Today’s Information On African American History
The name Paul Laurence Dunbar is known by many people. However, what is not common knowledge was that he was a classmate of Orville Wright, as well as the first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet. The son of ex-slaves, born in the 19th century, “Dunbar was prolific, writing short stories, novels, librettos, plays, songs and essays as well as the poetry for which he became well known. He was popular with black and white readers of his day, and his works are celebrated today by scholars and school children alike.”
Another African American writer was James Weldon Johnson, creator of the National Negro Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” His brother, John Johnson set it to music. Together, they composed over 200 songs for Broadway musicals, including “The Sleeping Beauty,” and “Humpty Dumpty.” One of his most famous poems was “God’s Trombones,” which still stirs people whenever it is shared, was written with his brother, Rosamond.
James Johnson was also a novelist, historian, diplomat, lawyer, civil rights leader, editor, and, of course, a songwriter. A graduate of Atlanta University, Mr. Johnson was a school principal, the first secretary of the NAACP, a professor of Creative Literature at Fish University, and worked with a friend who passed for white. Johnson wrote about the experiences of African Americans passing for white. I read once where another researcher said that as many as 50% of the white people in America have African American heritage, but only about 25% of them have that awareness; most don’t want to know!
Langston Hughes was another writer of many talents. “In addition to his work as a poet, Hughes was a novelist, columnist, playwright, and essayist…closely associated with [the Harlem Renaissance],” and a world traveler, was influenced and “followed the example of Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of his early poetic influences, to become the second African American to earn a living as a writer. His long and distinguished career produced volumes of diverse genres and inspired the work of countless other African American writers.”
Hughes learned to deal with various groups due to the countless moves of his mother and step-father, living with relatives, and then spending a year in Mexico. He also learned how to distinguish “decent” white folks from “reactionary” white folks. He saw that there were different kinds of white people and didn’t throw them all into the same pot. Although he was expected to get an engineering degree at Columbia University, Langston Hughes wanted to travel. He traveled much, but economics forced him back to America where he took blue-collar jobs and eventually entered Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the first African American university. When he entered, he was a respected poet and writer, a much older student, and later, as a criticized poet for the way he used blues and jazz and Negro dialect in his poems.
An accomplished writer, Mr. Hughes wrote for several African American papers, a majority newspaper, had a short stint with Dr. Carter G. Woodson, respected African American researcher and historian. Hughes also wrote plays individually and collectively with others. Known as a dean for other writers, Langston Hughes endured accusations for his association with known communist individuals, and left a legacy for others, including being inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1961.
Of course there were many great African American writers from Phyllis Wheatley to Gwendolyn Brooks to Maya Angelou to Alice Walker to Amiri Baraka to Zora Neale Hurston to Alain Locke to James Baldwin to Bill Cosby to Ralph Ellison to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to Nikki Giovanni to Alex Haley to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Oscar Micheaxu to Toni Morrison to Alvin F. Poussaint to Ishmael Reed to Susie Taylor to Sojourner Truth to Harriet Tubman to Booker T. Washington to Cornel West to Richard Wright to Malcolm X and the hundreds of others known and unknown to me.
It would be great to have a Charlotte Mason like Langston Hughes so I could revive all of the writing of these great people and put it out on radio and television, music and DVDs and modern plays to teach our younger generation. Perhaps then we could encourage some of them to put down their guns, drugs, negative rap music and pick up a pen, pull up their pants, use a computer, and meet the writing and reading void needed by the 21st century African American youth.
Credits:
David C. Cook, “Black America: Yesterday and Today”
Thomson Gale, www.gale.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_writers
http://www.afn.org/~sigma1/jwjohn.html
Next time: The power of African American artists…for real!
What is November known for? All Saints Day? American Indian Heritage? Families Stories Month? Military Family Appreciation? National Adoption? AIDS Awareness? National Peanut Butter Lovers? National Scholarship? Sweet Potato Awareness? Vegan Month?
Credit: http://www.brownielocks.com/NOVEMBER2009.html
You need to check out this web site…it may blow your mind: http://www.freemaninstitute.com/RTGseminar.htm
And, here are some more:
www.Black101.com
www.BlackChurchMissions.org
www.RosettaStoneReplicas.com
DID YOU KNOW? There is another resource to help you learn more about Black History?
Check out: www.yenoba.com
And another? Check out: http://www.blackhistorypages.net/index.php
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