Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance to Rediscover and Read

Georgia Douglas Johnson on the cover of The Crisis

Here are more than a dozen women poets of the Harlem Renaissance, some of whom have been somewhat or largely forgotten, but whose words and lives deserve to be rediscovered and read.

The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s was a fertile decade for Black creators of all kinds — writers, musicians, playwrights, and artists. Like many creative movements, it was male-dominated, but many women rose to prominence. 

More women writers who made a lasting impact can be found in Renaissance Women: 13 Female Writers of the Harlem Renaissance, some of whom will also appear in the following list.

In her preface to Black Sister: Poetry by Black American Women, 1746 – 1980, Erlene Stetson wrote:

“Black women poets have made a unique contribution to the American literary tradition. This contribution is shaped by their experience both as blacks and as women, an experience whose pressure they have resisted and at the same time as they have recognized its strategic survival value in life and exploited its symbolic power in their art.”

 

Respect for women poets

In her introduction to Shadowed Dreams: Women’s Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, editor Maureen Honey elaborated:

“Poetry was the preferred form of most Afro-American women writers during the 1920s. Well known in intellectual circles of their day and widely published, women poets achieved the respect of their peers and popularity with a middle-class audience.”

What happened to some of the women poets of the Harlem Renaissance era was what happened to many of the talents of that time. The Great Depression of the 1930s ended or curtailed the artistic aspirations of many African Americans.

Some were able to later pick up where they left off; others never could recapture the magic of the 1920s. Still, a number of the women poets of the Harlem Renaissance excelled in other fields, especially as educators, social activists, and editors.

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Gwendolyn B. Bennett

Gwendolyn B Bennett

Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902 – 1981) was a multitalented poet, short story writer, visual artist, and journalist. Pride in African heritage and the influence of African dance and music were threads that ran through her work. In the mid-1920s, Her poetry and artwork were published in the The Crisis, NAACP’s journal, Opportunity magazine, and Alaine Locke’s New Negro.

Some of her best-known poems included “Moon Tonight,” “Heritage,” “To Usward,” and “Fantasy.” Her published short stories included “Wedding Day” and “Tokens.” Sample her poetry here.

During the Depression, she worked as an administrator on the New York City Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project (1935-1941), and dedicated herself to advancing the careers of young black artists. 

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Carrie Williams Clifford

carrie williams clifford portrait - race rhymes

Carrie Williams Clifford (1882 – 1958) was a fascinating figure from the civil rights movement of the early 1900s, as well as having been an accomplished poet. In her 1911 collection, Race Rhymes, she modestly stated:

“The author makes no claim to unusual poetic excellence or literary brilliance. She is seeking to call attention to a condition, which she, at least, considers serious. Knowing that this may often be done more impressively through rhyme that in an elegant prose, she has taken this method to accomplish this end …

The theme of the group here presented — the uplift of humanity — is the loftiest that can animate the heart and pen of man … she sends these lines forth with the prayer that they may change some heart, or right some wrong.”

Her second collection, The Widening Light (1922), contained one of her best known and most poignant poems, “The Black Draftee from Dixie.” More about Carrie Williams Clifford at Poem Hunter.

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Mae V. Cowdery

Mae Virginia Cowdery, 1928

Mae Virginia Cowdery (also known as Mae V. Cowdery; 1909 – 1948) was the daughter of upwardly mobile parents who were part of Philadelphia’s Black elite. They instilled in her a love of culture and racial pride. 

While still a student at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, three of Mae’s poems were published in Black Opals, a prestigious short-lived (1927 – 1928) literary journal of a Philadelphia cultural organization of the same name. For the fledgling poet, 1927 was a banner year. In addition to publication in Black Opals, she won first prize for her poem “Longings” in an NAACP-sponsored competition. 

After her early successes, she continued to have her poems published in journals and anthologies highlighting writers now associated with the Harlem Renaissance. In 1936, Mae produced a limited edition of 350 copies of We Lift Our Voices: And Other Poems, which was critically well received. 

After her sojourn in New York City, Mae returned to Philadelphia, married twice, had a daughter, and her life folded into the city’s Black elite. Society columns depicted her public persona as a young society matron, impeccably attired in dresses and pearls, a contrast to her androgynous portrait at age nineteen shown here.

Somehow she lost her way, or perhaps even her very identity, as an openly bisexual poet. After she took her life at age 39, her obituary didn’t even make mention that she was a published poet. Her exquisite poetry merits a fresh look. You’ll find a selection of her earlier poetry here.

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Clarissa M. Scott Delaneyclarissa M. Scott Delaney

Clarissa M. Scott Delaney (1901 – 1927) had the distinction of being born at Tuskegee Institute, where her father worked as a secretary to the African American leader and educator Booker T. Washington. 

Before her untimely death at age twenty-six, she published poetry and articles in Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life. Professionally, she was a teacher at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. There she worked with Angelina Weld Grimké, another poet of the period; the two were good friends.

Delaney’s biography on Black Renaissance states:

“During her brief writing life, she only had four poems published. She had a flair for language, good use of metaphors of nature, and she expressed her intensely felt emotions. She had an eye for unique detail, and she undoubtedly would have written more and her work would have matured had she lived longer.”

Find a small selection of Clarissa Scott Delaney’s poems here.

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Alice Dunbar-Nelson

Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875 – 1935) was a multifaceted writer, poet, journalist, and teacher. She used her pen to advocate for the rights of women and African Americans both before and after the Harlem Renaissance era of the 1920s.

In all the ways she used her pen, Alice advocated for the rights of women and people of color. She is considered one of the significant writers associated with the Harlem Renaissance movement of the 1920s, though a good portion of her work predates this era. 

In her searingly honest essays, she wrote of the hardships of growing up mixed-race in Louisiana and explored the complex issues faced by women of color. She was also considered one of the premier poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Read a selection of her poems here.

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Jessie Redmon Fauset

Jessie Redmon Fauset

Jessie Redmon Fauset (April 27, 1882 – April 30, 1961) was an American editor, poet, essayist, and novelist. Her literary output included four novels, the best known of which was Plum Bun. but her tenure as the literary editor of the NAACP’s magazine, The Crisis, was significant.

With a keen eye for talent, she introduced readers to Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, Claude McKay, and other notable authors and poets of the era. Considered one of the seven “midwives” of the Harlem Renaissance movement, she herself was an accomplished poet, here is a generous selection of poems by Jessie Redmon Fauset to explore. 

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Angelina Weld Grimké

Angelina Grimke
Angelina Weld Grimké (1880 – 1958) was an American essayist, playwright and poet whose work was extensively published in The Crisis, the influential journal of the NAACP, and other Harlem Renaissance anthologies. She was the great-niece of the abolitionist Grimké sisters, one of whom was also named Angelina.

Her 1920 play Rachel  was one of the first staged staged productions of a work by a woman of color. She lived a quiet life and her subtle love poems to women hint at a life not fully expressed. 

Angelina Weld Grimké considered hugely important to the growth of the Harlem Renaissance movement, yet her personal work and contributions are under-appreciated.  Sample her poetry here.

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Ariel Williams Holloway (Lucy Ariel Williams)

Ariel Williams Holloway

Ariel Williams Holloway (1905 – 1973), also known as Lucy Ariel Williams, set out to be a concert pianist, having earned degrees in music from Fisk University and Oberlin College. Despite her formal training, she found that her professional aspiration was closed to African American women.

Instead, she taught music at the high school and college level around the South, and in 1939, became the first supervisor of music in the Mobile, Alabama public school system. She held this post until her death.

Though she was never a New Yorker, Williams had her poems published in Opportunity, and The Crisis, the leading journals of the Harlem Renaissance, between 1926 and 1935.

Later, she published a volume of verse, Shape Them into Dreams (Exposition Press, 1955). “Northboun,’” a short poem written in dialect about the Great Migration, originally published in Opportunity in 1926, won an important prize and is considered her best-known work of poetry. 

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Georgia Douglas Johnson

Georgia Douglas Johnson on the cover of The Crisis

Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880 – 1966) was best known as a poet active during the Harlem Renaissance era, though she also was an avid musician, and teacher, and an anti-lynching activist. She was one of the first African American female playwrights and produced four books of poetry.

Georgia’s first poems were published in the NAACP’s magazine, The Crisis, in 1916. She published four poetry collections: The Heart of a Woman (1918), Bronze (1922), An Autumn Love Cycle (1928), and after a long gap, Share My World (1962).

As a mixed-race woman, she addressed issues of bias and racism in her poems from a broad perspective. She also wrote many that were intensely personal. In particular, she explored the constraining roles of devoted wife and mother and how these clashed with the desire to be a creative artist.

Her poem “The Heart of a Woman” (1916) influenced Maya Angelou, whose 1981 memoir of the same name pays direct homage to this work by Johnson. Threads running through her work included family, motherhood, and navigating life in America as a woman of color. Here is a selection of poems by Georgia Douglas Johnson. See also:

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Helene Johnson
Helene Johnson, Harlem Renaissance poet

The poetry of Helene Johnson (1906 – 1995) began appearing in Black journals and magazines when she was in her late teens. Like her cousin Dorothy West, she moved to Harlem in the 1920s and befriended other literary figures like Zora Neale Hurston.

Readers across the country got a taste of her talent when her poem “Bottled,” with its innovative slang and unconventional rhythms, was published in Vanity Fair, in the May edition of 1927. 

A short poem called “Ah My Race” remains one of her best known. Her last published poems appeared in Challenge: A Literary Quarterly, in 1935. Though she stopped publishing, she continued to write a poem a day for the rest of her long life. Here is a selection of Helene Johnson’s poems.

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May Miller

May Miller, poet

May Miller (1899 – 1995) was one of the most widely published female playwrights and poets of the Harlem Renaissance era, having published seven volumes of poetry. She began writing poetry at an early age, and though it was her first love, her accomplishments branched out widely.

She was the first African American student to attend Johns Hopkins University, and would subsequently become one of the pioneers in the field of sociology. May augmented her work as a writer with a distinguished career as a teacher and lecturer in a number of prestigious institutions.

May continued to be an active late into life. She recited poetry at the presidential inauguration of Jimmy Carter in 1922. Read a small selection of her poems.

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Effie Lee Newsome

Effie Lee Newsome

Effie Lee Newsome (1885–1979) was best known for her poetry for children. Her writings were widely published in the NAACP’s The Crisis, and the Urban League’s Opportunity. She was also the editor of the children’s column “Little Page” in the Crisis.

Her poetry encouraged younger readers to appreciate their worth and beauty — it has been written that her poetry was a forerunner of the 1960’s Black is Beautiful movement. Later in her career, she worked as a children’s librarian in Ohio, continuing to promote books and literature to young readers. Read a collection of poems by Effie Lee Newsome.

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Esther Popel

Esther Popel 1920

Esther Popel (1896–1958), writer, teacher, and activist, wrote poetry that didn’t shy away from bitterness as her words reflected on injustice, racial prejudice, and violence against Black Americans.

While a senior in high school, Popel self-published her first book of poetry, Thoughtless Thinks by a Thinkless Thaughter (1915). Like many of her contemporaries of the Harlem Renaissance, she published in The Crisis and Opportunity, winning several awards for her work.

Having been well-educated herself, she lobbied for opportunities for women of color and served on the board of the National Association of College Women for two decades. Read a selection of five poems by Esther Popel.

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Anne Spencer

anne spencer, poet

Anne Spencer (1882 – 1975) was born on a Virginia plantation. Though she endured a turbulent early life, she remained close to her mother, who saw to it that Anne received a good education.

After she married, her mother took over Anne’s household responsibilities so that she could pursue a life of the mind and develop collegial relationships with the prominent intellects of the time. The eminent James Weldon Johnson became her mentor, and he saw to it that her poetry was published. Sample her poetry here.

Anne, who was also a political activist, was one of those bright-burning lights that was dimmed by the Depression. She was unable to publish after 1931 and her works were never in a stand-alone collection. But she lived to age ninety-three and never stopped writing. Today, her life and legacy have been preserved at the Anne Spencer Museum.

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Books on Women writers of the Harlem Renaissance

Books on women writers of the Harlem Renaissance on Bookshop.org*
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Shadowed Dreams - Women's Petry of the Harlem Renaissance edited by Maureen Honey

An excellent resource is Shadowed Dreams: Women’s Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance edited by Maureen Honey (Rutgers University Press, 1989). In it, you’ll find these and many other lesser-known writers of the era.
Shadowed Dreams on Bookshop.org*
Shadowed Dreams on Amazon*

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*This is a Bookshop Affliate link. If a product is purchased by linking through, Literary Ladies Guide receives a modest commission, which helps maintain our site and helps it to continue growing!

5 Responses to “Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance to Rediscover and Read”

  1. Wonderful stuff and yes “Shadowed Dreams” is a great resource.
    Also suggest “Aphrodite’s Daughters–Three Modernist Poets of the Harlem Renaissance,” by Maureen Honey. Rutgers Press, 2016. Presents/Compares/Contrasts Angelina Weld Grimke, Gwendolyn Bennet, and poor Mae V. Cowdery. Mae = Brilliant poet who published her own book in 1936 (!), then went silent, and killed herself 10 years later.
    Mae has interested me for a while, little written about her. Understand she is in Nikki Grimes’ book “Legacy” but have not secured a copy as of yet.

  2. I’m trying to confirm if Alice E. Furlong was a Harlem Renaissance writer. Her name is connected with the works Laurel Leaves, Awaiting, Suicide. Mrs. Furlong is my great-grandmother, who lived in Cambridge mass and Chicago Illinois

    • Hi Pam — I’m not familiar with Alice E. Furlong, but doing just a bit of digging, I see that she’s included in the anthology Shadowed Dreams: Women’s Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance (edited by Maureen Honey). A very brief bio is included, mainly stating that little is known about her, not even her birth and death years, and that she may not have lived long. Her only published poems seem to have appeared in a short-lived Black literary journal called The Quill in 1929-30, so you could probably say that she was a Harlem Renaissance writer. The active Harlem Renaissance era, which was also called the New Negro Movement, came to a fairly abrupt end with the start of the Great Depression.

      So I would see if you can come by a copy of Shadowed Dreams; and here’s a little about Saturday Evening Quill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Evening_Quill

      When I first started poking around I came across another poet named Alice Furlong, but she was Irish (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Furlong). Their lives overlapped.

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