The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States Read online

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  THE NEGRO IN LITERATURE AND ART

  (C) MARY DALE CLARK & CHARLES JAMES FOX

  CHARLES S. GILPIN AS "THE EMPEROR JONES"]

  The Negroin Literature and Art_in the United States_

  BYBENJAMIN BRAWLEY

  _Author of "A Short History of the American Negro"_

  _REVISED EDITION_

  NEW YORKDUFFIELD & COMPANY1921

  Copyright, 1918, 1921, byDUFFIELD & COMPANY

  TO MY FATHEREDWARD MACKNIGHT BRAWLEY

  WITH THANKS FOR SEVERE TEACHINGAND STIMULATING CRITICISM

  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

  XIII. GENERAL PROGRESS, 1918-1921 142

  XIV. CHARLES S. GILPIN 156

  APPENDIX:

  1. THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN FICTION 165

  2. STUDY OF BIBLIOGRAPHY 180

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  CHARLES S. GILPIN AS "THE EMPEROR JONES" _Frontispiece_

  PHILLIS WHEATLEY _Facing p._ 10

  PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR " 34

  CHARLES W. CHESNUTT " 46

  W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS " 50

  WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE " 56

  HENRY O. TANNER " 104

  META WARRICK FULLER " 112

  HARRY T. BURLEIGH " 130

  PREFACE

  The present volume undertakes to treat somewhat more thoroughly than hasever before been attempted the achievement of the Negro in the UnitedStates along literary and artistic lines, judging this by absoluterather than by partial or limited standards. The work is the result ofstudies in which I first became interested nearly ten years ago. In 1910a booklet, "The Negro in Literature and Art," appeared in Atlanta,privately printed. The little work contained only sixty pages. Thereception accorded it, however, was even more cordial than I had hopedit might be, and the limited edition was soon exhausted. Its substance,in condensed form, was used in 1913 as the last chapter of "A ShortHistory of the American Negro," brought out by the Macmillan Co. In themean time, however, new books and magazine articles were constantlyappearing, and my own judgment on more than one point had changed; sothat the time has seemed ripe for a more intensive review of the wholefield. To teachers who may be using the history as a text I hardly needto say that I should be pleased to have the present work supersedeanything said in the last chapter of that volume.

  The first chapter, and those on Mr. Braithwaite and Mrs. Fuller,originally appeared in the _Southern Workman_. That on the Stage was acontribution to the _Springfield Republican_; and the supplementarychapter is from the _Dial_. All are here reprinted with the kind consentof the owners of those periodicals. Much of the quoted matter is coveredby copyright. Thanks are especially due to Mr. Braithwaite 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 quitenew. It is hoped that it may prove of service.

  BENJAMIN BRAWLEY.

  North Cambridge, August, 1917.

  THE NEGRO INLITERATURE AND ART

  THE NEGRO IN LITERATURE AND ART