VII
OTHER WRITERS
In addition to those who have been mentioned, there have been scores ofwriters who would have to be considered if we were dealing with theliterature of the Negro in the widest sense of the term. Not tooclearly, however, can the limitations of our subject be insisted upon.We are here concerned with distinctly literary or artistic achievement,and not with work that belongs in the realm of religion, sociology, orpolitics. Only briefer mention accordingly can be given to these latterfields.
Naturally, from the first there have been works dealing with the placeof the Negro in American life. Outstanding after the numeroussociological studies and other contributions to periodical literature ofDr. DuBois are the books of the late Booker T. Washington.Representative of these are "The Future of the American Negro," "MyLarger Education," and "The Man Farthest Down." As early as 1829,however, David Walker, of Boston, published his passionate "Appeal," aprotest against slavery that awakened Southern legislatures to action;and in the years just before the Civil War, Henry Highland Garnet wrotesermons and addresses on the status of the race in America, whileWilliam Wells Brown wrote "Three Years in Europe," and various otherworks, some of which will receive later mention. After the war,Alexander Crummell became an outstanding figure by reason of his sermonsand addresses, many of which were preserved. He was followed by aninteresting group of scholarly men, represented especially by William S.Scarborough, Kelly Miller, and Archibald H. Grimke. Mr. Scarborough isnow president of Wilberforce University. He has contributed numerousarticles to representative magazines. His work in more technical fieldsis represented by his "First Lessons in Greek," a treatise on the"Birds" of Aristophanes, and his paper in the _Arena_ (January, 1897) on"Negro Folk-Lore and Dialect." Mr. Miller is Dean of the College of Artsand Sciences at Howard University. He has collected his numerous andcogent papers in two volumes, "Race Adjustment," and "Out of the Houseof Bondage." The first is the more varied and interesting of the twobooks, but the latter contains the poetic rhapsody, "I See and AmSatisfied," first published in the _Independent_ (August 7, 1913). Mr.A. H. Grimke, as well as Mr. Miller, has contributed to the _Atlantic_;and he has written the lives of Garrison and Sumner in the AmericanReformers Series. "Negro Culture in West Africa," by George W. Ellis, isoriginal and scholarly; "The Aftermath of Slavery," by William A.Sinclair, is a volume of more than ordinary interest; and "The AfricanAbroad," by William H. Ferris, while confused in construction and form,contains much thoughtful material. Within recent years there have beenpublished a great many works, frequently illustrated, on the progressand achievements of the race. Very few of these books are scholarly.Three collaborations, however, are of decided value. One is a littlevolume entitled, "The Negro Problem," consisting of seven papers byrepresentative Negroes, and published in 1903 by James Pott & Co., ofNew York. Another is "From Servitude to Service," published in 1905 bythe American Unitarian Association of Boston, and made up of the OldSouth Lectures on the history and work of Southern institutions for theeducation of the Negro; while the third collaboration is, "The Negro inthe South," published in 1907 by George W. Jacobs & Co., ofPhiladelphia, and made up of four papers, two by Dr. Washington, and twoby Dr. DuBois, which were the William Levi Bull Lectures in thePhiladelphia Divinity School for the year 1907.
Halfway between works on the Negro Problem and those in history, arethose in the field of biography and autobiography. For decades beforethe Civil War the experiences of fugitive slaves were used as a part ofthe anti-slavery argument. In 1845 appeared the "Narrative of the Lifeof Frederick Douglass," this being greatly enlarged and extended in 1881as "The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass." In similar vein was the"Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro," by Samuel Ringgold Ward. ThenJosiah Henson (the original of Uncle Tom) and Sojourner Truth issuedtheir narratives. Collections of more than ordinary interest wereWilliam Wells Brown's "The Black Man" (1863), James M. Trotter's "Musicand Some Highly Musical People" (1878), and William J. Simmons's "Men ofMark" (1887). John Mercer Langston's "From the Virginia Plantation tothe National Capitol" is interesting and serviceable; special interestattaches to Matthew Henson's "A Negro Explorer at the North Pole"; whileMaud Cuney Hare's "Norris Wright Cuney" was a distinct contribution tothe history of Southern politics. The most widely known work in thisfield, however, is "Up From Slavery," by Booker T. Washington. Theunaffected and simple style of this book has made it a model of personalwriting, and it is by reason of merit that the work has gained unusualcurrency.
The study, of course, becomes more special in the field of history.Interest from the first was shown in church history. This wasrepresented immediately after the war by Bishop Daniel A. Payne'sstudies in the history of the A. M. E. Church, and twenty-five yearslater, for the Baptist denomination, by E. M. Brawley's "The NegroBaptist Pulpit." One of the earliest writers of merit was William C.Nell, who, in 1851, published his pamphlet, "Services of ColoredAmericans in the Wars of 1776 and 1812." "The Rising Son," by WilliamWells Brown, was an account of "the antecedents and advancement of thecolored race"; the work gave considerable attention to Africa, Hayti,and the colonies, and was quite scholarly in method. Then, in 1872, fullof personal experience, appeared William Still's "The UndergroundRailroad." The epoch-making work in history, however, was the two-volume"History of the Negro Race in America," by George W. Williams, which wasissued in 1883. This work was the exploration of a new field and theresult of seven years of study. The historian more than once wrotesubjectively, but his work was, on the whole, written with unusuallygood taste. After thirty years some of his pages have, of course, beensuperseded; but his work is even yet the great storehouse for studentsof Negro history. Technical study within recent years is bestrepresented by the Harvard doctorate theses of Dr. DuBois and Dr.Carter G. Woodson. That of Dr. DuBois has already been mentioned. Thatof Dr. Woodson was entitled "The Disruption of Virginia." Dr. Woodson isthe editor of the _Journal of Negro History_, a quarterly magazine thatbegan to appear in 1916, and that has already published several articlesof the first order of merit. He has also written "The Education of theNegro Prior to 1861," a work in the most scientific spirit of modernhistorical study, to which a companion volume for the later period isexpected. Largely original also in the nature of their contribution havebeen "The Haitian Revolution," by T. G. Steward, and "The Facts ofReconstruction," by John R. Lynch; and, while less intensive,interesting throughout is J. W. Cromwell's "The Negro in AmericanHistory."
Many of the younger writers are cultivating the short story. Especiallyhave two or three, as yet unknown to the wider public, done excellentwork in connection with syndicates of great newspapers. "The Goodness ofSt. Rocque, and Other Stories," by Alice Moore Dunbar (now Mrs. Nelson),is representative of the stronger work in this field. Numerous attemptsat the composition of novels have also been made. Even before the CivilWar was over appeared William Wells Brown's "Clotille: A Tale of theSouthern States." It is in this special department, however, that asense of literary form has frequently been most lacking. Thedistinctively literary essay has not unnaturally suffered from thegeneral pressure of the Problem. A paper in the _Atlantic Monthly_(February, 1906), however, "The Joys of Being a Negro," by Edward E.Wilson, a Chicago lawyer, was of outstanding brilliancy. A. O. Stafford,of Washington, is a special student of the folklore of Africa. He hascontributed several scholarly papers to the _Journal of Negro History_,and he has also published through the American Book Company aninteresting supplementary reader, "Animal Fables From the DarkContinent." Alain Locke is interested in both philosophical and literarystudies, represented by "The American Temperament," a paper contributedto the _North American Review_ (August, 1911), and a paper on EmileVerhaeren in the _Poetry Review_ (January, 1917).
Little has been accomplished in sustained poetic flight. Of shorterlyric verse, however, many booklets have appeared. As this is the fieldthat offers peculiar opportunity for subjective expression, more hasbeen attempted in it than in any other department of artistic endeavor.It demands, th
erefore, special attention, and the study will take usback before the Civil War.
The first person to attract much attention after Phillis Wheatley wasGeorge Moses Horton, of North Carolina, who was born in 1797 and diedabout 1880 (or 1883). He was ambitious to learn, was the possessor ofunusual literary talent, and in one way or another received instructionfrom various persons. He very soon began to write verse, all of whichwas infused with his desire for freedom, and much of which was suggestedby the common evangelical hymns, as were the following lines:
Alas! and am I born 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! Alas! 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 interested in him and desired to helphim publish a volume of his poems, so that from the sale of these hemight purchase his freedom and go to the new colony of Liberia. Theyoung man became fired with ambition and inspiration. Thrilled by thenew hope, he wrote:
'Twas like the salutation of the dove, Borne on the zephyr through some lonesome grove, When spring returns, and winter's chill is past, And vegetation smiles above the blast.
Horton's master, however, demanded for him an exorbitant price, and when"The Hope of Liberty" appeared in 1829 it had nothing of the sale thatwas hoped for. Disappointed in his great desire, the poet seems to havelost ambition. He became a janitor around the state university at ChapelHill, executed small commissions for verse from the students, whotreated him kindly, and in later years went to Philadelphia; but his olddreams had faded. Several reprintings of his poems were made, however,and one of these was bound with the 1838 edition of Phillis Wheatley'spoems.
In 1854 appeared the first edition of "Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects,"by Frances Ellen Watkins, commonly known as Mrs. Frances E. W. Harper.Mrs. Harper was a woman of exceptionally strong personality and couldread her poems to advantage. Her verse was very popular, not less thanten thousand copies of her booklets being sold. It was decidedly lackingin technique, however, and much in the style of Mrs. Hemans. Mrs. Harperwas best when most simple, as when in writing of children she said:
I almost think the angels Who tend life's garden fair, Drop down the sweet white blossoms That bloom around us here.
The secret of her popularity was to be seen in such lines as thefollowing from "Bury Me in a Free Land":
Make me a grave where'er you will, In a lowly plain or a lofty hill; Make it among earth's humblest graves, But not in a land where men are slaves.
Of the Emancipation Proclamation she wrote:
It shall flash through coming ages, It shall light the distant years; And eyes now dim with sorrow Shall be brighter through their tears.
While Mrs. Harper was still prominently before the public appearedAlbery A. Whitman, a Methodist minister, whose "Not a Man and Yet a Man"appeared in 1877. The work of this writer is the most baffling withwhich this book has to deal. It is diffuse, exhibits many lapses intaste, is uneven metrically, as if done in haste, and shows imitation onevery hand. It imitates Whittier, Longfellow, Tennyson, Scott, Byron andMoore. "The Old Sac Village" and "Nanawawa's Suitors" are very evidently"Hiawatha" over again; and "Custer's Last Ride" is simply anotherversion of "The Charge of the Light Brigade." "The Rape of Florida"exhibits the same general characteristics as the earlier poems. Andyet, whenever one has about decided that Whitman is not worthy ofconsideration, he insists on a revision of judgment. The fact is that heshows a decided faculty for brisk narration. This may be seen in "TheHouse of the Aylors." He has, moreover, a romantic lavishness ofdescription that, in spite of all technical faults, still has somedegree of merit. The following quotations, taken respectively from "TheMowers" and "The Flight of Leeona," will exemplify both his extravaganceand his possibilities in description:
The tall forests swim in a crimson sea, Out of whose bright depths rising silently, Great golden spires shoot into the skies, Among the isles of cloudland high, that rise, Float, scatter, burst, drift off, and slowly fade, Deep in the twilight, shade succeeding shade.
* * * * *
And now she turns upon a mossy seat, Where sings a fern-bound stream beneath her feet, And breathes the orange in the swooning air; Where in her queenly pride the rose blooms fair, And sweet geranium waves her scented hair; There, gazing in the bright face of the stream, Her thoughts swim onward in a gentle dream.
In "A Dream of Glory" occur the lines:
The fairest blooms are born of humble weeds, That faint and perish in the pathless wood; And out of bitter life grow noble deeds To pass unnoticed in the multitude.
Whitman's shortcomings become readily apparent when he attemptssustained work. "The Rape of Florida" is the longest poem yet written bya Negro in America, and also the only attempt by a member of the race touse the elaborate Spenserian stanza throughout a long piece of work. Thestory is concerned with the capture of the Seminoles in Florida throughperfidy and the taking of them away to their new home in the West. Itcenters around three characters, Palmecho, an old chief, Ewald, hisdaughter, and Atlassa, a young Seminole who is Ewald's lover. The poemis decidedly diffuse; there is too much subjective description, toolittle strong characterization. Palmecho, instead of being a stoutwarrior, is a "chief of peace and kindly deeds." Stanzas of merit,however, occasionally strike the eye. The boat-song forces recognitionas genuine poetry:
"Come now, my love, the moon is on the lake; Upon the waters is my light canoe; Come with me, love, and gladsome oars shall make A music on the parting wave for you,--
Come o'er the waters deep and dark and blue; Come where the lilies in the marge have sprung, Come with me, love, for Oh, my love is true!" This is the song that on the lake was sung, The boatman sang it over when his heart was young.
In 1890 Whitman brought out an edition of "Not a Man and Yet a Man" and"The Rape of Florida," adding to these a collection of miscellaneouspoems, "Drifted Leaves," and in 1901 he published "An Idyl of theSouth," an epic poem in two parts. It is to be regretted that he did nothave the training that comes from the best university education. He hadthe taste and the talent to benefit from such culture in the greatestdegree.
All who went before him were, of course, superseded in 1896 by PaulLaurence Dunbar; and Dunbar started a tradition. Throughout the countrythere sprang up imitators, and some of the imitations were more thanfair. All of this, however, was a passing phenomenon. Those who arewriting at the present day almost invariably eschew dialect and insistupon classics forms and measures. Prominent among these is James WeldonJohnson. Mr. Johnson has seen a varied career as teacher, writer, consulfor the United States in foreign countries, especially Nicaragua, andnational organizer for the National Association for the Advancement ofColored People. He has written numerous songs, which have been set tomusic by his brother, Rosamond Johnson, or Harry T. Burleigh; he madefor the Metropolitan Opera the English translation of the Spanish opera,"Goyescas," by Granados and Periquet; and in 1916, while associated withthe _Age_, of New York, in a contest opened by the _Public Ledger_, ofPhiladelphia, to editorial writers all over the country, he won a thirdprize of two hundred dollars for a campaign editorial. The remarkablebook, "Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man," half fact, half fiction, waspublished anonymously, but is generally credited to Mr. Johnson. Veryrecently (December, 1917) has appeared this writer's collection, "FiftyYears and Other Poems." In pure lyric flow he is best represented by twopoems in the _Century_. One was a sonnet entitled, "Mother Night"(February, 1910):
Eternities before the first-born day, Or
ere the first sun fledged his wings of flame, Calm Night, the everlasting and the same, A brooding mother over chaos lay. And whirling suns shall blaze and then decay, Shall run their fiery courses and then claim The haven of the darkness whence they came; Back to Nirvanic peace shall grope their way. So when my feeble sun of life burns out, And sounded is the hour for my long sleep, I shall, full weary of the feverish light, Welcome the darkness without fear or doubt, And, heavy-lidded, I shall softly creep Into the quiet bosom of the Night.
When we think of the large number of those who have longed for successin artistic expression, and especially of the first singer of the oldmelodies, we could close this review with nothing better than Mr.Johnson's tribute, "O Black and Unknown Bards" (_Century_, November,1908):
O black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire? How, in your darkness, did you come to know The power and beauty of the minstrel's lyre? Who first from 'midst his bonds lifted his eyes? Who first from out the still watch, lone and long, Feeling the ancient faith of prophets rise Within his dark-kept soul, burst into song?
There is a wide, wide wonder in it all, That from degraded rest and servile toil, The fiery spirit of the seer should call These simple children of the sun and soil. O black singers, gone, forgot, unfamed, You--you alone, of all the long, long line Of those who've sung untaught, unknown, unnamed, Have stretched out upward, seeking the divine.
You sang not deeds of heroes or of kings: No chant of bloody war, nor exulting paean Of arms-won triumphs; but your humble strings You touched in chords with music empyrean. You sang far better than you knew, the songs That for your listeners' hungry hearts sufficed Still live--but more than this to you belongs: You sang a race from wood and stone to Christ.
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