''An Anthology of Verse by American Negroes'' is a 1924 poetry anthology compiled by
Newman Ivey White
Newman Ivey White (February 3, 1892 – December 6, 1948) was an American professor of English at Duke University. He was born in Statesville, North Carolina, United States. He was a noted Shelley scholar, as well as a collector of American folkl ...
and
Walter Clinton Jackson
Walter Clinton Jackson (June 28, 1879August 12, 1959) was an American educator.
Biography
Jackson was born on June 28, 1879, to Albert Leroy Jackson, a farmer, and Jane Granade Jackson, a teacher, in Hayston, Georgia. After attending public scho ...
. The anthology is considered one of the major anthologies of black poetry to be published during the
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
, and was republished in 1969. In reviews, the anthology has been positively received for the effort it made to compile poetry, but criticized for ambiguous criticism and poor selection of poems.
Background
The
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American life centered in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
,
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. A major aspect of this revival was poetry.
Hundreds of poems were written and published by African Americans during the era, which covered a wide variety of themes.
The
Poetry Foundation
The Poetry Foundation is an American literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist Rut ...
wrote that poets in the Harlem Renaissance "explored the beauty and pain of black life and sought to define themselves and their community outside of white stereotypes."
Poets such as
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...
,
James Weldon Johnson
James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871June 26, 1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peop ...
, and
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance.
Early life
Childhood
Countee LeRoy Porter ...
became well known for their poetry, which was often
inspired by jazz.
The poetry of the era was published in several different ways, notably in the form of anthologies. ''
The Book of American Negro Poetry
''The Book of American Negro Poetry'' is a 1922 poetry anthology that was compiled by James Weldon Johnson. The first edition, published in 1922, was "the first of its kind ever published" and included the works of thirty-one poets. A second editio ...
'' (1922), ''
Negro Poets and Their Poems'' (1923), ''An Anthology of Verse by American Negroes'' (1924), and ''
Caroling Dusk
''Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Black Poets of the Twenties: Anthology of Black Verse'' is a 1927 poetry anthology that was edited by Countee Cullen. It has been republished at least three times, in 1955, 1974, and 1995 and included work ...
'' (1927) have been cited as four major poetry anthologies of the Harlem Renaissance.
Publication details
The work included an introduction as well as biographical information about the poets whose work was included.
James Hardy Dillard wrote the introduction, and the 250 page first edition of the book was published in 1924 by
Trinity University Press
Trinity University Press is a university press affiliated with Trinity University, which is located in San Antonio, Texas. Trinity University Press was officially founded in 1967 after the university acquired the Illinois-based Principia Press. T ...
. It was edited by
Newman Ivey White
Newman Ivey White (February 3, 1892 – December 6, 1948) was an American professor of English at Duke University. He was born in Statesville, North Carolina, United States. He was a noted Shelley scholar, as well as a collector of American folkl ...
and
Walter Clinton Jackson
Walter Clinton Jackson (June 28, 1879August 12, 1959) was an American educator.
Biography
Jackson was born on June 28, 1879, to Albert Leroy Jackson, a farmer, and Jane Granade Jackson, a teacher, in Hayston, Georgia. After attending public scho ...
.
In 1969 Moore Publishing Company re-released the anthology along with ''Nine Black Poets'', a collection of poems by nine prominent black poets that was edited by R. B. Shuman.
The editors wrote in the preface that they were "Southern white men who desire the most cordial relations between the races" and that they hoped "this volume will help its white readers more clearly to understand the Negro's feelings on certain questions that must be settled by the cooperation of the two races." However, they clarified that the intention of the collection was not to patronize black authors, but to provide an "honest, unbiased appraisal."
Works included
The anthology included 34 poets in total, 6 of which were women, as well as father and son
Joseph Seamon (printed as "Seaman")
Cotter, and
Joseph S. Cotter Jr. respectively. Paul Laurence Dunbar is featured most prominently with 31 poems.
Reception
W. E. B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...
reviewed the anthology in the magazine ''
The Crisis
''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Mi ...
'', which he published. Du Bois described ''An Anthology of Verse by American Negroes'' as "a thoroughly sincere bit of work for which these men
he editors
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
should have the thanks of the Negro race." He noted that the editors picked poems which were generally similar to what Johnson (the editor of ''The Book of American Negro Poetry'') and
Robert T. Kerlin (editor of ''Negro Poets and Their Poems'') selected, with "perhaps somewhat greater emphasis on many comparatively unknown Negro poets."
A review in ''
The Journal of Negro History
''The Journal of African American History'', formerly ''The Journal of Negro History'' (1916–2001), is a quarterly academic journal covering African-American life and history. It was founded in 1916 by Carter G. Woodson. The journal is owned and ...
'' described the publication of the anthology by two white men as "an event of no mean significance" yet noted that the authors gave "their own race much credit of the development of this power of the Negro." The reviewer declared that the anthology "marks an epoch in the recognition of Negro achievements in this country" yet felt that "we cannot conclude the literary productions of these poets have thereby been properly evaluated".
A review of the 1969 republication by
Andreas Schroeder
Andreas Schroeder (b. , West Germany 26 November 1946) is a German-born Canadian poet, novelist, and nonfiction writer who lives in the small town of Roberts Creek, British Columbia.
Career
Schroeder is the author of some 23 books, including ...
noted that "a more paranoid trio of editors you could hardly find. Desperately afraid of offending their Negro readers, yet conscious of their role as critical editors
. .they fall back repeatedly into an empty, non-committal commentary or a carefully tolerant, bordering on the patronizing, attitude." He considered the collection "a little like an attempt to make black poetry white" by selecting for specific types of poems. Similarly, Schroeder, a Canadian poet, criticized the division of literature into "black" and "white" camps, saying that it is "not differentiated by colors". He felt most of the poetry to not be great and unrepresentative of the quality of Black poetry. The poems, which were "almost all extreme in one way or another" did allow him to "sympathize" with the reasons they were written.
In 1989, the scholar Vilma R. Potter agreed, considering White's criticism characterized by ambiguity.
References
{{Reflist
1924 poetry books