benjamin griffith brawley--the negro in literature and art in the united states (1918)

8/3/2019 Benjamin Griffith Brawley--The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States (1918)

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M

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Book

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT


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THE NEGRO INLITERATURE AND ART


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PHILLIS WHEATLEY


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The Negroin Literature and Art

in the United States

BYBENJAMIN BRAWLEY

Author of "A Short Uistory of the American Negro," "History ofMorehouse College," and "Richard Le Qallienne:

A Study of His Poetry "

NEW YORKDUFFIELD & COMPANY1918


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Copyright, 1918, byDnFPiELD & Co, /

rl^/ -^

^AR -8 1918


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v9!

TO MY FATHEREDWARD MacKNIGHT BRAWLEYWITH THANKS FOR SEVERE TEACHING

AND STIMULATING CRITICISM


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,


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CONTENTSCHAP. PAOBPreface xiI. The Negro Genius 3II. PniLLis Wheatley 10III. Paul Laurence Dunbar 33IV. Charles W. Chesnutt 45V. W. E. BURGHARDT Du Bois 50VI. William Stanley Braithwaite 56VII. Other Writers 65VIII. Orators.Douglass and Washington ... 83IX. The Stage 97X. Painters.Henry O. Tanner 103XI. Sculptors.Meta Warrick Fuller . . . 112XII. Music 125

Appendix:1. The Neqro l\ American Fiction 1452. Study of Bibuoqkaphy 160


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ILLUSTRATIONSPhillis Wheatlet FrontispiecePaul Laurence Dunbar Facing p. 34Charles W. Chesnutt . . .W. E. BURGHARDT Du BoiS . .William Stanley BraitowaiteHenry O. Tanner ....Meta Warrick Fuller . .Harry T. Burleigh . . . ".

465056104112130


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PREFACEThe present volume undertakes to treat

somewhat more thoroughly than has ever be-fore been attempted the achievement of theNegro in the United States along Uterary andartistic lines, judging this by absolute ratherthan by partial or limited standards. The workis the result of studies in which I first becameinterested nearly ten years ago. In 1910 abooklet, ''The Negro in Literature and Art,"appeared in Atlanta, privately printed. Thelittle work contained only sixty pages. Thereception accorded it, however, was even morecordial than I had hoped it might be, and thelimited edition was soon exhausted. Its sub-stance, in condensed form, was used in 1913as the last chapter of ''A Short History of theAmerican Negro," brought out by the Mac-millan Co. In the mean time, however, newbooks and magazine articles were constantlyappearing, and my o^\^l judgment on more than


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Prefaceone point had changed; so that the time hasseemed ripe for a more intensive review of thewliole field. To teachers who may be usingthe history as a text I hardly need to saythat I should be pleased to have the presentwork supersede anything said in the last chap-ter of that volume.The first chapter, and those on Mr. Braith-

waitc and IVIrs. Fuller, originally appeared inthe Southern Workman. That on the Stagewas a contribution to the Springfield Repub-lican; and the supplementary chapter is fromthe Dial. All are here reprinted with the kindconsent of the owners of those periodicals.Much of the quoted matter is covered by copy-right . Thanks are especially due to Mr. Braith-waitc and Mr. J. W. Johnson for permissionto use some of their poems, and to Dodd,Mead k Co., the publishers of the works ofDunbar. The bibhography is quite new. Itis hoped that it may prove of service.

Benjamin Bkawley.North Cambridge, August, 1917.


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THE NEGRO GENIUS

IN his lecture on ''The Poetic Principle," inleading down to his definition of poetry,Edgar Allan Poe has called attention to thethree faculties, intellect, feeling, and will, andshown that poetry, that the whole realm ofaesthetics in fact, is concerned primarily andsolely with the second of these. Does it satisfya sense of heautyf This is his sole test of apoem or of any work of art, the aim beingneither to appeal to the intellect by satisfyingthe reason or inculcating truth, nor to appealto the will by satisfying the moral sense orinculcating duty.The standard has often been criticised as

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A The Negro in Literature and Artnarrow; yet it embodies a large and funda-mental clement of truth. If in

connection withit we study the Negro we shall find that twothin^^s are observable. One is that any dis-tinction so far won by a member of the race inAmerica has been almost always in some oneof the arts; and the other is that any influencewj far exerted by the Negro on American civ-ilization has been primarily in the field ofaesthetics. To prove the point we may referto a long line of beautiful singers, to the fervidoratory of Douglass, to the sensuous poetry ofDunbar, to the picturesque style of DuBois,to the mysticism of the paintings of Tanner,and to the elemental sculpture of Meta War-rick Fuller. E\en Booker Washington, mostI)ractical of Americans, proves the point, thedistinguishing finalities of his speeches beinganecdote and brilliant concrete illustration.

Everyone must have observed a strikingcharacteristic of the homes of Negroes of thejK'asant class in tlie South. The instinct forbenuty insists upon an outlet, and if one canfind no better picture he will paste a circusposter or a flaring advertisement on the walls.Very few liomes have not at least a geranium


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The Negro Genius 5on the windowsill or a rosebush in the garden.If also we look at the matter conversely weshall find that those things which are mostpicturesque make to the Negro the readiestappeal. Red is his favorite color simply be-cause it is the most pronounced of all colors.Goethe's ''Faust" can hardly be said to be aplay primarily designed for the galleries. Onenever sees it fail, however, that in any Southerncity this play will fill the gallery with the so-called lower class of Negro people, who wouldnever think of going to another play of itsclass, but different; and the applause neverleaves one in doubt as to the reasons forGoethe's popularity. It is the suggestivenessof the love scenes, the red costume of Mephis-topheles, the electrical effects, and the rain offire that give the thrill desiredall pure melo-drama of course. ''Faust" is a good show aswell as a good play.

In some of our communities Negroes arefrequently known to "get happy" in church.Now a sermon on the rule of faith or the planof salvation is never known to awaken suchecstasy. This rather accompanies a vivid por-trayal of the beauties of heaven, with the


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6 The Negro in Literature and Artwalls of ja.sper, the angels with palms in theirhands, and {aitmmum honum!) the feast of milkand honey. And just here is the dilemma sooften faced by the occupants of pulpits inNogro churches. Do the people want scholarlytraining? Very often the cultured preacherwill be inclined to answer in the negative. DotlicN- want rant and shouting? Such a standardfails at once to satisfy the ever-increasing in-telligence of the audience itself. The troubleis that the educated minister too often leavesout of account the basic psychology of hisaudience. That preacher who will ultimatelybe the most successful with a Negro congre-gation will be the one who to scholarshipand culture can best join brilliant imaginationand fervid rhetorical expression. When all ofthese qualities are brought together in theirfinest proportion the effect is irresistible.Crithering up the threads of our discussion8(> far, we find that there is constant strivingon the part of the Negro for beautiful or strik-ing effect, that those things which are mostpicturesciue make the readiest appeal to hisnature, and that in the sphere of religion hereceives with most appreciation those dis-


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The Negro Genius 7courses which are most imaginative in quaUty.In short, so far as the last point is concerned,it is not too much to assert that the Negrois thrilled not so much by the moral as by theartistic and pictorial elements in religion.But there is something deeper than the sen-

suousness of beauty that makes for the possi-bihties of the Negro in the realm of the arts,and that is the soul of the race. The wail ofthe old melodies and the plaintive quality thatis ever present in the Negro voice are but thereflection of a background of tragedy. Norace can rise to the greatest heights of artuntil it has yearned and suffered. The Rus-sians are a case in point. Such has been theirbackground in oppression and striving thattheir literature and art are to-day marked byan unmistakable note of power. The samefuture beckons to the American Negro. Thereis something very elemental about the heartof the race, something that finds its origin inthe African forest, in the sighing of the night-wind, and in the falling of the stars. There issomething grim and stern about it all, too,something that speaks of the lash, of the childtorn from its mother's bosom, of the dead body


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S The Negro in Literature and ArtTiiUUvd witli hullets and swinging all nightfrom a linil) by the roadside.So far we have elaborated a theory. Letus not be misunderstood. We do not mean tosiiy tluit the Negro can not rise to great dis-tinct ion in any sphere other than the arts.Hi' hiu^ already made a noteworthy beginningin pure scholarship and invention; especiallyhave some of the younger men done brilliantwork in science. We do mean to say, however,tluit every race has its peculiar genius, and that,so far as we can at present judge, the Negro, withall his manual labor, is destined to reach hisprat est heights in the field of the artistic.But the impulse needs to be watched. Roman-ticism very soon becomes unhealthy. TheNegro has great gifts of voice and ear andsoul; but so far much of his talent has notsoared above the stage of vaudeville. This isdue most largely of course to economic in-stal)ility. It is the call of patriotism, how-ever, that America should realize that theNegro has peculiar gifts which need all possiblecultivation and which will some day add tothe glory of the country. Already his musicw recognized as the most distinctive that the


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The Negro Genius 9United States has yet produced. The possi-bilities of the race in Hterature and oratory, insculpture and painting, are illimitable.

Along some such lines as those just indi-cated it will be the aim of the following pagesto study the achievement of the Negro in theUnited States of America. First we shallconsider in order five representative writerswho have been most constantly guided bystandards of literary excellence. We shall thenpass on to others whose literary work has beennoteworthy, and to those who have risen abovethe crowd in oratory, painting, sculpture, ormusic. We shall constantly have to rememberthat those here remarked are only a few ofthe many who have longed and striven forartistic excellence. Some have pressed on tothe goal of their ambition; but no one can givethe number of those who, under hard conditions,have yearned and died in silence.


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II

PHILLIS WHEATLEY

ON one of the slave ships that came tothe harbor of Boston in the year 1761was a little Negro gu-l of very delicate figure.The vessel on which she arrived came fromSenegal. With her dirty face and unkemptliair ^


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\^Phillis Wheatley 11

young slave became known to the world itwas customary for her to use also the nameof the family to which she belonged. Shealways spelled her Christian name P-h-i-1-l-i-s.

Phillis Wheatley was born very probably in1753. The poem on Whitefield published in1770 said on the title-page th.at she was seven-teen years old. When she came to Boston shewas shedding her front teeth. Her memory ofher childhood in Africa was always vague.She knew only that her mother -poured outwater before the rising sun. This was probablya rite of heathen worship.Mrs. Wheatley was a woman of unusual re-

finement. Her home was well known to thepeople of fashion and culture in Boston, andKing Street in which she lived was then asnoted for its residences as it is now, under thename of State Street, famous for its commercialand banking houses. When Phillis enteredthe Wheatley home the family consisted offour persons, Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley, theirson Nathaniel, and their daughter Mary.Nathaniel and Mary were twins, born May 4,1743. Mrs. Wheatley was also the mother ofthree other children, Sarah, John, and Susan-


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If The Negro in Literature and Artiiah; but all of these died in early youth.

Mary ^^^leatley, accordingly, wasthe only

dauglitiT of the family that Phillis knew toany extent, and she was eighteen years oldwhen her mother brought the child to the house,that is, just a little more than ten years oldertlian Phillis.

In her new home the girl showed signs ofremarkable talent. Her childish desire fori'\'])rcssion found an outlet in the figures whichshe drew with charcoal or chalk on the wallsof the house. Mrs. Wlieatley and her daughterbecame so interested in the ease with whichshe a.ssimilated knowledge that they began toteach her. Within sixteen months from thetime of her arrival in Boston Phillis was ablel road fluently the most difficult parts of theHibie. From the first her mistress strove tocultivate in every possible way her naturallyl)i()us disposition, and diligently gave her in-stmet ion in the Scriptures and in morals.In course of time, thanks especially to theteaching of Mary Wheatley, the learning ofthe young student came to consist of a littleastronf)my, some ancient and modern geog-raphy, a little ancient history, a fair knowledge


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Phillis Wheatley ISof the Bible, and a thoroughly appreciativeacquaintance with the most important Latinclassics, especially the works of Virgil andOvid. She was proud of the fact that Terencewas at least of African birth. She became pro-ficient in grammar, developing a conception ofstyle from practice rather than from theory.Pope's translation of Homer was her favoriteEnglish classic. If in the light of twentiethcentury opportunity and methods these at-tainments seem in no wise remarkable, onemust remember the disadvantages under whichnot only Phillis Wheatley, but all the womenof her time, labored; and recall that in anycase her attainments would have marked heras one of the most highly educated youngwomen in Boston.

While Phillis was trying to make the mostof her time with her studies, she was also seek-ing to develop herself in other ways. Shehad not been studying long before she beganto feel that she too would like to make verses.Alexander Pope was still an important forcein English literature, and the young studentbecame his ready pupil. She was about four-teen years old when she seriously began to


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/,; The Negro in Literature and Artcultivate her poetic talent; and one of thevery earliest, and from every standpoint oneof the most interesting of her efforts is thepathetic little juvenile poem, ''On BeingBrought from iVfrica to America:"

Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land,Taught my benighted soul to understandThat tlierc's a Godthat there's a Saviour too:Once I rcdemi^tion neither sought nor knew.Some view our sable race with scornful eye"Their colour is a diabohc dye."Remember, Clu-istians, Negroes black as CainMay be refined, and join th' angelic train.Meanwhile, the life of Phillis was altogether

tlilTerent from that of the other slaves of thehousehold. No hard labor was required ofher, though she did the lighter work, such asdusting a room or polishing a table. Graduallyshe came to be regarded as a daughter andcompanion rather than as a slave. As shewrote poetry, more and more she proved tohave a talent for writing occasional verse.Whenever any unusual event, such as a death,occurred in any family of the circle of Mrs.\\licatley's acquaintance, she would wi'itelines on the same. She thus came to be re-


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Phillis Wheatley 15garded as "a kind of poet-laureate in thedomestic circles of Boston." She was frequentlyinvited to the homes of people to whom Mrs.Wheatley had introduced her, and was re-garded with peculiar interest and esteem, onaccount both of her singular position and herlovable nature. In her own room at homePhillis was specially permitted to have heatand a light, because her constitution was deli-cate, and in order that she might write downher thoughts as they came to her, rather thantrust them to her fickle memory.Such for some years was the course of the

life of Phillis Wheatley. The year 1770 sawthe earliest publication of one of her poems.On the first printed page of this edition onemight read the following announcement: "APoem, By Phillis, a Negro Girl, in Boston, Onthe Death of the Reverend George Whitefield."In the middle of the page is a quaint represen-tation of the dead man in his coffin, on thetop of which one might with difficulty decipher,*'G, W. Ob. 30 Sept. 1770, Aet. 56." Thepoem is addressed to the Countess of Hunt-ingdon, whom Whitefield had served as chap-lain, and to the orphan children of Georgia


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Id The Negro in Literature and Artwliom he had befriended. It takes up in theoriginal less than four pages of large print. Itwa.s revised for the 1773 edition of the poems.

In 1771 the first real sorrow of Phillis Wheat-Icy came to her. On January 31st Mary\\'licatlcy left the old home to become the wifeof Rev. John Latlirop, pastor of the SecondC'huj-ch in Boston. Tliis year is important foranother event. On August 18th 'Thillis, theservant of Mr. "\Mieatley," became a communi-cant of the Old South Meeting House in Boston.We are informed that ''her membership inOld South was an exception to the rule thatslaves were not baptized into the church." Atthat time the church was without a regularminister, though it had lately received the ex-cellent teaching of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Sewell.

This was a troublous time in the history ofBoston. Already the storm of the Revolutionwas gathering. The period was one of vexa-tion on the part of the slaves and their mastersas well as on that of the colonies and England.The argument on the side of the slaves wastlmt, a.s the colonies were still English terri-tory, they were technically free, Lord Mans-field liaving handed do\\Ti the decision in 1772


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Phillis Wheatley 17that as soon as a slave touched the soil ofEngland he became free. Certainly Phillismust have been a girl of unusual tact to beable under such conditions to hold so securelythe esteem and affection of her many friends.About this time, as we learn from her cor-

respondence, her health began to fail. Almostall of her letters that are preserved were writ-ten to Obour Tanner, a friend living in New-port, R. I. Just when the two young womenbecame acquainted is not known. ObourTanner survived until the fourth decade ofthe next century. It was to her, then, still ayoung woman, that on July 19, 1772, Philliswrote from Boston as follows:My Dear Friend,I received your kind epistle a few

days ago; much disappointed to hear that you had notreceived my answer to your first letter. I have been ina very poor state of health all the past winter and spring,and now reside in the country for the benefit of its morewholesome air. I came to town this morning to spend theSabbath with my master and mistress. Let me be inter-ested in your prayers that God will bless to me the meansused for my recovery, if agreeable to his holy will.By the spring of 1773 the condition of the

health of Phillis was such as to give her friends


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IS The Negro in Literature and Artmuch concern. The family physician advisedtliat she try the air of the sea. As Nathaniel^^^lcatley was just then going to England, itwas decided that she should accompany him.The two sailed in May. The poem, ''A Fare-well to America," is dated May 7, 1773. Itwas addressed to ''S. W.," that is, Mrs. Wheat-ley. Before she left America, Phillis wasformally manumitted.The poem on Whitefield served well as an

introduction to the Countess of Huntingdon.Through the influence of this noblewomanPliillis met other ladies, and for the summer thechild of the wilderness was the pet of thesociety people of England. Now it was thata peculiar gift of Phillis "\\Tieatley shone toadvantage. To the recommendations of astrange history, ability to write verses, andthe influence of kind friends, she added theaccomplishment of brilliant conversation.Presents were showered upon her. One thatluis been preserved is a copy of the magnificent1770 Glasgow folio edition of "Paradise Lost,"given to her by Brook Watson, Lord Mayorof London. This book is now in the libraryof Harvard University. At the top of one of


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Phillis Wheatley 19the first pages, in the handwriting of PhillisWheatley, are these words: ''Mr. Brook Wat-son to Phillis Wheatley, London, July, 1773."At the bottom of the same page, in the hand-writing of another, are these words: ''Thisbook was given by Brook Watson formerlyLord Mayor of London to Phillis Wheatley& after her death was sold in payment of herhusband's debts. It is now presented to theLibrary of Harvard University at Cambridge,by Dudley L. Pickman of Salem. March,1824."

Phillis had not arrived in England at themost fashionable season, however. The ladiesof the circle of the Countess of Huntingdondesired that she remain long enough to bepresented at the court of George HI. An acci-dentthe illness of Mrs. Wheatleypreventedthe introduction. This lady longed for thepresence of her old companion, and Philliscould not be persuaded to delay her return.Before she went back to Boston, however, ar-rangements were made for the publication ofher volume, "Poems on Various Subjects, Re-ligious and Moral," of which more must besaid. While the book does not of course con-


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so The Negro in Literature and Arttain the later scattered poems, it is the onlycollection ever brought together by PhillisWTieatley, and the book by which she is known.The visit to England marked the highest

point in the career of the young author. Herpiety and faitli were now to be put to theirse\'ere.st test, and her noble bearing underhardship and disaster must forever speak toher credit. In much of the sorrow that cameto her she was not alone, for the period of theRevolution was one of general distress.

Phillis remained in England barely fourmonths. In October she was back in Boston,'riuit she was little improved may be seenfrom the letter to Obour Tanner, bearing datethe 30th of this month:

I hear of your welfare with pleasure; but this acquaintsyou tlmt I am at present indisposed by a cold, and sincemy arrival have been visited by the asthma.A postscript to this letter reads:The young man by whom this is handed to you seems

U> be a very clever man, knows you very well, and isvcrj' complaisant and agreeable.The "young man" was John Peters, after-wards to be her husband.


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Phillis Wheatley 21A great sorrow came to Phillis in the death

on March 3, 1774, of her best friend, Mrs.Wheatley, then in her sixty-fifth year. Howshe felt about this event is best set forth inher own words in a letter addressed to ObourTanner at Newport under date March 21,1774:

Dear Obour,I received your obliging letter en-closed in your Reverend Pastor's and handed me by hisson. I have lately met with a great trial in the death ofmy mistress; let us imagine the loss of a parent, sisteror brother, the tenderness of all were united in her. I wasa poor little outcast and a stranger when she took me in;not only into her house, but I presently became a sharerin her most tender affections. I was treated by her morelike her child than her servant; no opportunity was leftunimproved of giving me the best of advice; but in termshow tender! how engaging! This I hope ever to keep inremembrance. Her exemplary life was a greater monitorthan all her precepts and instructions; thus we may ob-serve of how much greater force example is than instruc-tion. To alleviate our sorrows we had the satisfactionto see her depart in inexpressible raptures, earnest long-ings, and impatient thirstings for the upper courts of theLord. Do, my dear friend, remember me and this familyin your closet, that this afflicting dispensation may besanctified to us. I am very sorry to hear that you areindisposed, but hope this will find you in better health.I have been unwell the greater part of the winter, but ammuch better as the spring approaches. Pray excuse my


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2 The Negro in Literature and Artnot writinR you so long before, for I have been so busyLitoly that I could not find leisure. I shall send the 5lKK)ks you wrote for, the first convenient opportunity;if you want more they shall be ready for you. I am veryaflfectionatcly your friend,

Phillis Wheatley.Mter the death of Mrs. Wheatley Phillis

seems not to have lived regularly at the oldhome; at least one of her letters written in 1775was sent from Providence. For Mr. Wheatleythe house must have been a sad one; his daugh-ter was married and living in her own home, hisson was living abroad, and his wife was dead.It was in this darkening period of her life,however, that a very pleasant experience cameto Phillis ^Vheatley. This was her receptionat the hands of George Washington. In 1775,while the siege of Boston was in progress, shewrote a letter to the distinguished soldier, en-closing a complimentary poem. Washingtonlater replied as follows:

Cambridge, Feb. 2, 1776.Mi88 Phillis,Your favor of the 26th of October did

not reach my hand till the middle of December. TimecnouKli, you say, to have given an answer ere this.Ciraiit(>(|. But a variety of important occurrences con-tinually interposing to distract the mind and to withdraw


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Phillis Wheatley 23the attention, I hope, will apologize for the delay andplead my excuse for the seeming, but not real neglect.I thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of me,in the elegant lines you enclosed, and however undeservingI may be of such encomium and panegyi'ic, the style andmanner exhibit a striking proof of your poetical talents,in honor of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, Iwould have published the poem, had I not been apprehen-sive that while I only meant to give the world this newinstance of your genius, I might have incurred the im-putation of vanity. This and nothing else determinedme not to give it place in the pubUc prints. If you shouldever come to Cambridge or near headquarters, I shall behappy to see a person so favored by the muses, and towhom Nature has been so liberal and beneficent in herdispensations.

I am, with great respect.Your obedient humble servant,

George Washington.

Not long afterwards Phillis accepted theinvitation of the General and was received inCambridge with marked courtesy by Wash-ington and his officers.The Wheatley home was finally broken up

by the death of Mr. John Wheatley, March12, 1778, at the age of seventy-two. Afterthis event Phillis lived for a short time witha friend of Mrs. Wheatley, and then took anapartment and lived by hergelf. By April she


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2'4 The Negro in Literature and Artliad yiekli'tl to the blandishments of JohnPeters sufhciently to be persuaded to becomehis wife. Tliis man is variously reported tohave been a baker, a barber, a grocer, a doctor,and a lawyer. With all of these professionsand occupations, however, he seems not tohave possessed the ability to make a living.He wore a wig, sported a cane, and generallyfelt liimself superior to labor. Bereft of oldfriends as she was, however, sick and lonely,it is not surprising that when love and careseemed thus to present themselves the heartof the woman yielded. It w^as not long beforeshe realized that she was married to a ne'er-do-well at a time when even an industriousman found it hard to make a living. Thecourse of the Revolutionary War made itmore and more difficult for people to securethe bare necessaries of life, and the horrorsof Valley Forge were but an aggravation ofthe general distress. The year was furthermade memorable by the death of Mary Wheat-1'>-. Mrs. Lathrop, on the 24th of September.

Wlicn Boston fell into the hands of theBritisli, the inhabitants fled in all directions.Mrs. Peters accompanied her husband to Wil-


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Phillis Wheatley 25mington, Delaware, where she suffered muchfrom poverty. After the evacuation of Boston bythe British troops, she returned thither. Aniece of Mrs. Wheatley, whose son had beenslain in battle, received her under her ownroof. This woman was a widow, was notwealthy, and kept a little school in order tosupport herself. Mrs. Peters and the twochildren whose mother she had become re-mained with her for six weeks. Then Peterscame for his wife, having provided an apart-ment for her. Just before her departure forWilmington, Mrs. Peters entrusted her papersto a daughter of the lady who received her onher return from that place. After her deaththese were demanded by Peters as the propertyof his wife. They were of course promptlygiven to him. Some years afterwards he re-turned to the South, and nothing is known ofwhat became of the manuscripts.The conduct of her husband estranged Mrs.

Peters from her old acquaintances, and herpride kept her from informing them of herdistress. After the war, however, one of Mrs.Wheatley's relatives hunted her out and foundthat her two children were dead, and that a


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S6 The Negro in Literature and Artthird that had been bom was sick. Thisseems to have been in the winter of 1783-84.Nathaniel \Mieatley, who had been livmg inlx)ndon, died in the summer of 1783. In 1784John Peters suffered hnprisonment in jail.After his liberation he worked as a journeymanl)aker, later attempted to practice law, andfinally pretended to be a physician. His wife,meanwhile, earned her board by drudgery ina cheap lodging-house on the west side of thetown. Her disease made rapid progress, andshe died December 5, 1784. Her last babydied and was buried with her. No one of herold acquaintances seems to have known of herdeath. On the Thursday after this event,however, the following notice appeared in theIndependent Chronicle:Last Lord's Daj--, died Mrs, Phillis Peters (formerly

Pliillis Whcatley), aged thirty-one, known to the worldby her celebrated miscellaneous poems. Her funeral isto be this afternoon, at four o'clock, from the house latelyimproved l)y Mr. Todd, nearly opposite Dr. Bulfinch's atWest Boston, where her friends and acquaintances aredesired to attend.

The house referred to was situated on ornear the present site of the Revere House in


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Phillis Wheatley 27Bowdoin Square. The exact site of the graveof PhilHs Wheatley is not known.At the time when she was most talked about,

Phillis Wheatley was regarded as a prodigy,appearing as she did at a time when the achieve-ment of the Negro in hterature and art wasstill negligible. Her vogue, however, was morethan temporary, and the 1793, 1802, and 1816editions of her poems found ready sale. Inthe early years of the last century her verseswere frequently to be found in school readers.From the first, however, there were those whodiscounted her poetry. Thomas Jefferson, forinstance, said that it was beneath the dignityof criticism. If after 1816 interest in her workdeclined, it was greatly revived at the time ofthe anti-slavery agitation, when anything in-dicating unusual capacity on the part of theNegro was received with eagerness. WhenMargaretta Matilda Odell of Jamaica Plain, adescendant of the Wheatley family, repubhshedthe poems with a memoir in 1834, there wassuch a demand for the book that two moreeditions were called for within the next threeyears. For a variety of reasons, especially anincreasing race-consciousness on the part of


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2S The Negro in Literature and Artthe Ncpro, interest in her work has greatlyincreased within the last decade, and as copiesof cai-ly editions had within recent years be-come so rare as to be practically inaccessible,the reprint in 1909 of the volume of 1773 bythe A. M. E. Book Concern in Philadelphiawas especially welcome.Only two poems wTitten by Phillis Wheatley

after her marriage are in existence. These are"Liberty and Peace," and ''An Elegy Sacredto the IMemory of Dr. Samuel Cooper." Bothwere published in 1784. Of ''Poems on VariousSubjects," the following advertisement appearedin the Boston Gazette for January 24, 1774:

This Day PublishedAdorn'd with an Elegant Engraving of the Author,

(Price 3s. 4d. L. M. Bound,)POEMS

on various subjects,Rehgious and Moral,By PhiUis Wheatley, a Negro Gkl.Sold by Mess's Cox & Berry,

at their Store, in King-Street, Boston.N. B.The subscribers are requested to apply for their

copies.

The little octavo volume of 124 pages con-tains 39 poems. One of these, however, must


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Phillis Wheatley 29be excluded from the enumeration, as it issimply ''A Rebus by I. B.," which serves asthe occasion of Phillis Wheatley's poem, theanswer to it. Fourteen of the poems areelegiac, and at least six others are occasional.Two are paraphrases from the Bible. We arethus left with sixteen poems to represent thebest that Phillis Wlieatley had produced bythe time she was twenty years old. One ofthe longest of these is ''Niobe in Distress forHer Children Slain by Apollo, from Ovid'sMetamorphoses, Book VI, and from a Viewof the Painting of Mr. Richard Wilson."This poem contains two interesting examplesof personification (neither of which seems tobe drawn from Ovid), ''fate portentous whis-tling in the air," and ''the feather'd vengeancequiv'ring in his hands," though the pointmight easily be made that these are little morethan a part of the pseudo-classic tradition.The poem, "To S. M., a Young African Painter,on seeing his works," was addressed to ScipioMoorhead, a young man who exhibited sometalent for drawing and who was a servant ofthe Rev. John Moorhead of Boston. Fromthe poem we should infer that one of his sub-


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30 The Negro in Literature and Artjects was the story of Damon and Pythias.Of prime importance are the two or threepoems of autobiographical interest. We havealready remarked ''On Being Brought fromAfrica to America." In the lines addressed toWilliam, Earl of Dartmouth, the young womanspoke again from her personal experience. Im-portant also in this comiection is the poem"Oil Vh'tue," with its plea:

Attend me, Virtue, thro' my youthful years!O leave me not to the false jo3^s of time!But guide my steps to endless life and bliss.

One would suppose that Phillis Wheatley wouldmake of "An Hymn to Humanity" a fairlystrong piece of work. It is typical of the re-straint under which she labored that this isone of the most conventional things in thevolume. All critics agree, however, that thestrongest lines in the book are those entitled"On Imagmation." This effort is more sus-tained than the others, and it is the leadingpoem that Edmund Clarence Stedman choseto represent Phillis Wheatley in his "Libraryof American Literatiu-e." The following linesare representative of its quality:


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Phillis Wheatley 31Imagination! Who can sing thy force?Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?Soaring through air to find the bright abode,Th' empyreal palace of the thundering God,We on thy pinions can surpass the wind,And leave the rolling universe behind:From star to star the mental optics rove.Measure the skies, and range the realms above;There in one view we grasp the mighty whole.Or with new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul.

Hardly beyond this is "Liberty and Peace,"the best example of the later verse. The poemis too long for inclusion here, but may befound in Duyckinck's '^ Cyclopedia of AmericanLiterature," and Heartman and Schomburg'scollected edition of the Poems and Letters.

It is unfortunate that, imitating Pope,Phillis Wheatley more than once fell into hispitfalls. Her diction'' fleecy care," "vitalbreath," "feather'd race"is distinctly pseudo-classic. The construction is not always clear;for instance, in the poem, "To Maecenas,"there are three distinct references to Virgil,when grammatically the poetess seems to bespeaking of three different men. Then, ofcourse, any young writer working under theinfluence of Pope and his school would feel a


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S3 The Negro in Literature and Artsense of repression. If Phillis Wlieatley hadcome on the scene forty years later, when theromantic WTiters had given a new tone toEngHsh poetr}--, she would undoubtedly havebeen much greater. Even as it was, however,she made her mark, and her place in the historyof American literature, though not a large one,is secure.

Hers was a great soul. Her ambition knewno bounds, her thirst for knowledge was in-satiable, and she triumphed over the most ad-verse circumstances. A child of the wildernessand a slave, by her grace and culture she satis-fied the conventionaHties of Boston and ofEngland. Her brilliant conversation wasequaled only by her modest demeanor. Every-thing about her was refined. More and moreas one studies her life he becomes aware of hersterling Christian character. In a dark dayshe caught a glimpse of the eternal light, andit was meet that the first Negro woman inAmerican literature should be one of unerringpiety and the highest of literary ideals.


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Ill

PAUL LAURENCE DUNBARINCOMPARABLY the foremost exponent in

verse of the Ufe and character of the Negropeople has been Paul Laurence Dunbar. Thisgifted young poet represented perfectly thelyric and romantic quality of the race, withits moodiness, its abandon, its love of song,and its pathetic irony, and his career has beenthe inspiration of thousands of the young menand women whose problems he had to face,and whose aspirations he did so much torealize.Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio, June

27, 1872. His parents were uneducated butearnest hard-working people, and throughouthis life the love of the poet for his mother wasever a dominating factor. From very earlyyears Dunbar made little attempts at rhyming;but what he afterwards called his first poetical

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S4 The Negro in Literature and Artachievement was his recitation of some originalverses at a Sunday School Easter celebrationwhen he was thirteen years old. He attendedthe Steele High School m Dayton, where hewas the only Negro student in his class; andby reason of his modest and yet magneticpersonality, he became very popular with hisschoolmates. In his second year he became amember of the literary society of the school,afterwards became president of the same, aswell as editor of The High School Times, amonthly student publication, and on his com-pletion of the course in 1891 he composed thesong for his class. Somewhat irregularly forthe next two or three years Dunbar continuedhis studies, but he never had the advantageof a regular college education. On leaving thehigh school, after vainly seeking for somethingbetter, he accepted a position as elevator boy,working for four dollars a week. In 1893, at theWcjrld's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, hewas given a position by Frederick Douglass,who was in charge of the exhibit from Hayti."Oak and Ivy" appeared in 1893, and ''Ma-jors and Minors" in 1895. These little bookswere privately printed; Dunbar had to assume


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PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR


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i7

ij.

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Paul Laurence Dunbar 35full responsibility for selling them, and notunnaturally he had many bitter hours of dis-couragement. Asking people to buy his versesgrated on his sensitive nature, and he oncedeclared to a friend that he would never sellanother book. Sometimes, however, he suc-ceeded beyond his highest hopes, and gradu-ally, with the assistance of friends, chief amongwhom was Dr. H. A. Tobey, of Toledo, theyoung poet came into notice as a reader of hisverses. William Dean Howells wrote a full-page review of his poems in the issue of Harp-er^s Weekly that contained an account of Will-iam McKinley's first nomination for the presi-dency. Dunbar was now fairly launched uponhis larger fame, and '^ Lyrics of Lowly Life,"published by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1896, in-troduced him to the wider reading public.This book is deservedly the poet's best known.It contained the richest work of his youthand was really never surpassed. In 1897 Dun-bar enhanced his reputation as a reader ofhis own poems by a visit to England. Aboutthis time he was very busy, writing numerouspoems and magazine articles, and meetingwith a success that was so much greater than


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Paul Laurence Dunbar 37"Lyrics of Love and Laughter," "Lyrics ofSunshine and Shadow," as well as severalspecially illustrated volumes. Dunbar boughta home in Dayton, where he lived with hismother. His last years were a record of sin-cere friendships and a losing fight againstdisease. He died February 9, 1906. He wasonly thirty-three, but he "had existed millionsof years."

Unless his novels are considered as forming /\a distinct class, Dunbar's work falls naturallyinto three divisions: the poems in classicEnglish, those in dialect, and the stories inprose. It was his work in the Negro dialectthat was his distinct contribution to American 'literature. That this was not his desire maybe seen from the eight lines entitled, "ThePoet," in which he longed for success in thesinging of his "deeper notes" and spoke of hisdialect as "a jingle in a broken tongue." Anycriticism of Dunbar's classic English verse willhave to reckon with the following poems:"Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the WearyEyes," "The Poet and His Song," "Life,""Promise and Fulfillment," "Ships That Passin the Night," and "October." In the pure


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3S The Negro in Literature and Artflow of lyrical verse the poet rarely surpassedhis early lines:*Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes,How questioneth the soul that other soulThe inner sense which neither cheats nor lies.But self exposes unto self, a scroll

Full writ with all life's acts unwise or wise,In characters indelible and known;So, trembling with the shock of sad surprise,The soul doth view its awful self alone.

Ere sleeps comes down to soothe the weary eyes.ItThe Poet and his Song" is also distinguishedfor its simplicity and its Ijo-ic quality:

A song is but a little thing.And yet what joy it is to sing!In hours of toil it gives me zest,And when at eve I long for rest;When cows come home along the bars.And in the fold I hear the bell,

As night, the Shepherd, herds his stars,I smg my song, and aU is well.

Sometimes the sun, unkindly hot,My garden makes a desert spot;* As stated in the Preface, we are under obligations toDodd, Mead & Co. for permission to use the quotations from

Dunbar. These are covered by copyright by this firm, asfoIIowH: "Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes,""The Poet and his Song," and "Life," 1896; Lullaby," 1899;and "Compensation," 1905.


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Paul Laurence Dunbar 39Sometimes a blight upon the treeTakes all the fruit away from me;And then with throes of bitter pain

Rebellious passions rise and swell;But life is more than fruit or grain,And so I sing, and all is well.

The two stanzas entitled "Life" have probablybeen quoted more than any other lines writtenby the poet:A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in,A minute to smile and an hour to weep in,A pint of joy to a peck of trouble,And never a laugh but the moans come double;

And that is life.A crust and a corner that love makes precious.With a smile to warm and the tears to refresh us;And joy seems sweeter when cares come after.And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter;

And that is hfe.''Promise and Fulfillment" was especially ad-mired by Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske, whofrequently recited it with never-failing ap-plause. Of the poet's own reading of ''Shipsthat Pass in the Night" on one occasion,Brand Whitlock wrote: ''That last eveninghe recitedoh! what a voice he hadhis'Ships that Pass in the Night.' I can hear


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Jfi The Negro in Literature and Arthim now and see the expression on his fineface as he said, 'Passing! Passing!' It wasprophetic."

Other pieces, no more distinguished inpoetic quahty, are of special biographical in-terest. ''Robert Gould Shaw" was the ex-pression of pessimism as to the Negro's futurein America. "To Louise" was addressed tothe 5'^oung daughter of Dr. Tobey, who, onone occasion, when the poet was greatly de-pressed, in the simple way of a child cheeredhim by her gift of a rose. "The Monk's Walk"reflects the poet's thought of being a preacher.Finally, there is the swan song, "Compensa-tion," contributed to Lippincotfs, eight ex-quisite lines:

Because I had loved so deeply,Because I had loved so long,God in his great compassionGave me the gift of song.

Because I have loved so vainly,And sung with such faltering breath,

The Master in infinite mercyOffers the boon of Death.

The dialect poems suffer by quotation, beingartistic primarily as wholes. Of these, by com-


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Paul Laurence Dunbar 4imon consent, the masterpiece is, ''When Ma-lindy Sings," a poem inspired by the singingof the poet's mother. Other pieces in dialectthat have proved unusually successful, espe-cially as readings, are ''The Rivals," "A Co-quette Conquered," "The 01' Tunes," "ACorn-Song," "When de Co'n Pone's Hot,""How Lucy Backslid," "The Party," "AtCandle-Lightin' Time," "Angelina," "Whis-tling Sam," "Two Little Boots," and "TheOld Front Gate." Almost all of these poemsrepresent the true humorist's blending of hu-mor and pathos, and all of them exemplifythe delicate and sympathetic irony of whichDunbar was such a master. As representativeof the dialect verse at its best, attention mightbe called to a little poem that was includedin the illustrated volume, "Candle-Lightin'Time," but that, strangely enough, was omittedfrom both of the larger editions of the poems,very probably because the title, "Lullaby,"was used more than once by the poet:

Kiver up yo' haid, my little lady,Hyeah de win' a-blowin' out o' do's,

Don' you kick, ner projick wid de comfo't,Less'n fros '11 bite yo' little toes.


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42 The Negro in Literature and ArtShut yo' eyes, an' snuggle up to mammy;

Gi' me bofe yo' ban's, I hoi' 'em tight;Don' you be afeard, an' 'mence to trimbleUes cz soon cz I blows out de light.

Angels is a-mindin' you, my baby,Kcepin' off de Bad Man in de night.

Whut dc use o' bein' skeered o' nuffin'?You don' fink de da'kness gwine to bite?

\\\\\xi de crackin' soun' you liyeah erroun' you?Lawsy, claile, you tickles me to def!

Dat's de man what brings de fros', a-paintin'Picters on de winder w^d his bref.

Mammy ain' afeard, you hyeah huh laughin'?Go 'way, Mistah Fros', you can't come in;

Baby ain' erceivin' folks dis evenin',Reckon dat you '11 have to call ag'in.

Curl 3'o' httle toes up so, my 'possumUmph, but you's a cunnin' one fu' true!Go to sleep, de angels is a-watchin',An' yo' mammy's mindin' of you, too.

The short stories of Dunbar would havebeen sufficient to make his reputation, evenif he had not written his poems. One of thebest technically is "Jimsella," from the ''Folksfrom Dixie" volume. This story exhibits thepathos of the life of unskilled Negroes in theNorth, and the leading of a Httle child. Inthe surcness with which it moves to its con-


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Paul Laurence Dunbar J^Selusion it is a beautiful work of art. "A FamilyFeud" shows the influence of an old servantin a wealthy Kentucky family. In similarvein is ''Aunt Tempe's Triumph." "TheWalls of Jericho " is an exposure of the methodsof a sensational preacher. Generally thesestories attempt no keen satire, but only afaithful portrayal of conditions as they are,or, in most cases, as they were in ante-bellumdays. Dunbar's novels are generally weakerthan his short stories, though "The Sport ofthe Gods," because of its study of a definitephase of life, rises above the others. Nor arehis occasional articles especially strong. Hewas eminently a lyric poet. By his gracefuland beautiful verse it is that he has won adistinct place in the history of American liter-ature.By his genius Paul Laurence Dunbar at-

tracted the attention of the great, the wise,and the good. His bookcase contained manyautograph copies of the works of distinguishedcontemporaries. The similarity of his positionin American literature to that of Burns inEnglish has frequently been pointed out. Inour own time he most readily invites comparison


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^ The Negro in Literature and Art^ith James Whitcomb Riley. The writingsof both men are distinguished by infinite tender-ness and pathos. But above all worldly fame,above even the expression of a strugglingj-)cople's heart, was the poet's own striving forthe unattainable. There was something heroic \ialiout him withal, something that links himwitli Keats, or, in this latter day, with Rupert \Brooke and Alan Seeger. He yearned for love,and the world rushed on; then he smiled atdeath and was universally loved.


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IVCHARLES W. CHESNUTT

CHARLES WADDELL CHESNUTT, thebest known novelist and short story-

writer of the race, was born in Cleveland, Ohio,June 20, 1858. At the age of sixteen he beganto teach in the public schools of North Caro-lina, from which state his parents had gone toCleveland; and at the age of twenty-three hebecame principal of the State Normal Schoolat Fayetteville. In 1883 he left the South,engaging for a short while in newspaper workin New York City, but going soon to Cleve-land, where he worked as a stenographer.He was admitted to the bar in 1887.While in North Carolina Mr. Chesnutt

studied to good purpose the dialect, manners,and superstitions of the Negro people of thestate. In 1887 he began in the Atlantic Monthlythe series of stories which was afterwardsbrought together in the volume entitled, "The

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JiG The Negro in Literature and ArtConjure Woman." This book was publishedby the Houghton Mifflin Co., the firm whichpubhshed also Mr. Chesnutt's other collectionof stories and the first two of his three novels."The Wife of his Youth, and Other Storiesof the Color-Line" appeared in 1899. In thesame year appeared a compact biography ofFrederick Douglass, a contribution to theBeacon Biographies of Eminent Americans.Three novels have since appeared, as follows:"The House Behind the Cedars" (1900);"The Marrow of Tradition" (1901); and "TheColonel's Dream"(1905).Mr. Chesnutt's short stories are not all ofthe same degree of excellence, but the bestones show that he is fully master of the shortstory as a literary form. One of the best tech-nically is "The Bouquet." This is a story ofthe devotion of a little Negro girl to her whiteteacher, and shows clearly how the force ofSouthern prejudice might forbid the expressionof simple love not only in a representativehome, but even when the object of the devo-tion is borne to the cemetery. "The Sheriff'sChildren" is a tragic tale of the relations of awhite father with his illegitimate colored son.


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CHARLES W. CHESNUTT


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Charles W. Chesnutt J^tMost famous of all these stories, however, is"The Wife of his Youth," a simple work ofart of great intensity. It is a tale of a very-fair colored man who, just before the CivilWar, by the aid of his Negro wife, makes hisway from slavery in Missouri to freedom in aNorthern city, Groveland [Cleveland?]. Afterthe years have brought to him business suc-cess and culture, and he has become theacknowledged leader of his social circle and theprospective husband of a very attractive youngwidow, his wife suddenly appears on the scene.The story ends with Mr. Ryder's acknowl-edging before a company of guests the wife ofhis youth. Such stories as these, each settingforth a certain problem and working it out toits logical conclusion, reflect great credit uponthe literary skill of the wiiter.Of the novels, ''The House Behind the

Cedars" is commonly given first place. Inthe story of the heroine, Rena Walden, aretreated some of the most subtle and search-ing questions raised by the color-line. Renais sought in love by three men, George Tryon,a white man, whose love fails when put tothe test; Jeff Wain, a coarse and brutal mu-


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4S The Negro in Literature and Artlatto, and Frank Fowler, a devoted youngNegro, who makes every sacrifice demandedby love. The novel, especially in its lastpages, moves with an intensity that is an im-mistakable sign of power. It is Mr. Ches-nutt's most sustained treatment of the subjectfor which he has become best known, that is,the deUcate and tragic situation of those wholive on the border-line of the races; and it isthe best work of fiction yet written by a mem-ber of the race in America. In ''The Marrowof Tradition" the main theme is the relationsof two women, one white and one colored,whose father, the same white man, had intime been married to the mother of each.The novel touches upon almost every phaseof the Negro Problem. It is a powerful plea,but perhaps too much a novel of purpose tosatisfy the highest standards of art. TheWellington of the story is very evidently Wil-mington, N. C, and the book was writtenimmediately after the race troubles in that cityin 1898. ''The Colonel's Dream" is a sadBtory of the failure of high ideals. ColonelHenry French is a man who, born in the South,achieves success in New York and returns to


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Charles W. Chesnutt 49his old home for a Httle vacation, only to findhimself face to face with all the problems thatone meets in a backward Southern town. "Hedreamed of a regenerated South, filled withthriving industries, and thronged with a pros-perous and happy people, where every man,having enough for his needs, was willing thatevery other man should have the same; wherelaw and order should prevail unquestioned, andwhere every man could enter, through thegolden door of hope, the field of opportunity,where lay the prizes of life, which all mighthave an equal chance to win or lose." Becom-ing interested in the injustice visited upon theNegroes in the courts, and in the employmentof white children in the cotton-mills. ColonelFrench encounters opposition to his benevo-lent plans, opposition which finally sends himback to New York defeated. Mr. Chesnuttwrites in simple, clear English, and his methodsmight well be studied by younger writers whodesire to treat, in the guise of fiction, the manysearching questions that one meets to-day inthe life of the South.


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W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS


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62 The Negro in Literature and ArtBrown," he has shown that his hero has amessage for twentieth century America, this:"The cost of hberty is less than the price ofrepression." ''The Quest of the Silver Fleece,"the novel, appeared in 1911. This story hasthree main themes: the economic positionof the Negro agricultural laborer, the subsi-dizing of a certain kind of Negro schools, andNegro life and society in the city of Washing-ton. The book employs a big theme in itsportrayal of the power of King Cotton inboth high and lowly life in the Southland;but its tone is frequently one of satire, and onthe whole the work will not add much to thealready established reputation of the author.The third book really appeared before eitherof the two works just mentioned, and embodiesthe best work of the author in his most highlyidealistic period. In 1903 fourteen essays,most of which had already appeared in suchmagazines as the Atlantic and the World'sWork, were brought together in a volume en-/titled, ''The Souls of Black Folk." The re-markable style of this book has made it themost important work in classic English yetwritten by a Negro. It is marked by all the


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W. E. Burghardt DuBois 53arts of rhetoric, especially by liquid and al-literative effects, strong antithesis, frequentallusion, and poetic suggestiveness. The color-line is "The Veil," the familiar melodies, the"Sorrow Songs." The qualities that have justbeen remarked will be observed in the followingparagraphs:

I have seen a land right merry with the sun, wherechildren sing, and rolling hills lie like passioned womenwanton with harvest. And there in the King's Highway-sat and sits a figure veiled and bowed, by which the travel-er's footsteps hasten as they go. On the tainted airbroods fear. Three centuries' thought has been the raisingand unveiling of that bowed human heart, and now beholda century new for the duty and the deed. The problemof the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.

My journey was done, and behind me lay hiU and dale,and Life and Death. How shall man measure Progressthere where the dark-faced Josie hes? How many heart-fuls of sorrow shall balance a bushel of wheat? Howhard a thing is hfe to the lowly, and yet how human andreal! And all this life and love and strife and failm-e

is it the twilight of nightfall or the flush of some faint-dawning day?Thus sadly musing, I rode to Nashville in the Jim Crow

car.

I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across thecolor-line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas,


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54 The Negro in Literature and Artwhere smiling men and welcoming women glide in gildedhalls. From out the caves of evening that

swing betweenthe strong-liinbcd earth and the tracery of the stars, Isummon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will,and they all come graciously with no scorn nor conde-Bcension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil.Is this the life you grudge us, knightly America? Isthis the life you long to change into the dull red hideous-ness of Georgia? Are you so afraid lest peering from thishigh risgah, between Philistine and Amalekite, we sightthe Promised Land?Where merit is 30 even and the standard

of performance so high, one hesitates to choosethat which is best. ''The Dawn of Freedom"is a study of the Freedmen's Bureau; ''Mr.Booker T. Washington and Others" is a frankcriticism of the late orator and leader; ''TheMeaning of Progress" is a story of life inTennessee, told with infinite pathos by onewho has been the country schoolmaster; "TheTraining of Black Men" is a plea for liber-ally educated leadership; while "The Questof the Golden Fleece," like one or two relatedessays, is a faithful portrayal of life in theblack belt. The book, as a whole, is a powerfulplea for justice and the liberty of citizenship.W. E. Burghardt DuBois is the best examplethat has so far appeared of the combination


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W. E. Burghardt DuBois 55of high scholarship and the peculiarly romantictemperament of the Negro race. Beneath allthe play of logic and statistic beats the passionof a mighty human heart. For a long timehe was criticised as aloof, reserved, unsym-pathetic; but more and more, as the yearshave passed, has his mission become clearer,his love for his people stronger. Forced bythe pressure of circumstance, gradually has hebeen led from the congenial retreat of thescholar into the arena of social struggle; butfor two decades he has remained an out-standing interpreter of the spiritual life ofhis people. He is to-day the foremost leaderof the race in America.


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VIWILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE

THE foremost of the poets of the race atpresent is WilHam Stanley Braithwaite,of Boston. Mr. Braithwaite is not only thepossessor of unusual talent, but for years hehas worked most conscientiously at his artand taken the time and the pains to masterthe fundamentals that others all too often deemunimportant. In 1904 he published a smallbook of poems entitled ''Lyrics of Life andLove." This was followed four years laterby "The House of Falling Leaves." Withinrecent years he has given less and less timeto his owm verse, becoming more and moredistinguished as a critic in the special field ofAmerican poetry. For several years he hasbeen a regular and valued contributor of liter-ary criticism to the Boston Evening Transcript;he has had verse or critical essays in theForum, the Century, Scribner^s, the Atlantic,

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WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE


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William Stanley Braithwaite 57etc.; and in 1916 became editor of the newPoetry Review of Cambridge. He has collectedand edited (publishing chiefly through Bren-tano's) "The Book of EUzabethan Verse,"''The Book of Georgian Verse," and ''The Bookof Restoration Verse"; and he has also pub-lished the "Anthology of Magazine Verse"for each year since 1913. He is the generaleditor of "The Contemporary American PoetsSeries," which is projected by the Poetry Re-view Company, and which will be issued intwelve little books, each giving a sympatheticstudy of a poet of the day; he himself iswriting the volume on Edwin Arlington Robin-son; and before long it is expected that a novelwill appear from his pen. Very recently (1917)Mr. Braithwaite has brought together in avolume, "The Poetic Year," the series ofarticles which he contributed to the Transcriptin 1916-17. The aim was in the form of con-versations between a small group of friends todiscuss the poetry of 1916. Says he: "Therewere four of us in the little group, and ourcommon love for the art of poetry suggesteda weekly meeting in the grove to discuss thebooks we had all agreed upon reading. . . .


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68 The Negro in Literature and ArtI made up my mind to record these discussions,and the setting as well, with all those othertouches of human character and mood whichnever fail to enliven and give color to theserious business of art and life. ... I gavefanciful names to my companions, Greek nameswhich I am persuaded symbolized the spiritof each. There was nothing Psyche touchedbut made its soul apparent. Her wood-lorewas beautiful and thorough; the very spiritof flowers, birds and trees was evoked whenshe went among them. Our other companionof her sex was Cassandra, and we gave her thisname not because her forebodings were gloomy,but merely for her prophesying disposition,which was always building air-castles. Theother member besides myself of our little groupwas Jason, of the heroic dreams and adventure-some spirit. He was restless in the bonds ofa tranquillity that chafed the hidden spirit ofhis being." From the introduction we getsomething of the critic's own aims and ideals-"The conversational scheme of the book may,or may not, interest some readers. Poetry isa human thing, and it is time for the worldand especially our part of the worldto re-


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William Stanley Braithwaite 59gard it as belonging to the people. It sprangfrom the folk, and passed, when culture beganto flourish, into the possession of a class. Nowculture is passing from a class to the folk,and with it poetry is returning to its originalpossessors. It is in the spirit of these wordsthat we discuss the poetry of the year." Em-phasis is here given to this work because itis the sturdiest achievement of Mr. Braith-waite in the field in which he has recentlybecome most distinguished, and even the briefquotations cited are sufficient to give some ideaof his graceful, suggestive prose.

In a review of this writer's poetry we haveto consider especially the two collections,''Lyrics of Life and Love," and ''The House ofFalling Leaves," and the poems that have morerecently appeared in the Atlantic, Scrihner^s,and other magazines. It is to be hoped thatbefore very long he will publish a new editionof his poems. The earlier volumes are out ofprint, and a new book could contain the bestof them, as well as what has appeared morerecently. ''Lyrics of Life and Love" embodiedthe best of the poet's early work. The littlebook contains eighty pages, and no one of the


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60 The Negro in Literature and Artl\Tics takes up more than two pages, twentyill fact being exactly eight lines in length.This ajipoarance of fragility, however, is alittle deceptive. Wliile Keats and Shelley areconstantly evident as the models in technique,the yearning of more than one lyric reflectsthe deeper romantic temper. The bravadoand the tenderness of the old poets are evidentagain in the two Christmas pieces, ''HollyBerry and Mistletoe," and "Yule-Song: AMemory":

The trees are bare, wild flies the snow,Heartlis are glowing, hearts are merry

High in the air is the Mistletoe,Over the door is the Holly Berry.

Never have care how the winds may blow,Never confess the revel grows weary

Yule is the time of the Mistletoe,Yule is the time of the Holly Berry.

December comes, snows come,Comes the wintry weather;

Faces from away comeHearts must be together.Down the stair-steps of the hoursYule leaps the hills and towers

Fill the bowl and hang the holly,Let the times be jolly.


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William Stanley Braithwaite 61''The Watchers" is in the spirit of Kingsley's"The Three Fishers":

Two women on the lone wet strand{The wind's out with a will to roam)

The waves wage war on rocks and sand,(And a ship is long due home.)

The sea sprays in the women's eyes{Hearts can writhe like the sea's wild foam)Lower descend the tempestuous skies,

{For the wind's out with a will to roam.)

"O daughter, thine eyes be better than mine,"{The waves ascend high on yonder dome)

"North or South is there never a sign?"{And a ship is long due home.)They watched there all the long night through

{The wind's out with a will to roam)Wind and rain and sorrow for two

{And heaven on the long reach home.)The second volume marked a decided ad-

vance in technique. When we remember alsothe Pre-Raphaelite spirit, with its love ofrhythm and imagery, we are not surprised tofind here an appreciation "To Dante GabrielRossetti." Especially has the poet made prog-ress in the handling of the sonnet, as maybe seen in the following:


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William Stanley Braithwaite 63served in "Sandy Star," that appeared in theAtlantic (July, 1909):

No more from out the sunset,No more across the foam,No more across the windy hillsWill Sandy Star come home.

He went away to search it,With a curse upon his tongue.

And in his hands the staff of life'Made music as it swung.

I wonder if he found it,And knows the mystery now:Our Sandy Star who went awayWith the secret on his brov/.

The same note is in "The Mystery" (or "TheWay," as the poet prefers to call it) that ap-peared in Scribner^s (October, 1915)

He could not tell the way he cameBecause Ms chart was lost:

Yet all his way was paved with flameFrom the bourne he crossed.

He did not know the way to go,Because he had no map:He followed where the winds blow,And the April sap.


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64 The Negro in Literature and ArtHe never knew upon his browThe secret that he boreAud hiughs away the mystery nowThe dark's at his door.

]\Ir. Braithwaite has done well. He is to-daythe foremost man of the race in pure literature.But above any partial or limited considera-tion, after years of hard work he now hasrecognition not only as a poet of standing,but as the chief sponsor for current Americanpoetry. No comment on his work could bebetter than that of the Transcript, November30, 1915: "He has helped poetry to readersas well as to poets. One is guilty of no ex-travagance in saying that the poets we haveand they may take their place with theirpeers in any countryand the gathering defer-ence we pay them, are created largely out ofthe stubborn, self-effacing enthusiasm of thisone man. In a sense their distinction is hisown. In a sense he has himself written theirpoetry. Very much by his toil they may writeand be read. Not one of them will ever writea fnier poem than Braithwaite himself haslived already."


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VIIOTHER WRITERS

IN addition to those who have been men-tioned, there have been scores of writerswho would have to be considered if wp weredeahng with the hterature of the Negro inthe widest sense of the term. Not too clearly,however, can the limitations of our subjectbe insisted upon. We are here concernedwith distinctly literary or artistic achievement,and not with work that belongs in the realmof religion, sociology, or politics. Only briefermention accordingly can be given to theselatter fields.

Naturally, from the first there have beenworks dealing with the place of the Negro inAmerican life. Outstanding after the numeroussociological studies and other contributions toperiodical literature of Dr. DuBois are thebooks of the late Booker T. Washington.Representative of these are ''The Future of

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66 The Negro in Literature and Artthe American Negro," ''My Larger Education,"and ''The Man Farthest Down." As early as1829, however, David Walker, of Boston, pub-hshed his passionate "Appeal," a protestagainst slavery that awakened Southern legis-latures to action; and in the years just beforethe Civil War, Henry Highland Garnet wrotesermons and addresses on the status of the racein America, while William Wells Brown wrote"Three Years in Europe," and various otherworks, some of which will receive later mention.After the war, Alexander Crummell became anoutstanding figure by reason of his sermonsand addresses, many of which were preserved.He was followed by an interesting group ofscholarly men, represented especially by Will-iam S. Scarborough, Kelly Miller, and Archi-bald H. Grimk^. Mr. Scarborough is nowpresident of Wilberforce University. He hascontributed numerous articles to representa-tive magazines. His work in more technicalfields is represented by his "First Lessonsin Greek," a treatise on the "Bu-ds" of Aris-tophanes, and his paper in the Arena (January,1S97) on "Negro Folk-Lore and Dialect."Mr. MUler is Dean of the College of Arts and

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Other Writers 67Sciences at Howard University. He has col-lected his numerous and cogent papers in twovolumes, "Race Adjustment," and ''Out ofthe House of Bondage." The first is the morevaried and interesting of the two books, butthe latter contains the poetic rhapsody, ''ISee and Am Satisfied," first pubUshed in theIndependent (August 7, 1913). Mr. A. H.Grimk^, as well as Mr. Miller, has contributedto the Atlantic; and he has written the livesof Garrison and Sumner in the American Re-formers Series. ''Negro Culture in WestAfrica," by George W. Ellis, is original andscholarly; "The Aftermath of Slavery," byWilliam A. Sinclair, is a volume of more^than ordinaiy interest; and "The AfricanAbroad," by William H. Ferris, while con-fused in construction and form, contains muchthoughtful material. Within recent years therehave been published a great many works,frequently illustrated, on the progress andachievements of the race. Very few of thesebooks are scholarly. Three collaborations, how-ever, are of decided value. One is a littlevolume entitled, "The Negro Problem," con-sisting of seven papers by representative


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6S The Negro in Literature and ArtNegroes, and published in 1903 by JamesPott & Co., of New York. Another is ''FromServitude to Service," published in 1905 bythe iVmerican Unitarian Association of Boston,and made up of the Old South Lectures onthe history and work of Southern institutionsfor the education of the Negro; while thethird collaboration is, ''The Negro in theSouth," published in 1907 by George W.Jacobs & Co., of Philadelphia, and made up offour papers, two by Dr. Washington, and twoby Dr. DuBois, which were the William LeviBull Lectures in the Philadelphia DivinitySchool for the year 1907.Halfway between w^orks on the Negro

Problem and those in history, are those in thefield of biography and autobiography. Fordecades before the Civil War the experiencesof fugitive slaves were used as a part of theanti-slavery argument. In 1845 appeared the''Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,"this being greatly enlarged and extended in1881 as "The Life and Times of FrederickDouglass." In similar vein was the "Auto-biography of a Fugitive Negro," by SamuelRinggold Ward. Then Josiah Henson (the


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Other Writers 69original of Uncle Tom) and Sojourner Truthissued their narratives. Collections of morethan ordinary interest were William WellsBrown's ''The Black Man" (1863), James M.Trotter's ''Music and Some Highly MusicalPeople" (1878), and William J. Simmons's"Men of Mark" (1887). John Mercer Lang-ston's "From the Virginia Plantation to theNational Capitol" is interesting and service-able; special interest attaches to MatthewHenson's "A Negro Explorer at the NorthPole"; while Maud Cuney Hare's "NorrisWright Cuney" was a distinct contribution tothe history of Southern politics. The mostwidely known work in this field, however, is"Up From Slavery," by Booker T. Wash-ington. The unaffected and simple style ofthis book has made it a model of personalwriting, and it is by reason of merit that thework has gained unusual currency.The study, of course, becomes more special

in the field of history. Interest from thefirst was shown in church history. This wasrepresented immediately after the war byBishop Daniel A. Payne's studies in the his-tory of the A. M. E. Church, and twenty-five


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70 The Negro in Literature and Artyears later, for the Baptist denomination, byE. M. Brawley's ''The Negro Baptist Pulpit."One of the earliest writers of merit was WilliamC. Nell, who, in 1851, published his pamphlet,''Services of Colored Americans in the Wars of1776 and 1812." "The Rising Son," by WilliamWells Brown, was an account of "the ante-cedents and advancement of the colored race";the work gave considerable attention to Africa,Hayti, and the colonies, and was quite scholarlyin method. Then, in 1872, full of personal ex-perience, appeared William Still's "The Under-ground Railroad." The epoch-making work inhistory, however, was the two-volume "His-tory of the Negro Race in America," by GeorgeW. Williams, which was issued in 1883. Thiswork was the exploration of a new field and theresult of seven years of study. The historianmore than once wrote subjectively, but hiswork was, on the whole, written with un-usually good taste. After thirty years someof his pages have, of course, been superseded;but his work is even yet the great storehousefor students of Negro history. Technical studywithin recent years is best represented by theHarvard doctorate theses of Dr. DuBois and


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Other Writers 71Dr. Carter G. Woodson. That of Dr. DuBoishas already been mentioned. That of Dr.Woodson was entitled ''The Disruption ofVirginia." Dr. Woodson is the editor of theJournal of Negro History, a quarterly^magazinethat began to appear in 1916, and that hasalready published several articles of the firstorder of merit. He has also written ''TheEducation of the Negro Prior to 1861," a workin the most scientific spirit of modern historicalstudy, to which a companion volume for thelater period is expected. Largely original alsoin the nature of their contribution have been"The Haitian Revolution," by T. G. Steward,and "The Facts of Reconstruction," by JohnR. Lynch; and, while less intensive, interest-ing throughout is J. W. Cromwell's "TheNegro in American History."Many of the younger writers are cultivating

the short story. Especially have two or three,as yet unknown to the wider public, doneexcellent work in connection with syndicatesof great newspapers. "The Goodness of St.Rocque, and Other Stories," by AHce MooreDunbar (now Mrs. Nelson), is representativeof the stronger work in this field. Numerous


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K2 The Negro in Literature and Artattempts at the composition of novels havealso been made. Even before the Civil Warwas over appeared William Wells Brown's"Clotille: A Tale of the Southern States."It is in this special department, however, thata sense of literary form has frequently beenmost lacking. The distinctively literary essayhas not unnaturally suffered from the generalpressure of the Problem. A paper in theAtlantic Monthly (February, 1906), however,"The Joys of Being a Negro," by Edward E.Wilson, a Chicago lawyer, was of outstandingbrilliancy. A. O. Stafford, of Washington, isa special student of the folklore of Africa.He has contributed several scholarly papers tothe Journal of Negro History, and he has alsopublished through the American Book Com-pany an interesting supplementary reader,"Animal Fables From the Dark Continent."Alain Locke is interested in both philosophicaland literary studies, represented by "TheAmerican Temperament," a paper contributedto the North American Review (August, 1911),and a paper on Emile Verharen in the PoetryReview (January, 1917).

Little has been accomplished in sustained


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Other Writers 73poetic flight. Of shorter lyric verse, however,many booklets have appeared. As this is thefield that offers peculiar opportunity for sub-jective expression, more has been attemptedin it than in any other department of artisticendeavor. It demands, therefore, special at-tention, and the study will take us back beforethe Civil War.The first person to attract much attention

after Phillis Wheatley was George Moses Hor-ton, of North Carolina, who was born in 1797and died about 1880 (or 1883). He was am-bitious to learn, was the possessor of unusualliterary talent, and in one way or another re-ceived instruction from various persons. Hevery soon began to write verse, all of whichwas infused with his desire for freedom, andmuch of which was suggested by the commonevangelical hynms, as were the following lines:

Alas! and am I bom for this.To wear this slavish chain?

Deprived of all created bliss,Through hardship, toil, and pain?

How long have I in bondage lain,And languished to be free!


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71^ The Negro in Literature and ArtAlas! and must I still complain,

Deprived of liberty?

Come, Liberty! thou cheerful sound,Roll through my ravished ears;

Come, let my grief in joys be drowned,And drive away my fears.

Some of Horton's friends became interestedin him and desired to help him publish a volumeof liis poems, so that from the sale of these hemigh

benjamin griffith brawley--the negro in literature and art in the united states (1918)

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