Bessie Woodson Yancey facts for kids

Bessie Woodson Yancey (born May 1882, died January 11, 1958) was an important African American poet, teacher, and activist. She wrote a book of poems called Echoes from the Hills in 1939. This book is thought to be one of the first examples of Affrilachian children's literature. Affrilachia refers to the culture of African Americans living in the Appalachian region.

Early Life and Education

Bessie Woodson was born in New Canton, Virginia. Her parents were James Henry and Ann Eliza Riddle Woodson. She was the younger sister of Carter G. Woodson, a very famous black historian and educator.

Moving to West Virginia

Bessie first went to a school run by her uncles. In 1892, her family moved to Huntington, West Virginia. They had lived there before in the 1870s. In Huntington, Bessie went to Douglass High School. Her brother Carter was a teacher and the principal there. She finished high school in 1901 and became a teacher herself.

Family Life

On June 4, 1905, Bessie married Robert Lee Johnson. They had two daughters named Ursula and Belva. Later, Bessie and Lee divorced. She then married Patrick Yancey, who was from Louisa County, Virginia.

Bessie Yancey's Poetry

Bessie Yancey became interested in poetry while teaching. She taught in mining camps and along West Virginia's Guyandotte River. She also worked as a matron at a courthouse. Her poems explored many topics.

Themes in Her Work

Yancey's poems talked about what it meant to be from Appalachia. They also discussed black families moving from the Deep South. She wrote about working in farming and mining. Her poems also shared the everyday joys of growing up in West Virginia.

Her poetry is called "Affrilachian." This means it combines African American and Appalachian experiences. One expert, Katherine Capshaw Smith, said Yancey's poems were written for both black children and adults.

Echoes from the Hills

Echoes from the Hills (1939) was Bessie Yancey's only published book of poems. In this book, she showed how young people felt pressure to become leaders for their race. She also presented children as the ones who would lead their community forward. Her poems also wanted to teach a love for nature. This might have come from her time as a schoolteacher.

A Poem About West Virginia

In her poem "If You Live in West Virginia," Bessie Yancey wrote:

If you live in West Virginia,

Come with me and pause a while.

See her wealth and power rising,

See her plains and valleys smile!

Give to eastern states their culture,

Give to northern states their fame,

Give to southern states their virtues

Which no other states may claim.

But in words of deathless glory

Far and wide where all may see

Write the name of West Virginia,

Champion of Liberty!

Influences and Unique Voice

A review in the Negro History Bulletin said her book helped people understand life better. Bessie Yancey admired the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. She once wrote that his works made her feel like a tiny part of the world.

However, Yancey's work was unique. She lived in the 1930s as an Affrilachian. This was different from Dunbar's experiences. So, her poems deeply explored what it meant to have a specific regional identity.

Activism and Later Life

Even though she only published one book, Bessie Yancey kept writing. She wrote many poems, letters, and articles for newspapers. She sent over 100 letters to the editor of a local newspaper called the Herald-Advertiser. Eventually, the editor told her to use fake names because she wrote so much!

Yancey used her letters to talk about world events and civil rights. She encouraged desegregation, which means ending the separation of people based on race. Many people supported her short articles. But sometimes, her writings made conservative readers upset. Once, she even received an anonymous threat.

Bessie Woodson Yancey passed away in 1958. She died at the home of her brother, Carter G. Woodson.

Bessie Yancey's brother, Carter G. Woodson, in 1923.