By Taylor Jasmine | On January 19, 2025 | Comments (0)
Frances Watkins Harper (1825 – 1911), also known as Frances E.W. Harper or Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, was a 19th century American Renaissance woman. Presented here is the full text of Poems by Frances E.W. Harper, published in 1896. Philadelphia: George S. Ferguson Co., Printers and Electrotypes, 1896. It is in the public domain.
Poet, writer, lecturer, suffragist, social reformer, and abolitionist, she wrote prolifically from the time she published her first collection of poetry in 1845, at the age of twenty.
A freeborn African American from Baltimore, Maryland, she dedicated her life to social causes, including abolition, women’s suffrage, and the quest for equality. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On January 7, 2025 | Updated January 17, 2025 | Comments (11)
Helene Johnson (1906 – 1995) was an American poet associated with the Harlem Renaissance. This selection of poems by Helene Johnson features those from the 1920s, the period in which she was most active as a young poet.
She was just nineteen when her first published poem, “Trees at Night,” appeared in Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life in 1925. A year later, this journal published six more of her poems.
Her poems also made an appearance in NAACP’s The Crisis and the first and only issue of Fire!!, Langston Hughes’ short-lived publication. As Helene grew aware of the economic and divide facing Black New Yorkers, she began to explore racial themes in her poetry. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On December 12, 2024 | Comments (0)
Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880 – 1966) was a respected poet and playwright associated with the Harlem Renaissance movement. Following is the full text of her first published collection, The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems (1918).
The Heart of a Woman was followed by Bronze (1922) and An Autumn Love Cycle (1928). Many years later she came out with Share My World (1962). With four published collections, it’s quite likely that Georgia was the most widely published of the female poets of her era.
Georgia’s poems were published in numerous periodicals and anthologies, particularly in the 1920s. In her poetry, Georgia addressed issues of race as well as universal themes of love, motherhood, and being a woman in a male-dominated world. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On November 27, 2024 | Updated December 2, 2024 | Comments (0)
Mae Virginia Cowdery (also known as Mae V. Cowdery; January 10, 1909 – November 2, 1948) is a forgotten poetic voice of the Harlem Renaissance era of the 1920s. A selection of her earlier poems is presented here.
Mae was the only child of professional parents who were part of Philadelphia’s Black elite. They instilled in her their values of racial pride, equality, and respect for the arts.
Above right, Mae in 1928 at age nineteen, sporting an androgynous look.
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By Taylor Jasmine | On October 20, 2024 | Updated December 12, 2024 | Comments (0)
Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880 – 1966) was a prominent poet associated with the Harlem Renaissance movement. Following is the full text of Bronze: A Book of Verse (1922), her second collection of published poetry.
Bronze was preceded by The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems (1918). Next came An Autumn Love Cycle (1928), and many years later, Share My World (1962). Her poems were also published in numerous periodicals and anthologies, particularly in the 1920s.
In her poetry, Georgia addressed issues of race as well as universal themes of love, motherhood, and being a woman in a male-dominated world. Of all her works, Bronze most directly addressed issues of race and racism. Bronze: A Book of Verse is in the public domain. Read More→