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Game Changers Presentation
Game Changers Presentation
Shaped a Renaissance
By Eve Doolittle
Early Life
● Born in Joplin, Missouri in 1902
● Lived with his grandmother, mother, and briefly
with his father in Mexico in 1919
● Enrolled in Columbia University in 1921
● Left Columbia in 1922 to travel
● Returned to U.S. in 1924 and worked various jobs
● Won a scholarship to attend Lincoln University in 1925
Early Literary Career
● Began writing poetry in high school
● Published “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” in 1921
● Involved in Harlem’s cultural movement while at Columbia
● Published “The Weary Blues” in 1925
● Two poetry volumes:
○ The Weary Blues (1926)
○ Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927)
● Not Without Laughter published after graduation from
Lincoln University
○ Decided he could make a living as a writer
Work and Later Life
● Worked in multiple genres
● Published The Big Sea in 1940
● Contributed to the Chicago Defender
● Published The Poetry of the Negro in 1949
● Countless works during ‘50s and ‘60s
● Died on May 22, 1967
Distinctive Writing Style
● Jazz poetry
○ African-American folk forms
○ Jazz and blues rhythms
○ First true jazz poet
● Repetition
● Open verse
○ Reflected oral/improvisational performance
● Rejected classical forms
○ Sonnet, rondeau, etc.
● Portrayed blackness positively
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (1921)