Arna Bontemps

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

Biography

After school he studied at Pacific Union College, this closed in 1923 and subsequently worked as a teacher at several schools. In November 1926 he was one of the authors of the published only once magazine Fire! , Which was intended as a quarterly literary magazine of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1931, he gave his real literary debut with the novel God Sends Sunday, the novels You Can not Get a Possum (1934 ), Black Thunder (1936) and Drums at Dusk (1939 ) followed. He took on the theme of uprisings color, so that he was accused of prompting African American to violence.

In 1943 he began working as a librarian of Fisk University, a position he held until his death. His non-fiction Story of the Negro ( 1948) told the story of African Americans from the time of the African kingdoms to the American presence and was one of the first young people's books, which dealt with the issues of racial segregation and discrimination in American society.

Then let his literary activity after and he published some biographical non-fiction 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 the youth of the civil rights activist Booker T. Washington.

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 his historical works he contributed to the understanding and appreciation of the richness and the value of African-American culture.

Background literature

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

External links and sources

  • Arna Bontemps in the Notable Names Database (English)
  • Arna Wendell Bontemps Museum 's homepage
  • PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide - An Ongoing Project
  • Biography and Works
  • Biography ( poets.org )
  • Biography and works ( aalbc.com )
  • Biography ( Spartacus )
  • Modern American Poetry
  • CHAMBERS BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA, p 189, 2002, ISBN 0-550-10051-2
  • Author
  • Literature ( 20th century)
  • Literature ( English )
  • Literature (United States)
  • Harlem Renaissance ( literature)
  • Poetry
  • Biography
  • Librarian
  • Teacher
  • Americans
  • Born in 1902
  • Died in 1973
  • Man
October 13 Alexandria (Louisiana) Lyric poetry African-American literature Name Authority File
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