YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE NEGRO IN LITERATURE AND ART s6t PHILLIS WHEATLEY The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States BY > BENJAMIN BRAWLEY Author of "A S. art History of the American Negro," "History of Moreh. mse College" and "Richard Le OaUienne: A Study of His Poetry " NEW YORK DUFFIELD & COMPANY 1918 Copyright, 1918, by Dufmeld A Co. TO MY FATHER EDWARD MacKNIGHT BRAWLEY WITH THANKS FOE SEVEEE TEACHING AND STIMULATING CBITICISM CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE Preface . xi I. The Negro Genius 3 II. Phillis Wheatley 10 III. Paul Laurence Dunbar 33 IV. Charles W. Chesnutt 45 V. W. E. Burghardt Du Bois 50 VI. William Stanley Braithwaite 56 VII. Other Writers 65 VIII. Orators. — Douglass and Washington ... 83 IX. The Stage 97 X. Painters. — Henry O. Tanner 103 XI. Sculptors. — Meta Warrick Fuller . . . 112 XII. Music 125 Appendix: 1. The Neqso in American Fiction 145 2. Study os Biblioqbaphy 160 ILLUSTRATIONS Phillis Wheatley Frontispiece Paul Laurence Dunbar Facing p. 34 Charles W. Chesnutt . . . W. E. Burghardt Du Bois . . William Stanley Braithwaite Henry O. Tanner Meta Warrick Fuller . . . Harry T. Burleigh . . . ~*~. 46 5056 104112 130 PREFACE The present volume undertakes to treat somewhat more thoroughly than has ever be fore been attempted the achievement of the Negro in the United States along literary and artistic lines, judging this by ab^lute_rather than by Bart^.1 or hmited standards.. The work is the result of studies in which I first became interested nearly ten years ago. In 1910 a booklet, "The Negro in Literature and Art," appeared in Atlanta, privately printed. The little work contained only sixty pages. The reception accorded it, however, was even more cordial than I had hoped it might be, and the limited edition was soon exhausted. Its sub stance, in condensed form, was used in 1913 as the last chapter of "A Short History of the American Negro," brought out by the Mac- millan Co. In the mean time, however, new books and magazine articles were constantly appearing, and my own judgment on more than Preface one point had changed; so that the time has seemed ripe for a more intensive review of the whole field. To teachers who may be using the history as a text I hardly need to say that I should be pleased to have the present work supersede anything said in the last chap ter of that volume. The first chapter, and those on Mr. Braith waite and Mrs. Fuller, originally appeared in the Southern Workman. That on the Stage was a contribution to the Springfield Repub lican; and the supplementary chapter is from the Dial. All are here reprinted with the kind consent of the owners of those periodicals. Much of the quoted matter is covered by copy right. Thanks are especially due to Mr. Braith waite and Mr. J. W. Johnson for permission to use some of their poems, and to Dodd, Mead & Co., the publishers of the works of Dunbar. The bibliography is quite new. It is hoped that it may prove of service. Benjamin Brawley. North Cambridge, August, 1917. THE NEGRO IN LITERATURE AND ART THE NEGRO IN LITERATURE AND ART THE NEGRO GENIUS IN his lecture on "The Poetic Principle," in leading down to his definition of poetry, Edgar Allan Poe has called attention to the three faculties, intellect, feeling, and will, and shown that poetry, that the whole realm of aesthetics in fact, is concerned primarily and solely with the second of these. Does it satisfy a sense of beauty? This is his sole test of a poem or of any work of art, the aim being neither to appeal to the intellect by satisfying the reason or inculcating truth, nor to appeal to the will by satisfying the moral sense or inculcating duty. The standard has often been criticised as 3 4 The Negro in Literature and Art narrow; yet it embodies a large and funda mental element of truth. If in connection with it we study the Negro we shall find that two things are observable. One is that any dis tinction so far won by a member of the race in America has been almost always in some one of the arts; and the other is that any influence so far exerted by the Negro on American civ ilization has been primarily in the field of aesthetics. To prove the point we may refer to a long line of beautiful singers, to the fervid oratory of Douglass, to the sensuous poetry of Dunbar, to the picturesque style of DuBois, to the mysticism of the paintings of Tanner, and to the elemental sculpture of Meta War rick Fuller. Even Booker Washington, most practical of Americans, proves the point, the distinguishing qualities of his speeches being anecdote and brilliant concrete illustration. Everyone must have observed a striking characteristic of the homes of Negroes of the peasant class in the South. The instinct for beauty insists upon an outlet, and if one can find no better picture he will paste a circus poster or a flaring advertisement on the walls. Very few homes have not at least a geranium The Negro Genius 5 on the windowsill or a rosebush in the garden. If also we look at the matter conversely we shall find that those things which are most picturesque make to the Negro the readiest appeal. 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 a play primarily designed for the galleries. One never sees it fail, however, that in any Southern city this play will fill the gallery with the so- called lower class of Negro people, who would never think of going to another play of its class, but different; and the applause never leaves one in doubt as to the reasons for Goethe's popularity. It is the suggestiveness of the love scenes, the red costume of Mephis- topheles, the electrical effects, and the rain of fire that give the thrill desired — all pure melo drama of course. "Faust" is a good show as 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 is never known to awaken such ecstasy. This rather accompanies a vivid por trayal of the beauties of heaven, with the 6 The Negro in Literature and Art walls of jasper, the angels with palms in their hands, and (summum bonum!) the feast of milk and honey. And just here is the dilemma so often faced by the occupants of pulpits in Negro churches. Do the people want scholarly training? Very often the cultured preacher will be inclined to answer in the negative. Do they want rant and shouting? Such a standard fails at once to satisfy the ever-increasing in telligence of the audience itself. The trouble is that the educated minister too often leaves out of account the basic psychology of his audience. That preacher who will ultimately be the most successful with a Negro congre gation will be the one who to scholarship and culture can best join brilliant imagination and fervid rhetorical expression. When all of these qualities are brought together in their finest proportion the effect is irresistible. Gathering up the threads of our discussion so far, we find that there is constant striving on the part of the Negro for beautiful or strik ing effect, that those things which are most picturesque make the readiest appeal to his nature, and that in the sphere of religion he receives with most appreciation those dis- The Negro Genius 7 courses which are most imaginative in quality. In short, so far as the last point is concerned, it is not too much to assert that the Negro is thrilled not so much by the moral as by the artistic and pictorial elements in religion. But there is something deeper than the sen- suousness of beauty that makes for the possi bilities of the Negro in the realm of the arts, and that is the soul of the race. The wail of the old melodies and the plaintive quality that is ever present in the Negro voice are but the reflection of a background of tragedy. No race can rise to the greatest heights of art until it has yearned and suffered. The Rus sians are a case in point. Such has been their background in oppression and striving that their literature and art are to-day marked by an unmistakable note of power. The same future beckons to the American Negro. There is something very elemental about the heart of the race, something that finds its origin in the African forest, in the sighing of the night- wind, and in the falling of the stars. There is something grim and stern about it all, too, something that speaks of the lash, of the child torn from its mother's bosom, of the dead body 8 The Negro in Literature and Art riddled with bullets and swinging all night from a limb by the roadside. So far we have elaborated a theory. Let us not be misunderstood. We do not mean to say that the Negro can not rise to great dis tinction in any sphere other than the arts. He has already made a noteworthy beginning in pure scholarship and invention; especially have some of the younger men done brilliant work in science. We do mean to say, however, that every race has its peculiar genius, and that, so far as we can at present judge, the Negro, with all his manual labor, is destined to reach his greatest heights in the field of the artistic. But the impulse needs to be watched. Roman ticism very soon becomes unhealthy. The Negro has great gifts of voice and ear and soul; but so far much of his talent has not soared above the stage of vaudeville. This is due most largely of course to economic in stability. It is the call of patriotism, how ever, that America should realize that the Negro has peculiar gifts which need all possible cultivation and which will some day add to the glory of the country. Already his music is recognized as the most distinctive that the The Negro Genius 9 United States has yet produced. The possi bilities of the race in literature and oratory, in sculpture and painting, are illimitable. Along some such lines as those just indi cated it will be the aim of the following pages to study the achievement of the Negro in the United States of America. First we shall consider in order five representative writers who have been most constantly guided by standards of literary excellence. We shall then pass on to others whose literary work has been noteworthy, and to those who have risen above the crowd in oratory, painting, sculpture, or music. We shall constantly have to remember that those here remarked are only a few of the many who have longed and striven for artistic excellence. Some have pressed on to the goal of their ambition; but no one can give the number of those who, under hard conditions, have yearned and died iu silence. II PHILLIS WHEATLEY ON one of the slave ships that came to the harbor of Boston in the year 1761 was a little Negro girl of very delicate figure. The vessel on which she arrived came from Senegal. With her dirty face and unkempt hair she must indeed have been a pitiable object in the eyes of would-be purchasers. The hardships of the voyage, however, had given an unusual brightness to the eye of the child, and at least one woman had discernment enough to appreciate her real worth. Mrs. Susannah Wheatley, wife of John Wheatley, a tailor, desired to possess a girl whom she might train to be a special servant for her de clining years, as the slaves already in her home were advanced in age and growing feeble. Attracted by the gentle demeanor of the child in question, she bought her, took her home, and gave her the name of Phillis. When the 10 Phillis Wheatley 11 young slave became known to the world it was customary for her to use also the name of the family to which she belonged. She always spelled her Christian name P-h-i-1-l-i-s. Phillis Wheatley was born very probably in 1753. The poem on Whitefield published in 1770 said on the title-page that she was seven teen years old. When she came to Boston she was shedding her front teeth. Her memory of her childhood in Africa was always vague. She knew only that her mother poured out water before the rising sun. This was probably a rite of heathen worship. Mrs. Wheatley walTa woman of unusual re finement. Her home was well known to the people of fashion and culture in Boston, and King Street in which she lived was then as noted for its residences as it is now, under the name of State Street, famous for its commercial arid banking houses. When Phillis entered the Wheatley home the family consisted of four persons, Mr. and Mrs. Wheatley, then- son Nathaniel, and their daughter Mary. Nathaniel and Mary were twins, born May 4, 1743. Mrs. Wheatley was also the mother of three other children, Sarah, John, and Susan- 12 The Negro in Literature and Art nah; but all of these died in early youth. Mary Wheatley, accordingly, was the only daughter of the family that Phillis knew to any extent, and she was eighteen years old when her mother brought the child to the house, that is, just a little more than ten years older than Phillis. In her new home the girl showed signs of remarkable talent. Her childish desire for expression found an outlet in the figures which she drew with charcoal or chalk on the walls of the house. Mrs. Wheatley and her daughter became so interested in the ease with which she assimilated knowledge that they began to teach her. ** Within sixteen months from the"! time of her arrival in Boston Phillis was able to read fluently the most difficult parts of the Bible. From the first her mistress strove to , cultivate in every possible way her naturally pious disposition, and diligently gave her in struction in the Scriptures and in morals. In course of time, thanks especially to the teaching of Mary Wheatley, the learning of the young student came to consist of a little astronomy, some ancient and modern geog raphy, a little ancient history, a fair knowledge Phillis Wheatley 18 of the Bible, and a thoroughly appreciative acquaintance with the most important Latin classics, especially the works of Virgil and Ovid. She was proud of the fact that Terence was at least of African birth. She became pro ficient in grammar, developing a conception of style from practice rather than from theory. Pope's translation of Homer was her favorite English classic. If in the light of twentieth century opportunity and methods these at tainments seem in no wise remarkable, one must remember the disadvantages under which not only Phillis Wheatley, but all the women of her time, labored; and recall that in any case her attainments would have marked her as one of the most highly educated young women in Boston. While Phillis was trying to make the most of her time with her studies, she was also seek ing to develop herself in other ways. She had not been studying long before she began to feel that she too would like to make verses. Alexander Pope was still an important force in English literature, and the young student became his ready pupil. She was about four teen years old when she seriously began to 14 The Negro in Literature and Art cultivate her poetic talent; and one of the very earliest, and from every standpoint one of the most interesting of her efforts is the pathetic little juvenile poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America:" 'Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there's a God — that there's a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye — "Their colour is a diabolic dye." Remember, Christians, Negroes black as Gain May be refined, and join th' angelic train. Meanwhile, the life of Phillis was altogether different from that of the other slaves of the household. No hard labor was required of her, though she did the lighter work, such as dusting a room or polishing a table. Gradually she came to be regarded as a daughter and companion rather than as a slave. As she wrote poetry, more and more she proved to have a talent for writing occasional verse. Whenever any unusual event, such as a death, occurred in any family of the circle of Mrs. Wheatley's acquaintance, she would write lines on the same. She thus came to be re- Phillis Wheatley 15 garded as "a kind of poet-laureate in the domestic circles of Boston." She was frequently invited to the homes of people to whom Mrs. Wheatley had introduced her, and was re garded with peculiar interest and esteem, on account both of her singular position and her lovable nature. In her own room at home Phillis was specially permitted to have heat and a light, because her constitution was deli cate, and in order that she might write down her thoughts as they came to her, rather than trust them to her fickle memory. Such for some years was the course of the fife of Phillis Wheatley. The year 1770 saw the earliest publication of one of her poems. On the first printed page of this edition one might read the following announcement: "A Poem, By Phillis, a Negro Girl, in Boston, On the 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 the top of which one might with difficulty decipher, "G. W. Ob. 30 Sept. 1770, Aet. 56." The poem is addressed to the Countess of Hunt ingdon, whom Whitefield had served as chap lain, and to the orphan children of Georgia 16 The Negro in Literature and Art whom he had befriended. It takes up in the original less than four pages of large print. It was revised for the 1773 edition of the poems. In 1771 the first real sorrow of Phillis Wheat- ley came to her. On January 31st Mary Wheatley left the old home to become the wife of Rev. John Lathrop, pastor of the Second Church in Boston. This year is important for another event. On August 18th "Phillis, the u servant of Mr. Wheatley," became a communi cant of the Old South Meeting House in Boston. We are informed that "her membership in Old South was an exception to the rule that slaves were not baptized into the church." At that time the church was without a regular minister, though it had lately received the ex cellent teaching of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Sewell. This was a troublous time in the history of Boston. Already the storm of the Revolution was gathering. The period was one of vexa tion on the part of the slaves and their masters as well as on that of the colonies and England. The argument on the side of the slaves was that, as the colonies were still English terri tory, they were technically free, Lord Mans field having handed down the decision in 1772 PhiUis Wheatley 17 that as soon as a slave touched the soil of England he became free. Certainly PhiUis must have been a girl of unusual tact to be able under such conditions to hold so securely the esteem and affection of her many friends. About this time, as we learn from her cor respondence, her health began to fail. Almost all 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 women became acquainted is not known. Obour Tanner survived until the fourth decade of the next century. It was to her, then, still a young woman, that on July 19, 1772, Phillis wrote from Boston as follows: My Dear Feiend, — I received your kind epistle a few days ago; much disappointed to hear that you had not received my answer to your first letter. I have been in a very poor state of health all the past winter and spring, and now reside in the country for the benefit of its more wholesome air. I came to town this morning to spend the Sabbath with my master and mistress. Let me be inter ested in your prayers that God will bless to me the means used 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 18 The Negro in Literature and Art much concern. The family physician advised that she try the air of the sea. As Nathaniel Wheatley was just then going to England, it was decided that she should accompany him. The two sailed in May. The poem, "A Fare well to America," is dated May 7, 1773. It was addressed to "S. W.," that is, Mrs. Wheat- ley, f Before she left America, Phillis was formally manumitted. ^ The poem on Whitefield served well as an introduction to the Countess of Huntingdon. Through the influence of this noblewoman Phillis met other ladies, and for the summer the child of the wilderness was the pet of the society people of England. Now it was that a peculiar gift of Phillis Wheatley shone to advantage. To the recommendations of a strange history, ability to write verses, and the influence of kind friends, she added the accomplishment of brilliant conversation. Presents were showered upon her. One that has been preserved is a copy of the magnificent 1770 Glasgow folio edition of "Paradise Lost," given to her by Brook Watson, Lord Mayor of London. This book is now in the library of Harvard University. At the top of one of Phillis Wheatley 19 the first pages, in the handwriting of Phillis Wheatley, 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: "This book was given by Brook Watson formerly Lord Mayor of London to Phillis Wheatley & after her death was sold in payment of her husband's debts. It is now presented to the Library of Harvard University at Cambridge, by Dudley L. Pickman of Salem. March, 1824." Phillis had not arrived in England at the most fashionable season, however. The ladies of the circle of the Countess of Huntingdon desired that she remain long enough to be presented at the court of George III. An acci dent — the illness of Mrs. Wheatley — prevented the introduction. This lady longed for the presence of her old companion, and Phillis could not be persuaded to delay her return. Before she went back to Boston, however, ar rangements were made for the publication of her volume, " Poems jm Various Subjects, Rj> ligious and Moral," of which more must be said. While the book does not of course con- 20 The Negro in Literature and Art tain the later scattered poems, it is the only collection ever brought together by Phillis Wheatley, and the book by which she is known. The visit to England marked the highest point in the career of the young author. Her piety and faith were now to be put to their severest test, and her noble bearing under hardship and disaster must forever speak to her credit. In much of the sorrow that came to her she was not alone, for the period of the Revolution was one of general distress. Phillis remained in England barely four months. In October she was back in Boston. That she was little improved may be seen from the letter to Obour Tanner, bearing date the 30th of this month: I hear of your welfare with pleasure; but this acquaints you that I am at present indisposed by a cold, and since my arrival have been visited by the asthma. A postscript to this letter reads: The young man by whom this is handed to you seems to be a very clever man, knows you very' well, and is very complaisant and agreeable. / The "young man" was John Peters, after- \wards to be her husband. Phillis Wheatley 21 A great sorrow came to Phillis in the death on March 3, 1774, of her best friend, Mrs. Wheatley, then in her sixty-fifth year. How she felt about this event is best set forth in her own words in a letter addressed to Obour Tanner at Newport under date March 21, 1774: Deab Obour, — I received your obliging letter en closed in your Reverend Pastor's and handed me by his son. I have lately met with a great trial in the death of my mistress; let us imagine the loss of a parent, sister or brother, the tenderness of all were united in her. I was a poor little outcast and a stranger when she took me in; not only into her house, but I presently became a sharer in her most tender affections. I was treated by her more like her child than her servant; no opportunity was left unimproved of giving me the best of advice; but in terms how tender! how engaging! This I hope ever to keep in remembrance. Her exemplary life was a greater monitor than 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 satisfaction to see her depart in inexpressible raptures, earnest long ings, and impatient thirstings for the upper courts of the Lord. Do, my dear friend, remember me and this family in your closet, that this afflicting dispensation may be sanctified to us. I am very sorry to hear that you are indisposed, but hope this will find you in better health. I have been unwell the greater part of the winter, but am much better as the spring approaches. Pray excuse my 22 The Negro in Literature and Art not writing you so long before, for I have been so busy lately that I could not find leisure. I shall send the 5 books you wrote for, the first convenient opportunity; if you want more they shall be ready for you. I am very affectionately your friend, Phillis Wheatley. After the death of Mrs. Wheatley Phillis seems not to have lived regularly at the old home; at least one of her letters written in 1775 was sent from Providence. For Mr. Wheatley the house must have been a sad one; his daugh ter was married and living in her own home, his son was living abroad, and his wife was dead. It was in this darkening period of her life, however, that a very pleasant experience came to Phillis Wheatley. This was her reception at the hands of George/Washington."~JjOI75j while the siege of Boston was in progress, she wrote a letter to the distinguished soldier, en closing a complimentary poem. Washington later replied as follows: Cambbidge, Feb. 2, 1776. Miss Phillis, — Your favor of the 26th of October did not reach my hand till the middle of December. Time enough, you say, to have given an answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of important occurrences con tinually interposing to distract the mind and to withdraw Phillis Wheatley 23 the attention, I hope, will apologize for the delay and plead 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 undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your poetical talents, in honor of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I would have published the poem, had I not been apprehen sive that while I only meant to give the world this new instance of your genius, I might have incurred the im putation of vanity. This and nothing else determined me not to give it place in the public prints. If you should ever come to Cambridge or near headquarters, I shall be happy to see a person so favored by the muses, and to whom Nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations. I am, with great respect, Your obedient humble servant, Geoege Washington. Not long afterwards PhiUis accepted the invitation of the General and was received in i Cambridge with marked courtesy by Wash ington and his officers. The Wheatley home was finally broken up by the death of Mr. John Wheatley, March 12, 1778, at the age of seventy-two. After this event Phillis lived for a short time with a friend of Mrs. Wheatley, and then took an apartment and lived by herself. By April she 24 The Negro in Literature and Art had yielded to the blandishments of John Peters sufficiently to be persuaded to become his wife. [This man is variously reported to have been a baker, a barber, a grocer, a doctor, and a lawyer;. J With all of these professions and occupations, however, he seems not to have possessed the ability to make a living. He wore a wig, sported a cane, and generally felt himself superior to labor. Bereft of old friends as she was, however, sick and lonely, it is not surprising that when love and care seemed thus to present themselves the heart of the woman yielded. It was not long before she realized that she was married to a ne'er- do-well at a time when even an industrious man found it hard to make a living. The course of the Revolutionary War made it more and more difficult for people to secure the bare necessaries of life, and the horrors of Valley Forge were but an aggravation of the general distress. ^The year was further made memorable by the death of Mary Wheat- ley, Mrs. Lathrop, on the 24th of September^ When Boston fell into the hands of the British, the inhabitants fled in all directions. Mrs. Peters accompanied her husband to Wil- Phillis Wheatley 25 mington, Delaware, where she suffered much from poverty. After the evacuation of Boston by the British troops, she returned thither. A niece of Mrs. Wheatley, whose son had been slain in battle, received her under her own roof. This woman was a widow, was not wealthy, and kept a little school in order to support herself. Mrs. Peters and the two children whose mother she had become re mained with her for six weeks. Then Peters came for his wife, having provided an apart ment for her. Just before her departure for Wilmington, Mrs. Peters entrusted her papers to a daughter of the lady who received her on her return from that place. After her death these were demanded by Peters as the property of his wife. They were of course promptly given to him. Some years afterwards he re turned to the South, and nothing is known of what became of the manuscripts. The conduct of her husband estranged Mrs. Peters from her old acquaintances, and her pride kept her from informing them of her distress. After the war, however, one of Mrs. Wheatley's relatives hunted her out and found that her two children were dead, and that a 26 The Negro in Literature and Art third that had been born was sick. This seems to have been in the winter of 1783-84. Nathaniel Wheatley, who had been living in London, died in the summer of 1783. In 1784 John Peters suffered imprisonment in jail. After his liberation he worked as a journeyman baker, later attempted to practice law, and finally pretended to be a physician. His wife/**"- meanwhile, earned her board by drudgery in > a cheap lodging-house on the west side of the \ town. Her disease made rapid progressAj*uid .she died December 5, 1784. Her last baby died and was buried with her. No one of her old acquaintances seems to have known of her death. On the Thursday after this event, however, the following notice appeared in the Independent Chronicle: Last Lord's Day, died Mrs. Phillis Peters (formerly Phillis Wheatley), aged thirty-one, known to the world by her celebrated miscellaneous poems. Her funeral is to be this afternoon, at four o'clock, from the house lately improved by Mr. Todd, nearly opposite Dr. Bulfinch's at West Boston, where her friends and acquaintances are desired to attend. The house referred to was situated on or near the present site of the Revere House in Phillis Wheatley 27 Bowdoin Square. The exact site of the grave of Phillis 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 literature and art was still negligible. Her vogue, however, was more than temporary, and the 1793, 1802, and 1816 editions of her poems found ready sale. In the early years of the last century her verses were frequently to be found in school readers. From the first, however, there were those who discounted her poetry., Thomas Jefferson, for instance, said that it was beneath the dignity of criticism. If after 1816 interest in her work declined, , it was greatly revived at the. time of the^ anti-slavery agj±ation, when anything in dicating unusual capacity on the part of the Negro was received with eagerness. When Margaretta Matilda Odell of Jamaica Plain, a descendant of the Wheatley family, republished the poenis with a memoir in 1834, there was such a demand for the book that jtwo more editions were called for within the next three years. For a variety of reasons, especially an increasing race-consciousness on the part of 28 The Negro in Literature and Art the Negro, interest in her work has greatly increased within the last decade, and as copies of early editions had within recent years be come so rare as to be practically inaccessible, 'the reprint in_1909 of the volume of 1773 by the A. MTE. Book Concern in Philadelphia was especially welcome. Only two poems written by Phillis Wheatley after her marriage are in existence. These are "Liberty and Peace," and "An Elegy Sacred to the Memory of Dr. Samuel Cooper." Both were published in 1784. Of "Poems on Various Subjects," the following advertisement appeared in the Boston Gazette for January 24, 1774: This Day Published Adorn'd with an Elegant Engraving of the Author, (Price 3s. 4d. L. M. Bound,) POEMS on various subjects, — Religious and Moral, By Phillis Wheatley, a Negro Girl. 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 j9_poems. One of these, however, must Phillis Wheatley 29 be excluded from the enumeration, as it is simply "A Rebus by I. B.," which serves as the occasion of Phillis Wheatley's poem, the answer to it. Fourteen of the poems are elegiac, and at least six others are occasional. Two are paraphrases from the Bible. We are thus left with sixteen poems to represent the best that Phillis Wheatley had produced by the time she was twenty years old. One of the longest of these is "Niobe in Distress for Her Children Slain by Apollo, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VI, and from a View of the Painting of Mr. Richard Wilson." This poem contains two interesting examples of personification (neither of which seems to be drawn from Ovid), "fate portentous whis tling in the air," and "the feather'd vengeance quiv'ring in his hands," though the point might easily be made that these are Uttle more than a part of the pseudo-classic tradition. The poem, "To S. M., a Young African Painter, on seeing his works," was addressed to Scipio Moorhead, a young man who exhibited some talent for drawing and who was a servant of the Rev. John Moorhead of Boston. From the poem we should infer that one of his sub- SO The Negro in Literature and Art jects was the story of Damon and Pythias. Of prime importance are the two or three poems of autobiographical interest. We have already remarked "On Being Brought from Africa to America." In the lines addressed to William, Earl of Dartmouth, the young woman spoke again from her personal experience. Im portant also in this connection is the poem "On Virtue," with its plea: Attend me, Virtue, thro' my youthful years! O leave me not to the false joys of time! But guide my steps to endless life and bliss. One would suppose that Phillis Wheatley would make of "An Hymn to Humanity" a fairly strong piece of work. It is typical of the re straint under which she labored that this is one of the most conventional things in the volume. AU critics agree, however, that the strongest lines in the book are those entitled "On Imagination." This effort is more sus- taineiaThan"l!Ee~others, and it is the leading poem that Edmund Clarence Stedman chose to represent Phillis Wheatley in his "Library of American Literature." The foUowing lines are representative of its quality: Phillis Wheatley 31 Imagination! 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 poem is too long for inclusion here, but may be found in Duyckinck's "Cyclopedia of American Literature," and Heartman and Schomburg's collected edition of the Poems and Letters. It is unfortunate that, imitating Pope, PhiUis Wheatley more than once fell into his pitfalls. Her diction — "fleecy care," "vital breath," "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 be speaking of three different men. Then, of course, any young writer working under the influence of Pope and his school would feel a 82 The Negro in Literature and Art sense of repression. If Phillis Wheatley had come on the scene forty years later, when the romantic writers had given a new tone to English poetry, she would undoubtedly have been much greater. Even as it was, however, she made her mark, and her place in the history of American literature, though not a large one, is secure. Hers was a great soul. Her ambition knew no bounds, her thirst for knowledge was in satiable, and she triumphed over the most ad verse circumstances. A child of the wilderness and a slave,' by her grace and culture she satis fied the conventionalities of Boston and of England. Her brilliant conversation was equaled only by her modest demeanor. Every thing about her was refined. More and more as one studies her Ufe^he becomes aware of her sterling Christian character. In a dark day she caught a glimpse of the eternal Ught, and it was meet that the first Negro woman in American literature should be one of unerring piety and the highest of literary ideals. Ill PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR INCOMPARABLY the foremost exponent in verse of the Ufe and character of the Negro people has been Paul Laurence Dunbar. This gifted young poet represented perfectly the lyric and romantic quaUty of the race, with its moodiness, its abandon, its love of song, and its pathetic irony, and his career has been the inspiration of thousands of the young men and women whose problems he had to face, and whose aspirations he did so much to reaUze. Dunbar was born in T>a^tqn^ Ohio, June 27, 1872.. His parents were uneducated but earnest hard-working people, and throughout his life the love of the poet for his mother was ever a dominating factor. From very early years Dunbar made little attempts at rhyming; but what he afterwards called his first poetical 33 34 The Negro in Literature and Art achievement was his recitation of some original verses at a Suriday School Easter celebration when he was thirteen years old. He attended the Steele High School in Dayton, where he was the only Negro student in his class; and by reason of his modest and yet magnetic personality, he became very popular with his schoolmates. In his second year he became a member of the literary society of the school, afterwards became president of the same, as well as editor of The High School Times, a monthly student publication, and on his com pletion of the course in 1891 he composed the song for his class. Somewhat irregularly for the next two or three years Dunbar continued his studies, but he never had the advantage of a regular college education. On leaving the high school, after vainly seeking for something better, he accepted a position as elevator boy, working for four dollars a week. In 1893, at the" World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, he! was 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 books were privately printed; ^Dunb^had to assume PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAB Paul Laurence Dunbar 35 full responsibility, for selUng them, and jnot unnaturally he had many bitter hours of dis couragement. Asking people to buy his verses grated on his sensitive nature, and he once declared to a friend that he would never sell another book. Sometimes, however, he suc ceeded beyond his highest hopes, and gradu ally, with the assistance of friends, chief among whom was Dr. H. A. Tobey, of Toledo, the young poet came into notice as a reader of his verses. 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 upon his larger fame, and "Lyrics of Lowly Life," pubUshed by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1896, in troduced bi-m to the wider reading public. This book is deservedly the poet's best known. It contained the richest work of his youth and was really never surpassed. In 1897 Dun bar enhanced his reputation as a reader of his own poems by ajd^itjo^ngland. About this time he was very busy, writing numerous poems and magazine articles, and meeting with a success that was so much greater than 36 The Negro in Literature and Art that of most of the poets of the day that it became a vogue. In October, 1897, through the influence of Robert G. Ingersoll, he secured employment as an assistant in the reading room of the Library of Congress, Washington; but he gave up this position after a year, for the confinement and his late work at night on his own account were making rapid inroads upon his health. On March 6, 1898, Dunbar] was married to Alice Ruth Moore, of New] Orleans, who also had become prominent as a writer. Early in 1899 he went South, visit- J ing Tuskegee and other schools, and giving many readings. Later in the same year he went to Colorado in a vain search for health. Books were now appearing in rapid succession, short story collections and novels as well as poems. "The Uncalled," written in London, reflected the poet's thought of entering the ministry. It was foUowed by "The Love of Landry," a Colorado story; "The Fanatics," and "The Sport of the Gods." Collections of short stories were, "Folks from Dixie," "The Strength of Gideon," "In Old Plantation Days," and "The Heart of Happy Hollow." Volumes of verse were "Lyrics of the Hearthside," Paul Laurence Dunbar 87 "Lyrics of Love and Laughter," "Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow," as well as several specially Ulustrated volumes. Dunbar bought a home in Dayton, where he lived with his mother. His last years were a record of sin cere friendships and a losing fight against disease. He died February 9, 1906. He was only thirty-three, but he "had existed nullions of years." Unless his novels are considered as forming a distinct class, Dunbar's work falls naturally into three divisions: the poems in classic English, those in dialect, and the stories in prose. Jt was his work in. the_.Negro dialect that was .Ms. distinct .eon^bution to American literature. That this was not his desire may be seen from the eight lines entitled, "The Poet," in which he longed for success in the singing of his "deeper notes" and spoke of his dialect as "a jingle in a broken tongue." Any criticism of Dunbar's classic English verse will have to reckon with the foUowing poems: "Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes," "The Poet and His Song," "Life," "Promise and Fulfillment," "Ships That Pass in the Night," and "October." In the pure 38 The Negro in Literature and Art flow of lyrical verse the poet rarely surpassed his early lines:* Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, How questioneth the soul that other soul — The 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. "The Poet and his Song" is also distinguished for its simplicity and its lyric quaUty: A song is but a Uttle 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 sing my song, and all is well. Sometimes the sun, unkindly hot, My garden makes a desert spot; * As stated in the Preface, we are under obligations to Dodd, Mead & Co. for permission to use the quotations from Dunbar. These are covered by copyright by this firm, as follows: "Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes," "The Poet and his Song," and "Life," 1896; Lullaby," 1899; and "Compensation," 1905. Paul Laurence Dunbar 39 Sometimes a blight upon the tree Takes 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 probably been quoted more than any other lines written by 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. i 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 life. '¦Promise and Fulfillment" was especially ad mired by Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske, who frequently recited it with never-fafling ap plause. Of the poet's own reading of "Ships that Pass in the Night" on one occasion, Brand Whitlock wrote: "That last evening he recited — oh! what a voice he had — his 'Ships that Pass in the Night.' I can hear 40 The Negro in Literature and Art him now and see the expression on his fine face as he said, 'Passing! Passing!' It was prophetic." Other pieces, no more distinguished in poetic quaUty, are of special biographical in terest. "Robert Gould Shaw" was the ex pression of pessimism as to the Negro's future in America. "To Louise" was addressed to the young daughter of Dr. Tobey, who, on one occasion, when the poet was greatly de pressed, in the simple way of a child cheered him 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 Ldppincott's, eight ex quisite lines: Because I had loved so deeply, Because I had loved so long, God in his great compassion Gave me the gift of song. Because I have loved so vainly, And sung with such faltering breath, The Master in infinite mercy Offers the boon of Death. ,*•" The dialect poems suffer by quotation, being \ artistic primarily as wholes. Of these, by com- Paul Laurence Dunbar 41 mon consent, the masterpiece is^.-JWlieiLMar. lindy Singjj" a j^ejiLinspired. by the -singing ofthe poet's jmothej. Other pieces in dialect that have proved unusually successful, espe cially as readings, are "The Rivals," "A Co quette Conquered," "The 01' Tunes," "A Corn-Song," "When de Co'n Pone's Hot," "How Lucy Backslid," "The Party," "At Candle-Lightin' Time," "Angelina," "Whis tling Sam," "Two Little Boots," and "The Old Front Gate." Almost all of these poems^ represent the true humorist's blending ofjm-/ mor and pathos, and aU of them exemplify the delicate and sympathetic irony of which Dunbar was such a master. As representative of the dialect verse at its best, attention might be caUed to a Uttle poem that was included in the Ulustrated volume, "Candle-Lightin' Time," but that, strangely enough, was omitted from 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. 42 The Negro in Literature and Art Shut yo' eyes, an' snuggle up to mammy; Gi' me bofe yo' han's, I hoi' 'em tight; Don' you be afeard, an' 'mence to trimble Des ez soon ez I blows out de light. Angels is a-mindin' you, my baby, Keepin' off de Bad Man in de night. Whut de use o' bein' skeered o' nuffin'? You don' fink de da'kness gwine to bite? Whut de crackin' soun' you hyeah erroun' you? — Lawsy, chile, you tickles me to def! — Dat's de man what brings de fros', a-paintin' Pieters on de winder wid 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 yo' little toes up so, my 'possum — Umph, 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 have been sufficient to make his reputation, even if he had not written his poems. One of the best technically is "Jimsella," from the "Folks from Dixie" volume. [This story exhibits the pathos of the life of unskUled Negroes in the North, and the leading of a little chUdJ In the sureness with which it moves to its con- Paul Laurence Dunbar Ifi elusion it is a beautiful work of art. "A Family Feud" shows the influence of an old servant in a wealthy Kentucky fanrily. In similar vein is "Aunt Tempe's Triumph." "The Walls of Jericho" is an exposure of the methods of a sensational preacher. GeneraUy these stories attempt no keen satire, but only a faithful portrayal of conditions as they are, or, in most cases, as they were in ante-bellum days. Dunbar's novels are generaUy weaker than his short stories, though "The Sport of the Gods," because of its study of a definite phase of life, rises above the others. Nor are v his occasional articles especiaUy strong. He was eminently a lyric poet. By his graceful and beautiful verse it is. that he has won a distinct place in the history of American Uter- ature. By his genius Paul Laurence Dunbar at tracted the attention of the great, the wise, and the good. His bookcase contained many autograph copies of the works of distinguished contemporaries. (The similarity of his position in American literature to that of Burns in English has frequently been pointed out. \ In our own time he most readUy invites comparison 44 The Negro in Literature and Art with J^mes_ Whitcomb, Riley. The writings of both men are distinguished by infinite tender ness and pathos. But above aU worldly fame, above even the expression of a struggling people's heart, was the poet's own striving for the unattainable. There was something heroic about him withal, something that Unks him with Keats, or, in this latter day, with Rupert Brooke and Alan Seeger. He yearned for love, and the world rushed on; then he smiled at death and was universally loved. IV CHARLES W. CHESNUTT CHARLES WADDELL CHESNUTT, the best known noveUst and short story writer of the race, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, June 20, 1858. At the age of sixteen he began to teach in the pubUc schools of North Caro lina, from which state his parents had gone to Cleveland; and at the age of twenty-three he became principal of the State Normal School at FayetteviUe. In 1883 he left the South, engaging for a short while in newspaper work in New York City, but going soon to Cleve land, where he worked as a stenographer. He was admitted to the bar in 1887. WhUe in North Carolina Mr. Chesnutt studied to good purpose the dialect, manners, and superstitions of the Negro people of the state. In 1887 he began in the Atlantic Monthly the series of stories which was afterwards brought together in the volume entitled, "The 45 46 The Negro in Literature and Art Conjure Woman." This book was published by the Houghton Mifflin Co., the firm which published also Mr. Chesnutt's other collection of stories and the first two of his three novels. "The Wife of his Youth, and Other Stories of the Color-Line" appeared in 1899. In the same year appeared a compact biography of Frederick Douglass, a contribution to the Beacon Biographies of Eminent Americans. Three novels have since appeared, as follows: "The House Behind the Cedars" (1900); "The Marrow of Tradition" (1901); and "The Colonel's Dream"(1905). Mr. Chesnutt's short stories are not all of the same degree of excellence, but the best ones show that he is fuUy master of the short story as a literary form. One of the best tech nically is "The Bouquet." This is a story of the devotion of a little Negro girl to her white teacher, and shows clearly how the force of Southern prejudice might forbid the expression of simple love not only in a representative home, but even when the object of the devo tion is borne to the cemetery. "The Sheriff's Children" is a tragic tale of the relations of a white father with his illegitimate colored son. CHARLES W. CHESNUTT Charles W. Chesnutt 47 Most famous of all these stories, however, is "The Wife of his Youth," a simple work of art of great intensity. It is a tale of a very fair colored man who, just before the CivU War, by the aid of his Negro wife, makes his way from slavery in Missouri to freedom in a Northern city, Groveland [Cleveland?]. After the years have brought to him business suc cess and culture, and he has become the acknowledged leader of his social circle and the prospective husband of a very attractive young widow, his wife suddenly appears on the scene. The story ends with Mr. Ryder's^acknowl- edging before a company of guests the wife of his youth. Such stories as these, each setting forth a certain problem and working it out to its logical conclusion, reflect great credit upon the Uterary skill of the writer. Of the novels, "The House Behind the Cedars" is commonly given first place. In the story of the heroine, Rena Walden, are treated some of the most subtle and search ing questions raised by the color-line. Rena is sought in love by three men, George Tryon, a white man, whose love faUs when put to the test; Jeff Wain, a coarse and brutal mu- 48 The Negro in Literature and Art latto, and Frank Fowler, a devoted young Negro, who makes every sacrifice demanded by love. The novel, especially in its last pages, moves with an intensity that is an un mistakable sign of power. It is Mr. Ches nutt's most sustained treatment of the subject for which he has become best known, that is, the delicate and tragic situation of those who live on the border-line of the races; j^jitjs the best work offiction yet written by ajqaem- ber ; of the. .race in .America. In "The Marrow of Tradition" the main theme is the relations of two women, one white and one colored, whose father, the same white man, had in time been married to the mother of each. The novel touches upon almost every phase of the Negro Problem. It is a powerful plea, but perhaps too much a novel of purpose to satisfy the highest standards of art. The Wellington of the story is very evidently WU- mington, N. C, and the book was written immediately after the race troubles in that city in 1898. "The Colonel's Dream" is a sad story of the failure of high ideals. Colonel Henry French is a man who, born in the South, achieves success in New York and returns to Charles W. Chesnutt 49 his old home for a little vacation, only to find himself face to face with all the problems that one meets in a backward Southern town. "He dreamed of a regenerated South, fiUed with thriving industries, and thronged with a pros perous and happy people, where every man, having enough for his needs, was willing that every other man should have the same; where law and order should prevail unquestioned, and where every man could enter, through the golden door of hope, the field of opportunity, where lay the prizes of life, which all might have an equal chance to win or lose." Becom ing interested in the injustice visited upon the Negroes in the courts, and in the employment of white children in the cotton-mills, Colonel French encounters opposition to his benevo lent plans, opposition which finally sends him back to New York defeated. Mr. Chesnutt writes in simple, clear English, and his methods might well be studied by younger writers who desire to treat, in the guise of fiction, the many searching questions that one meets to-day in the life of the South. W. E. BURGHARDT DUBOIS WILLIAM EDWARD BURGHARDT DUBOIS was born February 23, 1868, at Great Barrington, Mass. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Fisk University in 1888, the same degree at Harvard in 1890, that of Master of Arts at Harvard in 1891, and, after a season of study at the University of Berlin, received also the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Harvard in 1895, his thesis being his exhaustive study, "Suppression of the Slave-Trade." Dr. DuBois taught for a brief period at Wilberforce University, and was also for a time an assistant and fellow in Soci ology at the University of Pennsylvania, pro ducing in 1899 his study, "The PhUadelphia Negro." In 1896 he accepted the professor ship of History and Economics at Atlanta University, the position which he left in 1910 to become Director of PubUcity and Research for the National Association for the Advance- 50 W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS W. E. Burghardt DuBois 51 ment of Colored People. In connection with this work he has edited the Crisis since the beginning of that publication. He has made various investigations, frequently for the na tional government, and has contributed many sociological studies to leading magazines. He has been the moving spirit of the Atlanta Conference, and by the Studies of Negro Problems, which he has edited at Atlanta Uni versity, he has become recognized as one of the great sociologists of the day, and as the man who more than anyone else has given scientific accuracy to studies relating to the Negro. Aside from his more technical studies (these including the masterly Uttle book, "The Ne gro," in Holt's Home University Library Series), Dr. DuBois has written three books which call for consideration in a review of Negro Uterature. Of these one is a biography, one a novel, and the other a collection of essays. In 1909 was pubUshed "John Brown," a con tribution to the series of American Crisis Biographies. The subject was one well adapted to treatment at the hands of Dr. DuBois, and in the last chapter, "The Legacy of John 52 The Negro in Literature and Art Brown," he has shown that his hero has a message for twentieth century America, this: "The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression." "The Quest of the SUver Fleece," the novel, appeared in 1911. This story has three main themes: the economic position of the Negro agricultural laborer, the subsi dizing of a certain kind of Negro schools, and Negro life and society in the city of Washing ton. The book employs a big theme in its portrayal of the power of King Cotton in both high and lowly life in the Southland; but its tone is frequently one of satire, and on the whole the work will not add much to the already established reputation of the author. The third book reaUy appeared before either of the two works just mentioned, and embodies the best workof the author in his most highly jjiejdjstic period. In 1903 fourteen essays, most of whicfiHhad already appeared in such magazines as the Atlantic and the World's Work, were brought together in a volume en titled, "The Souls of Black Folk." JThe re markable style of this book has made it the most important work in classic EngUsh yet written by a Negro.j It is marked by all the W. E. Burghardt DuBois 53 arts of rhetoric, especially by liquid and al- Uterative effects, strong antithesis, frequent allusion, and poetic suggestiveness. Thejsolor- line is "The Vtil^jhe s^ familiar _naelodies, the-^ "Sorrow Songs." The qualities that have just been remarked will be observed in the following paragraphs: I have seen a land right merry with the sun, where children sing, and rolling hills lie like passioned women wanton with harvest. And there in the Bang's Highway sat and sits a figure veiled and bowed, by which the travel er's footsteps hasten as they go. On the tainted air broods fear. Three centuries' thought has been the raising and unveiling of that bowed human heart, and now behold a century new for the duty and the deed. The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line. My journey was done, and behind me lay hill and dale, and Life and Death. How shall man measure Progress there where the dark-faced Josie hes? How many heart- fuls of sorrow shall balance a bushel of wheat? How hard a thing is life to the lowly, and yet how human and real! And all this life and love and strife and failure — 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 the color-line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, 54 The Negro in Literature and Art where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of the stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they all come graciously with no scorn nor conde scension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil. Is this the fife you grudge us, 0 knightly America? Is this the life you long to change into the dull red hideous- ness of Georgia? Are you so afraid lest peering from this high Pisgah, between Philistine and Amalekite, we sight the Promised Land? Where merit is so even and the standard of performance so high, one hesitates to choose that which is best. "The Dawn of Freedom" is a study of the Freedmen's Bureau; "Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others" is a frank criticism of the late orator and leader; "The Meaning of Progress" is a story of life in Tennessee, told with infinite pathos by one who has been the country schoolmaster; "The Training of Black Men" is a plea for Uber- ally educated leadership; while "The Quest of the Golden Fleece," Uke one or two related essays, is aiaithful portrayal of life in the black belt. IXhe book, as a whole, is a powerful plea for justice and the liberty of citizenship^] W. E. Burghardt DuBois is the best example that has so far appeared of the combination W. E. Burghardt DuBois 65 of high scholarship and the peculiarly romantic temperament of the Negro race. Beneath all the play of logic and statistic beats the passion of a mighty human heart. For a long time he^was^ci^'iSwed^'as^aToof, reserved, unsym pathetic; but more and more, as the years have passed, has his mission become clearer, his love for his people stronger. Forced by the pressure of circumstance, graduaUy has he been led from the congenial retreat of the scholar into the arena of social struggle; but for two decades he has remained an out standing interpreter of the spiritual Ufe of his people. He is to-day the foremost leader of the race in America. VI WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE THE foremost of the poets of the race at present is William Stanley Braithwaite, of BostoriTlMr. Braithwaite is not only the possessor oi unusual talent, but for years he has worked most conscientiously at his art and taken the time and the pains to master the fundamentals that others all too often deem unimportant. In 1904 he published a small book of poems entitled "Lyrics of Life and Love." This was followed four years later by "The House of Falling Leaves." Within recent years he has given less aud less time to his own verse, becoming more and- more distinguished as. a critic in the special field _c-f American poetry. For several years he has been a regular and valued contributor of liter ary criticism to the Boston Evening Transcript; he has had verse or critical essays in the Forum, the Century, Scribner's, the Atlantic, 56 WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE William Stanley Braithwaite 57 etc.; and in 1916 became editor of the new Poetry Review of Cambridge. He has collected and edited (publishing chiefly through Bren- tano's) "The Book of Elizabethan Verse," "The Book of Georgian Verse," and "The Book of Restoration Verse"; and Jie, has also. pub lished the '^Anthology of Magazine Verse" for each year since _1913j He is the general editor of "The Contemporary American Poets Series," which is projected by the Poetry Re view Company, and which will be issued in twelve Uttle books, each giving a sympathetic study of a poet of the day; he himself is writing the volume on Edwin Arlington Robin son; and before long it is expected that a novel will appear from his pen. Very recently (1917) Mr. Braithwaite has brought together in a volume, "The Poetic Year," the series of articles which he contributed to the Transcript in 1916-17. The aim was in the form of con versations between a smaU group of friends to discuss the poetry of 1916. Says he: "There were four of us in the little group, and our common love for the art of poetry suggested a weekly meeting in the grove to discuss the books we had aU agreed upon reading. . . . 68 The Negro in Literature and Art I made up my mind to record these discussions, and the setting as weU, with all those other touches of human character and mood which never faU to enliven and give color to the serious business of . art and life. ... I gave fanciful names to my companions, Greek names which I am persuaded symbolized the spirit of each. There was nothing Psyche touched but made its soul apparent. Her wood-lore was beautiful and thorough; the very spirit of flowers, birds and trees was evoked when she went among them. Our other companion of her sex was Cassandra, and we gave her this name not because her forebodings were gloomy, but merely for her prophesying disposition, which was always building air-castles. The other member besides myself of our little group was Jason, of the heroic dreams and adventure some spirit. He was restless in the bonds of a tranquillity that chafed the hidden spirit of his being." From the introduction we get something of the critic's own aims and ideals: "The conversational scheme of the book may, or may not, interest some readers. Poetry is a human thing, and it is time for the world — and especially our part of the world — to re- William Stanley Braithwaite 59 gard it as belonging to the people. It sprang from the folk, and passed, when culture began to flourish, into the possession of a class. Now culture is passing from a class to the folk, and with it poetry is returning to its original possessors. It is in the spirit of these words that we discuss the poetry of the year." Em phasis is here given to this work because it is the sturdiest achievement of Mr. Braith waite in the field in which he has recently become most distinguished, and even the brief quotations cited are sufficient to give some idea of his graceful, suggestive prose. In a review of this writer's poetry we have to consider especially the two collections, "Lyrics of Life and Love," and "The House of Falling Leaves," and the poems that have more recently appeared in the Atlantic, Scribner's, and other magazines. It is to be hoped that before very long he will publish a new edition of his poems. The earlier volumes are out of print, and a new book could contain the best of them, as weU as what has appeared more recently. "Lyrics of Life and Love" embodied the best of the poet's early work. The little book contains eighty pages, and no one of the 60 The Negro in Literature and Art lyrics takes up more than two pages, twenty in fact being exactly eight lines in length. This appearance of fragiUty, however, is a Uttle deceptive. While Keats and SheUey are constantly evident as the models in technique, the yearning of more than one lyric reflects the deeper romantic temper. The bravado and the tenderness of the old poets are evident again in the two Christmas pieces, "HoUy Berry and Mistletoe," and "Yule-Song: A Memory": The trees are bare, wild flies the snow, Hearths are glowing, nearts 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 come — Hearts must be together. Down the stair-steps of the hours Yule leaps the hills and towers — Fill the bowl and hang the holly, Let the times be jolly. (( 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. I When we remember also the Pre-Raphaelite spirit, with its love of rhythm and imagery, we are not surprised to find her&^an appreciation "To Dante Gabriel Rossetti."] Especially has the poet made prog ress in the handling of the sonnet, as may be seen in the following: 62 The Negro in Literature and Art My thoughts go marching like an armed host Out of the city of silence, guns and cars; Troop after troop across my dreams they post To the invasion of the wind and stars. O brave array of youth's untamed desire! With thy bold, dauntless captain Hope to lead His raw recruits to Fate's opposing fire, And up the walls of Circumstance to bleed. How fares the expedition in the end? When this my heart shall have old age for king And to the wars no further troop can send, What final message will the arm'stice bring? The host gone forth in youth the world to meet, In age returns — in victory or defeat? Then there is the epilogue with its heart-cry: Lord of the mystic star-blown gleams Whose sweet compassion lifts my dreams; Lord of life in the lips of the rose That kiss desire; whence Beauty grows; Lord of the power inviolate That keeps immune thy seas from fate, Lord, Very God of these works of thine, Hear me, I beseech thee, most divine! / Within very recent years Mr. Braithwaite | has attracted unusual attention among the / discerning by a new note of mysticism that ^ has crept into his verse. This was first ob- William Stanley Braithwaite 63 served in "Sandy Star," that appeared in the Atlantic (July, 1909): No more from out the sunset, No more across the foam, No more across the windy hills Will 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 away With the secret on his brow. The same note is in "The Mystery" (or "The Way," as the poet prefers to call it) that ap peared in Scribner's (October, 1915) : He could not tell the way he came Because his chart was lost: Yet all his way was paved with flame From 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. 64 The Negro in Literature and Art He never knew upon his brow The secret that he bore — And laughs away the mystery now The dark's at his door. Mr. Braithwaite has done weU. He is to-day the foremost man of the race i"t/ pure-literature. But above any partial or Umited considera tion, after years of hard work he now has recognition not only as a poet of standing, but as the chief sponsor for current American poetry. No comment on his work could be better than that of the Transcript, November 30, 1915: "He has helped poetry to readers as well as to poets. One is guilty of no ex travagance in saying that the poets we have — and they may take their place with their peers in any country — and the gathering defer ence we pay them, are created largely out of the stubborn, self-effacing enthusiasm of this one man. In a sense their distinction is his own. In a sense he has himself written their poetry. Very much by his toU they may write and be read. Not one of them wUl ever write a finer poem than Braithwaite himseff has lived already." VII OTHER WRITERS IN addition to those who have been men tioned, there have been scores of writers who would have to be considered if wr were dealing with the Uterature of the Negro in the widest sense of the term. Not too clearly, however, can the limitations of our subject be insisted upon. We are here concerned with distinctly Uterary or artistic achievement, and not with work that belongs in the realm of reUgion, sociology, or poUtics. Only briefer mention accordingly can be given to these latter fields. NaturaUy, from the first there have been works dealing with the place of the Negro in American life. Outstanding after the numerous sociological studies and other contributions to periodical literature of Dr. DuBois are_the books of the late Booker T. Washington. Representative of these are "The Future^ .of,, — -•"**"• 65 66 The Negro in Literature and Art the American Negro," "My Larger Education," and "The Man Farthest Down." As early as 1829, however, David Walker, of Boston, pub lished his passionate "Appeal," a protest against slavery that awakened Southern legis latures to action; and in the years just before the Civil War, Hemy HighlancKGarnev wrote sermons and addresses on the status of the race in America, while WiUiam Wells Brown wrpte "Three Years in Europe," and various other works, some of which wiU receive later mention. After the war, Alexander Crummell became an outstanding figure by reason of bis sermons and addresses, many of which were preserved. He was followed by an interesting group of scholarly men, represented especially by WiU iam S. Scarborough, KeUy MiUer, and Archi bald H. Grimke. Mr. Scarborough is now president of WUberforce University. He has contributed numerous articles to representa tive magazines. His work in more technical fields is represented by his "First Lessons in Greek," a treatise on the "Birds" of Aris tophanes, and his paper in the Arena (January, 1897) on "Negro Folk-Lore and Dialect." Mr. MUler is Dean of the College of Arts and Other Writers 67 Sciences at Howard University. He has col lected his numerous and cogent papers in two"" volumes, "Race Adjustment," and "Out of the House of Bondage." The first is the more varied and interesting of the two books, but the latter contains the poetic rhapsody, "I See and Am Satisfied," first published in the Independent (August 7, 1913). Mr. A. H. Grimke, as well as Mr. MUler, has contributed to the Atlantic; and he has written the lives of Garrison and Sumner in the American Re formers Series. "Negro Culture in West Africa," by George W. EUis, is original and scholarly; "The Aftermath of Slavery," by WUliam A. Sinclair, is a volume of more than ordinary interest; and "The African Abroad," by William H. Ferris, while con fused in construction and form, contains much thoughtful material. Within recent years there have been published a great many works, frequently illustrated, on the progress and achievements of the race. Very few of these books are scholarly. Three collaborations, how ever, are of decided value. One is a Uttle volume entitled, ."The Negro Problem," con sisting of seven papers by representative 68 The Negro in Literature and Art Negroes, and published in 1903 by James Pott & Co., of New York. Another is "From Servitude to Service," published in 1905 by the American Unitarian Association of Boston, and made up of the Old South Lectures on the history and work of Southern institutions for the education of the Negro; whUe the third collaboration is, "The Negro in the South," published in 1907 by George W. Jacobs & Co., of Philadelphia, and made up of four papers, two by Dr. Washington, and two by Dr. DuBois, which were the WiUiam Levi Bull Lectures in the Philadelphia Divinity School for the year 1907. Halfway between works on the Negro Problem and those in history, ar£jJb,o_se. jnJJie field, of biography and autobiography. For decades before the CivU War the experiences of fugitive slaves were used as a part of the anti-slavery argument. In 1845 appeared the ''Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," vthis being greatly enlarged jmd. extended in 1881 as "The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass." In similar vein was the "Auto biography of a Fugitive Negro," by Samuel Ringgold Ward. Then Josiah Henson (the Other Writers 69 original of Uncle Tom) and Sojourner Truth issued their narratives. Collectioris of more than ordinary interest were William Wells Brown's "The Black Man" (1863), James M. Trotter's "Music and Some Highly Musical People" (1878), and WUliam J. Simmons's "Men of Mark" (1887). John Mercer Lang- ston's "From the Virginia Plantation to the National Capitol" is interesting and service able; special interest attaches to Matthew Henson's "A Negro Explorer at the North Pole"; while Maud Cuney Hare's "Norris Wright Cuney" was a distinct contribution to the history of Southern politics. The most widely known work in this field, however, is "Up'From Slavery," by Booker T. Wash ington. The unaffected and simple style of this book has made it a model of personal writing, and it is by reason of merit that the work has gained unusual currency. The study, of course, becomes more special in the field of history. Interest from the first was shown in church history. This was represented immediately after the war by Bishop Daniel A. Payne's studies in the his tory of the A. M. E. Church, and twenty-five 70 The Negro in Literature and Art years later, for the Baptist denomination, by E. M. Brawley's "The Negro Baptist Pulpit." One of the earliest writers of merit was William ,. . * C. Nell, who, in 1851^ published his pamphlet, "Services of Colored Americans in the Wars of 1776 and 1812." "The Rising Son," by William Wells 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 scholarly in method. Then, in 1872, full. oXpersanaLex; perience, appeared William Still's "The Under ground Railroad." The epoch-making work in history, however, was the two-volume "His tory of the Negro Race in America," by George W. Williams, which was issued in 1883. This work was the exploration of a new field and the result of seven years of study. The historian more than once wrote subjectively, but his work was, on the whole, written with un usually good taste. After thirty years some of his pages have, of course, been superseded; but his work is even yet the great storehouse for students of Negro history. Technical study within recent years is best represented by the Harvard doctorate theses of Dr. DuBois and Other Writers 71 Dr. Carter G. Woodson. That of Dr. DuBois has already been mentioned. That of Dr. Woodson was entitled "The Disruption of Virginia." Dr. Woodson is the editor of the Journal of Negro History, a quarterly'magazine that began to appear in 1916, and that has already published several articles of the first order of merit. J He has also written "The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861," a work in the most scientific spirit of modern historical study, to which a companion volume for the later period is expected. Largely original also in the nature of their contribution have been "The Haitian Revolution," by T. G. Steward, and "The Facts of Reconstruction," by John R. Lynch; and, whUe less intensive, interest ing throughout is J. W. Cromwell's "The Negro 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, done excellent work in connection with syndicates of great newspapers. "The Goodness of St. Rocque, and Other Stories," by Alice Moore Dunbar (now Mrs. Nelson), is representative of the stronger work in this field. Numerous 72 The Negro in Literature and Art attempts at the composition of novels have also been made. Even before the Civil War was over appeared William Wells Brown's "Clotille: A Tale of the Southern States."] Jtjs in. this- special department,..howe"Ker,.ihat a sense of literary form has frequently been most lacking. The distinctively Uterary essay has not unnaturally suffered from the general 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. 0. Stafford, of Washington, is a special student of the folklore of Africa. He has contributed several scholarly papers to the Journal of Negro History, and he has also published through the American Book Com pany an interesting supplementary reader, "Animal Fables From the Dark Continent." Alain Locke is interested in both philosophical and literary studies, represented by "The American Temperament," a paper contributed to the North American Review (August, 1911), and a paper on Emile Verhseren in the Poetry Review (January, 1917). Little has been accompUshed in sustained Other Writers 73 poetic flight. Of shorter lyric verse, however, many booklets have appeared. As this is the field that offers peculiar opportunity for sub jective expression, more has been attempted in it than in any other department of artistic endeavor. It demands, therefore, special at tention, and the study wiU take us back before the CivU War. The first person to attract much attention after PhUUs Wheatley was George Moses Hor ton, of North Carolina, who was born in 1797 and died about 1880 (or 1883). He was am bitious to learn, was the possessor of unusual Uterary talent, and in one way or another re ceived instruction from various persons. He very soon began to write verse, aU of which was infused with his desire for freedom, and much of which was suggested by the common evangelical hymns, as were the foUowing fines: 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! 74 The Negro in Literature and Art 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 mterested in him and desired to help him publish a volume of his poems, so that from the sale of these he might purchase his freedom and go to the new colony of Liberia. The young man be came fired with ambition and inspiration. Thrilled by the new 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 that was hoped for. Disappointed in his great desire, the poet seems to have lost- ambition. He became a janitor around the state university at Chapel HiU, executed smaU commissions for verse from the students, who Other Writers 75 treated him kindly, and in later years went to PhUadelphia; but his old dreams had faded. Several reprintings of his poems were made, however, and one of these was bound with the 1838 edition of PhiUis Wheatley's poems. In 1854 appeared the first edition of "Poems on MisceUaneous Subjects," by Frances EUen Watkins, connnonlxJknowjL jas-Mrs— Erances E^W- Harper. Mrs. Harper was a woman of exceptionaUy strong personality and could read her poems to advantage. Her verse was very popular, not less than ten thousand copies of her booklets being sold. It was decidedly lacking in technique, however, and much in the style of Mrs. Hemans. Mrs. Harper was best when most simple, as when in writing of chUdren 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 the following from "Bury Me in a Free Land": 76 The Negro in Literature and Art 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 pubUc appeared Albery 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 with which this book has to deal. It is diffuse, exhibits many lapses in taste, is uneven metrically, as if done in haste, and shows imitation on every hand. It imitates Whittier, LongfeUow, Tenny son, Scott, Byron and Moore. "The Old Sac VUlage" and "Nanawawa's Suitors" are very evidently "Hiawatha" over again; and "Custer's Last Ride" is simply another ver sion of "The Charge of the Light Brigade." "The Rape of Florida" exhibits the same general characteristics as the earlier poems. Other Writers 77 And yet, whenever one has about decided that Whitman is not worthy of consideration, he insists on a revision of judgment. The fact is that he shows a decided faculty for brisk narration. This may be seen in "The House of the Aylors." He has, moreover, a romantic lavishness of description that, in spite of all technical faults, stiU has some degree of merit. The following quotations, taken respectively from "The Mowers" and "The Flight of Leeona," wUl exemplify both his extravagance and 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 fines: 78 The Negro in Literature and Art 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 ap parent when he attempts sustained work. "The Rap^.olJlprhia,"Jgjthew longest poem yet writ ten by a Negro in America, and also, the only attempt by a member of the race to. use !Vtiie elaborate Spenserian stanza throughout a long piece of work. The story is concerned with the capture of the Seminoles in Florida through perfidy and the taking of them away to their new home in the West. It centers around three characters, Palmecho, an old chief, Ewald, his daughter, and Atlassa, a young Seminole who is Ewald's lover. The poem is decidedly diffuse; there is too much subjective descrip tion, too Uttle strong characterization. Pal mecho, instead of being a stout warrior, is a "chief of peace and kindly deeds." Stanzas of merit, however, occasionally strike the eye. The boat-song forces recognition as 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, — Other Writers 79 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 misceUaneous poems, "Drifted Leaves," and in 1901 he pubUshed "An Idyl of the South," an epic poem in two parts. It is to be regretted that he did not have the training that comes from the best university education. He had the taste and the talent to benefit from such culture in the greatest degree. AU who went before him were, of course, superseded in 1896 by Paul Laurence Dunbar; and^ Dunbar started, a tradition. Throughout the country there sprang up imitators, and some of the imitations were more than fair. AU of this, however, was a passing'phenomenon. _. Those who are writing at the present day almost invariably eschew dialect and insist upon classics forms and measures. Prominent among these is James Weldon Johnson. Mr. Johnson has' seen a varied career as teacher, writer, consul for the United States in foreign countries, 80 The Negro in Literature and Art especially Nicaragua, and national organizer for the National Association for the Advance ment of Colored People. He has written numerous songs, which have been set to music by his brother, Rosamond Johnson, or Harry T. Burleigh; he^made for the MetropoUtan Opera the English translation of the Spanish opera, "Goyescas," by Granados and Periquet; and in 1916, while associated with the Age, of New York, in a contest opened by the Public Ledger, of Philadelphia, to editorial writers all over the country, he won a third prize of two hundred dollars for a campaign editorial. The remarkable book, "Autobiography of an Ex- Colored Man," half fact, half fiction, was pub- > Ushed anonymously, but is generally credited to Mr. Johnson. Very recently (December, 1917) has appeared this . writer's . collection, "Fifty Years and Other Poems." In pure lyric flow he is best represented by two poems 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. Other Writers 81 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 success in artistic ex pression, and especially of the first singers of the old melodies, we could close this review with nothing better than Mr. Johnson's tribute, "O Black and Unknown JBardg" (jCentury, November, 1908) : 0 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. 82 The Negro in Literature and Art 0 black singers, gone, forgot, unfamed, You — you alone, of all the long, long Une 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 pa?an 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. VIII ORATORS. — DOUGLASS AND WASHINGTON THE Negro is peculiarly gifted as an orator. To magnificent^ gif t§_o£. voice he adds a fervor of sentiment and an^ppxeciation- of jthe possibifities of a great occasion that are in dispensable in the work of one who 'excels in this field. Greater than any of these things, however, is the romantic quafity that finds an outlet in vast reaches of imagery and a sin gularly figurative power of expression. Only this innate gift of rhetorical expression has accounted for the tremendous effects sometimes reaUzed even by untutored members of the race. Its possibUities under the influences of culture and education are Ulimitable. On one occasion Harriet Tubman, famous for her work in the Underground Railroad, was addressing an audience and describing a great battle in the Civil War. "And then," said she, "we saw the lightning, and that 83 84 The Negro in Literature and Art was the guns; and then we heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling, and that was drops of blood falling; and when we came to git in the craps, it was dead men that we reaped." * AU through the fanriliar melodies one finds the pathos and the poetry of this imagery. Two unusual ia.-", dividuals, untutored but highly gifted in their/ own spheres, in the course of the last century proved eminently successful by joining this rhetorical faculty to their native earnestness. One of these was the anti-slavery speaker, Sojourner Truth. TaU, majestic, and yet quite uneducated, this interesting woman sometimes dazzled her audiences by her sudden turns of expression. Anecdotes of her quick and start ling replies are numberless. .The other char acter was John Jasper, of Richmond, Va., famous three decades ago for his "Sun do move" sermon. Jasper preached not only on this theme, but also on "Dry bones in the valley," the glories of the New Jerusalem, and many similar subjects that have been used by other preachers, sometimes with hardly less effect, throughout the South. When one made ?Reported by A.B. Hart/.in "Slavery and Abolition," 209. Orators. — Douglass and Washington 85 all discount for the tinsel and the dialect, he still would have found in the work of John Jasper much of the power of the true orator. Other men have joined to this love for figurative expression the advantages of cul ture; and a common characteristic, thoroughly typical of the romantic quality constantly present, is a fondness for biblical phrase. As representative might be remarked Robert B. Elliott, famous for his speech in Congress on the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Bill; John Mercer Langston, also distinguished for many poUtical addresses; M. C. B. Mason, for years a prominent representative of the Metho dist Episcopal Church; and Charles T. Walker, stUl the most popular preacher of the Negro Baptists. A new and telling form of public speaking, destined to have more and more im portance, is that just now best cultivated by Dr. DuBois, who, with little play of voice or gesture, but with the earnestness of conviction, drives home his message with instant effect. In any consideration of oratory one must constantly bear in mind, of course, the im portance of the spoken word and the personal equation. At the same time it must be re- 86 The Negro in Literature and Art membered that many of the most worthy ad- cfresses made by Negroes have not been pre served in accessible form. _) Again and again, in some remote community, with true elo quence has an untutored preacher brought comfort and inspiration to a struggling people. J. C. Price, for years president of Livingstone College in North Carolina, was one of the truest orators the Negro race ever had, and many who heard him wfll insist that he was foremost. His name has become in some quarters a synonym for eloquence, and he certainly appeared on many noteworthy occa sions with marked effect. His reputation wiU finally suffer, however, for the reason given, that his speeches are not now generally acces sible. NjQlqne is in Mrs. pu-t^arIs.i'-MasteJi: jneces jjf. Negro Eloquence." One of the most effective occasional speakers within recent years has been Reverdv C. Ran- .som^of the A. M. E. Church. In his great moments Mr. Ransom has given the impression of the true orator. He has little humor, is stately and dignified, but bitter in satire and invective. There is, in fact, much in his speak ing to remind one of Frederick Douglass. One Orators. — Douglass and Washington 87 of his greatest efforts was that on the occasion of the celebration of the one hundredth anni versary of the birth of Garrison, in Faneuil HaU, Boston, December 11, 1905. Said he, in part: What kind of Negroes do the American people want? That they must have the Negro in some relation is no longer a question of serious debate. What kind of Negroes do the American people want? Do they want a voteless Negro in a republic founded upon universal suffrage? Do they want a Negro who shall not be permitted to participate in the government which he must support with his treasure and defend with his blood? Do they want a Negro who shall consent to be set aside as forming a distinct industrial class, permitted to rise no higher than the level of serfs or peasants? Do they want a Negro who shall accept an inferior social position, not as a degradation, but as the just operation of the laws of caste based on color? Do they want a Negro who will avoid friction between the races by consenting to occupy the place to which white men may choose to assign him? What kind of a Negro do the American people want? . . . Taught by the Declaration of Independence, sustained by the Constitution of the United States, enlightened by the education of our schools, this nation can no more resist the advancing tread of the hosts of the oncoming blacks than it can bind the stars or halt the resistless motion of the tide.* *Quoted from "Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence," 314-5. 88 The Negro in Literature and Art Two men, by reason of great natural endow ment, a fitting appreciation of great occasions, and the consistency with which they produced their effects, have won an undisputed place in any consideration of American orators. These men were Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. Frederick Douglass was born in 1817 and lived for ten years as a slave upon a Maryland plantation. Then he was bought by a Balti more shipbuUder. He learned to read, and, being attracted by "The Lady of the Lake," when he escaped in 1838 and went disguised as a sailor to New Bedford, Mass., he adopted the name Douglas (spelfing it with two s's, how ever). He lived for several years in New Bed ford, being assisted by Garrison in his efforts for an education. ^In JL841, at an anti-slavery convention in Nantucket, he exhibited such intelligence, and showed himself the possessor , of such a remarkable voice, that he was made the agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. He now lectured extensively in Eng land and the United States, and English friends raised £150 to enable him regularly to purchase his freedom. Fox some years be- Orators. — Douglass and Washington 89 fore the Civil War heJived-ifr^eehesteFy-N-^ Y., where, he 4)ubUshed a-paper, .JIM^NjuOk. Star, and where there is now a public monument to him. Later in life he became Recorder of Deeds in the District of Columbia, and then Minister to Hayti. At the time of his death in 1895 Douglass had won for himself a place of unique distinction. Large of heart and of mind, he was interested in every forward move ment for his people; but his charity embraced aU men and all races. His reputation was in ternational, and to-day many of his speeches are to be found in the standard works on oratory. Mr. Chesnutt has admirably summed up the personal characteristics of the oratory of Douglass. Hejbells u^^at J 'Douglass, pos sessed, in large measure, the jghyskal equip ment most impressive in. an. orator. He was a man of magnificent figure, tall, strong, his head crowned with a mass of hair which made a striking element of his appearance. He had deep-set and flashing eyes, a firm, well-moulded chin, a countenance somewhat severe in re pose, but capable* of a wide range of expression. His voice was rich and melodious, and of 90 The Negro in Literature and Art carrying power."* Douglass was distinctly dignified, eloquent, and majestic; he could not 5 fee funny or witty. Sorrow for the slave, and indignation against the master, gave force to his words, though, in his later years, his oratory became less and less heavy and more refined. He was not always on the popular side, nor was he always exactly logical; thus he, incurred much censure for bis_ opposition tojthe .SXQdus of the . Negro fronx the , South, in 1879. For half a century, however, he was the outstand ing figure of the race in the United States. Perhaps the greatest speech of his life was that which Douglass made at Rochester on the 5th of July, 1852. His subject was "American Slavery," and he spoke with his strongest in vective. The following paragraphs from the introduction wUl serve to filustrate his fond ness for interrogation and biblical phrase: Pardon me, and allow me to ask, Why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of pohtical freedom and of natural justice embodied in that Declaration of Independence extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to * "Frederick Douglass," 107-8. Orators. — Douglass and Washington 91 confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us? By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that had wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusa lem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.* The years and emancipation and the progress of his people in the new day gave a more hope ful tone to some of the later speeches of the orator. In an address on the 7th of December, 1890, he said: I have seen dark hours in my life, and I have seen the darkness gradually disappearing, and the light gradually increasing. One by one I have seen obstacles removed, errors corrected, prejudices softened, proscriptions re linquished, and my people advancing in all the elements that make up the sum of general welfare. I remember that God reigns in eternity, and that, whatever delays, disappointments, and discouragements may come, truth, justice, liberty, and humanity will prevail.t * Quoted from Williams, II, 435-6. t Quoted from Foreword in "In Memoriam: Frederick Douglass." 92 The Negro in Literature and Art Booker T. Washington was born about 1858, in FrankUn County, Virginia. After the Civil War his mother and stepfather re moved to Maiden, W. Va., where, when he became large enough, he worked in the salt furnaces and the coal mines. He had always been caUed Booker, but it was not until he went to a little school at his home and found that he needed a surname that, on the spur of the moment, he adopted Washington. In 1872 he worked his way to Hampton Institute, where he paid his expenses by assisting as a janitor. Graduating in 1875, he returned to Maiden and taught school for three years. He then attended for a year Wayland Seminary in Washington (now incorporated in Virginia Union University in Richmond), and in 1879 was appointed an instructor at Hampton. In 1881 there came to General Armstrong, prin cipal of Hampton Institute, a call from the little town of Tuskegee, Ala., for someone to organize and become the principal of a normal school which the people wanted to start in that place. He recommended Mr. Washington, who opened the school on the 4th of July in an old church and a little shanty, with an attend- Orators. — Douglass and Washington 93 ance of thirty pupUs. In 1895 Mr. Washing ton came into national prominence by a re markable speech at the Cotton States Exposi tion in Atlanta, and after that he interested educators and thinking people generally in the working out of his ideas of practical education. He was the author of several books along lines ' of industrial education and character-building, and in his later years only one or two other men in America could rival his power to at tract and hold great audiences. Harvard Uni- , versity conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts in 1896, and Dartmouth that of Doctor of Laws in 1901. He died in 1915. In the course of his career Mr. Washington deUvered hundreds of addresses on distinguished occasions. He was constantly in demand at colleges and universities, great educational meetings, and gatherings of a civic or public character. His Atlanta speech is famous for the so-called compromise with the white Jjonth: "In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in aU things essential to mutual progress.'' On receiving his degree at Harvard in 1896, he made a speech in which he emphasized the fact 94 The Negro in Literature and Art that the welfare of the richest and most cul tured person in New England was bound up with that of the humblest man in Alabama, and that each man was his brother's keeper. Along somewhat the same line he spoke the next year at the unveiling of the Robert Gould Shaw Monument in Boston. At the Chicago Peace Jubilee in 1898 he reviewed the conduct of the Negro in the wars of the United States, making a powerful plea for justice to a race that had always chosen the better part in the wars of the country. Mr. Washington delivered many addresses, but he never reaUy surpassed the feeling and point and oratorical quality of these early speeches. The following paragraph from the Atlanta speech will illus trate his power of vivid and apt Ulustration: A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate^vessel was seen a signal: "Water, water; we die of thirst!" The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: "Cast down your bucket where you are." A second time the signal, "Water, water; send us water!" ran up from the distressed vessel, and was answered: "Cast down your bucket where you are." And a third and a fourth signal for water was answered: "Cast down your bucket where you are." The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket, Orators. — Douglass and Washington 95 and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River. To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next door neighbor, I would say: "Cast down your bucket where you are" — cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded.* The power to realize with fine feeling the possibUities of an occasion may be Ulustrated from the speech at Harvard: If through me, an humble representative, seven mil lions of my people in the South might be permitted to send a message to Harvard — Harvard that offered up on death's altar young Shaw, and Russell, and Lowell, and scores of others, that we might have a free and united country — that message would be, Tell them that the sacrifice was not in vain. Tell them that by habits of"! thrift and economy, by way of the industrial school and ? college, we are coming up. We are crawling up, working; up, yea, bursting up — often through oppression, unjust discrimination and prejudice, but through them all we are coming up, and with proper habits, intelligence, and property, there is no power on earth that can permanently stay our progress.f The eloquence of Douglass differed from that of Washington a*"LjiaesJihe-paw©r- of a gifted * Quoted from "Story of My Life and Work," 165-6. t Quoted from "Story of My Life and Work," 210-11. 96 The Negro in Literature and Art orator differ from the force of a finished public speaker. The one was subjective; the other was objective. Douglass swayed his audience, and even himself, by the sweep of his passion and rhetoric; Washington studied every de tail and weighed every word, always keeping in mind the final impression to be made. Douglass was an idealist, impatient for the day of perfect fruition; Washington was an opportunist, making the most of each chance as it came. The one voiced the sorrows of the Old Testament, and for the moment produced the more tremendous effect; the other longed for the blessing of the New Testament and spoke with lasting result. Both loved their people and each in his own way worked as he could best see the light. By his earnestness each in his day gained a hearing; by their sincerity both found a place in the oratory not only of the Negro but of the world. IX THE STAGE IN no other field has the Negro with artistic aspirations found the road so hard as in that of the classic drama. In spite of the far-reaching influence of the Negro on American fife, it is only within the last two years that this distinct racial element has begun to re ceive serious attention. If we pass over Othello as professedly a Moor rather than a Negro, we find that the Negro, as he has been pre sented on the English or American stage, is best represented by such a character as Mungo in the comic opera, "The Padlock," on the boards at Drury Lane in 1768. Mungo is the slave of a West Indian planter; he be comes profane in the second act and sings a burlesque song. Here, as elsewhere, there was no dramatic or sympathetic study of the race. Even Uncle Tom was a conventional embodi- 97 98 The Negro in Literature and Art ment of patience and meekness rather than a highly individualized character. /On the legitimate stage the Negro was not ^wanted. That he could succeed, however, \was -shewn by such a career as that of Ira Aldridge. This distinguished actor, making his way from America to the freer life of Europe, entered upon the period of his greatest artistic success when, in 1833, at Covent Gar-*^, den, he played Othello to the Iago of Edmund \ Kean, the foremost actor of the time. He was universally ranked as a great tragedian. In the years 1852-5 he played in Germany. In 1857 the King of Sweden invited him to visit Stockholm. The King of Prussia bestowed upon him a first-class medal of the arts and sciences. The Emperor of Austria compli mented him with an autograph letter; the Czar of Russia gave him a decoration, and various other honors were showered upon him. Such is the noblest tradition of the Negro on the stage. In course of time, however, be cause of the new blackface ministrelsy that be came popular soon after the Civil War, aU association of the Negro with the classic drama was effectively erased from the public mind. The Stage 99 Near the turn of the century some outlet was found in light, musical comedy. Prominent in the transition from minstrelsy to the new form were Bob Cole and Ernest Hogan; and the representative musical comedy companies have been those of Cole and Johnson, and WUliams ' and Walked Bert WUliams is to-day generally v remarked as one of the two or three foremost comedians on the American stage. Even musi cal comedy, however, is not so prominent as it was ten years ago, by reason of the competi-v' tion of vaudeviUe and moving-pictures; and any representation of the Negro on the stage at the present time is Ukely to be either a burlesque, or, as in such pictures as those of "The Birth of a Nation," a deliberate and malicious libel on the race. In different ones of the Negro colleges, how ever, and elsewhere, are there those who have dreamed of a true Negro drama — a drama that should get away from the minstrelsy and the burlesque and honestly present Negro char acters face to face with all the problems that test the race in the crucible of American civil ization. The representative institutions give frequent amateur productions, not only of 100 The Negro in Literature and Art classical plays, but also of sincere attempts at the faithful portrayal of Negro character. In even wider fields, however, is the possibility of the material for serious dramatic treatment being tested. In the spring of 1914 "Granny JMaumee," by Ridgely Torrence, a New York dramatist, was produced by the Stage Society of New York. The part of Granny Maumee was taken by Dorothy Donnelly, one of the most emotional and sincere of American ac tresses; two performances were given, and Carl Van Vechten, writing of the occasion in the New York Press, said: "It is as important an event in our theater as the first play by Synge was to the Irish movement." Another experiment was "ChUdren," by Guy ^Bolton and Tom Carlton, presented by the Washing ton Square^Piayers in March, 1916, a little play in which a mother shoots her son rather than give him up to a lynching party. In April, 1917,' "Granny Maumee," with two other short plays by Mr. Torrence, "The Rider of Dreams," and "Simon the Cyrenian," was again put on the stage in New York, this time with a company of colored actors, prom inent among whom were Opal Cooper and Inez The Stage 101 Clough. This whole production, advertised as "the first colored dramatic company to appear on Broadway," was under the patronage of Mrs. Norman Hapgood and the direction of Robert Edmond Jones, and its success was such as to give hopes of much greater things in the future. Three or four other representative efforts within the race itseff in the great field of the drama must be remarked. /One of the most sincere was "The Exile," written by E. C. Williams, and presented at the Howard The ater in Washington, May 29, 1915, a play deal- * ing with an episode in the life of Lorenzo de Medicii The story used is thoroughly dramatic, and that part of the composition that is in blank verse is of a notable degree of smooth ness. "The Star of Ethiopia," by Dr. DuBois/ was a pageant, elaborately presented. Origi nally produced in New York in 1913, it also saw performances in Washington and Phila delphia. The spring of 1916 witnessed the beginning of the work of the Edward Sterling Wright Players, of New York. This company used the legitimate drama and made a favor able impression, especially by its production of 102 The Negro in Literature and Art "Othello." rAt^ present special interest attaches to the work of the Lafayette Players in New York, who have already made commendable progress in the production of popular playsTl The field is comparatively new. It is, how ever, one pecufiarly adapted to the abUity of the Negro race, and at least enough has been done so far to show that both Negro effort in the classic drama and the serious portrayal of Negro life on the stage are worthy of re spectful consideration. X PAINTERS. — HENRY O. TANNER PAINTING has long been a medium through which the artistic spirit of the race yearned to find expression. As far back as in the work of Phillis Wheatley there is a poem addressed to "S. M." (Scipio Moorhead), "a young African painter," one of whose subjects was the story of Damon and Pythias. It was a hundred years more, however, before there was really artistic production. E. M. Ban nister, whose home was at Providence, though Uttle known to the younger generation, was very prominent forty years ago. He gathered about himself a coterie of artists and rich men that formed the nucleus of the Rhode Island Art Club, and one of his pictures took a medal at the Centennial Exposition of 1876. WUliam A. Harper, who died in 1910, was a product of the Chicago Art Institute, at whose exhibi tions his pictures received much favorable com- 103 104 The Negro in Literature and Art ment about 1908 and 1910. On his return from his first period of study in Paris his "Avenue of Poplars" took a prize of one hundred dollars at the Institute. Other typical subjects were "The Last Gleam," "The HUlside," and "The Gray Dawn." Great hopes were awakened a few years ago by the landscapes of Richard L. Brown; and the portrait work of Edwin A. Harleston is destined to become better and better known. William E. Scott, of Indian apolis, is becoming more and more distinguished in mural work, landscape, and portraiture, and among all the painters of the race now working in this country is outstanding. He has spent several years in Paris. "La Pauvre Voisine," accepted by the Salon in 1912, was afterwards bought by the Argentine government. A sec ond picture exhibited in the Salon in 1913, "La Misere," was reproduced in the French cata logue and took first prize at the Indiana State Fair the next year. "La Connoisseure" was exhibited in the Royal Academy in London in 1913. Mr. Scott has done the mural work in ten public schools in Chicago, four in Indian- apofis, and especially was he commissioned by the city of Indianapolis to decorate two units HENRY O. TANNER Painters. — Henry 0. Tanner 105 in the city hospital, this task embracing three hundred life-size figures. Some of his effects in coloring are very striking, and in several of his recent pictures he has emphasized racial subjects. The painter of assured fame and command ing position is Henry Ossawa Tanner. The early years of this artist were a record of singular struggle and sacrifice. Born in Pittsburgh in 1859, the son of a minister of very limited means, he received his early edu cation in Philadelphia. For years he had to battle against uncertain health. In his thir teenth year, seeing an artist at work, he decided that he too would become a painter, and he afterwards became a student at the Pennsyl vania Academy of Fine Arts. While still a very young man, he attempted drawings of aU sorts and sent these to various New York publishers, only to see them promptly returned. A check, however, for forty dollars for one that did not return encouraged him, and a picture, "A Lion at Home," from the exhibition of the Academy of Design, brought eighty dollars. He now became a photographer in Atlanta, Ga., but met with no real success; and for 106 The Negro in Literature and Art two years he taught drawing at Clark Univer sity in Atlanta. In this period came a summer of struggle in the mountains of North Caro- Una, and the knowledge that a picture that had originally sold for fifteen dollars had brought two hundred and fifty dollars at an auction in Philadelphia. Desiring now to go to Europe, and being encouraged by Bishop and Mrs. HartzeU, the young painter gave in Cincinnati an exhibition of his work. The ex hibition failed; not a picture was regularly sold. Bishop and Mrs. Hartzell, however, gave the artist a sum for the entire collection, and thus equipped he set sail for Rome, January 4, 1891, going by way of Liverpool and Paris. In the story of his career that he contributed to the World's Work some years ago, Mr. Tanner gave an interesting account of his early days in Paris. Acquaintance with the great French capital induced him to abandon thoughts of going to Rome; but there followed five years of pitiless economy, broken only by a visit to Philadelphia, where he sold some pictures. He was encouraged, however, by Benjamin Constant and studied in the Julien Academy. In his early years he had given Painters. — Henry 0. Tanner 107 attention to animals and landscape, but more and more he was drawn towards religious sub jects. "Daniel in the Lions' Den" in the Salon in 1896 brought "honorable mention," the artist's first official recognition. He was in spired, and very soon afterwards he made his first visit to Palestine, the land that was after wards to mean so much to him in his work. "The Resurrection of Lazarus," in 1897, was bought by the French government, and now hangs in the Luxembourg. The enthusiasm awakened by this picture was so great that a friend wrote to the painter at Venice: "Come home, Tanner, to see the crowds behold your picture." After twenty years of heart-breaking effort Henry Tanner had become a recognized artist. His later career is a part of the history of the world's art. He won a third-class medal at N the Salon in 1897, a second-class medal in 1907, second-class medals at the Paris Exposi tion in 1900, at the Buffalo Exposition in 1901, and at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, a gold medal at San Francisco in 1915, the Walter Lippincott Prize in Philadelphia in 1900, and the Harris Prize of five hundred dollars, in 1906, for the best picture in the 108 The Negro in Literature and Art annual exhibition of American paintings at the Chicago Art Institute. Mr. Tanner's later life has been spent in Paris, with trips to the Far East, to Palestine, to Egypt, to Algiers, and Morocco. Some years ago he joined the colony of artists at Trepied, where he has built a commodious home and studio. |_Miss MacChesney has de scribed this for us: "His studio is an ideal workroom, being high-ceUinged, spacious, and having the least possible furniture, utterly free from masses of useless studio stuff and para phernalia. The walls are of a Ught gray, and at one end hangs a fine tapestry. Oriental carved wooden screens are at the doors and windows. Leading out of it is a smaU room having a domed ceiling and picturesque high windows. In this simply furnished room he often poses his models, painting himself in the large studio, the sliding door between being a small one. He can often make use of lamp light effects, the daylight in the larger room not interfering." Within recent years the artist has kept pace with some of the newer schools by brUUant experimentation in color and composition. Moonlight scenes appeal Painters. — Henry 0. Tanner 109 to him most. He seldom paints other than biblical subjects, except perhaps a portrait such as that of the Khedive or Rabbi Wise. A landscape may attract him, but it is sure to be idealized. He is thoroughly romantic in tone, and in spirit, if not in technique,^ there is inuch to connect him with Holman Hunt, the Pre-Raphaelite painter. In fact he long had in mind, even if he has not actually worked out, a picture entitled, "The Scape goat." "The Annunciation," as well as "The Res urrection of Lazarus," was bought by the French government; and "The Two Disciples at the Tomb" was bought by the Chicago Art In stitute. "The Bagpipe Lesson" and "The Banjo Lesson" are in the Ubrary at Hampton Institute. Other prominent titles are: "Christ and Nicodemus," "Jews Waiting at the Wall of Solomon," "Stephen Before the Council," "Moses and the Burning Bush," "The Mothers of the Bible" (a series of five paintings of Mary, Hagar, Sarah, Rachel, and the mother of Moses, that marked the commencement of paintings containing all or nearly all female figures), "Christ at the Home of Mary and 110 The Negro in Literature and Art Martha," "The Return of the Holy Women," and "The Five Virgins." Of "Christ and His Disciples on the Road to Bethany," one of the most remarkable of aU the pictures for subdued coloring, the painter says, "I have taken the tradition that Christ never spent a day in Jerusalem, but at the close of day went to Bethany, returning to the city of strife in the morning." Of "A Flight into Egypt" he says: "Never shall I forget the magnificence of two Persian Jews that I once saw at Rachel's Tomb; what a magnificent 'Abraham' either one of them would have made! Nor do I forget a ride one stormy Christmas night to Bethlehem. Dark clouds swept the moonlit skies and it took Uttle im agination to close one's eyes to the flight of time and see in those hurrying travelers the crowds that hurried Bethlehemward on that memorable night of the Nativity, or to trans pose the scene and see in each hurrying group 'A Flight into Egypt.'" As to which one of all these pictures excels the others critics are not in perfect agreement. "The Resurrection of Lazurus" is in subdued coloring, while "The Annunciation" is noted for its effects of Painters. — Henry 0. Tanner 111 light and shade. This latter picture must in any case rank very high in any consideration of the painter's work. It is a powerful por trayal of the Virgin at the moment when she learns of