The Book of American Negro Poetry

The Book of American Negro Poetry is a 1922 poetry anthology that was compiled by James Weldon Johnson. The first edition, published in 1922, was "the first of its kind ever published"[1] and included the works of thirty-one poets. A second edition was released in 1931 with works by nine additional poets.

Background

The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American life centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. A major aspect of this revival was poetry.[2] Hundreds of poems were written and published by African Americans during the era, which covered a wide variety of themes.[3] The Poetry Foundation wrote that poets in the Harlem Renaissance "explored the beauty and pain of black life and sought to define themselves and their community outside of white stereotypes."[2] Poets such as Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and Countee Cullen became well known for their poetry, which was often inspired by jazz.[3]

The poetry of the era was published in several different ways, notably in the form of anthologies. The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), Negro Poets and Their Poems (1923), An Anthology of Verse by American Negroes (1924), and Caroling Dusk (1927) have been cited as four major poetry anthologies of the Harlem Renaissance.[3]

Publishing

At the time Johnson edited the anthology, he was executive secretary of the NAACP. The anthology was "the first of its kind ever published", according to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.[1] The first edition was published by Harcourt, Brace, and Company in 1922 and was 217 pages long. There is a forty-seven page preface written by Johnson and the collection ends with a "biographical index" containing information about the poets whose work is included.[4] A second edition, also published by Harcourt, was released in 1931.[5] The second edition included a new preface and nine additional poets.[6]

Poets

The Book of American Negro Poetry incorporates works by thirty-one poets:

Reception

The Schomburg Center wrote that the anthology "may be considered his [Johnson's] most important contribution to African American literature."[1] A reviewer of the first publication wrote in The Journal of African American History that the collection was a valuable source of information.[4] A review published in The News & Observer described the anthology as "most illuminating" and "valuable". They wrote that the anthology provided an opportunity to provide deserving recognition to African American poetry.[7]

The second edition received a review in Pacific Affairs. The reviewer particularly praised Johnson's preface, and described the anthology as "a splendid piece of writing, valuable to all those interested in race relations."[5] Another review of this edition, published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, considered it to suffer "from not being sufficiently inclusive", but still felt it to be "a valuable" record "of what poetry the Negro has contributed to American letters".[6]

References
  1. The Schomburg Center guide to black literature : from the eighteenth century to the present. Roger M. Valade, Denise Kasinec, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Detroit: Gale Research. 1996. pp. 233–234. ISBN 0-7876-0289-2. OCLC 32924112.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. "An Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance". Poetry Foundation. 2021-02-19. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  3. Wintz, Cary D.; Finkelman, Paul (2004). Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance: K-Y. Taylor & Francis. pp. 727–730. ISBN 978-1-57958-458-0.
  4. "Review of The Book of American Negro Poetry". The Journal of Negro History. 8 (3): 347–348. 1923. doi:10.2307/2713569. ISSN 0022-2992. JSTOR 2713569.
  5. M., L. A. (1932). "Review of The Book of American Negro Poetry". Pacific Affairs. 5 (3): 260–261. doi:10.2307/2749775. ISSN 0030-851X. JSTOR 2749775.
  6. Gilkyson, Bernice Kenyon (1931-06-13). "Negro Poets, a Robinson Collection and Verse by Max Eastman and Wolf". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-02-19 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  7. Lewis, Nell Battle (1922-07-09). "Negro Poetry Collected In Most Illuminating, Valuable Anthology". The News and Observer. p. 16. Retrieved 2021-02-19 – via Newspapers.com open access.
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