FOREWORD xiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xix
PREFACE xxi
Chapter One: INTRODUCTION 3
1. The Negro in the United States 4
- Slaves and Free Men 5
- The Negro Inferior and Subservient 9
- The Mark of Oppression 14
2. The Origins of Black Poetry 16
- Written Poetry in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 16
- Folk Poetry 26
PART ONE: PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR AND HIS TIME 37
Chapter Two: THE NEGRO IN THE AMERICAN TRADITION IN DUNBAR'S TIME 39
1. The Minstrels 40
2. The Plantation Tradition in Poetry 48
- Irwin Russell 51
- Joel Chandler Harris 59
- Thomas Nelson Page and Armistead C. Gordon 62
3. The South's Revenge 66
Chapter Three: PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR 73
1. Biography 73
- Childhood Years 73
- Early Successes 75
- Fame and Its Drawbacks 77
- The End 79
2. Dunbar and the Plantation Tradition 80
- Dunbar and the Plantation 81
- Dunbar and the South 88
- The Poet and His Theme 92
3. Race Consciousness and History 95
- Past and Present 96
- The Search for Heroes 98
- Dunbar and Racial Injustice 101
4. The Poet of the People 104
- The Problem of Dialect 105
- Dunbar and the Negro Popular Temperament 111
- The Themes of Dunbar's Popular Poetry 115
5. The Lyricism of HEARTBREAK 118
- Pessimism and Religious Doubts 121
Chapter Four: DUNBAR'S CONTEMPORARIES 127
1. James Edwin Campbell 129
- The Theme of Interracial Love 130
- The People in Campbell's Poetry 133
2. Daniel Webster Davis 138
3. J. Mord Allen 141
PART TWO: THE NEGRO RENAISSANCE 147
Chapter Five: THE NEGRO RENAISSANCE 149
1. New Forces 151
- The Role of W. E. B. Du Bois 151
- Black Migrations 153
- Radicalism and the New Spirit 155
- The Rehabilitation of the Negro Past 157
2. The Problem of Self-Definition 160
- The Discovery of the Negro and of Negro Art 162
- Cultural Dualism and Its Problems 165
- Art or Propaganda? 170
3. The Poetry of the Renaissance 172
- The Poets and Their Public 173
- The Poets and Their Themes 177
- Poets in Conflict 190
Section A: IN SEARCH OF THE SPIRITUAL 195
Chapter Six: CLAUDE McKay 197
1. Biography 198
- The Jamaican Years 198
- The Years in the United States 201
- Years of Vagabondage 201
- Home to Harlem 203
2. The Jamaican Sources 204
- Authenticity of Form 204
- Realism of the Peasant Portraits 206
- Primacy of the Earth 211
- Rejection of the City 215
3. The Lyricism of Militancy 222
- Racial Pride 223
- Hatred 225
- Target of Hatred: Evil 230
- The Limits of Hatred 235
4. Exoticism and the Theme of Africa 236
5. Harlem and Negro Art 243
6. The Spiritual Journey 247
Chapter Seven: JEAN TOOMER 259
1. The Destiny of Jean Toomer 260
2. The Poetry of CANE, or, the Pilgrimage to the Origins 264
3. Beyond Race: Blue Meridian 272
Chapter Eight: COUNTEE CULLEN 283
1. Cullen's Life 284
- A Mysterious Childhood 284
- The Productive Years 287
- The Last Years 291
2. The Dictates of the Psyche 291
- The Burden of Inferiority 293
- Death the Liberator 297
- Pride as Solace 299
3. Race and the African Homeland 301
- Race in Cullen's Poetic Universe 302
- A Black among Whites 308
- Garvey and the African Heritage 315
- Africa as a Pagan Symbol 320
4. Christ as Symbol and Reality 329
- Christ as a Sign of Self-Contradiction 330
- Mysticism and Spiritual Experience 339
- The Black Christ: A Spiritual Testament 341
Section B: IN SEARCH OF THE PEOPLE 349
Chapter Nine: JAMES WELDON JOHNSON 351
1. Biography 352
- From Florida to Broadway 352
- In the Service of Country and Race 354
2. Dunbar's Disciple 356
- Poetry in Dialect 356
- Religious and Patriotic Conformism 358
3. Johnson and the New Spirit 365
4. Folklore and Race: Their Rehabilitation 372
- The Condemnation of Dialect 375
- The Experiment of God's Trombones 377
Chapter Ten: LANGSTON HUGHES 385
1. Biography 386
- The Restless Years 386
- Early Successes 389
- A Literature of Commitment 391
2. From Racial Romanticism to Jazz 393
- Racial Romanticism 394
- Rebellion: Through a Glass Jazzily 400
3. The Poetry of the Masses 416
- The Social Setting of the Blues 417
- Class Consciousness 426
- Religion and the Masses 437
4. American Democracy: Promises and Reality 444
- The American Dream 446
- The Poet and Reality 454
5. Toward a Synthesis 461
- Conclusion: Langston Hughes and Harlem 473
Chapter Eleven: STERLING BROWN 475
1. Folk Strength and Folk Frailties 476
2. The Tragic Universe of Sterling Brown 481
- The Whites' Conspiracy 482
- The Black Man and His Fate 483
- The Inanity of Faith 490
3. Means for Survival 496
Chapter Twelve: CONCLUSION 505
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 513
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SUPPLEMENT 537
INDEX 547
