journal of Black Poetry Press. available. 12 Source of reprints not �• • . • The Jupiter Hammon Press for 1i nes from LeRoy Stone I s from Burning Spear: II Fl amen co Sketches, 11 An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright(E)l963 by the Dasein Literary Society. Reprinted by permission of Jupiter Hammon Press of The Dasein Literary Society. Firesign Press for lines from Joyce Carol Thomas's "I Know a Lady, 11 from Crystal Breezes, copyrightes)l974 by Joyce Carol Thomas. Reprinted by permission of Firesign Press, Box 402, Berkeley, Calif. Dodd, Mead &Company, Inc. for lines from Melvin Tolson's "Rendezvous with America, 11 "Dark Symphony" and "An Ex-Judge at the Bar, 11 from Rendezvous with America, copyright~l944 by Melvin Tolson. Reprinted by permission of Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc.; Twayne Pub 1i she rs for 1i nes from 11 II Do, 11 Do and Ti, 11 from Libretto for the Republic of Liberia by Melvin B. 11 11 Tolson, copyright(f:)1953 by Twayne Publishers, Inc.; and for lines from 11 Alpha, 11 11 Beta, 11 11 Eta;' 1 11 Gamma, 11 11 Lambda, 11 11 XI 11 and 11 Zeta 11 from Harlem Gallery by Melvin B. Tolson, copyright01956 by Twayne Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Twayne Publishers, A Division of G.K. Hall & Co. Liveright Publishing Corporation for lines from Jean Toomer 1 s "Song of the Son, 11 from Cane, copyright©l923 by Boni & Liveright; copyrigh~enewed 1951 by Jean Toomer. Reprinted by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation; W.l~. Norton & Company for lines from "Blue Meridian," from Black Writers of America, edited by Richard Barksdale and Keneth Kinnamon, copyrigh,0 1972 by The MacMillan Company. Inc. Copyright 1936 by W.W. Norton & Company, Copyrigh~ enewed 1964 by Lewis Mumford, co-editor with Alfred Kreymborg, of The New Caravan. Reprinted by permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 13 �• ! ' A. Philly Riginalski for lines from Mark Traylor s Cool Black Nights, 1 .. Black Poets Write On: 11 11 from An Anthology of Black Philadelphian Poets, copyright (5)1970 by A. Philly Riginalski. Reprinted by pennission of the publisher (author dead at age 22.); permission granted by James G. Spady of the Editorial Staff. Quincy Troupe for vJhite Weekend, 11 from Embryo, copyright© 1972 by Quincy Troupe. 11 Reprinted by permission of Quincy Troupe. Paul Vesey (Samuel Allen) for lines from To Satch, 11 copyright(c)l963 by Paul Vesey. Alice Walker for lines from Rage, 11 11 11 from Soon, One Morning, Reprinted by permission of the author. from Revolutionary Petunias & Other Poems, copyright©l973 by Alice Walker, Reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Brace, Janovich, Inc. Black River Writers Press for lines from Romenetha Washington's from Sides of the River: 11 Rat Race, 11 A Mini-Anthology of Black Writing, edited and copyright@l969 by Eugene Redmond. Reprinted by permission of Black River Writers Press. The Associated Publishers for lines from Lucien B. Watkins's A Prayer of the 11 Race That God Made Black, Thomas Kerlin. 11 from Negro Poets and Their Poems, edited by Copyright©l923, 1935 by The Associated Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by pennission of The Associated Publishers, Inc. Jupiter Hammon Press for lines from Joseph White's Burning Spear: 11 Black Is a Soul, 11 from An Anthology of Afro-Saxon Poetry, copyright@1963 by The Dasein Literary Society. Reprinted by permission of Jupiter Hammon Press of The Dasein Literary Society. 14 �I ! • i :' I ' 1 , I Paul R. Reynolds for specified lines from Richard Wright's "Between the World and Me, 11 copyright@l935 by I.re Partisan Review, and ! Have Seen Black 11 Hands, 11 copyright{£)1935 by The Partisan of Paul R. Reynolds, Inc. 15 Reyiew. Reprinted by permission � 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_08_01 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Inserts and Acknowledgments, p. 1-15 Description An account of the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Inserts 1-9 and Acknowledgments, p. 1-15 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/68d012d0b9695bb0f7444cc1f4bae2f8.pdf c1ebbfda2c659719a00ed718ce279ad0 PDF Text Text ( contents s , conto.) I o...;v rview II Litero.ry rnc< .:)oci'll Iands c cne A. 'l'o ~ ID 1930 B. 1930 - 1960 \JOices II I The A. ?he C0 ning Cedence: Pre - enaissance--c"-"Voices " . ,......,.,,. ,______. c. on the -'otem ? 3 '2 ~ ~~,"W'.li. · ~ - , , ,·~.,,.........~ . , . . . . . . )'inor _Q_£_ ::,econd .wC'"'elon :oe ts of the nenaissance - - - - - --- -- al. --........ nnd ~an-. fri an .,r:..tin e ?...,llout : ne:::r itude Poet D. rs,,r_.;,,,,,I,. E. Til_e .c;xtended Renais~~: 30 , CHAP'l'~R !I: ?estivals and 7 l:' unerals: 13 o.C~{ u.a_s, 5~ "he 'lO\C€S n t "; L',-,~ B. oetr 3-enoral r:;: ?e1·iodtcals ~t•Y ::I Anth~lo ·es ) .:?o"' 1 .lo-re 1 (<-\'} J !'"'.C.e.: s~ ~ • - - . . . _ ............ J ~ .,j P0etry of the 1-;i'0s ·nc. l 7 s I III '") 3 2- t.Job 317 � 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_08_02 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, partial Table of Contents with handwritten edits Description An account of the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, partial Table of Contents with handwritten edits. Draft includes Chapter V through Chapter VII. 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/6c8b122f225b26f0c41a0ce3394ddfea.pdf 19076a7f3309a78c9dd9a24de4a6f363 PDF Text Text BIBLIOGRAPHY This bibliography is designed to serve the needs of beginning and advanced students of Black Poetry. It is not intended to be exhaustive since many bibliographies repeat the same items. No attempt has been made to cite the count- less single collections of poems because numerous checklists and specialized bibliographies are available. Moreover, most anthologies, critical studies and hist ories list individual collections--in selected bi bliographies and biographies. Since many Black poets publish privatel3r or with small and relatively unknown publishing houses, the student will want to examine listin~s and reviews in Black periodicals (Black World, Journal of Black Po~try, Freedomways, Black Books Bulletin, Black Creation, CLA Journal and others). Some Black publishing houses print title listings on the inside covers of their books. Scores of records and tapes of readings, films, broadsides (single poems), pamphlet publications and tracts are also available from individuals or small publishing houses. Recently, such large recording companies as Folkways, Flying Dutchman and MoTown have begun to record and distribute Black Poetry. However, the task of locating and developing a c h ecklist for the myriad publications and publishing activities of Black poets still awaits some serious student of Black literature. For con- venience, a list of Blacl: pub~ ishing compa nies is included at the end of' tllLs~ibl io rrra nbv. �B I B L I O G R A P TI Y GENERAL RESEARCH AIDS Ada.ms, Russell L. Great Negroes, Past and rrese_n_:t. Chicago, l 96~. The Arthur B. Spingarn Collection of Nerrro Authors. Washington, D.C., 191i,fJ. Bontemps, Arna. "The James Weldon JohnsoQ __l:~.rr1orial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters. 11 Yale University Li~r.ary Gazette, XVIII (October 1943), 19-26. • "Special Collect ions of NeP:roana. " Li brarv --o-u-arterly, XIV (1944), 187-206 Chapman, Abraham. The Negro in American Literature _ and a Bibliography of . Literatur.~____Qy and about Negro Americans. Stevens Point , Wis., 1q66 . Deodene, Frank and William P. French. Black American poetry Since 1944, A Pre1_l_IT!.inary Checklist. Chatham, 1971. Dictionar:_y__Catalo_g_ of ... the __ Jesse_ E. __ Moorland__Collection of~Ne gro Life _and_History (at Howard Uni versity,. 9 vols. Boston, 1970. Dictionary Cata.lo ~ or the Schomburg Collection of Negro _Literature_&_ Hist ory-. 11 vols. Boston, 1962, 1967. Drzick, Kathleen, John Murphy, and Constance Weaver. Annotated Bibliography of Works Re latin r to the Negro in Literature and to Negro Dialects. Kalamazoo, Mich ., 1969. Du Bois, W.E.B. A Select Bibliography of the NA~ro American. 3rd ed. Atlanta, 19n5. , and Guy B. Johnson. Encyclopedia of the Negro: Pi:_~p-~_!'-~_t;o:ry _Vol un:_i~. Rev. Ed. New York, 1946. Guzman, Jessie P., ed. Ne ~ro Year Book, Tuske~ee, Ala., 194 7. Index to Periodical Articles hy and About Neproes (formerly A Guiq~__t__g__N.?. .Kt:Q ___ ]:~x.i od ic.al.. Li..teratJJ.r.e and Index to Selected Pe..r.i..QQ~_c..al.s.). International__ Library __ of_) fo.e:.ro _Lif e_and .. Utstory. 10 vols. Washington, D.C., 1967-l06G . Jahn, Hanheinz. A -Bibli_o~raphy of Neo-Af'rican Literature from Afri_ga, __ Arnerica_t.__and tw _Car:lhbean. New York , 1965. Johnson, Harry A. Multimedia Materials for AfroAmerican Studies, New York , 1971. 11 Kaiser, Ernest. The }Li.~torr of Neri-:r0 TU s~()rv. 11 _Negro Dige_st, XVII 0• ebruary lt.J6 t\ ), 10-l_S, 64-80. 11 Recent Books. H Freedomwe.ys, in each issue. --- 1 i �McPherson, James, et al, eds. Blacks in AmericA: Bibliographical Essays. New York, 1G72. Major, Clarence. Dictionary of Afro-American Slang. New York, 1970. · Miller, Elizabeth W. and Mary L. },isher. The Ner.;ro tn America: A Bibliopraphy. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass., 1970. The Negro in Print: ~i,p).iori:raphic Survey. Porter, Dorothy B. 11~arly American NeP:ro Writinrrs: ;;,.\i '( tw,J..7-,_Q,;.,,~..''.} A Bibliographical Studv." Papers of the BiqJiq.:·· ___,, 9_f __Arg~_:rjqQ-, XXXIX ( 19~), T~~:~gg:J__§--9~i~:!;y___ • North American Ne~ro Poets: A Biblio--g-r-aphical __ Check _List__ of~Th_e ir __ Wri ti ops, 1760-19h4. HattiesburB, Miss., 194~. Rowell, Charles H. 1¼ Bibliography of Bibliographies for the Study of Black American Literature and Folklore. 11 Black Experience, A Southern University Journal, LV (June 1969) 95-111. Smith, Jessie Carney. ''Developing Collections of Black Literature. 11 Black World. XX ( June 1971), 18-29 Turner. Darwin T. Afro-American Writers. t~- - ~ - ~-New York, 1970. Wor'k, l"Jonroe N. A Biblior;ra.pby of the Negro in Africa and America. New York , 1923. 11 Yellin, Jean Fac;an. An Index of Literary Materia.ls in _The Crisis, 1910-1931+: Ar ti cles, Belles-Lettres, and Boole Revfews. '' CL'-1. Journal, XIV (1971), 452-1~65. PERIODICAL.S Amistad Black Academy Review Black Books Bulletin Black Creation Black Orph~_us: A Journal o;f _Af'.r.ican _nnd _Afro-American Literatur~ The Black Position Black Review The Black Scholar Black Theatre Black World (formerly Ner:ro Dipest) CLA Journal Controntation: ~ Journal of Third World Literature The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races Douglass• Monthly Essence Freedomways �PERIODICALS (cont'd) The Jo_ul'nal of Black Poetr..:r The Journal of Black Studies The Journal of Ner:ro Histo.u Ner;ro American Li te_J;:1.§.~t1!l:!LJ.:.~ Negro History Bullet::l,...rr. Nkombo Nommo Opportunity: A Journal of Negro _Life Phylon: The Atlanta _University Review of nace and ,culture Presence Africain~: Cultura.l _..Revue_ of _the_Ne_g]'o World Roots: _A __Journal __ of' Cr:i.tical __and Creat_i ve. Expression Soulbook Studies in Black Literature Umbra Yardbird __ Reader ANTHOLOGIES (NOTE: Most, but not all, of the followinr.; antholoA;ies are devoted primarily to BlQck Poetry.) Adams. William, Peter Conn, and Barry Slepian, eds. Afro-American Literature: Poetry. Boston, 1970. Adoff, Arnold, ed. Black Out Loud: An Anthology of Modern Poems by Black Americans. New York, 1970. , ed. I Am the Darker Brother: An AntholoBv --o-f-Modern Poems by Black Americans. New York, 1963. , ed. The Poetry of Black AmeJ1~.9a. New York, -,973. Afro-Arts Anthology. Newark, 1066. Alha~nisi, Ahmed and Harun K. Wa.ngara, eds. Black Arts: An Anthology of Black Creations. Detroit, 1970. Baker, Houston A., Jr., ed. Black Literature in America. New York, 1971. Barksdale, Richard and Kenneth Kinnanon, eds. Black Writers of America. New York, 1972. __12CD. Soul Sessioq. Newark, 1969. Black History Museu~ Co~Mittee of Philadelphia. Black Poets Write On. Philadelphia., 1969 (?). Bontemps, Arna., ed. American Negro Poetrv. New York, 1963. Brawley, Benjamin, ed. Early Negro American Writers. Chapel Hill, N.C • ., 19~ Brooks, Gwendol::,i., ed. A Broa.dside T:reasur__y. Detroit, 1971. *_ -:1-Belt., 6e 'rtlt'A.Y'ti ~ .e.d, WeM\ ctnd_ _~.o~_~mpot"o..r A~e Y' ·i c~n.~J:..rj/,. Sot'nn·, ~ . 0 Afr.Q- �ANTHOLOGIES (cont'd) , ed. Jump Bad: A New Chicar:o Anthology. ---=n-e~troit, 1971. Brown, Sterling A., Arthur P. De.vis, and Ulysses Lee, eds. The Ne~ro Caravan. New York, 19ltl; Arno, 1969. Ca.de, Toni, ed. The Black Wome.n: An Anthology. New York, 1970. Calverton, Victor F., ed. Anthology o~ American Negro Literature. New York, 1929. Chambers, Bradford and Rebecca Mo on, eds. Bight On: Anthology of' Black LiterattJ,re. New York, 1970. Chapman, Abraham, ed. Afro-American Slave Narratives. New York, 1970. . , ed. Black Voices: An~~hology of Afro-American _ _L_.i...-terature. New York, 1968 . , ed. New Black Voices. New York, 1971. -0--1-a.-r.....k-e, John Henrik, ed. Harlem: Voices from the Soul of Black America. New York , 1970. Coombs, Orde, ed~ We Speak as Libera.tors: Young Black Poets. New York, 1970. Cornish, Sam and Lucian w. Dixon. Chicorv: Young Voices From the Black Ghetto. New York, 1969. Cromwell, Oteliz, Lorenzo D. Turner, and Eva B. Dykes, -. eds. Readings from Negr__Q_Authors. New York, 1931. /cruise, Harold. The Crisis of the Ne ,;:ro Intellectual.) 1,.ds/1'] ~ New York, 1967. Cullen, Countee, ed. Carolin~ Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets. New York, 1927. Cunard, Nancy, ed. Ne~ro AntholOBY• London, 1934. Danner, Mar garet. ReRroup. Richmond, Va .• 1969 • . The Brass House. Richmond, Va ., 1968 . -n-a_v_i_s_, Arthur P. and Saunders Reddin~, eds. Cavalcade: Ner;ro American Writinp from 1760 to the Present. Bosto n, 1971. Davis, Charles T. and Daniel We.lden, eds. On Beinp; Black: Writings by Afro-Americans from Frederick Dou~lass to the Present. New York, 1970. Dreer, Herman, ed. American Literature by Negro Authors. New York, 1950. Emanuel, James A. and Theodore Gross, eds. Dark Symphonv: Negro Literature in America. New York, 1968. Ford, Nick Aaron, ed. Black In?.iggts: S i~nificant Literature by Afro-Ame_r icans-1760 to the Present. Waltham, Mass., 1971. Freedman, Franc Gs S., ed. The Black American Experienc :· A New Anthology of Bla.ck Li te~atur_~. New York, 1 g70. Giovanni, Nikki. Night Comes Softly. Newa.r-K >· • 1971'. �ANT!IOLOG IES (cont'd) Haslam, Gerald W., ed. Forgotten Pa.rre s of American Literature. Boston, 1970. Hayden, Robert, ed. Kaleidoscope: Poems by American Negro Poets. New York, 1967. , David Burrows, and Frederick Lapides, eds. --A-r-ro-American Literature. - New York, 1971. Henderson, David, ed. Umbra. Blackworks Antholoc;y 1970-1971. New York;-T971. Henderson, Stephen. Understa.ndine; the New Black Poetry. New York, 1973. Hill, Herbert, ed. Soon One Mernin~: New Writi n bv American Negroes, 19 0-19 2. New York, 1963. Hughes, Langston, ed. 'l1he Book of Ner,:ro Humor. New York, 1966. , . ~ , ed. La Poesie N,gro-Am~ricaine. Paris : Editions Segbers, 1966. , ed. New Negro Poets U.S.A. Bloomington, Ind., --19-64. and Arna Bontemps, eds. 'l'he Poetrv of the Nerro_, 1Tu6-19~l.Q. Rev. ed. Garden City, U.Y ., 1970. Johnson, Charles s., ed. ~bony and Topaz: A Calleetanea. New York, 1927. Johnson, James ·weldon, ed. The Bo ok of' American Ne ,q;ro Poetry. Rev. ed. New York, 1931. , ed. The Book of American NoQro S irituals. --N-ew- York, 192; The Second ~ook of Nerrro Spiritua ls. New York, 1926. Jones, LeRoi and Larry Neal, eds. _Black FirQ: An. Anthology of Afro-American Writing. New York, 1968. Jordan, June, ed. Soulscript: Afro-American Poetry . Garden City, N.Y., 1970. Kearns, Francis E., ed. The Black Exp~;r.J~nq~: _AQ_ Anthology of American Literature for the 197.Q...!_~. New York, 1970. Kendricks, Ralph, ed. _Afro-Americn.n Voice~: 1770' s1970' s. New York, 1970. Kerlin, Robert T., ed. Negro Poets and Their Poems. · 2nd ed. Washington, D.C., 1935. King, Woodie. ]?lack Spir_i ts: A_Festi val _ of __}I~~ Black Poets in Amer ica. New York, 1972. Knight, EtheridGe, ed. Black Voices from Prison. New York, 1970. Lanusse, Armand, ed. Creole Voices: :e9_~ms __ in French by Fr_e~ __ M~_n_ of . Color. Ed. Edward r~. Coleman. Centennial ed. Washington, D.C., 1945. �ANTHOLOGIES (cont'd) Locke, Alaine, ed. Four Negro Poets. New York, 1927. , ed. The New Ner:;ro: An Interpretation. New York, 192.5. Lomax, Alan and Raoul Abdul, eds. 3000 Years of Black Poetry. New York, 1970. ~Lowenfels, Walter, ed. In A.Time of Revolution: Poems From our Third World. New York, 1969. Major, Clarence, ed. The New Black Poetry . New York, 1969. Miller, Adam David, ed. Dices or Black Bones: Black Voices of the Seventies. Boston, 1970. Miller, Ruth, ed. .Blackamerican Li tera.tu.r_e 1760-Present. Beverly Hills, Calif., 1971. Moon, Bucklin, ed. Primer for White Folks. Garden City, N.Y., 1945. Murphy, Beatrice, ed. Nee;ro Voi~. Hew York, 1938. • Ebony Rhyt_h~. New York , 19µ. 3 and 1968. - - - . Today's Negr o Voices. New York , 1070. Nelson, Alice Dunbar, ed. Masterpieces of Ner:r.9 Eloquence. New York , 1914. Nicholas, Xavier, ed. Poetry of Soul. New York, 1971. , ~ ;-• Lanp;ston IIur;hes, Black Genius: ) 6£'...\.a,1 . Ji ( O 'Daniel, Thurman, ed. • A Critical Evaluation. New York, 1971. Osofsky, Gilbert, ed. Puttin' on Ole Mass? : ____T11e Sle.ve Narratives of Henry Bibb, Willi.am W. Brown, and Solomon Northrup. New York, 1969 . Patterson, Lindsay, ed. ~n Introduction to Black Literature in America from l to the Present. W&shington, D.C., 19 9. Perkins, Eugene, ed. Black Expressions: An Anthology of New Black Poets. Chicaso, 1967. Poems by Blacks, vol. I. Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1970. , Vol. II. Fort Smith, Arkansa s, 1972. - - - , Vol. III. ( Pinkie Gordon Lane, ed.). Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1973. Pool, Rasey E., ed. Beyond the Blues: New Poems by American Hep:roes. Lympne, Kent, Entland, 1962. • Ik Ben de lJieuwe Neger. The Ha.cue: Bert --B-a....-kker, 196h. Porter, Dorothy, ed. Early Nep;ro Writ_ins, ____1760-183..7. Boston, 1971. Randall, Dudley , ed. Black Poet~_y: A Supplement to Anthologies Uhich Exclude Black Po~_t s. Detroit, 1969. and Margaret Burrour;hs, eds. For Malcolm: Poems on the Life anj Death of Malcolm X. Detroit, 1969 ., ed. The Black Poets. New Yo~k, 1971. _R_e_d_m_o-nd, Eugene. Sides of the River: _A Mini Anthology . of Black Hritings. ·E.k!.·t"S1".1.. m.ti~Jt.t.L·;.~- , 1970. ~,tona·r Rich~F& A. ~r'\d ~u'be.Y\i~ ct3l.l:ler.J" eds .. Af.r:,o-Ahl.e·ry.can ~ i ,°\l\ , _, t'\ A.nttlplOBY oP Pt~ ro:~'n-if ~ voG. 1\-ew \ •ot1-K1 'r..?;~ -.__ 'q w O �ANTHOLOGIES (cont'd) Reed, Ishmael, ed. 19 Necromancers from Now: An _Anthology of Original American Writing tor the 70s. Garden City, N.Y., 1970. Robinson, William H., ed. Early Black American f--2.tl.§.. Dubuque, Iowa, 1969. Rodgers, Carolyn M., ed. For Love of Our Brothers. Chicago, 1970 •. Schulberg, Budd, ed. From the Ashes: Voices ot Watts. New York, 1967. Shuman, R. Baird, ed. A Galaxy of Black Writing.~~ Durham, · N. C., 1970. , ed. Nine Black Poets. Durham, N.C., 1968. BourITession. Newark, 1970 (?) Stanford, Barbara Dodds, ed. I, Too, Sing America: Black Voices in American Literature. New York, l • 1971. Ten: An Antholof. of Detroit Poets. Fort Smith, Arkansas, 196. Troupe, Quincy, ed. Watts Poets and Writers. Los Angeles, 1968. Turner, Darwin T., ed.· Black American Literature: Poetry. Columbus, Ohio, 1970. Watkins, Sylvester c., ed. Antholo~ of American Negro Literature. New York, 1944. White, Newman I. and Walter C. Jackson, eds. An. Anthology of Verse by American Negroes. · Durham. N.C., 1924. .I Wilentz, Ted and Tom Weatherly, eds. Natural Process: An Anthology of New Black Poetry. New York, 1971. Woodson, Carter G., ed. Negro Orators and Their Orations. Washington, D.C., 1925. LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM · (General) Allen, Samuel. "Negritude and Its Relevance to the American Negro Writer. 11 The American Ne_gro Writer and His Roots. New York, 19-60. Pp. ·cT.:..20 -- ----The America-n Negr_Q__ W.!"~_ter_~_n_g.__ H~-~ Ro_ ot~. New York, 1960. Baraka., Imamu Amiri (LeRoi Jones). "The Black Aesthetic." Negro Digest, XVIII (September 1969), 5-6. Bontemps, Arna. "The Black Renaissance of the Twenties," Black World, XX (November 1970), 5-9. • "Famous WPA Authors." Negro Digest, VIII --.(.-..J.... une 1950), 43-47. · • "The Harlem Renaissance." The Saturday Review __o_f....L1terature, XXX (March 22, 1947), 12-¼3, 44 . • "The Negro Contribution to American Lettere." --...Th..----e American Ne~ro Reference Book. Ed. John P. Davis. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1966. Pp. 850- 878. _,. �LI'.11ERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (General) • "The New Black Renaissa.nce." Nea:ro Dir·est, --x-r--(November 1961), 52-58. , ed. The Harlem Renaissance Remembered. New --y~o-rk, 1972. 11 Brawley, Benjamin. The Uegro in Amer>ican Literoture. u The Bookman, LVI (October 1922), 137-1~1. Bronz, Stephen II. Roots of Negro Racial Consciousness: The 1920's: Three Harlem Rena issance Author~. New York, 1961.i.. 11 Brooks, Russell. "rhe Comic Spirit and the Negro's 11 New Look. CLA Journal, VI (1962), 35-L~3. Brown, Lloyd W. "Black Entitles: Hames a.s Symbols in Afro-American Literature." Studies in Black Litera.~ , I (Spring 1970), 16-44-. 11 Brown, Sterling A. The American Race Pr oblem a.s Reflected in American Literature. " The Journal of Negro Education, VIII (1939), 275-290 • 11 • The New Ne gro in Literature (1 925-1955)." _ _T.,...h-e New Negro 'rhirtv Years Aft_erward. Ed. Rayford w. Logan et al. Washingto n, D.C., 1955. Pp 57-72. Calverton, Victor F. rhe Liberation of American Literature. New York, 1932 • 11 • The Negro and American Culture. 11 The Saturday ----:R'eview of Literature, XXII (September 21, 1940), 3-4. Cayton, Horace R. "Ideological Forces i.n the Work of Negro Writers. 11 :fl.ne;er, and Beyond: The Nee;ro xfriter in the United States. Ed. Herbert Hill. New York, 1966. Pp . 37-50. Chapman, Abraham. "The Harlem Renaissance in Literary History. 11 CLA Journal, XI ( 1967), 38-58. Clarke, John Henrik. "The Neglected Dimensions of the Harlem Renaissance." Black World, XX ( Nove mber 1970) 1 118-129. - • "The Origin and Growth of Afro-American Litera----r-t-u-re. 11 Negro Digest, XVII (December 1967), 51-t-6 7. Clay, Eugene. "The Ne gro in Recent American Literature." Ed. Henry Hart. New ~~!~~-gl~}?'t.t~~: ':df5~r5~:13. _Col l_QQ_ui um_ 9. q_E~E!'..~ Jl:r.t : !:.~_rs t Wor 1 d Fe_~t?:..~-~ l- of N~_fil'....O W (1966). Presence Afr i caine Editions, 19bD. Conrad, Earl. '¼merican Viewpoint: Blues School of Literature." The _Chi_ca~Defender, December 22, 1945, p. 11. Cook, Mercer and Stephen H~p,d,erson. The Militant Black Writer in Africa and United ~tates. Madison, Wis., 1969. Cullen, Countee. "The D~,,rk Tower. 11 Opportunity, rrronthly column, 1926... 1928. --.,.'Cru$e tto.r~ld ; 0 .. ~ , s;. c.f t'he N._~~-D.__J1?~~7~J~ttu~1.. J~ew yv ""i-~ J--:J too �LITERARY HISTORY AND CTUTICISP (General) Davis, Arthur P. "Growing up in tlrn New Nec;ro Renaissance: 1920-1935." Nee:ro Amer:i.cnn Literature Forum, II (1968), 53-59. · Dillard, J.L. Black English. New York. 1q72. Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls·of Black Folk. Chica~o, 1903. Ellison, Ralph. ~hadow and Act. New York, 1964: Evans, Mari. "Contemporary Black Li tereture. 11 Bl a.ck World, XIX ( June 1970), 4, 9 3-9ti. Ford, Nick Aaron. Annual "Critical Survey of Significant Belles Lettres by and About Nee-r oes." Phylon, XXII (1961), 119-131+; XXV (196h), 123-lJh . • "Black Literature and the Pro blem of Eval_ _u_a..,...tion. 11 College Enr:lish, XXXII ( 1971), 536-5L~ 7. ~ Black Studies: Threat Or' Cballen r,:e? Port \1'(tiG_,# Washin 0 t?n, N.Y., 1973. _. . . ,Jticn-'Cl}~.s~.!J~ _ D.' Fuller, Hoyt W. "Black Ima g es and Wnite CrJ.tics. "\' ~ 1 -·v-~~-\J u,q b 1 • "Tho llier1:ro Hriter in the Un1ted States ." ~--.1• Jt~ n y . XX (November 1964), 126-131-1-. • " Perspectives." Nep-ro Di r·est and Black ·world, --m-o-nthlv column. , e~. '¼ Survey: Black Writers' Views on Lit--e-r-nry Lions and Values, n ~-~_p;ro Digest, XVII ( January 1968), 10-48, 81-89. Gayle, Addison, Jr., ed. The Black Aestbeti~. Garden City, N.Y., 1971. , ed. Black Expression: Essavs bv and About ---=B...-1-ack Americans in the Crea.ti ve Arts. h ew York, 19 69 • . - -- -- - Gerald, Carolyn. n'I1be Black Wr:l ter and His Ro le. 11 Negro Digest, XVIII (Januar y 1969), 42-4 9. Haskins, Jim and Hu gb F. Butts, M.D. The Psycbology of Black Lanrrua!{i• New York, 1973 . Haslam, Gerald W. The Aweke □ inc of American Negro Literature 1619-1900. n The Black American Writer. Ed. C.W.E. Bigsby. Deland, Pla.. , 1969. VoT-~ II, pp. 41-51. 11 • Two 'l1 radi tions in A.fro-American Literature. 11 -ires"ea.rch Studies, A Quarterly i)ublication of Washington State University, XXXVII (Septembe r 1969), 183-193. Hill, Herbert. "The Negr o Writer and the Creative 11 Imap;ination. Arts in Societv, V (196D), 24Li-255. Huggins, Nathan I. Harlem Renais-sance_. New York, 1971. Hue;bes, Langston. The Biv Sea. Hew York, l 9L~O. I Wonder as I Wander. New York, 1956. • "The Ne r;ro Artist and tbe Racial Mountain. 11 --T~h-e Nation, CXXII (1926), 692-694. �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (General) "To Negro vlri ters. 11 American Writers' ConD.:ress. --E-a-. Henry Hart. New York, 19J5:~~~-==:Pp';'139_141. • "The Twenties: Harlem and Its He p:ritude." --A-f-rican Forum, I (Springl 19~6), 11-20. Jackson, Blyden. Annual "R~sume of Ne p:ro Literature." Phylon, XVI (1955), 5-12; XVII (1956), 35-L~o. Jahn, Janheinz. Ueo-African Literature: A History of Black Writing. New York, 1968. Jeff'ers, Lance. "Afro-American Literature, The Conscience of Han. 11 The Black Scholg_r. II (January 1971), L).'7-53. Johnson, Charles S. "T·be Necro Enters Literature." Carolina Magazine, LVII ( May 1927), 3-9, Ji4-L~8. Johnson, James Weldon. Along This Way. New York, 1933. Jones, LeRoi (Ima.mu Amiri Ba.raka). Home: Social Essays. New York, 1966. -Keller, Joseph. "Black Writing and the Wt1ite Critic. 11 Negro American Literature Forum, III (1969), 103-110. Kent, Geor ge E. Blackness and the Adventure of Western Culture. Chicago, 1971. 11 Kile;ore, James C. The Case for Black Literature. " Negro Digest, XVIII (July 1969), 22-25,66-69. 11 Killens, John Oliver. Another T:ime Wben Black Was Beautiful." Black ·world, XX (IJovember 1970), 20-36. Lamming, George. "The Ne p;ro Writer and His World. 11 Prisence Africaine, Nos. 8-10 (June-November 1956), pp. 324-332. La.sh, John. Annual "Critical Summary o.f Literature by and About Ne groes." Phvlon, XVIII (19 c~7), 7-24; XIX (1958 ), 143-154, 21~7-257; XX (1959), 115-131; • XXI (1960), 111.-123. Llorens, David. '~hat Contemporary Black Writers are Saying." Nommo, I (Winter 1969), 2L1-27. • ''t-Jriters Conver ge at Fisk University. 11 Ner.;ro --n-i-gest, xv (June 1966}, 54-63. Locke, Alain, ed. The New Ne gro; An Interpretation. New York, 1925. Loggins, Vernon. The Negro Author: His Development in America to 1900. New York, 1931. 11.lurray, Albert. Tbe Omni-Americans: New P~pectives on Black Experience and American Culture. New York, 1970 • • South A0:a.in to A Verv Old Place. New York, - ...... 19"""'7~- -~ --- Neal, Larry. "Any Day Now: Black Art and B~ack Liberation." Ebony. XXIV (August 1969), 54-58, 62. "Our Prize Winners and What They Say of Themselves. 11 Opportunitv, IV (1926), 1 80 -1 09. ~edding, Saunders. ''American Ne gro Literature. 11 The American Scholar, XVIII (19L~9), 137-11-1-G. " ,,~, Dani~l , i"hu trrn'1n. , ed. .an_grf'i,fl BQ,lhe.s, 6to..c)( Geni \J,;Sl : .L- A. Cv-i -1--i cetl /;;v;?i,'lP.~tJJf(I' . l\etu </'ow-iKJ lq'71, · �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (General) • "The Negro Writer and His Relationshi.p to ---...H.....i-s Roots. " The American Negr o Writer and His Roots. New York, 1960. Pp 1-8 • • To Make a Poet Black. Chapel Hill, N.C., --19~39. Rourke, Constance. "Tradition· for a Negro Literature." Roots of American Culture. New York , 1942. Pp. 262-274. . Shapiro, Karl. "'rbe Decolonization of American Literature." Wils_pn Library Bul letiQ, XXXIX (1965), 842-853 . Spingarn, Arthur B. "Books by Negro Authors. 11 The Crisis, 1938-1965, annual feature. Thurman, Wallace. "Negro Artists. and the Negr o. 11 The New Republic, LII (August 31, 1q2 7), 37-39. Turner, Darwin T. "Afro-American Li tera.ry Critics. 11 Black World, XIX (July 1970), 54-67. • "The Teaching of Afro-American Literature." --c-o--llege Engll~l-:1, YC{XI (1970), 666-670. Williams, Sherle-y. _gJve Birth to Bris;htness: ~Thematic Study in Nee-Black Literature. New YOrk, 1972. (Poetry) Bailey, Leaonead. Broadside Authors: A Bigpraphical Directory. Detroit, 1971. Barksdale, Richard K. "Trends in Contemporary Poetry. Phylon, XIX (1958), 408-416 . • "Urban Crisis and the Black Poetic Avant--G-a-rde. 11 Negro Ame-rican Literature Forum, III 11 (1969), 40-44. Bennett, M. W. "Ne gr o Poets.'' Ne e;r o History Bulletin, IX (1946), 171-172, 191. Berger, Art. "Negroes with Pens. 11 Mainstream, XVI (July 1963), 3-6. Bland, Edward. "Rae ial Bias and Negro Poetry . " Poetry, LXIII (194~.), 3213-333. Bone, Robert. "American Nec;ro Poets: A FY'ench View. 11 Tri-Quarterly, No. 4 {1965), pp 135-195. Bontemps, Arna. "American Nep;ro Poetry. 11 The Crisis, (1963), 509. LXX • 0 Negro Poets, Then and Now." -~(-1""'950), 355-3 60 . . Phylon, XI �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICIS M ( Poetry) Braithwaite, William Stanley. "Some Contemporary Poets of the Negro Race. " The Cr•is is, XVII {1 q1 g), 275-280. Breman, Paul. "Poetry Into the 1 Sixties." The Black American Writer. Ed. C.W... E. Bigsby. Deland, Fla., 1969. Vol. II, pp 99-109. Brooks, Gwendolyn. "Poets Who Are Negro. " Phylon, XI (1950), 312. • Report from Part One. Detroit, 1972. - - - . "Introduction." The Poetrv of Blacl\ America. Arnold Adoff, ed. 11 New York, 1973. Brown, Sterling A. "The Blues. Phylon, XIII {1952), 286-292. • "Negro Folk Expression: Spirituals, Seculars, --B-a..-llads, and Songs." Phylon, XIV (1953), 45-61 . • ~egro Poetry and Drama. Washington, D.C., -.....,1,..,.9.....37 • • Outline for the Study of the Poetry of American --N-e-groes. New York, 1931. Cartey, Wilfred. "Four Shadows of Harlem.'' Negro Digest, XVIII (August 1969), 22-25. Chapman, Abraham. "Black Poetry Today. 11 Arts in Society, V (1968), 401-!~08. Charters, Samuel B. The Poetry of the Blues. New York, 1963. Collier, Eugenia W. "Herl tage from Harlem. 11 Black World, XX (November 1970), 52-59. . ''I Do Not Marvel, Countee Cullen." CLA ----;Journal, XI (1967), 73-87. 11 Davis, Arthur P. The New Poetry of' Ela.ck Hate. " CLA Journal, XIII (1970), 382-391. Daykin, Walter I. "Race Consciousness in Nec;ro Poetry." Sociology and Social Research, XX (1936), 98-105 . Echeruo, M. J.C. If.American Negro Poetry. " _phylon, XXIV (1963), 62-68. Ellison, Martha. "Velvet Voices Feed on Bitter Fruit: A Study of American Neero Poetry." Poet and Critic, IV (Winter 1967-1968), 39-49. Ely, Effie Smith. "American Negro Poetry . " The Christian Century, XL (1923), 366-367. Fla.sch, Joy. Melvin B. Tolson. New York, 1973. Furay, Michael. '¼frica in Negro American Poetry to 1929." African Li~ture Tod§:Y, II (1069), 32-41. 1 Garrett, DeLois. ~rAam Motif in Contemporary Negro · Poetry." English Journal, LIX (1970), 767-770. �LI'rERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM (Poetry) -·~l·~/' Garrett, Naomi M. •~acial Motifs in Contemporary ., ..Jtr11,§,!'JCll.JLJlnd...F.r__ench Negro Poetry. 11 West Virf1:inia __..,,.,.,,-•· IJniversity Phil6!dcal Papers, XIV (1963), 80-101. Gibson, Donald B, ed. Modern Black Poets: A Collection of Critical Essays. Engl~wood Cliffs, N.J., 1973. Glicksberg, Charles I. "Neero Poets and the American Tradition." The Antioch Review, VI (1946), 243-2.53. Good, Charles Hamlin. ttThe First America.n Negro Literary Movement." Opportunity, X (1932)~ 76-79. Heath, Phoebe Anne. "Negro Poetry as an Historical Record." Yassar Journal of' Underc;ra.dua.te Studies, III (May 1928 ), 34-52. Horne, Frank s. "Black Verse." Opportunity, II (19211-), 330-332. Johnson, Charles S. 11 Ja.zz Poetry and Blues." Carolina. Magazine, LVIII (May 1928), 16-20. Johnson, James Weldon, 11 Freface. tr Tt.e Book of American ~egro Poetry. Ed. James Weldon Joh nson. New York, 1931. Pp. 3-46. Kerlin, Robert T. "Conquest by Poetry.'' The Southern Workman, LVI (1927), 282-2 04 . • Contemporary Poetry of the Negro. Hampton, --v~a-., 1921. . • "A Pair o.f Youthful Ne vro Poets. 11 The --'Southern Workman, LIII (1924), 178-l f~ l. · • "Present-Day Ne gro Poets. 11 The Southern Workman, XLIX (1920), 543-548. • "Singers of' New Songs." Opportunity, IV --(-1--926), 162-164. Kilgore, James C. "Toward the Dark Tower." Black World, XIX (June 1970), 14-17. · Kjersmeier, Carl. "Ne groes as Poets.'' The Crisis, XXX (1925), 186-189. Lee, Don L. ''Black Poetry: Which Direction?" Negro Digest, XVII (September-October 1968 ), 27-32. • Dynaml te Voice~: Black Poets of the 1960 !..§.. --n-e-troit, 1971. Locke, Alain. "The Message of the Ne gro Poets. 11 Carolina Magazine, LVIII ( May 1928 ), 5-15. Moore, Gerald. "Poetry in the Harlem Renaissance. 11 The Black America_t:}___lf.I"_U_~r. Ed. C.W.E. Bi gsby. Deland, Fla., 1969, Vol. II, pp. 67-76. Morpurgo, .J.E. "America.n Negro Poetry. n Fortnightly, CLXVIII (July 1947), 16-24. Morton, Lena Beatrice. Negro Poetry in America. Boston, 1925. · "Negro Poetry. 11 Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Ed. Alex Preminger, Frank J. Warnke, and O.B. Hardison. Princeton, N.J., 1965. Pp 558 -559. �LITERARY HISTORY AND CRITICISM { .Poetry) "Ne gro Poets, Singers in the Dawn. fl Bulletjn, II {1938), 9-10, 14-15 . Oliver, Paul. The Ner;ro History Blues Fell This ~ ornin ~ : The Meaning of The Blues. New York, 1960 . • Conversation with the Blues. New York, 1965. Foo!-,-Rosey. "The Discovery of American Ne i-:i; ro Poetry. " Freedomways, III (1963), 46-51. Ramse.ran, J.A. 11 Tbe ''I'wice-Bort~' ,'\rt .i sts I Si lent Revolution. 11 Black World, XX {May 1971), SB-68. Redmond, Eur;ene B-~ "The Bla ck American Epic : Its Roots, Its Writ ers. 11 The Ela.ck Scholar, II ( January 1971), l .' J-22. 11 • How Many Poets Scrub tbe River's Bae k?" ---Confrontation, I (Spring, 1971), 47-53. Rod gers , Carolyn M. "BJ.Pr,!{ Poetry-Wh ere It's At. 11 Negro Digez,g_t, XVII (S{oQtemoer 1969), 7-16. Rollins, Charlemae. Fa,,,0us American lJ~ro Poets. New York, 1965. 11 Taussig, Charlotte E. The New lfo t-;t'o as Revealed in His Poetry.'' Op?iortunity, V (1927), l OP, -111. Thurman, Wallace.Negro Poets and Their T' oetry. 11 The Bookman, LXVII tl92 8 ), 55'_5-_,'61. "The Umbra Poets. 11 Mainstream, XVI (July 1963), 11 7-13. The Undaunted Pursuit of Ii'ury. 11 Jime, XCV (Apri 1 6, 1970)' 91'3 -100. ' ' ' Wagner, Jean. Les poete¥ n0gres des Etats-vnis: Le ' sentiment ra'f ia_l __~t relig ieux dans la poesie de P.L. Dunbar a L. Hughes. Paris, 1963. 1t:----1fa.1ker, Harga1"et . "New .P oets. 11 _ })hylon. XI (1950), 345-35'4. White, Newman I. "American Negr o Poett'y ." Atlantic Q.uarterly, XX (1921), 304-322. • ttRa.cial Feeling in NeP:ro Poetr~r. •r __;)outb South --A-t-lantic Quarterly, iXI (19~2), 14-2~. 11 Work, Monroe N. 'I11:i.e Spir:L t of Ner:ro P oetr:l • " The Southern Workman, XXXVII (1 900), 73-77 . (Folklore) Abrahams, Roger. Deep Down in the JunP.;l~: Ne~ro Narrative -·. Folklore from the Street of Phi ladelphi~. ···- - - ; T -·- -·------· - -· -···---·-·· -- -----·-·- .. ···-··--··llatboro, Pa ., 1904. Brewer, J. Mason. "American Negro Folklore. 11 Phylon, VI (1945), 354-361. * --- ·r,_-: ·~-)'·•~), . -_ ....- ~ • - ,..·1-;::-;...-,J -P:1 r' :~· : ,. ~ .c, 1--·... l', ., ,. " ; 1) .- ,:-:·-~~-.-.- . ·y -f"--::1· .- ·.'.--- ------- - --,1-- ·-··--;:-~·-,. -_7~---· 7 -:,-y_... ·--. ·:··,.. ~---=-1·~r -,. ·.. - -:·1--.. :,··~- ·--·---. .,. ., _,, ,, - -- - -~ F,,., ... r>1 prn) -:-~- ~-,:-:;-,--:.t:"t �LITERARY HISTORY A1i:D CHITICIS M (Folklore) • American Ne§ro Folklore. Chica c o, 1968. """B_r_o_w_n_, Sterling A. The Blues. n Phylon, XIII (1952), 286-292. · • "Negro Folk Expression: Spirituals, Secu---1-a-rs, Ballads, and Songs. 11 Phylon, XI V (1953), q.5-61. Conley, Dorothy L. 11 0ri gin of the Ne p::ro Spirituals. 11 The Negro HistorY_Bulletin, YJ..V (1962), 179-1 80. Courlander, Harold. Necro Folk Music, U.S.A. New York, 1963. Dorson, Richard M. American Negro Folktales. New York, 1967 • • ed. African Folklore. New York. 1972. Ellis, A.B. "Evolut io n in Polklore: Some West African l)rotot y pes of the Uncle Remus Stories. tr Popular Selene~, XLVIII (November 1895 ), 93-104. Fisher, Miles Mark. Ne~ro Slave Songs in the United States. New York, 1963. Geor p.; ia Writers• Pro j Act. Drums and Shadows: ~ vival Studies Among the Geor P,ia Coastal Ner;roes. Athens, Ga. , 19h O. ((i'i;~~-z.,,:c .: fl cu• I -~t ;,. ;; 1o/;'.-y--·· ·Handy, W.C. and Abbe Niles, eds. Treasury of the Blues. New York, 1949 . Harris, J·oe 1 Chand 1 er. D;:; _; ,;a.'-"d:. .:.d:. .y--'J:. .:a: .:. ;kc::. e; :__..; . t=h..=ce--=-R:. .; u.:..:n=a=w"-'a=y"'-:!:-,-;,:-=a.c;;.;n'"""d Short Stories Told After Dark. New York, 1089. Jones, LeRoi (Imamu Amiri Baraka). Black Music. New York, 1967 • • Blues People: Negro Mu3ic in White America. --N~ew- York, 1963. K.rebhiel, Henry Edward. Afro-American I-<'olksongs: A Study in Racial and National Music. New York, 1914. Lovell, John. "Reflections on the Ori p;J. ns of the Ne c:ro Spiritual. 11 Negro American Li tera.ture Forum, III (1969), 91-97. McGhee, Nancy B. "The Folk Sermon: A Facet of the Black Literary Herita ge. 11 CLA Journal. XIII (1969), 57-61. Odum, Howard W. and Gu:r B. Johnson. Tbe Ner-ro and His Songs. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1925 . • Negro Workaday Songs. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1926. -◊-1-1-v-e-r, Paul. Blues Fell This Mornin g : The Meaning of the Blues. 1~ew York, 1960. Scarborough, W. \r-l. "Ne gro Folklore and Dialect. 11 Arena, XVII (1 897), 186-1 92. Talley, T. W. Ner:ro Folk Rhymes, Wise and Otherwise. New York, 1922. 1 . ' ' I �LI'l1ERARY HISTORY AHD CHI':I.1ICIS V (Folklore) Deep River. New York, 1955. ffAn Anthropolo s ical Look at Afro-American Folk Narrative." CIA Journ1J.l, Thurman, Howard. '11wining, Mary Arnold. XIV (1970), 57-61. White, Newman I. American Negro Folk-_~onP-s. Cambridge, Mass., 1928. 11 Work, John W. Ne?ro Folk Son g . " Opportunit y , I ( 1923), 292-29L~. �B L A C K P U B I, I S II I N G H O U S E S AFRO-AM PUBLISHING CO. 1727 South Indiana Avenue Chicag o, Illionois 60616 AL KITAB S1JDA~,J PUDLISHETG CO* P .O. Box 6536 San Francisco, California 9hl0l ASSOCIATED PUBLISHERS 1530 19th Avenue, N.W. 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Ellis Avenue Chicago, Il l inois 60619 YARDBIRD PUBLISHING COOPElll\~r.IVE Box 2370, Station A Berkeley, California � 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_09 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Bibliography, typed with handwritten edits 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/51408857591f7f0c3640bec0fdb42527.pdf de36b85b59b755b511d30942e4342850 PDF Text Text 1 .. ' ' At t h is perilous juncture in Bl a ck hi s tory ., on the e ve of America's Bi-Cent enni a l a n d amidst a n ew wa ve of 'rh ird World Humanism., Drumvoicea co me s a s a partial rebuttal to those who say poetry's impact on mank ind I s cons ciousness has been insi gnificant. •rhe thesis is simple: that God's Bl a ck trombone s have historically blared through or soothed the h ars h a nd stark realities of the Afro-American ~xperience; and that the sources (records) of these blarings and soothsayings, locked i:P.•, • ,, . 1~ ·'= ''-II, '· of the folk, t-emain accessible to anyone desiring "'to ~~ap them. source,,-$pi ri ts ("roots" )r, are what the author has tried ·to coh ,, ' · up in Drurnvoices, · • ·---z•• which owes great debtlto a lengtheni ,. of marvelous visionaries., "known and unknown." ~ ·, ' , ~-~ As a reference work, this text makes a modest attempt .. t t. ~-- ;.in the tradition of Vernon Logg ins I The Negro Author ,• ~.t. ':, ,1?·~Ame:ri.c 11 ~-. jamin Brawley•s Early Negro American Writers and The N'egro Geni ~•.. ·,..,. Sterling A. Erown I s Negro Poetry and Drama ~and J. Saunders Reddin To Make A Poet Black. We have~...als& cprofitted ' :tmmenael7of110111: ~ate.~hl . ,, . '!, l .works by George Washington Williams., Benjamin E.· _Maytt, W.E.B. DuBoi s , ~~ ' John Hope Franklin, Franz Fanon, Loften Mitchell and b'ofothy Port er: . / I,. • Of the li t er~ry historians a nd c ritics, only Brown is c~nc e rned ·ei - . . ~:. .• ' . ~ elude a checklist of Bl a c k, po e ts. Lo ggins I study v i ews .._ Black . autho\ up until 1 900; and Re d ding , Bro wn an d Brawley examine them through the mid 1930s. Drumvo ices combines all previous vEm'tures in the area of the p oetry-- g i ving new int erpretations and updating en exciting history which b e g an with Lucy •r e rry wh o wro te a poem 229 years ago. :c 1 "·•'!/! elusively with poets--th ough Mrs. Po rt e r's man y offerings also in' ~ ' ·cultural safe-deposit boxes , of drums and the intricate acoustics ~ •• · 1 ' 1 �Initially conceived a s a monologue and later enlarged to its present siz,e, Drumvoic es is aimed a t s tudents and te a chers of Black poetry, literature, history a nd cu ] tu r e. However , the author hopes that all who read from t he se pages will benefit . The very general thesis stated above is consi stentJ.y implied in the book I s approach. ~ And unlike some recent works, this one does not present a consciously . •, 1 ;.{.labored construct or aestheti cal matrix, i.e., Black Nationalism, · - or . ~,,-· r,an-A.fricanism, the Black Aesthetic/\ Aliena tion, though none of -,..~\ alternatives has been overlooked whenever and wherever poets or ., i?J,. ,, . ., · · t· ha.ve dealt significantly with them. Occasionally chronology is viola elnce any time barrier is, by definition, arbitrary. R •{!It ? f n i ff fliW I . ' was impossible to find birth or death dates for some of ~ early poets} Also arbitrary is the author 1 s selection of poets t. emphasis on various styles, techniques, themes or periods. Yet ': ~the organization of the text is somewhat original since, at the' tim has ~ pt this writing, no single workadiscussed Black poetry from its be~ 1 • I' , ,/{ ginnings into the 19 60s and 1970s. As a history, Drumvoices '1 ': .. _" i 1x chapters: I; Introduction--Black Poetry: Views, Visions, Conflic!is; \ •~~ J \/II, ~-ft • ~• ' I.• ' The Black and Unknown Bards: Folk Roots; III, -· Af"-rican Voice in ! l •;.. ~c;t.ipSe: Imitation and Agita~io n(l746 -1 865); IV, Jubilee.s , Ju'jus _and ~/~ {::.I "· ·;~ ,Justices(l865-191 0 ); V, A Long Ways From Home _( l 910-1960); VI, Festivals . ~ Funerals: Black Poetry of th e L9 60s and 1970s. Finally there is Ii J a Bibliographical• Index. The historical as p ect of t hi s two-pron ged study(critical and t I •.}lominates: the rationale being t h '.=tt I ~~ text which chronicles the develo :,f·, ot the poetry is a prerequi s ite to sound critical assessment. AlsoiJ the ~· .. author ~ I was not unmindful of the f a ct tha t most anthologies or studies (~: of recen t Black p o e try are gen F:: ra.lly nlo a ded" and t o p-hea'vy with house.: hold name s; but none of t hem has ex t ende d their vision to include a �~ representative("complete" is out of th i> que~tion) look at the numerous important centers where this p o etry is b eing cr N1. ted . It seemed a worbhwhile task, then, simply t o su ggest the d emogranhic range of the rt\t4dnew poetry. Such is the attempt~in Chapt e r VI wnere the author has 4 pu11tosely decentralized a star-dominated pattern in the new poe try I I in fa.-or of a more truthful and historical pi cture of its development. pick up a journal or book in practically any l ibrary a:nd read praise of the . new poetry; hence the author has simply referred to these comments instead of re-hashing them here. ,.. U~fortun~,t ely, · significant studies of lbth and 19th century po'etry were not 'av~ilable to the author while chapters on these ',{. I 1 ·, \ · ' ' ,, areas.· w re being written. But Jean Sherman,s _____ Invisible __:.. __ __ __;.. ______ ..;__ , the 19th Sentury: and M.A. Richmond's Bid the Vassal Soar: Interpretive ,7 -, · on ·the Life and Poetry of Phillis Wheatley and George Moses Horton, provided additional insight and caused some . :li' \~l a. . re ~· slight , • .,.1 h~ffling ?f this text. Of great service, howe v er, was Ea rly Black American Poets, William Robinson's impo rtant a nthology(with notes); at ~J, writing, it remains the bestAsource for the period. The author is , · lso indebted to a number of important works on 20th century Black l'Oetry: Jean Wagner I s Black Poets of the United. States.:., .E:cgm Pau}. Laur.§U~ Dunb~r "' Wr1 tere, J9QQ-J 960 1 and Louis Rubin's BJJ,d, Donald Gibson Is ~~.la.c.k...J:.Q,eot •.s' Blyden Jackson Is ' ~a,Q~ PRJi:ttY in Am~rjca, the Aslxenturs gf_:West,ern Cu] tu.re Geo r ge P. Kent's Bl8 ckness and .Joy Flasch 's H~. J..x,t11,.P. A book does not just happen Hnd t he fueJ for this one hns been pouring in over a number of ye ar s ond from a r;riw t many sources • ._ Germinating ideas came from various qua rters : s tud en ts, fri en ds, teachers, and mor1t importantly, from co1leDr,uc~s :it ;jouthc'r•n 11linois University's .l:!;xpo rimont in Hi t;twr .e:duc ntlon in bas t St . l,nui s. The . �•r ".literally hundre ds of po e ts, writ e rs and thinke r s(in Watt·s, New Yo rk, Ch icago, . New Orleans, Athmta, Det ro it, Clevel and, ete. ~with whom • #tt «111ftoh J. t.t.S · '\ met a n d t a l ke d t hro u gh ni gh ts and days, now stand faceless and namele s s, but they are a s much a p a rt of this book as the author hims elf. Of sp eci a l si gnificance we r e the critical readings of sections { fr-1end and tli 2 I of this text by Te d t-l.ornba c k , ·, Aformc r te a cherj C1yde Taylor who ~ 0 -1_P11:ucil rt'-1h1ntir-g u,t~t-W~~"ljand 'U critic Charles Rowell who should have been commissioned to write the chapter or folklore~ • Likewise, for their patience, assistance and great stores ; tion, deb+ts.o.fAled to librari ans at California St;te University , (Sacramento), the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library), the Moorland-Spingarn Hesearch Center at Howard University, Oberlin College, and Southern University in Baton Rouge. While a book does not just hap pen in the min!i, neither doec, miraculously appear on the page. Hours of meticulous and re.lentless work was invested by my gradua te assistant Julie Blattle with bibliographical and textual problems • .· Younger • ' \ ., '. • j .,_ ·assistants in these matters included Keith Jeffer~on' ap.d I Ronald \ • Tibbs. However, a lion's sharJ of producing this book was as.awned ~- by Marie Collins, supervisor of Sacramento's Oak Park School or Afro-Ame rican Thought, who typed, criticized a nd otherwiae committe4 herself to the project. Beiterley Williams, CSUS English secretary, also shared a portion oft he typing load. Fjnally, my gracious I I editor, Marie Brown, des e rves a huge salute· for her encouragement, concern, and continued support of th e writing-research through to the end. Onward, t ha E0 ~1' S I Fugene B. r<eafnona. March S, 1975 Sacramon to , Cali f o rni f1 � 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_10 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Preface, p. I-IV, typed with handwritten edits 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/528c7bc7b85889ce572996b01acb4a81.pdf 1584fa37696e95d8a584bf09f7449528 PDF Text Text were forGed--especially the work of Jupiter Hammon, Phillis Hheatley and Geor ge Hoses Horton. IV Polk Seculars: Don wid massa•s hollerin 1 ; Don wid massa•s hollerin 1 ; Don wid massa 1 s hollerin 1 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 M1 Biti (African Reli gions and Pbilosophies), Gabriel Bannerman-Richter and others point out, the African takes his relicion (his beliefs) with him where ever he goes. Hany investigators (Jahn, l1'Biti and others) · also remind us that most African languages have no word for religion or art. The tuo are inseparable. Again the ways o:r African peoples (see Nphahlele • s 1-J11irlwind) are expressed in 11 integrated II 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 1 t always a.dmit it) they o.re 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 PowellJ We have also observed that many motifs and components of Black expression are interchangeable. That is 1 songs and • 43 �speeches desig ned for church or other religious activity are lr-/ ~> often re-cut (modified) for a secular-jsocial affair. are numerous exa~~ les of this practice. IU c;ht s e ra., 110 There During the Civil i ronld s inr; I Hoke up tl1is mornin 1 ui th my mind stayed on freedom though Ho wore fully a:ware that church folk were used to sineine; it t h i:::i Hay: I woke up this mormin 1 with my mind stayed on Jesus liany of Curti s IIayfield 1 s (o.nd the I mpressions songs rely 1 ) strongly on the material of songs sung in Black chur•ches. Even M.o.yfield 1 s more r e cent tunes (see "If There's A Hell Below") carry the Black churcb flavor--with their warnings., admonishments., threats of societal destruction, and pleas for love (see also Narvin Gay's pieces like "Save The Children"). Some works by the Temptations ( "Run Auay Child Running Wild 11 ) reflect the historical th erne of songs. 11 searcbing 11 found in Black religious This so.me group I s "Poppa Has A Rolling Stone" describes poppa "steo.ling in the name of the Lord." B.B. King's 11 Woke Up This Mernin" is a blues treatment -of the idea expressed above in the Spiritual: "I Woke Up 1rhis 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 inter-changeable words such as "Mother 11 ; 'Bapy II and 1 "Captain II und 11 11 God 11 ; 11 Lord 11 and "Sweet thing II and "Sweet .Jesus 11 ; M.o.kor 11 ; and "God II and "Man 11 • Tbe reasons for such usages, as wo have stated, are deeply enmeshed in the 44 �mythos of Blacks. Richard Wright's "Bright and Horning Star 11 (in t he Bible, a me taphor for Jesus) becomes the son of old Aunt Sue in the s h ort story by that name. Th e hero of John A. Williams' novel, Th e Na n Hho Cried I Am, says "tbank y ou man" to God after a sex act. "Sli pp ing into Darkness 11 ( Hhen we hear a tune like War 1 s "when I heard my mother say ") we must understand t~ h istorical significance and function of social (therapeutic) art--just as we must understand the function of t he mo ther-like voice that admonishes Isaac Hayes to "s he t yo mouf II in 11 Shaft. 11 mien conservative Black Christians complained of Duke Ellington's use of reli Gious the mes in jazz, he replied "I 1 1r1 just a ecumenical cat 11 -- meanin13 he avoided fine distinctions in where or to whom he played. The church has been the training ground (academy, if you will; see Frazler's The Ne r·ro Church in Amer ica) for most of the big (vocal) names in Black popular music as well as for important orators, race leaders and co mmunity businessmen. A~ai nst the foregoing discussion we can view the Folk Seculars in their right perspecti ve as a vital part of the rich st orehouse of' Black folklore. (my own gra ndmothe r: Throuch songs, aphorisms "You don 1 t bel ieve fat meat•s c;reasy! 11 and "If you ain't g on 1 do nothin g Get off the pot!"), fables (see Aen op), jokes (see minstrelsy and the Black comedy tra~ dition), h lues and other enduring for ms /B lacks capture severe hardships and tribulations, folk wisdo m, joys and tra ~e dies, ~ nd t l1 e lo nc;i n[;S and li opes of Blacks duri nc; s lavery;1 afterwards . • �The 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 t he structure and principles of folk psycholo~y. It is, after all, back and forward to these folk materials that researchers will have to g o if they are serious about delineating the feelin gs , emotions and thou gh t putterns of Blacks. The Seculars are surer indic es to the workings of t h e folk mind be cause t h ey are not as limited as the Spirituals. Though most Blacks in the United States are aware of and have heard t h e Spirituals, an even lar ger number b ave bad sustained exposure (directly or indirectly) to t he s ecular vocalizations and g estures of Black culture . Contemp orary 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 t hey hear while t he folks "run and tell that" once itfs recorded. Some examp les of songs, titles and oth er epithe ts borrowed d irectly from the people are: New Ba~ , 11 "Licking Stick" (see "Truant 11 ) , 11 11 boney stick" in McKay's story Gi ve It Up or Turn It Loose, "It's Hell 11 ; Marvin Gaye's 11 James Brown's "Drand 11 "The Payback 11 and What•s Going On" and "Let 's Get it On"; Curtis Hayfield's "Superfly 11 ; the Jackson Five's "Get It Tog ether or Leave It Alone"; Flip Hilson 1 s "What You See is 1'n1at You Get 11 (and the Dramatics' tune by the same name); Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and "Run and Tell Tl1at Kni gh t' s 11 IIr . BiG Stuff"--to nar,1e just a f ew . 46 11 ; and Jean �As with the Sp irituals, whites (primarily abolitionists) were among the first to collect Seculars of wb atever type. William Wells Broun, t he first published Black novelist and playHri gh t, collected "anti-slavery 11 songs. Thomas Hentworth Higginson, writer and abolitionist who led a Black re g i ment in the Civil War, coll e cted song s he h eard among his me n around campfires and during marches. Though primarily con- cerned uith religious songs, he also descri bed some of the properties of ge neral Bl ack song delivery. One of the most important collections of these seculars was put to geth er by Thomas H. Talley ( of Fisk University, as was Professor Uork). Professor Talley di d pioneering work in t h e identification and classificatio n of Hegre> Folk Rhymes. Describing the phi lo- sophy , s tructure and, in soma cases, orig in of t h e songs, the Fisk scholar coll e c ted well over JOO examples. / cf:..,~er i mportant examp l es a nd discussions of the artistic products of .t'ol Jr X secular folk life can be found in the works of Huc;hes a nd Bont er;1 ps , Brewer, Sp al d ing, Dodson, Chapman, Brown ( Negr o Poetry ), Ahrahar:is (Deep Dm-m in The Jun gle) and Bell (The Folk Roots of Contemporary Afro-American Poetry). Bell 1 s work is recent (from t h e new Broadside Press) and is soCTewhat vague in perspective a s a result of an i mposed ("forei gn") construct. Also valuable to an examination of t he Seculars are regiona l works (such as Abrahams') including Drums and Sh adows (Georg ia and South Carolina), Goldstein's (ed.) Black Life 47 �and Cultur e i n t he United St a tes, Lorenzo Dow Tur ner's work in t he Gullah cul t ure, Dorson 1 s Ne gro Folktales in Mich i gan, and oth ers ( s e e b i bliography). By far the most faithful r e pr e s entati on of se cular or reli g ious folk materials in t h e writt en po etry is i n t b e work of Sterling Br01m ( see h is Southern Ro ad, e specially Johnson's introductio n , a nd b is critical comments in Degro Poetry ). Brown takes exception to Joh ns on's comment that dialect poetry h as only two stops-uhumor and path os u--a nd i mplies that Black poets up until his time h ad b een re miss (or lazy) in not de veloping hroader use s and deepe n inc; the meaning of Black life t h rou gh t ll e use of fol k materials. The traditio n of 11 tall 11 tale-telling is, of course, sub- mer ged in t he American my tbos. So the Black narrator found a fl ex i b l e a t mos ph er e into which he could introduce his own manne r of s t or y t e lling a nd his own tradition of song . As he h ad d one i n th e S pirituals, he gained a resourcefulness in the u s e of langua ge , acquired instruments to accompany th e song or story, and developed an ab il~ty to seize upon a good or ame nable context in which to tell or sing his story ; h e also made use of t he me s and ideas fro m the vast ethnic potpourri of America. the Spirituals. Th e Seculars grew up side- by -side witb The Spirituals emerged fro m t h e atte mpt of the slav e to web to geth er his disparate (y et 1nutual) wou nds. Spirituals represent t h e slave's perserverence and (in many instanc e s) 11 is ho pe and fo.i th in mankind. The Seculars, also ' �develo ping in t he shad ows of t h e "bi g h ouse, 11 reflect the social l if e of t h e Black American on the plantation and later. In songs a nd dittie s , the Black American couched his long ings and bittern e s s e s , but v oiced bis h opes and cy nicis ms t h rou gh the obliqu e , e liptic a l and encoded words and seemin gly unintelli g i b le pho ne tic symbols. These Afr ican forms (see Rappin 1 a nd St y li n 1 Out, Koc hman) have continu ed up to t h e present. Few Black youne sters are abl e to side - s t e p t h e ri gorous (and someti mes painful) verbal dJ&c e rity dema nde d by playmates during verb al sparring rnatcll es that ine vita.b l y ta ke place. Tbe for ms of sucb b eh a v ior were in,_Ja ct during slave ry--when a slave mi ght be discussing a master's "mama" or 11 old lady 11 during a ratb er h armless "rap 11 (rhapsond? r a pport?) with his fellow field workers. Frederick Dou glass r epor ts (Narrati ve) t h at slave over-seers t h ought . slave s sang b ecaus e th ey were h appy. We know t h at such was not t h e cas e ( s e DuBois, S ouls of Black Folks) a nd that such re.fr a i ns a s 11 s teal ing away" i mplied a lot r11 or 0 t h an wa nti ng to r• each t ho ar ms of J e sus on t b e cr o-ss. similar cod e o i n h i:J :Jtori en a nd po ems. Henry Du mas c11ronicles And Mel vlatkin::.i (l\.mistad 2) discuss ed a n updated ve rsion of at l ea st part of t h is ,ph;n;;--;'.V ,._,...___ ""·' "..--- in b is article on folk singer-hero Jame s Brown. discu ss ing a □ e cul a r to Dr. Th ur ma n 1 s: Though h e is ch aracter, Watki ns' revelations a re s i milar t h at i n the ab surd context of b einc; ow ned by so meo ne el s e, it i s not lif e or death t h at loom so i mportantly. One li ve s, Elliso n su 13 0 e s ts (Invisi b le Ma n ), the day -to-day �? v r5a-. ab s urdi ty i n a sort of comic-trag ic d Hatkins say s: James Brown's initial acceptance by a black audience is fixed in t h is crucial factor. Frorn the moment he slides onto the stage, Hhether unconsciously or intentionally, his gestures, his facial expronsions and even the sequential arranc e me nt of h is materials are external affirmations of a shared acceptance of t h e absurd or, more inc enously, of jiv ing. The t mpe{c}i.bly tailored suits, Hl1tcl1 h e V brandishes at the outset, become meaninc less accoutre me nts a s l1is act proc;resses and, sweatln c a nd straininc; , lle c;et:J down, literall:r down on t l1 e flo or, to wri nc; t h e last drop of e motio n fro 111 Uatkins i::i i ncorrect a1Jout the dress bccomin~ "meaninc less 11 to a Black audi enc e , but his c eneral thesis is on tar g et. E lseHho1°e Hatki n::i , fir mly understundin c; the i 1n rortance of verbal n.e;ility a mo nc Blo.cl::s, sa:rs "it is comnon to h ear h lack lrornen discussinc a 1,ian•s 'rap' or as they <.lJ. ~i ctw n l ii :., 1)a nl~ acconnt. 'pr ci c;ra1r, ' on t he same l e v el 11 Dlacks c;c :i orally wlthl-i old their jnd t;J,ent on ( or nc coptance) of a s p enl·cr or cnt crt n ine r u n til h .; cx11ibi t::.:, in l i[; tlr e.'..l rJ- ce:;t 11r o -rn p , that 11 0 11 nc1cr- - :::t u rJu :J t' u 11cll::.:prt n~ t h a t l :coc.ln c ud the "n, 1 0. c l: nnd trnlcncm u bar ds . 11 :-:~.tur•n:i. n:.; br i e f l y, to our b i s toric a l a s sess ment, ·w e cn n noH :Jt.,u 1101r t bo f olk s tratn in Bl a ck wr·i t tcn o.r t e·,o J. \: ed.. �Fror;i tbis 11 so ng 11 recorded in tbe 1 9~0 ' s by Dou glnss, Dey git u~ de liquor, And so.~ dat 1 s aood enou~h for the n i ccer . 11 to the f oar of cl e Cun jah Han II ca ptured i n "Gul la.h II h~r Camp be 11 in t he latter pa.rt of the 190 0 1 s, De Cunjari r,1an, de Cunjah man, 0 ch ill en r un, de Cu njab man! the decoptlv0ly 11 s:1. n ple 11 e111plo:rmcnt of folk expressions 11a ve prevailed as an i nrortant antidote for the social trm lo.dles 11 inherit ed by Blacks in t he Western Hemispliere. De Cu nj al1 I-la.n II is, of cours o , oqui valent to the "th in1:'.: s that c; o bur.1 pi nc in tho n i c;l1t" in Ir e land--o.nd t hus -li a~ ti es to genera l folk supor•sti tion3 a.nd uy tholo u;y. But tr1o re was also t}1e "riugc:ah- rno.n" (Dun1>o.r 1s "Little Brown Baby"), t he "rac; 1:mn", "pe c:-le g, 11 "raw-hen.d and h loocly b ones 11 and (iQ places like Trinid ad ) t he 11 obeah i:m n, back □ 11 Host of these supernatural characters are throw- to var ious African religious and ritual practices. Of the neH c;encrati o n of poets, Ish mae l Reed (Catechis m of a neoa.merl c an hoodoo ch urch) is the innovator in t he use of supernatural t h e mes and vocabulary. The t heme of tho 2 nd Annual John Henry Memor ial Autl1entic 13luoLJ o.ncl Gos pc 1 Jubilee (110 ld in Cliff Top, ·1:1 . Va . , i n Au c us t and September of 1974 ) was 11 Tryin 1 to Get nome. 11 1I ow st ead - fastly the folk trad itio n runs like a ve in t hr ou c;h Black ll istory . Intl~ Se culars (a nd t he Spirituals) we repeatedly hear something similar to t he last stanza of 51 11 Rainb01-J Roun Ma h Sh oulder 11 : �I ' r,1 gonna break ri2;l1t, break ri c;b t pas that s h ooter, I' m gain b ome , Lai,-Jd, I'm g oin home. Again the us e of' the 1-10~ "Lawd II in a "secular II song f'urther bears ou t the communal inte gration of the folk expression. My own sisters ofte n interject or exclaim "Lord" or "Lawd" in everyday discussions about life. It is next to impossible to list all (or each type) of the Seculars. Wo h ave mentioned Professor Talley's pioneering efforts at classifying the m. But many obstacles lay in the way of recorders of secular folk life. of cenGureship of language . One problem was t h at Such censuring marked all types of Black creativity , from the slave narratives to religious songs. Hence the more "protesting" aspects of tbe works were deleted as Hero 11 offensive words. 11 Anyone who bas be ard ''authentic II Black folk songs knows tbat tbey reflect tl10 conver gence of madnesn, absurdity and hope in tbe Black body. Subsequently what are known as "curse" or "obscene" words are sprinkled t h rou gl10ut mu ch of the "secular II lore. Brown dis- cusses the "realism" in the folk rhymes along with an attempt to{jia:JSify at lea. s t some of them ("fiddle-sings," "corn-songs, 11 jig-tunes, 11 "upntart crows 11 ); ( Ballads, Ballads; ~ Nec;ro Heroes, John Henry (folldfied in sone;), 1:lor•k SonGs, Tlle Blues, Irony and Protest. Irony and protest, of course, run t h rou 01 Black folk and literary poe try fro m t he earliest days (V~itfi e ld, Harper, anti-slavery 11 sonc; □) to the mo □ t 52 recent ti me s (Josh l~1ite, �Leon Thomas, Don L. Lee, John Ech ols, Johnny Scott). Some ob ser v ers h ave poi nted to the silliness of many researchers who, white as ever, appeared in perso n to a sk Black folk song writers arrl singers if tbey endorsed "protest, away satisfied witb a "no" answer. 11 tl1en went Given the nature and history of race relations one can understand t he reluctance on the parts of Blacks to tell wl1ites the truth a b out "anything " let alone a b out such a sensitive area as "protest. 11 Yet in the doc-eat-dog world of survival, the folk person knows that "If he di es , I'll eat h is co 1 n; 1\. n ' if b o 11 v es , I ' 11 ride ' 1 m on. 11 In summary we can say that unlike other etbnic i mmi grant groups ( the Afro-American was not a willinr; i mmi grant!), the Black American did not simply transplant l1is stories--keeping them in t he ir exact :::ia1110 form. He fou nd American or European lanc;uace counterparts for his the mes a nd vocabularies. But h;i.s pho nolo i;ry , style and spirit were informed by the African tradition. The student of Black folk poetry will wa nt to compar e and contrast the Seculars to ·other ethnic stori e s and so ngs. Boasti ng or "ly ing , of the "tall" tale. "Shine, 11 for example, is one inc;redient How does the Black song or story (i.e., "S i g nifyinG Henkey, etc.) fit t h is motif? 11 11 "Dolomite, 11 "Frankie and Johnnie, How does it conceal deeper me a n in g s on the i!Jsues of sla very, inb u man wor k concli tions, or contradictio rw i n Cb r:tstin. ni ty? 1·n1at are the si mil ari t:tes hetween the Se culars und th e Sp irituals? Between t h e Seculars and • 53 11 �the literary poetry? These and other questions (on Black heroes, cultural motifs, blues themes, langua ge and endurance) will lead one throu gh exciting corridors of Black folk creativity and thought. V SPIRITUALS GO DOWU, MOSES Go donw, Mos e s, Hay doim in Esry ptland Tell old Pharaoh To let my people go. lnrnn Israel was in Egyptland Let my people r,o Oppressed so hard they could not stand Let my people go. Go down, l1ose s , Hay down in Egyptland Tell old Pharaoh "Let my people go." "Thus saith the Lord," bold Moses said, "Let my people: If not I 1 11 smite your first-born dead Let my people r_;o. 11 �"No more shall they in bondage toil, Let my people go; Let them come out with Egypt's spoil, Let my people g o, 11 'l1l·ie Lord told Mos es what to do Lot my people go; To lead the children of Israel through, Let my people go. Go dm-m, Hosen, Huy dmm in Egy ptland, Tell old Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" SIAVERY CHAIN Slavery chuin 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 knocs; Told God about my troubles, And to help me of-a He please. I did tell him how I suffer, In de dungeon and do chain, And de days I went with head bowed down;, And my broken flesh and pain. 55 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) 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. I did knoH 111y Jesus heard me, 'Cause de spirit spoke to me, And said, "Rise my child, your chillun, And you too shall be free. 11 I done 'p'int one mighty captain For to marshall all my hosts, And to bring my bleeding ones to me, And not one shall be 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 MORE AUCTION BLOCK No more auction block for me, No more, no more, No moro auction block for me, Many thousand gone. lTo rn or·e peck of corn for me, No more, no more, 56 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) No more peck of corn for me, Nany 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' □ lash for me, No more, no more, No more driver's lash for me, Many tbousand gone . SHOUT ALONG, CHILLEN Shout along, chillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear tbe dying Lamb: Ob! take your nets and follow me For I died for you upon the tree! Shout along, chillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear the dyin8 Lamb! SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT Swing low, sweet chariot, Cominc; for to cu.rry me home, Swing low, □ wcct chariot, Coming for to carry me home. 57 �SPIRITUALS (cont 1 d) I looked over Jordan and what did I see Coming for to carry me home, A band of an c els, coming after me, Coming for to carry Lile home. If you get there before I do, Coming for to carry me home, Tell all my friends I' m coming too, Corning 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 awo..y, steal awo.y home, I ain't e ot 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. 53 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Groen trees a-bonding, Po' sinner stands a-trembling The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, I ain 1 t c ot lo ng to stay here. DEEP RIVER Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep riv er, Lord; I want to cross over into camp ground. 0 children, O, don 't you want to c o to that cospel feast, 'l1hat promised land, tl1at land, ·wl1ere all is peace? Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep river, Lord; I want to cross over into camp Ground. I GOT A HOME: IN DAT ROCK I c; ot a home in dat rock, Don't you se e ? I got a h ome in dat rock, Don't you see? Botirnen de earth an 1 nlcy, Though t I l1earc.l tny Saviour cry, You got a ho me in dat rock, Don't y ou s ee? Poor n an Laz 1 ru3, poor as I, Don't y ou :ic e ? Poo~ma n Laz•rus, poor as I, 59 �SPI RI TUALS (c on t 1 d ) Don ' t ~, ou see? Po or man Laz 1 rus , poor a s I, Uhen he died he found a ho r,1e on h i gh , He h ad a ho me in dat r oc k , Don ' t y ou oee ? Tii ch man Dives , h e l ived so we ll, Don ' t yo u se c ? Rich 1.1cm Div e s , lie li ved so wel l, Don ' t :ro u se e? Tii c h rn an Dj_v co , h o li v e d so well , "\:Thon cllu c1 h e found a ho me i n He l l , 11 0 Ho had no houw in dat r o c k , Do n ' t y ou soc? God c o..vo lfo a l~ d e nainbow sic;n , Don 1 L yo u :.;cc? God .:;n ve No ali d e Ra1. nb01·1 s icn , Don ' t y ou :::iee? Gou Ho 1_, o. '10 LJOl'O 1,1 a t 1.;:c De tt o r de nai nboH :..d.,:n , lToi:d-1 c;o t 1,u t ll 11 0 1.ic fir·o ne xt tj_ we , in c1at roc k , Don ' t you ::.:cc ? 6n �S1'ITII TUALS (c ont 1 d) I BEEH .HEBUJillD AN]) I BEEN scommn I b 0en 1·cbukec1 and I heen s c orned , I been rebuked a~ I been scorned, Chlllun, I bco n r e bul: ecl and I been scor ned , I 1 sc 110.d a b arcl time, so's y ou born . Talk about me t:1u cl1 as you please, Tallc abou t t.,c r,mch as you please , Chillun, talk about me mu ch o.s you please, Gonno. talk a:)ou t yo u when I c;et on 1~1y knees. DE OL!~ SHEEP DEY KNOW DE TIOAD Oh, do ole sheep, doy know de road, De ole sheep, doy know de road, Do ole sbucp, c.1cy know de road, De younc; Lambs mu s t find de way. ify brother , better mind how you walk on de cross, De younc; lur,1bs must find de W(:l.Y, For your foot mi gh t slip, and yo f soul g it lost, De yo un g lo.mbs must find de Hay . Better mind dat snn , and see how she run, De youn g la1nbs must find de wo.y, And rai nd , don I t let he r catch yo u Hid yo ' work u ndone , De yo un c lambs must find de way. 61 �SPITIITUALS (cont 1 d) Oh., de ole sheep , dey know de road, De ole sheep, dcy know de road, De ole sheep, dey know de road, YounG lamb s must find de ·way. DE IIAMHER IillEPS RINGING Oh, de hammer k e eps rin g ing On so mebody's coffin, 011, de hammer keeps ringing On somebody's coffin, Oh, de bammer keeps rin r; ing On somebody' □ coffin: Good Lord, I know my time ain't lon g . Ob , de wagon keeps rolling Somebody to de g raveyard, 011, de wa g on keeps rollin13 Somebody to de g raveyard, Oh, de wagon keeps rolling Somebody to de graveyard: Good Lord, I known~ time ain't long. Oh, de preucber keeps preaching Someb ody's funeyal, Ob, de preacher keeps preacbing ~) omb ody I s funeyal, 62 �SPITIITUALS (cont 1 d) De preacher keeps preaching Someb ody's funeyal: Good Lord, I know my time ain 1 t long. MOTHERLESS CHILD Sometimes I feel like a motherless cbild, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, A long ways from home, A long ways from home . Sometimes I feel like I I 111 almost gone , Sometimes I feel like I 1 m aln10st gone , Sometimes I feel like I' m almost gone, A long ways from home, A long ways from home. Sometimes I feel like a featber in the air, Sometimes I feel like a feather in the air, Sometimes I feel like n feather in the air, And I spread my wings and I fly, I spread my wings and I fly. NOBODY ID-TOWS DA TRUBBLE AII SEE Oh, nobody knows da trubble o.h see, lTob ody knows but Jesus. 63 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) lfobody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallelujah! Sometimes I' m up, sometimes I'm down, Oh, yes, Lord! Sometimes I' m almost to the groun', Oh, yes, Lord! Although you see me goin along, so, Oh, yes, Lord! I bave my trubbles here below, Oh, yes, Lord! Nobody knows da trubble ab see, Hobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallolujo.111 One day when I was walldn along, Oh, yes, Lord! The elements open and his love came down, Oh, yes, Lord! I never shall forget dat day, Oh, yes, Lord! rn1en Jesus wash my sins away, Oh, yes, Lord! 64 �SPIRITUAI.S (cont'd) Oh nobody knows da trubble ah see, nobody knows my s orrou. Nob ody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallelujah! DE BLIND MAN STOOD 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, ry Lord, save-a me; 11 De blind man stood on de road and cried. Crying dat be migbt receive bis sight Crying da t be 111i2:ht receive his s ic;h t Crying 11 0, my Lord, save-a me;" De blind man stood on de road and cried. HE imvrm SAID A MlJI.IBALING WORD Oh, de wlrnpped him up de hill, up de hill, up de 1iill, Oh, de wbupped bim up de hill, and he never said a mumbaling word, Oh, dey wlrnpped h im up de hill, and he never said a mumbo.ling 1.-rnrd, He jes' bung down bis head, and be cried. Oh , dey crowned him wid a thorny crown, thorny crown, thorny crown, 01, dey crowned him wid a tborny crown, and he 65 �SPITIITUALS (cont 1 d) never said a mumbalinr; word, Ob, doy croimed h im wid a thorny crown, and be never siad a mumbalin g word, Ho j es ' hung down his head, and he cried. \Je ll, dey nailed h i m to de cross, to de cross, to de cross, Well, de~ nailed him to de cross, and be never suid u 1 u mb uling word , Well, dey nailed him to de cross, and he never naid a mumbaling word, He jeD I hun c; down his head, and he cried. Well, dey pierced h i1i1 in de side, in de side, in de Dide, Well, dey pierced h i m in de side, and de blood co me u-twink:lin13 down , Hell, dey pierced him in de side, and de blood cor.1e o.-twinkling down, Den be hun g doHn 11is bend, and he died. JOSHUA P IT DE BATTLE OP .JERICHO Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit do hut tle of Jericho, And de uall::: cowe tumblin g down. 66 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) You may talk about yo 1 king of Gideon Talk about yo 1 man of Saul, Dere's none like g ood old Joshua At de battle of Jericho. Up to de walls of Jericho, He marched Hith spear in hand; "Go blow dem ram horns, 11 Joshua cried, "Kase de battle am in my hand. 11 Den de la mb ram sheep horns begin to blow, Trumpets b c c in to sound, Joshua commanded de chillen to shout, And de Halls come tumbling down. Dat morninG, Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, And de Halls come tumbling down. OH, HARY, DON r T YOU \·JEEP Oh I1o.ry, don't you weep, don't you moan, Oh Hary , don 1 t you ·ueep , don 1 t you moan, Pharaoh I s army got drownded, 011 Hary, don't you weep. �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) One of dese 111ornings, b:cight and fair, Take my win gs and cleave de air, Pharaoh's army eot drownded, Oh }~ry , don't you weep. One of deso mornings, five o 1 clock, Dis ole world gonna reel and rock, Pharaoh's army got drownded, Oh Nary, don I t you weep. Don I t know uho.t my motl1er wants to stay lier fuh, Dis ole world ain't been no friend to bub, Pharaoh I s army got drownded, Oh Mary, don't you weep. Oh Hary , don't you weep, don't ·you moan, Oh Mary, don't you weep, don't you 111oan, Pharaoh I a army got drownded, Oh :Mary, don't you weep. VT. FOLK SECULAn3 HE IS NY HORSE One day as I wus a-ridin' by, Said dey: "Ole t; an, yo' boss will die. " "If he dies, Ancl if 110 }1 e is my loss; lives, lie is my hoss. 60 11 �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) Nex' day w 1 en I come a 1 ridin 1 by, Dey said: "Ole man, yo' boss may die. "If he dies, I 1 11 tan 1 is 11 skin; 1\.n 1 if be lives, I'll ride lim a g 1 in. 11 Den aG'in w1 en I come a-ridin' by , Said de:r: "Ole man, yo' h oss mou c;·h t die. 11 "If he dies, I'll eat his co•n; An' if he lives, I'll ride 'im on. 11 DID YOU FEED HY COU? "Did y0r feed my cow? 11 "Yes, I1am!" ''Yes, Ha m! 11 "Will yer tell me h ow?" 11 01 l , u 1 at tlid yor g ive 1 cr?" "cawn an hay. II 11 011 , , er?" "Cawn an hay. II ll I D..t clid ycr• g i ve "Did yer milk 1 er g ood?" "Yes, Mam! "Did yer do l ak yer sbould?" 11 0h, how did ycr milk 'or? 11 Swish! "Yes, Ham! 11 S:wisb ! 11 Swish! 11 "Did dat cow r; it sick?" "Yes , !!am! 11 Hus she kivcred Hid tick?" 11 11 11 "Yes, Ham !" 0b, h ow wus she sick?" "All b loated up. II "Oh , how HUS she sick?" "All b loated up. II 69 �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) SONG (From Frederick Douglass, Hy Bondac e and I1~r Preedo: n, 11353) Ue r aise de 1-1l1eat , Dey gib us de corn: He hake de hreo.d , Dey c;ib de crust; U!3 'He s if de mea l, Dey c; i b de huss; UE.: He peel de meat, Dey g i h us de skin ; And dat• s de way Doy tak e no in; Ho skim do pot , Dey ~ib us de liquor, J\.nd say dat 18 c;o od e nou ch for n i c2;er . SONG (Pro:11 Viu.1~ tin R . Delany, "Bl ake ; or, The Huts of At~1e ric a ," in The Anclo-Afrlcan lio.c;az l ne, June H 159) Cone all my ln•e t brcn , let us ta'trn a re st, Olu. u astci:· died a t.L1 J.r_;ft us u ll at last , And l h:J con0 nt the bar' to appear ! 01<.1 , :o.s t cr· 13 J\.nc.l our b l ood cleac1 an<l l :ri.n.3 in 1i i s gra vc; 1-1i 11 now c ease to flou; Ee uill no t.tore tramp on the ne; ck of t110 nla•;e , f.'01• he I c; [;One \-Jri cre slave-holders 7n £.:;O ! �FOLK SECULAri.S ( cont I d) Earnl up t he sbove 1 and the hoe-0 -0- 0 ! I don 1 t care whether I work or no! Old tr,nstor ' s .:;one to t11e slave-holders rest-He':::; 0 one w110re the:r all ou~ht to SELLI H t TII!E Goodbye, Goodhyo, Ii' I n0val1 , ncvah see you any tao. Goodbye, Good ~ye , I will meot you on t he utha oho. Pray fo r Ille , Pray for tr1e , If I ncvah , ncvah see you any Pl O. fray .for r11e , Pray .for !1l C, I will meat you on the utha sho. Do stronG, Bo str on g , If I nevah, nevah see you any mo . Be strong, Be s trong, I will meet you on the utha sho. Fare tbce well, Fare thee we ll, If I nevah , nevah see you an:r mo . Po.re th:..;c Hell, 71 L,;O ! �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) Fare thee well, I will mee t you on the utha sho. l½.ANY A THOUSAlID DIE no r.:ore driver call for me, Ho more dri ver call; No more driver call for• me, I1any a thousand die; No more peck of corn for me, No more pock of corn; No more peck of corn for me, Many a t h ousand die! No more 'h undred lash for r1e, no more bundred lasl1; No more hundred lanh for me, I1any a tl1ous and die! Fm;EDOTI Ahe Lincoln freed the nigger, Wid da gun o.nd wid da tri gger, An I ain't g inna c; it whipped no mo. Ab c;ot mah ticket Out of dis heab thicket, An I' m headin for da golden sho. 0 freedo m, 0 freedo m, 72 �FOIJ~ SECULA.i'1S ( cont Id) 0 freedom after a while, And before I 1 d be a slave, I 1 d be buried in my erave, And go home to my Lord and be free. The1 e 'll be no more moaning , no more moaning, 1 No more woaning after a while, And before I 1 d be 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 weopinc; after a while, And before I'd be a slave, I 1 d be buried in my grave , An<l go home to my Lord and be free. There'll be no more kneeling, no more bowing, No more kneeling after a while, And before I'd be a slave, I 1 d be buried in my grave, And c; o borne to my Lord and be free. There'll be shouting, there'll be shouting, There'll be shouting after a while, And before I'd be a slave, I 1 d be buried inn~ grave, And go home to my Lord and be free. WE 'LL SOON BE FREE We'll soon be free, He 1 11 soon be free, 73 �FOIJ( SECULARS (cont I d) We'll soon be free, 1vhen de Lord wi 11 call us home. Hy br•udder, how long My brudder, how long, Hy brudder, 110-w long, 'Fore we done sufferin' here? It won't be long (Thrice.) ' Fore de Lord will call us borne. We'll walk de miry road (Thrice. ) Wbere pleasure never dies. Hy brudder, how lone; (Thrice.) 1 Fore we done sufferin' here. We ' ll soon be free (T11rice.) ) When Jesus sets sets me free. We 1 11 fic;ht for liberty ('rl1rice.) When de Lord will call us home. DOH WID DRIBER 'S DRIBIN' Don wid driber 1 s dribin 1 Don wid dribor 1 s dribin' Don wid dribcr's dribin' Roll, Jordo.n, roll. Don Hid massa's hollerin 1 Don wid mo.::isa 1 s hollerin 1 Don Hid tr1 cw [l a ' ::i lJollerin 1 Roll, Jordan, roll. 74 �FOLK SE CULARS ( cont I d) R.ADTBOW ROUN HAH SHOULDER Evahwhuh I, ::,huh I look dis mawnin, Looks lak rain, looks lak rain. I gotta rainb ow, tied 1111 roun mah sl1oulder, Ain gonna rain, ain g onna rain. I don walk till, walk till mah feets 8 one to rollin, Jes lak a whee l, jes lak a sheel. Evah m11ilday, I gets a letter, "Hy son come home, my son come home." Dat ol letter read about dyin, Mah tears run down, mah tears run down. I 1 m gonna break rie;ht, break ri c;h t pas dat shooter, I 1m goin r1orno, LuHd, I 1 1:i g oin h ome. RAILROAD SECTION LEADER'S SONG Ef ab could, al1 sholy Hould, Stan on da rack Hhuh Moses stood. Viary, Martha, Luke and Joh n, All dem sciples dead an g on. Ah g otta Ho man in Jennielee Square, Ef yon wanna die easy, lemme ketch you there. �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) Lil Evaline, settin in da shade, Figurin on da money I ain't made. Jack de rabbit, Jack de bear, Cancha move it jus a hair? All ab hate b out linin track, Dase ol bar3 b out to break mah back. You keep tal k in bout da joint ahead, Ir ever nay nuwtbin bout mah ho g an l)read. Uay down yond er in da b olla of da fiel, Angel::; wuklcin on da chayet wheel. nc ason I stay ·w id my cap' n so lone; , He giv me bi s cuita to rear b ack on. Jc rJ le111rno tell ya whut da cap' n jes done, Looked at his watch and looked at du sun. Ho, Boys, it ain time. Ho, Boys, you cuin't qu:i.t. Ho, Boys, it ain time. Sun ain gone down yit. GO DOUH, OL' IIAlnTAH Go down 01 1 Hannah., u on you riDC no mo? �FOLK SECUL.l\.TIS ( cont 1 d) Go down ol' Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Laud, if y ou rise, BrinG Jud c;t:1ent on Lawd, if y ou rise, Bring Judi:;ment on. Oh, did you hear Hhat tbe cap 1 n said? Oh, did you hear What t he cap 1 n said? That if you work He 1 ll tr ea t you well, And if you don He 1 11 give you hell. Oh, g o doun 01 1 Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Won you go down, 01 1 Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Ob , lon g-ti me man, Hold up ye haid. We ll, you may ge t a pardon And you may drop daid. 77 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) Lawdy, nobody feels sorry For de life-time man . Nobody feels sorry For de life-time man . J{,)IIN I-illNRY I-IAMH8R SONG Dis is de hammer Killt John Henry, Twon 1 t kill rne , baby, Twon 't ki ll me . Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain Tell 11im I' m g one, baby, Tell him I 1 m gone. Ef he axe you, Has I running Tell him how fust , baby, Tell him hoH fast. Ef he axe you Any mo ' q u es t i o ns , Tell him you don 1 t know, baby, You don't know . Every lila i 1 duy, Gits a letter, �FOLK SECULARS ( cont I d) "Son, come home , baby, Son come home. 11 Been al 1 nic;ht long Backing up timber , Ha nt to co home, baby, Want to go home. Jes 1 wait till I make Dese few days I started I 1m going home, baby , Is going home. Everywhere I Look dis morning Look lak rain , baby, Look la k ruin. I got a rainbow Tied 'round my shoulder, Ain 1 t e onna rain, baby, Ain't g onna rain. Dis ole hammer n ing lak silver, Shine lak go ld. Take dis hammer 79 �FOLIC SECULARS ( cont I d) Throw it in de river, It'll rin g ri cht on, baby, Ring ri c;ht on. Captain, did you hear All yo' men g onna leave you, Next pay day, baby, Next pa~,r day? SHINE AND THE TITANIC It was 1912 uh en the awful news g ot around That the 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 there' I got a hundred-fifty pumps to keep tl1e boiler room clear. 11 Shine went back in the hole, started shovellin g coal, Sinr;ing , "Lord, have mercy, Lord, on my soul! 11 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." '~our words sound happy and your words sound true, But th is is one ti m.e, Cap, your words won't do. 80 �FOLK SECULATIS (cont 1 d) I don't like chicken and I don 1 t like hamAndi don't be lieve your pumps is worth a damn!" The old Titanic was beginning to sink. Shine pulled off his clothes and jumped in the b~ink. He said, "Little fish, big fish, and shark fishes, too, Get out of my 1.-rn:r because Ir m comi.nc; through. 11 Captain on bridge hollered, "Shine, Shine, save poor me , And I 1 11 make you as rich as any man can be. 11 Sb ine said, "There's more gold on la nd than there is on sea. And he sivirnmed on. Jay Gould's millionaire daughter came running up on deck With her suitcase in her band and her dress •round her neck. She cried, "Shine, Shine, save poor me! I 1 11 g ive you everything your eyes can see. Sbine said, 11 11 There 1 s more on land than tbere is on sea. And he swimmed on. Bi g fat banker begging, 11 Shine, Shine, save poor ne! I 1 11 give you a tbousand shares of T and T. 11 Shine said, "r-Tore stocks on land than there is on sea." And he swi mmed on. 1-nien all tlw m white folks went to heaven, Shine was in Sucar Ray's Bar drinking Sea grams Seven . Sl 11 11 �FOLK SECULARS ( cont' d ) TI-IB SI GNIFYING 1-lONiillY Tbe monkey and Lion Go t to t alkinc one day . Honkey looked down and said, · Lion , I hear you 1 s l in~ i n every way . Bu t I know sot1ie b ody 1Jho do not think that is true Be to l d me he c ould whip The living daylich t s ou t of you . Lion sa id , Hl10? Monkey said, Lion , He talked a b out y our• mamma And talke d about your grandma , t oo , And I 1 m too po lite to toll you Hhat he said about you . Lion said, '\'n10 said wlrnt? 1D10? ~-IonL:0y in t he tree , Lion on the cr•ou nd . !Io nlrny kep t on siGnif~,ing But he d idn ' t co: :e d oun . ~.i:onlrny sai cl , J-T:Ls n a,,ie is Eleplrn.ntTTe stone s ur e in not your friend . Lion :Ja id , He don ' t need to ;)e Because toda~ wi ll b e his end . Lion took off throu gh th e juncle 32 �POLK SE GUIA11f3 ( cont I d) Lickity -s plit, Me aning to c rab Clepb ant And t ear h i ~ b it to b it. Period! He c oi,:e ac r oss E lephant copping a ri e;h teous nod Und e r a fi ne c o ol shady tree. Lion said, You b i g old n o- g ood so-and-so, It 1 s eithe r you or me. Lion let out a solid roar And bopped Elephant with his paw. Elephant ju □ t took his trunk And busted old Lion's jaw. Lion let out a nother roar, Reared up six fe e t tall. Elephant ju c t kicked hi m in the belly And lau ghed to see hi m drop and fall. Lion rolled ov er, Copped Eleph ant b y tbe throat. Elephant just shook bim loose And butted him like a goat, Then he tromped him and he stomped 11im Till the Lion yelled, ffil, no! And it was near•-nigh sunset When Elephant let Lion go. Tbe si g nifyinc Honkey Was still settin g in bis tree 33 �FOLI~ SECULARS ( cont I d) 't·JJ:i en be looked down and saw tbe Lion, Sa i d , l-n1y, Lion, uho can tbat t h ere be? Lion s aid, it' s me. Mon key rapped, Wh y, Lion, You loo k more dead than alive! Lion said, r!o nkey , I don't wo. nt To hear you r j ive - end-jive. Monkey j us t kept on si c nifying , Lion, you fo r sur e caught hellMist er El e~1 0. nt 1 s done wh ipp ed y ou To a far e -tlw o-wcll! ~fuy, Lio n , y ou look like to me You be en i n t h e pr e cinct station And had t he t h ird-de gre, Else you look li ke you been h i gh on ga ge And do ne c;et caught In a mon k ey cage! You ain 1 t no king to me. Facts, I don't think that you Can even a s much as roarAnd if you try I 1 m liable To come down out of tbis tree and 1,n1i p your t a il some more. Th e Honkey st o.rted laughing And jumpine up a nd dow n . �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) But he jumped so hard tbe limb broke And he landed--bam!-on the ground. When he Hent to run, bis foot slipped And be fell flat down. Grr-rrr-rr-r! The Lion Has on him With his front feet and his hind. Monkey hollered, Ow! Lion said, You little flee-bag you! l'fl1y, I 1 11 eat you up alive. I wouldn't a- b een in this fix a-tall Vasn 1 t for your signifying jive. Please, said Monkey, Mister Lion, If you 1 11 just let me go, I got something to tell you, please, I think you ought to know, Lion let the Monkey loose To sec wbat his tale could beAnd Monkey jumped rigbt back ori up Into his tree. ·what I was gonna tell you, said Honkey, Is you square old so-and-so, If you fool with me 1 1 11 get Elephant to whip your bead some more. Monkey, said the Lion, Beat to his unbooted knees, �FOLK SE CULATIS (cont 1 d) You and all your signifying children Better stay up in them trees. Whicb is why today Monley does his signifying A-way-up out of the way. FRANIITE AHD JOHNNY Frankie and Johnny were lovers, Lordy, how they could love, Swore to be true to each other, True as the stars up above, He was h er man, but he done her wron G. Prankie went down to the corner, To buy ber a bucket of beer, Frankie says 11 Mister Bartender, Has my lovin 1 Johnnie been here? IIe is my man, but he ts doin g me ·wronc;. 11 11 I don't want to cause you no trouble Don't want to tell you no lie, I saw your Johnnie half-an-hour a go Making love to Nelly Bly. He your man, but he 's doing you wrong. Frankie went doun to the botel Looked ov er the transom so h i gh , 86 11 �FOLK SECUL/\.RS (co nt rd) There she sau he r lo vin ' Jobnnie Haki ng love to Nelly Bly Ile was her nill n; he was doing her wron g . Frankie threw ba ck her ki~ono, Pulled out her big forty-four; Tooty-toot-toot: three ti mes she shot Tiight t h rough that hotel door, Sl1e s l10t ber man, who was doing her wron g . rrRoll me over c;ently , Roll me over slow, Roll me ov er on my right side, Cause th ese b ullets hurt me so, I was y our rrian, but I done you wroni:; ." Bring all your rubber-tired hearses Bring all your rubber-tired h acks, Th ey're carrying poor Joh nny to ·the burying gr ou nd And they ain't gonna bri ne him b ack, He was he r man, but be done h er wrong. Fr ankie says t o t he sheriff, "What are they goin o; to do? 11 The sher iff he said to Frankie, 11 It 1 s t he 1 lectric ch o.ir for you. He was your man, and he done y ou Wl'onc." • �FOLK SECULAES (cont'd) 11 Put r.1e i n t hat dun.c;eo n, Put lile in t h at cell, Put me where the north east wind Blows fro m the southeast cor ne r of h ell, I sho t my 1,mn, 'cause he done t11e wrong . S T. JAHES INFIR1-1ARY BLUES I went down to St. James Infirmary, Hy b aby t11er e she lay, Out on a cold , cold table. Well, I looked an I turned away. Hl1 at 1 s my baby 's chances, I asked old Dr. Tharp. '~y six o 1 clock this eve nin She 'll be playln a g olden harp. 11 Let h er go, let h er s o, God b l es s h er, W11 erever she may be. She can hunt this wod e world over, But she 1 11 never fi nd anoth er man like me. JUST BLUES I got a sweet black gal Liven down b y t h e railroad track, A swe e t blac k gal 88 11 �FOLK SECULARS (cont 'd) Down by the railroad track, And everytime she cri es The tears run down her ba ck. Cryin 1 , baby , have me rcy, Baby , have mer cy on me! Baby, baby , baby , Have mer cy, mercy on me! If this is your mercy, Hha.t can your pity be ? BLACK W0r-1AN We ll, I said come here, Black Woman, Ah-hmmm, do n you hear me cryin, Lawd, Laud! I say run heah , Black Woman, Si t on yo ur Black Daddy's k nee , Lawd! Hmrnmm, I kn oH yo h ouse f e el lones ome, Ah, don you heah me whoopin, L~wd, Lawd, Do n yo h ouse feel lo nesome , Hben yo biscuit roller gon, Lawd, he lp my cryin time Don yo house f ee l loneso111e , Hmmm , l~en yo biscui t roller gon. �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) I say rny house feel lonesome I know you heah me crying , ob Baby, Ah-hmmm, ah, when I loolrnd in r,1y ki tcl"Jen , I-1ama , An I wen all t h oo my dinin room An-mmam1, when I woke up this mornin I faun my b iscuit roller done gone. Goin to Tex as, Mama, Justo heah t he wild ox moanLaHd help mah cry in time -Goin to Texas, Mama, Jus to beah the wild ox moan, An if they moan to suit me, I'm c;oin to bring a wild ox home. Ah -brnmm, I sa:r I I m got to go to Texas, Black MamaI know you heah me cryin, Lawd, Lawd- Ah-hmmm, I'm got to f!,O to Texas, Black Ma ma, Ah m-jus to heah the white cow, I say, moan! Ah-h mmrn, ah, if they moan to suit me , Lawd, Lawd, I bleeve I'll bring a white cow ba ck home. Say , I f ee l superstitious, Mama, 'Bout my hoggin bread, Lawd he lp my h ungr y time, I feel superstitious, Baby , ' b out my h ogg in bread! Ah-hrnmm, Baby, I feel superstltious, 90 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) I s ay'stitious, Black 1fo111an! Ah-bmrinn, ah y ou b eab me cryin Bout I do n c; ot h ungry, LaHd, Lawd Oh , Mama, I fee l superstitious Bout my b og , Lawd Gawd, it's mah bread. I want y ou to tell me, Ma ma, Ah-b 11mm, I he ah me cry in, oh Ma ma! Ah - hmmm , I wa nt y ou to tell me, Black Woman, 0 wh e ah did y ou stay las ni gh t? I love y ou, Blac k woman, I tell the wh ole Herl I do. Ah -h ~nm, I lo ve y ou, Black Woman, I know you h eah me wh oopin, Black Baby ! Ah -h tnm.m, I lo ve y ou Blac k Woma n An I'll t e ll y o Daddy , I do, Lawd. YOU}W BOY BLUES I 1 m a real young boy, jus sixteen years ol, I 1 m a r eal y oung boy, jus sixteen years ol, I need a fu nky black woman to satisfy my soul. ·1y fath er was no jockey but he sure taugh t me h ow to rid e . I s ay my fat her· was no jockey bu t h e sur e tau gb t me h ow to ride. 91 �FOLK SECULARS ( cont I d) He said first in the middle, Then you suay from side to side. BACiillOOR BLUES I left my baby standin in the back door cry in 1 Yes, I left my b aby sta ndin in the back door cryin' Sh e said, baby , y ou g otta h ome jus as long as I Bot mine. A BIG FAT HAHA I 1 m a b i g fat ma ma, [sOt the meat s h akin on ma1) b ones, I 1 m a b i r; fat ma ma, got t h e meat shaki n on mall bones, And ev er y ti me I shakes, s oti1e skinny g irl loses lrnh 11otrte. HOU LONG BLUES How lo nr; , how l onG, has t h at eveninc; tr a in b i n c one? Hou l one; , hou lo ne; , b aby, h ow lon13 ? Had a c al li ved up on tbe hill If she 1 c t her e , uhe loves me still Baby, how lonG, hoH long , boH lon g ? Sta nd in at the station, watch my b a by c;o Feel dis c ustcd, b lue, ~e an a n low II oH lone , h ow lo ne , b a by , 11 011 92 lone ? �CHAPTETI III AFRICAN VOICE IN ECLIPSE: IMITATION & AGITATION 1746 - 1865 Slaves, thou gh we be enroll 1 d Minds are never to be sold --from David Ruggles• Appeals, 1835 I Overview As we embark on a survey of the chronolo g ical development of Black written poetry, it is important to remember that any study of such li t er•a ture concerns that which is "available. 11 11 wri tten II and The fact that one writer has made more works accessible to the public than another writer does not make · him/her the "greatest" 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" and "relevant "--to use ;,.., ..f.p/1.,..,'~ an overworked contemporary term. Here and fellewiM~ chapters, I am including brief representations of the poetry. And while this book certainly is not an ~nthology, /"samples" are g iven to reinforce comments on styles, themes, subjects, language and other aspects of the poetry. The poems included, it is hoped, will allow student, gene ral reader and teac ber immediate acces s to comparisons, contrasts and tentative analyses. also is no over-riding effort to explain the Horks in a 93 There �poem- by- p oem b r e a kdmm. h istori ca l Howe v er, Cha pter VII will offer an "running " analysis of several poe ms with e wpb asis on how t h e p o ems can be r e ad s ilently and aloud. Also to b e examined ar e s ome of t h e cons istencies (a nd si milariti e s) i n th emes that can be found i n many of the poems. II Lit e r a ry and Social Landscape Blacks h ave bee n in the Western He mis phere almost as lon g a s whites . Aft e r 1501, most of the Spanish ex pe ditions to the New World included Black explorers. By the ti me the 2 0 sla ves- to-be were b rou ght on a Dutch vessel to Jamestown in 1619, the pre se nc e of Blacks had been felt for at l e ast 100 years (see Be nne tt, Fr a n klin). Cruci a l to a n und e r s tanding of early Black poetry are t h e circums ta nc e s surrounding slavery and the political and reli c iou s mood s of both E ng land and Colonial-Revolutionary Amer1.c a . Briti s h Ame ric a did not follow t h e Greco-Roma n tra- dition of t h e we ll i nformed slave . It was quit e unlikely , thep, that a "r e volutionary" Black poet would e mer g e from a social and lit e rary landsca pe so char ge d with self-ri ght e ousness and Neoclass icis m (or from the Ro manticis m of t h e Lucy Terry' s "Bars Fi gh t 11 1noo r3 ). (written in 1746 and pub li s hed in ll39.5) could h a rdly be called "protest"; neither could th e work of Phillis Wheatl ey , co tJ sidered the finest Black talent of the coloni a l era, cau ght b etween contrivances of the Ag e of Enli ghtenment and the approaching g rip of the ro mantics. • 94 The neoclassical �tradition that reached its height in the poetry of England's Alexander Pope, had already be g un to die out with the death of Pope himself in 1744. All over Colonial America, however, white poets were i mitating 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 bis failure to manumit bis own slaves. Althoush Jefferson carried on a written correspondence with Black astronomer and mathematician, Benjamin Banneker, he considered Phillis Wheutley 1 s work "beneath criticism. 11 On the g eneral American scene, the Revolution behind, a national literature bad begun to emerge. Fascinated with American employment of new technology (Franklin's li ghtning 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 hi gh (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 Willian Bradford, 95 �John Winthrop, Cotton Mather, Thomas Shephard, Roger Hilliams, Edward Taylor> and Jonathan Edwards were succeeded by t11e embryonic nationalistic works of Franklin, Jefferson, William Byrd, William Cullen Bryant, Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving, William Gilmore Simms an:l James Fenimore Cooper. Irving, Cooper and Bryant were to become the early writers most taugh t to American school children. "New England Renaissance, 11 Often called the the early decades of tl1e 19th Century saw increasing tens ion behrnen New England puritan ism and Southern aristocracy over the question of slavery. over s lavery Debates continued up to the beginning of the Civil War. The early part of t he century also saw tbe birth of many of -Ht .tut IQ eA-- 1 white America's greatest writers , along with 1 romanticism and rug ged individualis m. Mystified by the noble sa va ge (Indians and sometimes Blacks) and cballenged by the "new frontier, 11 Americ ans be gan to romanticize their situation and especially that of explorers Hho became the first ori g inal folk her oes. "W'hi te writers who dominated the period fro m 1826-1 865 included Edgar Allan Poe (poet and short story writer, credited with creating the first detective in American fiction), Nathaniel Hawthorne (consid ered the first i;reat American novelist--The Scarle t Letter), John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Hadsworth Longfellow, Jarnes Russel LoHell, Oliver Hendell Holmes, Harri e t Beecher Stowe ( one of the first wl1i te American novelist s to feature a Black pro ta g onist in fiction--Uncle Tom's Cabin), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, �Herwan 11e l vi ll e (c onsidered to have Hritten one of th e l7andf u l of "grea t" American nove ls-- Moh:r Dick), Halt 'h7hit man. (t eru;ed th e "gre atest II American poe t--Lea ves of Grass). Otl1e r writers, pr• i ri1ar ily po litic al act ivists or ahol iti on i s t s , included John G. Calhoun, Hi l l iuu Lloyd Garris on, and Abrnhar,1 Lincoln. Us i. ng th e ir mm and Black ma terial, n nm,11)er of 1-1bi te comp osers i mmor t a liz cc.1 t h0 ern in songs -- 1.1an:r of t ber,1 nationrtli.sti. c. It Wf.t. , dnr i nc; t )1i. c p c: r-'Lod tl'ia t Francis Scott Kc:r wrot e "T1 e St ar {:ip t,ngl(jcl Banner . 11 S teplrn n Pos t er l7as since 1eo 11 a ccu sed of r.1ere ly puttinc; to music the s on c;s that we1°e sun e; by slaves. Tl10re rn:1.s no ._:;cnoral encourageme nt, bow8ver , for Blacks to l earn to read; but many slave owner•s i ndu l ge d their cha ttel in uritine; ex e rci nes as personal pastti mes nnd bobbies. So many of the earl y Black poets , t hen , g rew u p in relati ve sec urity. To be totally free , Dav id Walker observed in h is Appeal (1 029) was to bo e conomically insecure, socially ostracized and psycholo gically oppressed . Co nsequ en tly, those sla ves priv iled c;ed to r ead and write i nvar iably took European literary models . Poet s , of course , were not the only ones writin g . In a dd ition to aholitionists-essayists, like Wa lker and Frederick Dou g lass, tbts perioc.1 of Black literary acttvity was h i gh li e;hted by exciting slave n a rratives: or freed slaves. autobiographical accounts of es caped The most popular of these, and one of the first recorded, was T~ Interestin e Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African {17 09 ). Bontemps includes it in his Gre a t Slave Narrativ es 97 Arna (1969). �Vassa, wh o also i p~J ~d oo. penned so me notab le verses, co n structed a s tor y patt e r n t hat was to b ecome fa miliar to read e rs of early America: th a t of t h e escaped, freed or run away sla v e wh o reported his or her hardships and struggles. Vassa descri b es his life in Africa u p until the ti me of his kidnapping . With vivid memory and d e tail, he e stab lishes the ori g inal b ases for what we hav e come to call t h e "African Continuum" in America. It is not just mere coincidence t h at t b is state ment fro m 1789 almost fits parts of Black America of today. We are almost a nation of dancers, 111usicians, and poets. Thu s e very great event ••• is celebrated in pub lic dances which are accompanied with song s and music suited to the occasions. Vassa 1 s debut into this literary g enre was followed by hundreds of other narratives, many of the m fakes. Early Negro Hritin g : Dorothy Porter, in 1760-1837 (1971), has dj_scussed tbe problem of det e r mining authe nticity of tbe narratives. Mrs. Porter is librari a n of the Hoorland Foundation at Howard University--which houses an outstanding collection on t h e Black past. book she included: constitutions and laws of b eneficial societies; speeches before nrutual aid and educational societies; t he report of the earliest annual convention for the improve ment of free people of color; ar g uments for and a g ainst colonization; printed letters, sermons, petitions, orations, lectures, essays, reli g ious and In h er �moral treatises, and such creative manifestations as poems, prose narratives, and :::ihort essays. Mrs. Porter thus sums up the intellectual and literary output of the ear•ly Africans. The word "African, by most writers and speakers of the era. 11 was used generously Hhen "African" was not employed it was ir.1plied throu gh the use of "Coloured, "Black, 11 "an Ethiopian Princess" and other terms. 11 Placed against the sometimes sophomoric and h eretical 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, hroadsides, books r and news organ! tbat emerged from Black individuals and institutions durin g the period up to the end of the Civil War, there was also much political-social consciousness - raising throu gh oratio n . In the ear ly years great reli g ious and political lead ers s uch as Ri ch ard Allen, Peter Williams, Ab salom Jones, Prince Hall (founde r of Black Masonry), Paul Cuffee and Daniel Coker, took up projects of "mutual aid" for Africa ns . Their work se t the stage for missionary, abolitionist and self-help programs undertaken later by people like Jarena Lee, Frederick Douglass, n. Martin Delaney, Sojourner Trutl1, and Alexander Crumme ll, to name only a handfull. The intellectual, reli g ious and moral work of Blacks in the North was paralleled by t he development of folk materials 99 �(the songs and stories) of Blacks on Southern plantations. In general few states, Nort11 or South, allowed educational or vocational opportunities for Blacks. Thus the energies of early Black writers and intellectuals, Mrs . Porter and Hilliam Robison point out, 110r0 aimed at setting up of various "African" societies and free schools , and the promotion of literacy and self-betterwent amonc; neHly freed slaves. Many educated Blacks of the North also acted as conduits for the Underground Railroo.d . The R0v . Allen, popular relic;ious crusader and founder r of tm Bet11el African He t hodist Episcopa,n} Church, seems to ,J have been referrinc; to the same Black "sensibility" described by Vass a when he said ( in 1793) that 11e was conf ident that there was no religious sect or denomination that would suit the capo.city of the colored people as well as the Methodist; .•• Sure I am that reading sermons will never prove so benefi cial to the colored people as spiritual . or extempore preachi nc; ...• Huch evidence oxists, then, of Blacks bandinc; toc;ether for "mutual II concerns in the enrly days of America. The horrors of slavery , the psychological pressures of Northern "fr eedom , 11 white reprisals ln wake of slave revolts (such as those led hy Gabriel Prosser in 1800, Denmark Vesey in 1 822 and Nat Turner in 1831), ma.de for a most unsettling atmosphere (s ee Halker 1 s 100 �Appeal). Reporting on wbite America's "need" to vent its fears and hatreds on Blacks, Winthrop Jordan (tn, ite Over Black, 1968 ) noted that wbites initially feared tbree thin 13s: loss of identity, lack of self-control and sexual license. In an effort to e.scape the "animal within himself t11e white man debased the Uegro, surely, but at the sar,1 e time he debased himself. 11 And a youn[s Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, visitin g America in 1831, said racial prejudice was "stronger in tbe states t h at bave abolisbed slavery than in those where it still exists. 11 {.,.; ( - 'Needless to say, creative literature of the "arty" sort (thou ch much of it Has being done at the ti me) was not the number one priority for Blacks facing hell from all sides. Nevertheless a literary tradition did develop and flourish in Black America. Th e exa mple of the narratives (including those by }Tarrant, Doue;lass and Truth) led to publications by the first Black noveli s t and playwright, Will1am Wells Brown. novel was Clotel: Brown 1 s or The President's Daue;bter (1 853) and his play was called Escape: Or A Leap to Freedom (1 857). The second novel by a Black American Has The Garies and their Friends (1857) by Frank J. Webb. Delaney published the third novel, Black, or the Huts of America, in 1059. Webb Here both published in England. The works by Brown and Brown also worked on in the cause of abolition and other social reform pro grams. His Anti-Slavery Harp (1 848) contained songs and poe ms whose the mes are implied in the book's title. The pattern of the Black educator, intellectual or artisan carrying on tbe dual role of creator and activist, characterizes the history of Black • 101 ,.f:, �creativity in Atnerica. ) Yet many critics, Black and whit e , unaHur e of.' the stresses and demands on Black artists) do not approach their sub jects with the understanding required. r also, ~ Political journalism (see Dann's The Black Press, 1827-1 890), was a strong vein in the development of Black American writing . Beginninc; with John Russwurm (the second Black colle ge graduate and first Black newspaper editor, Freedom's Journal, 1827-29), and e volvine.; througb Ru ggles' Mirror for Liberty (first Black ma gazine, 1838), Douglass' Monthly (1 844) and North Star (1847), to Hamilton's Anglo-African Macazine (1 859), the tradition of Black journalism and research on the African experience was firmly 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 manls pli ght in America. During tbe early and middle years of the 19th Century, white travelers throu~1 the Soutb collected and compiled slave songs-Seculars and Spirituals. These songs would later form the nucleus for much of the Black and white writing the mes. On the eve of tbe Civil Har, the Dred Scott decision (a hlow to slaves and abolitionists) help step up the demands for the abolishment of slavery. Brown's The Black Han ( 1863) was a capsule of one era which closed on the b lasts of cannon and another that opened on tlle sound of jubilant shouts. 102 �III THE VOICES ON TIIE TOTEM "mean mean mean to be free 11 --Tiobert Hayden Ae;ainst tbc forec_;oing background, tl1e poets of ColonialRevolutionary -Slavery America appear curious, tearful, exciting, paradoxical, fri~1tening and puzzlinc. Biblical i mac ery, classical allusions and themes, llatred of slavery and ai.~bi 13uous praise for s lav c - n1nsters, recollcctionn of Africa, appeals and condemnations, all become enmeshed in the intricate ling uistic and psycholoc;ical 11el1binc; of' this early poetry. In 1770, at 17 y ears of a ge , the privileGed slave cirl Phillis 1,n1eatlcy became the first Black "exception to tbe rule 11 j in Enc lish and American poetry. And for decades students of' American pootr:r had Gone about their recitations and research Ile ,,>,/ as thoui:sh nothinc; or no one of i 1poptat1ce l iapper:ed~ I1iss Hbea tley and Dunbur. It wa:J not until 1 8 C)J tl1at Lucy Terr•:r 1 n 11 Bar 1 s Figbt 11 - - t:;bo account of a 17L1.6 Indian taas:::acre in Deerfield, Ha:::isaclrn:rntts--cnr..c to public li c> t. c1.notl1or• 27 ~r0t:Lr·s to Jupttor IIat,1111011 1 c 11 11 A:x1 readers 1·1ad :rot a :i. t bcf ore O:-~cnr Hcce l i n i. n 101:; discovered .r1l. n Ti'v T'JJ, ou u·1,·t:; ~ . et,iL~,:-· • ~ - , Salvation h:· C1~ri:::it, Hith Penit en tial Cri.::: :-~11 (1761) in tbo 1T011 York Historical Society, tlrns establishinc Hmnmon as the first publ lsbed African roe t in Amer'lca. 103 �H e :,e n tio ne: d c arili or• th at :.:a n:" a n t }1 olo i3 ies 0::1. i t Fi c;li t. n 11 Bnr I s Th is i s lll1ck rstanda1' l e si n c e Hi s s Terr7 (1730-1 ° 31) never u ro t e; , or a t lea s t presented, anymore l i terar:r works. Americ a I s "first Ne g ro poet, be inc; ju s t tha t--f irs t. 11 then, is L;1porta nt prilimril:r for Like ITiss 1'n1ea tle:r, Vas sa and ot11er New EnGland sla v es, s he was kidnapped as a child and br6u gh t to UcH England (Rhode Island). She witnessed t h e Indian raid reported in h e r 2 8 -line do g cerel and h ns a flair for storytelling . Hence clc:::ipi tc tbe poe m I s 11 ol"lViously Heak literary :rieri t, 11 t h is Black Hri ter perfo1~n: ccl one of the earliest services of the poet--that of a sing er of history-- in recordinc actual names and places in her narrative. Since she was 16-:rears-old and a ser v ant c;irl, writing i1us surely not h er pri r.1arily responsibility. Yet "Bar's Fi ght," achieves some success when seen against the oral tradition in poetry: Listen my children and you shall hear Of tlie n idnight ride of Paul Tievere. or HoH, cbildren, I 1 m g oing :to tell you t110 story about raw-head and bloody-bones! and There uas an old woman wl10 lived in a sboe .She had so many children she didn I t know what to do. Compare the fore g oing lines to Au c ust 'twas, the twenty-fifth, Seventeen h undred forty six, 104 �Tb e India ns did in ambus h lay , Some ve r y valient me n to slay , The no.me s of wb om I'll not leave ou t: Samuel Allen like a hero fout, and the ele mental connections will readily be seen. One h as only to re ad t h is poem aloud to get b oth t h e effects a nd Miss Terry's appar en t i nt e ntions . Uhen s h e wrote "Bar's Fi gbt" Miss Terry worked for an Ebenezer Wells of Deerfi e ld, }fussac b usetts, but was c;iven h er freedo m ten years later wh en she married a free Blac k man, Abijah Prince, by whom she had six childr en . Prince later became the owner of considerab le land and was one of t h e founders of Sunderland, Ver mont. 1-Jilliam Robinson (Early Black American Poets) lists Miss Terry with t h e "orator" poets and ri gh tly so. Oth er details about Niss Terry and t he Princes can b e obtained from George Sheldon's A History of Deerfield, I-1 assachusetts, 1 895. Slave poet a nd intellectual, Jupiter Ha mmon (172 0 ?-1 000?), provides yet another look into the capab ilities, mind-sets and limitations of Africans in Colonial America. Ha mmo n is c;enerally not r e gard ed as an "i mportant" Black writor-- but is dis t inc;uish ed for bei nc; t h e first African i n America to publis h his verses. This b e di d in 1761 ( "An Eveni ne; Thou gb t, 11 composed i n De cemb er or 1760); 177G ("An Address to Miss Phillis W110atley"); 17 B2 ("A Poctn. for Ch ildren"); and in the mid-17 80 1 s ("An Eve ning 's Improvement"). I n h is 11 Address to the Ne c;roes of t ll e State of New York 11 (written in 1 786 and pub lished in 1 30 6) Hatmnon . linked in with a tradition t h at i ncluded pamph leteers, like 105 ;- �Quinn, Ualker, Ruggles and others of the period. Hammon's "Address II sought freedom for younger Blacks, claimin[-s tba.t "for my own part I do not wish to be free. 11 This statement appears, on the surface, to be the ultimate in self-debasement and self-denial; but one has to view it in the context of statements by de Tocqueville, \Jalker, and others, aloni with the circumstances of t b e aging and relic;ious Hammon. That Hammon himself was deeply reli ~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 Hriting ). In the poem to Miss Wheatley, he notes that it was throu gh that rI 11 God 1 s tender mercy" that she was kidnapped from Africa and bro.ught to America as a slave. ~ / re:flect tinent: ~ And Hammon seemed, generally, to prevailing white attitude toward the "dark" con- one engulfed in ignorance, barb aris m and evil. Obviously not as well read as Miss 1.{hea tley, Hammon was unable to take his themes to universal and intellectually arresting levels. fJ He was born a slave and belo~ged to -t-l-l-e influential family of Lloyd's Neck on Long Island and was encouraged by bis masters to write and publish poetry. T11ere is not a great deal of information available on the life of Hammon; but it is difficult to understand why an intelli g ent Black man, Hho li ved such a lone; life, mirrored al most complete ignorance of the horrors of slavery--despite the almost daily local newspaper and verbal accounts and discussions of the 106 �"peculiar institution. 11 Har,m1on I s li terar:r mode ls Here primarily the co nven tional mate1"ial of hymns of the period. So his re- ligious fer vor --at the time of reli e ious re v i va ls in Europe and Colonial America--coupled with his stylistic borrowi ngs fro m hymns con i:iti tute his major poetic effort. "An Eveni n13 Thougl1t," "L·Il1ich Hrs. Porter tells us was probably "chanted during tl1e deli very of a sermon, 11 beGins: S al vat ion come s by Christ alo ne The only Son of God; Redemption now to every one, That lo ve h is only word. Dear Jesus we would fly to thee, And leave off every Sin, Thy tender ~cr cy well a gre e; Salvation fro1 ,1 our king; Like Hiss Ter•ry, Hamr,1on iras not primarily a poet. And hence, unlilrn n.pproachint; Phillis vn:ieatley, one should not spend too mucb ti me or be too barsh in criticizin.s (or complainin g about) him. The basic structure of the Enc;l~sh bymn--wbich merr;ed witb the Spiritual--as Hammon interprets it, is an alternation of iamhic tetrame ter and iamb ic tri meter combined with a ratber clumsy ab ah rhyme scheme. Compared to other hymns , it is no worse and is better than many. .D~i te the ti mes , pressures and censures, hoHever, one is bardprbssed to accept Hanu;10n I s assuranc e to the s lave that: In Christian faith thou hast a share, TTorth all the g old of Spain. 1 07 �Ha.mmon 1 s works can be found critically introduced in Robinson's anthology, in Stanley Ransom's America's First Ne gro Poet, the Complete Works of Jupiter Hammon of Long Island (1970) (and in Barksdale 1 s and Kinnamon 1 s Black Writers of America, 1972); critical-biog raphical attention is in Vernon Lo cgins 1 The Negro Author (1931) and J. Saunders Redding 1 s To Make A Poet Black (1939). Yet anotber slave , Pbillis 1:Jheatley (1753?-l 78Ld, has to be examined. There has been substantial critical-biographical treatment of Hiss Wheatley, so no atte mpt will b e made here to give her full consideration. By far the most gifted and com- plex poet until Dunbar , Phillis Hheatley was also priviledged as a young child and allowed access to the Boston library of 1 John 1fueatl0.~ ,_,., --to whom she ·w as sold after being brou g1Jt from Senec al when she Has six or seven years old--where she read voraciously. By the time of her teens she had learned to speak and write Eng lish, and acquired a New Eng land education which put great emphasis on the Bible and the classics. Her poetry, like Hammon 1 s ) reflect~ deep interest _in and knowled g e of religion; but it is also 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 ravine and unkind. Benjamin Brawley (The Negro Genius) reports that Jefferson vieued her as beneath the dignity of criticism. Yet, other great personalities of the day generously praised and received her work. lO G Geor e e �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, Hassachusetts--an invitation which she later accepted arrl was treated as royalty. Miss v.Jheatley I s earliest verses were penned during~ ~l!P~ 0.'.h her adolescence. Wbi tefield: 1770, 11 much of her poetry. "On the Death of the Rev. George reflects the elegaic the me yhi cl;i e"to ~ Manumitted and sent with other membe rs of the v.Jheatley family to London in 1772, because of frailness and poor health, Miss Wheatley was received like a visiting dignitary in London's literary circles o.nd bailed as t11e The next year ( 1773), while in London, she "Sable Muse . " I became (at 20 ... years-old) the first African, arrl tbe second woman from America, to publish a book of poems: Poems on Various Subje cts, Religious and Moral, by Pbillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to I'-Ir . ltlheatley of Boston. The volume, the only one she ever published, became an i t;1medtate success in both England and Amer ica and won her an everlasting place in the history of English poetry in America. Upon her return to America, Miss Wheatley 1 s misfortunes seemed to come in such liGhtning succession that one wonders how she withstood adversity as long as she did. First, there was the death of Mrs. Wheatley and then, during the 1770 1 s; the deaths of t he relllaining Uhea tleys. The poet then 1;1arried a Job Peters, 1.vbo "proved to be both a r:ibitious and irresponsible, 11 for whom she bore tl1r oe children--all of uhom died in infancy. 1 C9 �Add iti onally , the Pe t ers fara ily li ve d in s qua l or a nd pove r ty , li ke s o ma ny New Enal a nd Bl a c ks . Co~nen t inc on the cir c um- s t an c es surround i nc he r dea t h , Bar ks d a l e a nd Kannamon (Bln c k Wr i ters of Ameri c a ) obse r ve with s t oma ch - c urd li nG a cc ura cy that : Hor oa1°l y d e a t b prov i des a c or,unen t ary on tl1e desp era t e war· t.: inal i t y of life a1,10n g Bo ston ' s free Bl acl:s at t h a t t i me . To Pl1i l lis l ll:o atley , at one t :hie a prLr i l e :;ed se r\·a r1t ul, o e n jo:re<.l an cxt:i •~t .. c l :r benign ma:::; t 8r-::;or~. n nt re l at i on - sh i p , freedo m's uncertainities and insecur- ities were overwhelming . Certainly, h ad she been initially free in Boston, she would probably ne ver 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 1 s--even in godly, liberty-loving Boston--was indeed precarious. The preceding explanation, coupled a gain with the observations of Walker, de Tocqueville and others, make Hanimon 1 s statement about preferring not "to be free" somewhat more tolerable if not plausable. We noted that Phillis Wheatley bas been praised as well as condemned. Some critics denounce her for not being inventive and orig inal 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. 11 Considered on the landscape of the times, however, Miss Wheatley comes off as a genius--witb hardly an equal among !{~ck or white contemporaries. James " Weldon Johnson, during a comparison of Miss Wheatley's "Imagination II to Anne Bradstreet I s "Contemplation, 11 said 1 ~e do not think the black woman suffers by comparison with the white 11 ( Ne gro American Poetry). Durini:; ber lif e ti rne Miss Wheatley published some 50 poems, almost half of them elegies, five or six political and patriot 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 den~s 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. Since her greatest models were Pope, Dryden, Mil~on and the earlier classical writers, one must examine these sources to uncover some keys to her techniques arrl allusions. But one only has to read (aloud) the following passage from "Rev. George Whitefield 11 to feel impact: "Take him, ye ur e tched, for y our only good, "Take h i m, y e starv ing sinners, for your food. "Ye tbrifty , come to this life- gi v in~ stream, 111 �'1Ye preach ers, take hi m for your joyful t h etne; "Take l1i m, my dear Americans, he so.id, "Be y our complaints on l1is kind bosoi:1 laid; "Take him, ye Africans, he longs for y ou, "Impartial Savior is his title due; '~ashed in the fountain of redee ming blood, "You shall be sons and kings, and pries ts to God. 11 More will be s aid of this poem in Chapter VII; but we should state that some of t he previously harsh criticism of Hiss Wheatley lia s been t empered in li c;ht of increasing fe minis m and, especially , efforts by Black women writers, scholars and intellectuals to reevaluate her. Huch of h er work is done in the heroic couplet which dominated the period of poetry-writing . Th e se pentameter couplets (which would be popularized in the 20th Century as "unrhymed iambic pentameter 11 by Robert Frost) call for end-line rhymes to appear in twos, with 10 syllables per line. Roger Whitlow (Black American Literature) complains that Hiss Wheatley Pope called the 1 11 falls short in what correctnessf of diction and meter, that near-perfect choice of word and measurement and weighing of syllable. 11 One could agree., if Miss v-!heatley 1 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 of the couplet. After all, as Stephen Henderson (Understandines the New Black Poetry) bas suggested, many Black poets have their ears and thought rhythms attuned to the spiritual and phonological 112 �demands of the audlence that loves "extempore" delivery, even when the written lines are strict and tight. Also, in placing "Their colour is a diabolic dye" in quotations ("On Being Brought from Africn to America"), Miss Wheatley suggests that others deem her color ne gative but that she may not. This remains a possibility despite her closing couplet: Remember, Christians, Ne groes, black as Cain, May be refined, and join the angelic train. Yet there is firm evidence that Hiss Wheatley was not insentJ sitive, at least to her on predicament as a. slave without a fundamental and genealogical identity. Honourable William, Earl of Dartmough, In "To The Ri ght 11 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 feelin g hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate Was snatch'd from Afric 1 s fancy'd happy seat: What pangs excruciating must molest, What sorrows labour in my parent's breast? 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 tyrannic sway? The capital "F" in "Freedom, 11 the phrase "cruel fate, 11 the sorrow felt for her parents and the reinforcement of the a gony 113 �via repetition ("such, such"; see Margaret Walker's lines "How Long ! 11 ) , place her alongside other Black voices that searched for answers to the pall of racial insanity that - -- enwebbe ~ Hi ss Wheatley also experiments with the them. hymn for m. In 11 A Farewell To America" and 11 An Hymn To Humanity'' one bounces along her alternating lines and r hythms. We stated earlier that Miss Wheatley's critical i ma ge h as somewhat shifted. Perhaps the capstone of t h is shift was the Jackson State College Poetry Festival, held in November of 1973 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Hiss Wheatley•s Poems. Eb ony ma gazine (March , 1974) did a five-pa ge picture essay on the festival, organized and hosted by Mar garet Walker poet-novelist and Director of Jackson State's Institute for the Study of History, T,ife and Culture of Black People. According to F.bony "ei ghteen Black > women poets converged" on the Black colle ge campus to salute Miss Wh eatley, read their own poems and discuss poetry and life. Writer Luci Horton noted that recently there has been more respect for the "slave girl who, under unspeakable circumstances, was able to write poetry or any literature at all. 11 In addition to Dr. Alexander, the list of poets included -k- Naomi Long Madgett, Margaret r,. Burroughs, Marion Alexander, Margaret Esse Danner, Linda Brown Bragg, Mari Evans, Carole Gre gory Clemmons, Lucille Clifton, Sarah Webster Fabio, Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Gloria C. Oden, So nia Sanchez, Alice Walker, Malaika Ayo Wangara (Joy ce 1rJ'bitsitt Lawrence) and Carolyn M. Rodgers. 114 Gwendolyn Brooks• absence �was conspicuous. The festival was also the subject of a six-pag~ 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 reco gniz ed and never was free to for ~e t by a thousa nd humiliations and white mercan- tile Enc;lnnd, 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 ascertatn whether or not she wan capable of end urin~ even more intepse isolation. Ms . Giddin~s has us □ e rted what appears to he a hn lanc ed answer to t he protestations of Redd inc; , Br01,m, Brawley ( "no racial 115 �valu e 11 ) and ot hers . It retains to he seen as to whetber curr e nt and futur e ~e nerations of Black and wbite students Hill keep Hiss Wh e atley a "sta tute in tbe park" or br in g her to the tabl e and "exat,d. ne her blood and ljeart." Critical tr eatme nt of t h is first Bl a ck woman of lett ers already has be e n cx tvn s i v0: Julian Ha s on I s Th e Poems of Ph illi s 'l,fheu tley ( 1966); Dm,.ks clo.lo I s and Kinn amo n I s critical l ntr oclu ction; Rober t C. Ku nc io I s 11 S ot,,e Unpnhl is hed Po etns of PJ·, l lli s 1lhea tle:,r " (Neu Entlnrn1 Qt1 0..Fter l:' , XLIII, June, 1 C:'7t"'\ , 2 °7 -2" 7 ) : J o~· ..· it1:J Th e lT0 ,··1 •0 .'\.11tho1 1 1 (1931); Brawley's The N0c;ro Genius; Redding's To Hake: A Po0t Black; Shirley Graham's The Story of Phillis Wh eatl ey (1949); and Jerry Ward's and Charles Howell's article in the Summ er , 1() 74, issue of Fr·eedomways. 1fo have alr e ady mentioned Gustavus Vassa (1745-1001), one of the mos t interesting of the early writers, in another cont ext. Born the seventh and youngest son of a chieftan (in Es sake.,, now Eastern Nigeria), Vass a (African name: Olaudah Equiano) was first sold to a Virginia plantation owner. His journeys later took him on several A~lantic voyages and then to th e Mediterranean where he served in the Seven Years War. Vassa held technical jobs on ships as a result of his adeptness at th e 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 (1709) which was a best-seller among abo- 116 �litionists 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 Sur•prising Deliverance of Briton Hammon, A Negr•o Man ( 1760) and John Marrant published (also in London) A Narrative of the Lordls Wonderful Dealings with J. Marrant, A Black (1785). I / Vassa, wbO"l/e 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. 11 In the last line of the last stanza of bis "Verses" he reminds us that "Salvation is by Christ alone! 11 vfuicb is, of course, reminiscent of Hammon 1 s opening line: Salvation come by Christ alon~ Nevertheless Vassa 1 s language is less saturated in Biblical terms than Hammon 1 s. And the former, as verse writer, bas a better control @the language. 117 In the "Verses II be applies a �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 stat e cannot envision the sufferings he has e~dured. Dunbar would say the same thing in a different way in 11 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 bis skill, but for the insight and understanding he brings to the social and religious pressures, demands and choices around him. There is a r e leasing therapy in Vassa 1 s work which acts as only one of numerous 118 �conduits for Black anguish and outrage when the options were slavery or death. Vassa 1 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. Hore on Vassa can be found in Marion L., Starkey's Striving to Make It Hy Home: Tbe Story of American fro,n Africa ( 1964) and in Whitlow I s Black American Literature. In the summer of 1974, Darwin Turner conducted a graduate and postgraduate seminar on Slave Narratives at Iowa State University \iliere 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 found~d The Liberator (1831), the most influential and famous of the abolitionist newspaper.s. And by 1830 there ·i-rere more than in America. 50 Black antislavery societie s 7 Blacks in the United States had been stirfed bN___ 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 1Amistad. Led by Joseph Cinque, a Mendi-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 1Amistad revolt. In light of the growing consciousness among Blacks, it was to be expected that (5 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 bis poetic skill out to students who paid him rather handsomely for composing "personal" poems. His second book of poems, Poetical Works of Geor ge 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 his 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 Pur•chase the Poet rs Freedom 11 : 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 deepJ 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 bit:terly of slavery as well as lightly of love and humorously of life in general. Inf'luences 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 tetra.meter.. llletsl?. 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 hyi.:m-inspired works .. The effect is almost ballad-like: Uhen first my bosom glowed 1vith hope, I gazed as from a mo untain top On some d el ightful plain; But ohJ how transient Has the scene-It fled as though it had not been And all my hopes were vain .. I s it because my skin is black, That t hou should 1 st be so dull and slack, And scorn to set me free? Then lot me hast en to t h0 grave, ~le only refuge for t he slave , Ul10 t.10urns for libe1~t::_r. Also 0ffe ctive and sustaining i n pouer is "The Slave's Complaint" wh en featu1'es seven thre e -line stanzas with a final indented one Hord r·cfr•ain: "Forove1~" which is followed by either question mark, colon or exc lau!ation mark . Horton handles well so,,ie of his love poems and in "The Lover's Farewell" is able to touch base ·with that broad and painful understanding of Hhat it means to say goodbye: I leave n:y parents here behind, And all ~~ friends--to love resignad-1Tis grief to go, but death to stay: Farewell--I 1 m gone with love away! In this and oth er pieces Horton makes good u se of dashes--which allow him to dev e l op suspense and render his statements 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 bis life's work and bis poetry. His own position, coupled with his sanguine delivery of folk wit and emphasis, can be seen in the fallowing stanza from "The Slave": Because the brood-sows left side pigs were black., vfuo 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 I s An American Nan of Letters--George Moses Horton (1886), comments by Barksdale and Kinnamon, vfui tlow' s study, Brawley's Negro Genius, Loggins' work, Redding's study, Richard Walser 1 s The Black Poet (1967)., Brown's assessment 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 �and that most northern Black writers, intellectuals and educators turned their attention to th(educational, physical and e ~ n a ~ ne eds of free and enslaved Blacks_ Of these and other matters, Mrs. Porter provides ample proof and discus sion in Early Negro Writing., Occasional verse was also J_ somewhat of a tradition among many learned Blacks as was the ~ One such recorded item is "Spiritual Song" by Rev. Richard practic e of writing hymns, psalms and other spiritual songs. Allen, probably sermon~" 11 r sung during the delivery of a Re v. All e n 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 reli g ious fervor that consumed many Blacks of the period: Our time is a-flying , our moments a-dying ., He are led to i mprove them and qu ickly app ear, For the b less•d hour wh en Jesus in power, In glory shall come is now drawing near, Me t h inks there will be shouting , and I' m not doubting , But crying and screaming for mercy in vai n : 124 �Therefore my dear Brother., let 1 s now pray together., That your precious soul may be fill 1 d with fla me. Another such example is a 11 Hew Year I s AntbemII v-Tri tten by Michael Portune a nd "sung in the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas II on January 1, 1808. Fortune rs anthem is tra- ditional in its use of materials from Ne thodist hymns. tells the congregation to 11 He Lift up your souls to God on high 11 Wh o., with a tender f'ather• 1 s eye Looked down on Afric's helpless raceJ 11 Robery Y. Sidney composed two anthems For the National Jubilee of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, January 1st, 1809. 11 "Anthem. I" be g ins: DRY your tears., ye sons of Afric, God has shown his gr•ac ious power; He has stopt the horrid traffic, That your country's bosom tore. See thr•ough clouds he smiles benignant, See your nation's g lory rise; Though your foes may from indignant, All their wrath you may despise. This stanza is followed by a "Chorus, 11 "Sole" and "Recitative. In ."Anthem II 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 11 �•, This glorious day, your jubilee. Sidney also wrote a hymn which Mrs. Porter includes along with hymns by religious leaders Peter 'H illiams Jr., and 1-Jilliams Hamilton. Both men, using the English for ms, celebrate freedom, call for mutual aid among Blacks and preach the virtues of the Christian God. Williams praises the "eloquence/Of' Wilb.e rforce" after whom a predominantly Black university was named in Ohio .. For de tailed information on sources for these and similar 1:1ritings see Mrs. Porter's Early Negro Writing: 1760-1873. The collection includes two very touching examples of writings "On Slavery 11 and "On Freedom II by 12-yea.r- old boys from the . . New York African 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 be helped expand the programs of the African Methodist Church. Trained in the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he was ordained in 1839, Arter preaching for several years, be was made an M.M.E. Bishop in 1852. In the political and educational spheres he helped ~rge Lincoln 126 �(on April 14, 1862) to sign the bill to emancipate slaves in the District of Columb ia., 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. \J\¼ Pleasures and Other Hiscellaneous Poems Has publish~d in )Baltimore in 1850~ He also wrote 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 Paynets Recollect ions 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 11 the repe- tition of end stopped lines, and his diction, a hybrid of classical and Biblical vocabularies, can prove distracting to many readers. 11 Much of this we can forgive, ho1vever, when we understand Henry Dumas ' remark that 11 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 h is seriousness . Yet Payne never fails to So hurt was he in wake of the 1834 South Carolina law that, effective in 1035, made Black literacy illegal, Payne wrote "The llot.u-.nf ul Lute of t h e Preceptor 1 s Fo.rewell. 11 He find hi oncern for students in these lines: Ye lad s , uhom I have tau gh t Hi th sacred zeal, For yoin-. hard fate I pangs of sorroH feel; Ob, Hho shall now your rising talents guide, Hhere virtues reign and sacred truths preside? 127 11 �Pay n e i s a h a ndler of t he language , ob s e r v i ng t b at "tu o revolv i ng mo o ns s rw.1 1 l i gb t t he shor e s la1-1 11 s1i ut t he do ors 11 II af te r t he dr e ad on e ducatt on f or S outh Caro lina Blac ks . E ngu lf 0d i n tbo r- c l i c; i ous and r:1oral f er vor of 111a ny Bla ck mi ni s t e1°s of tbe p er i od , t he poe t o. nd or at or refl e cts a g e-old conc e r ns a bout de c e it a nd mistru s t i n sucb pi e c e s as rrTba Plcasu:i. e s. 0 n He c omp lains tha.t I-IE::: n talk of Love! But f e11 do e v er f e el Th e s p ee chle s s r a p tures u h ich it s j oys r e ve al. I1en "u i s tak o l ove, 11 Payne no t e s, F or grove lling lust, that vile, t h at fi l t h y d a me, Hh ose bo som n e ' e r eve r f e lt the sacr e d flame / ;--+ 1 For i ns i ch t into Pay n e rs lif e a nd works one could g o to any one of' bis @consid erable numbe;@ of' writing s. Among others, they include The Ser.ii- Cen t enary and th e Retros pe ction of the Africa n Methodist Ep iscopal Church (Baltimore, 1866) a nd Th e Histor y 6f the A. M. E . Church (Nashvi~le, 1866). Josephus R. Coam•s 1935 (Philidelphia) biography: S ee als o Daniel Alexand e r Paynej Christian Educator, Robinson 1 s comment s and Brawl ey' s Ne gro Genius. Unfortunately too little is known of romantic poet John Boyd; esp e cially since his work reflects genuine g ifts and talents. Boyd's poetic imag es ar e 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, Esq .. , Deputy Secretary and Registrar of the Government of the Bahamas. Nesbitt must have recognized the talent and the promise and he aided Boyd 1 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, 1833, issue of the Boston-based Liberator .. His 1834 volume is entitled The Vision/ and other/ 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's Paradise Lost .. Boyd skirts a rhyme scheme but employs a. fairly regular iambic pentameter meter. All things considered, his work partially cancels the criticism by Sterling Brown that Black poets lag in their stylistic awareness. opens brilliantly with: Me thought the Hoon, pale regent of the sky, Crested, arrl filled with lucid radiance., Flung her bright gleams across my lowly couch; 129 "Vision" �And all of heaven's fair starry fir ,1 ament Delightful shone in lmes of glittering light, Reflecting ) like to fleecy gold, th e dewy air. In his "Vision" Boyd encounters characters of both the heavens and the hells. Uh e n the narrator, "dreamer" joined the train Fervent hosannas struck the astonish'd ear., As wben in the midhour 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 "vision" is also peopled by 11 grin:i death and ghastly Sin" who "lay coiled, like snakes in one huge sco.ly fold, consider their "inexpiable doom--. 11 11 and Boyd's tones are sacred and surreal and he assembles harmlessly complex subordinate clauses that help build an exciting linguistic crecendo as in "Ocean 11 : \fuen the fiat of the most High., Thy fountains burst., a copiously 130 �Thy secret springs, with ample store, Pourtd forth thair waves from shore to shore Wide as the ·waters roll, oh, wave. co MM e,JI/S<IV',4 f e,_,,, Boyd's work has yet to be appraised in t e r m s ~ with its importance. Robinson makes brief but significant comments on his poetry. Ann Plato, another romantic poet, is also one for whom r- ) there exists 11 ttle g,:;f' th~ 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 1£341. What little is known of her comes by 'l;,Tfl.Y of an introduction to her book 'Wllieb --rn.s HFii5ten by Rev .. J. W. C. Pennington.., pastor of the Colored Congregational Cburch in Hartford, of which she was a member. First of August, 11 Except for her "To the 1-1ritten in celebration of the 1833 abolition of slavery in the British Hest Indies, there are only allusions to slavery. Her book also contains ~ssays on religion, mod- eration, conduct and other conventional themes. These same themes are pretty much paralleled by the 20 poentV in her boo which deal with home life, deaths of acquaintances and moral issues. "Tieflections, 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 Not, 11 11 For•get Me 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: lfuen bird does wait thy absence long, Nor tend unto its morning song; lfuile thou art searching stoic page, Or listening to an ancient sage, i·! hose spirit curbs a mournful rage, Forget lfo Not. Her interest in oral literature and the storytelling tradition is a.ppar·ent in 11 11 The Natives of America II where she asks: Tell me a story, father, please., 11 And then I so.t upon his knees. Again, as in her contemporaries, we find 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 Niss Plato see Robinson's Early Black American Poets. LJ,'fS Another abolitionist-minister an<;l orator-poe;,1Elymas Payson Rogers (1814?-1861) who, after teaching public schools in Rochester, New York, took up pastoring in Newark, New Jersey. One of Rogers' students &8 e teae~or was Jerimiah w. Loguen ·who later become an important social-religious leader and a Bishop of the A.M.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 arrl political hypocrisy. Working politically on behalf of Blacks, Rogers apparently designed The Fugitive Slave Law (Newark, 1855) and Repeal of Missouri t Compromise Considered (Newark, 1856) to be read aloud from platforn~. Like., James H. ·whi tfield, 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 he arrived there,. His incisive no-hoi{s-barred approach to the political climate and conditions of the time is seen in 11 0n the Fugitive Slave Law": LawJ What is Law? The wise and sage, Of every clime and every age, In this most cordially unite, That 'tis a rule for doing right. And the ringing cry of the elocutionist can be heard later in the poem when, in discussing the fugitive bill, he asks and answers: That Bill a law? the South says so, But Northern freeman answer, NoJ Anticipating the fiery and torrential 1,J bitfield (and 20th century "angry voices 11 ) Tiogers continues: That bill is law, doughfaces say; But black men everywhere cry 11 Na:,r: We'll never yield to its control While life shall animate one soul 133 �At times bi ting and o v e ~ n g l y harsb as a poet, Rogers resounds in "The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise Considered 11 with these words: > "I want the land, 11 was F~edom 's cry; And Slavery answered, "So Do I J By all that's sacred, I declare I 1 11 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 "LawJ What Law? 11 he purposely begs the question in order to wring the emotional and rhetorical pouer from the words and to evoke responses from audiences. References to Rogers can also be found in Robinson's Early Black American Poets. Iw.tbematicia.n., poet, educator and Black community worker, Charles L. Reason (1818-1898) uas born in New York City of Haitian parents. He attended the New York African Free School Hhere he later returned as a member of the all-Black faculty. Seeking the ministry, Reason was, for racial reaso ns , forbidden full time attendance at the ~1eological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Eventually, however, he became eligible for a professorship in ?~thematics and Belle Lettres (1849) at the Ne1v York Central College in NcGrauville, Courtlandt County. William G. Allen and George B. Vashon Here also on the faculty ther e . Ile held various educational jobs including a princi- palship of tho Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia 134 �and graurnar sb co ol Ho. 80 in Hew York City Hhile H. Cordelia. nay uas a teacher• thero. neason uas a.n intellectual and a sch ol ar but was not blind to the practical needs of Afro/\.t11or ica ns . Irv oppos0d plans to colonize Bl acks, c lailili ng inst ead that th ey nee~ded to pursue vocational careers here in Amer• ica. Again, not primarily a poet, Reason is competent as a poe t in "The Sp irit Voice II which opens with: Come ! r ouse ye brothers, rouse! a poal nou breaks Prom lowe s t island to our gallant lakes: 1 Tis summoning you, who in bonds have lain, To stand up ma nful on the battle plain, and ur ces Blacks to fight for freedom and opportunity. The poem (whos e comple te title is "The Spirit Voice or, Liberty Call to th e Disfranchised") is indebted to the rhyming couplet so famous dm.. ing the era and which had been used with great skill by Phillis \·n1eatley. It appears in William Simmons Men of Nark (Cleveland, 18B?). r 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. 11 His s piri t voice" (see the idea of African Spirit Force) longs for the time when freedom's mellm• light 135 �Shall bre a k, and usher in t he e ndless day , Th a t f r om Orleans to Pass 1 maquoddy Bay, Despots no more may earth ly homa ge claim, No slaves exist, to soil Columbia's name. The poem was ·w ritt e n in 1841 and shows Re as on I s poetic abilities etched out und er the strain of racis m and the countless chores demanded of an educated Black of the period., Elsewhere ("Freedom") he gave this familiar cry: 0 Freedom: Freedom! Oh, how oft Thy loving children call on TheeJ ~ 7 In wailings loud a~d breathings sf oft, Beseeching God, th ~y face to see. I How r eminisc e nt of and 11 not unlike" the Spirituals this burst isJ Certainly the student of this peirod of Black poetry will want t o ke ep his rhy thmic 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 Auto graphs for Freedom (1854). Anticipating the .Ure-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. vJhitf'ield (1823-1878) voiced some of the most powerful and angry protest yet heard in Black American poetry when / he publish ed America and Other Poems in Buffalo in 1853. V Barber, worker for Black colonization, poet and pioneer journalist, Whitfield had earlier authored various types of writings: Poems in 181~6; "Hm-;r Long? 11 ( publisbed in Julia Griffith rs Autographs for Freedom in Rochester, 1853); "Self-Reliance, Delusive Hope, and Ode for the Fourth of July" (in The Liberator, November 18., 1853); 11 Lines--Addressed to Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Holly, on the Death of Their Two Infant Daughters 11 (In Frederick Douglass' Paper, February 29, 1856); and Emancipation Oration (San Francisco, 1867). lrJhitfield is known chiefly for America which was received so favorably that he was able to leave bis barber shop and devote full time to making speeches for the abolitionist cause, working for colonization programs and general Black develop- > ment. He had personal contact with b~th DoL,lass and novelist :Martin 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 uhere be barbered and conducted most of his colonization efforts. He apparently died on bis way to look into the possibilities of colonizing Black Americans in Central America. Delaney had changed bis mind and the emigration scheme was never realized. Like most of the orator-poets, Hbitfield is 1.;riting to be heard, listened to and read aloud. Consequently much of his poetry (though not lacking in religious fervor) reinforces his ideology and negative vieus of America. America, the Street land of liberty becomes for Uhi tfield, "America 11 Thou boasted land of liberty,-and To thee I sing becomes It is to thee I raise my song, Thou land of blood, and crime, and wrong. Like Rogers, \·Jhi tfield did not believe America was capable of redemption; and, ac;ain like his pred_e cessor, he died on a > journ~, to find something better. The idea of 11 giving 11 • up on America would uppear thematically in the poetry of later writers like Fenton Johnson, Lee, Baraka and sor,1e of the Muslim poets. It would also be implicit in the expatriation of wri te1°s and artists such as Paul Robeson, Wright, Baldwin, Chester Himes and Katherine Dunham. In a driving iambic pentameter "'18:b::P' (in couplets), whiah has o.11 the openings for spontaneous interjections and expletives, ·whitfield in 138 11 Amer\ca, 11 accuses �the United States of killing the Black sons uho fought for her and of general hypocrisy. Here one can see Whitfield CV anticipating; current slogan, which Hayden makes use of in "Words in tho Hourning Time 11 : Killing people to save, to free them? Though more general, \Jhitfield continues a similar assault (stating life is hell) in "The Misantbropisi~,'' but tones down 11 to a reverent salute 'I, I All bailJ To Cinque 11 : thoui;h truly noble chief, ·who scorned to live a cowering slave; Tby name shall stand on history rs leaf, Amid the mighty ani the brave: Whitfield praises the revolutionary Cinque who "in freedom's lJ1ight II Shall beard the robber in his den; and ••• fire anew each freeman's heart_ Since Whitfield's primary goal is to get o. political "message" over, bis poetry, as art, leaves some_ things to be desired. Robinson points out that Hhitfield "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 or linguistic cosmetics_ Lastly, we must note that Uhitfield expressed concern for global oppression; quite modern in this, he s~rved, 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 139 11 Russian Bear" (reflecting �on European despotism of the mid 1800 's) in bis poem "Holl Long? 11 : I see the "Rugged Russian Bear" Lead forth his slavish hordes, to war Upon the right of every State Its own affairs t-o regulate; To help each despot behind the chain Upon the people I s rights again., And crush beneath his ponderous paw All constitutions, rights am law., Selections of vfuitfield's poetry can be found in the Robinson anthology., in Negro Caravan ( 1941), and in the Barksdale and Kinnamon text. Hhitlow discusses Whitfield's poetry and im- pact as does Loggins, Brown, Brawley, Wagner., and Ruthe Hiller (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, 11 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 ne,;-rn 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 �• self-help p1"ograms. Her fame rested primarily on her Poems on Hiscellaneous Subjects published in 1854 in Philadelphia. A very popular volume, it wcrnt through twenty editions by 1874 (William Still 1s Undergr·ound Railroad, H372). Her literary activity was stepped up after the Civil War and included Hoses, 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 fiction 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 Hrs. Harper's poetry is not original or brilliant. But she is exciting and co'.Iles through wi tb powerful flashes of imagery and statement. Her models are lh"s. Hemans, Hhittier and Longfellow, and so ue find an overuhelming influence from the ballad. In reading her poetry in public, Hrs. Harper ·was · able to appeal to what ) Johnson (God's Trotnbones) called a 11 higbly developed sense of sound" in Afro-Americans (see, again, sta t e1r1ents by Rev. Allen and Vass a). She apparently kneH her l .i mi to.tions, for Robins on tells us that her popularity ••• was not due to the conventional notion of poetic excellence, 11rs. Harper wo.s fully 0.1·1are of her limitations in that kind of poetry, it 1ms du e more to the sentimental, e:,1otion- freishted populari t~r uhat sbe had given the lines Hith her clisarmingly dramatic voj_ce and gestures und si~1 s and tears. �Up until t he Ci v i l 1far•, Hrs. I-Iarper 1 s favorite t hemes Here slavery, it s harshness , and the hyp ocris es of Amarica. She is car efu l to place graphic details tfuere they will 3et the great est result, especio.lly wb0n t he poe,;w are read aloud. An oxauple of' tb i s is found in "Tl1e S lave Eo tl1er ": Ho is not hers, f o~ cruel ~a~tls The onl~r 1-n-eu.t h of hon o el:old love ~1at binds he r bre a k i n~ heart. A. sir.lilar play on tho emo tio ns is seen in poe u s like in a T1re8 Land, 11 "~-io ncs for the P0ople, 11 (Hi th its sth rine;s of fe minis 1;1 ) and 1 11 1 11 • Bury He ''Doubl e S ta nd ard" Tbe Slave Auction. rr A woman is not solely responsible for her in 11 11 fall, rr s he suggests Doub le Standard II a dding that And uhat is ur onc in a woman I s life In man •s cannot be ric;ht. Hi gh ly r·eadable and less academic in her us e of p oe t:lc techniqu es and vocabular ies, Nrs. Harper is neve1 tl1e less quite 1 indebted t o th0 Bible :for much of her i magery a nd moral me ssag e. And she is able to merge and modify the folk a nd religious forms in a poem like 11 Truth II where s he ope ns with u debt to the Spiri tua.ls: A rock, for ages, ste1. . n and hi e;b, S tood fro1-m ing 1 gainst t he e arth a nd sky, And never bowed bis haur;hty crest When angry s tor1-:1s around h i m prest. Horn , spring inc fro m the arms of ni;)1t, �Had often bathed his brou with light, And kissed tbe shadous f1°om his face Uith tender• love and gentlsi grace. Several religious songs are suggested here; but she also loves to return to the theme of women as she does in and "The Slave Hoth er. 11 11 A Double Standard 11 In the ballad "Vashti II she tells of the heroine v1ho dared to disobey her dictator-husband. The strength and dete1 mination of womanhood is expressed in the 1 last two stanzas: She heard again the King's command., And left her high estate; Strong in ber earnest i;-10manhood, 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 1-1ould not bow to shame. Certainly a comprehensive biographical-critical study of }I.rs. Harper is long over.Jue. Selections of her work can be found in Kerlin•s critical anthology, in Negro Caravan, in Robinson's book., in Miller's anthology, in the Barksdale and Kinnamon anthology and in numerous other recent anthologies. Mrs. Harper's works are critically examined by Loggins, Wagner, ·whi tlow, Bro.i-rley, Broun and Sherman (Invisible Poets: Black Americans of the 19th Century, ' 1974). Like other writers, educators and activists of his day, �George B. Vashon (1822-1878) contributed to the influential Anglo-African l1aga.zine which was published intermittently between 1859 unti 1 the end of t11e Ci vi 1 'I.Jal".. Vashon had a good solid educa.tion--in classics and history--at Oberlin College where he received his A.B., in 1844 and I-LA., in 1849 .. ' Vashon, known chiefly for his "Vincent Oge," which Sterling Brown tells us, "is the first narrative poem of any length by a Negro poet,. 11 Vashon distinguished himself as a teacher, la-wyer, lectu1°er and uriter. He practiced laH in Syracuse, taught school in Pittsburg, served on the faculties of College Faustin in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, New York Central College (Hherc he was a colleague of Reason and Allen) and Houard Unive1"'sity in D .. C. uhere he was a law professor. lfuch of Vashon•s poetry reflects debts to his strong education and the influence of Scott and Byron. All are seen in "Vincent Og~," inspired by the courageous (but foolish) . f efforts of Vincent Oge, a Haitian mulatto who was "entrusted with the message of enfranchisement to the people of mixed blood on the is land. 11 The order bad _come down from the Con- vention in France, of i.-J hich Hai ti wa.s a colony.. Internal disruption in France (due to tho Revolution, 1789-1799) had I echoed to its colonies in the Caribbean t~ere Oge led a short-lived armed uprising that cost hir,1 his life when he wa.s refused asylum in Spanish Santo Doraingo and remanded to the French autho1"'i ties in Hai ti. As punishment and a. warning to ' other•s., tbc P1°ench had Oge tortured on the uhee l and severed his body into four parts eae1".l o:f' c-rhich w e Jre-,W.Q,,it" hung . up in the four �leading cities of the island. I Oge's followers were either put to death or i mpr isoned and t he ir pr•operties confiscated. ' example as Has "'\·.J bitfield by Vashon 1-1as as L1.oved by Ogets In the lengthy poem, Cinque's~ II f Vincent Oge, rr Vasbon i1m11or- r talizes Oge in an admixture of classical and Biblical language, using a pleasant iamb ic tetra.111 eter meter and an over.J.ose of dissonance in his rhyme scheme which featu1,es an alternating a b a b/ a a hb. The style is som01-1bat reminiscent of Whitfield who breaks his rhyme scheme (see "America 11 ) after each group of eight or nine lines. "Vincent Ogt II and · "A Life-Day II were both printed in Auto graph s for Freedom for 1853. For Vashon, the strugele is very much alive, I And Oge stands mid this array Of matchless beauty, but his brow Is brightened not by pleasure 1 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 such as Johnson, HcKay, Hughes, Brown and Dodsen: Frowning t he y stand, and in their cold, Silent solemnity 7 unf'old r.r11e strong one Is triumph o'er the weak-The at:ful gr oan--the anguished shriek-The unconscious mutterings of despair-- 145 �11he strained eyeball's idiot stare-The hope less clencb--the quivering frame-The martyr's death--the despot's shame4 The ra.c k--the tyrant--victim,--all Are gathei-•ed in that Judgment Hall. Draw ue a veil, for •tis a sight But fiends cnn gaze on wi tb deligh t. Freighted ·with emotion and terro1~ like much of the work of Mrs. Harper, and setting the stage for such awesome poei@ as Wri ght's "Bet·ween the World and He, " McKay• s "The Lynch inc; , 11 Dunbar Is "The . Haunted Oak" and Dodson's "Lament," Va.shon•s relentless narrative signals a new and sustaining power in t h e work of Black poets. Compare, for example, the last two lines of the stanza above to HcKay 1 s couplet in his sonnet "The Lynching ": And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Da nced round the dredful thing in fiendish gle e ., Unlike HcI(ay , however , Vashon cheers up at the end: Thy coming fame, Ogel is sure; Thy name with that of L · •Overture, And all t he noble souls that stood 1vi th 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 11 General Hash ington" by Hiss Hheatley. 11 A Life-Day" is a shorter poem, in three parts, a nd, like "Vincent Og~, is founded �on a factual event: the love-ai'fair 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 see the works of Brown and Brawley. As we prepare to move to the next phase in the development of Black poetr•y, it is important that we tarry long enough to pay brief attention to some of the Creole poets. He select Pierre Dalcour., Armand Lanusse (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 p:ortrait 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--a.nd they rarel:r display any racial consciousness and general injustice. 01, concern for slavery Nost were fluent in speaking and writing French and from that influence their work 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' Horks appeared as "tbe first published anthology of ·Negro verse in America II in a volume called Les Cenelles (New Orleans, 1845). In addition to French, the Creole poets also 1-1rote in Spanish, La.tin and Greek and uere Generall~r from the wealthy land-owner class J-4 7 �and 01-1nod slaves. About Dalcour little is 1-::noHn e::rnept t11at he 11as born of wealthy par•ents uho sent bim to Pr anc e in t he ea.rly 1800 • s t o re c 0i vo a gooc.1 education. Roturninc to l'Tew 01°leans after his schooling, he uas unab le to acc ept tl~e racial tempe1~ and again took up rE: sidency in Fra nce. 1-Jhile i n Hew Orleans, houe ver , ho uroto a number of poems, one of u h ic11 was ~h i tt 0n in th.3 .Alh u~.1 of I:a.dar,10 iselle. 0 11 r e li ves the vaulted sk i es II 11 11 Vor•se Tl.1e poe D toucbinc ly and "gentle flashes rr 11l1 icl1, to the poet , ar e " loss l ovo ly 11 wb.cn seen U.'.:;ainst the la¢ly's eyes Beneath their brown lashes. Lanusse, Le r.enelles editor, contributed to New Orleans nreole newspapers, L'Union and ~a Tribune, served ns a conscript ed Co nfederate sold i e r in the Civil Har , spent some time ns principal of t bo Catholic :J ch o ol for Inc1iscnt Orphans of Color. He also encou rage d lit erary and other artistic exp1·ess ion a1.10nc fcllo-tJ artists and ::rn lici ted uork for Les Cenclles. He culoc;iz0d h is br·othcr , lTuma , in the poem 1 '1.Tn Pr!re/Au Tombeau de Son Pr!re," re calling t h at "u r @!. n:; death has cut you down." VS 0 Elsewhere Lanuss e refers to death as " some other b a nd shutting your e:re lids. 11 S omcH!rn. t no.ught ier a nd more poignant in "Ep igram," La nusse g i ves the account of . a 11 . ·wor:1an of ev il" who wants to "r enounce the devil n but, ask fl . Before pure gr ac e takes me in hand , Shou l dn I t I shoH my daugh t er how to ge t a man?" "'-./ �sJjour• lived ~110st of his life i n France a nd only returned to Hew Orl0ans for br ief visits to h is lilOther . Son of a ·wealthy family, he 111,ote s ever al plays, 21 of wh ich were stage d in Fr•ance a nd three in Hew Orleans in the 1850 1 s. sJjour 's literary a b ilities were praised by Napoleo n III and he rubbed shoulders lJi th major Fre nch literary personalities of bis day. Eis scope is uider t h an some of the other Creole poets. "Le Re tour de FapolJon 11 ( His "The Return of Napoleon 11 ) is an e le g7 f a.nd a celebration all j_n one. While eulogizing Napoleon, Sejour prai ses both his and France's triump~s and g lories. poem of flouing, g-r aphic exaltation. 11 a "sea II that It is a Opening on t h e scene of gr oans under the burning sun, 11 he narrates the gr outh and collapse of France as a. world power: And on a nd on she swe pt, an unleashed tempe st wild, and France mov ed on ahead. No more. All is over • ••• Yet, hail, 0, captainJ Hail my consul of proud bearing. Admonishing France to country that 11 11 1:leep, France, ll$ep., 11 , Se jour reminds the death has lightning struck the people rs g iant. 11 Little is known about the perso nal life of Debrosses which, according to Robinson., "seems in keeping with bis Haitian gained experience in Voodoo, aspects of which he practised in Hew Orleans. 11 In Debrosses' "Le Retour .au Village aux Perles 11 ( "neturn to the Villag e of Pearls 11 ) , he seems to a nti cipate what Waring Cuney sees through the "dishwater" in h is poem 149 �_j_ "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 ho.ppy memory. A cigo.r-mal{er by trade., Riquet lived all of bis life in New Orleans where be pursued a vigrous avocation of ·writing light verses. His "Rondeau Redouble/ Aux Franc Amis 11 ( "Double Rondeau/To Candid Friends 11 ) leaves no doubt that Riquet saw himself as at least serious in bis 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 an:1 Spiritual forms of Afro-American poetry., Riquet says that since his "candid friends aJ:'.e calling for a rondeaul he and his ":Muse • • • must worlr a 1vonder. 11 11 Other Creole poets included Niebel Saint-Pierre (18? - 1866)., Camille Threrry (1814-1875), Joanni Questi (18? - 1869 compiled an Alma nach of Laughter) and T.A. Desdunes Nb om Jahn says "is reminiscent of the Senegalese poet Birago Diop. 11 The duty of the poet is to "rhyme in an uncommon uay 11 or he will "earn the name of poetaster--from our candid friends." 150 �The Creole poets are examined and represented by selections in E. Nn ceo Coleman 's Creole Voices (Hasbington, D.C., 1945) See also Charles Rousseve 1 s The and in Robinson•s anthology, Negro and Louisiana (Xavier University Press, 1937), and the critical selection by Jahn. in Hughe s r and Bontemps Lanusse and Lecour also appear The Poetry of tbe Hegro (1949~ 1970). I There were other poets Hriting and publish ing during this same period. I1any of them published their works in single editions, and copies of some are no longer extant., refers too. poet knoun as 11 Caesar 11 who allegedly 1vrote but 1,1bosc poetry is not available. are: Brawley Other poems and their collections Ilaria and Harriet Falconar, Poems on Slavery (London, 1783); Jo.mes Hontgomery, Jamas Graham, E. Benger, Poems on the A1) oli tion of the Slave Trade (London, 1809); Anonymous, Tbe Uest Indies and 0th Gr Poems ( 1 8 11); John Bull, The Slave and Other Poems 1824); Rev. Noah c. Cannon, Tbe nock of l!isdom .,. (London, To Hhich Ar•c Added Several Interesting Hymns (New York,? 1833); Anonyu1ou s, "The Comlilemorative Hreath: In Celebration of the Extinction of Negro Slavery in the Bri tisb Dominions (London, 1835); Anonymous, Anti-Slave ry l-Ielodies (Hingb a 1;1, Hasso.chusetts, 1834); George 1'n1itfield Clark, compiler, The Liberty I-Ii nstrel (Neu York, 1844); Hilliam Hells B1 own, Anti-Slavery Harp (Boston, 1 1849); 11 A West Indian, 11 Charleston, Soutll Carolina: a satiric poem shouinc; that slavery still exists in tbe conntr~r which boasts, above all otbcrs, of being the seat of liber·ty. 1851); Sar.1-----------------Darlmcss BronGb t to li ch t 151 (London, (Derry , �lTeH Hampshire,? 1855); George H. Cletrk, The Har•p of Preedom (:New York, 1856); and Abel Charles Thomas, The Gospel of Slavery ( Heir York, 1864). In 1860 Blacks represented l.4.1~; of' the United States population and were 4,1~41, 830 str•ong. The sour tastes lei't by the 1vorst internal social inflagration until the 1960 1 s and 70 • s, the problems of car int; for and protecting the soon-to-be-released slaves, the need to develop and staff educational facilities i'or Blacks, all engulfed Afro-Americans in a deluge of horror 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 11 that, in the uords of Corrothers, on the wild s1veet flowers. 11 Lieth, like shado1v 11 The following poems are included as examples to enhance and possibly clarify the foregoing discussion on the and Agitation II of "African Voices In Ee lips e. 152 11 11 Imitation ... � 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. 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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/42e26c6ed429c83320d838f32dffab7f.pdf 2520f51e64436d2ab9e72b7b75170451 PDF Text Text . • ,' mental ~,and phys lcal destruction of Black bumani ty. \ ~ \, fof ..dfecuss~n ' If a slavery is unpleasant, then, a consideration of . lyndh1ng ls horrifying. \ However, skilled teachers and students will maneuver judiciously through the rough waters of su~h sessions--keeping emotional delu ges to a minimum by ad mitting facts and cl ear interpretations. During such occasions, everyone must be on guard less the classroom becomes a courtroom. At the same time, a convener who cannot preside over vi g orous and thorough discussions of these painful events and details may find himself, at later junctures, trying to bridge even wider gu lfs of doubt, frustration, mistrust and alienation. Again, the teaching and studying of Black poetry (or any aspect of the Black Experience) assumes the complexities of tlle Black Experience itself. Neverth eless, t h e study of Black poetry is infinitely rewarding because it is a vehicle which distills t he particular insights and perspectives of Black Americans into concise and authentic forms: merJing the rich rural-Biblical-urban idioms with colorfully luscious imagery and (in many cases) peerless technical proficiency in the use of literary English and Hes tern poetic forms. \·J11en students are confronted with the various poems on lynchings, for example, study can be underscored by an examination of language , form, posture, poetic toolery and overall achievement or effe{p.veness of the poems. In Richard Wricht 1 s ~------ "Between t he Wor.ld and He" the Gcl;";iypoet becomes the persona; ...... the oak tree narrates t he l y nching in Dunbar's "The Haunted Oak." 14 �Cullen speaks as "I 11 in "Scottsboro, Too, Is 1·J orth Its Song 11 which admonishes wbite American poets for remaininc; silent over unjust treatment of Black men while they sing: sharp and pretty Tunes for Sacco and Vanzetti, I said: Here too 1 s a cause devinely spun For those whose eyes are on the sun, Here in epitome Is all dis grace And epic wrong, Like wine to brace The minstrel heart, and blare it into song. In McKo.y's 11 The Lynching" the killing of the Black man is made analaeous to the crucifixion; a sonnet, and awesome throu gh out, the poem descends to its rhyming couplet with a final ghostly irony: And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Danced round the dredful thing in fiendish glee. Certainly in these poems--and the dozens of others that employ the lynching theme--there is much fuel for papers, classroom discussion and teacher preparation. In the four poems mentioned, the poets span such diverse forms as the sonnet, the ballad (Dunbar) and free verse (Wright). Helpful in this area will be the additional inquiry, by teacher and student, into t he development of white hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan • 15 �and the history of race riots in America. Riots in at least a dozen American communities in 1919, for example, helped spur McKay to write "If 1rJ'e J\'1us t Die 11 , a poignant sonnet with its even more poignant and popular ending couplet-Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but figbting back! --a poem which Winston Churchill read before the House of Commons, during World War II, to spark his countrymen in the dim hours; during the 1972 prison rebellion in Attica, N.Y., journalists found the poem scribbled on the wall of a cell and the national press attributed it to a prisoner! Of great assistance, too is a knowledge o:f tte history or slave revel ts ( many Black poets write about them) and the patterns or violence in America. Attuned teachers and students will want to consult sources such as 100 Years of Lynching (Ginzberg), back issues of Black and liberal white news journals and papers and especially past issues of The Crisis, the official news and opinion a.rm of the National Association For The Advancement of Colored People. The scholar, W.E.B. DuBois, one of tt.ie first Black men to receive a Ph.D., edited The Crisis for over 20. years :from its beginning in 1910. For further readings, the teacher can refer to my extensive bibliography plus appropriate sections of any of the numerous anthologies, textbooks and bibliographical sources available. VI Hhile I admit that in:formation and opinions contained in 16 �tbis handbook reflect my own biases as a teacber, critic, activist, and poet, the prescribed patterns for teaching and studying Black poetry are ones generally adhered to across the country. Tbe organization of any course is certain to mirror at least a minimum amount of the teacher's own political and critical biases. Consequently, when lecturing on or pre- paring curricula for Black poetry, I normally allow for a flexible outline, including options in both textbook use and period emphasis. The same holds true for concentration or saturation of study with regards to individual poets. Teachers, naturally, will have personal preferences; in fact, like the students, teacl1er s may oven have developed attaclw1ents to specific poets, attitudes about t he poets or prejudices toward poets who do n ot reflect what they feel is a correct posture for Black poetry. Just as there is great and healthy diversity in the poetry and the poets, there will be divergent attitudes and critical points of vie'w amonc teachers and students. Some of the differentiations will be due to age differences (the "generation gag"?), as is the case with the poets, and some will occur regardless of age. The Black or wbite teacher should ar m himself to the best of bis ability with t he tools of criticis m and a knowledge of Black culture. He must have some idea of what part "duality" plays in t110 lives of Blacks and hm-1 sucb "twoness II is manifest in Black poetry; he should recognize the key issues be ing raised by and de bated runonc Black artists, sch olars and 17 �activists--and have some feel for the historical circun1stances out which t h ese issues and debates grew; he oucht to understand Baraka I s rc.ference to s01ne Black poets as and 11 11 inte grationists 11 a.rty poe ts 11 ; lie uill have to know Hhat man:r of the ITew 11 Black po et s 1:-,ean Hlie n t h ey say t 11 ey 1'eject Hes tern and I'l.Jft ~se to t e: judge<.:' 1·)y for1~1s 11 ul1 i te st au<J. n.rcls (Baruka, for e x m:p le, talks about post-American forms); he will also want to recognize Black in-house humor and intracomrnunal disparaGement in wo1.,ds and phras es like 11 nigger, "oreo, 11 "colored, 11 "the man , a nut, 11 11 11 11 11rother, "Mr. Charley. 11 11 11 11 11 negro, 11 11 "Uncle Tom, 11 bad mouth, 11 "bust "main squeeze, 11 and dicty, crumbcrushers, 11 11 (For further i ndication of this dictional and ph onoloc;ical rich ness and the breadtb of Black Lan Guac;e, see T110 Dictio nary of .l\. mericnn Slane; , I' fo.jor's Dictionary of Afro-American Slun G, the "Glossory of Selected Terms" in The P::iycholoc;y of Black Laneuar,:e (Haskins and Butts), Abraham's Deep Down in the Junisle, Andrews' and Owens' Black Languac;e, Claerbout 1 s Black Jnr c on in White America, Twi ges' Pan-African Lanc;uaee in the Uestern IIemispher~, Welmers I African Lanr:t~~~ Structures, Kochman's Rappin 1 and Stylin' Out, and Dillard's Blac k English. Additionally the teacher or student will want to know the motivations of some of the poets. All poets, for example , do not rate being called "poets" in the traditional (white or Black) senso. Reddin g , in a recent Muhammad Speaks interview, accu::ied ::iome of tl10 new Black writers of lac kin~ 'moral and 1. G �esthetic t integrity I E',nd called them 'literary bustlersM Observing tl1at Baralrn recently s ic;ned a 10-year contract wi tb Random House, Redding said such an act is inconsistent with the poet's nationalistic assertions and positions. In a recent plack Worl~ article, novelist and poet Ishmael Reed spoke dispara~ingly of some of the new Black critics ("Blackopaths11) and poets ( 11 nationtime poets, 11 was the reference). Poet-essayist Lee has chided poet Nikki Giovanni for beinc.; an 11 individual 11 who lacks technical abilities; and in a recent issue of Jet magazine a reader irately asked if Miss Giovanni deserved respect after accepting a Homan-of-the-Year award from a national white woreen•s organization. Miss Giovanni and Reed were nominated for Pulitzer Prizes in 1973. a member of the older c;roup of poets, who was only Hayden, 17 years old when the Harlem Renaissance burned out, feels that Lee (praised by Gwendolyn Brooks, Hoyt Fuller of Black World, Randall and Baraka) has potential as a poet but lacks discipline and seems unable to separate poetic technique from ideological rantinc.;. On the other hand, Stephen Henderson, author-editor of Understand The New Black Poetry praises Lee relentlessly and says his popularity is "tantamount to stardoJo/.\ Henderson, who holds a Ph.D., is currently chairman of the new Humanities division at Howard University where Lee is a writer-in-residence. Miss Brooks gives Lee credit (in her introduction to The Poetry of Black America) for spawning much of tl10 contemporary Black consciousness literature . • 19 �~ Any seriouS~dealing with the development of Black poetry as a body of wri tine0 must be aware of these intense feelings and positions. One must also orc;anize orderly discussions or readings around the divergent views; in this way the classroom or rap sessions do not become melees and participants 1 get a complete picture of the richness and vastness of Black poetry and the political, social and historical tensions out of which the poetry is generated. \Jritinc; on the New Black Poetry, (The United States in Literature, Hiller, Hayden and 0 1 Neal), Hayden says: The emerc ence of a so-called school of Black Poetry in America has been one of the significant literary developments of the modern period. Althou 6h tlle Harlem Renaissance of the 1920 1 s brouc;ht certain Afro-American poets into prominence, it was not until the intensification of the civil rights struggle during the 1960 1 s that a separate group of black poets began to take shape. Avowedly nationalistic (that is~ racially proud) and scornf'ul of western aesthetics, these poets continued the protest tradition, historically associated with Negro writers. But they were more radical in outlook than their predecessors. Unlike the Harlem group, they rejected entry into the mainstream of American literature as a desirable c;oal. They insisted that their poetry • 20 �could not be judged by white standards, urging its importance as an expression of black consciousness. LeRoi Jones--the most influential of the young activist poets--Don L. Lee, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sa nchez, Nari Evans, Etherid ge Knight, and David Henderson attune their lyres to the 'black esthetic.' Not ye t satisfactorily defined, this term, orig inating in the sixties, Llay be interpreted as a sense of t h e spiritual nnd artistic values of bla ckness. It is, perh aps, n lo Gical (some would sny 'chauvinistic') reaction to nec;ative Ameri can racial attitudes. Perhaps the concept :l. :J best summarized by t11e slogan 'Black j :J beautiful.' Those who accept this point of view regard Hegre subject matter as their exclusive domain, feelin o; that only those who have shared 'black experience' can articulate it. Older poets wb6se work shows souie alignment with the Hew Black Poetry inc lud o Hargaret Walker and Gwendolyn Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer in 1950. 1.vhctber poetry should be valued primarily for the unique inner experience it can provide or for its effectiveness as polit ical or social statement 13 a question 21 �t h at often recurs in discussions of true function of art today. Hayden's openin3 comments, then, corrob orate the opening sentence to tl)is introduction--that Black poetry , re gardless of one's position on it, is one of the most important movements on t he liter a ry scene today. Yet, while it is excitin g to study this "poetry in process" (if you please), the enthusiast must be on guard not to skip the tradition (the folk precedents) in favor of plunging into a Black poem that heaps wi-•ath on Water gate conspirators, or urban policemen who shoot rioters and looters. Swirling around and through the whole range of Black poetry, then, is the complex and multi-leveled nature of Black life. VII Hany of the "literary hustlers" to whom Redding refers have capit a lized on the topical and episodic issues--with little or no training in the Black tradition or writing. Henc e , the student mu st assume that just because a statement is "relevo.nt, 11 it is poetry! Th e Black or white research er will "dig ••• deeper to the gold 11 --in the words of James David Carruthers-- and "es tablish " a sound tradition ac;ainst which to measure the Blac k poetry of today. If the Black poet in question fails, he fails because he collapses from t h e wei c;h t of the past--instead of being buoyed up by it. In estab lishing this sound tradition, the teachers and students must realize, first, that the Black Experience is not monolithic--although 22 �recurring trends and broad i mp lications do exist in the areas of langua ge , reli g ion, humor, dance, music and general life style. Oddly enough, however, there is often more consistency in what Blacks lmou about popular "American II culture. 4 There are several reasons for such a paradoxical i mb alance and lack of focus-- many or tbe:11 locked in the enigmatic see-saw of Black history. Ellison observed in the 19401s that if Black leaders ever unraveled the puzzle of the zoot suit and the dark glas ses (meaninr; the secret of Black urban 11 stylin rs " habits), they could, perhaps, take the political and psychologi cal reigns of Black masses from whites. observation was accurate. Ellison 1 s James Baldwin has written that, in Europe, he looked at the groat Renaissance masterpieces and felt as hame d t ha t his race had not produced such work. S/1t;.;IJ"" Baldwin was not aware that the great~TtallB.11 painter, Pablo '-I Picasso, hnd borrowed he avily fro m African motifs, nor that the architect, Le Corbousier, was greatly influenced by thatched-roof huts used in Africa by Balwinfs ancestors. The implications of this po.rt of my discussion a.re many and far reaching because central to the idea of teachine and learning is what teachers and students expect from each other. 4. Ellison's, For an exciting recitation and indictme nt via a "cultural quiz", listen to poet-critic Stanley Croucb 1 s Ain't Ho Ambulances for no 1Ti13c:ahs Tonicllt (Fly ine Dutchman). 23 �Crouch ' s and Baldwin's ob ser vations are ti mely and i mportant. They sug~es t to us t hnt many, if not most, of t he students who arc in Dlack poe try (Black Studies) classes do not h ave a working know l edc e of tbe tradition out of which t h e poetry grei-1. It has b e co me popular, in sol!le quarters, to i gn ore this fact which Ellison and otbers have so painfully and poignantly expressed. The teacher ~ 10 assumes that a class of Black (or white) students is knowledg eable about tbe Black literary tradition is in for real trouble and many disappointments. The fore going point cannot be stressed too often or too emph atically. I nteresti ngly enough , the majority of the persons wh o want to know something about Black poetry are not preoccupied with t he craft of poetry--,-1i th the hows and wh~rs of poetry. K.Rather =t;:;e students and casual readers, Black and wh ite, seem to be more interested in the sociolo g ical (some teach ers say "path olo gical 11 ) aspects of the poetry. Tbe s i tua.tion varies, of course, fro m campus to campus, from atmosph ere to at mosphere, und frot il Black to white to int.erracial settinc;s. Here again the enthusiast has to draw t h e line and keep the persuit of the poetry by 11 ti Ght 11 in terms of the discipline de ma nded the poetry itself, Another proble m~ investi gators confront is how to organize se Gments when an appreciation of the material is what is souc;ht. Tlie "appreciation" approach could be t h e result of one's initial conception of the poetry or dictated �by level of interest and preparation. A casual reader, for example, ·would not study the same poems with the same intensity as would a senior or graduate-level English major. ~ evertheless, ~ teach er, students and poetry lovers must bear in mind that th ey are investigating Black poetry and not mere ly some literary imitation of traditional Western poetry--even thou gh the two conver ge time and time a gain. Here, too, t he point cannot be over-emphasized because in the context of racial and intellectual mixtures, the melting pot ls all too often likely to boil over. Example: white students, well gr ounded in their own literary tradition and having a skeletal knowledge of Black Culture will want to surge abead. Hot recognizing that many Black ( and some w1) i te) students do not know the meanings of simple poetic devices (such as metapbor s , similes, alliteration and onomatopoeia), the inse nsiti ve t each er and "aggressive" students could press on to the point of premature destruction of group participation. Such situations occur over and over. Even t h e best teachers of literature often tak~ for granted that every student has been drilled in the use of fi gurative language. Ironically, many of t he students have been "drilled" in the figures; but, the holes opened by the drilling allowed the information to g o in one ear and out the other! :Many students, in the whir of words in the classroom and e;roup discussions will not say they do not know the names of poetic devices-especially if they h appen to be Black students and t h ink t h e j �instructor expects them to be 11 experts 11 on the Black Experience. On the other' h and, the intellectual snobbery that often accompanies t be development of student 11 clicks 11 sbould not be allowed to pre vai l in a course in Black poetry. Luckily, for teacher, student and general reader, t h e curve s and crests and peaks in t he study of Black poetry keep br ingi ng all aspects of human nat ure full circle. 26 �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 Origj_ns 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 tbe "findings" of "Southern whites 11 --purpott ing to prove that the S piri tua:\-s were derived solely from English (Hymns and Psalms) sources-Johnson (Book of American Negro Spirituals, 1925), Professor Hork (Folk Song of the American Ne gro, 1915), and others, displayed faultless proof of Africanisms ~xisting in practically all Black American folk materials. The approach to this chapter will be via the philosophical concerns, updating 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: and the Seculars (or religious folk poetry and everyday workand-play folk poetry). I have included a fair representation of the original folk poetry. Tnis is appropriate, of course, 27 J The Spirituals �since most antholo gies of Black literature and poetry omit these items; and because without a knowled ge of them one will be hard-pressed to understand the Black poet 1 s use of folk materials ( se e Dunbar, Johnson, Brown, Hugh es, Hayden, Walker and othe rs). Howe ver, before discussing the ori gins of Black expression, we sh ould g ive mention to the role of t h e i;riot-or story teller--in pr e -industrial African (and other) societies. The Black poet, as creator and ch ronicler, stems from the group • of artisans known as griots--human records of fa mily and national lore. Ori ginally trained to recite--without flaw--the g ene- alogies, eulog i e s, v ictories and calamities of t h e folk, t h e griot (like t h e lead sing er of Spirituals) had to spice his ?' • reportag e with dramatic excitement. Hardly a Black youngster grew up (even in recent times) without input from a sort of 7 griot (uncl e , gra ndmoth er, bi g brother or sister, moth er o~ ::;:--- father, prea che r, e tc). The job of the gri(¢ like that of ) the ma~ er-cer emonial drummer, wa s so important that in many anci e nt societies a mistake could cost him his life. The griot began at a very early a ge his mastery of tec h nique and ini'ormation. Like the drummer, he u nderstudied an elder states man of the trade . His training demanded a certain psycholo gic a l adjustment to the si gnificance of h is job-which was to co ntain (and give advice on) t b e of the community. 11 heirloo ms 11 As years and centuries passed, t h is 11 factual" information was conv ert ed into a lore, m:r t h ology, cos molo c,-y and le gend; it became a part of the vast we b of racial co nscious- • 28 �ness and memory. It became the leg acy with which every new born child entered the world. Clearly, then, the myth-and lege nd- bu ilding 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 cri me against one's ancestors--against one's parents, a Gainst one's blood, against one's god. So it follows that the poet--griot-- is not some haphaz/ardly arrived hipster or slick-talker simply mouthing tired old phrases. )/ To the Black g riot-sing er- ;< 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 the 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 (or ganized and random) expressions, their physical appearances, their dress patterns and their fa mi ly life. Not only in the United States, but in the Caribbean, in the West Indi e s, in Latin America, in all areas of the world where Blacks live in substantial numb ers--they 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 (son g , poetry) expression--traditional Black (African) 29 �c01;11nuni ties did r..ot s e parate life fro m art--is a more sophtsticate d for m honed fro m the ge neral "storehouse. Ho one ff has y ot put t l1 eir h ands on exactly Hhat moment i n ti r,1e ancl Hher c t lie f i rs t Af ri c an sou:1c1 :=.i or- ,,: ov er e nts He r e i ncorpo1,ated into 11 Hb i t e 11 0 1, 1!e ste r n fra mes of references or vice ve rsa; but 11e d o lm ou t 11 a t it did b app e n. Unfortunately , lnept reportin g on t be Black Experience bas muddied t h e waters so much t11at one is r e pul s ed and horrified b:r observations and conclusions of son:e Black and 1.1h i te "researchers. 11 In an un.flinchingly brilliant analysis of Black African Oral Lit erature, presented at the First World Festival of Ne gro Arts (1966) in Dakar, Senegal, Basile-.Juleat Fouda, notin g that 11 phrase oral literature is as old as creation," coined the 11 Arch ival Literature of Gesture. important revelations, Fouda □ aid: 11 Concluding his "Thus in tbe Black Africa. of tradition, literary art is an anonymous art because it is a social art; lt is a social art because it is a functional art; and it is functional because it is humanist. research is not bounded by color. 11 Good Bl~ck sociologist E. Franklin Frazier (Black Bour r;eosis) held(wrongly) that there were no significant carryovers (cultural transplants) from Africa to the Unit ed States. (Slavery, Frazier said, African of his culture and 11 11 s tr•ipped II the destroyed 11 his personality.) Wbite anthropologist Melville Herskovits (Tbe :Myth of the Ne gro Past) proved witbout a doubt tbat tbere were African operating daily in Black Americans culture. survivalisms 11 (For more thou ght • 30 11 �on this see Jahn• s Nuntu, Work I s findings, memoirs of Katherine Dunham, wor ks of Lorenzo Dow Turner, Negro Folk Music of Africa and America (Folkways, Lp) and others. ) Rudimentary Black expression and the numerous folk for ms J it produced (field h ollers, vendors shouts, chants, wor~songs, Sp irituals, blues , Gospels , jazz, rhythm 1 n blues, soul musi c) form the linguistic and modal bases for most Black poetry. The early song and chant for ms were almost always accompanied by what 1.-10 have come to call "dramatic ideograms 11 --or dances. Dance became one of the three basic artistic modes encapsulated by folk expression. The other two are Song and Drum. Aside fro m 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 through year s of grue ling practice and preparation--learning not only drrnrunin13 techniques but the lec;ends, t11e myths, the meanings and symbols of which the drum was derivative. Dance always accompanied song--Fouda refers to the "acoustical phonetic alpl1abet"--so that the complex web of oral nuances was illustrated vividly and graph ically. Obviously, when teaching or entertainin~, the artist/teacher had to present his material in interesting and exciting ways so as not to bore tbe 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 --drum, song and dance~- h eigbtened 31 �the i mmediate experience, which was ecstatic, therapeutic, spiritual, visceral and revelatory. Added to these intricate and vary ing modal patterns were the colorful costumes, make-up, props and i mportant subject matter. Tbe achievement was not just t h e vicarious experience but one of the act and symbol being actualized tog ether. \ln1ile such a prospect boggles the mind, a serious study of these forms and the general tradition will prove eye -o pening for many a disbeliever. Early Black American oral and gestural art for ms inherit ed t he qualities described thus far. In language, in danc e , and, more i mportantly, in points of view (attitudes) tmrnrd time, life and death, the cosmology of Africa "continued 11 (with some modifications) in the Black culture of the Western Hemisphere. S pecifically, information was conveyed by way of aph oris ms, riddles, parables, tales, enigmatic dances and · sound s (tonal scales), jokes and poetry. 6b lique and cry ptic utterances, puzzles, The pattern rerna1.ns it\jact today. Jahn's l1untu d ocuments many examples of t h e African "carry overs" and 11 survi valis ms 11 operating in t h e Western He misph ere. 1. One can Ii1or a brilliant and COGent statement on t li is aspect of Black expression see Samuel Allen's "The African Heritage" in the Jan., 1971, issue of Black World. Allen--also known as Paul Vesey--is an acknowled ged authority on b oth African and Afro-American culture. 11 In the article, he finds African carry overs 11 in t h e Black American cburch (Baldwin), literature (Sterlin g 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. Tbe scintillatine Black poet Tolson operates in the old enigmatic (word-fencj_ ng ) frame when in "An Ex-Judge at tbe Bar• 11 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 he reportedly gave a student an "F" to the 20th power) ends the poem with an equally eni gmatic mock: Bartender, make it straie;ht 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 Sonc;, 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 phonolo~y and ritual, modified on the anvil of slavery , were operatin0 and continue to be represented in different forms of Black American expression. The African slave, forced to acquire functional use of Enclish and to reject surface aspects of his 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 �th ematic material of the Black folk tradition is taken from the harsh difficulties the slave encountered in America, the for m, spirit and phonology were essentially African. Th e use of poly-rhythms 3 and the introduction of syncopation, the reliance on various rhythmic instruments (drum-related and sometime s invented), tbe 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 langua Ge to convey the lore--all represent the African's resourcefulness. Cross-cultural inputs are also evident, however, in--for examp le--the Spirituals which, in many cases, were influenced by t he English Hymn and the Psalm. Other considerations in- clude the slave's use of European instruments (Baraka points out, in Blac k Mus ic, that the piano was the last instrument to be mastered by the Black musician. L~ The reason ought to be obvious.), th e Black adaptation of songs heard in the "big house, 11 the continual r e -styling of American fads and the vocabulary. See bib liography for more on('§)li ttle known area of scholarship. 3. Isaac Faggett, a young Black composer-band director in Sacrame nto, Calif., has said that the word "poly-rhythm" (Le., many rhyth ms overlapping each other) should perhaps b e replaced by or alternated with the words 4. 11 poly-me ter 11 or "poly- metrics. Eileen Southern, in Th e }~sic of Black Americans, sets fort h a t ho rough and accurate discussion of these points. 34 She 11 �employme nt of Biblical i ma gery and langua ge in songs and sermons. Langston IIugbes noted tbat the Blues usually dealt with the theme of the rejected lover and personal depression. Hughes' first volume of poe ms , in fact, was entitled The Weary Blues. However, th e Blues, like the Spirituals, do not simply preacb resignation or submissiveness. Rather, as J ~ and Howard Thurman (The Nec;r o Spiritual Speaks of Life and Dao.th) note, underneath the comp laint is a "plaint": or change! tbin gs mu st e; et better For as the slave said: Freedom, oh Freedom, how I love thee! Freedom, 011 Freedom, how I love thee! And before I'll be a slave I'll b e buried in my grave And go h ome to my Maker and be Freel II Black Folk Roots in America: rrGet it together or leave it alone" --Jackson Five Black poets have been writing in the English literary tradition since the middle of the ei gh teenth century. But notes with some detail bow the Africans (made slaves) had to learn to use t he instrwnents of the New World. Professor Southern also relates b ow Black music influenced whites in the ear ly days of America. 35 \ �it is the folk lit erature--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 influenced ( in one way or• another) by the folk express ion of Black America. 1,n1i t e .Americans began collectine; Black folk lyrics and s to1.,i es in the early :,B ars of t he ni neteentl1 century (see bib lio Gr aphy). In the same century, this aspect of Black culture reached wide audiences via at least three major vehicles. '11he first was the abolitionist movement which featured Black pootn (Francis E.W. Harper, Jame s 1foi tf ield, Benjamin Clark, and others), orators and prose writers (David 1valker, Frederick Douglass, etc.), and journalists (John Rus swurm , etc). The second vehicle was the national and Euro pean tours (i n the 1 87o•s) of student choirs fro m Hampton Institute and F is k (~10 Jubilee Singers) University. The abolitionist n1ovement popularized anti-slavery and freedom songs and the college choirs gave wide exposur e to the Spiri tuals, consi dered by most scholars (of Black· culture) to be the first 7> ~ authentic poetry of Black America. Tlrn third major vehic le was the publication ( in t he late nineteenth century) of Br1 'er Ra1 )b i t tales by J oe l Chandler Harris. In studies and writincs, Harris reco cn iz ed tl'ic r.-1ytbi c 1101,th in Black folktales \ at i d , exposed ' readers to su cl1 cl1aractor c as Frcr ':L1errapin, Drer B0ar , nrcr ~ ~ ~ \ r 1.fo lf and ot}; crs . Fox, Erc n Hany of tlrnso tales and clrn. r·a cters have African co unterpar ts. 36 � 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_12 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 14-36, typed manuscript with handwritten edits Description An account of the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 14-36, typed manuscript with handwritten edits. Draft includes part of section V, section VI, and the beginning of Chapter II. The Black and Unknown Bards. 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/640128d83a9ffe849e65ed667ad4d770.pdf 2489e5e28fae4c6674e571282da04cd8 PDF Text Text III Spi r ituo.ls: 11 Try i n I to c;et b ot,1 e 11 For ma ny rea~:;ons, tb c use of tbe word de s cribe Blacl: reli c io s ity is a 1.1isnor,ier. 11 s piri tual II to Curr ent i nter- pretations, outline d by new information and e:-;1pirical research into h istory and t lrnuch t convinces us t h at tbe entire Black world is 11 s pirituul 11 : i.e., informed by and responsible to a "hi ghe r orde r"--th e order of God or the "c;ods." The 0x- G\1ber a nce, t he spo ntaneity, the ecstasy, the trances, t he talkin c; in tongues , tbe racial flavor and flair in dress (at church and ni c;htclub ), all point up the interdependence and the into c;ration of various modes and points of view in the Black communit y . Professor Hork descri b es it as "th is difference and this oneness." The contemporary Black poet Hayde n und erstand s this intoc;ration w1len, in a poem to Malcolm X, h e e.xcl a iJ.w tl ic 11 blazin13 oneness II of Allah. Further proof of t h i::i fu s ion is s e en in the emotional a.ba.ndonrnent of church folk during s ecular picnics, socials ~nd other events of merriment. One has only to listen to Aretha Franklin alter- nate between Gospel and blues to see tl1is unity of expression c:' operating today. / 5. And certainly it is clear in the works of Let us observe that the most brilliant and inrluential Black poets have intimately understood this aspect of Black culture . Almost 11ithout exception (and Kerlin, Brown and 37 �the Staples Singers , the Edwin Hawkins Singers and in a more vulgarized manne r in Flip Wilson (Rev. Leroy). 11 of one brother, In the words tl-i e preacher and tbe pimp style out heavy. 11 Still, it is i mp ortant that we offer the traditional portrait and break-down of Black folk expression--so as not to coni'use or invade the 11 sacrec1 11 bastions of history. The Spirituals have been the source of continuing de bate among scholars: Are t h ey completely African in ori Gin? Are they primarily Ene;lish (Nethodist, Hesleya.n, etc.) in orii:;in? Or do they represent the co-joining of African/European tbemes and reliciosity? Persons desiring to concentrate on t h is area of Black poetry should trace the history of these ar guments and debates and reach conclusions of their own. Johnson (and his brother, J. Rosamond) put together the best known collection of these sonc;s in Tl1e Book of American Nec;ro Spirituals (1925), and The Second Book of American Negro_Splrituals (1926). The Spirituals usually deal with physical or fi gurative contact between the singer (or congre gat ion) and God. (Early Afro-Americans often used the words God, Jesus, Savior, and Lord interchangeably. For a more thorough discussion of this see Benjamin May::i' The Negro's God.) The sonc;s also doal with others Harn young Black writers to follow example) Black poets sinc e the Civ il War have availed t hemselves of inte c;ral folk rudiments--even when they did not use them in poetry. / It is still a fact that Black culture (despite the racist and techno- JG �a longing for rest and the overcoming of for midable ob stacles or adversaries. Professor Work's 1915 study was se minal and remains a landmark in the study of African and Black American songs. His work provides many answers to questions and issues that had been (and co ntinue to be) muddied by the waters of insensitivity and careless research. His efforts, "undertaken for the love of our fat h ers' songs," gives clear connections be;tween the African and Afro-American folk son g . His main co ncern is for t he reli e;ious songs--altllouc;h his comments on form and style are of g eneral value: In America we h e ar it (the song ) and see it acted in the b arn dance, on the stac;e, in the streets a mong t be ch ildre n ; in fact, many an occasion is e nli vened by th is s pecies of music, the interest in wh ich ls inten::iified by tbe rhyt11mical patting of ha nd s and feet. This rhythm is most strikingl y a nd o.ccurately brought out in their work sonc;s. Citing the emotionalis m and song ified intensity of the Black American, Professor Work says "He worships not so much because he ouc;bt, as because be loves to worsbip. II Th is "worsh ip, of course, is the kind we referred to earlier: II t h e inte gration logical barrages of the West) still remains m~re consciously "integrated '" than other cultural unit in America. 39 �of sensuality and ecstasy into the sweeping ritual of live and i1:1mediate dram'l. Sucb musi cal activity is "as natural to tl1e American Necro as bis breath 11 : Indeed, it is a portrayal of his soul, and is as ch aract eristi c as are his physical features. Hear him sing in his church, hear bin preach, moan , and gl ve ' gravery ' in l1is sermon, hear t h e was berwoman sine;inc; over her tub , hear the lab orer singinc; his accompaninent to his toil, 11ear the child babbl i ng an extemporaneous tune .•.• Even those ITegr oes who have been educated and who have been influenced by lone; study, find it difficult to express their musical selves in any other i-rny. Black ::;onr;, as is readily obsorvablc, possesses b oth pure song (the verse and chorus plan) and chant (use of interjections and exple tives) qualities: Poor mun Laz 1 rus, poor as I, Don't you see? Poor man Laz•rus, poor as I, Don't you □ co? 1foen be died be found a home on high , Ile had a home in dat rock, Don't you see? Alluding to t he deeper, more psychological, meaning of these songs , Professor Hork says "there are closer relations between �·7 'bra,-i , the soul and musical expressions tl1an have.A satisfactorily explained. These relat ions can be felt, but any accurate descri ption se ems bey ond the grasp of man 1 s mind. 11 Never- theless this i mp ortant study goes on to classify and numb er these songs of: Joy , S orrow, Sorrow with Note of Joy, Faith, Hope, Love, Determination , Adoration, Patience, Courage and Humility. Like most scholars of the Spirituals, this one points out tl1at th e re is no h ate, resentment or vindictiveness in them. How eve r, Dr. Thurman, theolo gian and philosopb er, has excavated underpinnings of turbulence. In Tbe Negro Spiritual, Dr. Thur man tells us death was i mmediate and ever-present for t he 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, possibly, the only remaining ve11 icle for mediation wi t11 the plantation lords. The s lave could take his own life, if he wanted to--ns he did many ti mes in prefer ence to slavery or separation fro r:1 family and/or loved ones. Dr. Thurman's brilliant analysis must be read by any serious student of Blac k thought and culture. Johnson (who also classified the songs) 6 said 11 hierarchy of poets for the Spirituals included the song- maker (writer) and th e song'"leader. 6. The leader had to rememb er leadin g lines, Johnson, Brown, Kerlin and Dr. Thurman also g ive con- sideration to t11e 11 poetic 11 co ntent of the Spirituals. Jobnson and Professor Horlc discuss the preservation a nd promotion of 4.1 �pitch tunes true and possess a powerful voice. Johnson, who (like Professor Vork) believes the earliest Black American songs were built on the common African form, sa.ys the Spirituals were written by individuals and set to tre 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 (eitber 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 otber side, Congregation: One mo 1 ribber to cross. Heavily influenced by Cbr:l.stian imagery and mythology, the creators of the S pirituals often chose the most militant of biblical personalities as their heroes. 11 This aspect of these poems 11 opens up an entire area of questions and research for the student seeking to compare/contrast biblical themes and characters to the Spirituals. Certainly tbere 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 of the period during whicb they these songs through archival holdine;s, cboir concert tours and the attention paid to them by composers. 42 � 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_13 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, III. Spirituals, p. 14-36, typed manuscript with handwritten edits 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.