A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance
Anthology
Edited by
VENETRIA K. PATTON
and
MAUREEN HONEY
Rutgers University Press
New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London
List of Illustrations and Song Lyrics
Acknowledgments
Introduction
A Note on the Text
Chronology
xv
xv/7
xix
xli
xliii
Alain Locke
The New Negro
A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen
The New Negro—What Is He?
_
3
7
William Stanley Braithwaite
The Negro in American Literature
10
Ruth Whitehead Whaley
Closed Doors: A Study in Segregation
17
James Weldon Johnson
Harlem: The Culture Capital
21
Brenda Ray Moryck
A Point of View: An Opportunity Dinner Reaction
28
George S. Schuyler
The Negro-Art Hokum
36
vn
viii
Contents
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
40
Amy Jacques Garvey
On Langston Hughes: I Am a Negro—and Beautiful
45
WE.B. Du Bois
Criteria of Negro Art
47
Richard Wright
Blueprint for Negro Writing
52
Zora Neale Hurston
Characteristics of Negro Expression
61
Jessie Redmon Fauset
Impressions of the Second Pan-African Congress
75
Marcus Garvey
Africa for the Africans
83
W. A. Domingo
Gift of the Black Tropics
90
Rudolph Fisher
The Caucasian Storms Harlem
96
Elise Johnson McDougald
The Task of Negro Womanhood
103
Marita O. Bonner
On Being Young—a Woman—and Colored
109
Alice Dunbar-Nelson
Woman's Most Serious Problem
113
Marion Vera Cuthbert
Problems Facing Negro Young Women
116
Alain Locke
The Legacy of the Ancestral Arts
121
Joel A. Rogers
Jazz at Home
127
Gwendolyn B. Bennett
The American Negro Paints
134
Contents
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
POEMS
The Creation
Mother Night
The White Witch
My City
139
140
142
142
144
Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935)
POEMS
STORY
Violets
You! Inez!
I Sit and Sew
The Proletariat Speaks
His Great Career
145
147
147
148
148
150
Georgia Douglas Johnson (1877-1966)
POEMS
STORY
PLAY
The Heart of a Woman
Motherhood
The Octoroon
Escape
The Black Runner
Wishes
I Want to Die While You Love Me
Tramp Love
Plumes: A Folk Tragedy
152
153
154
154
155
156
156
158
159
163
Angelina Weld Grimke (1880-1958)
POEMS
STORY
PLAY
El Beso
The Black Finger
The Want of You
Dusk
A Mona Lisa
Tenebris
Goldie
Rachel
170
171
172
172
172
173
174
174
189
Anne Spencer (1882-1975)
POEMS
White Things
Lady, Lady
Letter to My Sister
Grapes: Still-Life
Black Man o' Mine
ix
227
228
229
229
230
231
Contents
Jessie Redmon Fauset (1882-1961)
POEMS
STORY
232
Oriflamme
Here's April!
Words! Words!
Touche
La Vie C'Est la Vie
Mary Elizabeth
234
234
235
235
236
237
Ejfjfie Lee Newsome (ak a Mary Ejjie Lee) (1885-1979)
POEMS
243
The Bronze Legacy (To a Brown Boy)
Exodus
The Bird in the Cage
The Quilt
243
244
244
245
John F. Matheus (1887-1983)
246
POEMS
Requiem
In Haiti Is Riot of Color—
247
247
STORY
Fog
248
PLAY
'Cruiter
257
Fenton Johnson (1888-1958)
POEMS
The Banjo Player
The Scarlet Woman
Tired
Claude McKay (1889-1948)
POEMS
STORY
268
The Harlem Dancer
If We Must Die
Africa
America
Baptism
Harlem Shadows
To O.E.A.
Like a Strong Tree
The Tropics in New York
Mattie and Her Sweetman
268
270
270
"
271
272
273
273
275
275
276
276
277
277
278
Willis Richardson (1889-1977)
PLAYS
The Chip Woman's Fortune
The Flight of the Natives
286
287
303
Contents
Anita Scott Coleman (1890-1960)
POEMS -
STORY
Wash Day
Definition
Black Baby
Black Faces
Negro Laughter
Two Old Women A-Shopping Go!
A Story of Man, Marriage and Poverty
314
314
314
316
316
317
317
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
POEM
STORIES
PLAY
Passion
Spunk
Sweat
Color Struck
322
324
325
329
338
Nella Larsen (1891-1964)
STORY
Sanctuary
352
353
Eulalie Spence (1894-1981)
PLAY
Undertow
358
360
Jean Toomer (1894-1967)
POEMS
STORY
Song of the Son
Georgia Dusk
Portrait in Georgia
Blood-Burning Moon
371
372
373
374
375
Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr. (1895-1919)
POEMS
PLAY
And What Shall You Say?
Is It Because I Am Black?
Sonnet to Negro Soldiers
Rain Music
On the Fields of France
381
381
382
382
383
384
Rudolph Fisher (1897-1934)
STORIES
The City of Refuge
Miss Cynthie
386
388
400
Eric Walrond (1898-1966)
STORY
The Voodoo's Revenge
xi
410
411
xii
Contents
May Miller (1899-1995)
PLAY
- Riding the Coat
419
421
Marita O. Bonner (1899-1971)
STORY
PLAY
O n e Boy's S t o r y
The Pot Maker
434
434
444
Sterling A. Brown (1901-1989)
POEMS
Ma Rainey
Sam Smiley
Southern Road
Strong Men
450
451
453
454
456
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
POEMS
STORY
PLAY
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Danse Africaine
Jazzonia
Song to a Negro Wash-Woman
Dream Variation
Desire
Poem [2]
The Weary Blues
To Midnight Nan at Leroy's
Lullaby
Listen Here Blues
Bound No'th Blues
Song for a Dark Girl
The Blues I'm Playing
Mulatto: A Tragedy of the Deep South
458
460
460
461
461
462
463
463
464
465
466
466
468
469
469
476
Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902-1981)
POEMS
STORIES
Heritage
To a Dark Girl
Hatred
Advice
Fantasy
Wedding Day
Tokens
506
508
508
509
509
510
511
516
Wallace Thurman (1902-1934)
POEMS
The Last Citadel
God's Edict
520
521
521
Contents
STORIES
523
526
Cordelia the Crude
Emma Lou
Arna Bontemps (1902-1973)
POEMS
STORY
POEMS
538
539
Golgotha Is a Mountain
Length of Moon
Nocturne at Bethesda
541
541
A Black Man Talks of Reaping
God Give to Men
The Return
A Summer Tragedy
544
544
545
546
Countee Cullen (1903-1946)
u
554
555
558
558
559
559
561
562
562
Heritage
Sacrament
Tableau
Yet Do I Marvel
From the Dark Tower
Colored Blues Singer
To Certain Critics
Little Sonnet to Little Friends
Gladys May Casely Hayjord (aka Aquah Laluah) (1904-1950)
POEMS
Rainy Season Love Song
564
The Serving Girl
Lullaby
The Palm Wine Seller
564
565
565
-
(William) Waring Cuney (1906-1976)
POEMS
No Images
568
Dust
The Radical
568
569
PLAY
Shadow
Sahdji
Smoke, Lilies, and Jade!
Sahdji, an African Ballet
570
571
573
574
583
Dorothy West (1907-1998)
STORIES
563
567
Richard Bruce Nugent (aka Richard Bruce) (1906-1987)
POEM
STORIES
xiii
590
The Typewriter
591
The Black Dress
597
xiv
Contents
Helene Johnson (1907-1995)
599
POEMS - My Race
Magalu
The Road
Mother
Bottled
Poem
Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem
601
601
602
602
602
604
605
Mae V. Cowdery (1909-1953)
POEMS
606
Dusk
Heritage
Insatiate
Poem . . . for a Lover
Bibliography
Credits
Index of Writers and Artists
607
608
608
609
611
615
617