https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/c7aa89703897aac52f662ddfe28d797d.pdf fcba2bfcc30757be082aaf7071d5638b PDF Text Text CHAPTER IV JUBILEES, JUJUS AND ,JUSTICES 1865 - 1910 We have fashioned laughter Out of tears and pain, But the moment after-Pain and tears again. --Charles Bertram Johnson I Overview This "transitional" period is normally viewed by critics as the gestation of pre-revolutionary Black writing. We have seen, however, that some of the most politically-conscious activists., thinkers and poets wrote before the Civil War. Frantz Fanon (1924-1961)., the Hartinique-born psychiatrist., for established three phases the/literature of oppressed peoples: (1) assimilationist, (2) pre-revolutionary and (3) Critics generally agree with Fanon. revolutionary. So., following his reasoning., the period of 1865-1910 (and the previous era) would fall under number one. Number two coincides roughly w1 th the Harlem Ren.a is- sance (1920-1930). number three. And the 1960's (Black Arts era) comes under One should exercise caution, however, in placing categories and labels on any artists--especially ones so diverse and complex as Black poets. For while it is true that there are general trends in the evolution of the poetry, little said 168 �by the so-called "armageddon" writers of the l960•s and 1970's can be anymore "revolutionary" than Walker, \!Jhitfield or Alberry Whitman who favored the murder of Black traitors ("Uncle Toms" and "Topsies") to the cause of freedom. On the other hand, as in the past, some contemporary Black writers avoid politics like the plague (see Introduction). Also the alternatives and options facing Blacks nowadays--resignation, emigration, assimilation, despair, segregation, desecration and so on--have always been there. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Black poets and activists vigorously pursued these choices, sometimes participating (1.fuitfield-Douglass) in fiery debates. A major aim of the preceding chapters was to lay a foundation for the kind of Black poetry that, only recently, has become popular and accessible. Therefore, critical comments and background materials will be less extensive from this point on. Certainly, as Robinson suggests, more careful study of the poets of the Harlem Renaissance is needed. His observation that "Afro-American 'Soul' has never received the elaborate philosophical, poetic, and even political explication that Negritude has" (Nornmo, introduction) is also well taken (although there is some attempt to access "soul" in The Militant Black Writer in Africa and the United States, Cook and He.n derson). Understandable, too is a comment by Sterling Stuckey (Ideological Origins of Black Nationalism) that "Rad a nationalist of antebellum America realized t~e enormous i mp ortance of black �culture ••• that awareness., articulated into theory, would have been as revolutionary a development as calling for a massive slave-uprising." Of course we know, looking back at the last hundred years, that Stuckey's assess me nt does not take in all the facts. Early Black Americans identified with their cul- tural roots more blatantly t h an do even some Blacks of today. But the undermining influences of lynchings and the practice of stereotyping corroded much initial race pride and self-interest. Again we note that chronological boundaries are arbitrary and that we could just as well have studied Hrs. Harper in the 1865-1910 period (since her Sketches of Southern Life was published in 1873 and her Poems ran through several editions until 1874) just as we could have placed Benjamin Clark ( ''What is A Slave?") and James Madison Bell in the last chapter. It is not always easy to determine where a poet who writes early or late in life fits in the chronology; but if pursuit of the poetry becomes a labor of love, boundarles and categories cease to exist. II Forgive thine erring people, Lord, Who lynch at home and love abroad Charles R. Dinkins Literary and Social Landscape Between 1865 and 1961 America played out a drarne of contradictions, swelling and receding expectations, continued progress and experimentation in science and the arts, and 170 �----- -~------- ---------. . . . ..... important beginnings. It 1-ms a period of painful adjustment that has continued to echo throughout the history of the country. On the white literary scene Whitman (the "American poet"), I-1.ark Twain, Hilliam Dean Howells, ..Tames Russell Lowell, Henry ..Tames, Stephen Crane, ..Tack London, Emily Dickinson, J"oel Chaldler Harris and Irwim Russel were the writers of importance. Harris gained popularity for h imself and Black folklore when he published the Uncle Remus tales in 1879. Although .roman- ticism and local color dominated the last two decades of the 19th century, both began to fade with the approach of the new century--whose early years saw experimentation, especially in verse, and the beginnings of naturalistic writings. On the political and economic fronts the efforts at solidifying gains, and retrieving losses, were stepped up among Blacks. The NAACP was founded in 1909; but major vehicles for protest and change were those used during tbe earlier years: the church, self-help societies, free schools, scholarly research and writing on the Blacks, and debates over courses and choices. Important new names in literature, art, science and politics came to the forefront. However, many of the writers, activists and educators from the previous period continued their various programs. Of the new arrivals, several should be noted: Booker T. Washington (Up From Slavery, 1900), W.E.B. DuBois (The Suppression of the African Slave Trade, 1896; The Philadelphia Negro, 1099; The Souls of Black Folk, 1903), Charles Chestnutt (1vri ter of fiction), Dunbar, ..Tames Weldon Johnson, 171 �Fenton ,Tohnson, .Tar.1eo D. Corrothers, William Grant Still (The Underground Railroad, 1072), Alcxamder Crummell (founder of American Negro Acade my), Alb e rry Wlii tma.n, Benjamin Brawley (The Negro in Literatu re and Art i n the United S tates, 1910), Kelley Hiller (::.1 ac e Adjustr,10 ~1t, 1909 ), ~-J illiam Stanley Braithwaite and Alice Dunbar-1'Te lson (Viole t s and other Tales, 1895). Black America witnessed a major step in t·h e developn ent of its stage productions (rilan~r d es i gned to de s tr c::r "st ereotypes II fostered by white minstre l s and dial e ct ~-r rit ers) 1-1itb Bob Cole's A Trip to Coont01-m , the first musical produced a nd managed by Blacks. Will :Harion Cook and Dunbar followed with Clorindy in 1898; and Cole return0d t his time u i th James 1,feldon ,Tohnson, to write and play in Red Noon. Th e ma t uration of essays, journalism and autobiography also continued. E lizabeth Keckley, friend to presidents and statesmen, 1-rrote Behind the S cenes in 1868; Douglass founded the NeH national Era (1 869-1 872) and published his Life and Times in 1881. S outher n 1 ,Jorkmen was established at Hampton Institute in 1872. T. Thomas Fortune founded The ' Rumor in 1879 and edited the Nei-r York Age in 1887. year The Washington Bee came i nto being . In the same Others included Penn's The Afro-American Press (1891), John H. Isrurphy's Baltimo1•e A.fro-American ( 1892), The Chicago Def ender ( 1900) and Monroe Trotter's Boston Guardian (1901). Important Black literary names for the period included some new as well as ones from the prev ious era: Booker T. Washington, Dunbar, DuBoi s , Ch arles Chestnutt, James Weldon Johnson, Fenton Johnson, James D. Corrothers, Alexander 172 �Crumwell, Alberry Whitman, Benjamin Bra-wley, William Stanley Braithwaite, and Alain Locke. Of the names listed above, Dunbar, Whitman, Fenton Johnson, Corrothers and Braithwaite, are the poets of interests during this period. James Weldon Johnson wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in 1900 but is usually identif'ied with the Harlem Renaissance writers. And Locke, intellectual and scholar, was one of' the important chroniclers and interpreters of the era·. DuBois., sociologist and editor, is chiefly known as a poet f'or his "Song of' the Smoke" and "Litany at Atlanta," written af'ter the 1906 race riot. f'iction. Chestnutt was the first i mportant Black writer of Both he and Dunbar were endorsed by Howells, who presided as A sort of A czar over American literary criticism during the last quarter of the 19th century. Howells also helped launcd the careers of Henry James (sometimes called America's greatest novelist) and Walt 'Whitman. Generally, with the exception of Braithwaite, Fenton Johnson, Alberry Whitman and a few others, Black poets followed the, dialect tradition of the day. Robinson (Early Black American Poets) notes that The vogue was established among white southern writers (who failed to appreciate their own amusing dialects) with Irwin Russell (1853- 79) whose popular pieces were collected and published posthumously as Poems by Irwin Russell (1888) with a loving preface by Joel 173 �Chandler Harris, also popular for his Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit prose tales in Negro dialect. The major Black dialect poets are Dunhar, Daniel Webster Davis, James Edwin Campbell, Elliot B. Henderson and J. Mord Allen; although James Weldon Johnson wrote some poetry in that idiom. In the dialect mode, Dunbar surpassed all writers--Black and white, including Russell after whom he patterned his -efforts. His ability to empathize rather than simply "report" on parody., along with his "perfect" oar for Black speech, make him more authentic. Dunbar also 11rote to be remer.1bered. However (ironically), it was his dialect poetry ("a jingle in a broken tongue") that gained him notoriety. The biggest contradiction of the era was that "Reconstruction" occurr ed in name only. The growth of white hate and intimidation groups (2,500 Blacks were lynched between 1885 and 1900), the development of a neo-slavery, the paradoxical plight of the "freedman 11 ( see Wash inGton' s Up From Slavery), the general di sappo intments in social "paper" programs and the disillusionment on the parts of Blacks who fought in the Civil War--all influenced and helped direct the contemporary Black mo od. Coupled with this was the 'beginnings of the Great Migration of southern Blacl::s to northern urban centers. 1Jbi le dialect po0try emerged as the mo st popular form in poetry and pros e , ,James T·Tcld. on ,Tobns on later observed (American Negro Pootry)t~at it would not encase the manifold 174 �nature of the Black }:i;xperience; white writers had initiated it . and Blacks could only "caricature the caricatures." Caught up for a while int} o pot entials of the Emancipatfon Proclamation and 11 ::1econ:.: t rt~ction r: , 1;:any Black po ets also couched their lines in patrtotis m. and ~entir:1entalit:,r (see .Johnson's "Fifty Years"). Others sought to captur e th e ricb pace ~f Black idiom, the spice of resional color, folklore and the solidness of Black everyday whereuithal. Durine; this period, tho first of a series of Black manual arts colleges ·was es tab lishecl. Hampton Institute, Fisk Uni- versity., Ho-:-m:d Uni,rnrslty, Horehouse College and Johnson Smith College were among the early ones. c. In 1871, the year of James 1foldon Johnson's birth, the Fisk Jubilee Singers made their first concert tour with Spirituals. The tour was epoch- making for it marked the f:lrst time a Black indigenous American art form bad been given such worldwide exposure. The period was crucial, too, for all Black folk art because the burgeoning new Black Intelligent3ia, an..·,dous to remove the bitter taste of slavery, were anxious to disrobe themselves of all relics of their ante-bellum past. The Spirituals, the rich cadences of folk speech and the freedom ln de.nee, among other aspects, were given back seat in an attempt to Westernize or "civilize" newly emancipated Blacks. The Civil Wai•, Emancipation Proclamation and the stationing o:f occupation troops in the south, had also left a bitter taste on tbe tongues of southern (revenge-bent) whites. The attempt to "colonize" the south, as some saw it, was dramatized by the a 175 �arrival of "carpetbaggers"--white northerners preaching Black freedom or exploiting southern industry. The results were the elaborate and ruthless rise of white secret societies and the ridicule of Blacks in newspapers and magazines. Many Black poets unwittingly participated in this riducule through their own dialect and sentimental verse. Others went to the extreme to prove their "goodness" and "Godliness", thus becoming hyperbolical. In the shadows af all these paradoxes, Black minstrels and musicians gained prominence. "Ragtime" heralded an era ultimately to be called the Jazz Age. Meanwhile more serious debate over the fate of Blacks was taking place among men such as Douglass, Washington and DuBois. In 1895, at the International Atlanta Exposition, Washington delivered his famous "Compromise" speech which encouraged Blacks and whites to work as close as the fingers of the hand in matters needing mutual concern; but advised that, in all social respects, the fingers of the hand should be separate. , This was seen as a conciliatory and unprogressive posture by many integration-minded leaders. Washington, who founded Tuskegee Institute in 1881, played down civil concerns and integration, and urged Blacks to seek practical skills. DuBois encouraged Blacks to seek knowledge of the arts and sciences and predicted that a "Talented Tenth" would emerge to lead them. In The Souls of Black Folks, DuBois critiqued Washington's pos 5. tion. The controversy between the two men is now famous as is Dudley Randall ts poem ''Booker T. and W.E.B." in which the ideologies of both men are placed against 176 �the mood of the times. In rich use of dialogue in iambic tetrameter meter, Randall opens with: "It seems to me," said Booker T., "It shows a mighty lot of cheek To study chemistry and Greek When Mis ter Charlie needs a hand To hoe the cotton on his land, And when Niss Ann looks for a cook, ,fuy stick your nose inside a book?" DuBois replies: "I don't agr0e, 11 said W.. E.B., "If I should have the drive to seek Knowledge of chemistry or Greek, I'll do it. Charles and Hiss can look Another place for hand or cook. Some men rejoice in skill of hand, And some in cnltivating land, But there are others who maintain The rig!'lt to cultivate t h e bra.in." Obviously, an imaginary conversation, the poem ends thusly: "It seems to me ," said Booker T.-- "I don't agree," Said U.E.B. The DuBois-Washington controversy created reverberations that are still being heard around the Black world. DuBois was to rise as the towering and defiant fic;nre of the period while 177 �Washington ·Has reduced to a dignityless and sometimes obscene symbol (for more on this, see the rece ntly published Booker T!s Child by Roy L. Hill). Despite the v igorous debates a nd prose writings, however, the social coming-of-age in t he poetry (tech nically and thematically) was not t o s ee its apex until t b e second decade of the 20th century. III De Cunjah man, de Cunjah man, 0 chillen, run, de Cun j ah man! --.James Edwin Campbell The Poets and Their Toter;1 Although poets of t he previous period placed their verses and polemics in various po l i tical and nm1s organs, it was during the 1856-1910 era tha t such a practice reached new levels of importance. Poets b ad acc ess to numerous re gional and national publications, conte s ts, political platforms and educational programs through wh ich t hey could either read or publish their poems. Robert Thomas Kerlin, f or example (Negro Poets and Their Poems, 1923), collected literally dozens of poems from newspapers, church bulletins, private ly printed pamphlets and magazines--many of them no longer availab le. Some indication of the political nature of both t he pe ople and the poetry of the post-Civil ·w ar era is seen in this stanza from "The Song of the Black Republicans tr (which appeared in The Black Republican of New Orleans, April 29, 1856): 178 �I Now rally, Black R0pnhlicans, 1rJherever :rou may he, Brave soldier's on the battlefield, And sailors on the sea. Now rally, Black Republicans-Aye , rally! we are freeJ We've waited long long To sing the song-The song of liberty. Continuing i'or six stanzas., this poem is obviously aimed at a public listening and reading audience. It praises "color" which comes "from the Lord" and reminds Black voters that Abraham Lincoln ( "beneath the Flag of all") "flung us Freedom through its s to.rs. " Somewhat of a different vein is the work of Benjamin Cutler Clark (1825? - ?) of whom we know very little. A fugitive slave, he attended the 1835 Annual Convention of Free People of Color (held in Pbiladelphia) from his adopted hometown of York, Pennsylvania, where he had moved after leaving tbe slave state in which be was born. Nostly self-taught, Clark married in York and raiscc1 a. large fo.mily--writing poetry and prose in his spare moments. He was politically active and opposed colonization of Blacks, believing that it was "individuals" who emigrated and "not nations." His The Past, The Present and the Future (Toronto, 1867) includes prose reflections on the state of race relations and 179 65 poems. He is primarily �. concerned, in poetry and prose, with the issues of slavery and racial injustice, although much of his work deals with domestic life. In sentiment, language, style and influence, Clark bears resemblance to t he poets af the period just covered. And although his work was not published until 1867, he wrote poems earlier as indicated, f'or example, in his '~,f uat Is a Slave" and nRequiescat in Pace," an elegy on the 1857 death of' a woman associate. Clark is quite effective as a poet and, sometimes, even gripping in his ability to make t h e poem assume the dimen- sions of the event it relates. in detailing details of slavery. Like Virs. Harper, he is graphic And, like Frederick Douglass, (see Narrative) he is tragic-comic in suggesting that those nat home 11 (in slavery, that is) may "miss me. n Me? nno They Miss A Parody" opens each of its four-lined stanzas with Do they miss me at homo--do they miss me? and alternates an iambic pentameter and iambic tetrameter meter (with an ab c b rhyme scheme). Clark describes an unusual kind of' "home": "Do t h ey miss me at home--do they miss me? By li ght, as the horn echoes loud, And t he slaves are marched off to the corn field, I'm missed from the half-naked crowd. Using a break (or caesura) reminiscent of the blues, at the third foot (the b]ues breaks at the second), Clark dramatizes slavery and pokes fun at those men who run the "peculiar 180 ,, I �institution. 11 He makes similar use of the dash in "t·Jha t Is a Slave" where he achieves incremental power through repetition and syntactical variance: A slave is--what? A thing that's got Nothine, and that aloneJ His time--bj_s wife-- And e'en his life, He dare not call his own. Employing expletives, spontaneity and suspense, Clark shows himself to be a skilled crafts man (a.11 things considered) for his time and traininc. His rhyme scb cme is a ah cc h with an off-rhyme in the first couplet of each six-line stanza. Under the persistent question '~.J'h at Is a Slave?" we feel not only the indictment againGt slave-ouners and racist policies-but some key to the earl:r realizations of Black thinkers tbat the race ·Has beine disro~ea. ph~rsically and psychologically. As ·with Vassa, Reason ancl others, tbe hurt is bidden o.nd defies both defi nition and visunl co~tact: I pra:r do not Insi:::: t; I ca nnot kno~r, ~To :-rnrds i r,1part, Or, pai nt er 's art, 'I'bough trapped i n t he for,·,1s of :;:urop ea n model-builders, Clark shows 'hin own ingenui ty and or i;ina li t:r . 181 B:r ~:o.rying bis rhyme �schemes a nd meter, n ~d u sing dash es a nd expletiv es, he b rings e motional p ower i n t e r l ac ed wi t ri a.n i ron icall:,. d etach ed i n tc llectna.l a.sses sr,:on t of the slave's pl i gh t. powerfu l i n a pocn1 l i ko "The ~,c:):i'::: noJ. o •r ~-:rl"lGl"e He is sirailarly h e (co nti nuing a long-1 :t no of BJ.a.c k s a lutary ver se ) prais e s Oc e ola, S eminole ch ief arrl hero of Semino le wa rs i n rlor i d a in t h e early 1 9t h centur~r. In t h i s , h e a l s o a ntici pa t e s Ub i tma n 's work (Rape of' F: orida). F or sele cti ons of Clark 's u orl::s a ml brief' criti- cis m s ee Ti o'l:- ins on ' s a ntl1olo2,;r. Invisible Poets: See a lso cToa n R. Sherma n 's Afro-Americans of th e 1 9t h Century (1974). If Clark' s s tr ength la.y i n h i s a ss au lt a c ainst racial injustic e s, Jam.cs Eadis on Boll'~ (1 826-1902) lay in his "pleas" and "hop e ." "Fortunate" enough to wlt ness t 1.~e Civil War, Emancipation and Re constructio n , Bell railed a gainst injustices but primarily ex pr e s s ed ho p e in h is Black strug gle. 40 :rears of ob serving the Bell s pe nt most of h is adult life delivering eloquent o.nd He l gh ty· poet ic elocutio ns on freedo m, hope and liberty. He was b orn in Gallipolis, Ohio, wh ich he left at age 16 to pursue t h e trade of plasterer and the avocation of orator-poet. A wanderer, Bell _pla:red his part in the over- throw of slaver:r--soliciting funds and recruiting Blacks for J'ohn Brm,m' s ab orted 185 9 raid at Harper's Ferry. Before the raid, Bell had moved to Canada where h e continued his friendship with Brown and fat h ered a larg e family. He later traveled to California, bac k to Canada, to various cities in Ohio and Michigan, and, . finall:r, sp e nt ti me in Toledo. 182 During this �odyssey Bell appeared at concert halls, churches and various public gatherings to read his poetry in some political or commemorative event. He also took advantage of books and gained considerable understanding of history and literature. His major themes are devotion, inspiration, love, unity, collective strength and political change. Achieving "something of' Byronic power in the roll of his verse," (Kerlin) Bell's poems are often too long, too tedius and lacking in interest. Robinson notes that Not to mitigate his obvious technical flaws, it is helpful to remember that Bell is best appreciated as something of an actor, his poems regarded as scripts. Unashamedly chronicling his journeys, Bell included the following as a full title of Trlumph of Liberty ( 1870): A Poem,/ Entitled the/ Triumph of Liberty./ Delivered April 7, 1870,/ Detroit Opera House,/ On the Occasion of/ The Grand Celebration of the final Ratification/ of the Pifteentb Amendment to the Con-/ stitution of the United States. Consisting of 902 lines, the poem erupts through the use of all the "flourishes and vocal modulations at his experienced command. 11 According to Redding (To Make A Poet Black), Bell ''unblushingly" claimed the titles of "Bard of Maumee" and ttPoet of Hope." Typical of' Bell's style 1s his tribute to his friend John Brown (from The Triumph of Liberty): Although like Sa.ms on he was ta' en, 183 �And by the bane Philistines slain, Yet he in death accomplished more Than 6'er he had in life b efore. His nob le heart, which ne'er had failed, Proved fir m, a nd e'en in death prevailed; And many a teardrop dimmed the eye Of e'en his foes who saw him die-And none who witnessed tbat foul act Will e'er in life forget t he fact. ' Approaching something of the stature of Vashon' s "Vincent Oge" and Whitfield's "Cinque, 11 Bell's tribute has all the ring of indebtedness to Scott, Byron, Pope, Tennyson and other English popular masters witb wbom he was familiar. However imitative and derivative, though, Bell seemed never to be at a loss for exalting, exhortatory poetical flourishes. In "Song for the first of August" b e sings a song for "proud Freedom's day": Of ever:r clime, of every bue, Of every tongue, of every race, ' Neath heaven's broad ethereal blue; Ohl let thy radiant s miles embrace, Till neither slave nor one oppressed Remain through out creation's span, By thee unpitied and unh lest, Of all th e progeny of man. Ono of Bell's most amb itious works is h is ":Modern Moses, or 'Hy Policy' Man" in wh ich - - in scalli nc so.tire--he assesses the 184 �adr.1ini : : tration of pr e sh1e nt Andr cH .To1. , ns on . ,Tor. nson (1C'05- 1075), who succ0 odec1 the a~rn assinat od Li ncol n in 1 1"3 65, was horn poor and lear ned to wri t e a nd fi.c ure from his wife. His prcsidenc~r peake d in a showdown 'betwe e n a procr essive Tiepubllcan Congress and .Johns on, a r e actionary Democrat. 0~1ce in office ,Tobnson began r ever sing h i s b a r s b critic is ms of t b e S outh, giving former rebels a rather free h a nd at t h ings and vetoing several bills aimed at giving Blacks a b ett er s h are of thin gs. Upset by the who le t h ing , Bell ·wrote a b l istering satire--which often collapses a s such--in 1iliich, with couplet-fury, he observes that: And cr01-m s t h er e are, a nd not o. feu, And royal robes and sceptres, too, That h ave, in every a g e a nd land, Been at the option and c omma nd Of men as much unfi t to r u l e , A:J a p es and monkeys arc for school. Following poets like Clar k and 1TT1 itfield, and anticipating "signifying" poets of t be 1960fs and 7 0 's (such as Baraka, Crouch , Toure, Echols: '~ astern Sy ph illizatio n ," and oth ers) Bell com- pares .Johnson to all rae. nner of evils. ,Tobnson is also contrasted to "good" or liberal whites s u ch as Conc ress me n Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens and a b olitionist Wendell Phillips. ically calling .Johnson "Modern Hoses derisive 11 11 , Cyn- Bell also uses the l1ose 11 --wh :i.ch ap pe ar s to b e a "ra:r of reducing h im to the level of t h e st er e otyp e wh i t es r eserv e for Blacks (see, for example, such statement s as the one b~,r Don Lee: "styron/ �& his momma too"). One must chuckle somewhat at Bell's claim that Johnson cursed in the whi tehouse: But choose we rather to discant, On one wbose swa.ggisb hoast and rant, And vulgar jest, and pot-house slang, Has grown the pest of every gang or debauchees wherever round, From Barfin's Bay to Puget Sound. Only recently have we heard echoes of Bell rrom journalists, congressmen and old ladies astonished at whitehouse tapes showing that ex-president Richard Nixon cursed in the oval room. We have observed, then, that Bell, though a tedius and haraguing poet, is important as a continuing chronicle of the mind and creative development of the A:f'ro-American poet. Bell's works also include The Day and The ·war (1864), dedicated to the memory or Brown; The Progress of Liberty (1870), a recollection of the war, praise for Lincoln and Black troops, and a jubilant greeting of enf'ranchisement; and The Poetical Works or ..Tames :Madison Bell (1901), including a preface by his personal friend, Bishop B.W. Arnett. Even though Bishop Arnott claimed that Bell's "logic was irresistible, like a legion of cavalry led by Sheridan,tt the poet recognized his own limitations wben he said (Progress of Liberty): "The poet laments the discord of his harp, and its disuse, until answering Freedom's call he again essays it harmony." 186 �For other samples and appraisals of Bell's work see Robinson, Brawley, Kerlin, Rodding, Brown and :nays (The Megro 's God, 1938). Anticipating Helvin B. Tolson of the 20th century (who wrote a book-length ans·wer--Harlem Gallery, 1965-- to Gertrude Stein's statement t hat "Th e Negro suff ers from noth ingness), Francis A. Boyd (1844-?) penned bis only volume in partial response to Rev. He nry Ward Beecher's concern for "the injured and oppressed sons arrl daughters of Africa." Boyd's volume, published in 1870, is entitled Columb iana;/or,/The North Star,/ Complete in one Volume. Boyd explains in the preface that be was born free to Samuel and Nancy Boyd in Lexington, Kentucky, and met hardships trying to acquire an education. Colunmiana, the author notes in the preface, comes from "I, a scion of that ancient racen who takes "pleasure in dedicating the following lines" to the Rev . Be ecb er. Hade up of five cantos (major breaks in a long po e1.1 ), Columb iana is a poetic narrative on the pli gh t of t ~e Blac k man in slave-founded America. The cantos contain various structure and r hyme scb emes-:--most of which reflect Boyd 's knoi-rledge of t h e classics, ne oclassical and romantic traditions i n p oe try , a.nd t'he h istory of events leading up to t h e Civ il Har. I n t b e poem, Freedora (personified) travels, like some classical deity , on a winged chariot from Egypt, across Israel, Gr eece and America. In America, Freedom meets all sorts of ev ils , l i ke t h e protagonist in John Boyd's "vision," among t h em Se ccss ia, t h e arch -enemy of Blacks and freedom. S ccess la., S outb erners who sec eeded fro m the u nion, 187 �is assessed frora all sides durin; Bo~d's iat~t c tetrametric meter as sault. 11 In "dcflr_:;cc 11ade to Union la1-rn," tbe S outh Ignored 11 truth o.nd ri.:;btnc:Js But the sons a nd clang~~tc;rs o.f Africa, :·r1Jo ow~ a pa.rt of Secessia, Blacks lluvc tb c ir e:ro on t 11c JTc.~rtb Star (als o 1ar.1e of Doug':ass' 1 paper) sn 6 t;oct::: ·: 1 , Bcf or J J 1 n a rra.tor :i.n "To e ;)rean'-" from Canto V" and ':JO q 1.~.o nch the ballm-.red fL"c, Once 1,10re ue stri lea the s o.cred l:rre. 0tm, r:oon n.l:".cl. s-:;o.rs confonncl.ed lie, The Y'Tort'::1 8tc.r ontsh i '.1 0s a11 a.hove, Forcvei· ruling evcr:r-:-rboro . The Horth Sto.r 1:ac rer.i.a :l neu until t 1.1:i.o ver:r da:r i mportant in Black li tcratur e . I'cooe1"'-:; Ha:yden is on-:1..:,- (see "Runagatc ::1.lrr,a 0 at o 11 ) l,: ak :i.ng use of 0110 it. co ntemporary poet Confusing both his meter and bis rllyr,:o pattern witbout h ints that h e is in- tentional or exp erimenting , Boyd sometines loses the reader in his lab:trinthino deluge. But, co n:J :i.dering h is station in 188 �life and the obstacles he uorked against, his work is one more notable step i n tho devel opment of Afro-American poetry. For selections from and assess ments of Boyd, see Robinson. Henrietta Cordelia Ray (1850-1916) uas among the handfull of Black poets of t he 19t h ce ntury (t ncluding Daniel Payne and Ann Plato) ·wh o avoided racial themes. Hiss Ray, however, seems to be one of the first to try n Hide variety of forms. In sonnets such as "To 1'-'Iy Fath er," "Robert G. Sh aw," •"Milton" and others, she sh ows skill at 'Hriting t h is difficult form. And in works like "Antigone and Oedipus," "The Dawn of Love.," nNoontide" and "The lionth s II she proves her linguistic de:xteri ty and poetic virtuosity. Even t h ough Niss Ray avoided outright racial t h emes,in her poetry she i mplicitly commits herself in a poem like "Robert G. Shaw" dedicated to the white Colonel Shaw (1837-1863) of Bosto n wh o led the 54th Massachusetts volunteers (all Black) into the Civil War. Killed leading bis troops on an assault on Fort Wagner., South Carolina, Shaw is eulogized: 0 Fri end! O heroJ thou who yielded breath That other s mi ght share Freedom's priceless gains, In rev'rent love we guard thy memory. Dunbar, a younger contemporary of :Hiss Ray's, would also prai.se Shaw who, like Lincoln, became one of the important white heroes to post war Black Americans. Miss Ray , however, was not un- aware of the pligh t of her brothers and sisters of color in her everyday life. Born one of t wo daughters to the Rev. 189 �Charles B. Ray (of Falmouth, Massachusetts) distinguished minister and "tireless abolitionist," Cordelia was very early made aware of slavery and racial injustices. After a rather protected upbringing, which 1.nclnded good traditional training, she went on to New York University where she finished in Pedagogy and to Sauveuer School of Languages where she mastered Greek, Latin, French, German and the English classics. For a while she taught school, bnt, finding it boring, preferred to attend her invalid sister Florence (witb whom she maintained a life-long friendship), traveling throughout New England and giving moral support to the antislavery work of her father. Her poems deal primarily with love, scholarship, intellectual the~es/praise of great literary and political figures and seasons. She loved to do settings, descriptions, impressions and cycles in her poetry. For example there is a cycle ("Idyl") which goes through "Sunrise, 11 "Noontide," "Sunset," and 11 .i1idnight." Another cycle, "The Months," consists of 12 poems, five of them in eight-lined stanzas, five in six-lined stanzas an~ two in seven-lined stanzas. She generally varies her meter and rhyme schemes; but the ballad form predominates in "The !-1onths 11 while a two-stanza, six-lined form (rhyme scheme: a ab cc b) heralds the .four major segments of the day in nidyl. 11 Hiss Ray, as we have noted, is not an original or innovative poet. But her work does mark a new level of sophistication--despite her imitation of the models follO'wed her time. by most Black poets o.f Her published poems included Sonnets (New York, 1893), and Poems (Ne1v York, 1387). She also published Commemoration 190 �Ode or Lincoln/ 't·! ri tten for tbe occasion of tbe/ unveiling of the Freedman's monur,1ent/ in Hornory of Abraham Lincoln/ April 14, 1876. She co-authored, 1-1itI1 her sister, Sketch of the of the Rev. Charles B. Ra.:sr (He1·.r York, 1887). Life For selections of Miss Ray's work soc TI.obinson 's ~arly Black American Poets and and Kerlin' s Negro Poets and Tbeir Poer:is. critical con~ents. Robinson includes Sec also Sh0rman ' s Invisible Poets. Declarine that "I was born in hondage,--I 1ms never a slave,--" Alberry Allson ".·f uitnmn (1051-1902) thus introduced himself and h is pc otr:r to t h e 1vorld . A complex and brilliant poet (WaGner refers to him as a "brilliant" lmitator), he must have been anticipated by bis co ntemporary Cord 0lia Ray in the experiments with varlous verse forms. 1:Jbitman was born a slave in or near J\Iunfordsville, Hart County, Kentucky (in Green River country). As He noted earlier Whitman, a Hulatto, never acknow- ledged bi::; slavcr :sr situation. He was oi-•phaned at an early age and received only bits and pieces of for mal training--a glaring irony against his achiev ement, the most important until Dunbar. Though it is Hidely believed that Hhitman wrote the longest poem (over 5,000 lines) by a Black American, we now know that at least two other Black poet s wrote longer poems: the Rev. Robert E. Ford's Brown Chapel , a Story in Verse (n.d., n.p. Pre~ace dated 1903) contained at least 8,600 lines in 307 pages; Maurice Corbett's Harp of Ethiopia (Hashville, 1914) contained over 7,500 lines in 273 pages. Rev. Ford's work is broken up into cantos utilizing ten-lined stanzas while Corbett's 191 �epic is divided up into e i gh t-lined stanzas. Whitman utilized a ha l f dozen or so metrical and stanzaic forms and numerous other rhyme schemes. His forms include the ottava rima, dialect verse , th e Spe nserian stanza, blan~ verse, iambic trochaic and anape s t li.nes in t hree to five feet, (including stress unrhymed lines), and the various stanzaic and metrical fusions h e developed from i mitating such writers as Byron, Pope, 11n1it t i cr, Lo ngfellow, Hilton and Scott • . The poet developed his tech nical f acilities ·w·hile he worked, primarily as a pastor of an African Methodist Ep iscopal Church in Springfield, Ohio, and flnancial agent for Wilberforce University (where he h ad studied under Daniel Payne), to support himself and promote race progress. A fiery speaker, lecturer and reader of his poetry, Whitman was known not to bit his tongue. In declaring that h e "was never a slave" he went on to say--at 40 years of age--"The time bas come when all 'Uncle Torus' and 'Topsies' ought to die." The tiele of Whit man's first work , Not a Han and Yet a Man (1877) is important b oth literally and i mplicitly. For one only has to go a fet-1 more steps to place it alongside similar contemporary titles: Soul on Ice, Nobody Knows My Name, I Know 1·Jhy the Caged Bird Sings, :Manchild in the Promise Land, Invisible :nan, and scores of other volumes of essays, novels, poems and autobiographies. The titles are slightly different but the cry a nd t h e passion and aim are the same. Not a Man and Yet a Man, for Whitman, e nsconces the dilemma 192 �of the Black man. A mulatto slave, Rodney , saves the life of the daughter of his mast er during an Indian raid, and afterwards falls in love with her. Going agalnst bis promise to offer his daug'hter in marriage to the man who saves her, the master instead sells Rodney to a Deep South planter. In his new habitat., Rodney falls in love Hith a slave girl., Leona and., after being separated from her for a while, spends a beautiful life with her in Canada. The over-simplified theme of the "tragic mulatto" comes t hr ough in much of Whitman's work which never features the problems or lives of dark-skinned Blacks. 1·J11itman pos3essos a brilliant gift of descriptive prosaic poetry as i n these lines from n ot a Man: The tall forests swim in a crimson sea, Out of 1-rhose bright depths rising silently, Great g olde n spires shoot into the skies, Among the isles of cloudland h igh, that rise, Float, scatter, burst, drift off, and slowly fa.de, Deep 1.n the tuilight , shade succeeding shade. Somewhat re1-::i iniscc nt of the br1.lliant ancl anonymous John Boyd, Whitman is competent and rele ntless ·ween placed a gainst any other romantics of h is da3r. Echoing Poe and Lop 0fellow, else- wbere in '.Not a i:an, 1Tbitrnnn reacts to tbe tempora.r~r separation of Rodney and Leeona: A true heroine of the cypress gloom, 193 �lToH there to lie, the Creole so.H her doom-In The Rape of Fl orida (St. Louis, 1884), revised and repub- lished the folloTTing year as Twasinta's Seminoles, or Rape of Florida), 1.vhi t man onga 6 e s his reade r z i n another romantic tale. Under truce, 8eminole Ir~dians, who h a v e fougr.t bravely, are fired on, capturcc1, and taken off to Texas whore they are re-located. Hore, in a noth er anticipa t ion, we see presages of "relocation" (see Et h eridge Knight ts Bell:r Song) that will come in the works of contc:·,:p or•ar~r ·H r it er s like Baraka, 11111.iams (The Han Hho Cri ed I Ari1), Ralc.1-rin ( Nohod:r T-Cn o;•TE r:y Na.1;10), Greenlee (The s r ook 1-!h o Sat hy· t b e Door), Crou cl1 (A.in' t ?To A .~bula.ncen for 1,:, JTi ·,.P1.1 .s T on{ ·ce ), t "-1 0 Last Poets, Gi 1 Scot1 1 Heron (:i:"rce 1:-JilJ. , SmaJ..l Tall:: e.t 125t:1 Street and Lenox) and numerou::; ot}.1cr ~. of the Indio.ns ~·Il ii t u an, i:117 :::, at any r ate, J.a,~1e nts the treatment cxt cc.:c: ca. a 1>roth c r>r 0and to slaves. In a note to the 1-!ork, 'i17:iitr,1a n .icnttons Pw.t 1':i c n et relatives of one Scrninole cb:i. 0f. Atlassa, 11 Pape contains 257 Spenserian , stanzas. an emi ne nt Sem.inoJ.0 chicftan ," was "h ero-born" Fr ee o.s t l1 e air 1-r itlli n ~!is pa.lr.1y sl-ia.de, T11 0 nobler trai.ts t b at d o the man adorn, In bim uere na.tivo: Not t~1e music made I n ta1apa 's forests or t11c cverglatle Was fi.tter than in t11ls yonns Seminole r.1a.s t h e proud spirit wb ich dld life pervade, And glow and t~enili lc in his ardent soul--- 194 �Which, lit bi.s inmost-self, and spurned all raean control. Whitman's last voltui!e was An Idyl of the South, An Epic Poem in Two Parts (NeH York, 1901). Again ( 11The Octoroon" and "The Sontbland's Cbo.n1 and 7reedom's Ifagnitude"), Whitman explores the problems of mulattoes. Here, in chronology and subject matter, he parallels Charles Chestnutt, the Black fiction writer who al3o exploited the ther:ie of the mulatto and "passing. 11 Drifted Leaves. A ne·w edition of Rape (1890) also included 'Whitman's World's Fair Poem: The Freedman's Triumphant Song, along wi tl1 "The Veteran 11 (Atlanta, 1893), ·were read hy h imself and Mr s. 'Whitman respectively at the Chicago World's Fair, attended by Dunbar and the venerable Douglass. Like Dunbar, W11itman became addicted to alcohol, but he managed to maintain his popularity as a hard churchworker, freedom-fighter an:l poet. in Drifted Leaves. He also published sermons An ed.ition of °li'Thitman's complete works, long overdue, is currently being prepared. For selections of his writings see Negro Caravan, Robinson's anthology, Kerlin's book and other anthologies. Sometimes grouped with Phillis Wheatley in the "mockine;-bird school of poets, 11 Whitman is assessed by Hagner, Brm,m, Brawley, Robinson, Kerlin, J"ahn (Nee-African Literature, 1968), Loggins and Sherman. !-'.fa.king only oblique references to racial pressures, George Narion :McClellan (1860-1934) is reminiscent of Francis Boyd, and calls to mind Tolson, in his effort to prove Blacks 195 �capable of intellectual and literary competence. However, McClellan still does not deserve the abrupt dis missal given him by Sterling Brown. HcClellan writes barmlessly of flowers, trees, birds and love (things Baraka and others have, of late, claimed a Black poet shoul d not waste his time on). But be is competent and technically dexterous so as not to bore. Happily, some of the longer p5.eces are interpolated with shorter ones and this makes McClellan more readable. After his birth in Belfast, Tennessee, McClellan lived in an economically stable family and later bad a good, solid education at Fisk (B.A., 1885, and H.A., 1890) and the Hartford (Connecticut) Theological Seminary (B.D., 1886). Con- stantly on the go, like Bell, and a fund-raiser, like Whitman, for Fisk University, he spent much of his time on the eastern seaboard executing his i mportant duties. and taught in several cit:tes: McClellan pastored Normal (Alabama.), Memphis, Louisville (Kentucky) and Los Angeles, where he finally went in hopes of finding a cure for his tubercular son., His last years were devoted to soliciting funds for an anti-tubercular sani tori um for Blacks. Among :McClellan's published works are Poems (Nashville, 1895), Book of Poems and Short Stories (Nashville, 1895), Old Greenbottom Inn (1896), Songs of a Southerner (Boston, 1896) and Path of Dreams (Louisville, 1916). As a poet, McClellan is sharp, crisp a.nd musical in his use of language and i mages. 11 The Color Bane" pulls us somewhat forward to Fenton Johnso n 's 11 Th e Scarlet Woman" since the 196 �"problem" of hav:tng a beautiful h ut Black face in the theme of both. Even thougb l icCl e llan' s woma n possesses "inex- pressible grace" For a.11 h er wea.lt~1 and gifts of grace Could not a pp eas e t he s h a m Of jus tice t h at discriminates Agai nst t b e b lood of Ham. And there is more than a b. int in t h e title of his final volume, Path of Dreams; for, as many ob serv er s of Black writing have noted, the "dream" is a. central t h eme (see Hugh es, Hayden, Nat Turner, Corr others, Dunbar, a nd nm,1erous others). surface, ::'f oClella n is de l icate and un offensi v e. Yet on the He writes sonnets, sing-song quasi- b allads, formal verse reminiscent of B~rron, Scott a nd Hilt on , and for mal b allad s and h ymn-inspired praises as in "The ::_;ie et of ,Tn cl as. 11 Vn.r:r i ng :.- ; iet er, stanza and rhyme sch eme, EcClo l la n neve r the less r ef us ed to write i n dialect--the v ogu e of h is d ay . l ia k i ng it analag ous to "rag- time," h e cor.1pla inod t h a t it uas "co ns i de red qtd. t e · tbe proper dressing for Tfogro d i sti nc t :! 0 ,1 i n t he p oetic art." F or ample se lection::; of 1:c c:.cl:a n ' s writi ngs s ee Kerlin' s critical antholo 6y. , Robinson' s book a nd J o!1ns on 's American Negro Poetry. Robinson, Kerli n a nd Broun a l so g ive c r itical v 1.ows of I-IcClellan's work. See also Sherman's Invisible Poets. "Ra g- p icker , tobacc o stea mer, br ic1~rard hand, whiskey distiller, tea11:st c1· and pr ize-fi gh te r ," Joseph S e amon Cotter (1861-1949) was a ls o one of th e most g if t ed a nd prolific 197 �writers of his era. Cotter was born to a Black ri1other and ·white father in Nelson County, Kentucky. The kinds of work cited above characterized his li:f'e ·when he was forced, at an early age, to interrupt his 8chooling. Re-enterlng night school at age 24, be studied to b ecome a teacher and administrator, chores which he eventually assumed at the Colored Ward School in Louisville. Cotter also taught English lit- erature and composition and contributed poems, stories and articles to local newspapers including the Courier-Journal (one of America's outstanding newspapers). In bis life and work., Cotter looks forward to Blacks like DuBois., .James Weldon tTohnson, Nary licLeod Bethune and Langston Hughes. In his writings, he anticipates the variety and virtuosity of a Dunbar. For, in the words of one critic of the period, "he makes poems and invents and discovers stories, and bardlike, recites them to whatever audience may ca.11 for them-in schools, in churches, at firesides. 11 Brilliant, precocious and enduring, Cotter pursued the complex side of life, daring to examine the often over-simplified phenomenon of' race relations in Amer:tca. Kerlin said of h is work: "Some are tragedies and some are comedies and sorae are tragi-comedies of everyday life among the Negroes." Cotter (BroHn says he has "both point and pi th"), it must be said, was among the first Black poets to represent, without shame and minstrelsy, authentic Black folk life. He wrote in formal--a.cademic, bookish--forms; but be also wrote 198 �explicitly in dialect and standard English, of common life and common problems. He achieves "1-.ushing rhythms and ingenious rhymes II when he is at his best; and a quiet, reflective perserverence, when he writes introspectively. A disciple of Dunbar, Cotter is able to capture vividly tbe tbeme of traveling and weariness that pervades so much Black literature and song (see "The Way-Side 1foll 11 and the repetition of lines that establish the drudgery and the momentun; to carry on).. He can be satirical and admonishing in dialect as in "Tbe Don't-Care Negro": Neber min' your manbood's risin' So you babe a way to stay it. Heber min' folks' good opinion So you have In 11 a way to slay it. The :Negro Child II Cotter tells the youth to let "lessons of stern yesterdays" ••• be your food, your drink your rest, and in the same poem be strikes a. pose similar to that of Booker T. Washington's when he advises the child to Go train your bead and hands to do, Your bead and heart to dare. Cotter's verses also exalt Black and liberal white heroes ( "Frederick Douglass, 11 ''Emerson, 11 "The Race Welcomes Dr. W.E.B. DuBois as its Leader," "Oliver Wendell Holmes") and relish such experiences as reading or listening to Dunbar ("Answer to Dunbar's 'After a Visit" and "Answer to Dunbar's 'A Choice'") and Riley ( "On Rearing .James Hhi tcomb Rile~r Read ll). 199 He vigorously searches �the human heart--and tbe intangibles of lying, hating, and self-denyine--in poerns like "Contradiction" and !'The Poet. 11 "My Poverty and Ueo.lth II recalls Corrothers' "Compensation" since the richness and strength of commoness, charity and honesty triumph ov er money and a higb social station. A proli:fic writer, Cotter published several volumes including: A Rhyming (1895); Links of Friendship (1898, with a preface Courier-Journal editor Thomas 'Hatkins); Ne 0ro Tales (1902); a four-act play in blank verse, Ca.leh, t he De generate (1903); by and A 1fuite Song and A Black One (190 9). critical study of Cott er is long overdue. A good biographical- For selections and critical appraisals see Robinson and Kerlin. Se e also Countee Cullen's Caroling Dust (1927) and Sherman. Jude;ing from much of t h e critical reception of Daniel Webster Davis (1062-1913) the pre vailing feeling is that he should just disappear. Of all t he cri t ics assessing him (Wagner, Bro~n Redding, Rrm1ley, Sh er man, Johnson and others), only two, Reddi.n[.s and 2h or i;ian, seem to feel t hat Davis ba.s any 11 sinccri t::r" i_n b is efforts to portra~r Blacks 5.n dialect. Reddin;;'s position is ir oni c, i ndeed, since, in To Hake a Poet Black, h e does not discu s s tll e folk trad:ttion i n Black literaturc. Davj_s (1-1'h c O>J. e1•at od on tbe t 11eor~r t:1at the most effective ~ ·writer "fs the one tn demand") is d eri ·ni. ti ve of the white writers of dialect, as 11o re most of t h e Bl ack dia 1.ect 1-rriters, and seems only to transc end t he n t n t; w fact of b i.s b ei D6 e. Black r,1a.n and a pr cac~·10r--~ r1~ o cou ~.d C:o l i ver t b.c -i::erses Hi tb t'he v irtuoso 20 0 �i mp act impossible of Th o;iw..s 1To l s o,-, Pa c.;o , I :cHi n T:ussell and 11 s chola.r of dia1-ect 11 ·Hb o ~Jro t o f ro;,,. 11 ts mm first h and ex- pcri e nce s and Blacks . I n i ntrodu c t i ons to ~ is h ooks h e draws cor:1pari s ons and c ontJ:,as t s 1J c t1-1 0 0n B::.. nc k and ,;.rh i te s outbern speech. Rodd'lng praise:::i :Ja v is fo r t b c sarrie reas ons t h at other cri tlcs dis n iss h i :r.1--f or h i s exasc;cratod 1m.ff on i nc of Blacks and h is s ugg e stion t h at pla nt a t io n 11 da r lri os " wer e content to live out their liv e s oati ns '~ og me at," '~ adermillums" and stealing . Roddins b o l i ovos t hat Da v i s 's p oetry "represents t he bi ghest i me.gi na.t l v c p ower of t h e p l a n ts.ti on Hegro, the prodigal richness of h is i mager:r, o. nd h i s ½np p7 po·Her to resolve all difficultio 8 and r.1ysterie s with the reasoning of a child." Tiedding' s c omme nt, n ot so h a.rs!1 as it mi ght seem, is neverthele s s only partinlly--if t h at 1;:;.ucl:: --tru e . For how does one account for t b e ingenuity of t !': 0 u ork songs, the Spirituals, the dittie s and jingles a nc1 the ea.rl:r b lues? Did not the same "child II CI'c o.tc tr. e r.1 a.ls o? BroHn, on tbe other 11a nd, refers t o Da v is as t h e "Negro Thomas Nelson Pa.g e 11 --quite a nasty "put-d own", to u se contemp orary parlance. An cl Davi s does s e em t o b e maki ng fun of Blacks in giving h is poems s uch titles as: Down Souf," 11 Bakin an' Greens., and "De Bigges 1 Piec e ub Pie .. " 11 "Hog Tieat., 11 "'Web "Is Dar Wa.dermi lluns on High?" But h e is bent on meeting the needs of people ·who uant to be "i nstruc t ed and entertained. 11 .' ; And it will be observed that in some parts of the S outh, the dipthong th is dropped from its ending position in favor off 201 �and one certainly find cvicle ;1ce of Blacks speakinG like the characters in Hebstcr 's poctr:r. But another a nswer might he in a comparison hotHeen Flip Hilson (Tiev. LeRoy) and Rev. Daniel Webster Davis who achieved great popularity when he turned his pulpit :tnto a st age from Hhich to unload his own brand of "saving souls" and making tbc "word" come a.live. As Rev. Davis, t h e dialect p oet was not unlike such men as John ~To.sper (very popular), Black Billy Sunday, Brother Easter, and "other Negro preachers II of bis dn:r ·wh o "were so well known. 11 Davis's ~,o collections, primarily in dialect, are Idle Moments (1895) and 'Heb Dm-m Souf (139? ). lished prose. He also left much unpub- i:i:ost of his work deals with joviality., gluttony, flamboyant sermons, happiness, the "contented II slave and mischieviousness--tbe stereotypical behavior which white minstrelsy has fostered on tho Black personality. Davis is derivative, as we noticed, to the point of copyi n 6 wl-.ole lines and phrases as in "Hog Heat" s;.:bcro be talrns tbe words 11 1,n1en the frost is on the Punkin" fror,1 James l·! l1itcomb IUle~r and changes them thusly: Tfuen de fros' is on de pun' kin an' de sno'-flakes in de a'r, ••• The poem also closely resembles Dunbar's "Wben De Co'n Pone's Hot. 11 (Al thougb Hag ner and o t.ber critics c la.im that Davis did not borrow from Dnnbar hut worked 11 directl:r from the models provided by the minstrel s and the southern poets.") Davis had had first-hand experience of the Black folk predicament, 202 �first as a chlld in North Carolina and, after the Civi.l Har, in Richmond, Virginia, where he attended s·ch ool. Finishing high school with good marks, he began to teach in the Black schools of Richmond. His popularity wa.s wide among "the less literate of his own race," according t o .Ta.mes Heldon Johnson, which ma.y be a partto.l r eason for Do.vis's continual production of his particular brand of "poetry. 11 Known for reading his .. verses with "comical unctuousness before convulsed audiences," his work, when placed beside Dunb ar's, is unfinished. In style and workmanship, however, it s110uld be noted that Davis is not unlike some of the bombastic Black poets of ta.day. For when the complete story is told, many "popular" contemporary poets--speaking and writing a "dialect" and titillating "convulsed" audiences--may very well meet the fate reserved for Davis. (Instead of becoming a "prelude> to a kiss n they may end up a footnote to a joke.) In his few standard English pieces, Davis also preache s a co nciliatory att itude, as in "Emancipation" wh ere he claims t he African "roamed the savage wild 11 Untamed his pasaions; h alf a man and h alf a. savage child, until God "sa"t-7 fit II to teac'h tb e Black man of "Hirn and .Jesus Christ." It could he t h at t h er e i s more to Davis than bas met the eye; at any rate, a complete s tudy of b is life and works await some serious student of Black poetry. For assess- ments of' and selections fro m Davis's writings see Brown, Sherman, Wagner, Robinson, Rodding and ~ohnson. 203 �.,. Our stnd2r makes no clai m that every poet hriefly considered is any sort of giant. In fact, except ~-Jben such a title or label is ohviousl:r :·mrrantod, there is an effort to steer clear of such qualitativ e ova!uattons . stated goal: This is true in view of our to place i nto tho hands of students and lay per- sons a handy refere nce to a nd overview of Black poetry. 11 J'ean Haener' 3 c lair that So i t would have required a great deal of indulgence to welcome II the poetry of ,Tohn Wesley Holloway (1865-1935) into "the literary domain" can not find credence or reinforcement i n thi.s 'hook . }agner also includes Cotter, 1 .Tames David Carrothers and William Stanlye Braithwaite in his list of p oe t s n on cr~ta. Holloway, lil:e h i s c ontemporaries Davis and Corrothers, was a "prcachcr --Doet. 11 His p oetry 5- s in hoth st andard English form and dia le c t , ':-~rich , acc ordi.ng t o tTohnson, is his "hest Hork. 11 I n The 1rc ;ro ' s God, Benjami n r•a~rs classes Holloway with tb e ·writ e rs and thinkers Hho take a c o n ci li atory and c ompen- aatory arrro ach to the d~1ty- -dcsp it e oppression, slavery or whatever. In one roem , Holl01-ray is ''1:faitins 0:1 t he Lord"; and even Thou gh ho3ts of sin ma.y bed[;e me round, Ana thunders sh ake the so!.id ground, he will neverthclc r;s wait 11 pat:tently" for help from God. .Tames Baldwin, and other Black urite rs of the 20th century (getting a first start from :)unbar), call such advice "dishonest." Baldwin, a child-preacher, saw a contradiction in the preacher's 20L~ �resignation and the rat-infested tenement buildings against wbose owners the preach0rs refused to lead a rent strike. Yet, as a preach0r, Holloway exhibits a classic devotion and tbe ability (see Preface to Johnson's God's Trombones) to aid in the welding of the disparate Black mas~rns--which has never been an easy task. A disciple of Dunbar, Holloway was born in Merriweather County, Georgia.. Hi.s father, one of the first Black teachers in the state, bad learned to read and write as a slave and sent his son to Clark (Atlanta) and Fisk Universities. For a period, young Holloway was a member of the famous Fisk .Jubilee singers. As a poet of dialect, Hollowa;r is both musi- cal and humorous as in "l'iiss r'l:erlerlee" who has Sof' brown cheek, an' smilin' face and Perly teef, an' sbinin' hair An' silky arm so plump an' ha.rel Reflecting a gro-wlng practice of the transitional poets, Holloway makes an honest effort to portray deep Black emotions and feelings. His descriptions of Black women (especially) and men signal a new and vibrant aspect of Black poetry--the merger of the sexual/sensual levels with the racial flavor of post-bellum 'Black America. Linguistically, Holloway approaches the sounds and idioms of the Gullah which will be seen more definitively in James Edwin Campbell. Since the Gullah dialect is spoken in the areas off the shores of Georgia and the Carolinas, it is possible that Holloway picked up accents and expressions as 205 �---------- - - - - - ----- a child. (1919). His books include Bandannas (n.d.) and From the Desert Especially humorous is his "Calling tbe Doctor" which is an important cataloging of folk medicinal remedies including Blue-mass, laud-nnm, liver pills, "Sixty-st.x, fo' fever an' chills, Ready Relief, an' A. B. 11 c. , An' half a bottle of X. Y. z. Holloway (dialect poetry) joined Dunbar, Corrotbers, . J. Mord Allen and Ray Dandridge, in being published for the first time (during the first two decades of the 20th century) in previously "off-limits" white periodicals. For selections from and criticism of Holloway's work see Johnson's American Negro Poetry and Mays' The Negro's God. See also, fo1., criticism, Brown's Negro Poetry and Drama. Yet another dialect writer, Elliot Baine Henderson, on whom we have little information, was anotber disciple of Dunbar. A "prolific writer, all in dialect. 11 he published some eight volumes of' verse, In much of his writings, as with .Holloway and Campbell, he utilizes the phonetics and idioms of' the Gullah--akin to the West I ndian brand of folk English. Henderson is sometimes concerned with folk beliefs and the supernatural and Black religious tbemes and songs ("Git on Board, Chillen~'). His dialect is inconsistent, a problem with most dialect writers (including Dunbar), and wbile he trtes to achieve a phonetic transcription of what he hears, he spells (in the same title) "Board" in a standard Enslish way and attempts to place words 206 �like "Git" and "Chillun" in dialect. His volumes include Plantation Echoes (Colnmbu 8, Ohio, 1904), Darlz:r Hed:ttations (Springfield, Ohi.o, 1910), Hned<J:jrkatcd Folks (Autbor, 1911) and Darky Ditties (Columbus, 1<)1,5). James Edwin Campbell (1867-1805), unlike hls contemporary Dunber, "oi:•1 es almos t nothing to the plantati.on poets." Campbell seems to have listened careful~y to and applied tbe Black folk speech around btn T,rhcrea ::, Dunbar t ook 1, is initial cues from the plantation school, c 1, ief pr opone nt of which was !ruin Russell. Born in Por,wro:sr , Ohio, Car,1p'l:oll graduated from the Pomeroy Acadcm7 and for a while taught sch ool ne ar Gallipolis. He gained more teacb 'inc e.ncJ. adr,i:tnistrativ-e experience at the Langston School in Virginia and th e ~est Virginia Colored Ins ti tu.to (now 1:fost Virginia State Col L:::ge ) "f,rlrn r e oppos ltion to his adeiini strat t vc :;'OJ.ici l~S :forced }~i rn to leave for C':1icago . Herald for t be r -:; nt. of 'J ic :.if0. Cotter anC:', Dtmr ar ( o.nd () ..I ..L 'l,.,.,- .,(:1 , V ~. . \ _ _j_ 1.:) ) , Lil~•) 1:is c(n-::t01:1p ora.ries, Cacpt-cll's car~:y ver ses ~rcre of and Else1here. :Cc!1008 fro1,1 the Cabin A ;_; :L,1pl8 c ora:x3.rln6 of titles of dialect volumes of tbc perlod ': rcnld prove i ~1 strnct1,,,;e . Car.P)b0ll is quite c ompete nt in 1Jotb standard English and dialect; and '>r,,1110 so;110 of b1.3 senthii ents are well-handled in the standard Encli s~ po crm, it is i n the dialect pieces that 207 �ho sbows ~1is rower, complcxit:r a nd orti:;j_ nal_:tt:r. Among his important themes are j_nt crrncia l love ( one of ti: e first Black wri tcrs--s oo '1:'TT-li tn:an and otl1ers--to deal with th:ls "touch~r" subject), the mulatto, satire (s e e, cspocia'll:,, 11 01' Doc' Hyar") Black pride ( thongb r,mffled), and realtst ic pres entations of Black "social realities, religious formalism, and folk values." It is i mportant to mention his brand of dialect, although a more in-dept'!--! study is still to be clone. Unlike Dunbar, who seemed to strive for a universal anglicized phonetic, Campbell (tr a ces are also in Hollm-ray and Henderson) recorded tho spe och patterns closely related to Gullah--somewhat akin to West Indian folk speech. Such usage is seen in em- ploying the subjective a.rd objective pronouns in the nominative position (''He sec, ~ n "Him ha1,, '' etc). 11 as in ''Uncle Eph's Banjo Song": the er (as in 11 ba.wnjer") for .the There is use of the broad 1Ja1;rnjer" and .£• 11 dawnce 11 and The verbal copula to be is usually omitted (assurr:cd ?) and there is a normal lengthing of an e or i sound ln Hords like 11 Reeg", 11 jeeg", "Laigs. The -r.r often becomes band t sometimes becomes k. of course, other great differences. 11 There are, For more on such lin- guistic aspects see works hy Lorenzo Dow Turner, Herman Blake, Robert D. Twiggs am others. Campbell has a more autbentic ring than Dunbar and one gets the impression that he is seriously involved in feeling as well as representing what Hughes called "the pulse of the , people." But Campbell and Dunbar are also similar in many ways. 208 �Ih "Negro Serenade" (compare to Dunbar's "A Negro Love Song") Campbell captures a sharp hum.an-social need. In "De Cnnjah Man" he achieves a strong r.msical ring (witb t11e help of a ring-a-round-th~-circle sort of chant) and dabbles in tbe supernatural--suggosting, us Chestnutt idd, that perhaps the Black folk tradition holds keys to the "nltlmate mysteries of the universe. 11 The recurring refrain of De Cunja.b man, de Cunjah man , 0 chillcn run, de Cunja'!-1 manJ will be ramified and made more dexterous by Hughes, Toomer and Hayden, as they experiment with these exciting oral folk forms. Campbell attempted to capture the cade nces and gestural complexities of a contemporary de.nee, the "buck", in his poem "Mobile Buck." He stated that he sought the "shuffling, jerky rhythm of the famous Hegre dance" w11ich he had seen performed by Black longshorer:1en on the Obio or the Hissi ssippi. This type of 1vord-movement marriage (see Chapter VII) ls not unusual in Black poetry. today. Numerous examples of sncb pairings abound Lastly, we 3hould note that Car.1.pbcll's near-Gullah dialect would later be revived (in the thirties and forties) hy writers like Ambrose Gonzales and Julia Peterkin. HcKay , we have said, employed a similar dlalect in his Jamaican poems. Actor-singer Belafonte, son of Hest Indians, ·would popularize this same dialect in the 195'0's and 6ors (''Dayligbt come and me want to go home"). Tlore salient contemp orary examples of this idiom (and its cadences) can ho found in t he lyrics of West Indian1mp.orted music known as the "Reggae)--an island version of 209 �Afro-American rrsoul" music. One of the first Black poets to wrj_te in dialect, Campbell deserves much 11iore attention than he has thus far received. At this writing, tbe most ex~austive studies of him appear in Wagner's Black Po ets and Shcrr.1an' s Invisible Poets. Though he was a close friend of Dunbar's, bis major works in dialect preceded Dunbar's books. In additio n to h1s poetry he was also a member of a group that edited the Four O'Clock Haga.zine which was published for several years in Cbicago. 0~1<:l one occasion, Campbell is knoHn to have spent time talking to BJlack men, pleading with t hem to spend their time more wisely tban in drinking and gamhling. For selections of bis work see Johnson, Robinson and Negro Caravan. For critical evaluations see Brown, Johnson, Redding ( "Car1:_:ihell 's e ar a.lone dictated his language.") and Carter G. ·wo ods on rs rrJ .E. Campbell: Letter, 11 A Forgotten nan of Wegro I-Iistor~r Bul:etin, l'T ovem1,er, 1938, p. 11. In 1937, St0:r1.inc; Dro·wn 8aid t1:sloquent and militant" were the tr.words most descrj_ptive" of the poetry of 1-Vi.11,iam Edward Burghardt DuBois ( 186C-1S63). Broun, il10 also termed DuBois "the leading intcll0ctual lnflnence of bis generation," was only t1ro years ahe ad of a s 1.mi lar accolade fror:1 J. Saunders Redding: !!They (poems) represent the e;;reatness of Dr. DuBois as an inspirationa 1. force." In the history of Black poetry, however, DuBols docs not deserve as larGo a portion of the limelight as is norua.lJ;:r accorded his Hork as historian, social critic, journalist, novelist, Africanist, organizer of important 210 �Pan-African Congresses in tl-:c J.920's, editor of the Crisis, pathfindcr-schola1" of tbc Black Experie nce, precurser of militancy and tl1e "lTc~-r :Tcgro." In 1923, Robert T. Kerlin (Negro Poets) sa5.d Du.Bois nar.: "celebrated 5.n tbe Five Continents and the Seven Seas. 11 As a poet, houevcr, DuBois is i m!)ortant for his work in the prose-poem ( s or.:c say "pro em") forms and f'or asserting a militance, a defiance and an exclaiming, a hatred of racism and oppression that had not been beard since ,To.mes Whitfield. Like molten lava, the dis gust o.nd nager spill from DuBois's pen as in "Hymn of Hate": I hate them, Ohl I hate them well, I bate them, ChristJ As I bate hellJ Ironicall~r, though, in his hatred DuBo1s always managed to re-establish his faith and trust in some bigher ordor--in God. Most of his poems had been published in various periodicals ( the Independent, Atlant1c Honthly and Crisis) before several of them were inte1•spcrsed among the essays in Da.rkwater (1919). DuBois bad, by that time, already gained recognition for bis individualized use of poetic prose--whicb fused Biblical language and tma.gery with his classical education and the expressions from the Souls of Black Folks (1903). But in !TA Litany of Atlanta," written after the racial bolacaust that took several Black lives, he assails all fundamentals--including the existence of God. But if God does ex:i.st, in f'ace of such violence and savagery, 211 �Surely Thou too art not white, O Lord, a pale, bloodless, heartless thing? DuBois also takes the occasion to cite his arch-enemy (Booker T. Washington): Tbey told him: Hork and P.i..se. A seeker ai'ter universal suf'frage and 'brotherhood, DuBois employed ::nu.ch of his poetry in the service of tbe political ideologies that be expouscd. Thus in "A Hymn to the.Peoples" he unites socialise and the Christian God urder one banner, viewing "the primal meet1 ng of t h e Sons of Han II as ForeshadoHing tbe union of the worldJ Other poems in Darkwater include nThe Riddle of the Sphinx" and "The Prayers of God." His "S orig of the Smoke" (written in 1899) makes the American Black the "Smoke King." Listing achievements and misuses of Blacks (a favorite habit of Black poets), DuBois at one point asks for acceptance of the Black man on equal terms ·with the uh:i. te: Souls unto me o.re as mists 1n the night, I 1-rhite n my blackmen, I 1)eckon my wbite, Hhat 's the hue of a hide to a man in his mightl But, DuBois does not silence his pen without some appeal to God: Sweet Christ, pity toiling landsl Hail to the smoke king, Hail to the blackJ For selections from and comment on Dubois's poetry see Kerlin, 212 �Brown, Redding, Frecdomways (Hinter, 1965), Johnson (American Negro Poetry). :ror assessments se Jahn, Barksdale and Kannamon, Wagner, Hays and Cba.pman (Black Voices, 1968) who rightly calls DuBois "the . intellectual father of modern Negro scholarship, modern Uegro militancy and self-consc:i.ousness, and modern lTegro cultural development ." DuB ois Selected Poems h ave just been published (1973) by Ghana Universities Press and is available in the United States from Panther House, Ltd. James David Corrotbcrs (1869-1919 ) acknowledged his debts to Shelley, Keats ( "Drea m and the Song") o.nd Dunbar ( "Paul Laurence Dunbar") after wh om mucb of hls dialect poetry is modeled. But Corrothers, a minister , disple.:7s neither the range (in subject matter) nor the skill of Dunbar. His mother died at his birth in Cass Count:r, rii chigan, and his :father apparently gave him little care. In IIi chigan, be worked o.s a youth in the sa.1-nnills and lnmher camps , o.s a sailor on the Grcat Lakes , and later ceked out a 11.ving as janitor, coachman and bootblack i.n a ba.rbersbop. ~n cournged hy associates to continu0 b is education, he studied for tl:e minstr:r and remained in t h at profession (pastoring in Methodist , Baptist and Presbyterian churches) a.11 his life. His flrst puhlisbing oppor- tunity car,1e through Century mo.Go.zine; this landed him a wide reading au.c1ienc c 'because of tho resorn½lcnce of bis 1-rork to that of Dunbar's. Corrot:10rs' f:i.rst vo lume (Selected Poems) was published in 1907 a nC: 1-..,is nocond collection (Th e Dream and the Song) ca.me out i:1 1914. He 1-ras i n C11 ica eso clnrlng the same 213 �period that Car.1pboll li ve d th e re a nd b o also worked for various daily neuspap ei-•s. Dunbar. Ifa r;-:t0 t a n d so cial i.z c d ui t 1~ Ca mpbe ll a nd F1 on r..e1-1spapcr articles a n d nnpuh li shed poe1;1s b e put 1 of Hand ic ar , ~ es pub li s ~ ~d i n 1916. has bo on mis-road by a nm:b or of c 1,:ttics (Jorr.s on i ncluded ) as advising resi gnati on and c onc5- l i at l o~~ . Corrotbers was a 1,iinist cr , sbou ld s b c d and i mp lica~io ns. r:101·0 1lnt , lrn oulod 6 e t h at li£;l~t on b is usac os E ach oco of t~o rour s t a ~zas (except for the fourth ·wh ic'!.-1 ends •.: ~a rol:r a Ne c.;r d- -i :-1 a d a.:r liko thisJ ") begins and ends :.·!l t h : I • To b e a lTe~r·o l n a day l i l::e this. As a sermon on t he; sDrfac o , t bo po oL a ppear s to tell Blacks to have "patience 11 and 11 fo rgiv0 ness," and so on. But a closer reading will reveal a s tro :.1.g a d 5c c ti vc :.oa d l r.:.c 1 nto almost every virtue. So t he c;ron p i ng.s l ook li ke t b is: "rare patience, 11 "strange loyal t:r" and "utt e r clarkno ss 11 - -all of wh ich s uggest that, in the cocle of t h e prcac!1er, it just mi gbt b e too "rare" or "strange II or "utter¥ " Duri nc t bc deli very of a. sermon, or similar verbal eloque n ce, Ble.cks arc accustou ed to searching i'or mea.ning--shifts and leve ls based on to n al variety and other vocal modulations. So, wo seo y e t one mor e oxau~le of a possible "encoding" of 1~os3ages (s co Chapter II) in w~at 11 s eems" to be., at best, harmless deliveries arrl, at ·w orst, co nciliatory. "Paul Laurence Dunbar" anticipates t b e Harlem Renaissance 214 �and tho "Now Negr o II in b aving t he ''Dark melodist" venture to . . the citadels of Western culture--using "Ap ollo's Fire" and visit "Helicon", t h e h m;1e of the muses. Even more blatant, however, is Corr ot h er s' brllliant so nnet "The Negro Singer," in which h e carries out a major theme of the Harlem Renaissance-reclamation of Black cultural values and the Black pa.st. The "Singer, 11 tired and frust r ated f r om try ing to write (and a.ct) white, finally decides that But I shall dig me deeper to the gold; and Fetch water dripping, over desert miles, so that at least some of his original virtue and ancestr~l strength can be exploited in the Western world. Such a course is the only way for the Black poet, Carrothers says, tbe only way for "men II to: • • • know, and remember long , Nor m:.r dark face dishonor any song. The sar,1e theme .( sligl1tly altered) is picked up in ''The Road to the Bow" where the singer again knows tbat I hold my head as proudly bi gh As any man. Tension develops between the Black and white men "In the Matter of' Two Hen" and "An Indignation Dinner" features a dialect presentation of the popular plantation/minstrelsy theme about Blacks stealing ch:tckesn and turkeys. A social lesson occurs in the poem, however, for "old Pappy Simmons ris" and explained 215 �to those facing a food-less Cbristma.s t h at nothing but "wintry wind 11 (bot ah"') is "a.-n ighing th' ough/de street." He tells the persons at tho meeting that he has seen plenty food on a "certain gemmun's/fahrn" and tbat "All He nee<l is a corr.mi ttce fob to tote the goodies here." Earlier in tbe pocru, Blacks protest tbelr treatment at the hands of' whites; and in a 17-part series called "Sweete n 'Tatahs," one annoyed Black complains that 11 Evah tha.ing is 'dulterated By cle white folks, nowadays-- Even cblme ½ones , when :you buys 'em De ain't wo'f de cash you pays. In one poem, Blacks comp lain of small Hages; in another they protest high prices--familinr stories in the Afro-American communities. They dispel ignorant statements (like Wagner's) that Carrothers is "lacking in personality " and that his works do not belong in "the literary domain. 11 And, thoy ·cancel in part, Brown's allegation that Corrothers follo1-1s a "typical dialect pattern." For selections of Corr othe1•s ' works see Johnson, Hughes and Bontemps, and Ro"rinson. For critical appraisals see Brown, Johnson and Brawley. James Weldon Johnson (1871-193 8 ), important in bis own right as a poet and h is i mmens e "service to other Negro poets," is looked at in passing hero. He will be seen a gain in Chapter Vin connection uith tbe Harlem Rena.issa.nce--wh ere be is normally placed even though he 1-:as in l1is f if tios ·when the leading lights 216 �of the Renaissancc--Cullen, Hughes, ~foKay, Toomer and others-first start!')d to pub lish t b eir ~,rnrks. Jo'hnson, considered here as a writer of dialect poetr:r, was horn in Jacksonville, Florida, to middle-class ~lack parents, and attended Stanton Central Grammar !'cl1ool (all Black) w11ere bis ri10th er taught. He entered a preparatory program at Atlanta University, later graduating and returning to assume principalship of Stanton where-during an oight year period--he ti.p&,--raded the school to secondary status. Considered a "n.enai.ssance" man (in the European sense, this tir,1e), Johnson founded a. local newspaper (The Daily American, 1894), studied for the Florida. bar (was admitted in 1B97), wrote dialect poems (modeled after Dunbar's), and .finally made his ·Hay to Broadwa-:;r in New York where he collaho1.., ated 1.Ji t h his brother, cor,1pos0r J. Rosamond, and Bob Cole in light operas. Sterling Brown said Job nson recognized the "triteness" of his earl:.r d:!.alect poems ( many puhlish ed in Fifty Years and Ot ber Poems, 1917), b ut several of them--put to music by 11i s ,_11..,ot~1er and Cole--hecamc popular ;('avorites. Tho Century accerted "S e :-ice :rou Hent Awa:y" for pu'b lj_cation. And tbc brothP✓ rs c ot.:poscd "Lift Evo,.: :" Voice a.ml S ing" (lyrics by James) for the ~<'cbr no.:..":r 12, 1900, a nniversary of Lincoln's birth. 'T.his poem is gcnerall~r regarded as tbc "National Anthem" of Black America. Hardly an Afro-American bas not board or snng tl-i is sonc. Johnson's dialect poems, listed in his hook under "Jingles and Croons, " leave nuc:-1 to be des ired in t h o area of originality. 217 �Perhaps his mm experir.1onts in that forri1 are idhat led him to state so c1,;.:11~aticall:· tba.t dialect has 'hnt "two stops"--"humor and pathos." Johnson Has n ot tota:.l~r right, as we shall see la tor (Broun tal{es ur this issue in The :!'Togro in Poetry and Dre.ma). However, Kerlln (1-rhom Hagner sa:rs sbol,rs a "deficiency in critic al sense") called Jo11nson's i:-rnrk 11 so1,1e of t~e best dialect writing in the uhole range of 1Tegro litero.turc. cellence is here. 11 Every quality of ex- Technically, Jobnson was quite capahle in handling dialect (as he is in o.11 matters). But his dialect brings nothing new to Black poetry (unlike Sterling Brown's) and his tl1cr,1es have been prett~r much played out by tbe time he reaches print. 11 l:y Lady's Lips Am Like de Honey" recalls Dunbar's "A 1'Tegro Love Song," Carrothers' "Negro Serenade," and other such pieces. of Dunbar's "Song." Johnson poem carries none of the power And bis subtitle ("Negro Love Songn) shows that be is working in the stock trade for the period. The lover finall~r gets to t h 0 point where be Pelt ber k:i.ndo:.." squeeze mah han', 'Huff to make r;1e undcrstan'. 11 Sence ~rou Went A1:1ay 11 is one of the real touching statements in 11 J'inGles and Croons II and 3hows Johnson 'hridginc; between the blues and Spiritual styles. It h as an authentic (though quietly turbulent) ring in its sin plicity--ffioving and lingering in its spell wrought by seeing t h e loss of a lover as a cause for disorder in the cosr.1os. Glimp8cs of bnmor come through in a few of the poems but generally the di.alect is used for ridicule--albei t 218 �um1i ttingly--and deals with tbe "easy" life of the plantation, the stealing of turl;:eys and • • • entin' watermelon, an' a layin' in de sbade. We will meet Johnson agaln, a critic, different poet, user of a different ndialect." The towering figure of Black American literature until the Renaissance of the 1920's, Paul Laurence ])unbar (1872-1906) lived a complex, tragic, ar.1biguous and s1'10rt life. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to former slaves, Dunbar corilpleted his f'ormal training at that city's onl:r high schoo1--graduating with good marks and as the onl:r Black student in his class. He was sickly at an early age but became the man of the house,af'ter his father ts death, when he nas 12 years old. Completing high school, but being financially uno.ble to pursue his interests in law and journalism, Dunhar began 1-rni-•k as an elevator boy, maintaining bis voracious rec.ding habits. He was fond of Tennyson, Shelley (whom be took as o. model for his , poems in standard Englis!1), James Bussell Lowell ( whose work, along with Rile:r, Eugene Field a.nd Ella Hheeler 1-.Jilcox, he found in The Century), and others. Huch of Dunbar rs poetry bears striking resemblence to the 1-1orks of poets he admired, especially Shelley, Tennyson and Riley 1-1bose "devices" Dunbar "industriously" set out to "dismantle" and master . His volumes of verse include Oak and Ivy (1893), privately printed; Eajors and Hinors (1895), also privately printed, with 219 �the aid of patrons; Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896, witb a preface · by 'Hilliarn Dean Hm·J ells) wh ich , representing a major break- through for a Black auth or, was puh lish ed b y Dod, Mead and Company. This t h i r d v olune included t h e best poems from the two prev ious v olur;1e s a nd s ome t h at h a d not b ee n published before. Dunbar, now almost i nstantly famous, continued to write and pub lish b oth v e rse and fiction. His later books of' poems included Lyrics of t h e Hearth sidc (1899), Lyrics of Love a.nd Laughter ( 1903) o..nd Lyrics of Sunsh ine and Shadow (1905), the year b efore h i s d ea th . in 1913. Compl ete Poems was pub lished Intersp er s e d a mo ng t he s e bo ok s of poetry were volumes of short st orie s a nd four nov els. 'Hovels wer Th e Uncal led (1898), The Love of Landry (1900)., Th e Fina.tics (1901) and The Sport of t h e Gods ( 1902). His sh or t s tori e s included Folks fro n Dixie (1 898 ), Tb e Str ength of Gideon (1900)., In Old Plantation Days (~_903) a nd The He a rt of Hnpp:,r Ho llow (19 04). Dunb ar wa s pro l ifi c a lmost r i gh t up unt i ::. th e t i me of h is deatb-w'hich be k new u a s 12.ppr oacl: i ng .. E e h ad i~:arri e cl Al1,ce Ruth HoDe., a pr 01:1isi ng autl::ior f rou 1::"ew Orlo a ns , '.i.n 1e98 ; a.n d his last ~ears wor e a n o:fort to he a l h ot'h fai l i n; he a lt~ a nd a failing marriage. As a p oet, Dun½ o.r 's 110.rk fall s i nto tu o d i visio ns : lect and standard ( so,,10 : rn.:r 11 dia- 11.tor ar:r " or "cla.ss:1.c") E ng lish . He att 0r,1pt b ore t o pre sent some of h is po etic c oncerns, ach ieveme nt s a nd tber,108 . Dun1") 0.1° r s 1 5.f o a nd Hor ks a.re too far- r each ing and cor,1 plex t o ,,_,c as se s sed c or.1pletel:r i_n this typ e of s ur vey .' 220 .. ' ' �a rna.n or as an D~mb a.r wa.s ~... _ lQo 61 _.., ,: "Howells Har1 per-b aps t ho 8:1-1:r literature 11'10 >as :-1 t o ra:.,., ~r hc o 1~ cr i t lc i::-:i th e l1is tory of Ameri.can a'JJ. c to c re a te r•oputa.t l ons ½:r n. sincle re v i01 :r " (Brool:s , The Confident Years, 1;;2). Bnt, as Barksdale and Einnamon no t e, :9:owc:i..:o' rcvicu ·t-ras uore of a social commen- tary (liberal, tbat !s) th an li t ora.r:r cr'i.t lcin r.i . s ingled out t!1c clial oct poc~::s for spe ci..o. l pro.5.so . said, Howells Dun11 ar, he 11 1,ms the on:.:r ma n of p 1,.r e Afr:tcan ½looC::. and of American civilization to .focl negro brricall ,r. .., . ::tro a.0ct:1oticall:r a.i.1Cl express it 11 Du~, ar, lat er rcaliz1 nc Ho~ells' praise TTas n curse in disguise, strucsled for t'l-}c rest of ' ~ls l ife to remove the dialect stigr,ia. Ho complained t o ,Ta~·.1cs 1foldon Joh nson t h at t he public on:y wanted to read ~ is dialect pieces. the pressure to be an intelligent n~ a tG.bo , 11 And feeling be elsewhere com- plained of having to p lay t l1e part of a "hlack 1"11.1 i te ma n." Dunbar's resentment of t 1.1e "label" of dialect poet when h e felt he had rr..orc prof01.,.na. a nd co1;1p lex tbi n0 s to say is capsuled in 221 �this often-quoted stanza. fro ::u "Tho Poet 11 : He sa.ng of love when eart11 i:-ra.s ~roung, And love, itself, was in hi s lays. But ah, the -;-1 0rld, it tnrned to praise A jingle inn broken to nc;ue . Earlier in the poer,1 preferred to sing. Haunted Oak, 11 Dunbar refers to a ndeeper note" which he But while poems like "The Debt, 11 11 Sympatby, 11 "The and "Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes,n do have deep a.nd complicated meanings, one searches in vain for Dunbar the man in them. pieces, Dunbar 1,ms In the dialect ab le to capture the rhythms, phonetics and idioms of Black speech. But it ls generally agreed that, es- pecially since be used ridicule-directed white models, he s·aw the Black man as a subject for either humor or pity • . The South's revenge for the Civil Har h ad come in part through its philosophers and writers who reflected nostalgically about the npeace and tranquility" of plantation life. This was political chicanery at its worst, but several BlaQk poets, Dunbar included, followed the white originators of the minstrel and plantatlon school of poets. (Whites did not origi- nate minstrelsy--hu t they did corrupt it; see Loften Mitchell's Black Drama.) As a result, Dunbar's treatment of Blacks in his dialect poems is stock in trade for the era: singing, grinning, obsequious, head-scratchinc, master-loving, watermellon-eating, dancing, banjo-picking, darkies. Certainly Dunbar comes t hrough realist1.cally as in "A Negro Love Song" 222 �(a written accou nt of a song sung by Black be h ad worked with), "Litt le Brm-m Bah~r, 11 11 theme), "The Par ty , 11 1 rn1en De Co' n Pone's Hot," ( the g ood-eating '1-Iou Lucy Bae ks lid, 11 11 Tbe Rivals II and others. He also acbievc:::i subtlety and irony in others. 1 t-vn'l en Malindy sings" is by all accounts h:i.s importo.nt llnguisti c-cultural contribution. Yet Dunbar seemed to reserve the "serious" sub- jects for standard ~nglish--for wh:i.c1'1 Black critics will not forgive him--a.nd even :tn this seriousness be speaks of people biding bebi nd lonely. 11 tiiasks 11 or being ''caged II or "drca1;1i ng II or being In these standard pie ces, Dunbar treats loneliness, unrequited love and goes on loft:" f li g11t s as a. knight or wanderer or theologian; or be is resigned as i n 11 Rcsignation" where he invites God to "crush me for Thy use" if need he. Yet accusations that Dunbar HRS completely tor::1 from the real world of Blackness are not true. I n "T:1e :Haunted Oak," for example, he indicts the judge, t h e rai ni ster and t he doctor, for the lyncbine of a Black man. He a l so h~e ooded ov er his dark skin, feeli :1.c tbo.t , duri ns a t:tmo of preference for light-skin a nd the ;1al,i t of "passing ," h is color he ld him back. Bnt some of l1is po0tr:r a nticipates Garve:r's call for "ethnic purity." He prai3es t b c hr01m sl:in of :::and:" Lou in "J)re a :n:i.n' Town" and be loves "Dcl:' 11 for ~e:t ng 1 • • • brm·m c z 1r own ca n be . . .. .. .-. - . .. She ai n 't no mullnter; She pure cullnd ,--don 't you see 223 �Da.tts de why I love hub so, D' ain't no mix ahout huh . A similar theme pervades "S ong ," ("African me.id") '"Dinah Kneading Dough 11 ( ''Brown arms b uried elb01-r-deep ") and "A Plantation Por- trait!' ("Browner den de Frusb's Hing "). In bis dialect poems, Dunbar reveals a love for spiri. t and revelry and good times. But nowhere is t h ere an indicat :i. on of t be enormous suffering and violence inh e r ited 1 ) :T p os t -war Af ro-Americans. The lynchings, tbe patt~r-roller s s1-1oop ing dm-rn on defe nseless ex-slaves, the night-rides of t b e Ku Kl ux I:lan and 1-n1i te Citizens orga nizations, the harsh and deb :i.litati ng economic s ituation of Blacks in general--none of tbe s e t h ings find t h e i r way i nto Dunb ar's poetry. All thi s , of coure e , is i ro n:i. c a gainst Du nb ar's great admiration for such men as Preo.eric k Douglass, Alexander Crummell, Booker T. Hasb i Ll.zton "Blac k ~a.m,so n of Brand:n-l i ne 11 --all of whom he immortalized i n p o-e try . I nstead, i n b is "deeper note" Dunb ar (notwith standi ng the examp les of 1-Jh itfi.eld, 1·TT1ib;1s. n , DuBois, and others) s p oke of 'hear t b reak , pr obed b is own pessim1.s m and religious doubt a ncl s ee[1ed l i tera'::..l:r to p :J. ne a~-rn.~r. ( I n one dia- lect poer.i, h owever , h e a dvi sed Blo.c ks t o "Kee p P'2.u ggint Along ~-") Tiucb of t b is e n i gma. of Du nb ar s eems to b e explained in bis poem "A Ch oice 11 ( Ge ncra.1 -::y over looked h y cri.tics wb o r.1 onotonously quote fror.1 "Th e Poot 11 ) i n wb ich h e cor.1plai ns of h eing tired of problet'.'j,S and sh• os s e s: But i n a p oem l e t me sup , Not s i r.~ l es b r ewad to cur e or ease �.,,L].. 118, On more t~an one occasion, Dunhar inti mated to associates tHat l1 c 1:ras all "ot1t fec1 tlp -i-ri tl 1 raci.a l a s i tatton--a.pparcntl2r feeling tl"Jat Black-wh1.te r clat ior.s ucro 1-:i eyonc: ropah 1 T'vd.s could be • There are poets, he re in tl,e ml ddle of the 20th centnry, who feel the sace wa:r. :·fo,:e rt' ; eless Dnnb ar' s request was answered 'A Choice,'" said That pootc d i ould 'h o sui:ft de c rees An~ we~ stern facts to so~er song. Dunbar ei t}:er did not becd/~ear or wns not aware of t11:ts "answer 11 ; but if 1J e bad tal::en Cotter's ad v ice perhaps t1.rn world 1vould knm-1 a d5.fferent poet. A'!-)ove e.11, Dunbar was a skillful reader of h is poetry--often hr i nc i nz eudiences to their feet for stand inc ovat lo rs nncl ~)J.co.s for e :, coros. in the use JTi::i dexterousness "h,-.r - several "'GDe - b rations of Black colle ce poets and lc.;r wrlters irJ}:-:,o Lni tated }1 1m. In a.b1ost c~rer:· stf 1::::tantial Black co numni t:r there is some public faci li t:r named. after Dui'} 1~ar. JTo lJroto ln aL10st ever:, prevailing sty1-e--t11e ~rontost exploi tor of Eni.31:i.sh poetic techniques between Fhit man and Cn1le n . Sonnet, :r,.adrical, couplet, ballad, Spiritual, pre-h1-ues, soncs (includine use 225 �of musical notntio~ in some instances), 7ou name it and Dunhar seems to ;1ave tried it. Dunbar ' s po0t~1s can ' :e fonnd i_n Complete Poems, the text used for t~rn discussion l: er0. Por critical- 1~io_;rap11ical ·w riting o n Dun1,ar see 1foz_;ner 1 s Black Poets of t 1 ~e Unltod States (tbe most ambitious study to elate) , Bro..Hloy ' s Pnul Laurence Dunhar: Poet of Hln People, wor'.rn l1:r Brm-:n, ~=teddi.n.::;, TTictor Lawson ' s Dunbar Cri ti c al1~r Exa.,dne d, 7ir2:inia c1,_nn in;::;:.: a ri1 1 s Panl Lanrence Dun'!:.::ar and IT:i_s Son:::; , and Jenn Gould 1 s T1-"}a t Dnn:Jar Bo:r: Ameri c a ' s Fa1:1ous i;ecro Poet . The Stor:r of Ot'.~ers w'.· o 1.1ave written on Dunbar inc lt~de Houston Bs.'.:er, Dar~1.·.11 Turner, Benjamin r:a:rs, James Helclon ,Tobnnon , Hicl.: Aaron Ford a nd AdcJ_::rn n Ga:<"c.e, ,Tr . , v.11:o recently pub lished a Dunbar ' , :tograp'·:,:r. Junius IIordccai Allen ( l J?~-?), a. 1, out w', o.n ·we know ver:r l:tttle, is an :i.t;1portant f'iG'J.re in this tra;1si_t:to:"lal pl: ase of Black poetr:r . T°!"is pbasc , 1 1-r 11c:, w:i.t:1ess ed t 11e passinc; of the plantation tradition in poetr:- and t:!o wiltin=: of Wasblncton ' s influenc e on Blac k tb5-nkors and nct:i. v :tsts, co::ne :::i to a close about the middle of tho second decade of t he 20t ~ century . Allen , Dunbar , DnBois, Car.1p 11 oll and Corrotb ers are D.monc:; the many t rans i ti oni::-i ts . AlJ.en was 1.)orn i 11 lfont;::;or.ier:", Ala:"l ama , and moi.red witl1 l, is fa r.1i 2..:r to Topeka, TCa.nsa, years old . i 1en r. e was seven Ex c ept for n t 1lroe - ~rea.r period, dnri nc: w11i c;1 ;1e Hrote for• and trn'.·cl0d .-rit 1.., a t 1, entrical r;roup, 1.1e spe !.1 t most of bis life as n '. ~- oi2.erma!cer for w:,:i.c:.1 ll e l1 ad apprenti c ed. His onl:-r volume is m-1:rr:-~e:.::, Tales ancl. :Rh-:rrned TnJ.es 226 (Topeka, 1906). �!1ostly in dialect, ItJ:rmes co nt ai ns "c;reat felid.t:-- of c:.1a.rac- terization, surpris it1c turns of wit 11 ai:d "quai ;Tt. p'I-Jilosophy. 11 The book appeared t1"J e :renr of Dtrn~)ar' s deat 1"' and Kerlin places Allen on par witb Dunbar --some1,J1·: 2t of Allen is deep anc7. pr of ounC: ::i. n aD exaseration. Howe v er, , otb ,, 5 s standard. En.:;l ish pieces 1 (b e 1.ncludes two in tt:e 1· >00'.;:) a nd dialect. "Countlns Out II is a ratber l :tebt rccol'2.ccti_on of ch5.lc11-, ood :::;ames such as 11 Countins : curri nc; : 110 II gives clnes to tbe po:;c 1-olo,c).ca:, l::i.n _:;~1tsti c a :1d c;e stural development of ?~.e. c l: :,.oun.:;~tc::>s (ubic Allon also knows tho co nso qucn c c,s of 1 ' 11 is c h ar:i1incl:r suff:lcient). 0 ct tin c can 01, t II out at ni gb t or ln alien torrttor:,. amonc3 vi ciou s, 'ha te-~11on 6 eri ng and Aro ,~o·H trit'· co nse que n ces fra t' c;1°·t; 227 �5.s t 1-:0 f 5.rst to To win one stride from sh eer defeat; To die--but cain an inch. His pen remained silent afte1• his first book. And one wonders if .Johnson, like so many Black artists, renounced his artistic inclination ( in view of the ti mes) and simpl:~r c;ave up. His dialect poems ce.rry, on t h e surface, t h e spirit of the "dialect tradition." But Allen is a biting satirist of middle-class Blacks (Wagner attributes this to an "inferiority complex") and pokes fun at whites. who tries to "resist" in On, Mr. Suny, 11 Temptation over ... takes the preacher 11 The Devil and Sis Viney" but in "Shine and "The Squak of the Fiddle II show his close ob- servation of(and take-it-or-leave-it attitude toward) whites. His satire of the Black middle-class is reminiscent of the impatience suggested in statements by Whitman and anticipates the works, especially, of Frank Marshall Davis and Melvin Tolson. Allen is also important as e. stylistic innovator. In "A Victim of Microbes," he again casts aspersions on whites and spoofs stereotypes of Blacks as field workers and laborers. But he couches his narrative in an exciting new literary form which allows for an alternation between a loosely rhymed eight-lined stanzas and four-lined stanzas of blank verse in 228 �which repetition of the sort found in the blues of Spirituals occurs: I done hyeahed de doctor say it--de doctor hisse'f said it-- •••• Brown was right when he said Allen's work was "unpretentious 11 and contained "pleasant humor." For selections of Allen's poetry see Kerlin's work; see, for criticism, Brown and Wagner. Primarily important as a writer of prose, journalist and an inspiration to other writers, Alice Nelson-Dunbar (1875-1935) was born and received _her public education in New Orleans, Louisiana, and married Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1898. She did further study at Cornell and Columbia Universities and the University of Penn~ylvania. She authored volumes of prose (Violets and Other Tales, 1894; The Goodness of St. Tocque, 1890) and edited Masterpieces of Ne ero EloquenEe, 1913, and The Dunbar Speaker, 1920, in which appears some of her poetry. :Mrs. Dunbar-Nelson was noted :for her abilities as a journalist and lecturer; for a while she served as managing .edotor of The Advocate and she contributed to numerous magazines. Her poetry, as yet uncollected, bas little racial flavor; but she does protest World War I and her often-anthologized sonnet represents her technical abilities in that form. In "I Sit and Sew" she laments that, as a woman, she can do little else to hasten the end to war. "The Lights At Carney's Point" contains "fine symmetry, highly poetic diction and great allusive meaning." An easy-flowing poem in four-lined stanzas of iambic tetrameter meter, "Light" allows the poet (as with many romantic writers) • 229 �to stream associations from a central theme--the lights. But something is lost when the lights go "gray in tbe ash of day" And the sun laughed high in the infinite sky, And the lights were forgot in the sweet, sane calm. Studies of Mrs. Dunbar-Nelson's poetry are underway. collected poems have yet to be published. Her "The Sonnet" is printed in several anthologies and three of her poems. appear in Kerlin's book. Kerlin also advances brief criticism. A critical study of Mrs. Dunbar-Nelson is currently. Although Sterling Brown says that Joshua Henry Jones (1876-?) "gives little besides banal jingling " we mention him briefly as part of our effort to survey most of the poetic output of the period. ~or more listings of lesser-known poets see the end of the chapter. Jones was born in Orangesburg, South, Carolina, and, after completing high school, attended Ohio State University, Yale and Brown. He served on the editorial staffs of several newspapers, was secretary to th~ mayor of Boston for four years, and published two books of poems (The Heart of the World and Other Poems, Boston, . 1919, and Poems of the Four Seas, Boston, 1921) and a novel (By Sanction of_Law, Boston, 1924). Jones' poetry treats nature, nostalgia, race struggle ( as in ''Brothers u) and sentimental love ( "A Southern Love Song") themes which Kerlin has compared to Johnson's "Love Song." Though grim, 11 To A Skull," does show some origi- nality. 230 �Noted more for walking all the way from his home in the South to Harvard University, where he camped overnight and was arrested on a charge of vagrancy, Edward Smyth Jones (18?-?) published The Sylvan Cabi~ in 1911. nalled "pompously literary" by Brown who adds that his verses are less interesting than his "biography, tt Jones wrote "Harvard Square" wjile he was in jail. The poem brought him immediate attention and helped speed up his release. The poem is a hodge-podge of imitations of various European models used by Jones. He recites the names of Dante, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Burns, and so on down the line, in a bombast of stanzas. "A song of Thanks, sensitivity and deeper feeling. 11 however, shows more While it leaves a·. lot to be desired, one can certainly feel the power growing through the repetition (in several dozen lines) of "For the" sun, flowers, rippling streams, and other faces of nature. Alex Rogers (1876-1930) is one of the several dozen or so "minor" writers of dialect during this period. As we stated earlier, poets published pamphlets themselves, s .e cured places for their work in newspapers and macazines, and traveled on a regular reading circuit executin 0 their poems and ditties, o:rten to the accompaniment of bands or single musical instruments. This practice would continue up until this very day when many of the poets, if not heard live, loose their signi:ficance and dramatic flavor. Such was the case with Rogers who ''wrote lyrics for most of tbe songs in the musical comedies in which Williams and Walker appeared. 231 11 Rogers was born in �Nashville., Tennessee., educated in tbe schools of that city., and finally worked bis way north where be wrote some of the most popular songs of bis day; be ma.de a number of performers famous., including white entertainers looking for "Negro stuff." work is satire, humor and some slap-stick. some clue to bis intentions: His His titles give '~Thy Adam Sinned," 11 Tbe Rain Song" (a Flip Wilson-type conversation between "Bro. Wilson" and ''Bro. Simmons"), "Tbe Jonah Man, Drop." 11 and "Bon Bon Buddy, the Chocolate Rogers' significance, however, lies in his work in the _ theater and his ground- breaking e.fforts to cha.nee the popular (ministrel-inspired) image of Blacks. Dunbar had co-authored lyrics for Clorindy--Ori gin of the f!ake Walk (1 098 ) and In De.homey (1903). This was part of a groundswell that occured when, according to Loften Mitchell (Black Drama): In the latter part of the nineteenth century a group o.f Negro theatrical pioneers sat down and plotted the deliberate destruction of the minstrel pattern. These men were Sam T. Jack, Bert Williams, George Walker, Jesse Shipp, Alex Rogers, S.H. Dudley, Bob Cole, J. Rosamond Joh nson and John w. Isham. And in destroying the minstrel pattern, these men were to help pave the way for the million-dollar musical pattern which today dominates the American theatre. Mitchell's observation sheds great li gbt on the importance of many Black "poets" who, however dismally they may fa.re on paper, 232 �are of major importance to the aggreGate ritual and musical sense/life of on-going Black society. Today we see a similar pattern, with radical variations, of course--growing from the work of James Weldon Johnson and others--in Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, the poets who are writing for the ritual theater, and in the efforts of dramatists like Melvin Van Peebles (Ain't Supposed to Die A Natural,) Paul Carter Harrison (Tbe Great 1-IcDaddy ), Imamu Amiri Baraka (Slave Ship), the work of Barbara Teer, Clay Goss (Andrew and Home-Cookine), Eugene B. Redmond (The Face of the Deep, 9 Poets with the Blues, and The Night John Henry Was Born) and the experimental productions of Michael Gates (The Black 0offin, There's a Wiretap in My Sou~: or Quit Bum~ing Me and Will I Still Be Here Tomorrow). Th is pattern, practically perfected by Langston Hughes, can also be seen in outstanding performing-cultural centers conducted by Katherine Dunham in East St. Louis, Val G-ray Ward in Chicago, and at Alma Lewis's Center for Afro-American Cultural and Performing Arts in Boston. Sterling Brown lumps Rogers in a class with other "minor writers of dialect" and includes Sterling Means (The Deserted Cabin and Other Poems), S. Tutt 'Whitney, Waverly Turner Carmichael, and just about anybody else who wrote dialect at the time. Means also wrote in conventional English forms. For evaluations of Rogers and other similar writers see Mitchell's Black Drama, Johnson's American Negro Poetry ~nd Black Manhattans) and Brown. 233 �As part of a stream of Black "immigrants" that has not been abated to this very day, George Rec;inald Margetson (1877-?), was born in St. Kitts (British West Indies) and came to the United States when he was 20-years-old. Mare;etson, e. wholly original poet, got a good solid grounding in literature in his childhood and produced f'our volumes of' poetry: England in the West Indies (1906), Ethiopia.ts -Plt ght (1907), ~ongs of Life (1910) and Th e Flcd cling Bard and_tbc Poetry _Society (1916). His acbievement can he seen in the last hook which consists of one 100-page poem. A s~tire, owing debt to Byron and other English inf'luences, the poem represents one of the most important technical undertakinc; by a Black poet since 1foitma.n's Rape of Florida. Marcetson uses mostly seveh-lined stanzas of five-f'oot meter with the seventh line lengthening to an Alexandrina. His rhyme scheme is ab ab . b cc and he exhibits a wacky, uproarous use of both rhyme and humor. The basic stanzaic pattern is interspersed with shifting meters and schemes which appear as four-lined stanzas in an ab ab movement or an a a ab context. The poem begins in a search for the Poetry Society (reminiscent of several European poets) and Margetson essays an old theme: that of poetry being mechan- ical and your success depending on school or dress as opposed to bow talented. During this nquest" Margetson "digresses" to discuss and explore practically every major current theme in society: social conditions, World War I, politics, religion, literature, the Black problem, and he even pokes fun at President �Woodrow lJ'ilson: Come, Woody, quit your honeymooning! In this important poem, Hargetson is scathing , sustained and brilliant. He views the ma.ny currents runnine; through the Black community and satirically sums up all the conf'usion: Some look to Booker vlashincton to lead them, Some yell for Trotter, some for Kelly Miller, Some want DuBois with fat ideas to feed them, Some want Jack Johnson, the bic white hope killer. Perhaps some want carranza, some want villa, I guess they want social equality, To marry and to mix in white society. Other, later, satirists whom Margetson's work calls to mind are Tolson (and his incomparable Harlem Gallery ), Frank Marshall Davis, Dudley Randall, George S. Schuyler (Black Ho Mor~), William Melvin Kelley and Ishmael Reed. In bis other poetry, Margetson is strone and competent--he reflects bis immense reading background, 11 Spenser to Byron"--but none of his earlier work matches up to Fledgeling Bar~. For samples and criticism of Margetson's writing see Johnson and Kerlin. Sterling Brown also makes a brief critical observation. In many ways the poetry of William Stanley Braithwaite (1878-1962) has suffered the fate of that by Phillis Wheatley, Dunbar and others somehow deemed "not Black enough" for inclusion in some Afro-American poetic-cultural circles. 235 The Frenchman �Jean Wagner said that a study of Braithwaite does not belong among those of other '1Bla.ck poets." A mulatto, Braithwaite was born in Boston to West Indian parents and was mainly self-educated. He is considered a major influence on "the new poetry revival" in America and counted among his friends such white literary figures as Vachel Lindsay, Carl Sandburg, Edgar Lee Masters, Arrry T,owell and Edwin Arline:ton Robinson. His career as a poet began with the 1904 publication of Lyrics of Life and Love and his second volume (House of the Falling Leaves) was published in 1908. His Selected Poems was published in 1948 by Coward-Mccann, Inc. Best known for his Anthologies of Magazine Verse, published from 1913 until 1929, Braithwaite was for many years a literary critic with the Boston Transcript. His other anthologies include The Book of Elizabethan Verse_ (19061 Tl]e Book of Georgian Verse_ (1908) and The Book of Restoration Verse (1909). For 11is efforts Braithwaite received the NAACP's coveted Springarn medal in 1918 for high achievement by an Afro-American. The same year he received honorary degrees from two Black universities and later became professor of creative literature at Atlanta University, a position he held until he retired in 1945. Graithwaite's poetry, Sterling Brown said: The result is the usual one: the lines are graceful; at their best, exquisite, and not at their best, secondhand; but the substance is thin. Even the fugitive poetry of some 236 Of �of Braithwaite's masters had ereater human sympathies. Brown is implying, of course, that some of the white "models" that Braithwaite used could "get down" (to use a current phrase) even if the Black poet could not. Brown is essentially correct; I have tested the t h esis in classrooms and t he best students appear dumbfounded upon confronting Braithwaite after leaving other Black poets. And Braithwaite's problem is not · the same sort of "problem" presented by a, say, Tolson--wh ose work is dif.ficult and complex but not unweildy on repeated readings {plus Tolson's work is essentially Black-based). Braithwaite seems to be reach ing for a h i gher science in h is words; but he does not chart bis path so we can follow. Brown said bis writing resembled npoetry of the twilight"--just as you think you have his meaning , it slips away. This is especially true of poems like "Turn Me to My Yellow Leaves" (about a death-wish?), nnel Cascar," "Ironic: LL.D" (about the waste-land, c.f., T.S. Eliot, and history?), "Scintilla," and "Sic Vita. t' "Rhapsody" is one of Braithwaite's most attainable poems, but the message is nebulous. He expresses thanks to t he supreme being for "the gift of song " and is replenished in the knowled ge that "world-end things" that dangle on the "edge of tomorrow" can be obliterated by dreams. In his critical introduction to Braithwaite, Johnson (American Negro Poetry) apologizes for the poet's lack of sensitivity to either mistreatment of Blacks and explains his 237 �failure to dip into the Black folk-base: This has not been a matter of intention on bis part; it is simply that race bas not impinged upon him as it has upon other Negro poets. In fact, his work is so detached from race that for many years he had been a figure in the American literary world before it was known generally that he is a man of color. Certainly Johnson meant no harm in usine the word "color" but it tempts one to punning. Braithwaite, as Brown and others have noted, rejected having his work indiscriminately called "Negro" poetry. This issue continues to raise its head with, first, Cullen and, later, Hayden {including many other lesser-known poets in between). And there are other poets of the 20th century who have written {or write) Braithwaite's type of poetry. Some, of course, are experimenting and searching for new forms. See for example some of the work of Cullen, Hayden, Randall {Hore to Remember) Russell Atkins, Bob Kaufman, Tolson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Michael S. Harper {especially History as Apple Tree), and others. The debate over how much of {or when) a poet•s work is or should be nracial" is a continuing one and is not likely-given the diversity of the poets--to be settled in the very near future. For example, with the exception of Claude McKay, no other poet has as many {or more) poems as Braithwaite in Johnson's 1922 (1931) anthology. Whether Johnson did this out of debt or respect is not knowu. Braithwaite, we know, had praised Johnson 238 �(Fti'ty Yee.rs) :for bring ing "th e first intellectual substance to the content" of A.fro-American poetry . But J'. Saunders Redding called Braithwaite "the most outstanding example o:f perverted ener~J 11 t h at was produced in a. 14-y ea.r period of Black poetry. At ~tlanta University , Braithwaite rubbed shoulders with DuBois, Mercer Cook, Rayford Logan and others, which apparently helped h i m doff some of h is Bostonian snobbishness. His poetry in e eneral reflects t he influe nce o:f Keats arrl the pre-romantic British poets. He loves to speak of dreams, trances, impendi ng doom, silence and t h e prospect of touching other worlds. For selections of his wor k see most anth ologies of Afro-American literature. Brown, Redding and Brawley. He is critically assessed by Oth er evaluations a.re primarily concerned with Braithwaite's work as anth ologist and critic. Barksdale and Kinnamon give a good overall assessment of the man. Braithwaite did include some Blad{ poets in h is magazine anthologies and he stands a.tan important t hreshh old of the A.fro-American entry into t he era of modern poetry . · Records show t hat literally hundred s of poets, insp! fed by the brilliant example of Dunbar and company , took part of this exciting pre-Renaissance of Blac k American cul ture and arts. For more on t h ese poets, stude nts s h ould eo to such publications as The Century , t h e Inde pendent, The Ch ica ~o Defender, and the numerous other art-and-poetry -conscious publications of th e day . Yet it is i n some wa:rs appropriate t h at we approach our cl os e to th is ch o. pter wi t h Lucien B. Watkins 239 �(1 D79-1921), first teach er a rx:1 t ~'.' en soldter, t-.rb o was ce.11.ed 11 t h e poet laureate of t 1~e New He s ro. 11 \.f 2-t ki ns pubJ. isb ed one volume of poetry in 190 7 (Voj_c es of 3o-:1.J- tucle_) hi s seco nd hook (l·n 1isperi nc; Winds , n . d . ) was bronglJt out b y frie nds sb ortly after bis untime ly death . Watkins i s ch iefly noted for his mili tanc:,r of ton0 as typified in h is sonnet "Th e Hew Ne,sro 11 which opens wi t l1 tbe words He t h inks in black and goes on to describe a God with Africa n features. Watkins also wrote bis own eulo z:r a fet-1 weeks before he died. In the hymn-inspired form he is grippingly aware of his approaching death as shown in these lines: :rv:ry summer bloomed for winter's frost: Alas, I've lived a nd loved and lost! nA Hes sage to t h e Moder n Pha.roe.hs" is inspired (introduced) by a passage from Joh n 11.44 in t h e Dible. The interations "Loose him!" and nLet him go!' frame each of the six four-lined stanzas. Taking the militant stand chnracteristic of bis work, Watkins tells the Pharoahs to let the Black man go b ecause he 11 bas bis part tc;, play" In Life's Great Drama, day by day,-adding that freeing the A.f'ro-American will "be the saving" of whites' nsoul. 11 In many ways a precurser of the Harlem Renaissance, Watkins conducted experiments in verse ("A Prayer of the Race that God Hade Black") and expressed pride in bis African heritage ("Star of Ethiopia"). He was born in Chesterfield, Virginia, �educated at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute, and was active as a teacher before he served overseas in World War I which "wrecked his health." Perhaps Watkins' feelings are best expressed in these lines (reminiscent of Margetsonts: "The white man's heaven is the black me.n's hell.!!): God! save us in Thy Heaven, where all is ·well! We come slow-struggling up the Hills of . Hell! For additional comment on Watkins see Brawley' s Negro Genius, Kerlin's study (which includes more selections) and Johnson's American Negro Poetry (selections also). During t h is ver~r i mportant perio d of transition, across all levels of Black America, there were other poets writing. We ought to site T. Thomas Fortune (1856-1928 ) wrote journalism and important political studies of Blacks. And although Brawley calls him one of "the most intelligent and versatile Ne groes of the era," bis collection of poems, Dreams of Life: Mis- cellaneous Poems (1905), shows no marked distinction in that category (though he implies a desire to return to Africa in "The Clime of My Birth 11 ) . A preacher-poet, Geor ge C. Rowe (1853-1903), published Thoughts in Verse (1887) and Our Heroes (1890). The first book contains sermons in verse and the second is aimed at "the elevation of the race." Rowe, a pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church of Charleston, South Carolina, also published "A Noble Life, 11 a poem in memory of Joseph C. Price, first president of Livingston College. Known for her �now famous Journal, Charlotte L. Forten Grimki (1 837-1914) is considered to have npossessed sensitivity and creative skills beyond the ordinary" in t h e few poems s h e wrote. Uncollected, they are scattered throughout her notes and various periodicals published between the 1850's and the turn of t h e century. Islay Walden (1847?-1884) published Miscellaneous Poems in Washington, D.C., in 1873. There is an immaturity in Walden's style, owing, according to Jahn, to the fact t hat h is enrollment at Howard University 11 de~troyed his natural talent." Th e Nation's Loss: A Poem on the Life and Death of the Hon. Abra.ham Lincoln, by Jacob Rhodes (1 835?-?), was published in 1866. Summer, John Willis Menard (1 838-1893), the In Lays of first ✓elected Black congressmen in the United States, makes women his central theme--calling t h em by name as h e praises their "hairrr and "lips." For racial reasons, h e was denied his "earned" term in the House of Representatives. Ja mes Ephriam McGist (1874-1930) brought out Avengine; the Haine (Ralei gh , North Carolina, 1899), Some Simple Songs and A Few More Ambitious Attempts (Philadelphia, 1901 ) and For YOt::r 3-weot 8a1:e (Pl 1 ilnc1clp1 , ia, 1?06). Charles Douglas Clem publ ished Rhyme s of n Rhymster (Edmond; Oklah oma, •\ »• l A. :- . _f: ' .:~ ::. "::1 :.-:-, - - - -- - • �reflected the t h ouc;hts of William J. Candyne. Prose was in- cluded b~r Frank Barbour Coffin (1870?-1951) in Coffin's Poems with Ajax' Ordeals (Little Rock, 1892). James Thomas Franklin published one volume of poetry (Jasamine Poems, Memphis, 1900) and one of prose and poetry (Mid-Day Geanings, A Book for Home and Holiday Reading (Memph is, 1 893). not ext a nt . Je_~samine apparently is Poems of To-Day or Some Fror.i t h e Everglades ( Quinc:r, F lor i c1a , 1 ~')3 ) ua:::: pt1.', 1ts11ec. ·--:• Cupid Al eyns 1-.r .,i tfield. Joshua Mccarter Simpson (1 820?-1 876) released The Emancipation Car (Zanesville, Ohio,) in 1 874. Simpson included a prose satire called "A Consistent Slaveh older's Sermon." The Open Door (1895) was published in Winfield, Kansas, by F.S. Alwell. Aaron Belf'ord Thompson {1883-1929) was a member of a family that consisted of a trio of poets. Thompson and his sisters, Pricilla and Clara, brought out seven volumes of poetry between 1899 and 1926--the middle of the Harlem Renaissance. Priscilla Thompson published Ethiope Lays (1900) and Gleanings of Q.uiet Hours (1907). Clara Thompson released ~one;s from t h e Way side (190 8 ) ahd A Garland of Poems (Boston, 1926). Aaro n Thompson publish ed Morning Son~s {1899), Echoes of Spring (1901)--both dictated to his sisters and brother--and Harvest of Though ts (1907). F.choes, in its second edition of 1907, bore a h andwritten complementary introduction by James Wh itcomb Riley . Th eir subjects are the conventional ones of t he 19th century . Charles Henry Shoeman published A Dream and Other Poems in An Arbor in 1 899. Magnolia Leave s was publish ed by Mary Weston Fordh a m in Charleston, �South Carolina, in 1897. Straddling similar fields of expression, as did Alex Rogers, James Weldon Johnson, Nathaniel Dett and others, George Hannibal Temple (a musician) brought out The Epic of Columbus' Bell and Other Poems in 1900. Benjamin Wheeler :followed him in 1907 with Culling from 7.ion's Poets {Mobile, Alabama). Several dozen other Afro-Americans wrote poetry during the later part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Among them were Robert Benjamin (Poetic Gems, 1883), Lorenzo Dow Blackson, Walter Henderson Brooks, John Edward Bruce, Alexander numan Delaney, Josephine Delphine Heard, Joseph Cephas Holly, A.J. Jackson (A Vision of Life, 1869), Henry Allen Laine (Footprints), Mary Eliza Lambert, Lewis Howard Latimer, Grace Mapps, Journalist William I-I.A. Moore, Gertrude Mossell, James Robert Walker (Poetical Diets). Other occasional poets who were ·q uite popular among their contemporaries included Solomon G. B11own, William Wells Brown, Katie n. Chapman, W.H. Crogman, Frederick Douglass, Leland I1. Fisher, Nathaniel Dett, and Virgie Whitsett. Some notable turn-of-the-century poets, a :few of which will be heard from later were, Benjamin Brawley (critic and social historian), Charles Roundtree Dinkins, David Bryant Fulton, Gilmore F. Grant, N.N. Rayson, Elliott Blaine Henderson, H.T. Johnson, Jefferson King, J.W. Palsey, Otis M. Shackelford, Walter E. Todd, Richard E.S. Toomey, Irvine W. Underhill, Julius C. Wright and others. 'F'or more on these poets, including delightful pictures of some, see �Brawley's The Negro Genius (and otber works), Sherman's Invisible Poets and Kerlin's Ne gro Poets and Their Poems. Kelly Miller's Race Adjustment appeared in 1909 as a partial answer to sori1e of the evils and ills plaguing Blacks. But against the balocaustal "panorama of vio1ence n a nd 'bloodsljed, the title of Hiller's book seemed a.l r.i.ost h ollow. was born in 1909 and a year later DuBois WRS The N"AACP put at the belm of its publicity de~ artme nt and made ed itor of Crisis. Echoes :rrom t he 1906 Atlante. riots, in whi cb JO Bla.c ks were ''butchered", could still be heard r evorberati n: in speech es and fear-seized Black h eRrts. (For more on t h is senseless and sadistic murder of Blacks see John Hope Franklin's !ro~ Slaver~ to Freedom and Ralph Ginzherg' s 100 Years of L~rnchin3: . ) On t h e lecture-circuit rampage, DuBois hentedl:r criticized President Theodore Roosevelt who had declared t h at 11 Ha.pe is t h e sreatest cause of lynching. The nation was tryine; to turn back the clock, as evidenced by the nostalgic minstrelsy, a nd was conductinc a good "sabotage" or the Reconstruct1.on. And Blacks were feverously mobilizing to keep from beinc sold "back into n new form of slavery." 245 11 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. 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