Melvin B. Tolson facts for kids
Melvin Beaunorus Tolson (born February 6, 1898 – died August 29, 1966) was an important American poet, a dedicated teacher, a newspaper writer, and even a politician. As a poet, he was inspired by a style called Modernism and by the language and experiences of African Americans. He also learned a lot from studying the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African American art and culture thrived.
Tolson was also a famous debate coach at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. This college was historically black. He led his debate team to be the first to compete against white colleges in the segregated South. This amazing work was shown in the 2007 movie The Great Debaters. The movie was produced by Oprah Winfrey and starred Denzel Washington, who also directed it and played Melvin Tolson.
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Early Life and Education
Melvin Tolson was born in Moberly, Missouri. He was one of four children. His father, Reverend Alonzo Tolson, was a Methodist minister. His mother, Lera (Hurt) Tolson, was a seamstress with Creek Native American ancestry. Reverend Tolson was also of mixed race. He was the son of an enslaved woman and her white master. His father served in churches in Missouri and Iowa before settling in Kansas City. Reverend Tolson always worked to improve his education, even taking classes in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew by mail. Both of Tolson's parents believed strongly in the importance of education for their children.
Melvin Tolson finished Lincoln High School in Kansas City in 1919. He first went to Fisk University but then moved to Lincoln University, Pennsylvania the next year because of money. Tolson graduated with honors in 1923. He also became a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
Marriage and Family
In 1922, Melvin Tolson married Ruth Southall. She was from Charlottesville, Virginia, and he had met her at Lincoln University. Their first child was Melvin Beaunorus Tolson, Jr., who later became a professor at the University of Oklahoma. They also had Arthur Lincoln, who became a professor at Southern University; Wiley Wilson; and Ruth Marie Tolson. All of their children were born by 1928.
Career Highlights
After graduating, Tolson and his wife moved to Marshall, Texas. There, he taught speech and English at Wiley College from 1924 to 1947. Wiley College was a small, historically black Methodist Episcopal school. It was well-known among Black people in the South, and Tolson became one of its most famous teachers.
In 1930–31, Tolson took a break from teaching to study for his Master's degree at Columbia University. For his master's project, he wrote about "The Harlem Group of Negro Writers." This was based on many interviews he did with people from the Harlem Renaissance. His time in New York greatly influenced his poetry. He finished his work and earned his master's degree in 1940.
Besides teaching English, Tolson was very active at Wiley College. He built an amazing debate team called the Wiley Forensic Society. This team made history by being one of the first to have interracial college debates. In 1930, they debated against law students from the University of Michigan in Chicago. Then, in 1931, they had the first known interracial college debate in the South, against Oklahoma City University. In 1935, they even competed against the University of Southern California and won. Tolson also helped start the black intercollegiate Southern Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts and directed the theater club. He even coached the junior varsity football team!
Tolson guided students like James Farmer and Heman Sweatt, who later became important civil rights leaders. He taught his students to be well-rounded and to stand up for their rights. This was a brave thing to do in the segregated U.S. South during the early and mid-1900s.
In 1947, Tolson started teaching at Langston University, another historically black college in Langston, Oklahoma. He worked there for 17 years. He was also a playwright and director for the Dust Bowl Theater at the university. One of his students at Langston was Nathan Hare, who later became a pioneer in Black studies.
In 1947, the country of Liberia named Tolson its Poet Laureate. This means he was recognized as the official poet of the nation. In 1953, he wrote a long, important poem called Libretto for the Republic of Liberia to celebrate the nation's 100th birthday.
Tolson also got involved in local government. He served three terms as mayor of Langston, Oklahoma, from 1954 to 1960.
People who knew Tolson described him as a very smart person. The poet Langston Hughes said he was "no highbrow. Students revere him and love him. Kids from the cotton fields like him. Cow punchers understand him ... He's a great talker."
In 1965, Tolson was appointed to a two-year position at Tuskegee Institute as the Avalon Poet. He passed away after surgery for cancer in Dallas, Texas, on August 29, 1966. He was buried in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Literary Works
Melvin Tolson started writing poetry in 1930. He also wrote two plays by 1937, but he didn't continue writing plays after that.
From October 1937 to June 1944, Tolson wrote a column for The Washington Tribune called "Cabbage and Caviar."
In 1941, he published his poem "Dark Symphony" in the Atlantic Monthly magazine. Some critics think this is his best work. In it, he compared the history of African Americans and European Americans.
In 1944, Tolson published his first collection of poems, Rendezvous with America, which included "Dark Symphony." He was especially interested in historical events that people had forgotten.
Tolson's Libretto for the Republic of Liberia (1953) is another important work. It's a long, epic poem divided into eight parts. It is seen as a major work of modern poetry.
Tolson's last major poem published during his lifetime was Harlem Gallery in 1965. This poem has several sections, each starting with a letter of the Greek alphabet. The poem focuses on African American life. It was very different from his earlier works, written in a jazz-like style with quick changes and many smart, rich references.
In 1979, a collection of Tolson's poems was published after he died. It was called A Gallery of Harlem Portraits. These poems were written during his year in New York. They showed a mix of different styles, including short stories in free verse. This collection was inspired by the loose style of Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology. A Gallery of Harlem Portraits shows a city community that is diverse in race and rich in culture.
People have become more interested in Tolson and his writing period. In 1999, the University of Virginia published a collection of his poetry called Harlem Gallery and Other Poems of Melvin B. Tolson, edited by Raymond Nelson.
Tolson's original writings and papers are kept at the Library of Congress.
Legacy and Honors
- He received a fellowship to Columbia University from 1930–31.
- In 1947, Liberia named Tolson its poet laureate.
- In 1954, he was named a permanent fellow in poetry and drama at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.
- In 1964, he was chosen to be on the New York Herald Tribune book-review board. The District of Columbia also gave him an award for his cultural achievements in the fine arts.
- In 1964, he received a grant from the National Institute.
- In 1966, he won the annual poetry award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
- In 1970, Langston University created the Melvin B. Tolson Black Heritage Center in his honor. This center collects materials about Africans, African Americans, and people of African descent around the world.
- In 2004, he was added to the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame after his death.
- In 2007, a movie about his life, The Great Debaters, was released.
See also
- The Great Debaters
- Inspirational teachers and mentors portrayed in films
- List of poets from the United States
