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Books by Marcus Bruce
Christian
Song of the Black Valiants: Marching Tempo
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High Ground: A Collection of Poems /
Negro soldiers in the Battle of New Orleans
I am New
Orleans: A Poem
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Negro Iron Workers of Louisiana: 1718-1900 /
The Liberty Monument
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Letter 2
Christian
Responds to Criticism
of Elmer A. Carter, Editor
New
Orleans, La.
April
9, 1934
Mr.
Elmer Anderson Carter,
1133
Broadway
New
York City
Dear
Mr. Carter:
Yours
of March 2nd received. I should like very much to thank you for
the suggestions contained therein. Concerning them, I should
like to state, in explanation, that my irregular meter and
varied rhyme schemes were purposedly done in most instances.
Certain so-called poetic authorities assert that such things are
permissible in strictly modern poetry. However, your kind letter
has caused me to realize that perhaps I have placed a
wider interpretation than was intended. Viewed in this light,
your suggestions were indeed necessary.
One of the most pathetic cases in the world is a Negro trying to
write fine poetry in the South. Very often the environment is
not sympathetic to indigenous
poetry.
I am hoping that you will perhaps find something of interest in
these poems which I am sending.
Sincerely,
Marcus B. Christian
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Elmer A. Carter (1890-1973), editor
and a prominent Republican, was the first chairman of the New
York State Commission Against discrimination (the predecessor of
the State Division of Human rights) and first director of the
State Human rights Division until his resignation in 1961. He
then served for two years as special assistant to Governor
Nelson A. Rockefeller on issues of race relations. In 1937,
while editor of Opportunity, a journal published by the Urban
League, Carter was appointed by Governor Herbert Lehman to the
Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board. He thus began a career in
public service devoted to eliminating racial bias in housing,
employment, and public accommodation. Carter's wife, the former
Thelma Johnson, died just a few weeks before her husband. The
Carters lived at 409 Edgecombe Avenue from the 1940s until their
deaths |
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Opportunity—Journal of Negro Life, the
official organ of the National Urban League, completing in
December thirteen brilliant years under the able editorship of
distinctive contribution to the literature dealing with the
problems of interracial contacts in America. Dispassionate,
factual data and illuminating articles from the pens of some of
America's most distinguished students and writers graced the
columns of the magazine -- establishing it in the minds of
discriminating readers as one of the indispensable sources of
light on "America's most baffling problem." Opportunity
Journal, thanks to its perceptive, broad-minded editors,
first, Charles S. Johnson, and then Elmer A. Carter,
was a leading venue for the work of African-American artists. |
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Opportunity magazine was published from 1923 to 1949 by
the National Urban League (at first as a monthly, later as a
quarterly). . . .Charles S. Johnson served as its first editor
for five and a half years; Elmer A. Carter took over in 1928.
The magazine published both sociological reporting on conditions
of African American life and poetry and literature written by
young black writers. . . . After Johnson left the magazine for
Fisk University in 1928, the magazine continued to stress
socio-economic analysis of northern, urban African Americans.
Though he never stopped publishing stories and poems, Elmer A.
Carter, Johnson's successor, "directed his attention to the
sociological and economic aspects of the Negro's relation to
American life," as one early historian of the publication put
it. The magazine focused on working conditions of African
Americans during the Great Depression--and their precarious
relationship with America's labor unions. Then it focused on the
Fair Employment Practice Committee during the 1940s and the
general fight for racial equality which occurred during and
immediately after World War II.
Opportunity magazine
accomplished a great deal for a publication with a small
circulation. In every possible way, it promoted the work of
black writers and documented the lives of a growing number of
African Americans in northern cities. “Opportunity.” St.
James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002.
Find Articles
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Selected Letters
Selected Diary Notes Memories of Marcus B. Christian
(Cains) Christian's
BioBibliographical Record Introduction to I AM NEW
ORLEANS
A
Theory of a Black Aesthetic Magpies,
Goddesses, & Black Male Identity
Activist Works on Next Level of Change
Intro to I Am New
Orleans
Letter from Dillard University
A
Labor of Genuine Love
Letter of Gift of
Photos
Letters from
LSU and Skip Gates * * *
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Negro Iron Workers of Louisiana: 1718-1900
By Marcus Bruce Christian
Study of the blacksmith
tradition and New Orleans famous lace balconies and
fences.
Acclaimed
during his life as the unofficial poet laureate of
the New Orleans African-American community, Marcus
Christian recorded a distinguished career as
historian, journalist, and literary scholar. He was
a contributor to Pelican's
Gumbo Ya Ya, and also wrote many articles
that appeared in numerous newspapers, journals, and
general-interest publications. |
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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A Wreath for Emmett Till
By Marilyn Nelson; Illustrated by
Philippe Lardy
This memorial to
the lynched teen is in the Homeric
tradition of poet-as-historian. It is a
heroic crown of sonnets in Petrarchan
rhyme scheme and, as such, is quite
formal not only in form but in language.
There are 15 poems in the cycle, the
last line of one being the first line of
the next, and each of the first lines
makes up the entirety of the 15th. This
chosen formality brings distance and
reflection to readers, but also calls
attention to the horrifically ugly
events. The language is highly
figurative in one sonnet, cruelly
graphic in the next. The illustrations
echo the representative nature of the
poetry, using images from nature and
taking advantage of the emotional
quality of color. There is an
introduction by the author, a page about
Emmett Till, and literary and poetical
footnotes to the sonnets. The artist
also gives detailed reasoning behind his
choices. This underpinning information
makes this a full experience, eminently
teachable from several aspects,
including historical and literary—School
Library Journal |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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