Hospitals and Nurses
Although American Negroes own and conduct over one hundred modernly equipped hospitals, even that number of buildings does not afford space enough to properly house the three thousand Colored graduate nurses now practicing in the United States, should all those angels of mercy at the same time apply for accommodations in the above institutions.
The writer regrets that as hard and patiently as he researched he was unable to secure a list of names of the Colored women doctors who are to-day practicing medicine in the United States. It, therefore, affords him great pleasure, at the very last moment on the eve of this publication coming from the press, to be able to rush in his book from the September 24, 1921, issue of the Chicago Defender, the following article regarding the distinguished abilities and works of one of the numerous Negro women physicians to-day following their profession in America:
“WOMAN DOCTOR RECEIVES FRENCH MEDAL OF HONOR.”
“Newport, R. I., Sept., 23.—Dr. Harriet A. Rice, prominent in Newport circles, received from the French government this week the Reconnaissance Francaise, a bronze medal, awarded her in July 1919, for her work overseas during the war. The medal reached her through the French Embassy at Washington.
“Dr. Rice is a graduate of Wellesley College and of the Women’s Medical College of New York. She served in the French military hospital during the greater part of the war from 1915 to the signing of the armistice, and it is for these services that she is decorated. The medal was presented her by Prince de Bearn, charge d’affaires of the French embassy.
“According to the citation which accompanied the medal, the woman is honored by the French government because of “her devotion and ability in caring for the French wounded during the war.”
IN DENTISTRY
The Toothache Man.
(The fellow who loves your tooth to jerk
And then with a smile, asks: “Did it hurt?”)
Yearly to him folks ought to go
To learn of holes they do not know;
So toughest steaks to finely grind
With nature’s teeth and not false kind.
—Harrison.
Among the five hundred or more Colored dentists in America, who are today practicing in offices furnished with their own surgical instruments as well as gas, electrical and other modern appliances, Drs. Chas. E. Bentley, Chicago, Ill., and Chas. H. Roberts, New York City, according to competent judges are considered two of the most prominent and best all-round authorities in their profession. And in nearly every other large city there are similar expert and successful dentists, a list of whom the writer was unable to get. (extracts from Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, pgs. 422-23-24).
IN INVENTIONS
New Ideas—new Things.
Creative folks are oft jeered fools
For thinking things along new rules;
But when such folks invent things real
How foolish those who laughed must feel.
—Harrison.
One of the chief reasons why the United States has made such rapid and wonderful progress along all lines of industrial civilization and today stands first among all countries in wealth is due mostly to the original ideas and inventive powers of the American Yankee. And to prove that the original ideas of Negroes have had a very important part in helping to make the United States such a leading and resourceful nation, the following citations are but a few of the two thousand and more inventions that Colored people in America have had patented and put on the market for practical use.
“The first Negro to receive a patent on an invention was Henry Blair, of Maryland, who, in 1834 and 1836, was granted patents on a corn harvester. He is supposed to have been a free Negro.”
“Benjamin Banneker,—Noted Negro Astronomer. Born free, November 9, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland. Received some education in a pay school. Early showed an inclination for mechanics. About 1754, with imperfect tools, constructed a clock which told the time and struck the hour. This was the first clock constructed in America.”
“William B. Purvis, of Philadelphia, has inventions covering a variety of subjects, but directed mainly along a single line of experiment and improvement. He began in 1912, the invention of machines for making paper bags, and his improvements in this line of machinery are covered by a dozen patents. Some half dozen other patents granted Mr. Purvis, include three patents on electric railways, one on a fountain pen, another on a magnetic car-balancing device, and still another for a cutter for roll holders.”
“Joseph Hunter Dickinson, of New Jersey, specializes in the line of musical instruments, particularly playing the piano. He began more than fifteen years ago to invent devices for automatically playing the piano. He is at present in the employ of a large piano factory. His various inventions in piano-player mechanism are adopted in the construction of some of the finest piano-players on the market. He has more than a dozen patents to his credit already, and is still devoting his energies to that line of inventions.”
“Frank J. Ferrell, of New York, has obtained about a dozen patents for his inventions, the larger number of them being for improvement in valves for steam engines.”
“Benjamin F. Jackson, of Massachusetts, is the inventor of a dozen different improvements in heating and lighting devices, including a controller for a trolley wheel.”
“Charles V. Richey, of Washington, D.C., has obtained about a dozen patents on his inventions, the last of which was a most ingenius device for registering the calls on a telephone and detecting the unauthorized use of that instrument.”
“The late Granville T. Woods, of New York, and his brother, Lyates took out some fifty or more patents. Wood’s inventions principally relate to electrical subjects, such as telegraph and telephone instruments, electrical railways and general systems of electrical control. Several are on devices for transmitting telegraphic messages between moving trains. According to Patent Office Records, several of Woods’ patents have for valuable considerations been assigned to the foremost electrical corporations, such as the General Electric Company, of New York, and the American Bell Telephone Company, of New York. Mr. Woods’ inventive faculty also worked along other lines. He devised an incubator, a complicated amusement device, a steam boiler furnace and a mechanical brake.”
“John Ernest Matzeliger, born Dutch Guiana, 1852, died, Lynn, Massachusetts, 1889. He is the inventor of the first machine that performed automatically all the operations involved in attaching soles to shoes. This wonderful achievement marked the beginning of a distinct revolution in the art of making shoes by machinery. Matzeliger realized this, and attempted to capitalize it by organizing a stock company to market his invention; but his plans were frustrated through failing health and lack of business experience and shortly thereafter he died. The patent and much of the stock of the company organized by Matzeliger was bought up. The purchase laid the foundation for the organization of the United Shoe Machinery Company the largest and richest corporation of the kind in the world.”
“During 1917-1918, Negroes made a large number of inventions. Many of these related to the war. Charles Stevenson of Amarillo, Texas, invented a glass war bomb. It was reported that L. A. Hayden, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, invented an airship stableizer which was adopted by the British Government and that he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the British aviation corps. Julius Hart of Columbus, Georgia, invented three war bombs which were reported to be of great military value and that for one the War Department gave him $15,000. Wm. D. Polite, of Charlotte, North Carolina, has patented an anti-aircraft gun.”
“Jacob W. F. Berry of Decatur, Alabama, invented an electrically driven submarine. H. A. Cooper of Sabetha, Kansas, invented a submarine detector. Henry Grady of Westbourne, Tennessee, has had patented a Torpedo-Catcher and a Mine Destroyer.”
“The ‘national safety helmet’ or hood, invented by Garrett A. Morgan of Cleveland, is reported to have been used by the United States and the Allies to combat poisonous gases and as a safety device on Submarines. The ‘Safety Hood and Smoke Protector’ was originally invented for firemen.
“In addition to seven American patents on this device, Mr. Morgan holds patents for Canada, England, Germany and other countries. This invention received a gold medal prize from the American Museum of safety and the first grand prize at the second Inter-National Convention of Safety and Sanitation which was held at New York City. In 1914, the Inter-National Fire chief’s Association in session in New Orleans, voted Mr. Morgan a gold honorary membership badge. ‘The safety hood’ is manufactured by the Safety Device Company of which Mr. Morgan is the general manager. As a protection for firemen, it is in use in a large number of cities.”
“H. C. Webb of Bradentown, Florida, is the inventor of the Webb Palmetto Grubbing Machine, which removes the stumps from 5 to 10 acres of land per day.”
C. J. Perry, of Cincinnati, O., has invented a hydro-carbon device that saves 10 to 20 percent of coal fuel and also consumes 85 percent of the smoke. This invention is now in use on the Milwaukee Railroad and in the Metropole Hotel in Chicago, Ill. C. H. Jackson has invented a diving outfit with which the world record for deep-sea diving has been broken. Miss Alice H. Parker, of Washington, D.C., has received a patent on a heating furnace. Wm. Solder, Boston, Mass., has been given a patent on a cooking stove and water heater combined.
“The largest number of patents received on inventions, by a Negro, was by Elijah McCoy, of Detroit, Michigan. McCoy obtained his first patent in July, 1872, and his last one in 1917. During this period of forty years he invented one thing after another and has some fifty-eight patents to his credit. His inventions cover a wide range of subjects, but relate particularly to the lubricating of machinery. He was a pioneer in the art of steadily supplying oil to machinery in intermittent drops from a cup so as to avoid the necessity for stopping the machine to oil it. McCoy’s lubricating cup was famous thirty years ago as a necessary equipment for all-up-to-date machinery.” (quotations from Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, pgs. 5-6-7-8-341-2-3-4)
IN POETRY
The Poets
As the artists see, so the poets feel
Inspiring powers that make them steal
Away to write some pictured scene
So to help the world to get serene.
—Harrison.
THE first Colored poetess in America to win national and international fame was Phyllis Wheatley, who was brought from Africa in 1761 and sold as a slave in Boston, Mass. Finding Phyllis to be an unusually quick and apt child to learn, her owner spared no pains to give her the best of education. Her poetry writing began at an early age. She became so intelligent and self-cultured that the most wealthy and refined white people of the day entertained her. All the time she was writing verses of the highest quality. Finally going to Europe her success was even greater there to such an extent that she appeared before the Royal Courts of England and received high honors. Her literary works were reviewed by some of the best scholars in England where much of her poetry was published in London under the title “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral”.
The late Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Negro Poet-Laureate, is considered the greatest poet the Negro race has produced. Starting as an elevator boy he struggled through one disappointment after another to get an education. All that time he was writing poetry and finally after his works came under the notice of such great white writers as William Dean Howells and James Whitcomb Riley, the genius of Dunbar and the value of his writings became world known. He traveled all about giving recitals of his poetry that took the country by storm. His prose works won just as much admiration and comment. His writings were based on the American Negro in and out of slavery and the pen pictures he has drawn are masterpieces of literature. Chief among his compositions are; “Lyrics of Lowly Life”, “Lyrics of The Hearthstone,” “Heart of Happy Hollow”, “Folks From Dixie,” “Oak and Ivy”, “Uncalled”, “Love and Landry” and “The Sports Of The Gods.”
William Stanley Braithwaite, as editor of “The New Poetry Review” of Cambridge, author of “The Anthology of Magazine Verse”, editor of “The Contemporary American Poets Series” and annual reviewer of the poetry that appears in the leading magazines of America, is recognized as the leading Colored poet and among the foremost world poets of today. A few of his works are: “The House of Falling Leaves”, “The Book of Victorian Verse”, “Life of Lyrics and Love”, “The Book of Georgian Verse”, “The Book of Elizabethian Verse”, and “The Book of Restoration Verse.” He was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1918.
James Weldon Johnson is a poet and writer of first note, and his poem “The Young Warrior,” that was set to music by Harry T. Burleigh, almost became the national hymn of Italy during the World War. His poem “Fifty Years” that appeared in many of the leading white magazines and newspapers during the first part of 1913, brought forth high comment from all parts of the country. His poems have appeared in the Century, the Independent, the Crisis and other publications. He has published some of his poetry in a book titled “Fifty Years and Other Poems.”
“Mr. Johnson is a young colored poet of America. Some of his verse is in the cultivated English, some in the broken language of the American Negro. The latter rings true. They express with singular intensity the joys and sorrows of a subject race.” The above comment was made by The London Literary World regarding the poetic abilities of Fenton Johnson, Chicago, Ill. Aside from receiving high mentions from The New York World, and Poetry, a magazine of Verse, some of his works were also included in Braithwaite’s “Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1918” and “The Chicago Anthology”. One of his recent volumes of poetry that attracted praiseworthy attention on both sides of the ocean is “A Little Dreaming.”
While the facts, that short stories of the highest order are constantly flowing from her pen point (or typewriter) and that she is Literary Editor of The Crisis, have gained for her the distinction of being a foremost prose writer among Colored women in America today; Jessie Redmon Fauset, on account of the numerous outputs and unusual high quality of her poems, is also recognized as one of the best verse writers among Colored people on both sides of the ocean.
The father and son poets, Jos. S. Cotter, Sr. and Jr., have produced verse matter that stands among the best in the country among Colored writers. Information regarding the works of these composers will be found else-where in this book. But a praiseworthy mention regarding Jos. S. Cotter, Jr., who died in his early twenties and for several years before that had been confined on a bed of affliction, should be made herein. While other poets have had their health, strength and vigor to do their work, young Cotter was suffering almost constant pain in bed while turning out his poetry that came from the depths of his patient soul, and ring as true as a pure-cast bell.
Georgia Douglas Johnson was born in Atlanta, Ga., was educated in the public schools and at the Atlanta University after which she took a course of music at the Oberlin Conservatory. Her first book, “The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems” with an introduction by William Stanley Braithwaite, was published by the Cornhill Co. of Boston, Mass., three years ago; her second book, “An Autumn Love Cycle,” will be out shortly. Her third book, “Shadow Song” is entirely different to the other two, being entirely racial, treated in the over-tone style of suggestion. This book will appear some months after the “Love Cycle.” The above quotation is in part an editorial note that appeared in the May 1921 issue of Music and Poetry. The high standard and amazing numbers of Mrs. Johnson’s verses that appear in leading magazines are attracting wide attention and have already placed her in a class among the leading Colored writers before the public today.
Claude McKay, a poet of international reputation, enjoys the honor of being one of the first Colored writers to be made an associate editor on the staff of a white national magazine—The Liberator, which is published in New York City. Mr. McKay has for several years been writing poetry for many of the leading magazines in Europe as well as for Colored and white periodicals in America. His book, “Spring in New Hampshire and Other Poems” has brought forth high literary comment from verse critics in both countries.
“Miscellaneous Poems” and “Sketches of Southern Life” are two titles covering some of the verses produced by the poetess, Frances E. Harper, who also wrote first quality prose. Jas. E. McGirth wrote “Some Simple Songs” and other verse matter that has stood the test of the best critics.
The late J. D. Corrothers gained much distinction as a prose and verse writer and for several years his poems appeared in some of the leading white magazines. George R. Margeston’s book of poems “Songs of Life” has brought forth much favorable comment, and stamped him as a poet who is fast forging to the front.
All verse critics who regularly read the close-to-nature, true-to-life, heart-to-heart and cheerful little poems that weekly head the editorial pages of the Chicago Defender, join in acclaiming Alfred Anderson the Edgar A. Guest “Sunshine Poet” of the Negro Race. A few of the many other Colored verse writers whose poems frequently appear in leading magazines are Carrie C. Clifford, Sergt. Allen R. Griggs, Jr., Thos. M. Henry, Sarah C. Fernandas, Leslie P. Hill, Roscoe Jamison, Chas. Bertram Johnson, Winifred Virginia Jordan, Will Sexton and Lucian B. Watkins, the last named writer being considered among the foremost writers the race has produced during the past few years.
AMONG THE ARTISTS
The Artist.
In everything, real artists see
Some good therein God made pretty:
Such finds they gladly then set free
So all can share the new beauty.
—Harrison.
According to page 331 of the 1918-1919 edition of Work’s Negro Year Book, “Bannister, E. M., of Providence, Rhode Island, was one of the first Negroes in America to achieve distinction as a painter. He was the founder of the Providence Art Club, which is to-day the leading art organization in Providence. “Its membership, mostly, if not wholly white, includes many of the leading citizens of the city and state.” One of Mr. Bannister’s pictures “Under the Oaks” was awarded a medal at the Centennial Exposition of 1876. The picture became the property of the Duffe Estate of New York City.”
Henry O. Tanner, born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and now living in Paris, France, is the greatest artist in the Negro race and among the best of all races. His early life along artistic lines was one of hard struggles, constant ambitions, unshaken determinations and final success, until today his works are known and treasured all over the world. His most successful paintings are those describing different incidents that are taught in the Bible. Among his many pictures that have won fame and fortunes for him are; “The Banjo Lesson”, “Christ Walking on the Sea”, “The Holy Family”, “Hills Near Jerusalem”, “Christ at the Home of Lazarus”, “Mary and Elizabeth” and “The Hiding of Moses.” Mr. Tanner is the son of Bishop B. T. Tanner.
“Mr. William Scott is considered by critics to be one of the foremost artists in America. He excells alike in the difficulties of portrait painting and in the cleverness and subtlety of his cartoon work. In a time when artists are becoming more and more a necessity of modern life, his ability bids fair to lift him even more to the top of his profession. Mr. Scott led his class at the Chicago Art Institute.” This quotation is extracted from the November-December 1920 issue of Fenton Johnson’s Favorite Magazine.
The following extract about Mr. Scott is from Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, page 331: “He took the Magnus Brand Prize for two successive years. He studied in Paris at the Julian Academy and under Henry O. Tanner. Three of his paintings were accepted by the Salon des Beaux Arts at Toquet. The Argentine Republic purchased one of his pictures, La Pauvre Voisine. He has completed Mural paintings for public buildings in Evanston, Illinois; Chicago and Indianapolis. He is interesting himself in Negro subjects and is doing in painting what Dunbar has done in verse.”
The late Wm. A. Harper of Chicago, Ill., although a young man at his death had already won recognition for his paintings and himself. He had spent two year of study in Paris and has been successful in exhibiting his paintings at the Chicago Art Institute. Chief among his works are “The Last Gleam”, “The Hillside”, and “The Gray Day.”
A few of the many present day Colored artists who have also become recognized and prominent in this art are; Lulu Adams, Los Angles, Cal.; Ernest Atkinson, Baltimore, Md.; C. L. Boydkin, Boston, Mass.; C. L. Dawson, Chicago, Ill.; Arthur Diggs, J. B. Davidson, Washington, D.C.; W. M. Farrow, Frances Grant, Marcellus Hawkins, Chicago, Ill.; J. Hardwick, L. Harris, Louise Latimer, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Effie Lee, Wilberforce, Ohio; L. M. Rogers, Harvey Roseland, Washington, D.C.; A. A. Smith, New York; Frank Waltz, N. Y.; Hilda Wilkerson, Arthur Winslow, Chicago, Ill.; and Sidney Woodward, New York, (some of above names are extracts from Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, pg. 331.)
Miss Laura Wheeler’s painting “Heirlooms” won first place in New York City among 500 art exhibits at the Water Color Club. Aside from being an instructor in the art department of the Cheyney School, Cheyney, Pa., and illustrator for such national magazines as The Crisis, she is recognized as one of the foremost Colored women artists in America.
At the John Wanamaker Art Exhibition held in Philadelphia, Pa., not many months ago, K. G. Ganaway, a Colored butler in Chicago, Ill., entered his photographic picture “The Spirit of Transportation”, which won first prize out of 900 pictures exhibited by many of the country’s most experienced and expert white photographers residing in different parts of the United States. While other people in going to railroad stations saw nothing interesting there but hurrying crowds of people, truck loads of baggage and black sooty trains and sheds, Mr. Ganaway’s artistic eye and timely focused camera soared above those common place things as he saw and portrayed the wonderful beauty of the dust laden tapering and yellow beams of lights and shadows caused by the sun’s golden rays streaming through the dingy skylights of the Terminal’s high and arched ceilings.