Arna Bontemps

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Arna Bontemps (August 15, 1939)

Arna Wendell Bontemps (born October 13, 1902 in Alexandria , Louisiana - † June 4, 1973 in Nashville , Tennessee ) was an American writer who was recognized as one of the leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance literary and cultural movement in the 1920s and 1930s -Years was true.

biography

After attending school, he studied at Pacific Union College , graduated in 1923 and then worked as a teacher at several schools. In November 1926 he was one of the authors of the only one-time magazine Fire !! , intended to be the quarterly literary magazine of the Harlem Renaissance. His works have also appeared in The Crisis magazine, alongside works by other representatives of the Harlem Renaissance such as Claude McKay , Jean Toomer , Nella Larsen , Georgia Douglas Johnson , Countee Cullen , George Schuyler , Anne Spencer and Langston Hughes . In 1926 he won the Poetry Prize awarded by this magazine. In 1931 he made his actual literary debut with the novel God Sends Sunday , which was followed by the novels You Can't Get a Possum (1934), Black Thunder (1936) and Drums at Dusk (1939). He took up the issue of uprisings of colored people, so that he was accused of inciting African Americans to violence.

In 1943 he began his work as a librarian at Fisk University , which he practiced until his death. His non-fiction book Story of the Negro (1948) told the story of African-Americans from the time of the African kingdoms to the American present and was one of the first books for young people to deal with the topics of racial segregation and discrimination in American society.

After that his literary activity slackened and he published some biographical non-fiction books such as George Washington Carver , Sam Patch (1951), Frederick Douglass : Slave, Fighter, Freeman (1959), One Hundred Years of Negro Freedom (1961), Famous Negro Athletes ( 1964), The Harlem Renaissance Remembered (1972) and Young Booker: Booker T. Washington's Early Days (1972) on civil rights activist Booker T. Washington's youth .

In addition to his novels, he also wrote poems such as Southern Mansion and A Black Man Talks of Reaping . Through his anthology of African American verses and historical works, he contributed to the understanding and recognition of the richness and value of African American culture.

Background literature

  • RA Bone: The Negro Novel in America , 1958
  • Kirkland C. Jones: Renaissance Man from Louisiana , 1992

Web links and sources

personal data
SURNAME Bontemps, Arna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bontemps, Arna Wendell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandria , Louisiana
DATE OF DEATH 4th June 1973
Place of death Nashville , Tennessee