Anarchism: What it Really Stands for by Emma Goldman (1911)

Emma Goldman - 1911

Emma Goldman (1869 – 1940) was a noted political activist and promoter of the anarchist philosophy. She was best known for her role in the development of its theories in the early twentieth century.

As such, “Anarchism: What it Really Stands For” is a 1911 essay that crystalizes her views. Anarchism, in brief, argues against all forms of authority the abolishment of institutions of government, advocating for replacing them with stateless societies.

Goldman’s views seem particularly resonant — and relevant — in this age of government overreach into privacy and personal freedom. Read More→


The Many Lives of Lee Miller, Photographer & War Correspondent

Lee Miller - a Life

Lee Miller (April 23, 1907 – July 21, 1977) was an American photographer and war correspondent. For many years she was known as the muse and lover of Surrealist artist Man Ray.

She was extraordinarily talented in her own right, moving with ease from the fashion circles of New York, to the Surrealist circles of Paris, to front-line photography in World War II.

Her life and work has been painstakingly documented and promoted by her son Antony Penrose, and most recently has been the subject of a 2023 film produced by and starring Kate Winslet. Read More→


James Weldon Johnson’s Analysis of Phillis Wheatley’s Poetry

Phillis Wheatley - complete writings

Presented here is an analysis by James Weldon Johnson of Phillis Wheatley’s poetry. She was one of the first women to be published in colonial America, and the first person in the U.S. to have a book of poetry published while enslaved.

James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) was a writer, educator, poet, diplomat, and civil rights activist. He helmed the NAACP from 1920 to 1930. He was a significant figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement, or as it was then called, The New Negro movement.

The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), chosen and edited by Johnson, was one of a handful of significant anthologies of Black literature to be published in the 1920s. The segment following, in which he provides and analysis of Phillis Wheatley’s poetry, is a portion of the Johnson’s Preface to this collection. It is in the public domain.

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Bronze by Georgia Douglas Johnson (1922) – full text

Bronze (1922 Poetry collection) by Georgia Douglas Johnson

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→


19 Poems by Effie Lee Newsome

Effie Lee Newsome

Effie Lee Newsome (1885–1979), a writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance, wrote poetry that was widely published in journals and anthologies of the 1920s. Notably, these included NAACP’s The Crisis and the Urban League’s Opportunity, and Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets, edited by Countee Cullen.

Mary Effie Lee was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Wilberforce, Ohio. She took classes at Wilberforce University, Oberlin College, the Philadelphia Academy of the Arts, and the University of Pennsylvania, exploring her dual interests in writing and art. Effie and her sister Consuelo both did illustration for children’s magazines.

As the editor of the children’s column “Little Page” in The Crisis, Effie Lee was one of the first  to write poems expressly for Black children. Her poetry encouraged younger readers to appreciate their worth and beauty. Read More→


Love Songs by Mina Loy (1915)

Mina Loy 1917 by Man Ray

Mina Loy (1882 – 1966) was an English-born poet, playwright, and artist. She was lauded by her peers for her dense analyses of the female experience in early twentieth-century Western society. Here lasting impact is arguably as a modernist poet.

She was associated with other great minds and literary innovators of her time, like T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Marianne MooreSylvia Beach, Sinclair Lewis, Ezra Pound, and others.

“Love Songs,” a poem that first appeared in print in 1915, is among her best known works. Read More→


The Mother of Social Science: The Works of Harriet Martineau

Harriet Martineau's autobiogrpahy

As a social scientist, Harriet Martineau (1802–1876) published at least fifteen book titles, some of them spanning several volumes.

As a journalist, Martineau made a living by writing for mid-19th century journals and newspapers, encouraging intellectual and social debates across her native England and around the world.

As a writer, she engaged readers of novels, travelogues, biographies, and much more – she probably would have a book in every section of the library if her work were still in print today. Read More→