This volume brings together much of the known poetry and a selection of correspondence by an enormously talented but underappreciated poet of the Harlem Renaissance. Cousin of novelist Dorothy West and friend of Zora Neale Hurston, Helene Johnson (1906-1995) first gained literary prominence when James Weldon Johnson and Robert Frost selected three of her poems for prizes in a 1926 competition. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, her poetry appeared in various small magazines, such as the Saturday Evening Quill, Palms, Opportunity, and Harlem. In 1933 Johnson married, and two years later her last published poem, "Let Me Sing My Song," appeared in Challenge, the journal West had founded in an attempt to revive the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance.

This anthology is a compilation of all the poems written by women and published in The Saturday Evening Quill, a little-known Harlem Renaissance literary journal produced by a talented group of African American writers in Boston. The poets in this collection are as remarkable as their poems. They were teachers, researchers, intellectuals, and champions of social justice. Living outside New York’s literary hub never deterred them from pursuing their creative art. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote of The Saturday Evening Quill: “Of the booklets issued by young Negro writers in New York, Philadelphia and elsewhere, this collection from Boston is by far the most interesting and the best.” Poems by Helene Johnson, Edythe Mae Gordon, Marion Grace Conover, Alice E. Furlong, Alvira Hazzard, Gertrude P. McBrown, Grace Vera Postles, illustrations by Loïs Mailou Jones The Saturday Evening Quill Club, a group of talented African American writers, met on the fourth Saturday of each month in Eugene and Edythe Gordon’s home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Comprised of men and women in nearly equal numbers, the club served as a supportive community for its members, ranging from young writers at the start of their careers to more experienced mentors. The club attracted Massachusetts natives and newcomers who had moved to the area for work or study. In 1928, Eugene Gordon led this extraordinary group in producing 250 copies of the first issue of The Saturday Evening Quill, a 72-page paper-bound publication featuring short stories, essays, poems, and visual art. Two more annual issues followed in 1929 and 1930.

Discover the vibrant short stories, one-act plays, and poems by African American women who wrote for The Saturday Evening Quill, a pioneering Harlem Renaissance journal. Honest, sharp, and moving, these works explore race, gender, love, and ambition—offering a rare glimpse into the creative lives of Black women of the era. W.E.B. Du Bois said of The Saturday Evening Quill, “Of the booklets issued by young Negro writers in New York, Philadelphia and elsewhere, this collection from Boston is by far the most interesting and the best.” 14 Stories, 2 Plays, 75 Poems, and 2 Illustrated Poems for Children by Dorothy West, Helene Johnson, Edythe Mae Gordon, Alvira Hazzard, Gertrude Schalk, Florida Ruffin Ridley, Alice E. Furlong, Florence Marion Harmon, Marion G. Conover, Gertrude Parthenia McBrown, Grace Vera Postles, and Lois M. Jones

Fifteen writers of essays and poems share their poignant and personal views on life as African American women during the Harlem Renaissance. Some of the robust narratives are reprinted here for the first time. The poems are a few of a wide net of poetry written by women of the era that explore themes of gender and race. No matter what combination of experiences a reader brings to each piece in this volume, they are bound to be, on some level, enlightened. Essays: How it Feels to be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston / On Being Young—a Woman—and Colored by Marita O. Bonner / Some Notes on Color by Jessie Redmon Fauset / Black by Nellie R. Bright / The Pink Hat by Caroline Bond Day / I— by Brenda Ray Moryck / Why? by Lena Williams / The Task of Negro Womanhood by Elise Johnson McDougald. Poems: To a Dark Girl by Gwendolyn Bennett / Sybil Warns Her Sister by Anne Spencer / Goal by Mae V. Cowdery / Revelation by Blanche Taylor Dickinson / The Heart of a Woman by Georgia Douglas Johnson / The Black Finger by Angelina Weld Grimké / My Race by Helene Johnson.

This is a collection of the rare, diverse, and powerful prose, poetry, and plays that captures Harlem through the eyes of the African American women who experienced it. Harlem on Her Mind is the first anthology to gather these historically significant and exceptional pieces in a single collection. Social standards and expectations of the 1920s made it difficult for women, particularly African American women, to travel and live independently. It was considered “unseemly” or even offensive for a woman to address the grittier aspects of the Roaring Twenties. Women were also less likely to be published beyond newspapers and magazines. But African American women were there, observing and participating, each with a different sense of decency and level of immersion. Despite these imposed restrictions, they were able to carve a small niche of writing depicting Harlem life from their unique perspectives. Breaking Through by Eunice Hunton Carter The Hunch by Eulalie Spence The Starter by Eulalie Spence Undertow by Eulalie Spence Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem by Helene Johnson Bottled by Helene Johnson Muttsy by Zora Neale Hurston The Book of Harlem by Zora Neale Hurston The Corner by Eunice Hunton Carter Hostess by Edythe Mae Gordon

In narratives and poems, fifteen women share their poignant and personal views on life as an African American woman during the Harlem Renaissance. It includes the title essay by Zora Neale Hurston and "On Being Young-a Woman-and Colored" by Marita Bonner. Poems by Anne Spencer, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Angelina Weld Grimké, and more.

Poetas del Renacimiento de Harlem (Harlem Renaissance) es una antología bilingüe que intenta representar y recuperar el centro así como los márgenes del movimiento | Poets of the Harlem Renaissance is a bilingual anthology that attempts to represent and recover the center as well as the margins of the movement: Claude McKay — Langston Hughes — Countee Cullen — Sterling Brown — Jean Toomer — Arna Bontemps — Angelina Grimké — Anne Spencer — Gwendolyn Bennett — Helene Johnson — Gwendolyn Brooks — Margaret Walker — Frank Horne — Georgia Douglas Johnson — Richard Wright — Anita Scott Coleman — Jessie Redmon Fauset — Alice Dunbar-Nelson — Clarissa Scott Delany — Esther Popel — Blanche Taylor Dickinson

"Recognized as an important young voice during the Harlem Renaissance, poet Helene Johnson was thought to have stopped writing some time after 1935 when she no longer published regularly in little magazines and periodicals. With this chapbook, an original manuscript of never-before-seen poems comes to light. Titled The Boat is Tethered to the Floor, the manuscript was evidently prepared for publication by Johnson herself. Written after her move downtown in the 1960s, these poems evoke themes of desire, friendship and aging, and provide an entirely new perspective on the literature of the era."--Publisher's Web site.