University of Virginia Library

Bontemps Leads Soulful Experience

By Jim Massey

Arna Bontemps, lecturer in the Yale
University Department of English and
author of more than a dozen books
dealing with Black Culture, guided his
audience through a soulful experience
Tuesday night.

Through reading poetry by Alain
Locke, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes
and himself, Mr. Bontemps portrayed the
development and expression of Black
Culture during the 'Harlem Renaissance'
of the 1920's.

According to Mr. Bontemps the
Harlem Renaissance was the period after
World War I and before the Great Depression
when Black artists came into the spotlight in
such fields as literature, music and theatre.

Arna Bontemps Captured Essence Of 'Harlem Renaissance' Last Night

Mr. Bontemps Lecture Was Presented As Part Of Black Culture Week Ending Tomorrow

Mr. Bontemps drew a warm response from
the audience of over 150 persons as he told
several of his personal experiences with Black
writers and their works. His long white hair
curling to the back of his neck, Mr. Bontemps
spoke with a slow steady tempo and a
storyteller's voice.

Churchill's Poem

One incident was the reading of a poem by
Winston Churchill to the United States
Congress as he tried to get approval of a loan
for 50 destroyers, prior to the U.S. entry into
World War II.

Churchill accredited the poem - written by
Claude McKay, a Black writer - to an
'anonymous' author. Winston Churchill read
with compassion. "If we must die let it not be
like hogs ... If we must die let us nobly die ..
Dying but fighting back." Claude McKay had
written the poem after witnessing lynchings and
mob violence by Southern whites during the
1920's.

Mr. Bontemps saw the real break through of
the Harlem Renaissance as the spectacular
success of Carl Van Deckman's bestseller,
Nigger Heaven. This was followed by Claude
McKay's bestseller, "Home to Harlem."
According to Mr. Bontemps "Home to Harlem"
by Claude McKay "drew fire from the Black
Bourgeoisie," charging that it "placed too much
emphasis on the degenerate aspects of Harlem
life."

Young Negro Writers

During and after the Renaissance the
"younger Negro writers" were in conflict with
older writers and the critics because of their
bold style and expression. Citing the prose of
Langston Hughes, Mr. Bontemps expressed
their feeling this way, "We younger Negro
writers ... intend to express our individual dark
skinned selves without fear of shame.

Houston A. Baker, of the English
Department, introduced Mr. Bontemps by
saying, "If energy of survival, the creation of
new and vital forms of expression, and an
eloquent and dignified attempt to make men
free do indeed constitute 'soul,' then Mr. Arna
Bontemps, this evenings speaker, is one of the
most soulful men alive."