African American Poetry

“
You'll bloom a rare high-minded man;
Surpassing fair-faced men;
Would God, the Future, hold for you,
The hope it holds for them.
‍
“To a Little Colored Boy”
‍Priscilla Jane Thompson, 1900

1900

The title page of Ethiope Lays, “Printed and For Sale by The Authoress,” Priscilla Jane Thompson.

Anticipating doubts of authorship because of her race and gender, Priscilla Jane Thompson—the daughter of two runaway slaves—self-publishes her first book of poetry, Ethiope Lays, which includes “To a Little Colored Boy.”

James Weldon Johnson between 1900 and 1920.

James Weldon Johnson writes “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” to be performed by schoolchildren for a visit by Booker T. Washington on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The song would grow in fame and become known as the “Negro National Anthem.”

“
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

“Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing"
James Weldon Johnson, 1900

“
Unless you help to make the laws,
They'll steal your house with trumped-up clause.
‍
“Booker T. and W.E.B."
Dudley Randall, 1969

1905

The founding members of the Niagara Movement pose before Niagara Falls (c. 1905).

In response to Booker T. Washington’s accommodationist ideas, W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter found the Niagara Movement, the precursor to the NAACP. It advocates for civil rights, education, equality, and integration.

W.E.B. Du Bois in an undated photograph.

W.E.B. Du Bois writes “A Litany of Atlanta” in response to a recent race riot there.

1906

“
Bewildered we are and passion-tossed, mad with the madness of a mobbed and mocked and murdered people [...]

“A Litany at Atlanta"
W.E.B. DuBois, 1906

“
I was fifteen when you took me,
Your daughter's nursemaid;
You brushed my cheek
With your red-plumed chest
Whispering Martha, Martha--
Piercing me with the name
Of your dead wife, my white half-sister
Whom I resembled.

“Sally Hemings to Thomas Jefferson”
Cyrus Cassells, 1984

1910

W.E.B. Du Bois in the office of The Crisis, date unknown.

W.E.B. Du Bois founds The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP. It will be a major platform for Black activism, culture, and arts. It continues in this role to this day.

James D. Corrothers, 1923

Six years after Dunbar’s death, James D. Corrothers writes “Paul Laurence Dunbar,” a tribute to the poet whose use of “Negro dialect” influenced Corrothers' writing.

1912

“
He came, a dark youth, singing in the dawn
Of a new freedom, glowing o'er his lyre,
Refining, as with great Apollo's fire,
His people's gift of song.

“Paul Laurence Dunbar,"
James D. Corrothers, 1912

“
My eyes grew dim, and I could no more gaze;
A wave of longing through my body swept,
And, hungry for the old, familiar ways,
I turned aside and bowed my head and wept.

“The Tropics in New York"
Claude McKay, 1920

A young Claude McKay in an undated photo.

Claude McKay studies agriculture at the Tuskegee Institute before transferring and then dropping out altogether to become a writer in New York.

Olivia Ward Bush publishes her most famous poetry collection, Driftwood, reflecting issues concerning her heritage and identity as a Black and Native American writer and tribal historian. She would later become an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

1914

“
Then let me drift along the Bay of time,
Till my last sun shall set in glowing light;
Let me cast anchor where no shadows fall,
Full safely moored within Heaven's harbor bright.

“Driftwood (Drifiting)"
Olivia Ward Bush, 1914
(composed on June 12, 1898)

“
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile

“We Wear the Mask"
Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1895

1915

The overtly racist film The Birth of a Nation premieres, celebrating the Ku Klux Klan and sparking the group’s resurgence throughout the United States. Many Black Americans, including William Monroe Trotter, protest the film and advocate for its ban.

Angelina Weld Grimke writes the anti-lynching protest play Rachel.

1916

“
Sensitive,
Exquisite,
A black finger
Pointing upwards.
Why beautiful, still finger, are you black?
And why are you pointing upwards?

“The Black Finger"
Angelina Weld Grimke, 1923

One of many families who left the rural South during the Great Migration arriving in Chicago in 1922.

The Great Migration begins, in which more than six million Black Americans move from the South to northern cities.

“
On the no'thern road.
These Mississippi towns ain't
Fit fer a hoppin' toad.

“Bound No'th Blues"
Langston Hughes, 1926

“
Lo, he has learned his own immortal rôle
In this momentous drama of the hour;
Has read aright the heavens' Scriptural scroll
'Bove ancient wrong—long boasting in its tower.
Ah, he has sensed the truth. Deep in his soul
He feels the manly majesty of power.

“The New Negro"
Lucian B. Watkins, 1923

1917

A group of “Negro Warriors” receive the French Croix de Guerre, a medal recognizing heroic deeds during combat, during World War I.

The United States enters World War I, which begins in August 1914 and ends with the
the Armistice of November 11, 1918.

Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr.

Much of Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr.’s earlier poetry responds to the war and the racial inequalities that it draws into focus.

“
Brother, come!
And let us go unto our God.
And when we stand before Him
I shall say—
"Lord, I do not hate.
I am hated.
I scourge no one,
I am scourged.
I covet no lands,
My lands are coveted.
I mock no peoples,
My people are mocked."
And brother, what shall you say?

“And What Shall You Say?"
Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr., 1920

“
I sit and sew—my heart aches with desire—
That pageant terrible, that fiercely pouring fire
On wasted fields, and writhing grotesque things
Once men.

“I Sit and Sew"
Alice Dunbar Nelson, 1918

Alice Dunbar-Nelson, 1923.

Alice Dunbar-Nelson, an advocate for Black support of America’s war effort in WWI, writes “I Sit and Sew” (1918), reflecting her frustrations as a Black woman on the homefront.

The Messenger staff at work in their office, c. 1920. Front covers of the magazine hang on the back wall.

The Messenger magazine is founded. It would go on to be an important venue for Black literature, politics, and arts during the Harlem Renaissance.

“
And it's mighty poor religion
That won't keep a man from fear;
For the next place must be heaven,
Since 'tis hell we are having here.

“Here and Hereafter"
Walter Everette Hawkins, first published in The Messenger in November 1917

LiFt EveRy VOiCe

1900 - 1918