The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States
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I
THE NEGRO GENIUS
In his lecture on "The Poetic Principle," in leading down to hisdefinition of poetry, Edgar Allan Poe has called attention to the threefaculties, intellect, feeling, and will, and shown that poetry, that thewhole realm of aesthetics in fact, is concerned primarily and solelywith the second of these. _Does it satisfy a sense of beauty?_ This ishis sole test of a poem or of any work of art, the aim being neither toappeal to the intellect by satisfying the reason or inculcating truth,nor to appeal to the will by satisfying the moral sense or inculcatingduty.
The standard has often been criticised as narrow; yet it embodies alarge and fundamental element of truth. If in connection with it westudy the Negro we shall find that two things are observable. One isthat any distinction so far won by a member of the race in America hasbeen almost always in some one of the arts; and the other is that anyinfluence so far exerted by the Negro on American civilization has beenprimarily in the field of aesthetics. To prove the point we may refer toa long line of beautiful singers, to the fervid oratory of Douglass, tothe sensuous poetry of Dunbar, to the picturesque style of DuBois, tothe mysticism of the paintings of Tanner, and to the elemental sculptureof Meta Warrick Fuller. Even Booker Washington, most practical ofAmericans, proves the point, the distinguishing qualities of hisspeeches being anecdote and brilliant concrete illustration.
Everyone must have observed a striking characteristic of the homes ofNegroes of the peasant class in the South. The instinct for beautyinsists upon an outlet, and if one can find no better picture he willpaste a circus poster or a flaring advertisement on the walls. Very fewhomes have not at least a geranium on the windowsill or a rosebush inthe garden. If also we look at the matter conversely we shall find thatthose things which are most picturesque make to the Negro the readiestappeal. Red is his favorite color simply because it is the mostpronounced of all colors. Goethe's "Faust" can hardly be said to be aplay primarily designed for the galleries. One never sees it fail,however, that in any Southern city this play will fill the gallery withthe so-called lower class of Negro people, who would never think ofgoing to another play of its class, but different; and the applausenever leaves one in doubt as to the reasons for Goethe's popularity. Itis the suggestiveness of the love scenes, the red costume ofMephistopheles, the electrical effects, and the rain of fire that givethe thrill desired--all pure melodrama of course. "Faust" is a good showas well as a good play.
In some of our communities Negroes are frequently known to "get happy"in church. Now a sermon on the rule of faith or the plan of salvation isnever known to awaken such ecstasy. This rather accompanies a vividportrayal of the beauties of heaven, with the walls of jasper, theangels with palms in their hands, and (_summum bonum!_) the feast ofmilk and honey. And just here is the dilemma so often faced by theoccupants of pulpits in Negro churches. Do the people want scholarlytraining? Very often the cultured preacher will be inclined to answer inthe negative. Do they want rant and shouting? Such a standard fails atonce to satisfy the ever-increasing intelligence of the audience itself.The trouble is that the educated minister too often leaves out ofaccount the basic psychology of his audience. That preacher who willultimately be the most successful with a Negro congregation will be theone who to scholarship and culture can best join brilliant imaginationand fervid rhetorical expression. When all of these qualities arebrought together in their finest proportion the effect is irresistible.
Gathering up the threads of our discussion so far, we find that there isconstant striving on the part of the Negro for beautiful or strikingeffect, that those things which are most picturesque make the readiestappeal to his nature, and that in the sphere of religion he receiveswith most appreciation those discourses which are most imaginative inquality. In short, so far as the last point is concerned, it is not toomuch to assert that the Negro is thrilled not so much by the moral as bythe artistic and pictorial elements in religion.
But there is something deeper than the sensuousness of beauty that makesfor the possibilities of the Negro in the realm of the arts, and that isthe soul of the race. The wail of the old melodies and the plaintivequality that is ever present in the Negro voice are but the reflectionof a background of tragedy. No race can rise to the greatest heights ofart until it has yearned and suffered. The Russians are a case in point.Such has been their background in oppression and striving that theirliterature and art are to-day marked by an unmistakable note of power.The same future beckons to the American Negro. There is something veryelemental about the heart of the race, something that finds its originin the African forest, in the sighing of the night-wind, and in thefalling of the stars. There is something grim and stern about it all,too, something that speaks of the lash, of the child torn from itsmother's bosom, of the dead body riddled with bullets and swinging allnight from a limb by the roadside.
So far we have elaborated a theory. Let us not be misunderstood. We donot mean to say that the Negro can not rise to great distinction in anysphere other than the arts. He has already made a noteworthy beginningin pure scholarship and invention; especially have some of the youngermen done brilliant work in science. We do mean to say, however, thatevery race has its peculiar genius, and that, so far as we can atpresent judge, the Negro, with all his manual labor, is destined toreach his greatest heights in the field of the artistic. But the impulseneeds to be watched. Romanticism very soon becomes unhealthy. The Negrohas great gifts of voice and ear and soul; but so far much of his talenthas not soared above the stage of vaudeville. This is due most largelyof course to economic instability. It is the call of patriotism,however, that America should realize that the Negro has peculiar giftswhich need all possible cultivation and which will some day add to theglory of the country. Already his music is recognized as the mostdistinctive that the United States has yet produced. The possibilitiesof the race in literature and oratory, in sculpture and painting, areillimitable.
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Along some such lines as those just indicated it will be the aim of thefollowing pages to study the achievement of the Negro in the UnitedStates of America. First we shall consider in order five representativewriters who have been most constantly guided by standards of literaryexcellence. We shall then pass on to others whose literary work has beennoteworthy, and to those who have risen above the crowd in oratory,painting, sculpture, or music. We shall constantly have to remember thatthose here remarked are only a few of the many who have longed andstriven for artistic excellence. Some have pressed on to the goal oftheir ambition; but no one can give the number of those who, under hardconditions, have yearned and died in silence.