Georgia Douglas Johnson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Georgia Douglas Johnson
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| Born | September 10, 1880 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | May 15, 1966 (aged 85) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
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| Education | Atlanta University's Normal School |
| Alma mater | Oberlin Conservatory of Music |
| Literary movement | Harlem Renaissance, anti-lynching movement, S Street Salon |
| Spouse | Henry Lincoln Johnson |
| Children | Two sons |
| Relatives | Parents, Laura Douglas and George Camp |
Georgia Blanche Douglas Camp Johnson, known as Georgia Douglas Johnson (born September 10, 1880 – died May 15, 1966), was an important American poet. She was also one of the first African-American women to write plays. She played a big role in the Harlem Renaissance, a time when Black artists created amazing works.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Georgia Blanche Douglas Camp was born in 1880 in Atlanta, Georgia. Her parents were Laura Douglas and George Camp. Her mother had both African-American and Native American roots. Her father had African-American and English heritage.
Georgia spent much of her childhood in Rome, Georgia. She went to school there and in Atlanta. She was very good at reading, reciting poems, and physical education. She also taught herself to play the violin. She loved music throughout her life. This love showed up in her plays, which often used sacred music.
She finished school at Atlanta University's Normal School in 1896. After that, she taught school in Marietta, Georgia. In 1902, she left teaching to study music at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. She wrote music from 1898 until 1959. After her music studies, Johnson went back to Atlanta. She became an assistant principal at a public school.
Family Life and Moving to Washington, D.C.
On September 28, 1903, Georgia Douglas married Henry Lincoln Johnson. He was an Atlanta lawyer and a well-known member of the Republican party. Henry was ten years older than Georgia. They had two sons, Henry Lincoln Johnson, Jr., and Peter Douglas Johnson.
In 1910, the family moved to Washington, D.C.. Her husband was given a job there by President William Howard Taft. Washington, D.C., had a lively cultural scene for Black people. However, it was far from Harlem in New York, which was a major center for Black writers.
Georgia's husband was not very supportive of her writing. He wanted her to focus more on being a homemaker. But she later wrote two poems for him, "The Heart of a Woman" (1918) and "Bronze" (1922). These poems were praised for their beauty.
Writing Career
After moving to Washington, D.C., in 1910, Georgia Douglas Johnson started writing poems and stories. She said a poem by William Stanley Braithwaite inspired her to write poetry. Johnson also wrote songs, plays, and short stories. She taught music and played the organ at her church.
Poetry Collections
Johnson had already sent poems to newspapers and small magazines while living in Atlanta. Her first poem was published in 1905 in The Voice of the Negro. Her first book of poems came out in 1916.
She published four books of poetry in total. The first was The Heart of a Woman in 1916. Her poems are often described as gentle and "ladylike." They have titles like "Faith," "Youth," and "Joy."
Her poems appeared in The Crisis, a magazine by the NAACP. This magazine was started by W. E. B. Du Bois. "Calling Dreams" was in the January 1920 issue. "Treasure" was in July 1922, and "To Your Eyes" in November 1924.
In the 1920s, Johnson traveled a lot to give poetry readings. In 1925, her husband died, and she became a widow at 45. She had to raise their two teenage sons by herself. She worked clerical jobs to support them.
Later, President Calvin Coolidge gave her a job in the United States Department of Labor. This was a way to honor her late husband's service. But in 1934, when Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, she lost this job. She went back to temporary office work.
Johnson was the first African-American woman to gain national attention for her poetry since Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. In 1962, she published her last poetry book, Share My World.
The Heart of a Woman Poems
Johnson is well-known for the poems in The Heart of a Woman (1918). In these poems, she writes about feelings like loneliness, pain, and love. She also explores what it was like to be a woman during that time. Some poems in this book are about a mother's worries.
"The Heart of a Woman"
The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn,
As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,
Afar o'er life's turrets and vales does it roam
In the wake of those echoes, the heart calls home.
The heart of a woman falls back with the night,
And enters some alien cage in its plight,
And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars
While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.
Bronze Poems
Johnson's book Bronze focused on racial issues. She also continued to write about motherhood and being a woman of color. In the introduction to Bronze, she wrote: "Those who know what it means to be a colored woman in 1922– know it not so much in fact as in feeling..."
"Calling Dreams"
The right to make my dreams come true,
I ask, nay, I demand of life;
Nor shall fate's deadly contraband
Impede my steps, nor countermand;
Too long my heart against the ground
Has beat the dusty years around;
And now at length I rise! I wake!
And stride into the morning break!
Writing Plays
Johnson was a key person in the national Black theater movement. She wrote about 28 plays. Many of her plays were never published. This was often because of her gender and race. Akasha Gloria Hull helped find many of Johnson's lost plays.
Her plays were divided into four groups. These were "Primitive Life Plays," "Plays of Average Negro Life," "Lynching Plays," and "Radio Plays." The first group includes Blue Blood and Plumes. These were published and performed during her lifetime.
Her play A Sunday Morning in the South (1925) showed problems in American life. It highlighted the difference between Christian teachings and how Black Americans were treated. It also showed how Black men who fought in wars still lacked rights.
In 1926, Johnson's play Blue Blood won an honorable mention in a drama contest. Her play Plumes also won in the same contest in 1927. Plumes is a folk drama about a character named Charity. Her baby daughter is dying. Charity has saved money for a doctor. But she and her friend Tilde do not believe the doctor can help. Instead, Charity dreams of a fancy funeral for her daughter. Before she decides, her daughter passes away. Plumes was performed by the Harlem Experimental Theatre.
Blue-Eyed Black Boy is a play from 1930 about lynching. It was written to help convince Congress to pass anti-lynching laws. This play was performed in New York City in 2015 and 2016.
In 1935, Johnson wrote two historical plays. These were William and Ellen Craft and Frederick Douglass. William and Ellen Craft tells the story of a Black couple escaping slavery. It shows the importance of self-love and strong relationships. Her play Frederick Douglass focuses on his personal qualities. It shows his love for Ann, whom he married after escaping slavery.
Johnson was one of the few women whose work was in Alain Locke's book Plays of Negro Life. Some of her plays are lost. But copies of 10 of her plays are kept in universities.
Fighting Against Lynching
Johnson was a strong voice in the anti-lynching movement. She was a leader in writing plays about lynching. Her activism is mostly seen in her plays. Her play Sunday Morning in the South (1925) was one of the first. Writing so openly about racial violence was not common for women at that time. This might be why some of her plays were not widely known.
Unlike many other Black playwrights, Johnson did not give her plays happy endings. She felt this was not realistic. Because of this, it was hard for her to get her plays published. The NAACP was involved in anti-lynching campaigns. But they sometimes refused to produce her plays. They felt her plays gave a feeling of hopelessness.
Johnson was also part of the Writers League Against Lynching. This group included famous writers like Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson, and Alain LeRoy Locke. The group worked to pass a federal anti-lynching law.
Gloria Hull, in her book Color, Sex, and Poetry, says Johnson's work should be highly valued in the Harlem Renaissance. She argues that Black women writers like Johnson need more attention. Johnson's anti-lynching work was shown in plays like The Ordeal. This play was in Alain Locke's book The New Negro. Her poems describe how African Americans felt about prejudice.
The S Street Salon
After her husband died, Johnson started hosting weekly "Saturday Salons." These gatherings lasted for 40 years. Friends and authors like Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, and Zora Neale Hurston attended. These writers were important to the New Negro Movement, now known as the Harlem Renaissance.
Georgia Douglas Johnson's home at 1461 South Street NW became known as the S Street Salon. It was a meeting place for writers in Washington, D.C. The salon helped artists grow their creativity. It gave Black artists a place to meet, talk, and share ideas. Akasha Gloria Hull said Johnson helped make the movement national. She created connections between cities by working outside of Harlem.
Johnson called her home the "Half Way House." It was a place where friends could stay if they had no money. They could also talk freely about politics and their ideas. While Black men attended, most guests were Black women. These included May Miller, Marita Bonner, and Zora Neale Hurston. Johnson was especially close to the writer Angelina Weld Grimké. The "Saturday Nighters" discussed issues like lynching, women's rights, and problems facing Black families.
Weekly Newspaper Column
Between 1926 and 1932, Johnson wrote short stories. She also started a letter club. She published a weekly newspaper column called "Homely Philosophy."
The column appeared in 20 different newspapers. These included the New York News, Chicago Defender, and Pittsburgh Courier. It ran from 1926 to 1932. Some topics were inspiring and spiritual. For example, "Hunch," "Magnetic Personality," and "The Blessing of Work." Her work helped people deal with the hard times of the Great Depression.
One article, "Our Fourth Eye," talked about "closing one's natural eyes." It suggested looking with the "eyes of one's mind." She explained that this "fourth eye" helps us see the world in a special way. Another essay, "Hunch," discussed intuition. She said people should listen to their hunches. She called them their "sixth sense– your instruction."
Legacy and Recognition
Throughout her life, Johnson wrote 200 poems, 28 plays, and 31 short stories. In 1962, she published her last poetry book, Share My World. The poems in it show her wisdom. They reflect on love for all people and forgiveness.
In 1965, Atlanta University gave Douglas an honorary doctorate degree. They praised her as a "sensitive singer of sad songs." They called her a "faithful interpreter of the feminine heart of a Negro." This included its joys, sorrows, and the challenges of racial unfairness.
When she died in Washington, D.C., in 1966, a friend and fellow playwright was by her side. She was stroking her hand and saying, "Poet Georgia Douglas Johnson."
In September 2009, Johnson was added to the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.
Major Works
Poems
- The Heart of a Woman (1918)
- Bronze (1922)
- An Autumn Love Cycle (1928)
- Share My World (1962)
- The Ordeal
Plays
- A Sunday Morning in the South (1925)
- Blue Blood (1926)
- Paupaulekejo (1926)
- Plumes (1927)
- Safe (c. 1929)
- Blue-Eyed Black Boy (c. 1930)
- Starting Point (play) (1930s)
- William and Ellen Craft (1935)
- Frederick Douglass (1935)
- And Yet They Paused (1938)
- A Bill to Be Passed (1938)
See also
In Spanish: Georgia Douglas Johnson para niños
